Nightfall

Qi Nian stared at Jun Mo’s empty sleeve and said, “Liu Bai took one arm from you, therefore you are confined in the human world. What you need most now is Buddha’s compassion. That was why you came all the way here from Chang’an. Since you are already here, why are you still resisting? Why not seek refuge with the Buddha?”

Jun Mo looked at the peaks in front of the Wilderness. They were only two hundred miles away and thus seemed steeper and more magnificent. He slightly raised his eyebrows and asked, “How to seek refuge?”

Qi Nian looked at the blood-dripping iron sword in his hand and answered, “Drop your sword and achieve Buddhahood.”

“There are Buddha statues as well as skeletons. There are gold ritual implements and silver decorated bones. The monks wear rosaries while the nobles wear necklaces made with human ears. This is not the Buddha land. This is the hell. There is no living Buddhas but only evil ghosts.” Jun Mo turned to him and continued emotionlessly, “If I am about to seek enlightenment, I could never achieve it unless I take down all the evil ghosts like you! Since I need to take down all of you, how could I drop my sword? It might be the path to Buddhahood in the human world by dropping one’s cleaver. But here, the only way to Buddhahood is to pick up my sword.”

Qi Nian kept quiet for a long while, took a glance at the slaves in rugged clothes and said, “So you seriously think you could lead these people out by yourself?”

Jun Mo answered, “Originally I was trying to build them a path to the surface. Although the cliffs are steep, if they were to continue doing it for generations, they would eventually build a path. But now it seems like we don’t have enough time. Therefore I changed my mind. Since they cannot get to the outside-world, I should at least take them to the peak to enjoy some views.”

There were many hills in the underground world, but the only real hill was the Prajna Peak. It was in front of them glittering in the morning glory. That peak had the relics of the Buddha. What Jun Mo wanted to do was to take the millions of slaves to mount the Buddha’s relics and enjoy the sunshine and warmth atop.

Qi Nian raised his eyebrows slightly and exclaimed in rage, “Don’t deceive yourself! How could you do that by yourself?”

Jun Mo stood in front of thousands of slaves and shouted back, “Open your eyes and see clearly for yourself how many of us are here!”

Qi Nian bursted into laughter after being extremely outraged, and said, “How could you count on them to overturn the Buddha land? Did you forget that they are as dull as ants? How could they fly?”

Jun Mo answered indifferently, “Over twenty years ago, you once said in the Wilderness when the chief monk was preaching. there were countless ants flying up as they bathed in the sunlight. Now you want to deny it?”

Qi Nian felt distressed and suddenly became restless. He said, “They are sinful and therefore dull.”

Jun Mo said, “Did you know why the Buddha had strictly prohibited the monks from illuminating them or pass Buddha’s teaching to them?”

Qi Nian did not answer because none of the eminent monks including himself would have found an answer to that question. It was understandable not to cultivate their literacy. But teaching them Buddhism would have enhanced their piety. Why had the Buddha had prohibited them from doing that?

“Qi Nian, your faith is not as firm as you’ve thought. Any old woman from the millions of slaves here in the underground world could have surpassed you in terms of this.” Jun Mo continued, “Because you are literate. Because you have cultivated Buddhism. As for cultivation, the more doubts you have the harder you try to cultivate. There would be no doubts if you don’t cultivate. Therefore the cultivator will eventually question cultivation, and the practitioner of Buddhism will eventually question the Buddha.”

Qi Nian became pale. The back of his robe was soaking in sweat and he could not refrain from feeling restless.

Jun Mo looked into his eyes and continued, “The Buddha clearly knew that only the dullest would have the firmest faith. Therefore, he prohibited you monks from passing on his teaching to the people in the underground world. He wanted them to be dull and ignorant. Only thus he could have created the Nirvana and became so arrogant that he even thought that he could deceive Haotian. You said these people were dull. That’s bullshit! Their dullness is the sin your Buddha had committed!”

Qi Nian wanted to say something but Jun Mo kept going, “On top of that, the Buddha had prohibited you from teaching them Buddhism because he was afraid! If these people were enlightened and had achieved Buddhahood, how could he maintain his evil Nirvana? You bald donkeys refused to cultivate their literacy or teach them Buddhism. Therefore they were dull. Now I have taught them to read and write and illuminated their minds. Of course they have become sober. I am exactly shaking your fundamentals and overturning your Buddha land. Show me how you can stop me.”

The thousands of slaves stood behind Jun Mo looked the same as they had previously. They wore rugged clothes, and some of them seemed very hungry. But upon closer observations, one could find that they looked calm instead of numb, and their eyes were bright. The human eyes were made to see and find freedom. They brightened up and became lively when they found freedom. That was what life really meant.

Throughout the previous year, the slaves had been fighting. But they had also spent most of their time studying. At the beginning, Jun Mo just introduced literacy to the tribe by the cliff. Then they became teachers and taught other tribes to read and write. They were never introduced to knowledge previously. Therefore, once started they was extremely eager and made tremendous improvement.

Qi Nian looked into their eyes and confirmed that Jun Mo was not lying.

Thinking of how much effort Jun Mo had made in teaching them, he felt confused and asked, “Why do you hate the Buddha so much?” He could not have made so much effort if it was not because of extreme hatred.

“Why does it have to be hatred? It is more because you are the epitome of evil.” Jun Mo continued, “I’ve hated monks and temples throughout my life. You produce nothing. You only specialize in extorting the money from the poor. It is even worse here. How hateful you are! How could I not hate you? Well, of course those divine priests from Taoism did them same thing as you did.”

Qi Nian wondered, Since you know how much worse the Taoism is, why do you hate Buddhism more?

“Because Taoism never hid what they wanted. The divine priests in the Divine Halls of West-Hill just want to rule over this world. They want nothing but power and wealth to satisfy their various desires. Although they do put on some disguise now and then, they never do it seriously. Therefore they could no longer deceive many.” Jun Mo continued, “Buddhism is different. Your disguise is far more skillful and deceiving. You fooled people so badly that I could no longer stay out.”

Qi Nian asked, “Is that the difference between true evil and the hypocritical?”

“That is the difference between a robber and a thief.” Jun Mo’s words had dethroned the noblest Buddhism. Then he looked at the slaves around him and said, “Of course you have both here.”

Qi Nian asked, “Buddhism has numerous practitioners who cultivate diligently and secludedly, abide by the commandments, guard against attachment and aversion and practice on compassion. How come you never see them?”

Jun Mo looked to the giant peak afar and bursted into laughter. “Disciplines and commandments? You behaved like thieves and prostitutes and produced numerous illegitimate children here. How dare you mention disciplines and commandments?”

Qi Nian said, “Master Qishan was the descendent of the previous Chief Monk of Scripture. What would you say to that?”

Jun Mo said, “Master Qishan was a true master. That was why he left Xuankong Temple when he was very young. You want to take credit for the Xuankong Temple from him? Are you shameless?”

In his view, the people of Buddhism were all shameless bald donkeys. That was exactly what Qi Nian did years ago. He pretended to be compassionate and trapped the kindest Eldest Brother in Lanke Temple with a killing fraud. How dishonorable he was!

Back then, Jun Mo stabbed Qi Nian with his iron sword. He questioned how he could have deceived a man of dignity and declared to take him down. Then he cut Qi Nian’s Dharmakaya with his mighty sword. Today in front of the Xuankong Temple in the Buddha land, he again defeated Qi Nian’s superiority with his words. Qi Nian had turned pale and miserable. Why was that?

Because Jun Mo was righteous. Being righteous was the rule of the world. It ruled over counties as well as countries.

Qi Nian had been practicing silent meditation for almost twenty years. He was never good at arguing. Furthermore, Jun Mo had pointed out the weakest part of his Buddhism belief. How could he say anything further?

He had nothing to say, but could only go for a fight.

Qi Nian pointed out a finger to Jun Mo in the field. It pierced the autumn wind and drew a random circle in the air. Then a radiating circle appeared behind his head.

He pulled back the finger and pressed his palms together in front of his chest. His body started to glow with the Light of Buddha. His robe swung and the outline of his figure started to extend into the space in a peculiar way. It enlarged numerous times instantly.

Another Qi Nian appeared in the Wilderness. He was enraged and his eyebrows raised like swords and there were thunder in his eyes. It seemed like he could defeat anything evil in the world. That was his Dharmakaya, the Acalanatha.

First, he sent out the perfectly penetrating intent of Buddhism and then called his Dharmakaya. Qi Nian did not stop there. The Dharmakaya reached out his right palm and hooked his index finger to made the Mantra and Mudra.

He cultivated on silent meditation. Therefore he did not need to say a word and the sound of Buddha already reverberated through Heaven and Earth.

In the sound of Buddha, the giant Dharmakaya of Acalanatha pressed toward Jun Mo with his Mantra and Mudra.

The Mudra was like a mountain.

With endless mountains overlapping, it became the ultimate state of Prajna.

Qi Nian was after all the most powerful cultivator in Buddhism and their World Wayfarer. In a single strike, he had applied three levels of divine skills.

In front of such a vigorous enemy, Jun Mo had to be exceptionally serious. How could he overcome these three levels? Like he did to the soldier monks previously, Jun Mo lifted his sword. Again he made one strike. It was not because he despised Qi Nian and thought he was no better than those soldier monks. He made only one strike previously because it was more than enough. Now he only make one strike because there was nothing more he could do. It seemed to be a simple strike. But Jun Mo had actually applied all of his cultivation.

The simplest was also the strongest. The straight and wide sword pierced through the autumn wind and stabbed on the Mudra of Acalanatha.

The giant Acalanatha and the giant Mudra had created a huge shadow over the Wilderness. Jun Mo’s iron sword looked like a tiny wooden thorn compared with them.

A tiny wooden thorn that held up to the falling palm.

The wooden thorn even pierced through the center of the palm.

No matter how strong the palm was, a thorn must hurt.

The iron sword had stabbed the Mudra of Acalanatha.

Qi Nian became pale and blood exuded from between his palms.

…