My brother is so cunning

Chapter 1155 Even Buddha Gets Angry
From high above, all the immortals and Buddhas could see the shocking scene of Kunlun Mountain being destroyed, but they could not see the sacred mountain, which was 108,000 miles away in Xiniu Hezhou.

While the Buddha was still reeling from the destruction of Kunlun, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart—a sensation that the Buddhist lineage of Mount Ling had been severed, a pain even greater than when he was swallowed by the peacock.

Before he could even begin to calculate, Venerable Kasyapa beside him activated his divine eye, his voice trembling like a leaf: "Buddha! Something terrible has happened! Mount Ling... Mount Ling is gone! It was blasted into scorched earth by the cannon fire of mortal creations!"

"What did you say?"

The Buddha could no longer maintain his composed demeanor, which usually held a squinting, half-smiling expression as he watched the joys and sorrows of all beings. His eyes widened in surprise.

In that instant, even Buddha's mind went blank, his heart completely thrown into turmoil by this incredible news.

It should be noted that the West was originally barren. In order to build the Lingshan Temple, he led all the Buddhas to openly preach the sutras everywhere. He exchanged the Diamond Sutra for gold dust from mortals and the Heart Sutra for spiritual jade from wandering immortals. Even when Venerable Kasyapa was begging for alms, he had to bargain with mortals. If the offerings were not enough, he even sold blank fake sutras.

They painstakingly built the golden brick roof of the main hall and the white jade pillars carved with lotus pedestals, but now it's all been destroyed by a single cannon shot.

"Your Holiness, that is indeed the culmination of our tens of thousands of years of hard work!"

Venerable Ananda clasped his hands together, his already sorrowful face growing even more grief-stricken, and his tone was extremely somber: "Too shameless, too despicable! Unable to defeat a sage in a direct confrontation, they resort to this despicable act of stealing from others' homes. How are they any different from mountain ruffians? This disciple was greedy, cough cough, and the more than a thousand sets of brocade robes I had accumulated are now probably nowhere to be found, not even ashes!"

All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas opened their divine eyes and saw that, apart from Mount Ling which had been blasted into a white wasteland, flames were blooming everywhere in Xiniu Hezhou, with holy sites, grottoes, Buddha statues, ancient temples, Buddhist palaces, Buddhist halls, temples, famous mountains, and fairy islands all engulfed in flames.

Clearly, Wen Rui had long ago drawn up a list, marking the places of practice of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Western Paradise. Any temple with a certain scale, that had accumulated some wealth through offerings from ordinary believers, or even those with gold leaf on their Buddha statues, were targeted for precise bombardment.

If the monks run away, can the temples run away too?

If Wen Rui were to bombard this group of immortals and Buddhas protected by Tathagata Buddha and Yuanshi Tianzun, he probably wouldn't even be able to hurt a hair on their head. But if he were to bombard their dojo, even if they had put up protective formations, the main body of the dojo would be no longer able to defend itself, and its defensive power would be greatly reduced. This would be a good opportunity to break in.

Having witnessed firsthand the destruction of their hometown, with no one spared, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were filled with wrath.

The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who used to chant "Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot" and "Be compassionate and kind to others" were all blushing at this moment, and their Buddha aura was tinged with a bit of anxious red.

Maitreya Buddha, who was in charge of the Western Religion's finances, was usually all smiles, but now his smile vanished, his face turning ashen. He took out a yellowed ledger from his sleeve, placed it on the stone table, pointed to the vermilion characters on it, and said in a heavy tone: "Last year, we used three hundred cartloads of gold dust to gild the outer walls of Mount Ling, and this year we suffer this calamity. At this rate of loss, even if we were to exchange scriptures for gold dust again, with each scroll costing three pecks and three pints, even after ten thousand years, it would be difficult to rebuild Mount Ling. This is not merely the destruction of our sacred realm, but the severing of the very foundation of our Western Religion! After this calamity, our religion has no future!"

Even the usually gentle Manjushri Bodhisattva gripped his wisdom sword tightly, the tassel trembling in his palm, yet he maintained his bodhisattva dignity: "In the past, I admonished all beings, 'Only by letting go of anger can one attain enlightenment.' Today I realize that it is not because our cultivation is profound, but because the calamity has not yet befallen us. If anyone were to destroy my Manjushri Monastery or damage my sacred Dharma treasure, even the Buddha himself would find it difficult to remain calm! Demons who hear of this auspicious omen shall be slain to appease the three realms!"

"No, even killing this fiend will not quell the anger in his heart! Our sect should open another level of Demon King Hell below the eighteen levels of hell, specifically for this fiend, exhausting all the methods of torture in the three realms, so that he will never have peace for eternity!" The compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva's face was as cold as frost. She had also suffered a great loss at the hands of Wen Rui before, losing her Jade Bottle.

Now, Luojia Mountain in the South China Sea has been leveled by him, and the purple bamboo forest behind the mountain has been burned into bamboo charcoal. The pet goldfish in the pond have probably become grilled fish, and can no longer secretly descend to earth to eat children. He is so angry that even Buddha can't help but get angry.

The Buddha took a deep breath, suppressing his anger and trying to regain his composure as the World Honored One. But when he thought of the dazzling golden brick dome of Mount Ling and the warm white jade beams and pillars, he felt a pang of heartache.

Even if he wins this battle, he will have to sit in thatched hut for thousands of years. Under the dilapidated roof, how can the supreme dignity of the Buddha be displayed?
He raised his hand to brush away the folds of his robe, his tone still carrying the solemnity of Buddhism, yet unable to conceal the chill between his teeth: "Venerable ones, today, I fear our Western Sect will have no choice but to break this precept against anger. It is not that this old monk does not follow the Dharma, but that the demon's actions have gone too far! Spreading heretical teachings to bewitch sentient beings is one thing, but this demon has shed the blood of the Buddha and slandered the Three Jewels. If we do not dismantle his Freedom City and burn his intercepted scriptures, giving him an eye for an eye, how can our Western Sect stand in the Three Realms?"

In Western religions, among the five heinous crimes and ten evil deeds, destroying Buddhist temples is ten or even a hundred times more serious than murder and arson, and is a sin that will surely lead to Avici Hell.

"Demolish Free City! Burn and destroy religious scriptures!"

All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas responded in unison. Although their voices still adhered to the Buddhist style, they revealed a resolute and fierce quality, like the great Brahma sound, shaking the heavens and the earth.

The "Amitabha" chanting that was used in the past has now transformed into a silent recitation of "annihilate Wen Rui," and even the Buddha's aura around him is shrouded in a layer of "irreconcilable hatred."

Just then, Guanyin Bodhisattva manifested her thousand-armed, thousand-eyed form, projecting the tragic scene of Mount Ling, 108,000 miles away, through her thousand eyes—the vast Mount Ling had vanished, leaving only a huge, bottomless pit spewing lava on the earth, a truly desolate and clean expanse of white.

Upon seeing this scene, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas bowed their heads and folded their robes. Although they did not wail, tears streamed down their faces. The words "anger and precepts" had long been forgotten.

The Buddha stared at the projection, his knuckles turning white from the force. For the first time, a genuine killing intent ignited in his eyes, yet his tone remained calm: "What a feint! What a direct attack! You wicked beast Wen Rui, you destroyed my sacred mountain and ruined my foundation. This enmity is irreconcilable, and this old monk will surely settle accounts with you to the very end!"

In the past, I advised people to "let go" only because the calamity had not yet befallen me; now that my family and business are ruined, what is there left to talk about in terms of compassion? It's not too late to chant "Amitabha" after I have slain the Creator!
Does the Western Church fail to avenge its enemies?

In later Journey to the West era, Taoist disciples merely made monks, who neither engaged in production nor could pray for rain, do hard labor.

Under the arrangement of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Western religion, they devised a scheme to kill the entire family, leaving no one alive.

After finishing their business, they would simply leave, no longer caring whether the country would suffer from drought or lack a true rain-praying master, and would instead go off to obtain the so-called "true scriptures."

(End of this chapter)