Chapter 712 - 564: Like a Dream, an Illusion, a Bubble, a Shadow
Chapter 712: Chapter 564: Like a Dream, an Illusion, a Bubble, a Shadow
With a cold laugh, Tushan Meng repeated the word Yuan Kong had used, "’Benefactor’?"
In the next instant, a flash of sword-light streaked past Yuan Kong. The stone table was instantly sliced in two, collapsing loudly to either side.
Her voice was like a chisel on stone, forcefully carving out every single word.
"My name is Tushan Meng! Not some bullshit ’benefactor’!"
"Back then, your seven Major Sects slaughtered countless Tushan Clan Members. Were they not people I cared about?"
"Since you care so much about these commoners now, I’ll kill them just to show you!"
Tushan Meng gripped her longsword tightly, a vicious glint flashing in her fox-like eyes.
"And in this life, you raised Xiao Mo from childhood. You’re the one who brought him up, so he must care about you a great deal, right? And those people who frequent your Sikong Temple to burn incense and pray? Xiao Mo must have some affection for them too, wouldn’t you say?"
"Tell me, if my Demon Race annihilates your Sikong Temple and slaughters every last one of these people, how will Xiao Mo, a member of the Human Race, view the Demon Race?"
"Jing Ci is our Tushan Saintess. What side will the two of them take then?"
"Sigh..." Yuan Kong heaved a heavy sigh. "Why must it be this way?"
"In this world, the most useless words are ’Why must it be this way’!"
With a wave of her hand, Tushan Meng turned and strode out of the courtyard.
...
"Master..."
Half an incense stick later, Xujing saw his master emerge from the rear courtyard and hurried over.
"Master, what... what on earth is happening? Who was that lady just now? Master, did you anger someone?"
"I suppose so."
Yuan Kong nodded, squatting down to look at his Closed-door Disciple.
"That lady... a long, long time ago, I did something to make her hate me. Now, she has come looking for trouble."
"Then Master... what are we going to do?"
Xujing was on the verge of tears. He wasn’t even ten years old; he had never witnessed such a terrifying scene.
"Xujing..."
Yuan Kong reached out and patted his shaved head.
"You know, the two things I’m most proud of in this life are taking you and your senior brother as my disciples."
"I also know that you’ve always looked up to your senior brother. When you encounter a problem, you always think, ’What would Senior Brother do?’ That’s good, but it’s not entirely good."
"In the future, when you face a problem, you should ask yourself, ’Just because Senior Brother does it that way, do I have to do the same?’ You are your own person, not someone else. Understand?"
"Master..." Tears welled in Xujing’s eyes. "Why does it feel like you’re giving me your last words before you pass on?"
"Heh heh... you little guy..."
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Yuan Kong tapped Xujing’s head. He then stood up and looked at the sky, thick with members of the Demon Race.
He raised his hand and pointed in a certain direction.
"Xujing... from now on, no matter what happens, you must keep heading southeast, toward a place called the Western Regions. There are many Buddhist Temples there."
"There, perhaps you can chant your scriptures in peace."
"If, one day, you hear that your senior brother is about to do something terrible, you must try to dissuade him. You must keep trying..."
"Do you understand?"
"Master..."
Xujing wiped his tears, about to say more, but in the next instant, a thousand members of the Demon Race poured down from the sky, charging toward Sikong Temple!
"Go..."
Yuan Kong swept his hand, and golden lotuses bloomed out of thin air.
The golden Buddha Lotuses spread for a hundred li.
The people in the villages and towns near Sikong Mountain all looked up, gazing in confusion at the Buddha Lotuses.
The next moment, the Buddha Lotuses suddenly shattered, turning into a shower of golden petals that fell upon every person.
Before the ordinary people could even react, they transformed into streaks of golden light and flew toward the southeast.
"For these ant-like mortals, you’re actually willing to burn your Essence Blood? Since when did you become so compassionate?"
Tushan Meng’s voice echoed across the wilderness.
"Cut down every last one of those ants! Don’t let a single one get away!"
As Tushan Meng’s words faded, thousands of Demon Race members moved to intercept the golden streams of light.
But the monks of Sikong Temple all leaped up, battling the Demon Cultivators to protect the fleeing civilians.
"Amitabha Buddha..."
Yuan Kong placed his palms together and chanted the Buddha’s name.
A Golden Buddha Statue taller than a mountain rose from the ground. Its golden Buddha’s Light was like a blazing sun, covering a hundred li.
"All of you must go as well. Do not linger."
Yuan Kong’s voice reached his disciples telepathically.
"Abbot..." All the monks looked toward their Abbot, their hearts filled with sorrow and reluctance.
"All of you, go," Yuan Kong said again. "All this karma began with me, and so it shall end with me."
As he finished speaking, Yuan Kong waved his large sleeve, and the Buddha’s Light enveloped the monks, scattering them to safety in all directions.
Yuan Kong closed his eyes, placed his palms together, and sat down cross-legged.
The mountain-sized Golden Buddha Statue also sat cross-legged in the air.
Whenever the monks of Sikong Temple or the civilians were harmed, the injury would be inflicted upon Yuan Kong.
In less than half an incense stick of time, blood trickled from the corner of Yuan Kong’s mouth, and cracks appeared on the Golden Buddha Statue as well.
But the old monk remained as unmoving as a mountain, chanting a Buddhist Scripture—
"In the Buddha Land grow stems of five colors. One flower is one world, one leaf is one Tathagata."
"Like a single lamp entering a dark room, a thousand years of darkness can be dispelled. So too is the lamp of a Bodhisattva’s enlightened heart; entering the chamber of a being’s mind, it can eliminate eons of afflictions, karmic debts, and all manner of benighting obstacles."
"If one wishes to understand all Buddhas of the three periods of time, one should contemplate the nature of the Dharma-realm: everything is created from the mind alone."
...
"’In the Buddha Land grow stems of five colors. One flower is one world, one leaf is one Tathagata. Like a single lamp entering a dark room, a thousand years of darkness can be dispelled...’"
After the battle where the seven sects besieged Tushan, a man’s physical body was destroyed and his Demon Pill was gone. Only his Residual Soul remained, drifting aimlessly.
Not knowing where he had ended up, his soul on the verge of dissipating, he faintly heard the sound of Buddhist chanting from within the mountain forest.
He followed the sound of the chanting.
In a dilapidated temple, the man saw an old monk.
The man walked forward and sat down in front of the old monk.
The old monk opened his eyes, looked at the man before him, and smiled. "Benefactor, you appear to be in a rather sorry state."
"Heh heh... It’s nothing more than getting what I deserve." The man chuckled. "They say you Human Race monks are compassionate. My Residual Soul is about to fade away. Master, do you have any scriptures that can deliver my soul?"
"I do," the old monk nodded. "But it seems to me, Benefactor, that you still harbor some lingering attachments?"
"I suppose so."
The man sighed softly.
"I was ordered by my parents to get close to a woman, but I fell in love with her. In the end, I betrayed her. I caused the deaths of too many people, and I killed too many people."
"I know it’s too late now, but if I could, I would want to atone for my sins."
"Is there anything else?" the old monk asked with a faint smile.
"There is..."
...
He still remembered that night, meeting the old monk whose life was nearing its end.
He still remembered that night, when the old monk, after passing on, willingly opened all his Spiritual Acupoints and Spirit Veins for the man to possess his body.
He still remembered that night, and the last thing the man had said.
"There is..."
"After a person dies, there’s no telling what the next life will be like. I’m afraid... I’m afraid I’ll forget her."
Back in Sikong Temple, he slowly opened his aged eyes. He looked at the woman in the sky and smiled softly.
As the last streak of golden light vanished over the distant horizon,
Yuan Kong finally closed his eyes.
"Everyone, stop!"
Tushan Meng suddenly shouted at all the members of the Demon Race.
The Demons attacking the Golden Buddha Statue all ceased their assault.
But in the next instant, the towering Golden Buddha Statue suddenly collapsed with a great crash, dissolving into a sky full of glittering golden motes that drifted away.
Tushan Meng took a step forward and shot down from the sky.
"All things in this world are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows. Like blossoms in the air brushed by the wind, like clouds and smoke scattered by a breeze."
The old monk, a compassionate smile on his face, softly chanted the Buddha’s name.
"Amitabha Buddha."
Tushan Meng landed and ran to the old monk’s side, her hand darting out to grab him—
But he had already dissolved into motes of light, slipping silently through her fingers. She couldn’t grasp him, nor could she keep him.
In the empty temple, only the woman stood alone.
In her hand, there was nothing.