The sun rose in the west!
The Buddha had made his move.
The instant the Great Sun Tathagata rose, warning signs blared wildly in Xu Qi’an’s heart. If danger sense were an alarm bell, then the ringing now was shrill and frantic, with an air of utter panic.
It urged him to flee for his life at once.
Since stepping into the beyond-mortal realm, this was the most “frantic” his danger sense had ever been.
Every cell in his body was roaring, urging him to run. If he stayed, there was only death.
But Xu Qi’an didn’t run. He even charged a stretch further towards the summit, like a moth flying into flame.
In the process, he roared at the top of his lungs:
“Run!”
The Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect!
The foremost of the nine great Dharma Aspects, a Beyond-rank level power.
There was no need for Xu Qi’an to warn them. The moment the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect rose, every beyond-mortal expert felt calamity descending upon them.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox decisively withdrew her tails. She’d originally intended to drag back her nominal elder brother, al-Asura, but found that Agaruka Bodhisattva and al-Asura had both sat down cross-legged on the spot. One summoned the Immovable Lord Dharma Aspect, while behind the other’s head appeared the magnificent halo representing the Executioner Phala, and both entered a meditative state.
People of the Buddhist sect have a way to “avoid” the destructive force of the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect… As that thought flashed through the silver-haired demoness’s mind, she turned into a white streak and shot into the distance, towards Sun Xuanji and the others.
Zhao Shou, Li Miaozhen, and Daoist Jinlian all sped towards Sun Xuanji.
While fleeing for her life, Li Miaozhen casually hurled the Stupa tower out, throwing it in Ananda’s direction.
Sun Xuanji stamped his foot, and a teleportation array spread out, enveloping the beyond-mortal experts.
Only Shenshu, upon seeing the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect, not only failed to flee or fear it, but instead sank into madness, as though he’d been provoked by something.
His navel split open into a gaping bloody maw. He suddenly turned and roared at the blazing sun atop the mountain:
“Buddha!!”
The next moment, the blazing brilliance of the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect engulfed everyone, engulfed Xu Qi’an, engulfed Shenshu, engulfed the Buddhist Bodhisattvas.
…
Ten miles from Ananda, a round formation of clear light appeared out of thin air. Then several charred figures appeared within it.
Those blackened figures all crashed to the ground together, like burnt corpses. No matter how fast teleportation was, it wasn’t faster than light.
They’d still been briefly illuminated by the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect.
Only the silver-haired demoness barely retained consciousness and didn’t pass out.
But she was no longer silver-haired now. Her whole body was charred black, her tails were bald, her fox ears were bald, and her beautiful silver hair was gone as well. Her body was covered in scorch marks, black with streaks of red.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox barely propped herself up. Her throat moved, and she spat out a porcelain bottle.
The magical artefacts on her body, including her storage pouch, had already been burnt to nothing. Only the porcelain bottle stored in her belly remained intact.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox pulled out the stopper, tilted the bottle, and poured out a few pills that restored stamina, swallowing them.
After sitting cross-legged for more than ten seconds, she finally recovered a little strength.
Only then did the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox have the energy to inspect her allies, to see who was alive and who was dead.
The charred humanoid holding a carving knife was Zhao Shou. The Confucian cap atop his head was covered in a layer of black ash, as though he’d just been dragged out of a fire.
Zhao Shou was at death’s door, his life fluctuations weak.
The one of ordinary height had to be Sun Xuanji. Although his white robes had been burnt into charcoal, the utterly unremarkable air of the Jianzheng’s second disciple was, like a chicken among cranes, so inconspicuous.
So he could be recognised at a glance.
The Earth Sect’s Jinlian and Lanlian were easier to distinguish, because the difference between male and female physique was huge.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox first went over to Sun Xuanji and searched him over, taking out a tattered storage artefact and gently tearing it open.
Amid a clattering sound, piles upon piles of magical artefacts and pills spilled out.
She first took several kinds of healing medicine herself, then went over to Li Miaozhen, pinched a pill between her fingertips, pried open her lips, and fed her one.
A moment later, Li Miaozhen woke. She gave a low groan, and with her powerful primordial spirit, quickly grasped the condition of her body. Large areas of her skin were burnt, her internal organs were damaged, and a powerful force was continually wearing away her vitality.
“Do you have any clothes?”
the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox asked.
The clothes on both of them had been burnt into tatters and couldn’t cover their bodies at all. Of course, in the current state of the two females, looking like charred corpses, there wasn’t really any question of springtime scenery leaking out.
Li Miaozhen nodded, fumbled around in her arms, found the Earth Book fragment, took out two dresses, tossed one set to the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox, and put the other on herself.
Not long after, under the treatment of the two women, Zhao Shou and the others finally woke up.
Daoist Jinlian sat cross-legged, digesting the medicine’s effects while saying in a deep voice:
“Hurry and heal. Then head back and see what’s happened.”
Then he sighed and said:
“So it really was as expected…”
Their first plan had been to gather everyone’s strength and besiege Agaruka Bodhisattva to death. It had also been a test of that one inside Ananda.
In truth, none of them had believed they could really kill Agaruka Bodhisattva smoothly.
Sure enough, at the final moment, the Buddha had still acted.
Recalling the scene just now, Li Miaozhen felt wave after wave of lingering fear.
“So this is the power of a Beyond-rank…”
Just being illuminated for an instant by the Great Sun Tathagata had nearly caused her body and soul to perish. If they hadn’t discussed it beforehand and known how to respond when the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect appeared, she would probably already have died beneath the all-pervading Buddha light.
At those words, Sun Xuanji and the others also felt fear lingering in their hearts.
They’d known that once the Buddha moved, it would certainly be a devastating blow.
But knowing it was one thing, and truly witnessing a Beyond-rank act was another.
Only today did they realise that the distance between Beyond-rank and beyond-mortal was the distance between man and ant.
Zhao Shou’s injuries were the most severe. He’d first suffered backlash from magic, then been heavily wounded by the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect. At this moment, he no longer had the strength to fight again.
But Zhao Shou still actively joined the discussion and said:
“Did you notice? Just now, the Buddhist Bodhisattvas, including al-Asura, didn’t flee. They sat in meditation where they were.”
Li Miaozhen and the others had also noticed that, but couldn’t give an answer.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox snorted.
“Under the all-pervading Buddha light, all things turn to ash in the wind. Only Buddha-nature endures forever.”
Zhao Shou understood.
“So cultivators of Buddhism can survive within the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect?”
It was as though he’d seized upon a flaw in the Great Sun Tathagata.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox seemed to see through what he was thinking and said flatly:
“That’s the principle of it. But if the Buddha doesn’t want you to live, then even if you cultivate to first rank Bodhisattva, you still may not survive within the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect. It all depends on the Buddha’s will.”
Daoist Jinlian narrowed his eyes and said:
“Doesn’t that mean that the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect just now didn’t contain the Buddha’s will, and was merely the Dharma Aspect instinctively radiating its power? Otherwise, there’d be no reason for al-Asura to survive.
“And that also means the Buddha’s state isn’t very good.”
When he finished speaking, everyone looked together towards Ananda, and silently hastened the absorption of their medicine.
The difficulty of attacking Ananda with a Beyond-rank guarding it had always been expected.
Once the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect appeared, gods and demons alike withdrew.
The advantage they’d fought so hard to gain just now had been wiped out by that one strike from the Buddha.
However, the Buddha’s move had also happened to confirm their earlier conjecture.
…
On a distant plain far from Ananda, beside a winding stream, the Master of Rain Nalan Tianlu sat cross-legged by the riverbank, blood light flickering all around him.
He too was charred black all over, with large patches of skin carbonised. At that moment he was using the Warlock system’s “Blood Spirit Art” to heal his wounds.
I couldn’t to kill Agaruka Bodhisattva, I failed the Great Warlock’s trust…
The advice Sarun Agu had given him was—go where the wind blows.
On the surface, help the Buddhist sect kill Xu Qi’an. But if Agaruka Bodhisattva, wreathed in bloody calamity, was in mortal peril, then give him a push.
No matter how things turned out, the Church of the Warlock God would profit.
Even though I was already extremely far from Ananda, I was still heavily wounded by the Great Sun Tathagata Dharma Aspect. The power the Buddha can release seems to be higher than the Warlock God’s.
That lot led by Zhao Shou really ran fast. Curse this heavy injury of mine, I can’t slip over and reap the fisherman’s profit.
Xu Qi’an’s now alone and unsupported, the perfect chance to kill him. But I don’t know what other trump cards they still have…
…
In a certain mountain ravine at the edge of Ananda, the Stupa tower floated in mid-air. On top of the tower sat a slightly plump Dharma Aspect holding a jade bottle, scattering streams of golden light. Within the golden light was a roasted bear.
Under the healing of the Medicine Buddha Dharma Aspect, the roasted bear gradually shed its dead skin, growing tender red flesh and turning into a bald panda.
Then its beady eyes opened, and it woke up.
The Bear King looked over itself, tore off a piece of slightly charred meat, brought it to its nose and sniffed it, muttering:
“Smells delicious. Can’t help wanting to eat it…”
This was Xu Qi’an’s voice.
Within the Stupa tower Li Miaozhen had thrown out, there resided a wisp of Xu Qi’an’s divine sense.
Her reason for throwing out the Stupa tower had been both to save the Bear King’s life and to send Xu Qi’an’s divine sense over, so that through the power of the Heart Gu he could control the Bear King and go investigate the Zen forest.
This was Xu Qi’an’s second plan.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox throwing the Bear King, second weakest in combat strength, into Ananda had been laying the groundwork for this second plan.
Xu Qi’an’s true body had remained behind to tie down the first rank Bodhisattvas, while in secret he used the Heart Gu to control the Bear King and investigate conditions at the sealing ground, mending the planks in the open while sneaking across at Chencang in secret.
“Luckily the Stupa tower is here. Otherwise the Bear King would probably have slept forever in Ananda, leaving his body to the mountain slopes.” Xu Qi’an said in a low voice:
“Senior Tower Spirit, whether Dharmapara Bodhisattva is in the Zen forest, we’ll know soon enough.”
The Stupa tower buzzed, as if extremely agitated, and the old monk Tower Spirit’s slightly trembling voice entered Xu Qi’an’s ears:
“This poor monk has waited more than three hundred years for this day. Many thanks, benefactor, for making it possible.”
This was something Xu Qi’an had promised it.
Back then, in order to persuade the Stupa tower to cast aside its rules and deal with the Buddhist sect, Xu Qi’an had promised to help it find Dharmapara Bodhisattva.
A promise carried the weight of a thousand pieces of gold.
“I’m curious myself!”
Xu Qi’an waved a paw, pushed himself up, and moved his heavy bear body swiftly uphill, heading for Zen Forest Peak to the west.
The Zen forest wasn’t on Ananda’s main peak, but on a tall peak to the south. The place was rarely visited by people, and even birds were absent.
At the summit lay mounds of dazzling white snow, and the air was cold and crisp. It didn’t take Xu Qi’an long to reach the top, where he saw an ancient temple.
The outer walls of the old temple stretched on and on, the red lacquer mottled and peeling. The main gate had long since rotted away. No one knew how many years had passed since anyone had last come here.
According to what al-Asura had said, the Zen forest was where generations of eminent monks returned after passing away, and was also the Buddha’s retreat.
Since five hundred years ago, when the Buddha announced he’d enter seclusion, the Zen forest had become a forbidden ground within Ananda. Apart from a few Bodhisattvas, no one else could come here.
Had Arhat Due not come here in secret back then, the secret that the Buddha had already broken free of the seal might not have been discovered until who knew when.
Of course, the same was true of the cry for help suspected to belong to Dharmapara Bodhisattva.
Passing through the courtyard gate and treading on the snow, Xu Qi’an made his way deeper into the Zen forest. Along the way stood grave stupas as tall as two men, weather-beaten and stained with the mottling of time.
Bodhi trees had been planted beside the grave stupas.
According to al-Asura, the bodhi trees in the Zen forest were all descendants of that mother tree from long ago.
Following the bluestone path that had been “submerged” by earth, Xu Qi’an continued deeper in. After a moment, a not especially tall ancient tree appeared ahead, but its branches and leaves spread for dozens of yards, its trunk twisted and knotted, with vines hanging down one after another.
Beneath the tree lay layers upon layers of withered yellow leaves, giving off a faint musty smell.
The Bodhi Mother Tree!
A sharp gleam flashed in Xu Qi’an’s eyes, and they stopped on the pile of rubble beside the mother tree.
So the Confucian Sage’s seal really was broken… Xu Qi’an’s heart tightened.
Al-Asura had already mentioned this matter, but seeing it with his own eyes was another thing entirely.
With the Stupa tower above his head, he walked beneath the bodhi tree. The branches and leaves, thick as a canopy, blocked out the light, and for no reason at all made one feel a sinister chill.
At that moment, a faint and drifting cry for help sounded by his ear:
“Save me, save me…”
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