Chapter 2537: Dragons of the Same Era, Unfortunate World

The central great hall was abnormally vast. In the past, hundreds of officials gathered here, various generals entered the hall, and the Heavenly Master supervised the court, and there was still infinite vast space.

Memorials piled up like mountains, state affairs flowed like a sea. The territory under heaven, billions of subjects, ancient and modern matters, all were decided in this hall, yet it was orderly, flowing deeply like a waterfall.

But today, it appeared cramped!

The black-clothed Ksitigarbha stood with palms together in the middle of the hall. In front of Him stood Ji Fengzhou, wearing a coronet robe and holding the Central Heavenly Son's ritual sword, who had come down from the emperor's seat, walked to the cinnabar steps, and was stabbing Him with the authority of the world. Behind Him came Jiang Shu, wearing a set of purple emperor's royal robes and holding a Fangtian ghost god halberd upside down, who had come from outside the hall and stepped into the power center of this central empire.

The central great hall could originally encompass everything, but these were all transcendent powers.

Transcendent and unrestrained, too.

Jiang Shu came alone, held the halberd and entered the hall, asking Ksitigarbha to divide the Buddha cake.

But he didn't actually wait for Ksitigarbha's answer. Instead, he stepped past Ksitigarbha and met Ji Fengzhou's gaze.

"Zhen comes from the East country, holding a halberd to swear and decide the netherworld, Central Heavenly Son, we meet after three tries!" He laughed, "How will you welcome me with spitting blood?"

In the past, when Qi and Xia contended for hegemony, the Jing Heavenly Son descended to Yitianguan at Guiyi, desiring to meet the Qi Heavenly Son at Linzi.

The Qi Heavenly Son retreated and did not meet.

And when Cao completely destroyed Xia, the Jing court sent state letters to force a meeting. The Qi Heavenly Son took off his dragon robe, put on armor with a knife, and desired to meet the Jing Heavenly Son at Tianjing.

The Jing Heavenly Son avoided and did not encounter him.

Two meetings failed, and now it was the third morning meeting!

Finally, they saw each other in person.

Two dragons met.

An emperor saw an emperor.

Two suns hung in the sky, one saying "Rising sun ascends in the east," and one saying "Great sun horizontal in the sky"!

Ji Fengzhou held the sword and laughed, "The East Heavenly Son is fortunate to be in the netherworld, and it cannot be without the ceremony of an emperor. This place has no wine, no songs, the land is barren and the gods are hidden, but it's good that Zhen spits blood—consider it a congratulatory song, and reluctantly, as scenery!"

These were indeed true words!

Besides this place, where else could one see the Central Heavenly Son spitting blood?

It was truly an extremely rare sight, unseen through all the rivers and mountains.

The two heavenly sons, who had openly contended and secretly fought countless times, met formally for the first time and were unexpectedly harmonious.

Especially Song Huai, looking at the smiles of these two emperors, saw no pretense. These were true feelings, something he, the East Heavenly Master, had rarely seen in person.

Ji Fengzhou, in the past, while still in the position of Crown Prince, had vigorously advocated suppressing Jiang Shu of the Qi country. Moreover, in the second year of his reign, he had descended from the sky at Yitianguan, restraining the blade edge of East Qi, delaying Qi country's ambition to swallow Xia for a full thirty-two years.

Jiang Shu, when the Qi country was not yet a hegemonic power, had set up a plan in the central domain, wanting to prevent Ji Fengzhou from ascending the great treasure. He firmly believed he could establish hegemony and had long considered the central empire as his opponent. He had also chosen to gamble everything at the time when Ji Fengzhou had just ascended the throne and his control over the court was not yet stable, meeting with the Xia Xiang Emperor to hunt for hegemony.

Both of them had long been staring at each other, earlier than everyone else in the world, hating that they couldn't strangle the other in the cradle—

This was also a form of mutual admiration!

A Heavenly Son does not easily get angry; when angry, blood flows and boats drift.

A Heavenly Son is also not easily joyful; when joyful, those below must attach themselves, and ministers cannot avoid spying on the monarch's heart.

So, when two Heavenly Sons, who wielded the highest power in the current world, gazed at each other and laughed with true feelings, it was truly a rare sight.

It was a pity that Ksitigarbha could not enjoy it.

Inside this central great hall, Jiang Shu held the halberd behind him, blocking the great hall door.

Inside the already empty site of Yellow Springs, Jiang Shu's purple robe slightly billowed, standing on the other side of the dried-up Spring eye. He and Jiang Shu stood together in the Yellow Springs dry pit, making the place appear crowded. He lowered his head and overlooked the token in his palm, while Jiang Shu held the halberd and examined his neck.

He and Ji Fengzhou suppressed each other, but no matter in what kind of fight situation, Jiang Shu always held the key!

Ksitigarbha at this time only felt that perhaps it was too early to have said that the Jing Emperor was unmatched under heaven. Although Xiong Ji had abdicated, the world still had Jiang Shu.

"Barren for a hundred generations, true dragons are born. Two such heroes are truly cause for joy for this poor monk!"

Ksitigarbha's illusion had a thousand hundred faces, each one extremely joyful. Facing such a dangerous situation, He laughed more fervently than the two hegemonic heavenly sons. "Today, the world is so vast, it's hard to decide on one ruler. It's not that there are no heroes; there are too many heroes! In the past, Ji Yusu met Ji Yanqiu, not without heroic schemes; Ji Fu ren met Xiong Yizheng, and the great momentum collapsed. It is because heaven has no two suns rising together, and a monarch is not the only hero in the world, and therefore great causes cannot succeed! Tang Yu, Helian Qingtong, Ying Yunian, even Hong Junyan, Zong Dezhen, they block each other's paths, each becoming an enemy. Therefore, the state system has been in place for four thousand years, the world is split and divided, forming a horizontal heavenly barrier. In this poor monk's words, both of you have the ambition to unify the world, both have the talent to control the universe, and your merits will shine through history, however—neither of you can succeed!"

"It is heroes killing heroes, war smoke everywhere, grass and trees struggling to grow; it is hero meeting hero, true dragons in the same era, the world is unfortunate!"

He pressed his palms together on the Central Heavenly Son's sword, his back to Jiang Shu and resisting Ji Fengzhou. His voice was like a compassionate elder, his tongue brilliant like a lotus. "Born not to meet at the right time, a Heavenly Son sees a Heavenly Son. What great fortune, reincarnation has a new heaven!"

"I have one word to teach the Heavenly Son!"

He said, "Rather than waste time, waste heroic strategies, why not join hands and advance, help me create reincarnation, and become eternal world king Buddhas?"

His voice was like an old temple bell, and also like a bright heart drum. "The Central Heavenly Son as the central lord, the Qi Heavenly Son can face east and be king!"

He was so sincere, pouring out his heart for the two hegemonic heavenly sons' consideration. "Ten directions of pure lands, three thousand Buddhas, all will honor you both. All heavens and ten thousand realms, eternally forever, no more shaking disasters, no more encountering the hardships of the bitter sea. Better than two such heroes, wasting a hundred years in their positions, and then seeking transcendence which is unattainable. How many heroes throughout history, their abdication only reveals ugly states—truly, one can grieve for the Heavenly Son!"

Advance then to become the Central King Buddha and the East King Buddha.

Retreat then... Jiang Shu and Ji Fengzhou, must always kill the other, only then can they possibly prove the six directions.

He spoke not lies, but true facts.

Even great country alliances have broken contracts. Allied armies together cannot avoid rifts.

Now, transcendent contention, a single gap between life and death, can two Heavenly Sons who intend to be rulers of the six directions truly entrust their lives to each other?

Ji Fengzhou can bear the world, Jiang Shu is a world hero and lord, but moreover, for the sake of the world they respectively bear, it is even more impossible for them to truly trust each other.

This crack truly existed and was also Ksitigarbha's hope of winning this battle.

"Buddha has good eloquence!" Jiang Shu praised, "Truly, tongue on lotus, lips and teeth in a Buddha country!"

Ji Fengzhou also greatly praised, "Although the monk is imprisoned by locks, he also sees the rise and fall of the world, the fundamentals of various countries, and his views on the six directions of Heavenly Sons are truly incisive! If you did not cultivate Zen, you could also be a chief advisor for the central empire—are you willing to dissolve your golden body? Zhen invites you to sit high in the hall! I will not give you the position of Prime Minister, but specifically the respect of a National Teacher!"

"It is not this poor monk's clever words and colors, but truly, truths are everywhere available." Ksitigarbha's sorrow seemed to be for the world's worries, and Ksitigarbha's sigh seemed to be pity for all beings. "Both of you are sage heavenly sons, empty words cannot move the monarch's heart, only truth can enter the monarch's ear. Suppose there was no Jiang Shu under heaven, what obstacle would the central east face? Suppose there was no great Jing in the center, how could the Qi Heavenly Son not rule the center? All contention on the path must result in life and death, and the world returning to one can only return to one person. What to go, what to come from, isn't it clear?"

"This truth is like a knife, startling Zhen's ears, like thorns stabbing it." Jiang Shu walked in Ksitigarbha's Buddha land, walked in Ji Fengzhou's central great hall, and also walked in the boundless vast netherworld great world. He arrived at places his sight could reach, and even places it couldn't reach, where the exaggeratedly huge Fangtian ghost god halberd seemed like a roaring deity, firmly grasped in his palm. "But Zhen has one question—in the glorious Buddha world the Buddha intends, which is higher, the East King Buddha or the Central King Buddha?"

Ksitigarbha sincerely said, "The sun and moon are both honored!"

"The sun and moon are both honored..." Jiang Shu smiled with unclear meaning, "Then what seat will the Buddha take?"

Ksitigarbha's expression became more sorrowful. "I myself am the Buddha of ten thousand Buddhas. In the pure land, I will enjoy great freedom with both of you!"

Jiang Shu's gaze slightly lifted. "Then the Buddha still wants to sit higher."

Ksitigarbha seriously said, "In the glorious Buddha world, all beings are equal. However, each cultivates merits, there is no difference in high or low."

"However, Zhen faces east, he is in the center, and the Buddha resides above. Such a Buddha world can indeed be clearly distinguished. There are several points of fairness." Jiang Shu lifted the Fangtian ghost god halberd, as if lifting a mountain, as if shaking the supporting pillar of the entire netherworld world! The entire central great hall shook with it, and the entire netherworld great world also trembled with it—

"Only pity... Zhen has sat highest alone for a long time, not used to sitting with others, much less, having someone's seat ordered in front of Zhen!"

He was unwilling to be parallel with Ji Fengzhou, much less have a Buddha of ten thousand Buddhas above him.

Thus, moving mountains and opening the sky, one halberd smashed down!

The first thing it pressed down upon was unexpectedly the edge of the hundred thousand li transcendent battlefield, before the continuous divine mountains, the heavenly gate summoned by Ji Fengzhou borrowing the Heavenly Master's heaven authority.

Because the eight departments of heavenly dragons and Buddha protectors resisting outside the heavenly gate had already been ground into smoke by this ghost god's halberd!

Ten thousand li of dust and smoke rolled, the scattered god and Buddha power seemed like a spring rain, paving the great earth of the netherworld.

Originally, the fight between Ji Fengzhou and Ksitigarbha had already broken fixed limits, not confined to a hundred thousand li of land, but Jiang Shu's one halberd down instead defined the limits of the hundred thousand li transcendent battlefield—he encircled the land with the halberd point, wanting to encircle and kill Ksitigarbha here!

Too domineering!

The central great hall, the great door opened. The Three Pure Xuandu Supreme Palace escaped the palm cage.

The entanglement of Ksitigarbha and Ji Fengzhou mutually suppressing each other had already been cut open by the halberd blade. The black-clothed Ksitigarbha stood in the middle of the Yellow Springs dry pit.

His Buddha palm still clamped Ji Fengzhou's Heavenly Son's ritual sword. From the Buddha light treasure wheel behind his head, another pair of hands extended, vertically holding a subjugate prison Vajra pestle, engraved with Sanskrit characters saying "Endure unmoved like the great earth, quiet contemplation of deep secrets like a hidden treasury."

When the mountains tilted, the great earth was used to bear them. Sakyamuni had already passed into extinction, leaving Ksitigarbha behind.

He seemed rooted in the netherworld world, merging into one body with this great world, thus blocking Jiang Shu's halberd point.

This pair of Buddha palms grasping the subjugate prison Vajra pestle had one golden eye wide open on the back of each palm, which were the Vajra's angry eyes!

These angry open Vajra pupils just watched this great Qi Emperor wearing the Heavenly Son's royal clothes like this.

It seemed only at this time did they realize—this person had come with the power of the country, yet had not brought a single soldier or pawn, but was holding a halberd alone!

What kind of confident emperor was this, and what kind of valiant mounted Heavenly Son!

Those who knew were like Buddha, seeming to only remember at this moment who this person was.

In the present world, there were six hegemonic countries.

The heavenly sons of other hegemonic countries were all inheritors of hegemonic countries. Only this Jiang Shu was the creator of a hegemonic country!

He was in an era where the world pattern was already set. He defeated the nine countries of sunrise, swept away the various heroes in the eastern domain, then raised his country south, directly striking and breaking the heroic lord of a generation, the Xia Xiang Emperor Si Yuan, achieving hegemony.

Jiang Shu had never been defeated in his lifetime!

Those who could be compared with him should be figures who created hegemony like Ji Yusu, Ji Yanqiu, Tang Yu, Ying Yunian, Helian Qingtong, Xiong Yizheng, etc.

Yet he was in this present era, contending with the world.

Who dared to reside above him?

Who again had this ability?

Decreeing him the East King Buddha and ordering him to reside below was not an opportunity, but humiliation.

In this moment of clash, the great Qi Emperor slightly turned his eyes. "Zhen, as the East Heavenly Son, decrees all of you... just be good with this body!"

Rumble rumble!

Outside the hundred thousand li transcendent battlefield defined by him, the continuous divine mountains transformed by the netherworld deities all shifted back together!

This in fact shook Ksitigarbha's connection with the netherworld great world.

Jiang Shu, in purple clothes, grasped the halberd, tilting it with one force!

Crack crack crack!

The two Vajra Buddha eyes then cracked like diamonds, and deep cracks spread in the middle of the eyes, seeming like eternal abysses.

Crack!

The pair of Buddha palms vertically holding the subjugate prison Vajra pestle immediately followed, producing cracks.

Including the subjugate prison Vajra pestle itself, it also instantly cracked.

False immortality, millions of light shadows.

The Buddha light treasure wheel suspended behind Ksitigarbha's head almost had the power of an entire pure land world, but the huge Fangtian ghost god halberd just pressed down so strongly, sinking in forcefully, grinding this Buddha light treasure wheel to pieces!

The lightless Buddha clothes draped on Ksitigarbha instantly billowed, like spreading eternal night—but this night was broken by divine light!

True infinite divine power, true endless emperor might!

Ksitigarbha's Buddha body involuntarily shook. And Ji Fengzhou, directly opposite him, held the Heavenly Son's ritual sword in a single hand and resolutely picked upwards—

That folded ritual Buddha palm was thus split open.

Ksitigarbha also faced upward with it.

The dark sky of the entire netherworld great world thus cracked open an unseen end of the sky gap!

Endless divine and ghost qi shuttled through this sky gap. The watching netherworld deities all scrambled out, urgently sewing and repairing the wound suffered by this square great world.

And Ksitigarbha's face, continuously illusioning and changing a thousand hundred kinds of faces, cracked open layer by layer, seeming like one small world after another being divided, finally stabilizing—

Fixing into one thin pale face. In the corner of the left forehead, there was an abnormally complex symbol mark.

That was an uneven metal cube pattern, each face engraved with its meaning unclear tiny symbols.

Ji Fengzhou slightly lifted his eyes. "She Dishēng?"

The fourth Wheel King of Hell's Gate, the symbol genius who defected from the giant city... that She Dishēng who was imprisoned in the Central Heavenly Prison and repeatedly tortured and interrogated for Mohist secrets!

Ksitigarbha actually borrowed his face!

Originally, after the assassination of Ji Yanyuè by Hell's Gate, they faced pursuit from the Central Heavenly Prison. A group of Yamas died or escaped. Only Coroner Wang and Wheel King "long endured examination" in the Central Heavenly Prison, enduring round after round of torture.

And both of them were just used by Ksitigarbha!

Coroner Wang was sent out of the Central Heavenly Prison by Ksitigarbha, thus triggering the later series of events, opening the door for divine heroes to enter Tianjing. Wheel King seemed to directly bear Ksitigarbha's true body!

Ksitigarbha maintained the posture of facing upward, opening that pair of gloomy eyes. "Did not think that the Central Heavenly Son in the hall would actually know a small prisoner deep in the Heavenly Prison!"

Ji Fengzhou's mouth still had traces of black blood, but this did not affect his majesty in the slightest. "From kings, dukes, and generals above, down to guilty prisoners and convicts below, the Heavenly Son cannot help but examine them—"

The emperor's robe under his arm descended, and the Heavenly Son's ritual sword, which had been picked up high, tilted down to chop again. "Did not think your power was already insufficient to support a single Buddha golden body, but needed to borrow a body substitute!"

This explained Ksitigarbha's weakness, and also explained the terror of Ksitigarbha at full strength.

One sword made the world kneel.

This sword directly split open Ksitigarbha's face!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

His golden blood sprayed, surging like a sea, like a river.

His Buddha body fell, seeming to gaze at the already dim Buddha statues embedded in the netherworld sky. Three thousand Buddhas never came, the glorious Buddha world never truly existed.

But as his face split open, his increasingly distant eyes clearly looked at Ji Fengzhou.

And he said, "Desiring to clear the muddy waves of the bitter sea, the people of the world are mostly ignorant. This poor monk is indeed forced!"

And he asked—

"But what about you?!"