KyokaSuigetsu
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Chapter 66: Me as Shuhu? For Real?!
🕑 Added 2025-05-01 12:02:26 +0000 UTC[Combat Prodigy (Blue)]: Possesses extraordinary talent in hand-to-hand combat, capable of easily mastering various fighting techniques and even improving them to significantly enhance their effectiveness.
[Robust Physique (Green)]: Your body has been exceptionally strong since childhood, nearly immune to illness. With minimal training, you can develop a powerful physique.
(Note: Similar enhancement effects cannot stack.)
Seeing all the options displayed by the system, Solon's gaze sharpened.
Not a single white-tier perk. Aside from the beginner benefits, there were even two rare purple-tier perks. Just these small details hinted at the considerable difficulty of this scenario.
Solon's eyes then landed on the golden-tier perk.
'Pharmakon's Favored'—it didn't list any stat bonuses at all. It was purely a character background trait, but what a background it was.
To make the famously selfless Yaoshi act with such favoritism, this character must be extraordinarily special.
The only figure Solon could think of who fit this description was Shuhu, hailed as the strongest Emanator of Abundance.
Even before Yaoshi became an Aeon, Shuhu was already their disciple, often sitting with Yaoshi atop snowy mountains to discuss philosophy.
After Yaoshi ascended to Aeonhood, they granted Shuhu greater authority over the Path of Abundance, making him the most powerful Emanator of Abundance.
So this simulation was about replacing Shuhu?
Solon couldn't help but find it absurd. In the last scenario, he was part of the Hunt faction, killing Abundance followers. Now, in the next scenario, he was on the Abundance side, about to fight the Hunt.
What was this damn system trying to do? Teach him to see things from another perspective?
If he was replacing Shuhu, he immediately understood the challenge of this scenario.
Originally, Shuhu died a scripted death—blown up by Baiheng using a bomb疑似 made from the Sui Emperor's remnants.
Avoiding this fate wasn't hard. At the time, Shuhu held the upper hand: Teng Xiao was critically injured, and the Quintet were either trapped or wounded. As long as he didn't get cocky and took a few hostages, Baiheng's suicide attack would be unlikely to succeed.
The real difficulty was that Shuhu had been too arrogant, repeatedly leading Abundance armies to attack the Xianzhou. By now, he was probably on the Hunt's kill list.
If the Xianzhou Alliance decided to throw everything at him like they did when he was a Borisin, he wouldn't stand a chance.
To counter the Xianzhou Alliance, the disorganized Abundance factions wouldn't be enough.
But even the sturdiest fortress could be breached from within. After carefully studying the perk descriptions, Solon quickly thought of a solution.
Perhaps because the perks were higher quality this time, the system still only allowed two selections.
Fortunately, he wasn't a newbie anymore—he already carried several powerful perks.
When it came time to choose, Solon didn't hesitate to pick the sole golden-tier perk first.
This wasn't the time to show off. At this difficulty, a golden-tier perk was essential.
Next, Solon immediately dismissed [Unbreakable Body (Purple)] and [Robust Physique (Green)].
With [Indestructible Golden Body], a golden-tier perk, other low-tier physical enhancements were redundant. Since effects couldn't stack, their value plummeted.
[Combat Prodigy (Blue)] was also passed over.
If it had been red or golden-tier, he might have considered it.
A blue-tier combat perk offered too little power. Even with it, he couldn't take on the Xianzhou Alliance.
Finally, between [Silver Tongue (Purple)] and [Shameless (Blue)], Solon chose the former.
Aside from its higher tier, [Silver Tongue] was key to his plan.
If the Xianzhou Alliance was unbreakable from the outside, he'd make it collapse from within.
For example, the endlessly resurging Yaoshi Heretics lurking within the Alliance would be a great asset.
As for [Shameless], while it was a rare perk that boosted willpower, it felt more like a debuff.
Once his perks were set, Solon began the simulation.
[0 years old]: You were abandoned by the roadside at birth and adopted by an ascetic monk.
[10 years old]: You grew up under the monk's guidance, learning not only his ascetic practices but also Buddhist teachings.
[30 years old]: You and your master traveled almost every corner of the planet. Eventually, your master seemed to attain enlightenment and settled at the foot of a snowy mountain.
From then on, you had a new routine: climbing the mountain daily with your master to debate Buddhist philosophy at the summit, enduring the biting cold winds.
In this harsh environment, your understanding of Buddhism deepened, and you sensed your master's enlightenment nearing completion.
Yet, over time, you developed your own interpretations.
Your master believed all living beings suffered, and the root of suffering was death. Why must all things perish? The universe must hold a cure for the affliction of mortality.
But you argued that not all beings possessed Buddha-nature. Even if their physical mortality was cured, their spiritual mortality remained. Rather than this, one should seek personal transcendence.
Your master smiled without reply.
Solon fell silent. This felt oddly like the divide between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism.
Mahayana emphasized universal salvation, while Hinayana focused on self-liberation.
Rumors said the Aeon Yaoshi was inspired by the Medicine Buddha—though Yaoshi was clearly a watered-down version.
After all, the Medicine Buddha could heal all worldly suffering, physical and spiritual.
Yaoshi could only heal the body.
[One day, your master made a grand vow: to cure all living beings in the cosmos of the affliction of mortality.]
[You witnessed your master transcend mortality and ascend as an Aeon.]
[From that day on, the ascetic healer Yi Shan ceased to exist. In his place stood Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance.]
[The world praised Yaoshi as selfless, devoted to others. But only you knew—they still had their biases.]
[Upon becoming an Aeon, they immediately elevated you, their sole disciple, to an Emanator of Abundance, granting you the maximum share of their Path's power you could withstand.]
[No matter how many followers they blessed or how many Emanators they raised afterward, you remained the strongest among them.]
[As an Aeon, Yaoshi grew even busier.]
[Every moment was spent answering prayers, selflessly bestowing blessings upon every being they encountered.]
[The Wingweavers, the Flesh Carvers, the Sapient Equines, the Borisin… One by one, races became long-lived after receiving Yaoshi's gifts.]
[Yet without exception, these races grew violent and warlike, enslaving and farming other species to sustain themselves.]
