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"Amitabha Buddha, all beings suffer, all beings toil, why persist in such misery..."

Watching the two entangled in schemes, the Buddha’s face was laden with sorrow, even shedding golden tears that fell to the ground, making the surrounding earth seem steeped in sadness due to his compassion.

"The suffering of man lies in desire. When the toxins of greed, anger, and ignorance seep into the organs, even divinity cannot save them. All beings... they simply fail to understand this principle. If they did, how could such a catastrophic crisis emerge in this world?"

The melancholic atmosphere spread across a ten-mile radius, even the wind blowing around seemed to carry a mournful cry.

"That disgusting fellow—there he goes again, lamenting with his revolting rhetoric."

High above in the heavens, Ziwei looked down at the sorrow-faced Buddha below with a cold expression, her gaze filled with disdain.

She wasn’t alone in her scorn; the Three-Eyed God General behind her shared the same sentiment.

Both of them were well aware of the sorrowful Buddha’s identity.

The Past Buddha, one of the three great Buddha Lords of the Buddha Kingdom.

His background was extraordinary; he was a prominent figure in the Central Federation back in the day.

If not for his intervention, even Old Liu would never have achieved such great honors—let alone Elder Long, who had to yield respect when faced with him in the Central Federation years ago.

But after entering ’the game,’ this old man had taken on a rather extreme perspective. Then again, one could argue that the inheritance of the Past Buddha was inherently extreme; it was nearly impossible to attain it otherwise.

"His theory reeks of rot: a world devoid of desire, where there are no wants, no needs, thus no killing. Everyone abides by the laws of heaven and earth: vegetarians eat plants, carnivores eat meat. The vegetarians don’t fear being consumed because they’re just part of the cycle of life and death.

Carnivores will eventually return to the earth as well.

Everyone’s equal—it’s just a matter of who goes first and who follows. "

"If meat-eaters refrain from taking more than they need, and vegetarians rid themselves of fear, satisfying only their basic needs, then resentment would disappear from this world. All living beings would return to simplicity. The crisis of the fourth version would naturally be resolved. A place devoid of spiritual energy wouldn’t attract the attention of the Demon Statues.

Investing so much effort to come to this world would no longer be worthwhile. "

"Such cowardly rhetoric!" the Three-Eyed God General sneered coldly.

The greatest merit of this world lies in the fact that everything has a path to ascension.

Weak demons have it, weak humans have it.

Even the humblest humans, who are harvested as fodder by demons in every era, still produce a small few who shatter their racial limitations, ascend to the transcendent, and even rise to become kings.

No matter if it’s the Heaven’s Court, the Demon Realm, or that insidious Buddhist Temple, there are native humans who have climbed to their level of existence.

Among the Divine Generals under his command alone, nearly ten were once native human beings.

These accomplishments were earned through unyielding struggle—a testament to the beauty of life breaking free of its shackles.

And yet that bald old fool’s philosophy seeks to reduce all living beings to perpetual servitude.

Born into subjugation, staying submissive, never resisting, never striving.

Even those like us—if we simply lay low and allowed spiritual energy in the world to diminish, lifeforms would cease to evolve.

Then, through a cycle of reincarnation, everything in the world could be controlled, sidestepping the threat of those Demon Statues from outer space.

He had always scoffed at such an approach—it was nothing but escapism.

Let’s not even discuss whether the method would work. Even if successful, the only reason those so-called Demon Statues wouldn’t come would be because they deemed this realm worthless. They’d spare no effort because it held no value, but... doesn’t that simply hand the initiative to the enemy?

The enemy could choose not to come because there’s no value here, or they could pass by and casually crush everything anyway. Could they not?

Like ants by the roadside, life and death are often beyond their control. Perhaps they’re fortunate to encounter someone who’s indifferent toward them and survive by chance. Or perhaps they’re doomed to meet a careless child who wishes to torment them—then what can they do?"

"I can’t believe Old Liu would actually let him loose," Ziwei sneered coldly. "I thought Old Liu used to be quite wary of him?"

In the Buddha Kingdom, the Past Buddha had his own faction, while Old Liu had been grooming the Future Buddha all this time—essentially creating opposing camps within their ranks.

Throughout the previous era, the Past Buddha was almost entirely absent from the scene. Some even speculated he might have perished due to internal conflicts. No one expected his return this quickly in this cycle.

"Is Old Liu not afraid that, with too much activity, this man could amass an unstoppable force?"

To this, the Three-Eyed God General had a different perspective. "Perhaps... Old Liu intends for someone else to eliminate him?"

"Eliminate him?" Ziwei was taken aback. "What benefit does that bring Old Liu?"

"Quality trumps quantity when it comes to troops; the same applies to power structures. The Past Buddha holds views that conflict with Old Liu’s. His forces often cause more hindrance than help. Instead of constantly being on guard, why not abandon him outright?"

"Do you believe... Chen Qing could take him down?" Ziwei asked with a sly smile.

The Three-Eyed God General, who had faced Chen Qing in combat on numerous occasions, held tremendous admiration for him.

"Perhaps..." The Three-Eyed God General looked at the scene below. "It might not even require Chen Qing!"

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"My good sir, this is your third attempt!"

"Isn’t it because of your restrictions?" the King of Qin retorted icily. "If you’d just let me have my way and eliminate those trusted aides in one fell swoop, then restart reincarnation one final time, I could pinpoint Ali’s location already!"

The Buddha fell silent again at these words.

The technique of the Past Method relied on the law of reincarnation to conduct space-time reconstitution. Within its scope, all things could reincarnate afresh. But now he faced two major issues.

First... the Space-Time Jade that originally belonged to him was lost, drastically reducing his control over this divine skill.

Second, this law had certain innate weaknesses.

With each cycle of reincarnation, the burden of causality grew heavier.

The visible effect of this was that the greater the changes made, the heavier the karmic backlash he would bear.

When the King of Qin failed earlier, it simply reverted to the original outcome of the first attempt.

If the second attempt produced the same outcome as before, it’d impose minimal strain on the Buddha.

However, if the outcome were altered—and the greater the change—the greater the karmic load on the Buddha.

Killing Ali represented a massive distortion of causality. If, after that, another cycle was required, followed by yet another substantial alteration in causality, the burden on the Buddha would reach its limit.

Not only was he far from fully recovered, but without the Space-Time Jade in his possession, to undertake double the karmic toll as suggested...

He remained silent. There was no mutual trust between them. The Buddha feared the King, and the King was skeptical of him as well.

This younger man’s capacity for destruction was no less formidable than Chen Qing’s in the past.

Proceeding with caution was the wisest course.

"My good sir, you still have two more attempts. If you fail by then, our cooperation ends here."

The King of Qin furrowed his brows at these words.

Even he hadn’t anticipated that the fox could disguise herself to such perfection. Across three opportunities, she had deftly exploited the moments he replaced Tian Liang each time, with no error whatsoever...

He hadn’t thought he’d suffer so many setbacks at the hands of this little vixen!

"I’ve got you now!"

A calm yet imposing voice rang out again, and the King of Qin’s expression turned unspeakably grim. It seemed extreme measures were now his only option.

Admitting it pained him, but in terms of sheer observational acumen, he may not match up to her. Sometimes, recognition of one’s limits was unavoidable.

No other choice remained...