Twilight Leaf looked on in shock as a golden glow subtly covered Qing Tian and a huge Golden Buddha appeared behind the young man.
With widening eyes, Twilight Leaf felt like his eyes were about to bulge out of his face as he looked at the Golden Buddha behind Qing Tian.
'It's the highest attainment of Buddhism! Only a Deified Buddha could summon the Golden Buddha! Who's this young man?!'
Twilight Leaf had lived for about 400 years and had always lived with the ideology that only the Buddha race could summon the Golden Buddha when they achieved enlightenment. Yet now, that ideology was being challenged by a young man that's not even a Buddha.
He could even feel that the young man before him wasn't even at the rank of Duke, yet he was so strong that he, a King rank, was forced to sit down with a simple word.
"You really disappoint me Twilight Leaf, I had given the Buddha Race many millennia to fix their problems in their ideology and choices, yet you all continued to disappoint," said Qing Tian as he looked down at Twilight Leaf. "You all deviated from the original path and you continue to forsake the name of Buddha."
Twilight Leaf kept quiet as he listened to Qing Tian, however, this wasn't a choice. Qing Tian's 'Golden Buddha' was suppressing Twilight Leaf and prevented him from speaking at all.
Qing Tian glared at Twilight Leaf and casually slapped down at Twilight Leaf.
Behind Qing Tian, the Golden Buddha mimicked Qing Tian's action and slapped down to Twilight Leaf with it's massive golden hand.
The space around the golden hand began to shake from the tremendous force that the simple golden hand was exuding.
Crack!
The ground underneath Twilight Leaf couldn't handle the pressure from the golden hand anymore and slowly began to break apart. The lotus also couldn't sustain the pressure any longer as it slowly wilted and turned to ash.
However, even whilst all this happened, Twilight Leaf was being forced to remain sitting up as he bore the pressure from the golden hand without any protection.
Twilight Leaf closed his eyes in resignation as he awaited his impending death as he felt his bones slowly break down.
A second passed…
Two seconds passed…
One whole minute passed and the death Twilight Leaf expected never came.
Opening his eyes slowly, Twilight Leaf's gaze slowly fell upon the young man that sat in the air before him. Just as he was about to ask why he was spared, Twilight Leaf noticed Qing Tian open his mouth.
"You will now lead the remaining Buddha through the True Path of Buddhism. Lead them through the path of benevolence and the sins of your race will be pardoned by your ancestors," said Qing Tian slowly as his eyes began to glow in a golden color. "Fail to restore the name of your ancestors and your race will find itself in Purgatory for the rest of it's existence."
Twilight Leaf gulped and ignored the pain in it's body after hearing Qing Tian speak up to that point.
After having said that, Qing Tian reeled back in his powers and let Twilight Leaf off the hook. He watched as Twilight Leaf gasped for air in pain.
Despite being of the King rank, Twilight Leaf's strength was very weak. It showed that he had completely sped through his Duke rank. Making his overall power very low and ruining his foundations.
Because of that, Twilight Leaf's regenerative powers were extremely slow and he had to support the agonizing pain for almost a whole hour. His body slowly repaid all of it's bones that were turned to dust from the strong pressure from earlier.
Twilight Leaf had fallen from his Lotus seat and was squirming on the ground with a red face as his bones slowly repaired themselves.
"Argh!" groaned Twilight Leaf as he slowly lifted up his plump body filled with sweat.
Qing Tian sighed and shook his head in a disappointed manner, "Take that as a lesson to never rush the process of strengthening your genes."
Twilight Leaf lifted his head with difficulty before subtly nodding, "Y-yes, senior…"
Although Qing Tian wasn't of the Buddha race, he had shown to Twilight Leaf that he had attained enlightenment in the ways of Buddha. Because of this sole reason, Qing Tian was considered to be Twilight Leaf's senior.
Twilight Leaf wouldn't have accepted Qing Tian as his senior even if Qing Tian had attained enlightenment in the way of the Buddha, why? Because Qing Tian had shown Twilight Leaf immense strength that overshadowed that of the Half-Deified rank.
'I'll soon make him pay for this…' groaned Twilight Leaf in pain as he glared at Qing Tian with a heart full of grievances.
Qing Tian ignored that look on Twilight Leaf's face which wasn't even hidden properly. In fact, Qing Tian encouraged him when he showed Twilight Leaf a look of disdain to make him even angrier.
'You…' Twilight Leaf felt his anger build up and he could only hold back his anger in order to not infuriate this terrifyingly powerful senior in front of him.
Clicking his tongue, Qing Tian looked down on Twilight Leaf arrogantly, "Pitiful young man, you're wasting your precious time on such an insignificant King rank which isn't even complete and is very weak."
Splat!
Twilight Leaf coughed up blood as he looked up at Qing Tian with red eyes.
His anger finally reached it's limit and he could only vomit blood. From being tormented to having his bones crushed to eventually even belittling the hard work he spent on increasing his strength. Twilight Leaf collapsed on the ground, raising his head to look at Qing Tian with very tired eyes.
"Tsk tsk… see what I mean. Your King rank is so weak that you collapsed from just listening to me speak. The Buddha race will collapse at this rate under your guiding hand," said Sora as he shook his head in fake disappointment. Lifting his head to look at Twilight Leaf in the eyes, Qing Tian smiled benevolently and a Golden Buddha appeared behind him to make him seem more benevolent than he really is. "Make sure to head into seclusion to fix that problem of yours. In the meantime, I will take care of the Buddhists and strengthen their bonds with one another as I help them reclaim their former glory from many millennia ago."
'You're a complete stranger! I can't just hand these over to you!' is what Twilight Leaf wished to say, but at this moment he couldn't even say a single word because of his internal damage caused by coughing up blood from immense anger.
"Quick, get out of my sight and focus on repairing your foundation," said Qing Tian as he shooed away Twilight Leaf into seclusion.
Twilight Leaf could only look at Qing Tian in pain as he was slowly pushed out of the monastery and forced to go into seclusion.
'I'll make sure to return and make this young man repay me for this humiliation,' thought Twilight Leaf before finally disappearing into a dark room with nothing in it but a mat and some candles.
Once Twilight Leaf was sent away into seclusion, Qing Tian smiled and went over to the nearly destroyed pink Lotus that was floating in the air.
With a wave of his hand, Qing Tian sent his Heavenly Saint energy out towards it, fixing it and basking it with golden light, slowly making the pink Lotus golden.
Now with a Golden Lotus that can survive as his chair, Qing Tian felt satisfied as he jumped on the Golden Lotus and rode it.
Left alone inside the monastery, Qing Tian began to work.
"Blue Sea," said Qing Tian, calling to the young Buddha that was standing outside the monastery.
Moments later, a young and muscular bald man walked into the monastery before laying eyes on the figure on top of a Golden Lotus. His eyes went wide and he fought hard to not drop to his knees and begin chanting as he felt a strong urge to chant scriptures after feeling Qing Tian's presence.
Qing Tian smiled and just watched the young man struggle.
It was just a couple of seconds and the young man was already sweating profusely. Qing Tian knew that this young man didn't wish to chant scriptures in the presence of a stranger that appeared not that long ago. Not only that, but the stranger wasn't even a member of the Buddha race.
Qing Tian nodded in appreciation of the young man's strong will before bringing in his presence so that he could have a talk with the young man.
"Blue Sea," said Qing Tian after the young Buddha had enough time to relax and recover.
Blue Sea focused on Qing Tian, the man on the Golden Lotus, and answered warily, "Y-yes?"
"Twilight Leaf has gone into seclusion, passing on the leadership to me," said Qing Tian, not explaining why Twilight Leaf suddenly went into seclusion.
Freezing at Qing Tian's words, Blue Sea eventually nodded in a timid manner, "Amitabha!"
"Relay this news to every Buddhist," said Qing Tian as he floated forward on the Golden Lotus toward the outside.
"Y-yes!"
Blue Sea quickly walked out and went on to tell everyone that Qing Tian was going to step in for Twilight Leaf whilst he went to seclusion.
Just like this, Qing Tian had taken the Buddha race under his command, making them listen to him. Although they were currently not much, soon they could become a great asset.
Up above on his Golden Lotus, Qing Tian looked down at the various Buddhists that were chanting scriptures when they felt his Buddhahood emanate from his body and cloak the atmosphere in the presence of a True Golden Buddha.
Sighing, Qing Tian felt like the next couple of days might be a pain since he never liked leading huge groups like this. He was fine with a small group, like the time he worked under Genryusai and took care of the Onmitsukado (Ninja-like group that focused on assassinations and collecting information).
'Should I convert them right away?' thought Qing Tian as he looked at the many enthusiastic Buddhists.
Convert.
In this context, converting didn't mean changing their ideology or religion over to something different, but just to bring them over under his 'absolute' rule.
What Qing Tian was planning to do was to use a technique called,
If Qing Tian really tried, he could even purify someone's energy and genes and they would receive a permanent boost in power and strength from having their energy and genes become extremely pure with not a single blemish of impurity.
Usually, using this would cause a great change in someone's personality since emotions like fright, anger, and even nervousness are considered negative. Subjects would always come out either serious, calm, or happy.
Most of the time they even convert to Buddhism and start chanting scriptures on the spot. This was a good thing for Qing Tian if it did end up happening since the energy they collect from chanting is directed into his cultivation and he would advance even faster.
In the case of this Buddha race, they would all just be good natured and follow Qing Tian like if he was Buddha himself.
"Okay, let's do this," Qing Tian mumbled.
Standing up on his Golden Lotus, Qing Tian spread his arms wide and gathered his energy within him.
Looking over the Buddhists one last time before he purifies them with Great Buddha's Light of Purification, Qing Tian remembered the poor Buddha that won't be affected by this purification, Twilight Leaf.
'Not like this will be of benefit to him either way,' snickered Qing Tian after thinking that Twilight Leaf will only get stronger under the motive of revenge, a typical antagonist shortcut.
"Purify!"
Once that word came out of Qing Tian, the world turned silent and the sky was completely dyed in a golden light. High above in the sky was a simple word;
Purify.
This word seemed to contain all the wisdom and logic of the world as it bathed every Buddhist in it's golden light and purified each and every Buddhist.
Every Buddhist got louder as they continued chanting scriptures, their energy rising through the roof in an instant and all that energy suddenly nosedived straight to Qing Tian.
Before the energy hit Qing Tian, nodded in amazement, 'Hmm, interesting.'