Nexus Ascension: My Comprehension Defies the Heaven Chapter 638: The Seed Of Self-Doubt

What he found made his face twist with displeasure.

A group of Buddhist disciples sat in a circle, their cultivation far weaker than his own, yet they radiated a peace that he had never achieved.

For some reason, seeing this scene and the setting around him made pride surge through his heart.

"How can these lesser beings meditate so close to me?" he muttered under his breath. "Do they not know who I am?"

However, he soon shook his head.

What was he thinking? How could such a negative emotion have appeared in his mind?

He began chanting fervently as he suppressed the feeling and returned to his meditation.

More eras passed.

The monk sensed another disturbance and opened his eyes once more.

This time he found a young woman sitting in deep meditation, her spiritual energy extremely pure and bright.

Others had gathered around her, praising her talent and dedication.

Seeing this, the golden-robed monk was reminded of his time in the Buddhist Sect.

"Why do they praise her?" he thought bitterly. "I have been meditating for countless eras, yet no one acknowledges my dedication. Am I doing anything wrong?"

He closed his eyes and forced the feeling down.

But like before, it didn’t leave him.

More time passed.

A conflict erupted among the Buddhist followers, two factions arguing over the interpretation of sacred texts.

The monk watched as violence broke out, as disciples who should have been peaceful turned on each other with hatred.

Wrath filled his heart.

"Fools!" he wanted to scream. "You call yourselves Buddhists yet you fight like animals!"

He did not intervene, but the anger stayed with him.

It was the first seed of chaos, and once that seed formed, everything else went wrong.

One day, the monk opened his eyes to see a pillar of light shooting into the sky.

BOOM!

A being nearby achieved enlightenment.

The monk felt it happen. He sensed the surge of power as someone else from this world attained what he had been seeking for countless eras.

He watched as the being became an Arhat, as State Power formed around them.

He watched as they left this world, ascending higher beyond the concept of this realm.

Seeing this, the emotions he had bottled up in his mind erupted.

"What is this...?"

"Someone achieved enlightenment before me?"

"Huh? Is this perhaps a joke?"

"I was here first!" he roared, his composure completely broken. "I have meditated longer than anyone! How is it that I didn’t make it? How is it that someone else achieved enlightenment before me?!"

His fists clenched so hard that energy glitched from his palms.

In that fit of anger, his powers began fluctuating violently.

Then, he remembered the words of Ji Gong.

"This realm holds the blessing of the Buddha."

His eyes widened with sudden realization.

"Doesn’t that mean there was an opportunity for enlightenment here?" he whispered. "Perhaps Ji Gong was telling me about this after all?"

"That’s right. I need to find that opportunity. It must be here somewhere." His eyes filled with determination.

Hence, he began his travel, searching through this Buddhist Land for the Blessing of the Buddha.

In the end, he found it.

It was a stupa that had suddenly surfaced in this realm.

Without hesitation, he entered it.

Inside, he found an urn and Buddhist statues, all of them chanting sacred scriptures in endless harmony.

"This..." The monk’s eyes widened in delight.

"This is it! This must be the blessing! Enlightenment! Yes! I am close! Finally!" Intense emotions flooded the monk’s face as he stared at the place.

Then, it twisted into sudden rage.

For some reason, the chants he heard made him restless and uneasy.

That restlessness and unease immediately became rage.

Instead of granting him calm and peace, the sound grated against his ears, reminding him of the enlightenment he could not achieve and of his failures.

BOOM! The exact moment those thoughts formed in his mind, corruption began forming around his body, dark energy seeping from his skin.

The chamber shuddered as his power fluctuated wildly.

"SHUT UP! STOP IT! MY HEAD HURTS!" He clutched his head as his figure glitched.

"I said shut up!" he screamed.

BOOM!

With that scream, his form twisted and changed.

His skin turned a deep crimson, his body growing larger as extra arms burst from his torso.

His face contorted into something monstrous, teeth sharpening into fangs.

He had fully transformed.

From the appearance of a human into that of a Demon.

The golden-robed monk had become an Asura!

Madness flashed across his face as he raised his many arms.

The next moment, he cut down every single Buddha statue that had been chanting, and one by one, the Buddha heads fell from the statues.

The chanting finally stopped, and the Asura immediately calmed down.

However, it wasn’t over.

BOOM!

Then the urn at the center reacted.

Dharmic light shot out from its surface, golden energy that pierced through the corruption surrounding the newly born Asura.

The Asura turned to face it, his eyes burning with greed.

"This is it! Ahaha!"

"It will be mine!" he roared. "His remains! I must have them and achieve enlightenment!"

He charged toward the urn with all his power.

"I will become the first enlightened Asura!" he screamed. "I will make a new path! Hahahaha!"

But the urn’s Dharmic power was absolute.

Golden light overwhelmed the mad Asura, his body beginning to dissolve into smoke.

But the Asura was a fighter.

His own powers clashed with the power of the urn, creating sparks and phantoms.

Phantoms of ugly creatures began wrecking havoc inside the stupa.

Some even flew toward the Buddha heads that had fallen from the statues, mounted them, and the Buddha heads’ power began coursing through the phantoms, turning into real creatures that then combined forces to attack the urn.

But the power of the urn was absolute.

BOOM!

Dharmic Force surged in full force as it swept its power across the place, completely stopping everything in its path.

The Asura lost the battle in the end.

The Asura’s screams echoed through the chamber as he was sealed into the urn, his existence trapped within the sacred vessel.

But things were not over. The Asura might have lost the battle, but the war was still not over.

Grey watched as the urn began to corrupt rapidly.

Red energy began bleeding through its surface as it shuddered rapidly.

The Asura was not dead; he retained his consciousness and was battling the power within the urn!

Countless years passed.

The realm around the stupa started dying.

People fell where they stood, their life force draining away.

The paradise withered and cracked, and the golden clouds above began turning into ash.

Then the area around the stupa shattered completely, and the world began to fall.

It fell through a huge barrier and straight into a place with infinite specks of light.

It plummeted down into the endless reality!

The fragmented realm merged with the Chaos, turning into a Chaos Realm.

At the same time, a lone figure appeared in the corrupted chamber.

Ji Gong.

He stood before the urn with his wine gourd hanging at his side, his expression sad.

"Time truly plays a joke on people," Ji Gong said with a heavy sigh. "The seed of self-doubt, once taken root, is the hardest to clear."

He shook his head slowly.

"You failed the quest for enlightenment, my friend."

He turned away from the urn.

"If fate wills it, we shall meet again."

And then he vanished.

Grey’s vision cut off completely.

He was back in the real world, standing in the stupa with the headless Buddha statues around him.

But he wasn’t alone anymore.

Every other faction had arrived.

Members of the Mind Collective clutched their heads in agony, their psychic abilities overwhelmed by the power around them.

The Throne Alliance forces knelt on the ground, their faces twisted with pain.

Elder Tharos himself grimaced, his Higher Realm power struggling against something unseen.

The Eternal Dominion was in a similar condition, High Lord Vaeros roaring with frustration as dark energy crackled around his body.

And the urn at the center of it all now gleamed with violent red energy, corruption pulsing outward in waves.

Lyris stood beside Grey with a pale face.

"That vision just now," she said in shock. "I also saw that. What was it, Elder?"

Just as she asked that, she turned around and saw the state of the other factions.

Then her eyes went wide.

"Father!" she exclaimed.

Among the Celestial Covenant members who had arrived, she spotted a man in elegant white robes, his silver hair matching her own.

Patriarch Aurelius of the Celestial Covenant clutched his head, corruption spreading across his skin.

"Grey, it’s the Asura." The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao’s voice rang out urgently. "He’s trying to get out."

"I know." Grey ignored Lyris’s concern and replied to the Fragment while staring at the urn.

He could sense the immense corruption pouring from within.