Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Just like the huge palm that contained the infinite universe, the backward swastika in a red and black color was growing in size. It had grown so big that it tinted the sky red and polluted the void. While it hit toward Meng Qi and the others, its malicious intentions had formed the Nine Nether, accompanied by the declaration of “Ananda is dead, and the Devil Buddha is born” that could disturb the state of mind.
However, Meng Qi did not move an inch, neither did Jiang Zhiwei, Xuan Bei, and Wang Siyuan who was currently in the state of madness. They knew that the backward swastika was merely an afterimage – it did not contain any lingering aura of Ananda. It might appear to be scary, but it would not be able to hurt people.
Apparently, the Devil Master seemed to have taken the attack of the Reversed Buddha’s Palm before. As a result, the power of this attack had been largely depleted.
The gray kasaya of Meng Qi was dyed red and black. He clenched his hands for a few moments and slowly released them. Looking at the scene in front of him, his eyes were like a bottomless ancient well.
The Devil Buddha – who had once ran rampant in the world – was the most powerful devil of all time! At the end, the Buddha had to interfere by suppressing the power of Devil Buddha and locked him in the Spirited Mountain.
The name of the Devil Buddha itself had symbolized the Great Trial. In fact, the turbulent era of the Devil Buddha had marked an end to the Middle Ages because many mighty people of the Legendary Realm that was born in the Ancient Times such as Moonlight Bodhisattva had died. Aside from that, many powerful sects had migrated to other places in order to stay away from the Devil Buddha. During that time, the whole world had been chaotic. It took many years for peace to be restored!
The Devil Buddha had definitely attained the Nirvana Realm to be able to walk through the Ancient Imperial Path and explored the Dragon Terrace. Apart from that, Gao Lan had also regarded the Devil Buddha as being at the same level as the Emperor, the Celestial Ruler, and the Sacred Buddha.
A great man like him, with an unknown origin, had appeared out of nowhere during the Middle Ages and given rise to the Great Trial. Many people were guessing that he was actually an outsider coming from another universe, or perhaps he was a mighty person of the Ancient Times who had been living in seclusion.
At present, all the doubts were cleared.
Those who obey the commandments will become a Buddha, whereas those who don’t will become a Devil. The obsession that used to trouble Ananda for a long time was the Devil Buddha that lived within himself. Therefore, after practicing the Buddha’s Palm in a reverse manner, he had finally broken through the realm, crossed the sea of suffering and landed on the other side – the Nirvana Realm!
No wonder the Buddha was showing up during the Great Trial of Devil Buddha. It turned out that Ananda used to be one of his most outstanding disciples…
No wonder the Ananda Pure Land is covered with broken limbs and blood stains, and looks just like a Devil’s ruins…
No wonder even a strong person like Dharma was affected. Obviously, the Devil Buddha was good in evoking malicious thoughts, thereby turning Dharma into an evil person and making him die in his later years…
No wonder the Sinew-Changing Scripture can be practiced reversely and convert Duan Rui into a demon. This method is actually originated from the “Reversed Buddha’s Palm”…
No wonder all Buddhist monks are susceptible to be converted into demon…
No wonder that when Dharma destroyed his evil soul and sealed the entrance, he was still leaving a back door – he hadn’t get rid of the influence of diabolism completely at that time. As a result, despite the sealed main entrance, those who practice the Sinew-Changing Scripture reversely would still be able to enter the Ananda Pure Land through the Door of Stone…
Ananda used to put in so much efforts to train himself in Samsara and the world of mortals. Nevertheless, it turned out that he had become a Devil Buddha. If he knew this was going to happen, would he still be firm in taking the Samsara Path when being confronted by the Demonic Sage?
When he has finally attained Nirvana and has the ability to travel on the river of time, his beloved had already passed away. Therefore, for him, there is nothing precious left in the past, the present and the future…
The sea of soul of Meng Qi rippled a little.
Many doubts had been cleared and many guesses had been proved right. With a mixed feeling, Meng Qi sighed.
“So, this is the truth…”
It turned out that Ananda who was trapped in an unending cycle of birth and death had “died” long ago – the one who lived was the Devil Buddha!
As the Devil Buddha was suppressed by the Buddha, was he trying to seek help from Meng Qi – a fish that slipped through the net – to make an escape?
Was the Devil Buddha currently being trapped in the Spirited Mountain?
However, what about the Golden Cudgel of Great Sage that was standing upright between heaven and earth? What was it suppressing?
What kind of relationship was it between the Master of the Six Dao of Samsara and the Devil Buddha? The Master of the Six Dao of Samsara seemed to have disclosed many secrets to Meng Qi deliberately. Also, why was he assigning Meng Qi a mission to go to the Spirited Mountain?
Although many mysteries were solved, new doubts were arising in Meng Qi’s mind. Looking at Wang Siyuan who was laughing madly, Meng Qi had made a guess about the Knot of Wang Family.
During the turbulent era of the Devil Buddha, many powerful forces – such as the Lan He Temple – were destroyed by the Devil Buddha due to the fall of many strong martial artists; for example, the Maha Bodhisattva had been one of the victims. The Wang Family, being one of the most powerful forces in the world, was definitely in the limelight. However, Wang Siyuan could not understand why the Devil Buddha did not attack his family. Coupled with the mysterious disappearance of several ancestors – known as the medieval saints – in his family, Wang Siyuan had inevitably formed a knot in his heart.
At present, knowing that Ananda was the Devil Buddha, many mysteries could be solved. No wonder Wang Siyuan could not help but to laugh madly.
After practicing divination, the medieval saints had foreseen that Ananda would give rise to the next Great Trial. Hence, they entered the Pure Land, found one of the reincarnations of Ananda, and let him kill them using the Karma Transfer. They made him bear the karma of protecting the Wang Family at Jiang Dong, which was why the Wang Family had survived the Great Trial of Devil Buddha.
The medieval saints had paid their lives to save the Wang Family!
“Never practice divination to an extreme extent, always leave a way open for the future, and never expose everything you know… now I understand why!” gradually, Wang Siyuan stopped laughing. The color of the blood stain on his face had been a sharp contrast with his pale face.
Looking at the backward swastika that disappeared slowly, Jiang Zhiwei said thoughtfully, “Why are the aura and words of Ananda still lingering around?”
Why didn’t the Devil Buddha wipe them out? He couldn’t be leaving them behind as a memorial, right?
“Amitabha. Before falling into diabolism, Ananda must have fought with the Devil Buddha. That’s why there isn’t any formation left on the seventh story, and half of the mountain peak is already crumbled. After a fight, it’s normal to leave some lingering aura behind,” guessed Xuan Bei.
He saw Ananda and the Devil Buddha as two separate entities – just like Dharma and evil Dharma, kind Duan Rui and evil Duan Rui. Of course, each of them had different ending. Ananda was more inclined to become the Devil Buddha; similarly, Duan Rui was also more inclined to the evil side. In contrast, with great wisdom and courage, Dharma had decided to destroy the evil side of himself at the cost of his own life.
Wang Siyuan walked to them slowly. While wiping blood away from his mouth, he said, “Judging from the remnants of this place, after becoming a Devil Buddha, Ananda has left the Pure Land immediately and never returned. Well, for him, this place will probably evoke a lot of feelings and memories. Just like how the evil thoughts can be evoked in a good environment, the benevolent thoughts can be evoked in a dreadful environment too. In the fear of the reborn of the benevolent Ananda, he dared not return to the Pure Land before attaining Nirvana. However, after he reached the Nirvana Realm, he was already suppressed by the Buddha before he could make it here. Therefore, his aura has been lingering here until now.”
Looking at the conditions of the Pure Land and mountain peak, he had deduced a conclusion.
Speaking of this, Wang Siyuan paused and looked at Meng Qi. He then said with a faint smile, “The Devil Master didn’t eliminate the lingering aura after reaching the mountain peak. Obviously, he wants us to discover these traces. The reason of him doing so was most probably to get some benefits.”
“That should be the case,” replied Meng Qi concisely.
What kind of benefit?
Jiang Zhiwei sighed and said, “Not only Ananda was obsessed with the thoughts of reaching the Nirvana Realm and achieving transcendence, but also he was so bothered by the strong enemy that he mentioned. What kind of strong enemy was it to be able to make him betray the Demonic Sage and step into the Samsara Path? He has even fallen into diabolism in the end…”
Yes, what kind of strong enemy was that? What did Ananda experience in the past that made him go into the Samsara Path? Meng Qi, Xuan Bei, and Wang Siyuan were all having this doubt in mind.
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Why would Ananda – an Arhat who practiced Zen and aimed to achieve transcendence – have a strong enemy?
As the breeze blew gently, an illusory body of the Tyrant was seen in the distant void. Last time, when Meng Qi entered the Ananda Pure Land in the Universal Fragment, he already knew that the Tyrant had been here before.
Xuan Bei looked at the illusory body and sighed, “The death of the Tyrant seemed to have something to do with the mighty people of Legendary Realm.”
“The Tyrant had gone back to the past with an attempt to kill the mighty people. Of course, the mighty people would do something about it,” said Wang Siyuan calmly after keeping the Ancient Book.
Xuan Bei stopped talking about this topic and said in a serious tone, “The Devil Master, Han Guang has most probably obtained the nine strikes of Buddha’s Palm or even the method to practice it reversely. Those who obey the commandment will be going to heaven, whereas those who disobey it will fall into diabolism. After combining the inheritance he got from the Celestial Ruler and the Nine Nether, in time, he will surely become a major threat like the Devil Buddha. We must pay attention to this matter and spread this news to the top sects and families as soon as possible.”
Without staying any longer, all of them went out of the Pure Land.
After destroying the cultivation base of Duan Rui, Wang Siyuan handed him over to Xuan Bei. Then, he turned around and left. The condition of his body might be weak, but the madness and the strong fighting will within his body were growing rapidly.
“The Samsara Mission will begin seven days later. Is there any places that you want to go?” Jiang Zhiwei sent a secret message to Meng Qi. She knew the mission this time would not as simple as it might seem since it was related to the Spirited Mountain.
Meng Qi was startled for a while, then he looked down, “Send me back to the broken temple.”
After pursing her lips, Jiang Zhiwei gave a smile without asking any more questions.
Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi bid farewell to Xuan Bei, and headed back to the barren hill. Soon, they had arrived at the broken temple that was located beside a lotus pond.
“How beautiful…” Jiang Zhiwei looked at the lotus and sighed. Then, she turned and flew into the sky on her sword.
Meng Qi went to the pond, sat cross-legged and looked at the lotus quietly.
…
In the World of Gods, Meng Qi, Kong Zhao and Childe Yu had travelled to several kingdoms and witnessed all kinds of chaotic situations. For example, several officials with high rank had killed the king, divided the land and proclaimed themselves as the feudalists. There was also a prince who had killed his father in order to ascend the throne. Wars were happening frequently between the kingdoms. Countless citizens of the city were badly injured or killed.
As the carriage went past the villages, they saw a large number of corpses on the roadside. So far, they had not seen anyone alive yet.
There was a sympathetic look on the face of Kong Zhao when he sighed.
“What do you think about it?” suddenly, Meng Qi – who was currently known as Lao Dan – asked with his eyes half-closed.
Kong Zhao sat upright and answered in a solemn tone, “The cruelty of people is due to the loss of benevolence.”
“What exactly is benevolence?” asked Meng Qi at a slow pace.
Kong Zhao raised his head slightly while he answered, “Benevolence can be achieved through constraining ourselves so that the words we speak and the actions we do are in accordance with etiquette.”
After he finished, he looked at Meng Qi, “Teacher, what do you think?”
“Let’s visit a few more kingdoms…” the voice of Meng Qi was so soft that it sounded like a sigh. Without giving an answer to the question, he closed his eyes once again.
At the same time, the words from the Tao Te Ching had crossed his mind, “The loss of Dao will be followed by the loss of virtue, benevolence, righteousness and etiquette, successively.”
“When the sages and wise men start preaching about etiquette, it shows that most people in the society aren’t placing much importance on trust and loyalty. This marks the beginning of all kinds of disasters!”
…
For seven days, Meng Qi had been sitting idly next to the pond, staring at the sun that rose and set every day.
Suddenly, a person was approaching Meng Qi with hurried footsteps – it was the Brocade-Weaving Idleman, Shao Changge.
Looking at Meng Qi, he gulped and said, “I… I’m here because the young miss asked me to pass some words to you.”
“What is it?” Meng Qi stood up slowly.
After hearing the answer, Meng Qi was startled. Feeling heartbroken, he looked back at the lotus.
Now that the lotus has bloomed, where are you?
…
Late at night, the Samsara Mission was about to begin. Meng Qi closed his eyes for a while before he took a step forward. After piercing through the void, he had appeared outside the Shaolin Temple!
Countless bright stars were shining in the vast sky. Surrounded by a peaceful atmosphere, the Shaolin Temple was very quiet.
The arrival of Meng Qi was not noticed by anyone. Step by step, he walked to the main entrance with a deep look in his eyes.
After going to the Spirited Mountain, he might not be able to come back again.
Master, it will be a waste of effort to protect me.
Sorry, I may not be able to live up to your expectations…
Kneeling down slowly, Meng Qi put his hands on the ground, and kowtowed to the Shaolin Temple.
Sorrow and hatred are inherent feelings in human beings. Sadness arises from within when human is separated from the loved ones, so it has nothing to do with the wind, the moon, the beautiful scenery, or anything external.
You’re the only teacher in my present life!
Meng Qi stood up, turned around, and went down the steps. As he walked further, black hair was grown on his bald head. The sideburns, however, were gray in color. Turning his gray kasaya into a green robe, he was holding a long blade in his hand.
He had spent ten years living in seclusion as a monk, and taking care of the lotus. However, at present, he had become the Frenzied Blade again.
With hatred, he would be pointing his long blade at the enemy!