Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Dozens of green lotuses blossomed and withered around the Golden Cudgel. Flashes of lightning appeared and vanished, leaving a constantly changing overcast shadow on the Devil Buddha’s face.
His right palm stopped between Meng Qi’s brows, his deep evil eyes showed a trace of ripple. Wearing a dark golden robe, his body that was breathing normally seemed to be revealing something inside, making one feel a sense of violence that was no less than the nearby Golden Cudgel.
“How did you guess it?” the Devil Buddha paused, his voice still indifferent.
Meng Qi looked at the Devil Buddha with weary eyes and sighed, “At the Ananda Pure Land, I barely guessed it when I got to know the truth about Wang from Jiangdong tiding over the Great Trial of the Devil Buddha.”
“The Tyrant was obviously the God of Thunder’s fish. Out of so many hidden mighty people, why was Ananda the main force for killing the Tyrant, to the extent of being seen through and hunt down by various saints? Were you and the God of Thunder on such good terms that you were willing to take risks for each other without any benefits? Moreover, the Tyrant had also gone deep into Ananda Pure Land as though he was looking for something. Also, the Tyrant Stamp had prevented me from comprehending the Complete Soul Annihilation. I used to wonder about this, but I finally figured it out later. If Ananda was the God of Thunder, things would be clear and simple.”
“The God of Thunder was limited by his inborn godly body which made it difficult for him to make any more breakthroughs. Hence, he followed the example of the Qing Emperor, pulling out the Buddhism body of Ananda and using it in the Law of Reincarnation to find the way to Nirvana Realm. But due to the obsession in his heart, he couldn’t break free from misery, resulting in his gradual downfall and the weakening of his stamp.”
“As a last resort, you considered the God of Thunder. You planned to keep a fish belonging to the God of Thunder and then merge the fish and Ananda’s body, using the merging of a deity and body of Buddhism to pass through the stages. However, the Tyrant overwhelmed the world and lost control as a fish. Thereafter, you made secret arrangements — getting in touch with other mighty people, using the medieval saints as soldiers to kill the Tyrant to prevent it from continuing to grow and hurting himself.”
“After this failure, you finally gave up and sank along with your obsessive thoughts, turning into a demon.”
Ananda, the Devil Buddha, or rather the Master of the Six Dao of Samsara had already held back the ripples in his eyes as he listened quietly to Meng Qi’s analysis, only letting out a faint smile toward the end, “Good deduction, you’ve gotten most of it right, but it was still too late for him to know. By now, it could only serve to satisfy his curiosity.”
His right hand pressed between Meng Qi’s brows as his body turned illusory again, wanting to enter into Meng Qi’s primordial spirit to try to merge the two.
Meng Qi didn’t and also couldn’t resist. Watching helplessly at this scene, he mused to himself,
“This involved the Nirvana Realm and the saints have yet to certify the legend. It was impossible to deduce just by the Ancient Book that the key to the Great Trial was the Devil Buddha who hadn’t appeared. He could at the most figure that there would be a Great Trial related to Ananda, hence his complete words then should had been, ‘Should I address you as Lord Ananda or Thunder God of Ninth Heaven.’ Other than you having to do with the Great Trial, the other thing that he figured and certified was Ananda was in fact the God of Thunder.”
“Moreover, the God of Thunder was born within the ancient Thunder Ore, thus often being addressed as the Ancient God of Thunder. He was already around during early ancient times and had known the Demonic Sage for many years. They had similar identities and similar abilities. It was strange for her to fall in love with Ananda, but not surprising if she had a love affair with the God of Thunder.”
No wonder the successor of the Demonic Sage said that the Demonic Sage wouldn’t fall in love with Ananda. It was a self reminder that Ananda had another identity before this!
The strength of Meng Qi’s body seemed to be sucked out. His senses gradually faded and his vision turned blurry. Everything he heard sounded far away and unreal.
It was only then that he vaguely saw the lofty shadow of a huge golden monkey behind the Golden Cudgel supporting the sky. It was wearing a purple phoenix crown on his head and a golden chain mail on its body, stepping on the clouds and standing up straight. Refusing to kneel down, two tears of blood flowed out of its eyes. As violent shouts echoed, there was also faint whispering, as though it was a prelude to the violent shouting.
“Teacher…”
The tone was complex – one couldn’t tell if it was sadness or hatred.
Meng Qi totally lost his sensory abilities and couldn’t see anymore. His primordial spirit stood on the Sea of Soul, and below him was boundless sea and rays of lights which looked like golden scales.
He was the dictator of the vast sea, standing on top of a mountain in the middle of the Sea of Soul and looking down at all directions. At this moment, a shadow appeared in front of him — a shadow that looked exactly like him, the Devil Buddha Ananda! The Master of the Six Dao of Samsara! Number Two in the Heavenly Court in the past — the Thunder God of the Ninth Heaven!
Each and every one of these renowned titles was describing him. Wearing a dark golden robe, his eyes were indifferent and his disposition tranquil. However, he was being presented as a faintly discernible shadow. It was a black body that filled the entire sky above the Sea of Soul. With nine heads and twenty-six faces, each face showed a different expression — anger, hatred, coldness — negative expressions that were totally different.
Standing on a black lotus, the body had twenty-four arms holding objects such as prayer beads made of bones, a wooden fish made of human skin, a dark flame and a frightening faceless being. It was unproportional and asymmetrical, filled with everything chaotic and insane, looking like an explicit representation of great horror, great destruction, great downfall, and great insanity of this world.
The most obvious marking on the shadow was the reddish black reverse swastika on its forehead. It was the illusionary Anti-Buddha Devil of Ananda!
The real Anti-Buddha Devil was still under the seal of the Five-Finger Mountain and the Bodhi tree branch.
There were ups and downs in the Sea of Soul; waves in the sea emitted golden rays in opposite directions. Meng Qi stood tall on the mountain peak and looked at the Devil Buddha Ananda who did the same back at him. There was no resistance in his eyes as he sighed, “No wonder the Ninth Heaven Thunder Spear identified me, the Ananda successor, with its residual vital essence and helped me to become the successor of the God of Thunder again…”
“No wonder the Demonic Lord sighed and said, ‘You’ve come late,’ after seeing me. It had nothing to do with Senior Qi achieving his succession earlier. Since he didn’t owe me anything, why did he exclaim, ‘You’ve come late’? Now I finally understood that this was an agreement between him and the God of Thunder. Those words weren’t meant just for me, but also for the God of Thunder.”
Meng Qi looked at Ananda’s eyes and spoke, “You’ve come late!”
“The Devil Buddha Ananda, who was also the Thunder God of Ninth Heaven, shook his head and laughed, “I was indeed late.”
He and Meng Qi looked at each other for a few breaths before Meng Qi suddenly sighed, “No wonder after the Demonic Lord was killed by the Celestial Ruler, the God of Thunder dealt another blow, using the Ninth Heaven Thunder Spear to nail the Demonic God inside the Devil Grave…”
“When the Demonic Lord attacked the Heavenly Court back then, you were probably one of the important figures…”
“You probably also didn’t play a good character with regards to the falling of the Heavenly Court fell and the survival of the God of Thunder. The shock and disbelief of Marshal Tianpeng during his death was likely because he didn’t expect his long-time associate whom he had known for tens of thousands of years, who was in fact his superior, and the God of Thunder who was the least likely to betray the Heavenly Court would suddenly kill him, and you also killed Gao Cuilan who was in the carriage. As you were unable to destroy the body of Marshal Tianpeng at the point, you misled others into thinking that Gao Cuilan was the murderer, hence leading on to other conspiracies.”
The Devil Buddha Ananda listened intensely, neither commenting nor rebutting, as though reminiscing his glorious past.
“No wonder the Evil Intentions of Zhenwu knew you, and more so didn’t expect that you had already taken the crucial step and attained the Nirvana Realm.” Meng Qi talked a fair bit, as though enjoying the last moments of his life.
“Zhenwu’s disappearance made me worried,” the Devil Buddha Ananda admitted calmly.
Meng Qi looked around, as though sizing up the Spirited Mountain outside, “During the war at the Spirited Mountain that year, Buddhas passed on, Bodhisattvas and Arhats turned into vampires, and the Demonic sage was the only one from the demon race army who escaped. This was probably also your doing.”
He recalled what he saw at the peak just now and made a bold guess, “The Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats formed the Thousand Buddha Formation at the Spirited Mountain to counter the Demonic Sage and various sages. Many Buddhas also came from other parts of Pure Land. Yet you, the core of the formation, betrayed the Spirited Mountain at the most crucial moment but you also didn’t help the Demonic Sage whom you had made an agreement with. After killing Maha Kasyapa who was the other core, you changed the formation, turning life into death and Buddhism into Devil’s way. The Spirited Mountain and even the entire Buddhist Sect of Amidism turned into hell, causing thousands of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to fall into darkness, seeking death together with the Demonic Sage and Great Sages.”
“What a pity…” the Devil Buddha didn’t deny it, looking as though he felt that it was a pity that he didn’t put in his best but made no mention with regards to the specific situation.
“What about the Monkey God? It has also fallen at the Spirited Mountain?” Meng Qi asked.
The Devil Buddha Ananda let out a laugh, “The monkey and Yang Jian are the two with the highest possibility this generation to attain the Nirvana Realm. Even the Celestial Ruler could barely have him under control after being injured by the Demonic Lord, so he couldn’t be killed so easily. When the thousand Buddhas fell, it actually had the chance to escape from the Spirited Mountain with the help of the Demonic Sage, but it chose to stay and forcefully dug through the Spirited Mountain with the Golden Cudgel, creating a piece of Pure Land at the bottom of the Spirited Mountain and sealed the remaining Great Sages and demon fairies in it, hence escaping death and sordid.
“But I’m not sure if it died later on. I didn’t dare stay on at the Spirited Mountains when the Buddhas fell.”
Meng Qi thought for a while and seemed to have no more questions. Frowning, he said doubtfully, “You had a share in the falling of the Heavenly Court, and also caused the downfall of both the Spirited Mountain and the demonic race. Why did you join them and then destroy them?”
What was he thinking when he gave up being the successor of Sara Pure Land, Number Two in the Heavenly Court, and the husband of the Demonic Sage, destroying his own backing?
The Devil Buddha Ananda touched his own chin and gave a faint smile, “You will never understand.”
As he took a step forward, the shadow of the Anti-Buddha Devil shook. Meng Qi immediately felt his primordial spirit totally restrain and couldn’t move anymore.
“Time’s up, enough of your nonsense. Wait till we merge and you will understand the real reason,” the Devil Buddha Ananda looked indifferent as he walked toward Meng Qi.
When both parties were about to touch, Ananda suddenly laughed, “I had initially promised to help Gu Xiaosang turn passivity into activity, to break away from the Lifeless Mother and use this to tie down the Golden Emperor. But she chose to reject this as she didn’t wish to bait you, and ended up dead and her primordial spirit destroyed.
“It’s a pity that you still didn’t manage to escape in the end, heh heh, she has wasted her efforts.”
His tone sounded of both lament and ridiculing one’s overconfidence.
Upon hearing this, Meng Qi was stunned and his eyes turned teary. Such a thing actually happened. What events did Xiaosang experience and what decisions did she make when I couldn’t see?
After closing his eyes and placing his right hand on his chest, he said in a low voice to the Devil Buddha Ananda who had stretched out his right hand, “Since you want it, then take it…”
The Devil Buddha Ananda had just let out a smile before he saw Meng Qi open his eyes, showing a flash of light in the dead silence. As his voice faded away, Meng Qi toppled backward and fell from the top of the peak into the Sea of Soul.
Splash!
Waves moved as winds blew at the sea. Meng Qi and the Devil Buddha Ananda looked at each other. Pressing on his chest with his right hand, Meng Qi fell straight down.
…..
Bringing along Childe Yu and Kong Zhao, Meng Qi ascended the peak of a mountain where a river rolled on in waves below.
After looking for a while, Meng Qi turned and said to Kong Zhao, “Any realization?”
Kong Zhao stared at the river below and lamented, “Time waits for no man!”
Right after he spoke, he saw the teacher who was usually silent and never gave any advice step forward. The clothes on his weary figure flowed with the wind as he opened his mouth, letting out a voice that was low and echoing.
“The top virtue of man is like water; water benefits all things but does not compete with them…”
The teacher has given advice… Kong Zhao was shocked and thrilled, and also a little stunned.
Then, he saw the teacher turn his head, his eyes flashing, and even his body seemed to become bigger. Black and white, as well as yellow and purple lights scattered. With a grand and solemn voice, he said, “Heaven has its own rules, victory comes without the need to compete!”
…
Looking at Meng Qi fall, the Devil Buddha Ananda’s eyes turned somber as the shadow behind stepped out and tried to catch hold of him.
Where did he get the strength from?
After taking a few steps, he and the shadow reached the edge of the peak. The Sea of Soul below rose up and down gently as golden lights gleamed. There was no sign of Meng Qi!
He’s disappeared!
A reverse swastika appeared in the eyes of the Devil Buddha Ananda. Looking around at the Sea of Soul, he finally saw a few vague links.
He was speechless for a while before he suddenly roared, “Yuanshi!”
…
“Heaven has its own rules, victory comes without the need to compete!”
With the majestic voice, the lights of heaven and earth, black and white clouds, and an air of purple brought Meng Qi up into the sky, darting out of the helium layer and into the vast starry sky.
Below was a boundless ruined land, whereas above it were many planets and a brilliant sun.
Meng Qi raised his head, he had neither a knife nor a sword on him. Following the various links, his eyes penetrated void spaces and looked into that of the Devil Buddha Ananda at the peak of the Spirited Mountain.
Crack!
Activities of vital energy from causal links hit each other in the air. Flashes of light suddenly appeared in the dead silent sky. They looked like countless silver snakes dancing, making the rays from the sun look dull.
Looking at the Devil Buddha Ananda’s eyes return to coldness and cruelty, two shadows suddenly appeared in Meng Qi’s mind.
One was gray-haired with a thin appearance, amiable, broad-minded, kind to the younger generation, peace-loving, modest, and upright.
The other wore a white dress, and had an unpredictable disposition and temperament. Her indignance might not be real, and her laughter might not be a pretense. Always hiding her intentions, no one could guess her thoughts. Gu Xiaosang — a true demoness with an unpredictable mind. Although she looked cold and selfish, there was always a trace of hidden tenderness.
When faced with the mission by Samsara which went against his true feelings, Senior Chonghe eventually chose self-destruction!
Despite several struggles and failures, Gu Xiaosang still gave up the good intentions of Samsara, refused to surrender to the Lifeless Mother, and collapsed in his arms!
Both of them, one good and one evil, chose different paths but had the same ending. In life, there are always things more important than death that require persistence.
Meng Qi — positive and optimistic, liked to make his presence felt by others, loved reading novels and comics, met many friends in school and at work, insisted on practising in Shaolin Temple, friends for life and death with Jiang Zhiwei, Qi Zhengyan and Ruan Yushu.
Meng Qi — warm-hearted and always standing up against injustice, heartbroken due to the death of Zhang Yuanshan and other good friends, bold and good at reasoning but actually shy and passive, calm in times of danger, lazy and enjoyed comfort, liked to joke and tease others, gradually matured but didn’t change his original intents after experiencing sufferings, had an entangled relationship of love and hate with Gu Xiaosang but was always passive, sat in the ruined temple watching lotuses with his heart filled with remorse and pain…
This was him, unique and irreplaceable. He wasn’t some Devil Buddha or Master of the Six Dao of Samsara. Neither was he Ananda nor the God of Thunder. Even more so was he not something that a big shot’s glory and attainment could make up for!
I am who I am because of these. Without myself, what is the meaning of life?
When faced with difficulties, life and death, we might had gradually given up ourselves, fawned upon others, become unscrupulous, become hateful, become submissive, and become cold, hurting our parents, spouses and children. If you wait and look back only when you are to die, would you think that that was yourself? Would you feel pain?
Myself was a persistence more important than life!
Senior Chonghe understood this, hence he chose death to prove it instead of dropping his original intents. Xiaosang also understood this, hence she struggled alone instead of betraying her soul. Zhiwei, Yushu, Senior Qi, and Zhao Heng also understood this, hence some of them shed tears and some chose to enter hell!
Today as I face this, my choice is obvious without saying!
If life has no meaning, why would death be fearful?
If I’m not even fearful of death, what else do I have to be afraid of!
Meng Qi’s eyes were filled with unusual firmness and hatred. It was as though there were entangling flames in his body about to gush out like a terrifying volcano.
He stood tall in the starry sky looking at the Devil Buddha Ananda and a mysterious seal which appeared in his palm. The seal was divided into six sides — top was the heavenly gods and bottom was hell. The front was the world of mortals and the back was that of brutes. The left showed the demonic race and the right sang of the devils. He stretched his right hand out to the side and wielded madly as he roared in a low voice, “Give me the Blade!”
Bang!
Inside the Plain Girl Fairyland, the shiny long blade enshrined on the hall suddenly burst with purple thunder, broke through void space, and disappeared.
“Give me the Blade!”
Right after he said this, a thunderbolt filled the starry sky, covering the stars and turning the sky into a vast sea. A long blade, its entire body cast in purple thunder, appeared in Meng Qi’s hand. It was heavy, tyrannical, and overbearing.
The Tyrant’s Invincible Blade!
One of the Top Ten Heavenly Weapons!
When Gu Xiaosang died, his remorse and sorrow connected with the stamp of the Invincible Blade and hence became its owner.
Ten years of suffering, ten years of remorse, ten years of sorrow, ten years of disappointment and pain from not seeing the person despite the flowers blooming, and ten years of torment worse than death all accumulated in his heart, perfecting invincibility within the Tyrant’s Invincible Blade.
Meng Qi lifted the heavy blade in his hand and the Devil Buddha Ananda was out of his sight. He only saw a small boat in the river, a young lady in a white dress stood at one end, playing a jade flute as though calling for her husband.
He only saw at the side of the Jade Belt Bridge where the lantern lights were dim, there was a young lady in a white fur coat, and had beautiful shiny eyes.
He only saw tower ships in the Jiangdong River passing by, and she, graceful and extraordinary, was smiling as she got the girl next to her call out father.
He only saw at Shangshui on Lihua Island, the amorous feelings of the soft kiss and the joke on we are the same type of people.
He only saw the silk clothing fade, sharing the present life which was the consequence of the past with himself.
He only saw the shiny water surface and the white dress young lady blushing and smiling as she talked about after death.
He only saw her with blood at the corner of her mouth, looking pale and smiling sadly as she said painfully, “I’ve struggled, and I’ve lost.”
He only saw the ruined temple and the pond of blossomed lotuses. Year after year, the flowers bloomed, but where were you?
Anger, sorrow, hatred, unwillingness, despair, suppression and all other emotions surged. Ten years of pain, suffering, and disheartenment all turned into the blade’s will, making the Tyrant’s Invincible Blade emit a brilliance larger than that of the sun!
As he gazed into the distance at the Devil Buddha Ananda, he was looking into those cold and indifferent eyes and at him turning the mysterious Seal of Samsara. Meng Qi’s primordial spirit form suddenly burned and gave off infinite light as it took a step forward and merged with the flesh body.
This blade has waited ten years for you!
I retreated to advance, won without competing, trapped your soul in my flesh body so that you couldn’t control Manjushri and the other dead bodies temporarily. They would be safe as long as your soul is destroyed.
The pain and struggle caused by you forcing me into a corner, the anger and sufferings from killing my lover accidentally and having to choose between my friends and myself, and the helplessness and despair from having my fate being controlled by others shall end with this blade!
Things from the past, all the restrictions, obstacles, and unwillingness shall disappear today!
The blade swung out and quickly disappeared. The planets in the sky turned in a strange manner, obstructing the sun and the surrounding stars, looking as though there was an eclipse. Their surroundings turned pitch dark and inexplicably strange, only leaving Meng Qi’s roaring echo, “In this lifetime, I do not ask about the past!”
