Longzang

Chapter 1224 He is Heaven and Earth
A golden Buddhist land, with lotus flowers covering the ground and trees made of glazed tiles.

In the center sat a colossal Buddha, beneath whom lay layers upon layers of disciples, listening to the sermons, some large, some small. The largest were no bigger than his palm, while the smallest were like ants.

As the story reached its most captivating point, the entire world resounded with Buddhist chants, and countless flower petals drifted down from the sky. The Buddha stretched out his hand, and countless lotus seeds fell from the void, landing in his palm. All the disciples were filled with joy and admiration.

After showing this to his disciples, the Buddha gently turned his palm, and countless lotus seeds fell, transforming into a clear pond in front of him. In the blink of an eye, lotus flowers bloomed in the pond, and a pure aura arose. Then, golden light spread, and the Buddhist land in this place increased.

All the disciples were full of admiration.

The Buddha slowly said, "...People in the world always think that the sea of ​​suffering refers to all things in the world, but they don't know that the sea of ​​suffering is endless. This world is a sea of ​​suffering, all the heavens and myriad realms are a sea of ​​suffering, and even the demons beyond the realms are a sea of ​​suffering. The sea of ​​suffering is endless, and only self-salvation is possible..."

If you can't even save yourself, how can you save all living beings?

Halfway through his speech, a young novice monk suddenly appeared, perched on his shoulder, and whispered something in his ear.

The Buddha laughed and said, "Those fellows in the Pure Land always go to unnecessary trouble. Fine, if they want to find the Cloud Temple, then I'll tell them where it is. Let them go find it!"

……

After a thunderclap, a torrential downpour began.

The mountain rain came suddenly and fiercely; it was only afternoon, but the sky was already as dark as the bottom of a pot. The dense forest was intricate, and the wind howled. A mountain path was hidden among the tangled trees. A young monk, soaked to the bone, struggled against the wind and rain, stumbling and falling several times, before finally reaching the entrance of a small temple.

The small temple consisted of only one main hall, one side room, and one kitchen/storage room. The side room was divided into north and south ends; one end had a bed, and the other end had three.

The main hall was dimly lit, with only a single green lamp before the Buddha, emitting a dim, bean-like glow.

The young monk closed the courtyard gate, rushed into the main hall, and kept wiping the rain from his face and body.

An old monk sat in the main hall, chanting scriptures. He sighed softly and said slowly, "Why did you come?"

The young monk was taken aback for a moment and said, "Master, where else can I go if I don't go back to the temple? There's no one around for dozens of miles."

The old monk shook his head and said, "A distinguished person has come to visit."

The young monk sensed something and turned to look. He saw a young monk in a moon-white robe standing in the courtyard. The torrential mountain rain passed through his body, but not a single drop of it could wet him.

The young monk looked up at the plaque in the main hall, and three characters gradually appeared on the wooden plaque: Yunjian Temple.

The moment the temple's name appeared, all the wind and rain swept through it, leaving no obstruction on the rooftops and walls, yet the wind and rain left no trace. The temple seemed to stand here, yet it did not seem to be here.

The young monk smiled and said, "This is a renowned temple in all realms, why show it to people in such a simple manner? Don't you think, Master, that's also being attached to appearances?"

The old monk didn't turn his head and slowly said, "This old monk has been dull-witted all his life and is not proficient in Buddhism. He is no match for Buddhist disciples in debating scriptures. The reason for moving the temple here was to find some peace and quiet. Why bother coming here again?"

The young monk said, “Brother, you are wrong. Back then, you and I listened to the sutras before the Buddha, and we each received different Buddhist teachings. This is the great cause and effect. How can you avoid it by hiding from the world? You should not have been able to find me after entering Yunjian Temple, but I am standing here now. This is the cause and effect.”

"You've already led Jingru away, where she transformed into a Buddha-land, saving millions of people. Isn't that enough? What more karma do you need?"

The young monk sighed, "What my senior brother said is true, but the external demons are fierce, and it is difficult to find a quiet place to escape the world."

“That person also wrote scriptures and received a response from the Great Dao. How come he has become an external demon in your mouths? This is nothing more than a dispute over the lineage of the Dao.”

"It is a struggle over the principles, not a struggle over the lineage of the principles. Senior brother, you might as well take a look at Mount Ling."

Before the young monk appeared a sacred mountain with a broken lotus throne, overflowing sewage, and cracked mountains.

The old monk trembled slightly, but still said, "This is still a dispute over the interpretation of the scriptures. In the past, when the Buddha attained enlightenment, Mount Ling was three thousand feet lower."

The young monk sighed and said, "His understanding of the scriptures... will not succeed. You and I both know this, but he is narrow-minded and unaware of the power of the demons beyond the realm. Since he cannot succeed, then he is a demon from beyond the realm."

"What if it works out?"

"The golden bodies and attainments of countless Bodhisattvas, the final resting place of countless Buddha lands and true spirits—you're giving all that up? Just for that one in a million chance? Senior brother knows it's only one in a million!"

The old monk sighed again and asked, "Then what do you want?"

“One Jingru is far from enough. Junior brother has come here to borrow the Buddha Kingdom in the palm of your hand.”

The old monk remained silent for a long time before finally uttering a Buddhist chant.

……

The deep mountains are unknown, the temple is unknown.

The temple enshrined no Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, only eight Vajra guardians. The temple was dilapidated and had fallen into disrepair over the years. An old man walked along the path and entered the small temple. He was from a nearby village and, according to ancestral tradition, he came every seven days to offer three sticks of incense.

But when he entered the main hall, he suddenly froze, for all eight Vajra statues enshrined there had vanished.

The old man was shocked and took a few steps back. He lost his footing, fell backward, and a pool of blood slowly seeped from under his head.

Throughout the land, countless temples saw their Buddha statues vanish into thin air. Only the temples of the Northern Qi Dynasty remained untouched.

...Qingming, the military city.

"The so-called struggle of the Way is based on the Way itself, and struggle is its application. In struggle without the Way, even if one wins, one will not know why one won. The Way without struggle means that one cannot even win, and will inevitably lose the Way and perish."

Cui Yu stood on the stage, his voice clear and resonant. Below him sat over a hundred cultivators, all of whom had recently achieved Golden Core.

"This is an age of great contention, and what we are contending for is the Way. The first thing you, my lords, must do when you join the army is to understand what the Way is, that is to say, to know why you are fighting!"

An elderly monk calmly replied, "To protect the clan and family members."

The younger cultivators shouted, "Fight for Qingming, fight for the Realm Lord!"

A burly woman, however, looked disdainful and said, "Why all the nonsense? Whoever the adults tell us to beat, we'll just beat them to a pulp!"

The voices rose and fell, and after Cui Yu had heard dozens of answers, he said, "They are all right, and they are all wrong. To put it simply, we cultivate the Dao and join the army for the sake of Qingming. What is in Qingming? There is heaven, there is earth, there is you, there is me, there are all living beings. Without you, me, and all living beings, there is only heaven and earth, which is incomplete."

And what is cultivation of immortality? Immortals are the thieves of heaven and earth…”

The cultivators were hearing this for the first time and gradually became serious. So Cui Yu started from this point and began to explain.

Half a day passed in the blink of an eye, and Cui Yu finally finished speaking. He then said, "Today we will preach the Dao, and tomorrow we will begin the competition. We will teach you about tools, Dao, techniques, methods, and applications. These three months are still very tight, so everyone must not slack off. If you can fully understand and master them, my Azure Nether Golden Core will not be inferior to ordinary Dharma Forms in magical battles!"

All the Golden Core cultivators responded enthusiastically, extremely excited. Golden Core Dharma forms have always been considered unusual; not adding a prefix like "trash" or "useless" before the term "Golden Core" is considered a sign of respect.

Unexpectedly, the Qingming Army suddenly summoned all Golden Core Dharma Aspects for specialized combat training. While the armies of the nine kingdoms each possessed their own secret Daoist techniques, these were generally practiced primarily by individual cultivators. Qingming's approach of concentrating all Dharma Aspects for training was unprecedented.

Before the event ended, the burly woman suddenly said, "General Cui, why do you only talk about heaven and earth and all living beings, and not mention the realm lord at all? Are you planning a rebellion?"

The group of Golden Core cultivators looked at Cui Yu with some suspicion. This statement was indeed completely different from their previous common knowledge. In the Nine Kingdoms, the military and the imperial court were loyal to the king; sects worshipped their patriarchs.

Cui Yu smiled but did not answer the question. A general assisting him said irritably, "You lot have no talent but lots of questions! The Grand General is too lazy to deal with you. I'm being nice by explaining this to you, just this once!"

When the realm lord attains enlightenment and becomes an immortal, he will be heaven, he will be earth…

……

"Obviously, I'm not!" Wei Yuan slammed an official document on the table and said irritably, "What kind of nonsense are you teaching me!"

Cui Yu laughed and said, "I remember many of the things you've said. Besides, once you ascend to immortality, can you really bring all of this vast Qingming realm to the Celestial Heaven? Obviously, you'll establish a separate realm within the Celestial Heaven, connecting heaven and earth, and forging them into one. So at that time, heaven will be yours, and earth will be yours..."

Wei Yuan was both amused and exasperated: "The difference is huge!"

"What's the difference? Why don't you write it down so I have a template? Otherwise, what am I supposed to teach those Golden Core cultivators? But I see some of them really want to worship you, so why don't you have them switch to the God Worship Method?"

Wei Yuan glared at Cui Yu; this was clearly not going to work. But now was not the time to bring out the "Three Realms Auspicious Scripture." Firstly, the scripture was far from finished; many details needed to be added, and it wasn't entirely self-consistent.

Another point is the upcoming debate with the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land, and Wei Yuan doesn't want people to see that he has suddenly written a Buddhist scripture.

Wei Yuan interrupted Cui Yu and asked, "Are there any people in the army who practice the ritual of worshipping gods?"

"No, not at all. I have already strictly prohibited it. Some time ago, two guys went crazy and actually tried to teach the soldiers how to worship gods, even though they were worshipping you. I have arrested those two guys, imprisoned all their disciples and followers, and shut down their temple. With these two precedents, no one should dare to break the law again."

Wei Yuan nodded and said, "I feel there's something wrong with the sudden rise of the worship of gods. In short, the army must not be in chaos."

"rest assured!"

Wei Yuan naturally trusted Cui Yu's abilities. After Cui Yu left, Feng Chutang came in again and said, "The restrictions on worship sites over the past few months have been quite effective. The overall number of worshippers has only increased by 40%, currently only a little over two million. Apart from the few we already know about, we haven't found any evidence linking them to the Pure Land yet."

Wei Yuan nodded and said, "Then let's keep them restricted for now and observe how things develop."

Feng Chutang hesitated for a moment, but still said, "It's probably not a good idea to cross the Eastern Jin Dynasty to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty."

"Then what should we do? Take down the Eastern Jin first, and then attack the Northern Qi?"

Feng Chutang had no reply and could only leave.

After Feng Chutang left, Wei Yuan picked up the information from the various dojos and carefully examined it. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the information.

As he was watching, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a stirring in his heart, as if someone was calling to him from the depths of the universe. At this moment, his divine sense was extremely strong, and he quickly detected the anomaly. Then, the world before his eyes changed.

It was a dark, small room, everything inside dilapidated and clearly long abandoned. Inside, a boy of about ten years old was repeatedly kowtowing, pleading, "Please, save my sister! Save..."

With a bang, a wall suddenly shattered, and then the roof was ripped off, revealing an eye larger than the entire room, peering into the room.

As dawn broke, it became clear that a girl lay beside the boy, covered in wounds and motionless. Only her profile was visible; it was none other than Ji Liuli!

The eyes in the air shifted away, and then a golden finger, as thick as the entire room, fell down, pinning the girl down, and then spun around.

With a soft thud, blood slowly oozed from under his fingertip.

(End of this chapter)