Chapter 1011: The Mysterious and Unfathomable Tofu Heavenly Lord

"Tofu Heavenly Venerable?"

The young monk was greatly startled as the being inside the sword recounted its past. This was indeed an extraordinary existence. He racked his brain for a long time but still couldn't recall any ancient mighty being associated with the words "Tofu."

"Alas, so be it. It seems even I cannot escape the fate of being nameless to time." The Tofu Heavenly Venerable sighed deeply, unsure if he was lamenting the mercilessness of time or reminiscing about a carefree era.

"It's just a pity that my karmic ties are too profound. If I were to appear in this world, I fear it would trigger a cataclysmic immortal war, reducing even this small Western Heavens Temple to ruins.""Th-then what should I do?" The young monk trembled with fear, not expecting that a sword he casually picked up would involve so many matters, anxious not to touch upon any major karma.

"For now, I reside within this immortal sword precisely to diminish my karmic ties. As long as you, little monk, do not reveal my existence, nothing will happen.""That's good, that's good! My lips are sealed; I'll never reveal anything about you, senior," the young monk quickly assured.

"That would be for the best." With that, no more sounds came from the sword, leaving it unclear whether the Tofu Heavenly Venerable was simply disinclined to speak or had fallen into a deep slumber.

Knowing the origins of the Tofu Heavenly Venerable, the young monk dared not be negligent, nor did he entertain the thought of abandoning the immortal sword. He carefully carried it and tiptoed back to his meditation room.

The meditation room featured a large sleeping platform for six or seven people. The young monk quietly found a clean, long strip of cloth, wrapped the Azure Peak Sword in it, found his spot, and placed it beside his pillow before finally lying down to sleep.

"Xinding, why were you in the latrine for so long last night?" a companion asked as the young monk dressed after waking up in the morning. His companion had been half-asleep the previous night and couldn't recall exactly how long the young monk had been gone, just that it felt like a long time.

"Amitabha, monks do not lie," the young monk replied."So?""So I cannot say," the young monk stated seriously. He absolutely could not reveal anything about the Tofu Heavenly Venerable, or it would lead to the destruction of the Western Heavens Temple. Now, he bore the heavy responsibility of saving the temple.

"Huh?"

After waking up in the morning, the young monk dressed, ate a light breakfast, attended morning lessons to chant scriptures, and then, along with the other chore monks, carried water, chopped firewood, and swept the courtyards. Only after completing all these tasks did he sit in meditation.

"Young monk, are you practicing visualization?" The Tofu Heavenly Venerable's deep, ancient voice came from within the immortal sword. The Tofu Heavenly Venerable noticed that the young monk had a cultivation foundation, likely around the fifth level of Qi Condensation.

In front of the young monk was a yellowish Arhat Subduing Demons diagram. He was visualizing this diagram to stimulate his divine sense. The cultivation world commonly used visualization to enhance divine sense. Meng Jingzhou's method of constantly suppressing instinctive impulses to grow divine sense was practiced by very few.

The young monk was immediately startled and looked around, realizing that neither his meditating senior and junior brothers nor the deacon uncle-master had heard the Heavenly Venerable's voice.

"Stop looking. This is a divine sense transmission; others can't hear it."Only then did the young monk reply, "Yes, Heavenly Venerable."

"This is the most basic visualization diagram. To obtain better ones, you need to contribute to the temple and exchange them with merit points."The young monk smiled shyly, "But this Arhat Subduing Demons diagram is already very good. It's said to have been passed down from ancient times."

The one in the young monk's hand was naturally not an original, but merely a reproduced copy of an ancient visualization diagram."Does something like this even qualify as a visualization diagram?" The Tofu Heavenly Venerable shook his head, scoffing at the young monk's visualization method.

"Since you have encountered me, it shows that you are fated to. I shall impart to you a true ancient visualization diagram, so as not to bring shame upon me later should word get out." The Tofu Heavenly Venerable used his divine sense to imprint an image directly into the young monk's mind.

"What is this?!" The young monk closed his eyes, and the Tofu Heavenly Venerable's divine sense imprint appeared in his mind. It was a golden divine dragon soaring between heaven and earth, a born sovereign, far more majestic than any true dragon image the young monk had ever seen in books. When the divine dragon frowned, celestial lightning filled the sky, as if heaven and earth themselves changed according to its will.

"This is one of the five founders of your Buddhist sect. I had several encounters with him. This visualization diagram can be called the Yinglong Visualization Diagram."One of the five founders of the Buddhist sect! The young monk's heart intensely trembled upon hearing these words. Wasn't the founder of Buddhism the World Honored One? How did it become five in the Heavenly Venerable's mouth?!

When the young monk visualized the Great Venerable Yinglong, he found that the stimulating effect on his divine sense far surpassed that of the Arhat Subduing Demons diagram! Generally, the stronger the figure in the visualization diagram, the greater their impact on the world, and the more their deeds were related to the cultivator's technique, the better the visualization effect would be.

Such a good effect indicated that the true dragon in the visualization diagram was connected to Buddhist dharma and held an incredibly high status within the Buddhist sect! It truly was one of the Buddhist founders! The young monk increasingly found the Tofu Heavenly Venerable unfathomable; the simple gift he received completely overturned his understanding.

"May I ask, Heavenly Venerable, what exactly is the situation with the five founders of the Buddhist sect?""Your cultivation is too low; it is not yet time for you to know the secrets of ancient times.""Yes," the young monk replied.

From the perspective of visualization, Lu Yang was also performing visualization, but he was visualizing a living person, the Immortal Fairy, rather than a diagram. This meant Lu Yang was constantly visualizing, so his divine sense naturally far surpassed that of his peers.

"By the way, I still don't know your name, young monk.""This humble monk is Xinding, a chore monk from the Chore Courtyard.""Subduing the heart-ape to stabilize the universe—a good Dharma name."

With the unfathomable Tofu Heavenly Venerable bestowing an ancient visualization diagram, the young monk Xinding felt his divine sense cultivation progress by leaps and bounds, experiencing an unprecedented sense of ease and rapid advancement.

Several days passed in succession, and Xinding's divine sense grew increasingly powerful. His entire spirit, energy, and vitality underwent changes, though the other chore monks, who were around him daily, failed to notice these subtle transformations.

One day, after finishing his visualization, Xinding stepped out of the meditation room when suddenly a small stone flew towards him, aimed directly at his forehead. Xinding sensed it and deftly dodged by tilting his head.

"Xinding, junior brother, your reflexes have certainly improved in the past few days, haven't they?" several chore monks sneered, the leader still clutching a few stones in his hand."Oh, it's Senior Brother Xincheng," Xinding replied indifferently, as if unaware that Xincheng had deliberately thrown stones at him. This made Xincheng feel like he was punching cotton, unable to exert any force.

"It's Xincheng, why is he here?""Don't you know? The Warrior Monk Courtyard's selection is approaching, and he's going around snatching merit points to exchange for items to prepare for it!""I also heard that he knows a senior brother from the Warrior Monk Courtyard, who gave him a partial diagram of the 'Fragrant Elephant Crossing the River'.""What?! A partial diagram of the 'Fragrant Elephant Crossing the River'? That's a visualization diagram we couldn't afford even if we worked as chore monks for half our lives!""Yes, it seems Junior Brother Xinding is in trouble."