As the saintly auras of Gu Xiechen and Mo Yuelonggen surged forth, Xuanhuang Immortal Venerable Buddha was in the midst of preaching.

Holding a purple-gold alms bowl formed from the five great Buddha Kingdoms, the Immortal Venerable Buddha stood cheerfully before several monks, earnestly persuading them to submit to his tutelage, abandoning the Amitabha Buddha they originally worshipped. Of course, if these monks could bring some of their own followers to join the sect he was establishing, the merit would be immense.

“Compassionate as I am, Buddha-Lord cares for his disciples above all. If you bring ten followers to my sect, you earn the merit of an Arhat. If you bring a thousand, you become a Bodhisattva. And if you can bring a hundred thousand, Buddha-Lord guarantees you will immediately become a Buddha!” “One thought leads to heaven, one thought leads to hell; as one thought can make a Buddha, becoming a Buddha is clearly a simple matter!”

“Why bother with tedious chanting, vegetarian diets, sitting meditation, and Zen practice? Just bring your followers to join Buddha-Lord’s sect, and you can effortlessly achieve the merit of Bodhisattva or Buddha. Becoming a Buddha or an Ancestor is easy! Once you are a Buddha or a Bodhisattva, you can soar the clouds, live forever, and enjoy the worship of countless followers, with endless beauties and treasures!”

Staring blankly at the flowery, spittle-flecked Immortal Venerable Buddha, one monk, Hao Hao Gu, spiritedly pointed and furiously reprimanded him: “Heretic monk, what nonsense are you spewing? You call yourself a Buddha, yet what kind of Buddha are you? You, you, heretic monk, heretic monk, begone, begone, stop misleading people here!”

“Amitabha, compassionate as I am, why is it that whenever I try to gain followers, I always encounter such things?”

With a slight tilt of his head, the Immortal Venerable Buddha sneered: “Refusing to enter my Buddhist Gate means you are an enemy of Buddha-Lord. Where are the sect-protecting disciples?”

A flash of golden light swept through the void, and tens of thousands of large, stout, fiercely built bald monks, brandishing gleaming precept knives, charged down. The leading monk brought his long blade down in a vicious chop, and the monk who had just shouted at the Immortal Venerable Buddha, Pi Duo Yan, was instantly slain.

The other monks’ bones turned to jelly from fright, and they collapsed onto the ground, unable to move, their eyes locked blankly on the Immortal Venerable Buddha. With a sigh of helplessness, the Immortal Venerable Buddha coldly sneered, “Buddha-Lord is very compassionate!”

One monk shuddered violently and began to scream frantically: “Buddha-Lord is compassionate, Buddha-Lord is compassionate! This humble monk is willing to join the Buddhist Gate, willing to join the Buddhist Gate!”

The Immortal Venerable Buddha smiled, a very happy smile. He reached out and stroked the monk’s head, laughing heartily: “Excellent, excellent. One thought leads to heaven, one thought leads to hell. You are Buddha-Lord’s first disciple on this planet; Buddha-Lord bestows upon you the title ‘Naye Star Convert,’ and you shall also possess the rank of Buddha henceforth, exclusively managing all of Buddha-Lord’s disciples and followers on Naye Star!”

The monk before him was merely at the Golden Core stage of cultivation. The Immortal Venerable Buddha casually sent a stream of Buddhist Qi over, forcibly elevating his cultivation to the Celestial Immortal realm. In this universe, physical bodies are robust, and such forced elevation of cultivation is quite common.

After enhancing the monk’s cultivation, he then taught him the ‘Void-Breaking Convergence Origin Immortal Zen Method’ that the Immortal Venerable Buddha had comprehended over the years, instructing the monk on how to proactively absorb the faith power of followers to boost his own cultivation.

The lineage of Buddhism passed down by Jieyin and Zhunti relied on the followers voluntarily offering their faith power.

However, this Zen method of the Immortal Venerable Buddha only sought results, ignoring the process. On the premise of not harming the followers’ lives, it proactively stimulated the followers with Zen techniques, using a method akin to hypnosis to turn them into the most fanatical disciples, causing them to continuously dedicate massive amounts of faith power day and night.

In other words, the method the Buddhist Gate of Jieyin and Zhunti used to absorb faith power was like a financing company, relying on the voluntary joining and contribution of followers. In contrast, this branch of Buddhist practice under the Immortal Venerable Buddha was like bandits, coercing and scraping the faith power from followers through methods akin to forced confinement.

A single ordinary follower, under the amplification of the Void-Breaking Convergence Origin Immortal Zen Method, contributed a thousand times more faith power than a follower of the orthodox Buddhist Gate!

Traveling across various star regions over the years, the Immortal Venerable Buddha had used all sorts of methods to develop followers, accumulating about one-tenth of the number of followers held by the Buddhist Gate under Jieyin, Zhunti, and Amitabha Buddha. In other words, the faith power provided by the Immortal Venerable Buddha’s followers was more than a hundred times greater than that of the orthodox Buddhist Gate!

Having successfully acquired one disciple, the remaining few monks, under the threat of the Immortal Venerable Buddha’s violent methods, gritted their teeth and joined his sect. The Immortal Venerable Buddha was overjoyed and immediately conferred titles upon these monks as Dharma Protector Bodhisattvas under the Naye Star Convert, casually elevating their cultivation and imparting his Buddhist techniques and Zen methods.

After finishing all this, the Immortal Venerable Buddha solemnly admonished these new Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, who were staring at each other blankly. Those within the Buddhist Gate were most fond of subduing demons and eradicating evil, and the Zen method he taught was, in the eyes of orthodox Buddhist cultivators, nothing less than demonic cultivation and wicked arts!

He kindly told these newly promoted Buddhas and Bodhisattvas: “If you don’t want to be hunted down by Buddhist disciples for eradicating demons, then obediently follow Buddha-Lord! As long as you follow Buddha-Lord faithfully, Buddha-Lord will guarantee your safety.” The Naye Star Convert and the Bodhisattvas felt bitterness so profound it was nearly dripping blood. They stared blankly, recalling the Immortal Zen Method taught by the Immortal Venerable Buddha—this violent method of exploiting followers' faith power, what else could it be but demonic cultivation? What else could it be but an evil art? Once they were on this pirate ship, there was no getting off!

The Immortal Venerable Buddha smiled cheerfully at the group of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who were almost in tears, his heart filled with a sense of accomplishment!

Over the years, he had continuously expanded his following using precisely this method, and the results were not excellent? Every single disciple who joined his fold was loyal, devoted, and extremely steadfast—they had absolutely no retreat path.

Just then, the Immortal Venerable Buddha sensed the saintly pressure released by Gu Xiechen and Mo Yuelonggen. He looked up at the horizon with surprise, his face becoming extremely solemn: “My disciples, you must accelerate the pace of preaching. Quickly seize the territories of the Buddhist Gate, and let Buddha-Lord’s Dharma replace them. Hmph hmph, once all their followers become Buddha-Lord’s followers, let’s see what methods they have left to contend with the High Venerables!”

Far away in the void from the star region where the Immortal Venerable Buddha was preaching, thousands of Tri-Cities of various sizes were floating in the sky.

Countless physical bodies of Tri-Cities controlled by Ducat were busy in the void, piecing together component after component of meticulously crafted Tri-Cities.

On the billions of planets in this sector of space, sewage flowed rampant and toxic fumes permeated the air. All cultivators were either killed by the powerful military force of the Tri-Cities or forced to flee this star space far away.

Through the diligent efforts of Ducat and the countless avatars of Xiao Xiao, the technology in this star space had advanced far beyond that of the ancient Roman people, but the destruction inflicted upon the environment was shocking and appalling. Countless high-tech empires, large and small, fought viciously in this star space, causing even more irreparable damage to nature.

Especially those planets rich in precious mineral resources were mined clean by Ducat’s massive avatars, turning them into desolate, wasteland planets upon which countless strange creatures with forcibly altered genes proliferated, including genetically mutated humans.

These genetically mutated humans were transported in large batches to the cultivator planets in nearby space, where they were paired with the local prisoners, continually giving birth to offspring with bizarre genetic traits. These individuals outwardly resembled ordinary people, but they were forever incapable of cultivation. A thousand years was enough time for these genetically mutated humans to occupy a shockingly large swath of stars.

The Immortal Venerable Buddha was consuming the foundation of the Buddhist Gate, while Ducat was destroying the legacy of the Daoist Gate. If they were allowed to develop unchecked like this for tens of thousands of years, it might become truly difficult to find a single suitable person for cultivation in this universe. Ducat floated quietly in the void, looking down at the busy construction of the Tri-Cities below. “The resources of this universe are too abundant; we have fulfilled our promise to that person.” He paused. “Will he keep his promise to us?” “Xiao Xiao, do you think there is any meaning in continuing to survive like this?” Xiao Xiao stood on Ducat’s shoulder and said nothing. As the auras of Gu Xiechen and Mo Yuelonggen spread over, Ducat’s body visibly convulsed. “Displaying our presence so wantonly—is he preparing to make a move? Xiao Xiao, it is time for us to depart as well. Deliver these Tri-Cities into his hands; he will find them useful.” In the void, countless Tri-Cities began to converge.

In a certain stretch of space, Guo Hua was spewing Corpse Flames, calcining the bodies of the Ancestral Spirit Ju Wei and Jin Bang, along with several hundred other Innate Beings.

The physical bodies of these Innate Deities were the finest forging materials. Guo Hua was preparing to extract the materials from these divine bodies and combine them with the countless ores he had painstakingly collected over the years to cast a Natal Magic Treasure that would satisfy him.

After a thousand years of development, utilizing the shell of the True Yang Sect, Guo Hua had expanded his influence to an astonishing degree.

No one could resist Guo Hua’s fierce assaults; whether through slaughter, bribery, invasion, or instigating infighting to reap the rewards later. In short, Guo Hua had carved out a massive territory within the domain of the Innate Deities, and his fearsome reputation had spread far and wide. Thus, he dared to slaughter hundreds of Innate Deities within his territory for refining weapons without a single one daring to utter a complaint.

While happily forging the Natal Artifact of his dreams, Guo Hua suddenly froze for a moment.

The auras of Gu Xiechen and Mo Yuelonggen traveled from afar. Guo Hua suddenly burst into joyous laughter: “Preparing to make a move? Then, come!” His long hair flew up, and Guo Hua fearlessly released his entire aura.

On the countless large and small planets nearby, numerous Immortals and cultivators soared into the air, converging toward Guo Hua’s location. Guo Hua looked at the many subordinates and disciples he had subdued over the years and suddenly smiled. “Ducat, how many Tri-Cities have you finished building?” “After being stifled for over a thousand years, it is time to make a move!”

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