Buddha Lecture (2-in-1)

Yun was looking at a younger version more mortal version of Buddha who was wearing robes having the left side of his chest bare as well as his arm.

"I exist only in your mind as did Deon before in mine for a while. It is quite a haunting experience for the inexperienced," says Buddha's replica with his eyes closed while holding a simple staff in his right hand which he uses as a walking stick.

Yun only sighs because now he has three people sharing a room in his head when he says, "My head might explode one of those days."

"It won't since I am only a temporal guest until you have learned Buddha's Breathing Techniques and Moving Art which is superior to that of the Jade Emperor," says Buddha in a relaxed manner taking some steps toward Yun.

"You are quite the mess compared to your future self but I can sharpen you for a while making you remember your training while teaching you a trick or two or Shiva will cry tears of victory when you face him in the future," says Buddha talking about Yun's future while Yun looked at him confused.

"Why would I fight a God?" asks Yun confused with him fighting Shiva when Buddha laughs.

"Right, you will find out in the future let us not spoil it," says Buddha as he hits Yun's knees with his staff making him kneel before following him and saying, "I still can't believe they didn't teach you a breathing technique while training with your teachers."

"Baldr did teach me one while I had to invent my own with Hermes," says Yun seriously as Buddha only stared at him knowing the truth without opening his eyes.

"You might be able to fool others but not me," says Buddha as he presses some pressure points on Yun's body using his staff making Yun lose complete control over his body.

He was completely paralyzed with only his eyes moving wildly around without control and panic because his body stopped all functions which are necessary for him to live on.

He couldn't even talk when he heard, "Concentrate, before you were breathing by instinct now you must learn to breathe on your own making it a controlled action made by you and not by basic instinct."

Yun tried to give a signal with his brain the only thing that was still under his control while the rest of his body was just limp when he felt the signal traveling down his spine like electricity just not to his lungs as his face slowly turned blue because no air had entered his body for roughly four minutes when Buddha presses one pressure point allowing Yun's body to take a breath before he touches said pressure point making him struggle air again.

"I see why your future self was a class of himself even though he never told the real me how he became so strong I can see that his willpower to never give up was an inborn talent," says Buddha seeing Yun struggle again but he was now using Qi to flow through his nervous system only to find it not working when he looks at Buddha for some advice.

"You are on the right way using Qi but you are using your inborn Qi," says Buddha as he stretches his hand out forming a ball of Light Qi in his right hand when a ball of Darkness Qi appears over his left hand not coming from inside him but out of nowhere.

"You have forgotten an important lesson it seems," says Buddha seriously as he continues with, "Qi is everywhere even in the very air we breathe. You used to know that, didn't you?"

Yun remembers that Athena told him about it while teaching him about Qi remembering using the surrounding Qi to train while in the Warrior's Realm as well when he hears, "You grew complacent since the mortals can't draw Qi from the air as the Gods do. Your strongest opponent is your ally and even he uses only the little Qi he has in his body instead of teaching them how to draw Qi from the air to grow stronger."

Buddha dissolves both of the Qi Spheres over his hands with one entering his body while the other scattered away into the air when he asks, "Do you know why everyone is afraid of Shura?"

'Because of his sword, everyone knows that,' says Yun knowing that Shura has a sword with a black blade that almost looks alive.

"It is one of the reasons but the real reason everyone is afraid of him even his father is because he has all eight natures and both Qi affinities. He can do for example this," says Buddha as he now formed a Light Qi Sphere over his palm not using his own Qi but the one around them before absorbing it.

Then Yun could see blood seeping out of Buddha's closed eyes and some blood flowing down from the corners of his mouth when he says, "I and the other Gods can't do this since we don't meet the same condition as Shura. You, on the other hand, do, but you don't capitalize on it."

'If I were to do so wouldn't I drain the earth of its Qi?' asks Yun angry as Buddha looked at him confused before pressing the pressure point on Yun again allowing him to breathe before pressing it again.

"Qi doesn't only exist on Earth where do you think the Qi on Earth came from, it came from the stars. The whole Universe is made out of Qi why do you think Earth still stands after being drained by Shura so many times before," asks Buddha rhetorically knowing the answer to said question.

"It is because the Earth absorbs the Qi from the Sun which absorbs the Qi from another star and so on. Now how about you see your body like the Universe itself with your brain being the very center of it," says Buddha while Yun only gives him a stare when Buddha pushes one pressure point which he hadn't pressed before cutting Yun now out completely making him go blind and deaf.

Yun couldn't even feel the ground under him as Buddha robbed him of all his senses now leaving him in complete darkness with only his brain still working.

'Fuck, is this my end!?' shouts Yun in his mind to himself trying to find a way out of this while thinking hard about what Buddha just said.

'Alright, my brain is the center of the Universe which makes my heart and lungs be near said center,' thinks Yun before trying to spread his Qi only to find out it wasn't moving.

'You will die soon, think what has your teacher taught you before about using external Qi and forget it completely when it comes to absorbing it,' says Buddha seriously as he wasn't going to help Yun now.

'What has Athena taught me,' thinks Yun trying to remember only to find himself standing before one sealed Dragon.

'What is going on? Why am I here?' asks Yun himself when he sees someone sitting before said Dragon.

'Who are you? And how did you get inside here?' asks Yun angrily thinking it was an intruder when he sees the armor being of Roman design.

"You finally arrived it was getting lonely sitting here hiding from Lorena all this time," says Lucius as he stands up and dusts his shoulders off.

'Why are you here? Didn't you die back then?" asks Yun not trusting Lucius who approaches him.

"Why should I kill Bandits?" asks Lucius rhetorically knowing the answer to that question.

'Fine, but why are you here?' asks Yun trusting Lucius a bit.

"Why do you think? I was helped by my older self as well back then," says Lucius as he walks toward Yun.

"Shura must be falling from his seat right now from laughing so hard since now he knows where my soul went after turning to dust," says Lucius mimicking his future self by saying the same phrases that he heard before knowing that it was bullshit since Shura should have known from the beginning where he was the whole time.

'Why didn't you warn me about Fang?' asks Yun now furiously as Lucius only sighs knowing what Yun was going through.

"If I had told you, I wouldn't exist nor the others," says Lucius back sadly understanding Yun better than anyone else since they are one and the same just in different bodies.

"We will suffer through worse in our lives trust me. But we always stand up and pull our sleeves up before trying again and again. That's why we are still alive and..." says Lucius stopping because he couldn't talk any further since this is when he should stop.

'AND?!' shouts Yun angrily when Lucius hits his knees sending him down easily.

"And nothing," says Lucius as he sighs and says, "Athena never taught you how to absorb Qi because she was afraid of creating a new monster that could destroy the current hierarchy. But Alfred also had his hands in it since he always hated us don't know why but it is the truth."

Yun didn't know what Lucius was talking about when he began to take a deep breath and Qi began to appear on Lucius's palm out of nowhere but Yun knew it wasn't external Qi but Lucius' remaining Qi.

Then a far bigger sphere almost triple the size appeared in his other hand and it entered Lucius' body which Yun watched using his Third-Eye revealing how Lucius absorbed the Qi and hears, "The Gods fear us because we can do what Shura can. Buddha is just trying to make you stronger for the future challenges before you but he himself is a genius while we are just trash in comparison."

'That was harsh,' says Yun when he sees a smirk on Lucius' face.

"But the bitter truth," says Lucius in a sad tone as he looks at Yun and says, "Your Dantian or Life Well is in your abdomen not the brain like Buddha's. Your Cosmos or Universe begins there spreading through your whole body using not only your nervous system but also your blood."

Yun began to concentrated and Yun asks, 'Why did Buddha say that it begins from the brain then?'

"It's because for him that is the case. He was following the normal path until I told him to start from the brain giving him the enlightenment he needed to become the God he is right now," says Lucius remembering it clearly as if it was yesterday.

"Anyway concentrate," says Lucius wanting Yun not to lose concentration since it was an important moment for him.

"Next you need to force the Qi around you to enter your body through your Life Well," says Lucius as he observed Yun cultivating using the Qi around him.

"But Buddha is right about one thing, we got complacent because we didn't have a challenge after growing older. He opened our eyes today forever to grow stronger," says Lucius knowing the truth as he watches Yun slowly breathing again as he was doing it on his own not by instinct when he hears, "Now it really is 'Goodbye.'."

Yun opens his eyes and Lucius was gone when he suddenly feels a strong gust sweep him away making him appear in the familiar Darkness he was before but now he knew what he needed to do.

He began to absorb Qi from around himself surprising Buddha that Yun wasn't slowly progressing but quite fast as he could see light back in Yun's eyes which meant he was succeeding when Qi begins to strengthen Yun from inside.

He slowly was getting his senses back when he says slowly, "You... almost... killed... me."

"I am sorry about that but it was the way you used on me to liberate myself and find enlightenment," says Buddha making Yun understand why the original told him not to give him a heart attack the next time they met.

'I will so give you a heart attack when we meet again,' thinks Yun slowly making a fist while regaining his strength to stand up.

"Now... what comes... next?" asks Yun as Buddha sees determination behind Yun's eyes.

"Well, we begin with the Breathing Technique named the Infinite Breath Technique also known the Buddha's Breathing Technique," says Buddha as he gives Yun a demonstration.

He took a breath and Yun looked at him as Buddha didn't took a breath again until ten minutes passed and he says, "This is the first stage of the Infinite Breath Technique. It was created by a man who now walks the earth as a demon called Asura."

This shocked Yun since he trained under Asura for two years when Buddha says, "But I perfected said technique and made it my own. That's why I renamed it 'Buddha's Breathing Technique'. You will find out the prospect of learning this technique sooner or later."

Buddha began to explain that now that Yun took his first step into the right way by learning to breath not by instinct but by his own control.

"The longer you can control your breath the longer you can keep defending or attacking your enemy who will be out of breath earlier than you," says Buddha telling Yun about it when he suddenly disappeared and appeared again behind him.

"But you need this breathing technique to learn my movement art which is Buddha's Step Technique," says Buddha showing Yun as he moved before him without indicating where he was going since his feet didn't seem to move in his eyes.

"How do you think the Monkey couldn't escape my palm. It is because he never noticed me moving from my spot," says Buddha revealing how he trapped the damn monkey under a mountain.

"Is he still?" asks Yun curious as Buddha nods.

"Yes, he is still trapped there at the moment. But it will be hard to get there at the moment with all the business you have at the moment," says Buddha talking about the unification of the Empire.

"I will meet him eventually one day," says Yun before he sighs and begins to listen to Buddha's lecture about his breathing and movement art.

Soon a soldier enters the room finding Yun meditating as he absorbed Qi inside his body while Buddha was watching him who says, "Sir, we are ready to march again."

Yun stopped his meditation and stood up feeling refreshed before saying, "Then let us march. We are almost back in Xiapi."

Yun stepped outside his tent and joined the army again while Thunder looked at him feeling that Yun was different than yesterday as Yun just petted Thunder while smirking and saying, "Nothing escapes your instincts."

Thunder loved the praise he received from Yun as well as the pets before Yun mounted him and says, "We should be able to reach home today."

They could see Xiapi in the distance with a giant army making camp there which must be the main army that finally reached Xiapi as well.

He saw the banners of every of his General on the walls of the east gate starting with the oldest which was Huang Zhong's banner and the last banner being Zheng's banner since he is the youngest of them while in the middle of all the banners was Yun's own flag in red with golden engravings spelling Zhao majestically.

"I think I loved the Black Banners more," says Yun joking making the men giggle a bit as Yun really loved this new banner finally showing the world who he will be serving from now on.

A squad rode out of the city coming toward Yun and the army but they all knew that they were allies since they came from the city. They arrived at the front of the marching army and Yun could identify them all.

Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci, Hua, Wei Yan, Gang Ning, Pang Tong, Zheng, Huang Xu, Lu Meng, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, and Xu Shu rode out to meet Yun who seemed to be a different man going by the air and Aura he was giving from himself.

They were all worried because by what Hua told them about what happened in Xiapi with Zang Ba but the Yun right now was different and everyone could see it.

This Yun seemed to have a different mindset than before as Yun was thinking of how to cultivate faster his Qi when he hears a whisper in his ear, 'You must also refine your Qi but I think that you have learned how to do that from your previous teacher.'

'I have,' says Yun back mentally to Buddha who wasn't visible to everyone else except for Yun.

It was also him who seemed to have changed the aura around Yun with just sitting behind him on Thunder. Yun might feel refreshed and has now a new objective in sight but he was still the same person just with fewer burdens.

"It seems I made many of you worry about my mental health since my son's and mother's death but I should be fine for now," says Yun with confidence while his arms and legs are still stiff.

"My Lord/Brother/Father," they say as one replying to Yun while Buddha saw how loyal the men before him are to Yun.

Yun then saw a White Tiger closing in with a person on its back which reminded Yun of the simpler times back in Zhending when Fang and Mulan used to ride on the Snowflake's back.

But Yun knew very well that it could only be Rin riding on the White Tiger that was coming toward the group. Rin once near Yun jumped from the Tiger directly at her father almost pushing him down from his horse because he wasn't fully in control of his body yet.

Rin could feel that both would fall at any moment when she suddenly felt someone hold her while Yun felt the same looking back to see Buddha holding them both on Thunder's back.

'Thank you,' says Yun to Buddha who only nods not wanting to destroy this moment between Yun and his followers only recognizing three of them which made Buddha wonder why he only tied three of the current people to his fate instead of all of them.

They returned to the city while Yun shared Thunder's back with Rin and Buddha with Rin sitting infront of him and Buddha behind him.

Rin was holding the reigns which surprised Buddha since he remembered that Thunder is a prideful Endbringer not allowing anyone to control his reign nor even touch him except for his owner since he himself got a kick from said Endbringer in the past.

Thunder brought them back to Xiapi where Yun could see Zhen Luo, Yang, Ai, and Min sitting in a carriage with Huixiu, Fang, and Lin.

Yun dismounted from Thunder's back almost falling as he walked slowly looking quite stiff to everyone as he approaches the carriage and enters it feeling far better being in the carriage than on Thunder's back since he needed to recover full control of his body again first before he rides Thunder again.

"Is something wrong, Yun?" asks Zhen Luo seeing Yun move weirdly who only nods.

"You could say so. I am being trained by someone again. I needed to relearn on how to use my body again," says Yun which explained to Zhen Luo why Yun was walking so weirdly some moments ago.

"What about our guest? Is he alright?" asks Yun a bit worried but Zhen Luo nods at him.

"He is alright and between the soldiers of your army. He is under Huang Zhong's command at the moment," says Zhen Luo with warmth in her voice knowing that Yun wanted to keep the boy safe.

They were talking about Cao Tai, Cao Ren's son. Yun was quite worried over the boy since Cao Ren is or better said was a close friend and hoped that just because Yun changed side they won't lose their friendship that easily but Yun know that such events could strain a friendship or even break it.

But it was his duty to keep Cao Tai save until he could sent him back to Cao Ren's side. Thinking back he should have sent Cao Tai with Zang Ba's head back which would have killed two birds with one stone but for that it was too late.

"We will need new decoration for the manor if not rebuild the whole manor again since the disgusting pig sullied everything in the manor," says Yun angrily when he feels Zhen Luo place her hand on his knee trying to calm him down.

"Don't worry, we will rebuild the manor after we burned it down," says Zhen Luo not even wanting to put a foot in their old manor knowing that someone like Zang Ba lived in it while they were out of the city.

"It will cost me a lot but Zang Ba was quite generous with his donation," says Yun trying to make some smiles appear on their faces which was successful.

"What did he donate?" asks Zhen Luo curious with a smile on her face.

"His golden club. It should have some value don't you think so," says Yun making Zhen Luo giggle.

"It should be enough to help us build the foundation of the new manor," says Zhen Luo in a funny tone when they arrived at the manor who Zhen Luo wanted to burn down completely.