Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Ksitigarbha’s expression didn’t change. He held up the nine-looped scepter above the skeletal elephant, water flowing through the head of it. There were more splashes. He raised the scepter and then hit Ning Que’s cutlass.
There was a blast. Countless vortexes swirled in the water with powerful effects spreading all around. Countless skeletons covered inexistent ears, and countless wandering ghosts hid their heads in the chests. They were too scared to listen.
Huge power passed from the front end of the iron sword. Ning Que felt as if he cut into a mountain. It was impossible to hurt the enemy at all, but his wrist almost snapped from the reveberrance.
Ksitigarbha was the second Chief Monk of Xuankong Temple. His Vajra Defending Divine Skill was cultivated to the zenith and even beyond that after his Parinirvana. Ning Que couldn’t even injure the Chief Monk in human world. How could he possibly kill this one?
Ning Que’s right foot stamped on the elephant’s head and lifted the cutlass to smash again. But his body was leaning backward. He was ready to retreat with the water current. However, at the moment, the trunk of the skeletal elephant swept over and wrapped around in his waist.
The skeletal elephant’s trunk was so tough that he couldn’t escape. The situation was like what the Vermillion Bird had faced. Before he could reacted, Ksitigarbha made the Wishful Mudra in his left hand and blasted it to his chest!
The Wishful Mudra was full of Buddhist Power, which could suppress all evils in the animal division. Fresh blood gushed out of Ning Que, while he felt the huge power passing on from his chest. If he couldn’t free himself, he would definitely die from the mudra. With a shout, the Haoran Qi in his abdomen burst out. The cutlass smashed furiously down onto the trunk of the skeletal elephant. The elephant’s trunk was shaken loose. At the same time, he became on streak of light smoke and fled back to the sunken boat.
He fell on the front of the boat and almost lost his balance. Blood spewed out of his mouth.
Ksitigarbha looked at him quietly while the nine-looped scepter in his right hand rang in the water.
Ning Que was surrounded by water. He wiped his face, washing away the blood. He looked at the Ksitigarbha on the skeletal elephant and became very serious.
He knew his enemy was very powerful, but his strength was still beyond his imagination. Not only could Ning Que not cut into him, the skeletal elephant also had such horrific power, and the Wishful Mudra couldn’t even be evaded.
Ksitigarbha looked at him with mercy. He said, “Put down our knife and be absolved of your sins.”
“Okay,” Ning Que said without thinking or any hesitation.
Ksitigarbha found this strange, while the wraiths and skeletons laughed proudly. There was no flesh on the wraiths and skeletons, nor any expressions. Their laughs were the ghastly sound of teeth hitting each other.
Ning Que abruptly sheathed the cutlass. Then he took out the iron bow and knocked the arrow while standing on the front of the boat. The dark iron arrow was absolutely still in the river, targeting the skeletal elephant.
Ksitigarbha frowned and chanted the Amitabha Buddha.
The arrow on the bow was one of the Thirteen Primordial Arrows.
The Thirteen Primordial Arrow had killed countless strong fighters. It was called the devil’s weapon due to the blood it had shed. Ning Que had put down his knife and picked up his bow. He’d like to see if he could kill a Buddha!
Years ago in the White Tower Temple, he couldn’t shoot through the Chief Monk of Scripture. Now, he was at a higher state and had Sangsang’s power within him. He believed this iron arrow definitely could kill the monk on the skeletal elephant.
A round of white turbulence formed at the front of the boat, which drove the water into high-speed rotation. The iron arrow on the bow disappeared suddenly. The next second, it was in front of the skeletal elephant. Ksitigarbha had just started chanting.
A light sound rang out like a needle falling on a stone plate, or like the music that opened a banquet. The water flowing over the skeletal elephant was disturbed, dimming the light again. After the water cleared, the iron arrow showed itself again.
The iron arrow didn’t pierce Ksitigarbha, or even his kasaya, because it didn’t get close to the Bodhisattva at all. It had dug into an umbrella.
It was a seemingly regular umbrella with countless vajra hanging around the brim. It was rotated slowly in the water. The umbrella handle was in the hand of Ksitigarbha. His other hand changed to make the mudra.
Ning Que was speechless. He wondered what kind of material the umbrella was that it could take on the Thirteen Primordial Arrows shot under Haotian’s divine power. Its strength was comparable to the big black umbrella!
An umbrella hanging with ropes was called a pennant. This was the Vajra Pennant mentioned in Buddhist texts! Ksitigarbha held the Vajra Pennant in his right hand and made the Fearless Mudra in his left hand. It was the Ksitigarbha of Supporting the Earth, who was set to enlighten the Asura!
Ksitgarbha controlled six divisions with six dharma-laksanas. He couldn’t be hacked with a cutlass or pierced with an arrow. Ksitigarbha, quiet and still as the earth and profound and hidden as a mystery, was invincible!
Ning Que was speechless, but he didn’t give up. He took out cutlass and struck twice in the direction of the skeletal elephant far away. The blades cut off the current at the river bottom and then transformed into two powerful and forceful attacks with Fu spirit.
It was his most powerful method at that moment – the “Y” talisman!
Ksitigarbha’s dharma-laksana changed again into the Ksitigarbha of Precious Pearl, with a precious pearl in his left hand and the Sweet Dew Mudra completed by his right hand. It specialized in enlightening the ghost division and could suppress any form of spiritual power, including the Fu spirit.
These two powerful Fu spirits could even slice through the flowing water, leaving two distinct spaces under the water. But in front of the skeletal elephant, they were blocked by the precious pearl and couldn’t budge!
Even the intangible Fu spirit could be stopped by tangible vessels. What exactly was the precious pearl? Why there were so many vessels in Buddhism? How powerful was Ksitigarbha?
Even Ning Que’s most powerful attacks were easily countered by Ksitigarbha. After that, he felt unsettlement and even desperation. At the same time, a voice sounded inside his heart.
Sangsang’s voice was a bit weak but very calm. “Let me do it.”
Ning Que thought back to the summer in Chang’an years ago. After a storm, he finally learnt Fu Tao. After that, he fought to do whatever Sangsang wanted to do. Then no matter what Sangsang did, he would rather snatch the chance. In the Old Brush Pen Shop, one could constantly hear him say, “Let me do it.”
Then, Sangsang grew up and became Haotian. Now, even if she was so feeble that would die any moment, she was still much more powerful than him, It was her turn to say this sentence.
Standing in the chilly water, Ning Que felt warmth coming from the inside. It was peaceful, happy and blissful. But he was still inevitably worried, because Sangsang was too feeble.
“Can you handle it?”
“Maybe I can. After that, I would sleep for a long time.”
“In that case, be careful.”
Ning Que closed his eyes and found he couldn’t control his body the next moment. Sangsang’s consciousness took over, while he could only look on quietly.
He felt quite odd and incapable of doing anything. Later, he could only watch Sangsang fight with Ksitigarbha, unable to do anything regardless of how dangerous it was.
Ning Que closed his eyes while standing on the front of the boat. Ksitigarbha gradually grew serious, because he sensed instinctively some changes that he wasn’t willing to see.
The Vajra Pennant clattered when struck by the water. The vajra hanging at the umbrella’s brim became drilled with holes by the water. It finally turned into countless white and scary human skulls.
The Fearless Mudra in the Ksitigarbha’s right hand dispersed. His fingertips rose up in the water, fell down like flowers and made a mudra, spreading mercy through the world.
Countless vicious ghosts and skeletons sensed the changes of Ksitigarbha. They fell to their knees together and unleashed their own consciousness to aid him. They started piously chanting the sutra.
Ning Que opened his eyes, his eyelashes drawing up fine lines in the water. In the blink of an eyes, the Ksitigarbha had changed drastically.
The Vajra Pennant in Ksitigarbha’s left hand had turned into the Pennant of Human Skulls. According to the sutra, it was the Tantra. The Fearless Mudra in his right hand changed into the Sweet Dew Mudra, forming the Tantra Ksitigarbha. Its purpose was to save all living creatures in the hell division.
After sensing the changes in Ning Que, Ksitigarbha reacted without any hesitation to become the most merciful yet cruelest and most powerful Tantra Ksitigarbha.
“Die or move,” Ning Que said without any expressions while looking at Ksitigarbha.
Ksitigarbha knew Ning Que wasn’t himself any more. The one speaking was Haotian. He was visibly moved, and the hell became uneasy as well. Tens of thousands of wraiths and skeletons were at a loss and the sutra chanting was slightly disorderly.
The Bodhisattva quickly returned to calmness, as did the hell. The sutra chanting in the water became orderly again. He looked at Ning Que standing at the front of the boat. “Integration of the God and human, so who is the God then?” he contemplated.
Instead of an argument, he was purely lamenting. The Bodhisattva lamented that Haotian no longer existed.
Die or move…When a cultivator said such words, it showed their power and confidence. But Haotian would have never spoken like that. Instead of speaking, she would kill the enemy right away, even if the enemy was Ksitisattva – this only demonstrated that Haotian had become very feeble.
The sutra chanting grew and Buddha’s Light seeped into Ning Que’s clothes, triggering the three poisons of greed, anger and foolishness in the divine soul of Sangsang. Red blood flowed out of the corner of his mouth and dripped into the water.
The blood contained Haotian Divine Flame. It was so hot that the river boiled, transforming into countless tiny bubbles. They floated over his face like pearls. He still looked expressionless – or rather, it was Sangsang who was expressionless. Her heart was injured while his body was in pain. She didn’t care about this.
Sangsang didn’t talk to Ksitigarbha. She took out the iron bow and shot directly. The arrow seemed normal, but compared to that of Ning Que, its was countless times more powerful!
Ksitigarbha still looked merciful. The tantra in his hand reacted. The countless pale human heads hanging below the umbrella brim opened mouths at the same time and started to scream.
Tens of thousands of white skulls screamed at the same time, and an intangible barrier was set up in the water before the skeletal elephant.
No matter how strong the iron arrow was, even if it was shot by Haotian, the screen couldn’t be passed through.
There was a soft poof.
Ksitigarbha looked down at his chest and saw a black arrow sticking out. It was dyed with several drops of golden blood and tangled with several golden lines on the kasaya.
Even the most powerful Tantra Ksitigarbha couldn’t block the iron arrow.
Pain colored Ksitigarbha’s face, as well as confusion. He didn’t know how the arrow had appeared.
Was it because God’s will was difficult to predict?
No, God’s will couldn’t be predicted at all.
Neither could the arrow shot by Haotian.
While the iron arrow shot through Ksitigarbha, Sangsang left the front of the boat. Like truewater, she walked naturally in the water and instantly came before the skeletal elephant.
The tens of thousands of heads on the Tantra were still screaming. Black blood streamed out of Ning Que’s face, but his eyes looked so peaceful – even cold. He landed on the head of the skeletal elephant without any fear.
He came before Ksitigarbha.
Haotian came before Ksitigarbha.
