They arrived at the temple in Indra King Heaven Realm, the palace of Indra King Buddha. This heaven contained many Buddha-countries whose princes and princesses came to venerate and study under this Buddha. Many monks and nuns walked through the temple halls, and when they saw the newcomers, they stepped forward to greet them with respectful bows.
Indra King Buddha waved his hand, dismissing them, then fixed his bright, penetrating gaze on Quinn Shepherd, waiting for his reply.
He was clearly a solitary figure, having accepted no disciples. The monks and nuns living here were likely princes or princesses from those Buddha-countries, who had come to study the dharma.
Although Indra King Buddha did teach them the dharma, he only lectured on occasion, whenever the mood struck him.
Even so, these princes and princesses, though not his disciples, were all highly skilled—their cultivation was no weaker than the Buddha-Children Quinn had slain. This was clearly due to Indra King Buddha’s profound mastery: even his casual teachings were of the highest order.
Quinn Shepherd pondered for a moment, then said, “I can open the Gate of Bearing Heaven and send you into the Netherworld. With your strength, King Buddha, you should be able to cross the gate in the flesh without your Primordial Spirit being taken. However…”
He hesitated, then continued, “However, after I killed so many Buddha-Children earlier, my other self was unsealed. I suspect that other me is now lurking behind the gate, waiting to devour anyone who enters. King Buddha, can you defeat my other self?”
Indra King Buddha blinked, recalling the now-filthy, polluted Great Brahma Heaven Realm. He thought for a moment, then clapped his hands and laughed, “I see. Tu Bo sealed your other self by carving off a piece of Youdu and trapping him inside. Your other self had great magic and tampered with your divine art, so now the Gate of Bearing Heaven connects not to the Netherworld, but to the place where Tu Bo has him suppressed. That means the Primordial Spirits of the ones you killed were intercepted and eaten by him. If I enter Youdu through the gate, I’ll end up in the sealed place, not the true Netherworld.”
Deep within Quinn Shepherd’s third eye, a continent floated—that was a fragment of Tu Bo’s Nine-Bend Horn, refined into a jade-pendant-shaped land. From above, its mountain ranges formed the character ‘Qin,’ and at the very center was a gigantic baby, trapped and unable to escape. Overhead, a great Buddha loomed, faintly visible, suppressing him.
A gigantic infant was imprisoned at the center of the ‘Qin’ character, unable to break free, while a colossal Buddha hovered above, suppressing him from the skies.
The giant infant sat on the ground, stubby arms and legs, and when he vaguely overheard Indra King Buddha’s words, he grew furious, babbling, “Bad guy, big bad guy, I’ll tear off your head and eat you, big bad guy—”
“So that’s how it is!”
Quinn Shepherd suddenly understood, blurting out, “No wonder every time I killed a Buddha-Child, I felt my vitality deepen—it was my other self using the opportunity to devour their Primordial Spirits and break the seal! The increase in my qi was just the surplus he leaked out!”
When he challenged and slew hundreds of Buddha-Children in the Sword Buddha Realm, he’d already sensed something was off: his qi was always at its peak, never depleted, and even kept increasing.
It must have been his other consciousness—Fenix Greenwood Keane—hiding behind the Gate of Bearing Heaven, waiting for the Buddha-Children’s Primordial Spirits to deliver themselves, feasting with delight.
At that time, Quinn Shepherd had kept the Gate of Bearing Heaven open throughout the battle, so all those Buddha-Children’s Primordial Spirits probably ended up in his other self’s mouth.
“Looks like I can’t just open the Gate of Bearing Heaven at will anymore. If I let my other self out, I won’t be able to control myself,” Quinn thought.
Indra King Buddha said, “If I enter the Netherworld through the Gate of Bearing Heaven, I’ll definitely land on that sealed continent. Tu Bo’s seal would suppress even me, plus my senior brother’s seal would press down too. At that point, I might not be able to defeat you. This method won’t work—do you have another?”
Quinn Shepherd considered for a moment, then said, “I can build a World Bridge here and link it to the one in High-Emperor Heaven. That would open a channel between the Buddha-Realm and High-Emperor Heaven, allowing energy to flow and stay balanced. We could escape via the bridge, but to keep the Heavenly Court from tracing us, we’ll need to destroy the Buddha-Realm side of the bridge as we leave.”
Indra King Buddha’s eyes lit up, and he laughed, “That’s easy. I’ll leave behind a spell that will detonate and destroy the World Bridge the moment we’re teleported out of Indra King Heaven Realm.”
“One more thing.”
Quinn Shepherd calculated, “I have backup blueprints for all the World Bridge equations, rune logic, and structural diagrams. But building a World Bridge is a massive undertaking—I don’t have enough materials or skilled artifact forgers on hand.”
Indra King Buddha smiled, “Just give me the blueprints. Building it won’t be difficult for me.”
Quinn Shepherd took out pen and paper. “I’ll list the materials we need—King Buddha, please gather them.”
He wrote quickly, soon filling over a dozen pages with material requirements. Indra King Buddha glanced over them—the types were few, but the quantities were enormous.
“We have most of these in Indra King Heaven Realm. I’ve stockpiled some, but we’ll need to take the rest from the treasuries of the Buddha-countries.”
Indra King Buddha immediately departed. “You get the blueprints ready—I’ll notify the Buddha-countries in Indra King Heaven Realm to send in the required materials.”
Quinn Shepherd pulled out his backup blueprints from the Glutton Dragon Pouch and stacked them together.
It was a habit he’d developed over many years—always keeping extra copies. He and Black Tiger God had co-designed the World Bridge, and because the blueprints were so valuable, Quinn had copied a set for storage in the Glutton Dragon Pouch.
Besides the blueprints Quinn kept here, the Imperial Preceptor of the Everpeace Empire also held a copy—another habit built up over years.
Before long, Indra King Buddha returned and saw the towering wall of blueprints, and was startled. “This many?” he exclaimed.
Quinn Shepherd laughed, “King Buddha, if you’ll pass me your Indra King Buddha Sutra, I’ll study it first while you look over the blueprints. Once the materials arrive, we can start building the World Bridge.”
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Indra King Buddha eyed the blueprints, a bit intimidated, then tossed Quinn a thin booklet. “This is my Indra King Buddha Sutra. You study it—I’ll tackle the blueprints.”
Quinn Shepherd flipped through it—barely ten pages. “That’s all?” he blurted.
“My method comes from the heart. I don’t care for endless doctrines—I seek words as precious as pearls.”
Indra King Buddha added, and with a thud dropped a mountain of Buddhist scriptures before Quinn Shepherd. “These are commentaries on every pearl-like word in my method.”
Quinn Shepherd gazed up at the mountain of books, his head spinning. He glanced at the young Buddha, while Indra King Buddha looked at the wall of blueprints and then turned back to him.
Quinn Shepherd ventured, “King Buddha, if we end up hurting each other, I doubt either of us will make it out of the Buddha-Realm alive.”
He pulled a dozen pages from the blueprint wall. “This is the main structure of the World Bridge. Once you forge the core, I can help inscribe the runes with you—it’ll be much simpler that way.”