An abject scholar was reading a strange mythical story to a group of kids in the City God Temple.
“The Jiuhua Emperor came from the sky and said that the monster was his mythical pet who snuck into the human world. He asked for forgiveness from the others and allowed him to bring it back to his residence to discipline it…” the scholar looked lifeless. He made a pretentious gesture and said, “We’re done. Join the next session if you want to know the next plot.”
All the kids were disappointed. Confused, one of them asked, “Sir, is the reason for the other monsters getting killed because of the Immortal Bodhisattva’s monster as it ate humans and needed more training?”
The scholar paused as he did not know how to answer. He had read the story for many years and this was the first time he thought from this angle. This seemed to be a perfect time to refine the story.
Although kids were naive and not contaminated by the world, they could raise questions on what was deemed as normal by adults.
Suddenly, a huge percussion from the collapsing of the embankment that shook the earth reached his ears when he wanted to explain.
…
The Great River flowed to the east, passing through high mountains, lofty hills, and drenching wide lands from the Middle Ages to the Great Jin Dynasty. It was a landform that never changed much.
The hidden treasure obtained by the Zhenwu Sect was hidden somewhere near the Jiang Xin Watersource. According to clues left by the Great Emperor Zhenwu and the rumors passed down from the patriarchs of the Zhenwu Sect, Meng Qi minimized the range of the waters to about three thousand miles. Arriving from the teleportation circles, he flew in the sky while observing the minor geographical changes by utilizing the method passed down by the Great Emperor Zhenwu, in hopes to find something from the regular patterns.
After looking around for some time, Meng Qi suddenly saw that the embankment in front of him had collapsed from the waters from the Great River. Waves crushed the gate and burst into a city’s moat. The people were swept away by the strong current and the bustling town turned into a flooded village in an instant. Tragedies were seen everywhere as people lost their children, husbands, and mothers. Grief and despair clouded the city.
Streams of conveyance lights were seen in the air. Restrictive spells for rescuing the victims and repairing the moat flashed in the sky, demonstrating extraordinary power.
Crash!
The waves kept raging. A woman struggled in the flood waters while holding a wooden tub with a baby wailing in it.
The flood waters were getting more rapid as the waves crashed one after another. The woman could not support herself anymore as her body got heavier and colder. She was going to sink with the tub into the water at any second.
She grit her teeth and pushed the tub away forcefully with a reluctant look before she was swallowed by the water. There was only one thing in her mind, she hoped that the strong people from the Exterior Realm who were in the sky could save her child.
Tragedies like this happened in many places during the flood. Even though there was a huge number of strong people from the Exterior Realm, they had a wide range of control and were able to save many victims, they did not have the equipment for the placement of the victims. A disorientation occurred between rescuing and the arrangement of the placing for the victims. Therefore, not all victims could be taken care of at one time.
After observing the tragic events, a person of the Exterior Realm wearing a huge robe took a deep breath and revealed his Earth Goddess Form. He held his fists, gathered all his strength and smashed the air.
Bang!
After absorbing the Wuji energy, his fists enlarged drastically. He landed a hit on the embankment and split a part of the raging flood waters.
The earth shifted, erupted, and repaired the collapsed part. The land continued to rise to stop the flood waters.
Wait, why is there a flood in this season? Meng Qi muttered inside. He made a step and appeared in the sky above the moat.
The flood waters rose sharply in an instant. A monster which was dozens of feet long emerged as the waves separated. It has a snake-like figure with four limbs and horns on its head. It was just like a legendary dragon with the ability to control rain and floods!
The legendary dragon opened its mouth as waves crushed towards the sky, forming a whirlpool. It intended to swallow the man wearing the huge robe alive.
The flood is all a big demon’s doing! Meng Qi understood the situation now. He waved his left arm and his sleeve opened. The surrounding became darker as the flood victims floated one by one and flew into the sleeve. Not one human was left at the scene, only the legendary dragon was left.
Looking at the powerful World in the Sleeve skill, the legendary dragon knew that things would be bad for itself. It twisted its body and plunged towards the Great River.
A Five Colored Celestial Sword appeared in Meng Qi’s right arm. He hacked downwards lightly.
Thump!
The legendary dragon was entering into the water when it felt like it had hit on a metal plate. It felt some dizziness before feeling the weight of its surrounding pressing onto it like a locked cage, making it breathless. It tried to escape through exerting all its energy and fully using all its direct knowledge but it still failed.
“Mister, please forgive me!” the legendary dragon’s eyes turned and it suddenly begged for mercy.
Meng Qi looked at the wreckage at the moat and felt the passing of many lives. He said with a heavy expression, “You didn’t seem to listen when they begged for their lives.”
The legendary dragon sensed that Meng Qi intended to kill it and knew that it’s begging did not work. It snorted and said, “I am the mount of the Wise Holy Monk of the Winter Cicada Temple. I escaped the temple while he had Isolated Practice and caused this mess. The monks from the temple will be handling me so there is no need for you to act more than you should. Do you want to offend the Winter Cicada Temple?”
“The Wise Holy Monk is the disciple of the Maitreya Buddha, one of the Four Greatest Monks in the Real World. You need to really consider the consequences before you kill me.”
It crushed a collar silently.
Meng Qi faked a smile and said, “The Maitreya Buddha saved the world and is merciful in nature. He wouldn’t vouch for a demon that has caused chaos to innocent people like you.”
Realising Meng Qi’s determination to kill him, the legendary dragon felt a chill and said hurriedly, “The Maitreya Buddha might not, but the Wise Holy Monk will! He took me back the last time I snuck into the human world even though I killed countless people. He punished me to examine my conscience for a hundred years… what, what are you doing?”
Meng Qi was lazy to listen its words anymore and started to act.
At that moment, a Vaiduryanirbhasa light shone in the void and a white lotus appeared. The lotus bloomed slowly, forming a lotus platform. A red-lipped white-teethed samanera with a strong presence was sitting on it.
The samanera shouted once he appeared, “Mercy, mister!”
The dragon looked at the samanera as if he were his close family and started crying its eyes out, “Brother Hai Jing, save me! He’s going to kill me!”
The samanera’s face darkened and he pointed to the wreckage below, “Look what you did, how many more sins you’ve created! If you don’t make proper amendments, I will never forgive you!”
He turned and looked towards Meng Qi and sighed, “Mister, this dragon is the mount of the Wise Holy Monk of the Winter Cicada Temple. It was a demon king that caused disasters and it wasn’t easy to tame its wild nature so it kept repeating the same mistakes. Sigh, it’s the Winter Cicada Temple’s fault for not training it well, my sins are great for letting it sneak out of the temple. Please hand him over to me so that I can take it back to the temple and train it better. We will not allow him to create chaos again.”
“You’re only going to train it better? How about the innocent lives lost here?” Meng Qi pointed towards the debris below him without expression as the flood water had receded.
The samanera chanted Namo Amitabha and said, “The dead will not come back to life. Plus, it is a fresh living soul, how can I take its life for vengeance?”
“Our temple will hold a Great Compassion Water and Land Dharma Service here to release the innocent souls from purgatory so that they can enter the Pure Land as soon as possible. As for the dragon, I will make sure that it will do many good deeds and accumulate merits to amend its sins. This is better than killing it.”
“Exactly!” the dragon nodded profusely. Brother Hai Jing is indeed good in talking.
Meng Qi muttered and asked, “This is not the first time it escaped the temple isn’t it?”
“Yes, it was our Winter Cicada Temple’s negligence. We will be more strict with our discipline in the future,” Hai Jing said calmly and repeated what he said.
Meng Qi smiled suddenly.
“Winter Cicada Temple didn’t train it well over and over again. Let me help you instead!”
The Celestial Parting Sword in his right arm shook when he finished. The void cage around the dragon shrunk in an instant.
“Help…” the dragon was crushed into a pile of flesh before it finished its cry for help. Its obsessiveness lingered there, part of it was in disbelief, part of it was in horror.
He did not respect the Winter Cicada Temple at all!
Disrespecting the temple was equal to disrespecting the Wise Holy Monk, disrespecting the Wise Holy Monk was also equal to disrespecting the Maitreya Buddha!
Hai Jing was slow in his response so he could not stop him in time. There were ripples in his heart, and fury was seen in his eyes, “You, you’re cruel, there is no mercy in you!”
“It is now dead. No soul-releasing Lection characters or good deeds will be able to make it up. Where’s the compassion you mentioned?” Meng Qi asked with a fake smile. He returned the exact words said by Hai Jing to him.
“You, you!” Hai Jing was speechless.
Meng Qi continued, “Perhaps Master wants to punish me with violence? How can you take my life for vengeance for the dead?”
Hai Jing hid his expression, chanted the moniker softly and said, “Your bloodthirst is too strong, you’re obsessed with violence. How about if you followed me back to the Winter Cicada Temple and examine your conscience for ten years to dispel your belligerence?”
“No thanks, Master,” Meng Qi smiled and shook his head. As the flood waters receded, he waved his sleeve and human figures flew out from it and landed softly on the moat. “Look, to rescue one person from death is better than to build a seven-storied pagoda for a God. I have many seven-storied pagodas to dispel my belligerence now. So why would I have to examine my conscience?”
Hai Jing said in a deep voice, “This is absurd!”
“Absurd? I’m not a man of Buddhism, why can’t I treat violence with violence?” Meng Qi said, “I’ve met Arhats, Bodhisattvas, even Maha Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. They had higher ranks than you but they never said such words to me. You should go back and ask for advice from the Wise Holy Monk.”
Meng Qi hopped on his Somersault Cloud and left the moat area when he finished to continue his journey in looking for the Jiang Xin Watersource. Having witnessed how he overpowered the legendary dragon so effortlessly, Hai Jing knew that he was not his opponent. His expression changed and he left reluctantly.
After a few days of searching and observing the geographical changes, Meng Qi found where the Jiang Xin Watersource was located. He entered the base of the lake and opened the entrance using secret spells passed down by the Great Emperor Zhenwu.
Meng Qi was not greedy, as he wanted to prevent from affecting historical development. He looked at the Jiang Xin Watersource with clear water flowing in it and placed a hidden karma communicator at the entrance. With the communicator, he could sense when someone enters so he can reach there immediately.
Leaving the Jiang Xin Watersource, Meng Qi flew from the river’s surface. Suddenly, he had an idea and he took a step back.
The step was a thousand miles long.
Seven monks appeared in front of him. With Hai Jing as their lead, the others had Azure stones hidden beneath their skin. They were either Arhats or Bodhisattvas.
“The Wise Holy Monk asks for your return to the Winter Cicada Temple,” Hai Jing said with a raised voice.
The six Bodhisattvas and Arhats opened their right hands. There were golden talisman fragments in their palms and each fragment had one word on it, forming into a phrase seen in Sanskrit books:
Oṃ Maṇi Padme Hūṃ!
The Talisman of the Six Runes? Meng Qi was shaken. He realized that things were getting out of hand.
…
Three streams of conveyance light descended at the entrance of Chun Yangzi’s mausoleum. The Tyrant was the lead with a strong build while Gu Erduo and Su Daiji followed behind him.
The entrance opened automatically once the Tyrant took out his sword. He moved forward but paused suddenly as a white-haired old man sat on the Broken Dragon Rock in the mausoleum in front of him. He did not have an intimidating presence, but his concentration and devotion was remarkable.
“Not bad…” the Tyrant muttered as a smile appeared on Gu Erduo’s face.
