Chapter 636 — Pursuit Across Realms

The distance from the Buddha Realm to Taihuang Heaven was somewhat greater than Shen Mu had reckoned. Though no passage of time could be felt while crossing the spirit-energy transmigration bridge, the sudden violent shuddering of its stream of light gave them both a sense of foreboding. It meant they had already spent three quarter-hours within the bridge: the power of the divine ability King Buddha Sakra had buried there had erupted and destroyed the spirit-energy transmigration bridge.

And now, before they had even reached the spirit-energy transmigration bridge of Taihuang Heaven, it had been destroyed. Shen Mu had never met with such a thing, and for a moment he was wholly at a loss.

"If the spirit-energy transmigration bridge is destroyed ahead of time, what will happen? " King Buddha Sakra shouted to Shen Mu over the rushing light.

"We are about to find out!

" Shen Mu shouted back.

King Buddha Sakra understood him at once, and his expression changed.

The stream of light began to shake violently; it was the result of the transmigrating energies colliding with one another.

What the spirit-energy transmigration bridge opened was a passage between the Buddha Realm and Taihuang Heaven. As Shen Mu and King Buddha Sakra traveled toward Taihuang Heaven, the energies of the two realms had to remain in balance: a portion of Taihuang Heaven's energy must likewise travel to the Buddha Realm, and the energy transmigrated over had to equal the energy contained within Shen Mu and King Buddha Sakra. But now the Buddha Realm's spirit-energy transmigration bridge had been destroyed ahead of time, so that the stream of light carrying Shen Mu and King Buddha Sakra collided with the transmigrating energy, and thus came the violent shaking.

The energy stream before their eyes flickered with every hue, as though they had entered a kaleidoscope world and were racing through it at furious speed. The energy crashed into them, and wave upon wave of pain shot through Shen Mu's flesh.

The colors were stretched out long, slender ribbons of light forming a flood of a thousand thousand hues. "Will they annihilate each other?

" King Buddha Sakra murmured, his heart pounding in dread.

Amid that many-colored stream, Shen Mu took out his Calculating Soldier and rattled through his reckoning, then shook his head.

"They will not annihilate each other.

Both Taihuang Heaven and the Buddha Realm have lost a portion of their energy, so they will still draw us on toward our respective target worlds; only thus can the balance of the two realms' energies be maintained. Otherwise both realms would be thrown into turmoil. Taihuang Heaven's mass of energy lies on precisely the same path as we do, and so we have collided head-on. This collision of energies must never be blocked with a divine ability; if we resist it, both our momentum toward Taihuang Heaven and that energy mass's momentum toward the Buddha Realm will be canceled out. " "And if they are canceled out? " King Buddha Sakra asked. "Then we shall be stuck with this mass of energy between the two worlds forever," Shen Mu said, "unable to advance, unable to retreat.

" King Buddha Sakra said doubtfully, "From whom did you learn the art of calculation?

Your skill is far from poor.

" Battered by the energy, Shen Mu's flesh ached more and more, and enduring the pain he said, "I once learned the Taixuan Canon of Calculation and the Su Nü Canon of Calculation from men of the Dao Sect.

" "No wonder.

Those ox-nosed Daoists are all remarkable men, but every one of them holds his ox-nose to the sky and looks down on our Buddhist order, calling us a study of the mind, everything proceeding from the mind, while they alone hold the true Great Way of the universe. " King Buddha Sakra laughed.

"Still, their arts of calculation are truly profound. In my early years I met several masters of the Dao Sect who were no weaker than I. " Even as he spoke, the impacts grew fiercer, and Shen Mu could bear it no longer; his flesh might burst apart at any moment.

King Buddha Sakra's body gave off a soft Buddha-light, blocking a portion of the impacts for him. "Now is as good a time as any for you to cultivate my art," he said.

He did not shield Shen Mu completely, but let a portion of the energy strike him, nearly tearing his skin apart. At these words Shen Mu's heart stirred, and he began to try the King Buddha Sakra Sutra. The Wisdom Bead hung at his neck; as he drove the art, a faint Buddha-light appeared behind his head, gently rippling, and the various Buddhist sounds turned into strange runes that merged with his flesh and his primal spirit, even reinforcing his divine treasury, making it ever more solid.

King Buddha Sakra looked at Shen Mu with satisfaction and thought: This fellow has a wicked heart, but his aptitude and insight are not bad at all; he has taken to my art quickly.

He could see that Shen Mu's flesh was improving markedly, and that his primal spirit and divine treasury were growing more solid and powerful, which showed that Shen Mu had much Buddha-nature.

"Were he not a son of the Shen family, I would take him as a disciple. " He had never taken a disciple, and now, seeing Shen Mu's aptitude and insight, he could not help feeling a fondness for talent. Suddenly King Buddha Sakra's face darkened, and he cast that fondness from his mind.

Shen Mu was revising his King Buddha Sakra Sutra, tampering with his art! What teacher could keep any fondness for talent when faced with a wretch who betrays his master and destroys his ancestors, one who begins to alter the art the very moment he has learned it?

The Buddha-light behind Shen Mu's head gradually changed, as though tiny swimming dragons and miniature Buddhas moved within the halo, and the Buddhist sounds now carried the cry of dragons. Before long Shen Mu had altered the King Buddha Sakra Sutra beyond all recognition; one could scarcely tell it was a Buddhist art.

What choked King Buddha Sakra even more was that his art grew more unrecognizable by the moment; as time passed, his art made up a smaller and smaller share of Shen Mu's cultivation, until at last his art had become a mere fraction of Shen Mu's own. "It is fortunate I did not take him as a disciple.

If he were mine, I fear I could not keep myself from slapping him dead with one palm!

" King Buddha Sakra spat out a breath of foul air and thought.

The tide of colliding energy was exceedingly long; in time the impacts grew so great that even King Buddha Sakra found them hard to bear. The collision could not be blocked with a divine ability; if the transmigrating energy ceased to flow, they would be unable to enter Taihuang Heaven at all, and could only endure it with their bodies, which put him at a considerable disadvantage.

The final wave of impacts even began to crack King Buddha Sakra's flesh; his skin split open again and again, turning to ash as though burned, annihilated without cease, yet new skin grew at once, proof that his body had been cultivated to an inconceivable state. Even so, he did his utmost to protect Shen Mu, keeping him from harm in the wild surge of energy.

At the same time he released as much energy as he could to batter Shen Mu's body, pressing him, forcing him to improve himself under the pressure.

At last the final wave passed, and King Buddha Sakra let out a breath and stopped shielding Shen Mu. Just then a faint zither note came drifting in. King Buddha Sakra's expression shifted; he turned quickly and saw the flood of colliding energy that had just swept past suddenly split apart into countless thin, delicate planes.