CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 272: WHAT EXACTLY HAVE YOU REALIZED?

Nezha stepped into the Golden Light, seeing a grand scene of Buddhas filling the skies, Eight Heavenly Dragons, Twelve Tribes, and the Three Thousand Emperors...

The spectacle was massive, but it was all just illusions. Simply put, it was CGI made by Saint Zhunti.

As expected of a Saint, the vision was truly ahead of its time!

Nezha watched it with great interest for quite a while. This holographic display was way more exhilarating than any blockbuster from his previous life.

As the boundless Golden Light dissipated, Nezha found himself inside a Buddhist temple.

Inside, an old monk with a kind expression hurriedly approached, bowing deeply, and said, "Welcome back, World Venerable! There are numerous matters in Buddhism that require your attention. Your return fills this old monk with immense joy."

While examining his body, Nezha casually replied, "Well, you’re happy way too early."

The old monk: "???"

After checking his body thoroughly and confirming it was no different than the one he had outside, Nezha listened to the old monk’s chatter for a while and roughly understood the situation.

Based on Nezha’s understanding, this Ten Thousand Buddha Formation was essentially a super massive simulation and resource-management game where he was playing the role of the World Venerable — the top Buddha of Buddhism.

Interesting. This was way more entertaining than the games from his previous life.

Nezha’s first task, with the old monk leading him, was addressing the resource problem. The West was poor, and with the population doubling, it became even poorer.

Buddhas needed gold and silver, needed incense offerings, and they also needed cultivation resources.

Watching all this unfold, Nezha couldn’t help but find the scene all too familiar.

No money? If there’s no money, why not go out and sell stuff!

Of course, selling here meant honest business!

Why not rent out unused temple halls and monasteries? Why not turn their domesticated divine beasts into sightseeing tour rides to earn money?

What? No temples, monasteries, or divine beasts? Then perhaps you should reflect on whether you’ve been slacking off as a Buddha all along?

Why do others have resources while you don’t?

The old monk, initially serving as a mentor, looked utterly dumbfounded at Nezha’s series of bold actions.

What’s this about establishing a tourism industry on Lingshan? Having the Eight Hundred Arhats take side jobs delivering packages and driving rideshares?

Bodhisattvas’ divine vehicles serving as sightseeing cable cars from time to time?

Even those with no particular skills were tasked with crafting handmade souvenirs for karmically destined visitors?

Nezha’s methods weren’t elegant, but they worked. If you want wealth, expand your income streams; cutting costs wasn’t an option since these expenses were non-negotiable. The only solution was to expand revenue.

One by one, the ancient Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were kept busy. Thanks to these measures, they just barely maintained a steady flow of incense offerings.

Time in the illusion sped by. Every time Nezha came up with a plan, that plan was quickly implemented and bore results, so in truth, Nezha didn’t spend much actual time working on these tasks.

The finances stabilized, and the old monk raised another issue: internal conflicts.

Buddhism was currently a chaotic mess; people weren’t united, and the group was indeed hard to manage.

If this were Nezha’s own faction, he might consider patiently working on adjustments and alignment, but to him, this was just a game.

His approach was simple and straightforward: if you can’t solve the problem, then solve the person causing the problem.

The Western Sect was poor, right? Then send them to Sumeru Mountain to mine directly!

What’s that? Someone doesn’t want to go?

Everyone goes!

No? Do you want to take another look at the axe in my hand before answering?

The process was brutal, but the outcome wasn’t bad. In fact, with the additional labor force and fewer people to pay wages, Buddhism’s financial situation improved significantly!

The old monk’s attitude shifted drastically, going from skeptical to shocked to outright reverence. His expressions were amusingly dramatic, though it was a shame he wasn’t a cute anime girl mascot.

Saint Zhunti’s game-design capabilities still needed work — they hadn’t even grasped the core competitive appeal.

"The World Venerable possesses unparalleled wisdom and great resolve. I am in awe."

"The World Venerable’s brilliance..."

Nezha quickly waved his hands. His flattery script was even worse than Gold Star Taibai’s. "If you have real issues to report, just get to the point."

As the Golden Light faded away, the surrounding pagodas and monasteries all vanished. The two of them found themselves in a barren desert.

They spotted a man boiling sand with a determined look. His sunken cheeks showed he was extremely hungry, so he worked faster and harder. When he opened the pot, however, it was still just sand.

The man cried out in despair, "Why? Why did I follow the exact steps for cooking rice, only to end up with sand?"

The screen then froze.

Nezha looked at the man as if he were an idiot, while the old monk performed a Buddhist salute and asked, "World Venerable, what truth have you realized?"

Nezha: "..."

I’ve realized that this man is a complete fool.

He probably hadn’t read much of the Buddhist Scriptures, nor was he into these pretentious charades.

If he couldn’t explain it clearly, he might as well say nothing.

An idea suddenly struck him.

Nezha gave the old monk a lopsided smile before casually approaching the man. Instead of colliding with him, Nezha passed through as if walking through a curtain of water, arriving at the next scene.

The old monk was left in a mental spiral, wondering how the World Venerable had bypassed the challenge. What was the meaning of that smile?

What profound truth had the World Venerable realized?

He couldn’t figure it out — it defied comprehension!

In the end, he could only consider himself too foolish and hurriedly followed Nezha.

By now, Nezha had reached the next checkpoint. Did he actually realize anything?

Don’t ask. If you ask, it just means you haven’t realized anything yet.

Since he approached it as a game, he remained calm and fearless.

Going forward with a faint smile, as if enlightened, Nezha kept moving while refusing to explain a thing.

Throughout the journey, various obstacles — from monks, novice monks, rice-washing women, and even a Goddess transformed into a bird — attempted to halt him, but none succeeded in stopping his advance!

Simply put, he was exploiting glitches.

One challenge after another was bypassed as he practically walked straight through them.

...

Outside the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, Zhunti and Jieyin were frowning.

The two Saints had been observing the happenings in the formation for some time. While there were many Immortals inside, their attention couldn’t help but be drawn to Nezha and Old Li.

Relying on bug exploits, Nezha kept racking up points, already surpassing Yunxiao, who had been in first place. Meanwhile, Old Li, wielding his cheat-like Linglong Pagoda, was making comparable progress, not falling behind Nezha in the slightest.

"Senior Brother, should we intervene here..."

Jieyin shook his head.

"You set up the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation with the rule that all who enter must rely on their own methods."

Zhunti sighed helplessly as he watched Nezha breeze through levels with a smirking "kukuku" demeanor. A look of resignation crossed his face. This little brat always finds a way to stir up new chaos for me.

When it comes to enlightenment, the whole concept feels insincere. If you ask Nezha whether he’s enlightened, you’ll definitely get no answer. But if you don’t even get it yourself, why ask someone else?

Turning to Old Li’s progress, Zhunti felt a bit more at ease. Seeing Old Li’s reliable performance gave him some relief — the Linglong Pagoda seemed to have given Li Jing a thought-acceleration buff.

Zhunti was thoroughly impressed with Old Li’s decisive and pragmatic problem-solving skills. He even thought to himself that entrusting Buddhism to Old Li in the future might not be a bad idea.

The only drawback was Old Li’s lackluster cultivation, but with three Saints backing him, cultivation wasn’t really a critical concern.

Old Li, unaware of his newfound "killer charm for senior management," continued to focus solely on clearing levels and achieving high scores, determined not to let down his mentors’ teachings.