Su Xing and the others descended the building and entered the courtyard. They saw that Jiang Shuishui was already standing in the middle of the array, the courtyard already set with a magic circle, a feeling of isolation from the world.
Su Xing took note that Jiang Shuishui's contractor Uncle Hai was not at all present.
"We have troubled the Lady." Su Xing earnestly thanked her.
Jiang Shuishui somewhat apologetically glanced at Su Xing, shook her head, and softly replied: "It does not matter, to be able to help the Elder Sisters, Shuishui herself is very happy." The Divine Mathematician could divine the heavenly mysteries, however, the fact was that this sort of heavenly mystery was itself a mystery within a mystery. At times, she could execute it defiantly of the natural order, and at others, she nevertheless failed utterly. Divine Calculation could be said to be of dubious worth.
To be able to use her powers under the most optimal conditions, as far as the Meet Star Divine Mathematician Jiang Jing was concerned, was something to be grateful for.
Su Xing's face wore a thankful expression and nodded.
"Little Sister Shuishui, is your Star Master not going to be present?" Wu Xinjie asked.
"Uncle Shu has always been unaware of Shuishui's identity." Jiang Shuishui softly replied.
Her words made everyone present stunned.
Now that this was the Third Stage, there unexpectedly were still Star Masters that were unclear about their status? No wonder that Uncle Shu's cultivation was merely Stardust. Perhaps their contract was somewhat of a coincidence. In the Star Duels, this sort of thing was not at all rare, and Wu Xinjie did not say anything more.
"Then Shuishui shall prognosticate a Divine Calculation for Big Brother. If that is not allowed, then please pardon Shuishui." Jiang Shuishui gazed at Su Xing.
"This is no problem. Although I don't believe in heavenly mysteries, heavenly mysteries are occasionally helpful." Su Xing's voice was very relaxed.
"En."
Jiang Shuishui stood in the center of the array. Those gorgeous clothes fluttered without wind, as if there was some sort of viscous feeling in the air. Time had stopped, and while Su Xing, Wu Xinjie, Lin Yingmei, Wu Siyou and the rest stood around, completely on guard, Gongsun Huang sat peacefully on Su Xing's shoulder. She stared, the Star General number one in magic energy full of curiosity towards Divine Mathematician Jiang Jing's Divine Calculation.
Jiang Shuishui's shy expression was shed. Her face showed confidence and experience. The girl's white fingers moved, white light flashed, and a glorious white pearl abacus appeared out of thin air. That abacus glittered with every single color, circulated two stars, and was extremely beautiful. This was Meet Star Divine Mathematician Jiang Jing's Destined Star Weapon – Five Elements Sentencing Mental Calculation!1
Jiang Shuishui's hands parted, and the abacus' pearls immediately gave of light. Following their glow, it became a dazzling pinprick of white light. Jiang Shuishui's fingers seemed to fly, fluttering like a butterfly through a garden. The Five Elements Sentencing Mental Calculation's pearls endlessly changed before them, leaping like fairies.
Jiang Shuishui's pupils glowed with white light. Su Xing had a feeling of shock. The girl's gaze seemed to pierce through the obstructions of time and space. Within the motions of Jiang Shuishui's fingers, the pearl abacus began to work according to some kind of pattern, extremely like the mysteries of the universe.
A moment later, the countless pearls embedded in the air began to transform into the shape of characters.
"Pluck out Bodhi to suppress Far West!"
A row of flowing characters manifested.
Because they knew this was Jiang Jing's Divine Calculation of the heavenly mysteries, Su Xing and the others held their breath.
"Great Wisdom Lotus Platform calls for killing!"2
The first row of characters was as opaque as ink, and the second row of characters appeared.
Then, the third and fourth row of characters appeared before them in succession, split into "Three ways and five dragons release light, the mundane immeasurably comprehends the Buddha's mind!"
The white light dimmed, and the pearls flowing in the air dispersed, again falling into Jiang Shuishui's Five Elements Sentencing Mental Calculator. The girl's fingers ceased their movements, and everything fell back into a peaceful nothingness.
Su Xing, Wu Xinjie and the other beauties looked at each other in dismay.
"Pluck out Bodhi to suppress Far West, Great Wisdom Lotus Platform calls for killing; Three ways and five dragons release light, the mundane immeasurably comprehends Buddha's mind."3
Putting together the four verses the Divine Calculation found, Su Xing slowly read them. This was somewhat of a headache, a state of complete opaqueness.
"What does this mean?" Shi Yuan was baffled.
Jiang Jing collapsed and panted. Even the Divine Mathematician herself did not know the meaning.
Su Xing pondered for a long time, however, this verse honestly was too specious. It vaguely had a bit of an outline, but like Shi Yuan, his brain was complete paste. Everyone directed their gazes to Knowledge Star Resourceful Star Wu Xinjie. Among them, the Knowledge Star excelled in undoing verses, mechanisms and the like.
"Thinking about it right now is useless. First, let us reach the Buddha Kingdom." Wu Xinjie muttered.
They could only do so.
"We shall go now. Young Master's Meditative Mind Lotus Seed has had too much time pass." Lin Yingmei said.
Not long after, Yan Yizhen and Tang Lianxin returned from outside the city. After summarizing the Divine Calculation's mystery, they prepared to depart. "Right, is Little Sister Shui not going to prepare to leave Ecliptic City?" Wu Xinjie recalled something, thus asking Jiang Jing. "This place has an Ecliptic Palace that is somewhat harboring evil intentions. Little Sister Shui must think clearly about this."
"Thank you, Elder Sister, for your concern." Jiang Shuishui bashfully answered: "Ecliptic City is situated between the Buddha Kingdom and the Azure Dragon Territory. The other sects will not find this place, so long as Shuishui does not show her face. Besides, Uncle Hai's Four Seas Guest House is still here, so Shuishui does not wish to part."
Hearing her say this, Wu Xinjie did not have anything else to say. She could see more clearly the problems of the Divine Mathematician's Divine Calculation of heavenly mysteries.
After making some instructions, Su Xing and the others delayed no longer. They drove the Fire Beacon Chariot into the sky and departed, their objective directly in the Buddha Kingdom – the mundane Pure Land.
Jiang Shuishui lifted her head to gaze at that last trace of them in the sky, an indescribable depth in her eyes.
"Shuishui, how is Brother Su Xing?" Uncle Hai held a bottle of wine as he walked in.
"Uncle Hai, he and his wives had something to do." Jiang Shuishui put away her concentrated thoughts, faintly smiling.
Uncle Hai was somewhat regretful, "That so? Truly, what a pity. After Brother Su Xing came to the guest house, I hadn't sought him out for some drinks. Originally, I had even thought to drink some wine with him."
Jiang Shuishui's gaze twinkled, saying: "Uncle Hai, he will still return. At that time, you can." The Divine Mathematician's tone was full of an unfathomable loneliness, but how could the Uncle Hai completely oblivious to the Star Duels pouring wine have heard this.
…
The five hundred li of the Far West was no more than a few hours. Going forward, they very quickly reached the Buddha Kingdom's Pure Land.
Su Xing originally thought that this Buddha Kingdom probably would have been a cluster of monasteries and monks all over, rushing to light lamps all over, the sounds and smells of Buddhism everywhere, but when he caught sight of the Azure Dragon Territory's most famed Buddha Kingdom, things were far from being as simple as he thought.
The earth below his feet was golden, as if it had been cast from gold. Countless golden lotuses were carved upon it, and each golden lotus was linked, forming a close and expansive avenue, leading directly to a faraway place. Outside the main path, were mountains of normal stone and mud. Even the flowers and forests were of the Buddha Kingdom's most famous spinulose ferns and polo flowers. Delicate and pretty, the polo flowers bloomed, giving the Pure Land a fragrance.
Among the shala forests and polo flower were hidden many Buddhist monasteries and even more pagodas standing tall as well as the sounds of running water, birds and the occasionally strike of bells. Increasingly, it appeared quiet and secluded. Su Xing looked all around into the distance, unable to see the end of the Pure Land.
The Buddha Kingdom indeed had the kasaya attire, many zen dress style monks, but what was the same as any other city in the Azure Dragon Territory was that the majority of the residents were of similar dress, which was normal. However, for those residing in the Buddha Kingdrom, the majority of residents were Buddhists, with a Zen presence that distanced themselves from the worldly. Honestly, this was eye-opening.
The moment Su Xing and the beauties landed, they thought they definitely would attract even greater attention. However, the Feast of All Souls was a very big even in the Buddha Kingdom. Besides the millions in celebration within the Pure Land, Star Cultivators from the Azure Dragon Territory and the Netherworld were also common, after all, the Feast of All Souls' "Buddhist Sermon General Assembly," and "Eye Opening" all were very beneficial to cultivation and magic weapons.
"With this Buddha Kingdom so big, how are we to bloom the Meditative Mind Lotus Flower now?"
Wu Siyou asked. The Pilgrim was considered to have half of a Buddhist mind. Entering the Buddha Kingdom, her murderous air greatly retracted.
"Let us first see what this place is." Wu Xinjie said.
The Feast of All Souls at this time had already started several days ago. There was a sea of people on the streets, absolutely packed, the temple fairs considerably lively. With shooting flames and acrobats, Zen propagators, snake charmers and elephant dancers, naturally most lively Shi Yuan could not hold herself back as she chose every sort of Buddha Kingdom head dress from a vendor.
"Yuan'er, seriously, still playing even at this time." Wu Xinjie was helpless.
"It's fine." Su Xing smiled. He did not mind, for when he saw Shi Yuan was happy, he also could not hold back being happy as well.
"How is Big Brother's Meditative Mind Lotus Seed?" An Suwen nervously asked.
Su Xing sensed it. It originally was already very wilted, however, this Buddha Kingdom indeed was somewhat spiritual. The withering seemed to have been stopped, and persisting for then more days was not a problem.
"But just how do we bloom this Meditative Mind Lotus Seed?" Wu Siyou wrinkled her brow, "We did not glean anything useful from the Divine Mathematician, and in the end we still are baffled."
"Not necessarily, Siyou is more worried than us." Wu Xinjie covered her smiled. "Xinjie already has a countermeasure."
Just as they were about to ask her, they suddenly heard a hubbub in the crowd. Immediately afterwards, they saw the crowd separate, leaving an open space. Su Xing's group curiously looved over, and they saw several monks grappling.
These monks' attires were different. Three wore golden kasaya embroidered with polo flowers, their appearances righteous, with shiny shaven heads, but they were glaring; and the ones being glared at were two monks. They wore ordinary Zen garments, however, embroidered on these garments nevertheless were the flying apsaras of completely naked heavenly goddesses. Compared to the monks dressed in polo flower embroideries, these two had a gloom in their eyes. What made Su Xing's heart give rise to a slight desire to kill was that these two monks held a youthful woman. That woman's face was sensual, completely out of it. She was slumped over one of the monks' shoulders, breathing heavily.
"Quickly release the Lady Benefactor!" The golden robed monks shouted.
"This Lady Benefactor hopes to share bliss with us in the Dual Happiness Courtyard, to clearly comprehend the Chan mind.4 Could it be you Brahmans are vainly obstructing our compassionate Buddha?"
Their counterpart laughed. Where was the feeling of a Buddha's mercy. "Lady Benefactor, what do you say?"
"Common Woman hopes to go back with this senior monk."
The woman's state of mind was unclear, replying in a daze.
"Nonsense, Poor Daoist5 plainly sees you harbor evil intentions for this Lady Benefactor. She is only like this because she has lost her senses. Using such means in broad daylight, you defile Buddha. On this day, Poor Daoist will not sit and watch." The great Brahman monks each were serious in expression, their hands clenched tightly, their veins bulging, their temples protruding, their eyes glowing like a Vajra's.
"Vajra Dharma Characteristics!!!"6
Author’s Note:
These two days, the 11th district unfortunately had an earthquake. I couldn’t help but go on the internet and shitpost. Right now, the Buddha Kingdom’s plot has been decided (A Star General awaited by the tens of thousands will appear, and what I’m considering planning will be somewhat different. I’ve arranged for several plots to unfold not completely as I would’ve wished). I won’t be lazy, and if I try hard enough, I can finish this between five to seven days. I’m doing it all for my bunny…
Right now, Little Ice really wants to write about the appearance of Maiden Mountain’s trial~~~~
