Chapter 181 This is Reality

When Xuanzang arrived at Nalanda Monastery, he received the grandest welcome.

After trekking for a full four years, the wandering swordsman was twenty-five years old, and Xuanzang was already thirty-two. As a welcome to him, the entire Nalanda Monastery resounded with drums in an unprecedented welcoming ceremony for the monk from a distant land.

"...That's quite the spectacle."

Chen Yuan hugged his sword and sighed.

Shi Pantuo next to him nodded affirmatively. Having experienced nearly four years of trekking, he was thirty-eight years old and much more composed. Leaving aside the wandering swordsman, he now admired Xuanzang wholeheartedly. Xuanzang had become a brother to the King of Gaochang and had the Turkic Khan send troops to escort him.

He was also a monster who could make a king convert overnight.

Shi Pantuo doubted whether there would ever be a monk more formidable than him in the future.

Probably never again.

Ordinary monks are, at most, fierce or strong.

This monk is both fierce and strong.

Chen Yuan rubbed his belly and then Xuanzang's bald head, and began to ponder dinner.

Shi Pantuo worried, "We're in a foreign land; won't we be bullied?"

"Let them dare!"

The wandering swordsman sneered a few times, and the sword behind him began to hum in a low voice. Very good, Xuanzang had been sharpening this sword for him, and for some reason, it was becoming more and more handy. If any ignorant monk dared to bully them, he wouldn't blame his sword for being too fast.

Unfortunately, the wandering swordsman didn't get a chance to show his skills.

Xuanzang received the highest level of courtesy.

In Nalanda Monastery, with over ten thousand monks, those who wanted to enter were all great talents; otherwise, they would even be stopped by the sweeping monks. This place not only studied Buddhism but also included folk classics, even numerology and medicine.

And among the ten thousand people, Xuanzang immediately became one of the top ten.

He stayed here for five years.

Buddhism in that era had already begun to decline, with various legends mixed up and unclear. On the contrary, Brahmanism was prevalent, so everywhere claimed to be a place where the Buddha had once been, a place where the Buddha had once attained enlightenment. In short, whoever could boast the most was the most powerful.

The locals didn't believe it.

They were just deceiving outsiders.

"They're all boasting, I'm telling you."

One day, Shi Pantuo, looking displeased, slammed the table and cursed, "I spent money and bought them drinks, and then these bastards told me the truth. What 'this is where the Buddha attained enlightenment'? It's all nonsense, deceiving people into coming to meditate and then charging them money."

Chen Yuan was surprised, "Is it fake?"

Shi Pantuo said, "Of course it's fake. Monkey… no, I mean, cough, Yuan."

"If you don't believe me, ask him."

He pointed to another monk at the table, who nodded awkwardly.

But Chen Yuan was puzzled.

And so was Xuanzang.

The two brothers looked at each other, "So it was all boasting?"

"Is that so? I thought it was all realistic."

"I thought it was realistic too."

"But that makes it normal."

"Yeah, no wonder it took me more than a month to attain enlightenment."

"So it was all boasting."

"No wonder."

The wandering swordsman and Xuanzang looked enlightened.

"Exactly, you spent more than a month to attain…"

Shi Pantuo followed up, then his expression gradually froze.

What's wrong with you?

The monk next to him was almost choked to death by a mouthful of rice and coughed violently.

The wandering swordsman scratched his head and said, "Didn't I say?"

"We're more used to realism in these matters back in our hometown."

Xuanzang replied with a gentle expression, "But I think even if it's boasting, there should be some interesting aspects. It can't all be boasting. We should still go and see, after all, it's a place the Buddha walked in the past. Although there are exaggerated elements in the legends, if the Buddha could do it, then I definitely can too."

Shi Pantuo's mouth twitched, falling into a daze.

What the hell is realism?

What exactly is inside the minds of you Tang people?!

Realism my ass… even ghosts don't believe it.

No, ghosts won't do, that monk would just send them off with a slap.

Shi Pantuo fell into self-torment.

And the monk next to him already had goosebumps and was dumbfounded.

No one asked the amiable Master Xuanzang.

Where these things came from.

Perhaps the monks of the Buddhist kingdom in that era were too generous, even giving Xuanzang their treasured artifacts.

That must be it.

It couldn't be that Master Xuanzang debated Buddhist doctrines and directly overturned one Buddhist school after another to get them, hahaha, how could that be possible?

Time went back to the day Xuanzang set off, Chen Yuan stayed in Nalanda Monastery, feeling bored.

Then he heard that Shi Pantuo had been stopped by someone, and there were even rumors of ridicule towards the Tang Dynasty and Xuanzang. Chen Yuan, who was already extremely bored, was overjoyed, and ran out with his sword. When he arrived, Shi Pantuo, who was already over forty, was being trampled on the ground, unable to even get up.

Chen Yuan's originally excited face turned slightly cold.

The one stepping on Shi Pantuo was an extremely majestic man, who looked at Chen Yuan with a provocative smile:

"Are you the follower of that Tang man?"

"I heard that the monk from the Central Lands has great wisdom, but unfortunately, I haven't met him. However, you Easterners have a saying that 'one who stays near vermilion gets stained red; one who stays near ink gets stained black.' I see you're just so-so."

Shi Pantuo shouted loudly, "Monkey, run!"

"He is..."

Unfortunately, Shi Pantuo couldn't finish his words.

The wandering swordsman, who was already twenty-nine years old, flicked his wrist, and the sword flew out directly with its sheath, knocking back two burly guards with thick arms. Then he strode forward, his body like a fierce tiger, his feet stepping on the ground, his spine slightly raised, and his right arm followed.

This move was terribly fierce.

Under Shi Pantuo's hopeless gaze.

The majestic man took a heavy punch to his right eye socket and flew out with a clang. At that moment, the entire street seemed to quiet down, or rather, quiet down terribly. Then the wandering swordsman firmly remembered the key points of street fights, directly flipped over, and punched the opponent's forehead several times with his fist.

The majestic man was furious and punched back in retaliation.

A hearty street fight.

In the end, the eternal nightmare of the wandering swordsman of Chang'an, the bad cop of Luoyang, was still slightly better.

He only had one black eye.

The majestic man had two black eyes.

Leaving a sentence, "You wait!"

He left with his followers. Although he had two black eyes, he still walked with an air of grandeur, as if he had won. The wandering swordsman spat, then pulled up the bandit who had fallen to the ground. The latter's face was pale, and he said, "That's a high-ranking official, we're in trouble."

"So what if he's a high-ranking official?"

The wandering swordsman sneered, "He was the one who attacked first."

"Although you have barbarian blood, you're still considered a citizen of Guazhou of my Great Tang. How can we just watch the citizens of Great Tang being bullied outside? Of course, we have to teach them a good lesson, no matter who they are, they deserve to be beaten!"

The wandering swordsman was triumphant.

And that majestic man actually came again later, but this time it was for swordsmanship.

The wandering swordsman didn't refuse anyone.

Relying on the martial arts honed on the journey to the west, he won more than he lost. Along the way, his footprints crossed many countries. He witnessed the secrets of more than 110 countries in this mysterious, unvanquished era, and integrated the 50,000 li journey to the west into his swordsmanship, revealing his brilliance and adding a lot of accumulation.

Seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water.

How many swordsmen have crossed 800 li of desert, boundless grasslands, and entered the sword with 5,000-meter snow mountains?

Over time, they became familiar with each other in three years. Later, he learned that this majestic man was a playwright, especially fond of those love stories. The latter's most proud play was called "Chronicles of Love."

It's probably about a king falling in love with a maid at first sight, but the queen is very jealous and secretly torments the maid. Later, it is discovered that the maid is not only a princess but also blessed by the gods. Whoever marries her will be able to unify the world and is even the queen's niece. So the king marries the maid, and the family lives in harmony and happiness.

After listening to the story of this bearded man, Chen Yuan had an expression as if he had swallowed a fly. Under the latter's expectant gaze, he reluctantly said, "This… is okay. The main thing is that you're not a king, and it's fortunate that you're not a king, otherwise, I would definitely think that you have a problem with your brain and definitely have a crush on your queen's niece."

"And this guy is definitely very afraid of his queen and can only enjoy himself in stories."

"What are you being cowardly for?"

As a result, the triumphant bearded man had an expression as if he had swallowed a fly.

The wandering swordsman raised his head and drank.

Noticing the strange gaze of the bearded man's friend, he raised his eyebrows.

"What's wrong, are you unhappy that I said I liked your story? Or do you want to fight?"

The bearded man squeezed out words from his teeth, "Fight!"

The two fought.

In the end, the bearded man was defeated again, cursing in the slang of seventy countries in India, and left angrily.

And this day should have passed like this, but when Xuanzang returned, he was invited by King Harsha, who unified northern India, and strangely, he even invited the wandering swordsman, who had always been regarded as Xuanzang's guard. Although the wandering swordsman was puzzled, he still went.

After all, this King Harsha was almost the greatest hero in all of India, with an imposing aura.

He had a tendency to unify India.

Of course, the more important thing was that he was the patron of Nalanda Monastery.

The wandering swordsman's drinks were all paid for by this guy.

But that day, when they met, the wandering swordsman actually saw his bearded friend, and then that bearded friend sat on the throne openly, which made the wandering swordsman dumbfounded, and the bearded man laughed heartily, quite satisfied with that guy's expression. In fact, he really had the nature of a playwright and liked these story-like experiences.

Harshavardhana, the last hero in ancient Indian history.

The last king who unified most of the Indian region by the local people of India.

He ascended the throne at the age of 17, and for six years, his men did not remove their armor, and the elephants did not take off their saddles, as he went on expeditions to the east and west.

Then he ascended the throne as emperor.

At this moment, he did not know that his life had come to an end, and he did not know that after he left, for 1,400 years, the natives of this land had not been able to produce a second person like him, who had never been independent and had always been conquered. If he knew about this, he probably would not be able to close his eyes.

At this moment, he was just laughing and revealing his true identity. After talking all night with Chen Yuan and Xuanzang, he expressed his yearning for the Tang Dynasty and immediately sent envoys to Chang'an to form an alliance.

"Do any of you want to meet your friends? You can have them come together."

Harshavardhana asked.

Xuanzang shook his head, and Chen Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "I have a friend named Wang Xuance. I don't know if he's free now. If possible, he definitely has the ability to be a diplomatic envoy."

"Good!"

Harshavardhana agreed readily.

In the documents to the Tang Dynasty, he wrote that he had heard of Wang Xuance and hoped that he would come here.

Afterward, Wang Xuance indeed came to this place as an envoy.

And he got along quite well with King Harsha when he first came to the Harsha Empire.

And in this year when he first met Xuanzang and Chen Yuan, after the banquet, King Harsha pulled out his sword and threw it to Chen Yuan. The latter looked over curiously and saw the fine lines on the sword's edge, emitting obvious burning divinity. He looked at King Harsha questioningly.

King Harsha smiled and said, "This is my sword, the name Harsha means the Sun God who upholds the precepts."

"So this sword is blessed by the gods. I give this sword to you."

"You will be the owner of this sword of the Sun God. Holding this sword is enough to command the gods."

"In exchange, I hope to get your sword, my friend."

This was a ritual between friends and friends, warriors and warriors in many countries.

Moreover, with King Harsha here, this sword was useless and could not command the gods.

It only existed as a gift from a friend.

King Harsha hoped to use this to show that their friendship would not be affected by their identities.

The wandering swordsman took out his sword, brushed the blade, and handed it to King Harsha. The two exchanged swords. The wandering swordsman's Tang sword was placed in the palace of the Harsha Empire, and the Harsha sword, which was almost directly cast with ancient divinity, was casually placed in a leather scabbard. And when he recalled this scene.

Wei Yuan's fingers in West Kunlun moved slightly.

A wisp of aura spilled out, and then rolled down along the back of West Kunlun.

In a certain seal in ancient India, the crimson light that had been silent for thousands of years faintly lit up.

Afterward, Xuanzang wanted to return to the Divine Land.

They also faced the last and most grand threat and carnival on the entire journey to the west.