CHAPTER 554: CHAPTER 97 BUDDHA PRISON

"Truth Listener?!"

Others may not be familiar with Truth Listener, even never having heard of it. But it was different for Li Qingming. In the legends of Earth in his past life, Truth Listener was known to be the perceptive divine beast under the desk of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. It possessed the divine awe to drive out evil spirits and distinguish right from wrong; it was also endowed with the ability to comprehend Heaven and Earth, to open the wealth path, and to bring forth auspicious fortunes.

That such a divine beast would appear in this place was truly beyond belief.

Lingshu Bodhisattva glanced awkwardly at Li Qingming and, after adjusting his appearance slightly, spoke to Truth Listener bowed before him, "Amitabha Buddha, Fellow Daoist Truth Listener please rise. I have come here this time by the order of the Buddha to escort a prisoner. You may stand down for now!"

"Yes, Bodhisattva!" Truth Listener nodded and respectfully retreated.

After Truth Listener left, Li Qingming looked at Lingshu and said, "Tell me, what exactly is this place?"

"My lord, this is Buddha Prison. Initially, it was just a place for the Buddha to store refining materials for Spiritual Treasures," Lingshu rubbed his hands and pointed towards the boundless Void, explaining,

"Since the birth of the Endless Buddha Realm, our Buddhist Sect spread its faith across the Central Heaven World. In the process, we inevitably encountered some tough nuts to crack. To these beings, abandoning them would be a pity, yet killing them unworthy. Helpless, the Buddha confined all these beings here. His intention was to slowly grind down their wills and make them serve our Buddhist Sect. As time passed, more beings were gathered here. Gradually, this place became a prison for our Buddhist Sect to detain offenders!"

"Oh, I didn’t expect this Buddha to be such a talent cherisher!" Shakyamuni sneered with a smile.

"Talent cherishing?" Li Qingquan laughed and said, "Fellow Daoist Shakyamuni, you think too simply. If I’m not mistaken, that old fellow certainly wants to transform them all into Buddha incarnates. Think about it, how much Great Ability would accumulate over several Calamities? Fortunately, the old Buddha does not know the technique of Primordial Spirit control, otherwise, what a vast force it would be!"

"Lingshu, let me ask you!" Li Qingming smiled and interrupted the two of them, turning to Lingshu Bodhisattva, "How many beings are imprisoned in this Buddha Prison, where do they all come from in Central Heaven World, and how strong are they? Do you know all this?"

"Sir, until a thousand years ago, Buddha Prison has suppressed a total of one hundred and three beings above the Quasi-Saint Realm. Among them, there are sixty-two at the Early Quasi-Saint stage, twenty-three at the Quasi-Saint Middle Stage, fourteen at the Late Quasi-Saint stage, three at the Quasi-Saint Peak, and one, a Sub-Saint Early Stage Great Ability!"

Lingshu’s posture was very low, because he understood that his life was currently in someone else’s hands and a single lapse of attention could mean the dispersal of his soul.

"Also a Sub-Saint Early Stage strong being?" Li Qingming’s eyes shone as he asked.

Lingshu nodded, "Yes, sir!"

"Let’s go, take us to see this Early Quasi-Saint Great Ability!" Li Qingming pointed toward the space ahead, signaling Lingshu to lead the way.

...

The group flew forward without pause, eventually arriving before a space gateway.

Lingshu moved ahead to open the gateway with the secret techniques of the Buddhist Sect, taking the lead into it.

"Whoosh!"

Upon entering the space gateway, Heaven and Earth transformed.

This was a vast world, as if they had entered another realm. On a flat plain, the people appeared out of nowhere amidst the Void.

"Is this the cell in Buddha Prison? Such generous accommodations!" Li Qingming swept his gaze around the vast world, where a Great Sun soared high and stars shone brightly.

In the sky, numerous Mysterious Tao Runes sealed the entire space, allowing only traces of extremely thin Spiritual Energy, hardly suitable for cultivation.

"Buzz!"

Hovering over the plains, Li Qingming released his Primordial Spirit, meticulously inspecting the entire space.

...

Deep within the space, beneath a majestic waterfall, there stood an Ancient Que, not grandiose, but carrying an aura of natural simplicity and grandeur.

Clouds surged and mists rose. The violet walls of the Ancient Que were engraved with deep grooves, each one an ancient seal script from the Pre-Qin period, not Tao Runes.

Looking at the varied depths, it was evident they were etched by hand, carrying a natural vibe that inspired reverence.

A Daoist robed in Taiji Taoist robe, with white hair and a hearty complexion, stood before the ancient structure with a faint smile, "Hehe, the Third Epoch, Zhunti Buddha Mother, Amitabha Buddha, have you finally remembered this old man?"

Tens of thousands of li away from the Ancient Que, in the midst of a vast ocean, a deep blue Water Dragon laid on the shore. Much of its scale armor had shed. If it weren’t for the two long whiskers beside its mouth occasionally twitching, it could have been mistaken for dead.

Suddenly, it opened its eyes wide, shooting a flash of brilliance from its human-sized eyes: "Old bald donkey, if you let your Grandpa Zhanlong escape, I’ll swallow you alive!"

Simultaneously, in a deep abyss, the nine-feet Heavenly Palace, the South Sea eye... every imprisoned being opened their eyes and started cursing furiously.

...

Above the plains, Li Qingming opened his eyes, his face brightening as he called out to those below, "Follow me!"

With those words, he transformed into a stream of light, flying towards the majestic waterfall.

"Swish!"

Everyone swiftly traversed the Heavenly Vault, the Great Sun showering down its brilliant splendor, yet unable to hide the layers upon layers of densely packed Sealing Spirit Arrays.

Along the way, the group deliberately avoided the locations of the prisoners.

Because around each incarcerated prisoner, for dozens of miles, there were additional Sealing Spirit Restrictions in place. These restrictions suppressed the spiritual beings within the formation, causing their stored Spiritual Energy to dwindle and symptoms of aging to gradually deepen.

Within this Buddha Prison, only those of Great Ability who were a half-step into the Dao could tear through the Cangqiong and leave directly. Others could only escape their cages using teleportation methods.

Like the Divine Beast Truth Listener they encountered initially, it was adept at controlling the teleportation method. If not for the teleportation altar, it would take a full 60,000 years for it to survey the entire Buddha Prison.

Given the formidable nature of this space, the Buddha only dispatched two Exotic Beasts to guard the Buddha Prison. This provided Li Qingming and the others a ripe opportunity, and it seemed fated that the unfortunate Buddha was doomed to bear this irreparable loss.

They flew for probably less than a quarter of an hour.

"We’ve arrived." Seeing a waterfall from afar, Li Qingming gave a faint smile, descended from the Void, and landed beside the waterfall.

"Found it! The only Mid Sub-Saint Stage Great Ability being in the entire Buddha Prison!"

Mid Sub-Saint? Yes, Mid Sub-Saint Stage!

After so many years of cultivation, this being’s state of mind had long surpassed the Sub-Saint Early Stage.

If it weren’t for the presence of Sealing Spirit Restrictions here, which prevented the use of Spiritual Energy for cultivation, it’s likely that he would have already broken through to the Late Sub-Saint Realm.

A glint flashed in Li Qingming’s eyes, his steps flowing smoothly like drifting clouds and flowing water. With just one step, he crossed several miles, quickly arriving at the edge of the Sealing Spirit Restriction.

The enveloping Sealing Spirit Restrictions, including the area of the waterfall within a ten-mile radius, only contained traces of Spiritual Energy, undetectably faint. Beings within the period could not exit the restriction.

Fortunately, these restrictions only targeted the imprisoned beings, while outsiders and the two Prison Suppressing Divine Beasts could come and go freely.

...

Li Qingming was the first to stride in.

The ancient, misty, and grand Ancient Que appeared before everyone’s eyes.

"Doushuai Temple!"

The three Pre-Qin Ancient Seals, shimmering with golden light, dazzled Li Qingming’s eyes.

All of a sudden, Li Qingming’s entire body shuddered violently, and he stood as if fixed in place, completely unconscious.

The others failed to notice Li Qingming’s abnormal state and curiously approached to observe.

The entire Ancient Que was enveloped in purple mist, like a giant censer filled with ancient charm and hazy mystery.

Of course, what the group cared about was not the style of the Ancient Que, but the wall full of peculiar runes and the gold-lettered plaques on a green background.

Except for Li Qingming, almost everyone was pondering the meaning of the peculiar runes on the wall.

Li Qingming did not notice these; at the moment, he was still immersed in the glittering Pre-Qin Ancient Seals.

Perhaps seeing that Li Qingming did not step forward to study, Li Qingquan walked back and said, "Big Brother, why don’t you take a closer look?"

"Uh... take a closer look, at what?" Li Qingming, awakened by his brother, came back to his senses and asked.

"Big Brother, look!" Li Qingquan, excited, pointed toward the wall enveloped in a purple haze and said, "It’s these strange symbols on the walls!"

Li Qingming followed Li Qingquan’s pointing finger, seeing the walls of Doushuai Temple covered densely with Pre-Qin Ancient Seals, each shining brilliantly. In their simplicity, they held the rhythm of the Great Dao, as if to imprint themselves into the Void.

"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The Named is the mother of all things..."

Li Qingming’s eyes emitted Divine Light as he uttered the words slowly and deliberately.

"Hiss! This, this is Master Laozi’s ’Essence of Daoist Virtue’; how could it be inscribed here?" Li Qingquan exclaimed in shock, feeling that everything about it was extremely peculiar.

Being from Huaxia Heaven and Earth, the few of them were naturally familiar with Laozi’s "Essence of Daoist Virtue." What astonished them was why, in the Buddha Prison of the Central Heaven World, the Daoist essence of Laozi would be imprinted here, and in such strange characters.

"Lingshu, was this Ancient Que specifically constructed by your Buddhist Sect to imprison the beings?" Li Qingming turned his head and said to Lingshu Bodhisattva.

"My lord, our Buddhist Sect is only responsible for confining prisoners within the Sealing Spirit Restrictions. As for these abodes, they must have been built by them with selected materials back then!" Lingshu Bodhisattva looked around the empty restricted space and suddenly, his eyes brightened as he pointed at a small stone tablet beside the waterfall, saying, "My lord, that stone tablet should have the record of the belonging space and name of the beings held here."

"Oh?" Li Qingming waved his hand and drew the stone tablet rooted next to the waterfall towards him, clearly reading:

"Yin Xi, styled Wengong, titled Wenshi Taoist, a person from Pangu’s Great Thousand World. At the end of the First Yanji, was apprehended at Wanling Pass." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast a recommendation vote, monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)