917 Having Nothing To Do With The Beautiful Scenery (1/2)
Just like the huge palm that contained the infinite universe, the backward swastika in a red and black color was growing in size. It had grown so big that it tinted the sky red and polluted the void. While it hit toward Meng Qi and the others, its malicious intentions had formed the Nine Nether, accompanied by the declaration of ”Ananda is dead, and the Devil Buddha is born” that could disturb the state of mind.
However, Meng Qi did not move an inch, neither did Jiang Zhiwei, Xuan Bei, and Wang Siyuan who was currently in the state of madness. They knew that the backward swastika was merely an afterimage - it did not contain any lingering aura of Ananda. It might appear to be scary, but it would not be able to hurt people.
Apparently, the Devil Master seemed to have taken the attack of the Reversed Buddha's Palm before. As a result, the power of this attack had been largely depleted.
The gray kasaya of Meng Qi was dyed red and black. He clenched his hands for a few moments and slowly released them. Looking at the scene in front of him, his eyes were like a bottomless ancient well.
The Devil Buddha - who had once ran rampant in the world - was the most powerful devil of all time! At the end, the Buddha had to interfere by suppressing the power of Devil Buddha and locked him in the Spirited Mountain.
The name of the Devil Buddha itself had symbolized the Great Trial. In fact, the turbulent era of the Devil Buddha had marked an end to the Middle Ages because many mighty people of the Legendary Realm that was born in the Ancient Times such as Moonlight Bodhisattva had died. Aside from that, many powerful sects had migrated to other places in order to stay away from the Devil Buddha. During that time, the whole world had been chaotic. It took many years for peace to be restored!
The Devil Buddha had definitely attained the Nirvana Realm to be able to walk through the Ancient Imperial Path and explored the Dragon Terrace. Apart from that, Gao Lan had also regarded the Devil Buddha as being at the same level as the Emperor, the Celestial Ruler, and the Sacred Buddha.
A great man like him, with an unknown origin, had appeared out of nowhere during the Middle Ages and given rise to the Great Trial. Many people were guessing that he was actually an outsider coming from another universe, or perhaps he was a mighty person of the Ancient Times who had been living in seclusion.
At present, all the doubts were cleared.
Those who obey the commandments will become a Buddha, whereas those who don't will become a Devil. The obsession that used to trouble Ananda for a long time was the Devil Buddha that lived within himself. Therefore, after practicing the Buddha's Palm in a reverse manner, he had finally broken through the realm, crossed the sea of suffering and landed on the other side - the Nirvana Realm!
No wonder the Buddha was showing up during the Great Trial of Devil Buddha. It turned out that Ananda used to be one of his most outstanding disciples...
No wonder the Ananda Pure Land is covered with broken limbs and blood stains, and looks just like a Devil's ruins…
No wonder even a strong person like Dharma was affected. Obviously, the Devil Buddha was good in evoking malicious thoughts, thereby turning Dharma into an evil person and making him die in his later years…
No wonder the Sinew-Changing Scripture can be practiced reversely and convert Duan Rui into a demon. This method is actually originated from the ”Reversed Buddha's Palm”…
No wonder all Buddhist monks are susceptible to be converted into demon…
No wonder that when Dharma destroyed his evil soul and sealed the entrance, he was still leaving a back door - he hadn't get rid of the influence of diabolism completely at that time. As a result, despite the sealed main entrance, those who practice the Sinew-Changing Scripture reversely would still be able to enter the Ananda Pure Land through the Door of Stone…
Ananda used to put in so much efforts to train himself in Samsara and the world of mortals. Nevertheless, it turned out that he had become a Devil Buddha. If he knew this was going to happen, would he still be firm in taking the Samsara Path when being confronted by the Demonic Sage?
When he has finally attained Nirvana and has the ability to travel on the river of time, his beloved had already passed away. Therefore, for him, there is nothing precious left in the past, the present and the future…
The sea of soul of Meng Qi rippled a little.
Many doubts had been cleared and many guesses had been proved right. With a mixed feeling, Meng Qi sighed.
”So, this is the truth…”
It turned out that Ananda who was trapped in an unending cycle of birth and death had ”died” long ago - the one who lived was the Devil Buddha!
As the Devil Buddha was suppressed by the Buddha, was he trying to seek help from Meng Qi - a fish that slipped through the net - to make an escape?
Was the Devil Buddha currently being trapped in the Spirited Mountain?
However, what about the Golden Cudgel of Great Sage that was standing upright between heaven and earth? What was it suppressing?
What kind of relationship was it between the Master of the Six Dao of Samsara and the Devil Buddha? The Master of the Six Dao of Samsara seemed to have disclosed many secrets to Meng Qi deliberately. Also, why was he assigning Meng Qi a mission to go to the Spirited Mountain?
Although many mysteries were solved, new doubts were arising in Meng Qi's mind. Looking at Wang Siyuan who was laughing madly, Meng Qi had made a guess about the Knot of Wang Family.
During the turbulent era of the Devil Buddha, many powerful forces - such as the Lan He Temple - were destroyed by the Devil Buddha due to the fall of many strong martial artists; for example, the Maha Bodhisattva had been one of the victims. The Wang Family, being one of the most powerful forces in the world, was definitely in the limelight. However, Wang Siyuan could not understand why the Devil Buddha did not attack his family. Coupled with the mysterious disappearance of several ancestors - known as the medieval saints - in his family, Wang Siyuan had inevitably formed a knot in his heart.
At present, knowing that Ananda was the Devil Buddha, many mysteries could be solved. No wonder Wang Siyuan could not help but to laugh madly.
After practicing divination, the medieval saints had foreseen that Ananda would give rise to the next Great Trial. Hence, they entered the Pure Land, found one of the reincarnations of Ananda, and let him kill them using the Karma Transfer. They made him bear the karma of protecting the Wang Family at Jiang Dong, which was why the Wang Family had survived the Great Trial of Devil Buddha.
The medieval saints had paid their lives to save the Wang Family!
”Never practice divination to an extreme extent, always leave a way open for the future, and never expose everything you know… now I understand why!” gradually, Wang Siyuan stopped laughing. The color of the blood stain on his face had been a sharp contrast with his pale face.
Looking at the backward swastika that disappeared slowly, Jiang Zhiwei said thoughtfully, ”Why are the aura and words of Ananda still lingering around?”
Why didn't the Devil Buddha wipe them out? He couldn't be leaving them behind as a memorial, right?
”Amitabha. Before falling into diabolism, Ananda must have fought with the Devil Buddha. That's why there isn't any formation left on the seventh story, and half of the mountain peak is already crumbled. After a fight, it's normal to leave some lingering aura behind,” guessed Xuan Bei.
He saw Ananda and the Devil Buddha as two separate entities - just like Dharma and evil Dharma, kind Duan Rui and evil Duan Rui. Of course, each of them had different ending. Ananda was more inclined to become the Devil Buddha; similarly, Duan Rui was also more inclined to the evil side. In contrast, with great wisdom and courage, Dharma had decided to destroy the evil side of himself at the cost of his own life.
Wang Siyuan walked to them slowly. While wiping blood away from his mouth, he said, ”Judging from the remnants of this place, after becoming a Devil Buddha, Ananda has left the Pure Land immediately and never returned. Well, for him, this place will probably evoke a lot of feelings and memories. Just like how the evil thoughts can be evoked in a good environment, the benevolent thoughts can be evoked in a dreadful environment too. In the fear of the reborn of the benevolent Ananda, he dared not return to the Pure Land before attaining Nirvana. However, after he reached the Nirvana Realm, he was already suppressed by the Buddha before he could make it here. Therefore, his aura has been lingering here until now.”
Looking at the conditions of the Pure Land and mountain peak, he had deduced a conclusion.
Speaking of this, Wang Siyuan paused and looked at Meng Qi. He then said with a faint smile, ”The Devil Master didn't eliminate the lingering aura after reaching the mountain peak. Obviously, he wants us to discover these traces. The reason of him doing so was most probably to get some benefits.”
”That should be the case,” replied Meng Qi concisely.
What kind of benefit?
Jiang Zhiwei sighed and said, ”Not only Ananda was obsessed with the thoughts of reaching the Nirvana Realm and achieving transcendence, but also he was so bothered by the strong enemy that he mentioned. What kind of strong enemy was it to be able to make him betray the Demonic Sage and step into the Samsara Path? He has even fallen into diabolism in the end…”
Yes, what kind of strong enemy was that? What did Ananda experience in the past that made him go into the Samsara Path? Meng Qi, Xuan Bei, and Wang Siyuan were all having this doubt in mind.
Why would Ananda - an Arhat who practiced Zen and aimed to achieve transcendence - have a strong enemy?