1146 Return (1/2)

The golden bodies of Buddha disappeared one after another like a dream, depicting the word impermanence. Nothing in the world is forever, this includes love, people, deities, and Buddhas.

One cannot achieve transcendence without understanding Dao.

Various colors of glaze flew as pale and dark colors of gold fell. What Meng Qi saw before him became empty and distinct. The place of the seal was like a huge lotus platform made of stone with the bodies of thousands of Buddhas placed around its core.

With his golden body shining and his right palm looking as though it contained layers of pure land, Meng Qi advanced with caution and arrived at the core of the seal.

”If I achieve Bodhi…”

”Supreme Buddha...”

A low voice with a strange charm reverberated, like it had been mourning the traces of the remains everyday for thousands of years.

Meng Qi paused his footsteps and listened attentively, connecting the reverberating voice into complete words:

”If I achieve Bodhi, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Jin-gangs, and Wisdom Kings shall incarnate for me.”

”If I achieve Bodhi, I shall be the one and only Supreme Buddha of all realms.”

As the voice went into his ears, Meng Qi's soul was actually shaken, showing worry and impatience due to the approaching Final Trial and the bad ending he saw. He felt some ruthlessness and wanted to kill the projection of the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi that had gained wisdom straight away regardless of everything, kill them, and improve quickly.

Thump thump thump. He shook his head violently as his heart beat, holding back this bad thought. Although this place looked like a pure land, it actually had the ability to lead people into extremity and deprivation!

Looking over, he saw at the core of the huge stone lotus remained traces of the purest and cleanest glazed Buddha light ⁠- pureness and cleanliness that couldn't tolerate anything else other than I.

”Extremity equates closer to devilism,” not knowing why, this thought suddenly flashed across Meng Qi's mind.

Other than I are heterodoxy and heresy that have to be assimilated without any reasoning. If this is not devilism, what is devilism?

Moving another step closer, Meng Qi's soul felt a disturbance, because the purest and cleanest glazed Buddha light had some familiar sense of karma in it.

Devil Buddha Ananda!

He actually had contact with the monster that was sealed at the final peaks of Spirited Mountain?

He squinted his eyes. Although Meng Qi who was manifested as Tathagata Zhending couldn't revolve the Principles of Karma, he still noticed the familiarity with the help of the indiscernible relationship between him and the Devil Buddha, hence understanding that this came from the Devil Buddha Ananda.

As the second disciple of Gautama Buddha and the future head of Saha Pure Land, Ananda should know about the sealed place at the final peak of the Spirited Mountain and also know what exactly was sealed inside… Meng Qi fell into deep thought.

What was it that made Ananda who was a powerful monk and an Arhat who had already cut various obsessive thoughts still have a trace of unfinished obsessiveness and ended up becoming a devil?

Was he affected by the monster at the final peak of Spirited Mountain day after day, hence becoming more extreme and that obsessiveness becoming stronger?

Also, when Ananda practiced the Buddha's Palm in a reversed way and became the Devil Buddha, he did not achieve Nirvana right away but left his pure land and went missing. When he appeared again, he had already achieved Nirvana. His whereabouts were unknown during this period of time. Did he come here and use the monster to achieve a breakthrough?

More importantly, how did Ananda know about trying to practice the Buddha's Palm in a reversed way?

Meng Qi pointed to heaven with one hand and touched the ground with the other as his golden body shone, crossed the cleanest glazed Buddha light, and stepped into the core of the seal.

…

Sunrays vibrated as though they were breathing, releasing and retracting as they wrapped tightly around Qingqiu, No Thoughts, and Raka. With the three demonic deities reciting the spells, it still required much effort to get the Golden Cudgel, hence showing its power.

Spirited Mountain shook slightly with a humming sound, because the Golden Cudgel was shaking violently with the vibration of the sunrays. It started to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye.

”Done!” Qingqiu shouted out with joy.

No Thoughts and Raka were both relieved and happy. They had heard of the Great Sages of the demonic race since a young age and had always looked forward to meeting them. They were finally going to meet them today.

Meng Qi was focusing on what the Tathagata Zhending manifestation saw and heard and didn't let the Nether Skeleton which he had regained control of stop the demonic deities.

He already had a premonition that they couldn't succeed so easily and there would definitely be some disruptions!

At this moment, Glow expressed her surprise, ”That darkness became deeper again…”

She subconsciously looked up and his gaze froze. The sky that was filled with thunderbolts and green lotuses was fully-occupied by a giant pale golden palm!

The sky was in chaos with rotating glazed light as a Buddha voice reverberated violently, ”If I achieve Bodhi, all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Jin-gangs, and Wisdom Kings shall incarnate for me.”

The giant Buddha-like palm fell and seemed to grab the the peak of Spirited Mountain in it. There was nothing fanciful as it just landed normally. On the other side, halfway up the mountain, there was also a giant pale golden palm falling down at the body of Maha Kasyapa. A mouth opened in the palm, showing forty teeth and making one feel creepy.

”If I achieve Bodhi, I shall be the one and only Supreme Buddha of all realms.”

The bursting Buddha's voice stirred the hearts of people such that they wouldn't have thoughts of rivaling it. Luckily the Phoenix Demonic Deity Glow had been using the light of virtue from the pagoda hanging above her head to protect her entire body, hence avoided being a puppet like Taili.

As she clenched her teeth and spread her wings, the patterns of five virtues lit up and agglomerated a drawing of black and white yin-yang fish and a purple ruyi scepter accumulated with merits. They flew into the air together with the pagoda, attacking the the palm that had landed.