980 Spring Thunder In The Human World, And Holding Flower In The Buddha Land (1/2)

The mountain peak was the Buddha, and it took Ning Que decades to change it to the statue of Sangsang. There was no image of the Buddha left on the surface of the cliff, but part of the Buddha still existed in the depths of the mountain. Ning Que turned himself into a Bodhi tree to lure the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to worshipping him. Buddha could no longer remain silent.

The Consciousness of Buddha came from the deepest part of the cliff and entered his heart.

”I have become Buddha,” Ning Que said to the Consciousness of Buddha. His expression was very relaxed, just like chatting with an old acquaintance.

Buddha replied, ”I am still among all living beings. If you can't find me and kill me, you will never become Buddha.”

The Buddha here was the only true Buddha in Heaven and on Earth. Ning Que knew that it was true. Just as it was impossible to kill Haotian in Haotian's world, it was also impossible to kill Buddha in Buddha's world, and it was even impossible to find him.

”Why are you so serious? I never thought that the inheritance of Buddhism should be like the inheritance of the throne in the human world. We can avoid the bloody massacre.” Ning said with a smile, ”You being Buddha should not hinder me from becoming Buddha, for I do not want to rule your world. I am not Haotian and I am not interested in killing you. I just want to leave.”

”How can you leave?”

”I can become Buddha if I take away the wills of all living beings.”

”How can you take away the wills of all living beings?”

”You both know it. See...” Looking at the giant ship on the river, Ning Que lifted his right index finger and wrote one word in the air towards the ship.

Sangsang was in his heart, and Divine Psyche went with his finger and landed on the giant ship.

The Bodhi tree on the peak began to shake, and the green leaves fluttered in the wind, becoming more rounded and wider.

Ning Que and Sangsang repaired the statue of Buddha by the means of harmony between man and nature. The mystery around it couldn't be described in words. The combination of Ning Que's Buddhist Vow and Sangsang's Divine Heart was the irresistible psyche.

The psyche fell on one Buddha on the giant ship. The psyche told that Buddha: You must believe in me. That Buddha naturally resisted the profane request. He put his palms together and kept chanting with his eyes closed, struggling to fight against the request. But he became countless light spots and then disappeared from the ship in a flash.

The next moment, that Buddha came to the summit and sat on the leaf of the Bodhi tree. He kept swaying in the wild and revealed a great awakening between his eyebrows, paying tribute to Ning Que.

At this point, two Buddhas were lured by Ning Que's Buddhist Vow to the summit and became his followers. They began to chant devoutly with their eyes closed, and they were praising Ning Que.

Ning Que felt that a faint but real power entered his body from the Bodhi tree, making him happy but also burdensome. He realized that it was the power of faith.

In the countless cyclic existence, except for Haotian, only the Buddha knew how to collect and use the power of faith. The Headmaster of Academy might reach the state, but he refused to do it. Ning Que should not be able to comprehend the Grand Divine Ability at his current state, but he could master the skill since he was bonded with Haotian.

Influenced by the Divine Psyche of Sangsang, Ning Que closed his eyes instinctively and crushed the Consciousness of Buddha that came from the depths of the cliff. He then began to chant with the two Buddhas on the Bodhi tree.

Buddha kept silent and disappeared without a trace. The waves in the river raged with great fury, and the big ship kept moving forward, trying hard to break the mountain and prevent Ning Que from becoming the Buddha. But it couldn't reach the other side of the river.

It was because the Buddha on the other side was not the old Buddha.

Time kept flowing, but the rate remained a mystery since on one was observing. The Bodhi tree growing on Ning Que's body flourished more and more, and countless green leaves grew on countless branches. The green leaves, looking like futons, were occupied by more and more Buddhas, which looked like the fruits on the tree.

There were more than a thousand Buddhas seeking refuge with Ning Que. One more Buddha on the Bodhi tree meant one less Buddha on the ship. But the change was not evident, for there were too many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the ship.

Ning Que closed his eyes silently, put his hands on the cliff stone on the summit casually and cultivated Buddhism with Sangsang, without knowing anything that was happening in the world or noticing the passing of time.

...

...

Thousands of years had passed in the world of the chessboard, but only three years had passed in the human world. At this point, it was the fifth year of Zhengshi in Great Tang and the three thousand four hundred and fifty-fourth year of Dazhi in West-Hill.

It was spring. The willow catkins were everywhere, and flowers of all kinds were in bloom, including the peach blossoms in the Divine Halls, the cherry blossoms in the Great River Kingdom, and the wild flowers in the Wilderness. But the pear tree was not in blossom.

”Is this a pear tree or an iron tree?” The crowd gathered under the pear tree by the lake in the Back Hill of the Academy and were angry about the lifeless leaves.

In the past three years, they had tried everything they could, but failed to open the Buddha's chessboard. It appeared that the only opportunity to enter the chessboard was to wait for the tree to blossom and yield fruit. But the Eldest Brother said that it would take the pear tree five hundred years to blossom and yield fruit. How many people could live for five hundred years?

The pear tree did not bloom, and the peach blossoms in the meadow in front of the Academy did not bloom either. There were only a few flowers in blossom in Chang'an this year, for there was not much rain this spring. The spring thunder constantly rang among the clouds, but the air was dry.

It was weird that there was thunder but no storm. The Eldest Brother was puzzled while standing on the stone steps in front of the main hall of the palace and looking at the increasingly dense clouds in the sky.

Suddenly, a lightning appeared in the thick clouds and then fell to a certain place in Chang'an. The God-stunning Array sensed the danger and gave off a clear light.

The Eldest Brother came to Wanyan Tower in an instant. Looking at the temple which was destroyed by the lightning and the statue of Buddha which was burned dark, he somehow figured the whole matter out.

He came to the city wall and looked around. The clouds were about to cover the entire land, and lightnings kept striking, filling the land with black smoke. It seemed that the black smoke was coming from the Buddhist temples.

The next moment, the Eldest Brother returned to the Back Hill of the Academy and came to the pear tree by the lake. He quietly looked at the chessboard for quite a while and and then smiled.

”The Eldest Brother smiled!” The crowd in the Back Hill was very surprised.