The Tathagata asked calmly, "What is right?"
"What is wrong?"
Chen Nan's eyes burned with killing intent. "Killing you is right."
"Letting you live is wrong."
A hint of disdain flickered in the Tathagata's eyes. "Those who could kill this monk are long dead. How can you, with your mere presence, kill me?"
Chen Nan: "So, the reason you allowed Six-Eared Macaque to replace Sun Wukong was because you wanted to become the Lord of the Three Realms?"
The Tathagata's voice boomed like thunder. "Only the Dharma can illuminate the Three Realms." With that, he raised his massive palm and crushed down towards Chen Nan. Golden Buddha light illuminated the heavens and earth, an unstoppable force that shook the very foundations of reality.
Before this colossal Buddha hand.
Chen Nan was as insignificant as an ant, utterly minuscule.
"Old Tathagata, do you truly believe that all the Saints in heaven are already dead?" Chen Nan roared. "Perhaps they have perished, but their will endures, eternal and inextinguishable."
Accompanied by a thunderous roar, dazzling rays of light erupted behind Chen Nan. Within these rays appeared projections of Saints.
The ancient Saint in green, the one-armed ancient Saint, and other figures that brought tears to Azure Dragon's eyes and made the celestial gods tremble with excitement.
These were the deceased Saints.
They gazed at the Tathagata with indifferent eyes. One ancient Saint raised his hand, summoning wind and clouds. A Saint's power tore through the firmament, pierced the Tathagata's palm, and splattered a mist of crimson blood.
Even with an incorruptible Dharma body, the Tathagata struggled to resist an ancient Saint.
After piercing the Tathagata's palm, that Saint's power soared towards the annihilated void in the ninth heaven, accelerating its destruction.
Tathagata: "Chen Nan, the grand destiny of the Three Realms is already lost. You cannot possibly save it." As he spoke, he looked up at the ninth heaven. A terrifying Buddha light enveloped all the Buddhas, soaring upwards as if to lead the Buddhist disciples away from this place.
Chen Nan: "You wish to leave without my permission?"
His voice thundered.
Simultaneously.
Everyone was shocked to discover that the annihilated void above their heads instantly transformed into a clear blue sky, giving everyone the sensation of being transported to another world.
Not only that, but the alien demons let out piercing screams, their physical forms dissolving into black demonic qi and disappearing one after another from the face of the earth.
This scene caught the celestial gods completely off guard.
They had no idea why this was happening.
Of course.
The high-level cultivators of Western Buddhism were also stunned.
They were shocked to discover that all their magical powers had vanished.
They were like ordinary mortals, and not only that, but their bodies were also rapidly aging.
"Flipping the heavens and earth, is this your divine ability?" The Tathagata's eyes revealed a unprecedented solemnity, never expecting Chen Nan to possess such terrifying strength.
"Divine ability?" Chen Nan shook his head. "No, this is the New Three Realms, my world."
After traversing the Starry Sky Ancient Road and receiving the blessings of those ancient Saints, his world had rapidly expanded. Whether it was the underworld, the earth, or the mortal realm, the area of these Three Realms surpassed its original boundaries.
He could not emulate Empress Nuwa's act of mending the heavens.
However.
He could absorb the Old Three Realms into his world.
"Why can you create worlds? By what right can you create worlds?" The Tathagata roared, unable to accept this reality.
Azure Dragon coiled above Chen Nan, its voice booming. "Because he understands compassion more than you, and cares more about the lives and deaths of all beings!"
"Although you speak of compassion constantly, compassion is never just spoken."
"Tathagata, you are actually very clever. You know that the heavens will inevitably collapse sooner or later."
"However, you chose to flee, to evade responsibility."
"Your gaze is only for your Western world, and you never care about the lives and deaths of beings, nor their suffering."
"Otherwise, the position of the new Lord of the Three Realms would not have fallen to Chen Nan!"
"That position should have been yours."
"You have disappointed the expectations of those Saints."
"This is all just a trick of the eye!" The Tathagata's eyebrows were furrowed in fury, his body erupting with Buddha light that illuminated the entire world.
Chen Nan's eyes were calm, as if discussing a trivial matter. "My woman once asked me what my dream was."
"I replied: Peace throughout the land."
"Now, I wish to change my answer."
"If my dream is peace throughout the land, then before that, there is another wish: No Buddha in the world."
With a deafening boom.
A terrifying power of world destruction engulfed the Buddhist disciples behind the Tathagata, causing their physical bodies to instantly turn to ash and scatter with the wind, vanishing into the heavens and earth.
Even before this power of world destruction, the Tathagata's expression became one of agony. He wanted to resist, he did not want to die, but this power was too great.
It was beyond his capacity to bear.
"No!"
"I have already attained Buddhahood. My body is indestructible, eternal. How can you destroy my Dharma body?"
"What power is this?"
"The power of heaven and earth cannot be this formidable."
Chen Nan: "The power of all beings!"
---
The Tathagata vanished from the world.
Only the Daoist sect remained in this world.
However.
A new ascetic monk appeared in the world.
He carried a staff, wore simple yet spotless robes, his face filled with compassion, and walked the world with a white dog, saving beings and alleviating suffering.
He was named Ksitigarbha.
The former King of Hell who guarded the eighteen levels of the underworld.
Although Chen Nan detested Buddhism.
He detested certain inactive individuals.
But Ksitigarbha was a person worthy of respect. He died to save the underworld. The world needed such dedicated individuals.
Therefore.
Chen Nan inscribed his name on the Pillar of Merit.
Of course, Chen Nan also inscribed the names of others on the Pillar of Merit: Nangong Wan, Yu Fei, Meng Kuo, Qin Hongyu, and his teacher Cao Rufeng, who taught him formations in the Immortal Realm.
These were all important people in his life. Except for Meng Kuo and Qin Hongyu, the others had died for him.
Even Meng Kuo and Qin Hongyu had died defending their inner principles.
Both by reason and by emotion, they deserved to live again.
In addition, Chen Nan rebuilt the Heavenly Court and returned the Pillar of Merit to the Hall of Merit.
Then, having accomplished his mission, he retired and returned to the mortal world.
The celestial gods had long since returned. From now on, they would be responsible for maintaining the order of the Heavenly Court and the survival of the Three Realms.
As for him...
Having toiled for so long, couldn't he live a normal person's life?
Couldn't he enjoy himself?
---
Three years later.
On a nameless island, a man wearing swim trunks and a conical hat sat leisurely by the sea, fishing.
Li Mu walked over from a distance and looked at the fish Chen Nan had caught. He smiled and said, "You've got quite a good catch!"
Chen Nan said proudly, "With my skills, what fish can't I catch?"
Li Mu placed a sack beside him. "Here, I brought you some gifts."
Chen Nan turned and looked, then frowned. "Are you sick? Why did you get me so many goji berries?"
Li Mu sighed. "I know your promise to your women, that you wouldn't use any magic on Earth."
Chen Nan asked, "And then?"
Li Mu gestured towards the distant sea. "Look, they're all coming to find you. Don't you need to supplement your health with some goji berries?"
Seeing several speedboats approaching, Chen Nan's skin crawled, and his face filled with anger. "Li Mu, you son of a bitch, did you tell them where I was hiding? Please, be a decent human being."
Chen Nan was scared.
He had been scared a month after returning to Earth.
So many women, completely disregarding his well-being, constantly exploiting him.
Although he had once dreamed of such a carefree life, there had to be a limit to everything.
He couldn't be worn down to nothing.
As a result, that month had been a blur.
Then he found an opportunity to escape. He had changed many places over the past three years, but they always found him.
Every time they found him, it was accompanied by a lashing and mistreatment.
But he never expected.
He had been discovered even after escaping to this isolated island in the sea.
"No, I can't let them see me." Chen Nan hurriedly dropped his fishing rod and plunged into the sea in front of him.
As long as they didn't find him, he wouldn't be exploited, and he could find a new, unknown place to live in anonymity.
But just as he entered the sea, a submarine appeared. The Empress, dressed in a bikini, smiled at him through the submarine's window, giving him a flirtatious look.
Chen Nan was stunned. He had finally been discovered by them!
The romantic debts he had accumulated in the past would eventually have to be repaid.
He surfaced and said to Li Mu, who had a look of schadenfreude on his face, "Can we negotiate something?"
Li Mu smiled. "Speak."
Chen Nan was on the verge of tears. "Buy me more goji berries..."