Chapter 99: The Origins of the Dao, the First Hearing of the Primordial Heaven and the Otherworld
This mysterious stone city, which has existed since ancient times, has only one gate on the east side for entry and exit.

In front of the huge city gate that was hundreds of meters high, Hua Tian stopped in his tracks.

He turned around and looked at a certain void behind him, and said lightly: "Come out, the special fluctuations in the void cannot be hidden from my perception."

As soon as he finished speaking, a faint vortex appeared in the void a hundred meters away, and a ball of five-colored divine light emerged from it.

"Om~"

The ball of five-colored divine light shone so brightly that even Hua Tiandu’s divine eyes could not see through it.

Two breaths later, the divine light dimmed, revealing the true form of the five-colored divine bird, except that there was an extra stone scepter in front of it.

The scepter was simple and plain, and overall rough, like a branch, but with the unique texture of stone, it seemed to have a sense of returning to nature.

"Could it be a magical weapon left behind by the Stoneman King?"

Hua Tiandu was shocked and quietly became more alert.

"Human race from outside, why do you want to invade my Bodhi Territory?"

A clear girl's voice was heard in the five-colored divine light. It was obviously the five-colored divine bird speaking.

"Let your Excellency know that I did not mean to offend you. I just made a mistake while traveling through time and space, and ended up here by accident." Hua Tiandu explained as he walked cautiously to the side of the city gate, paying attention to all movements around him.

"So that's how it is..." The five-colored divine bird retracted its light and descended on the earth. She controlled the scepter at her side and slowly walked a few steps closer, as if expressing something.

"Just now, with the help of the power of this stone staff, I saw clearly that there is a mysterious talisman in your body. It is the condensation of your whole body's essence. I think what you have taken away should be some extremely special cultivation system?" The five-colored divine bird asked lightly, without revealing the slightest emotion.

She looked at Hua Tiandu who was secretly on guard, and her words suddenly became softer. She said, "Your realm is low, but you are able to travel through time and space, break through the barriers of other realms, and come to this world of death. You must be from some superpower."

"If my guess is correct, you should be from another world, and you must be the direct descendant of a certain stone king. Only there can you cultivate young talents like you who practice a special system."

While guessing, the five-colored divine bird stared at Hua Tiandu's face closely, paying attention to his emotional fluctuations.

After she finished speaking, she realized that although Hua Tiandu remained silent, his emotions were very stable, so she secretly thought that her guess was correct.

The five-colored bird took a few steps closer and put away the stone staff, as if to show its goodwill. "Before I was reincarnated into this world of death, I was a disciple of a giant in the prehistoric heaven. I am also very close to fellow Taoists from other worlds."

She walked forward slowly, gradually approaching Hua Tiandu, and said with a smile: "Speaking of which, our two families are still allies, so there is no need to be so hostile to each other."

Faced with her goodwill, Hua Tiandu suddenly took out the Three Immortals Talisman from his arms. Although this talisman had lost its combat power, it still released the immortal aura.

"Sir! Please stop!" He held the Three Immortals Talisman in front of him and shouted loudly.

Faced with the supreme aura released by the Three Immortals' Talisman, the Five-Colored Divine Bird finally stopped.

This made Hua Tian feel a little relieved.

Thanks to his great spirit, he noticed the abnormality of the five-colored divine bird early on.

On the surface, this divine bird seemed to be expressing goodwill step by step, but in fact, she was pretending. Secretly, she had been accumulating murderous intent, especially when mentioning the other world.

"You are wrong, sir. I am not from the alien world you mentioned, and the Tao I practice does not come from that alien world." Hua Tiandu explained, and even made the natal talisman in his body appear in his hand.

"Although my way is special, it makes no difference to you or to all living beings in the heavens and myriad worlds."

"Because I am the only one walking this path. There is no other cultivator in the world who walks the same path as me!"

After saying this, Hua Tiandu took the initiative to activate the talisman in his hand, causing it to shine brightly, and even revealing a corner of the formation inside.

"This is... entering the Dao through formations!" The Five-Colored Divine Bird explained Hua Tiandu's path of cultivation based on his own knowledge. "This method of cultivation is quite unique."

She secretly recalled her past experiences. Whether it was from her own master or other giants in the heavens, she had never heard of this kind of practice system.

"Although there are many different methods in the other world, I have never heard of such a system of 'using formations to enter the Dao'..."

After hesitating for a moment, the five-colored divine bird began to believe Hua Tiandu's words.

“Even if you are not from another world, I will not harm you for no reason.” The Five-Colored Divine Bird took a few steps back on its own initiative, “So that you know, those fire creatures that besieged you before were not ordered by me, but were caused by the unique rules of this place.”

She turned slightly and looked at the towering stone city in front of her, and the murderous intent in her heart began to dissipate.

"Any fire creature that comes from that source river will be planted with a certain 'mark'. This mark will drive the host to actively attack outsiders who accidentally break into this place."

"Only a super-evolved person like me can sense the mark in my body and actively erase it and return to normal."

After hearing these explanations, Hua Tian nodded thoughtfully. In fact, when he searched the souls of those fire creatures before, he also checked the bone structure of these fire creatures and indeed detected that kind of mark in their bodies.

However, he did not believe all the words of the Five-Colored Divine Bird, but asked: "Then why did you take the initiative to attack me before?"

Faced with this question, the five-colored divine bird fell into a brief silence.

She took out the stone staff again, took a defensive posture, and said, "You are an outsider with unknown origins. You have swept away all my subordinates and become the resources for practicing magic. It is not surprising that I attacked you, both emotionally and rationally."

Having said that, everything that happened is explained clearly.

“In that case, it’s all misunderstanding that has led to the conflict between you and me.” Hua Tiandu smiled slightly and put away his natal talisman and the Three Immortals Talismans.

He looked at the stone staff in the hands of the divine bird and thought it would be better to shake hands and make peace with the other party. He immediately said, "My name is Hua Tiandu, I am from the human race, and I come from the Yuhua Sect of the Xuanhuang World. May I know your name?"

Faced with his proactive show of goodwill, the five-colored divine bird hesitated for a moment, as if wondering which world the "Xuanhuang World" was.

In the end, although she did not come up with an answer, she put away the stone staff and said slowly: "I am now the ruler of this Bodhi Realm and this Stone City."

"As for the name..."

After hesitating for a few seconds, she finally said, "In my previous life, my master named me Shenxiu, and because I was born into the Qingluan clan, I took the character 'Qing' as my surname."

"Qing Shenxiu...what a good name!" Hua Tiandu muttered the name softly, and then looked at the elegant five-colored divine bird in front of him, and felt that the two were very compatible.

"Speaking of which, I have offended you before, please forgive me, Fellow Daoist Shenxiu." He bowed deeply, as if to express his apology. "Fellow Daoist Tiandu, you don't need to apologize. I didn't know the reason before and I hit you. I was also wrong. We are even now. There is no need to mention it again in the future. Do you think this is a good idea?" Qing Shenxiu was sensible and followed Hua Tiandu's wishes and directly agreed to make peace.

"That's great!" Hua Tiandu's joy was beyond words, causing Qing Shenxiu in the distance to chuckle.

"Haha, being able to turn hostility into friendship with fellow Daoist Tiandu has relieved a lot of my worries." Qing Shenxiu implicitly expressed his fear of Hua Tiandu.

"Don't worry, Taoist Shenxiu." Hua Tiandu smiled and took the opportunity to express his own plan, "To be honest, Taoist, I am planning to leave here. I wonder if you can give me some advice?"

He thought that as the king in charge of this place, he must know how to go out.

"Alas, you miscalculated." Facing Hua Tiandu's request, Qing Shenxiu sighed, "There is a way out, but with your cultivation level, I'm afraid you will die on the way."

"What do you mean?" Hua Tiandu asked.

"The way out is within this stone city. If you trust me, why don't you follow me into the city and take a look." Qing Shenxiu made an invitation and flew towards the gate of the stone city first.

Looking at Qing Shenxiu who was leading the way ahead, Hua Tiandu glanced vaguely at the stone city beside him, and finally made a decision and chose to enter the city.

Passing through the tall city gate, he came to the interior of the stone city.

The city is very spacious and there is no clutter. There is only a towering sacred tree in the center, which is very conspicuous.

"That's a stone tree!" Hua Tiandu was secretly shocked, and for a moment, many thoughts came to his mind.

Qing Shenxiu, who was standing by, noticed where his gaze was and explained, "This stone tree has existed since ancient times and is extremely mysterious."

She led Hua Tiandu to the front of the stone tree, then stretched out a pair of bone wings and placed a five-colored wing on the trunk of the stone tree.

The stone tree in front of us occupies the center of the stone city, as if foreshadowing something.

The trunk of the stone tree is very thick, and it probably takes several people holding hands to hug it, blocking most of the view ahead.

The roots of the stone trees are integrated with the foundation of the stone city and cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Hua Tiandu sent his spirit out with a tentative attitude, but he couldn't sense the roots of the stone tree, and even the foundation of the city couldn't be penetrated.

Only then did he notice that the foundation of this stone city was seamlessly integrated and was made of a strange black magical stone that could not be penetrated by any spiritual power.

He looked up and saw that although the pillar tree had turned into stone, it still had lush branches and leaves, and its huge crown blocked out the starry sky, preventing the moonlight released by the red moons at the end of the sky from penetrating.

‘Da da da~’

Hua Tiandu, who had been standing behind Qing Shenxiu, couldn't help but step forward for the first time. He stretched out a hand and spread his palm to touch the trunk of the stone tree.

A cool feeling extended along the arm to the brain nerves and even to the sea of ​​spiritual consciousness.

"This stone tree can bless understanding and wisdom!"

After a brief feeling, Hua Tiandu noticed something unusual.

"I think you have also felt the magic of this stone tree." Qing Shenxiu, who was standing aside, looked at the slightly dazed Hua Tiandu and expressed his own opinion, "I learned from the previous city lord that this is a Bodhi tree, a sacred tree that can enlighten wisdom and enhance understanding."

"This sacred tree was revered as a sacred object by the ancient Buddhists. It is the companion of the Buddha, the supreme power of Buddhism."

Hearing this, Hua Tiandu had some doubts, "Buddhism? Buddha?"

He remembered that although there was Buddhism in the world of immortality, there were only two famous strong men, Buddha and Bodhidharma, and in this timeline, they might not have been born yet.

Nowadays, what is the story behind this so-called ancient and powerful Buddha of Buddhism?

Perhaps seeing Hua Tiandu's confusion, Qing Shenxiu explained in detail, "Buddhism has a long history. Although its inheritance has declined in the heavens and myriad worlds, it was glorious in ancient times."

"According to my master, in ancient times, a supreme king emerged and founded Buddhism. In order to spread the so-called Dharma, he established the Buddhist sect."

"The so-called Buddhist sect is a convenient door. No matter what force or what world a cultivator comes from, as long as they meet the Buddhist standards, they can join the Buddhist sect and become a disciple of this great Buddhist master."

"At that time, there were powerful people from all over the world who, in order to obtain the inheritance of this Buddha, did not hesitate to lower their status, worshipped in the Buddhist sect, and served the Buddha with their bodies."

"But later, for some unknown reason, an unprecedented war broke out in the heavens. It lasted for tens of thousands of years and involved countless major forces."

"In that war, Buddhism was besieged by an equally powerful force and was completely destroyed."

"It is said that during the war to destroy Buddhism, countless important figures in the Buddhist sect turned against their own disciples and the Buddha."

“Of course, there were some disciples in the ancient Buddhist sect who were lucky enough to escape this catastrophe. After the war, they fled to the heavens and myriad worlds below the heavens. This is why some Buddhist teachings are still spread in many lower realms today.”

……

Listening to Qing Shenxiu's narration of his past experiences, Hua Tiandu had a vague feeling that the timeline he was in now was still countless years away from the birth of Xiao Chen.

In order to clarify the doubts in his heart, after Qing Shenxiu finished telling about Buddhism, he took the initiative to ask: "Fellow Daoist Shenxiu, you were born in the prehistoric heaven, and you are a disciple of the king giant. I wonder if you can tell me the situation in that other world in detail?"

"Also, do you know of a lower world called 'Jiuzhou'?"

Hearing this, Qing Shenxiu took a deep look at Hua Tiandu, and then asked tentatively, "Oh? Fellow Daoist Tiandu, have you heard of Jiuzhou?"

"The founder of my Yuhua Sect, Yuhua Zhenjun, once had an old relationship with Pangu King of Jiuzhou. He once briefly mentioned the affairs of the other world and Jiuzhou in the sect's book 'All Worlds'."

"It is said that these two great worlds each have so many supreme kings that they cannot be counted on one hand. They are the great worlds second only to the Primordial Heaven Realm, and they are the most proud of all the heavens."

"However, it is a pity that these two worlds have had countless grievances since ancient times and have never gotten along. The ancestor once predicted in the book that one day these two worlds will have a battle to decide who will be the winner in life and death."

As he was talking, he noticed that Qing Shenxiu beside him suddenly became depressed.

"The life-and-death battle between the Other World and Kyushu has already happened..."

Qing Shenxiu's tone was deep, as if he was recalling some events from his past life.

(End of this chapter)