Chapter Sixty-six: The Great Treasure of Glazed Medicine

Around the seventh book, the long-absent system notification appeared, bringing joy to his heart. The scripture in his hand instantly turned to dust. A new entry, "Diamond Sutra," had been added to the system interface.

Excellent, on to the next one!

Zhou Bai continued flipping through the scriptures, and after just two more, another system notification appeared.

This time, it was the "Medicine Buddha Sutra."

Unfortunately, after he finished reading all the remaining scriptures, the third system notification did not sound.

Still, he was quite satisfied. Including the "Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva's Fundamental Vows Sutra," three Buddhist scriptures now adorned his system panel—a bountiful harvest.

Although he didn't fully grasp the profound meaning behind these sutras, just reading their titles gave him a sense of their exceptional nature.

Zhou Bai hadn’t expected the system to recognize two Buddhist scriptures. Over the past year or so, he'd gone through dozens, if not hundreds, of martial arts manuals, and only ended up with a single technique for improving eyesight.

Thinking back now, he suspected it had something to do with the origins of Panshan Temple. Monk Sanhuo's background was unclear, but he was undoubtedly a legitimate Buddhist. As the founder of Panshan Temple, the scriptures housed there naturally had authentic origins.

With the Buddhist scriptures now fully catalogued, Zhou Bai prepared to advance his supernatural abilities.

The storeroom was fairly secluded, so he decided not to waste any more time and sat down where he was.

As he gradually focused his mind, the noisy sounds outside faded away, and Zhou Bai soon entered a state of secluded cultivation.

"Medicine Buddha Sutra," "Diamond Sutra."

He tried both, and was surprised to find that apart from the "Medicine Buddha Sutra," which required eighteen points to advance to a supernatural ability, the "Diamond Sutra" needed twenty points—the same as the "Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva's Fundamental Vows Sutra."

Zhou Bai found it hard to imagine that advancing Buddhist supernatural abilities required so many points.

It was likely not just Buddhist scriptures; Daoist orthodox techniques probably required a similar number of points to advance.

To acquire Daoist techniques, he would have to seek out Wen Meng or Daoist Hou. The former was more reliable, but as a proper Daoist, his techniques were not to be passed to outsiders.

The latter was a fake Daoist, but surely possessed some skill, and most importantly, it shouldn't be difficult to obtain Daoist techniques from him.

Zhou Bai had just enough points to advance the "Medicine Buddha Sutra." He was curious to see how a supernatural ability, gained at such a high cost, would differ from those advanced through ordinary martial arts techniques.

He chose to proceed. First, nine points vanished, and the "Medicine Buddha Sutra" reached 100% proficiency.

A flood of Buddhist stories and precepts surged into Zhou Bai's mind. Once he had fully digested these memories, he opened his eyes abruptly.

In that instant, he even mastered Sanskrit. Reading other Buddhist scriptures now, he found their contents no longer cryptic or incomprehensible.

Zhou Bai's gaze flickered; his expression was extremely complex. No wonder Buddhist scriptures consumed so many points—he had actually grasped an advanced Buddhist method: the Medicine Buddha Transcendence Sutra.

Yet, after understanding this method, Zhou Bai felt no inclination to practice it.

Unlike the Daoist progression through refining essence into qi, qi into spirit, spirit into emptiness, and emptiness into unity with the Dao, Buddhism emphasized attaining fruitions and seeking transcendence.

From lowest to highest, there were six fruitions: stream-enterer, once-returner, non-returner, Arhat, Bodhisattva, and Buddha.

If one only pursued fruitions, only those who attained Arhat or higher could transcend the mortal realm; otherwise, one remained no different from ordinary people. Monk Sanhuo must have supplemented his practice with body-refining methods.

Attaining fruition was exceedingly difficult; even a lifetime might not suffice to achieve the lowest, stream-enterer stage.

And the only benefit of stream-enterer was to avoid being reborn as an animal in the next cycle.

For Zhou Bai, there was no reason to pursue something so remote; he was destined to follow a path where myriad supernatural abilities break through all methods. Practicing Buddhist techniques did not suit him.

He then used his final nine points to advance the "Medicine Buddha Sutra."

Unlike his previous experiences, he felt a momentary haze in body and mind.

Then the scriptural verses of the "Medicine Buddha Sutra" circulated in his mind, and a Medicine Buddha appeared before him.

The Medicine Buddha's face was benevolent, his demeanor solemn. In his left hand was a begging bowl, his right rested on his knee, holding a branch of the supreme victory myrobalan fruit. His legs were crossed in meditation atop the center of a lotus throne.

He did not feel compelled to bow in worship; instead, he felt that the Medicine Buddha was himself, and he was the Medicine Buddha.

Suddenly, a flash of sacred light, and the Medicine Buddha merged into Zhou Bai's body, coursing through his meridians, finally settling at the heart—the middle dantian.

Humans possess upper, middle, and lower dantian. The upper dantian is located at the glabella along the Governor Vessel, also called the "Palace of Muddy Pill," the seat of consciousness.

The middle dantian is at the chest, at the Shanzhong acupoint. Now that Buddhist and Daoist supernatural abilities had taken residence, if he later acquired Daoist techniques and advanced them, they would either reside in the middle dantian as the Buddhist abilities did, or in the upper dantian.

The lower dantian is at the Guanyuan acupoint along the Conception Vessel, three inches below the navel, the storehouse of essence. Heterodox supernatural abilities and those of the human path crowd here.

Under Zhou Bai's gaze, the sacred light entered the middle dantian. Inside was pitch black, but with the light's entry, it began to brighten.

After a while, the sacred light gradually condensed and transformed into a lotus flower. Upon its blooming stamen were twelve holes, of which only one contained a green lotus seed.

This seed felt wondrously connected to his very life.

No abnormality appeared in the ghost tree of the lower dantian, but perhaps because he hadn't yet begun practicing demonic Daoist arts, the faint demonic energy produced by his meager "Strength to Bind a Chicken" ability was treated by the lotus as an alien presence and forcibly expelled.

With the Buddhist supernatural ability successfully advanced, Zhou Bai opened his eyes and used inner vision to examine his body's condition. Aside from the lotus flower in his middle dantian, nothing seemed different.

On the system panel, however, a new Buddhist-Daoist supernatural ability had appeared.

Great Treasure Glazed Medicine (1%).

Unlike previous advancements, where Zhou Bai instantly understood the ability's function, this Great Treasure Glazed Medicine revealed nothing at all.

No matter how he probed the lotus flower, it remained utterly still.

He even directed his own internal yin energy toward the lotus. The sacred light dispersed it, but nothing else happened.

He had spent so many points to advance to a supernatural ability, yet had no idea how to use it, leaving him deeply frustrated.

Nevertheless, judging by the mysterious nature of the Great Treasure Glazed Medicine upon awakening, it surely possessed value. At the very least, it could expel foreign energies from his body, which was not entirely useless.

What Zhou Bai did not know was that as he awakened the Great Treasure Glazed Medicine, the entire Buddhist world of the Nine Provinces was shaken.

Ancient Buddhist treasures, preserved for centuries or millennia, suddenly emitted sacred light, pointing southward as if heralding something momentous.

All at once, secluded Buddhist sects dispatched their disciples toward the south, each seeking what they believed to be a stroke of Buddhist destiny.