Chapter 1024: Ancient Legends, Prayer Beads and Wooden Fish

The truth… had effortlessly appeared before her eyes? Caroline, strained to her limit, stared intently at what was before her. This terrifying pressure within her, this goosebumps sensation, was unprecedented in any battle she had ever faced.

For thousands of years, countless days and nights, she had waited to uncover the true face of the enemy, hoping to reach that level and bear some of the burdens of the super ancient gods. But now, with the goal she had anticipated for countless years truly before her, the shock was unimaginable. It was too sudden. Too unexpected. This was nothing short of a surprise attack.

During their casual exploration of ancient ruins, they had encountered the other party. This couldn't be a coincidence. The opponent must have calculated some hidden scheme, bypassing the super ancient gods' sight to meet them here.

And what was their specific purpose in seeking them out? After all, this wasn't where their true bodies resided, so they couldn't be attacked directly. A thought flashed violently through her mind: Defection!

They wanted to win over Emperor Qi, to bring him into the enemy's camp. After all, before this, the aspect of "life species" had never been a concern. But upon closer inspection now, Dao Lord, and even the lineage of the Innate Ancient Gods, were classified as half-elemental, half-carbon-based life forms—all belonging to Moon God Season's opposing bloodline and faction.

She seemed to have understood some ancient historical developments. Back then, the other party wanted to steal their immortal bloodline, and the super ancient gods, in turn, wanted to acquire the half-elemental bloodline. Thus, Dao Lord came into being, leading to what the other party viewed as "acknowledging a thief as one's father."

"Bloodlines are plundering each other." Caroline's mind raced. She thought, "I'm afraid that Moon God Season, at this moment, has bypassed the super ancient gods' surveillance and orchestrated a plot for who knows how many years, secretly coming here to take Emperor Qi. And if Emperor Qi leaves, there will be enormous losses!"

Thinking of this, she had a strong urge to forcibly take Emperor Qi and leave immediately. They couldn't stay here. Her gaze darted around, extremely vigilant. In this sudden turn of events, she could no longer rely on the super ancient gods; she had to rely on herself to find a way to take Emperor Qi away and thwart this conspiracy. After all, she couldn't rely on the super ancient gods for everything; she needed to step up and shoulder some responsibilities herself.

"Are you the successor of his lineage?" The young Moon God Season, with a gentle expression, devoid of temper or arrogance, looked at Caroline and softly chuckled, "Don't worry, I merely came to meet you, to see what kind of descendant He expected... Prayer beads, sarira—the Buddhist lineage excels at computational power, calculating the past and future. But at this moment, he couldn't calculate what was happening here. Yet, He was so ruthless as to directly overturn all frameworks of ancient heritage, letting you deduce on your own? And you, surprisingly, also broke free from the ancient Buddhist system, forging your own new one."

"A thousand people, a thousand faces, each different... The era is truly changing." Moon God Season spoke in a gentle tone, his gaze filled with deep emotion. "You've stepped out of the framework, and the so-called Three Pillar Gods who inherited the orthodox Buddhism are also somewhat different from those of that era... They are much more highly unified. Back then, there were three Great Buddhas and three thousand other Buddhas jointly governing destiny... which led to too much dispersal of computational power."

Yuan Qinghua's expression subtly darkened. Didn't this mean that in the Buddhism of that era, there were three strong Pillar Gods and thousands of weaker ones? It was evident that the Buddhist system at that time was prosperous to an unimaginable extent! The various Pillar Gods ruled countless myriad worlds.

It must be said that the Three Pillar Gods indeed made the most correct choice by eliminating the Fourth Pillar God. After all, if such a precedent had been fully established, the appearance of a Fifth Pillar God, or even a Fiftieth Pillar God, might not have been impossible! Because each new Pillar God meant that their absolute racial authority would weaken, and their control over the race would be diluted. Once their power was diluted and weakened, new Pillar Gods could emerge again. Some Buddhist disciples would seize the opportunity to rise, using their computational power to become Pillar Gods, resisting the "firewall" breaches of other Pillar Gods in their minds, secretly controlling the future destiny of the entire world, peeking into a corner of the era's future, playing games with them, further diluting their power... seizing the authority of "Pillar God." This was a vicious cycle. Although the Buddhism of that era was constantly expanding, too much authority was diluted, unlike the current Three Pillar Gods who possessed absolute control and unquestionable authority over the entire race.

"Are we very different?" Caroline's face was devoid of expression, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking. Moon God Season closed the book in his hand. The petite, handsome youth softly replied, "Back then, they liked to string sarira into prayer beads... Holding a string of prayer beads, manipulating them, and sitting within ancient temples and shrines, they could calculate the past and the future."

"That sounds... truly fascinating." It was the first time Caroline had heard such accounts and seen such images from the era of the super ancient molten domain, ruled by the super ancient gods. In ancient times, people also cultivated demon cores... and demon cores were the sarira cultivated by Buddhists! The golden molten domain of that era was a vast, sacred Buddhist pure land!

Meanwhile, Yuan Qinghua and others listened with furrowed brows. Prayer beads? Prayer beads were demon cores, strung together? In this way, forming low-level networked sub-computer units, using a "local area network" to create enhanced super-computational power to calculate the past and future? This kind of magical artifact was an astonishing invention! However, it wasn't quite suited for this era. Because the Three Pillar Gods' unified computational power made it unnecessary... Only those Pillar Gods, fragmented to their absolute limit and extremely weak, would utilize such artifacts to enhance their computational power.

Moon God Season continued softly, "You haven't seen that era; it was truly unimaginably magnificent. Golden light, vast and boundless, illuminated the entire universe... Deities and Buddhas filled the heavens, countless races transformed into their subjects. Behind their seemingly compassionate facade lay a great Buddhist disaster—a grand Buddhist era where myriad races cultivated Buddhism, and the world was just like their sect, with teaching for all, regardless of background..."

"Buddhist disaster?" Caroline smiled, staring at the enigmatic presence before her. "Are you saying that you are the righteous hero?" She was aware of the Three Pillar Gods' power of assimilation. Instantly, she understood this entity's intentions. Not only did he want to persuade Emperor Qi to leave, but he also wanted to plant a thorn in her heart. What a clever tactic, which explained his words.

"I merely recounted ancient history, reminiscing about the past... Many young beings fight for what they solely believe to be their race's glory and prosperity, yet they don't realize they too have become stained with much bloodshed... Among all the races in the world, hardly any have clean hands," Moon God Season continued with a light chuckle. Caroline remained silent. Moon God Season continued to softly reminisce about the past, his gaze seemingly piercing through ancient times as he spoke of history.

Meanwhile, the members of the Mother River civilization listened attentively, and even the surviving elemental people present listened with expressions of reverence. After all, they never imagined that such a terrifyingly prosperous civilization, connected to their own kind, had actually been annihilated by their own half-elemental counterparts! Such a major event had occurred with their venturing lineage!

Moon God Season continued, "In that era, among the myriad races, beasts were converted by Buddhism into divine beasts to serve, and powerful individuals were converted into Buddhist protectors... It's said that the sea of suffering is boundless, and by entering my Buddhist sect, one reaches the other shore... It's also said that some disobedient ones, even after being converted into Buddhist disciples, still stubbornly resisted."

Gradually, everyone became immersed in the history, as if witnessing those scenes unfold. "Of course, they weren't beyond conversion. Those deemed stubbornly unenlightened, mostly powerful races of immense size, would have their sarira removed. Their sarira were usually extremely large and would be placed before a meditation cushion. With a wooden stick, they would repeatedly strike their sarira, which could also function as a computational artifact like a string of prayer beads... At the same time, while striking, scriptures and repentance rituals would be recited to them daily... Over such a long period, with daily striking and conversion, even the most resistant and strong-willed individuals would be converted by the Buddhist scriptures and embrace Buddhism... And they called this method of converting the stubbornly unenlightened... 'knocking on wooden fish.'"