Chapter 136: Buddhist Sword Art, Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands

The Celestial Immortal maiden, dressed in form-fitting plain Daoist robes, with almond eyes and peach-blossom cheeks, appeared before Ye Rong once more. She bowed gracefully, then spoke in a voice as sweet as sticky rice: “Fellow cultivator, having slain demons with decent cultivation, you ranked one hundred and fifty-seventh among all Trial Disciples in the Minor Formless Realm. Please draw your reward.”

Ranking outside the top hundred didn’t surprise Ye Rong at all. Like that Player who commanded the sun-wheel Magic Treasure in the Minor Formless Realm, if he had survived, the number of demons he slew would certainly have placed him above Ye Rong. Players with that level of power from the Kunlun Sect, Ye Rong believed, wouldn’t be numerous, but there definitely were some.

And then there were figures like the Four Stewards of Kunlun. With their strength, if they re-entered the Minor Formless Realm, their rank would almost certainly be high each time, far surpassing Ye Rong.

Besides, even Ye Rong himself hadn’t fought to his absolute limit. Major area-of-effect Dao Spells like Arctic Ice Crystal Prison and Water Flows Ever Eastward hadn’t been unleashed. If they had, he could have easily slain a thousand more Rakshasas. However, after the spells ended, he’d likely have shared the same fate as that Player with the golden sun-wheel treasure.

A panel of varied reward options spun rapidly before Ye Rong’s eyes, leaving only streaks of afterimages. He couldn’t make out any details.

After ten breaths, the spinning options suddenly stopped by themselves. An ancient-looking Dao Scroll fell out with a soft plop, landing in his hands.

The title page of the scroll was inscribed with a line of Sanskrit. The scroll itself radiated a calm, peaceful, benevolent, and bright aura. Yet, hidden deep within was a faint trace of sharp Sword Qi and colossal killing intent.

Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art, Buddhist Sword Art, twenty layers. Slays demons, destroys evil, the fierce Buddhist guardian.

“It’s actually a Buddhist Sword Art!”

Ye Rong held the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art in his palm, turning it over several times. He clapped his hands together decisively and immediately began learning it.

This was his first Sword Art apart from the Qingcheng Sword Art.

Within Far Shore, the Buddhist giants weren’t few. Their peak combat power gathered together wouldn’t be inferior to that of the Daoist or Demonic Sects; it might even surpass them. However, none seemed to truly open widely to accept disciples and teach. Those accepting many disciples were mostly third-rate Buddhist sects. The revered Eminent Monks and Abbesses whom everyone truly acknowledged required extremely rare and incredible fortune affinity for someone to become their disciple—

Among Ye Rong’s Innate Attributes, his Fortune Affinity was exceptionally high. This was part of why he managed to become a disciple of the Demon-Subduing True Lord, Jiang Shu. If someone with very low Fortune Affinity had coincidentally met Jiang Shu in the Endless Forest Sea and completed the quest, they’d probably only have gotten a Magic Treasure as a reward.

But high Fortune Affinity also resulted in his Comprehension and Five Elements attributes being very low. Low Comprehension meant the success rate when learning Life Professions would be much lower, making it harder for him to raise his profession Level compared to average Players. Low Five Elements meant that leveling up Five Elements Dao Spells would require significantly more experience than someone with higher Five Elements.

Each of the five Innate Attributes played a crucial role, and deficiencies in any would bring significant drawbacks.

From what he’d seen, Buddhist disciples were very few. At least, Ye Rong hadn’t encountered a single Player monk throughout his time in the game. He hadn’t even witnessed any Buddhist Dao Spells.

This Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art didn’t specify that only Buddhist disciples could practice it. The fact that it existed as a trial reward in the Kunlun Mountains, a Daoist Buddhist Sect’s Minor Formless Realm, was itself very odd.

Buddhist cultivation arts—whether mental cultivation methods, Dao Spells, or Sword Arts—were fundamentally different from Daoist techniques, following a completely separate path. Having finally encountered one without faction restrictions, his intense curiosity led him to practice it immediately.

Anyway, he got it by stumbling through the Minor Formless Realm. Ye Rong didn’t place too much value on it.

Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art, current Layer: First Layer, Experience required: 6000.

Ye Rong moved the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art onto his Dao Scroll cultivation slot. He was eager to learn the difference between Buddhist Sword Arts and Daoist Sword Arts.

Once his main Level was higher, practicing the early layers of basic Sword Arts like this wouldn’t take much time; it could be completed in moments.

Within the Kunlun Mountains, the number and variety of Monsters surpassed those in the Endless Forest Sea outside Qingcheng; it was more comprehensive. Ye Rong didn’t venture deep. He just found several groups of Level 40+ Monsters and slew them one after another, allocating all gained experience to the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art.

The first layer of the Sword Art was achieved in the blink of an eye after killing just two monsters, allowing him a glimpse of the wonders of the Buddhist Sword Art.

Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art, Layer One achieved. Flying Sword damage +20. Extra damage bonus against evil, demonic, or unorthodox beings: +20%. Players slain by this Sword Art cannot gain any Dao Scroll experience for one day. NPCs take longer to respawn—delayed by one day.

“Such unique properties! It’s tailor-made to be the nemesis of Demonic Path cultivators!”

The Immovable Wisdom King represents Buddhist punishment for slaughter, clearing obstacles, and suppressing demons. Its properties reflected this perfectly. Even ignoring future Derived Dao Arts derived from this Sword Art, these traits alone meant Ye Rong would hold a significant advantage against Demonic Path Players.

As a member of a Righteous Sect, facing Demonic Path Players was almost unavoidable. Even if Players wished to ally and avoid pointless conflicts, the System wouldn’t allow it.

Therefore, within Far Shore, a Faction could have members from different Sects, but having members from different alignments (Righteous/Demonic) would be disastrous; it couldn’t last long.

The System Deity surely issued large-scale quests periodically to both Righteous and Demonic sides simultaneously. The goal was to eradicate Players of the opposing side, offering rich rewards that were impossible to refuse. Enticed by these offers, even if you wished to avoid the endless chaos, you’d be swept up by the masses. When your friends or you yourself got killed by an enemy faction Player, fighting back became inevitable.

Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art, Layer Two achieved… Layer Three achieved… Layer Four achieved…

In under half an hour, the layers of Ye Rong’s Buddhist Sword Art shot up quickly, and he successfully achieved the fifth layer.

After equipping the full Rainbow Set and adding the Shangqing Blessing Token, his experience gain rate increased by fifteen percent. His leveling speed was already much faster than the average Player.

Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art, Layer Five achieved. Finally, the first Derived Dao Art appeared—his first Buddhist spell.

Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands, obtained upon achieving the fifth layer of the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art. Summons illusionary hands of Kasyapa to seize treasures or suppress evil unorthodox beings. Has a fifteen percent chance of successfully grasping Flying Swords of Rank three or below.

After reading its properties, Ye Rong realized Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands was fundamentally the same as the Divine Grasp innate to his Rainbow Set gear. Their function was identical.

This left Ye Rong slightly disappointed. He’d heard Buddhist Derived Dao Arts were supposed to be unique and highly practical.

“I’ll search the Forum again. I remember seeing an experience post there last time by a strong Closed Beta Player. It was about Buddhist Players, so it didn’t have much attention, and very few people replied.”

It had been a while, and he’d forgotten most of the post’s content. He needed to read it again.

Fortunately, he remembered the keywords, making the search easy. He found the post right away.

Even during Closed Beta, there were hardly any Buddhist Players. Besides the extreme difficulty of becoming disciples under those Eminent Monks or Abbesses, most Players weren’t willing to shave their heads in-game – it would definitely affect chasing pretty girls. There were only a handful of posts about Buddhism; he couldn’t possibly have mistaken it.

…

“Oh! So the Dao Arts derived from Buddhist Sword Arts can stack if similar Dao Arts are learned through other Sword Arts? They combine to form a Derived Dao Art capable of future advancement?”

Ye Rong carefully read through the experience post, absorbing much knowledge.

For basic Sword Arts like the Qingcheng Sword Art, only the Derived Dao Art appearing upon the completion of the twentieth and final layer had the potential for further upgrades. Anything before that merely served a transitional role. By the time one reached Level seventy or eighty, they’d become useless.

For example, skills like Sword Aura Protection. By the time Ye Rong equipped a Seventh-Rank Flying Sword, one strike could shatter all such protective auras. Non-upgradable Derived Dao Arts were always temporary, unable to accompany a Player long-term.

Derived Dao Arts were different. Though upgrading their level was incredibly difficult, the possibility existed.

The brilliance of Buddhist Sword Arts lay in stacking Derived Dao Arts. Say Ye Rong now had Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands from the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art – that represented the first layer of power. If he then practiced the Bodhidharma Sword Art and also obtained the Kasyapa’s Thousand Hands Dao Art, they could stack, becoming a layer two effect.

While there was no formal way to individually enhance each Derived Dao Art, a similar result could be achieved by learning different Sword Arts that grant similar Dao Arts.

This was because the mental cultivation methods and Sword Arts of the Buddhist School contained many Derived Dao Arts that shared similar or even identical purposes. This contrasted sharply with the Daoist School, which boasted countless strange and varied Derived Dao Arts, each unique without duplication.

“But that person also said there are only so many Buddhist Sword Arts available. Therefore, the power increase achievable through stacking the derived arts is somewhat limited. Compared to Daoist Sword Arts, each has its pros and cons, neither can completely overpower the other.”

Nevertheless, Ye Rong was in a pretty good mood. In the post, the Immovable Wisdom King Sword Art was rated as one of the three most practical Buddhist Sword Arts. Mastering it fully promised profound and miraculous power.