Nightfall

Ning Que and Sangsang became Buddhas, and to be more specifically, Buddhas of Heaven. All living beings must obey the Buddhas of Heaven. But Ning Que and Sangsang must take away the wills of all living beings if they wanted to completely control the chessboard world, which would take many years. Ning Que didn’t want to wait anymore, so he reached out to hold the hilt.

Along with his dangerous movement, the world changed again. Countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on the big ship and in the field sensed the unprecedented danger and announced their names in shrill voices, like a cuckoo crying for blood. They kept releasing their Breath of Buddha to Heaven and Earth desperately and giving off more flourishing Lights of Buddha.

The Light of Buddha became extremely bright, and there was even some light passing through the lush leaves of the Bodhi tree on the summit and falling on Sangsang, making her face paler and paler.

Countless rays of light shined on the dark sky and formed many Buddhism stories. The Buddha land of Buddha overlapped with the Buddha land of Ning Que and Sangsang, and it was difficult to distinguish one from another.

Ning Que took out the iron cutlass and slashed it toward the dark sky. With a light sound, the golden lights on the sky shook slightly, and the temples and the heavenly maids which were composed of the lights were all cut off.

After cutting off the golden lights, the cutlass fell on the dark sky and left a hundred meters long crack on the sky above the summit.

Even though a bucket was full of water, it was still difficult for the water inside to flow out quickly if it only had one cut. Normally, it needed two crossed cuts to make the water run out.

Ning Que lifted his cutlass and slashed again, leaving another clear crack on the dark sky which crossed with the previous crack, covering hundreds of miles of the field.

These two cracks looked like a word and also a wound.

Tens of thousands of Buddhas on the Bodhi tree all closed their eyes, put their palms together and kept chanting loudly, pouring the will of their faith and devoutness into the body of Ning Que.

Looking at the two crossed cracks in the sky and the word composed of the cracks, Ning Que laughed satisfactorily. After his battle with the Abbey Dean, a millennium must have passed by if he was counting the years he spent in the chessboard world. He finally wrote out the word again.

Looking at the word in the sky, Sangsang went silent for a few moments and said, “The word is good.”

Ning Que thought for a while and replied, “I can’t write it without you.”

He didn’t know how could he have written out the word, for it was a mysterious state that couldn’t be explained by words. But the most fundamental reason was that Sangsang and he were one flesh now.

God came to earth, so he could write the character of “people”, which was a divine inspiration.

The rain began to fall down, not from the clouds, but from the higher sky.

Clear water kept dripping down from the two crossed cracks, and formed hundreds of thousands of waterfalls which became rainstorms after falling on the field.

It rained for a whole year. A year later, infinite starlight fell from the two crossed cracks and then was mixed into the waterfalls on the sky, shining with cold and beautiful luster and looking like some kind of sticky fruit pulp.

The starlight kept falling for another whole year.

Ning Que and Sangsang looked at the two cracks. What he saw was a beautiful and wonderful scene, but what she saw was the rain and starry sky of the human world. She saw her own world.

During the past two years, countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas blew themselves up. While fighting against the rain and starry sky of the human world, the Lights of Buddha from Nirvana sometimes were dark, sometimes bright, but would eventually be annihilated.

The Buddha, who was hidden in all living beings, ordered the chessboard world to launch the most powerful attack against Ning Que and Sangsang. He was trying to stop their departure.

In the torrential rain, countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas floated in the air as high as thousands of zhang and surrounded the mountain peak. Numerous ritual implements shone with golden lights and approached the mountain peak. And the big ship was just one step away from the cliff.

In the torrential rain, Sangsang stood on the peak, and her black hair danced wildly in the wind and the flowers on her cyan dress gradually disappeared. She quietly looked at countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas around her and raised her right hand to the sky.

She had seen her own world, so she was able to communicate with the rules and regain the Power of Heaven.

Suddenly, the the torrential rain which fell from the crack in the sky became brighter, for a star in the remote sky of the other end of the crack was tens of thousands times brighter than the second before.

The stars of the World of Haotian were not burning stars, so they would not become brighter suddenly due to explosion. It indicated that the distance between the star and Sangsang was rapidly shortening.

A glaring spot appeared in the crack, passed through the crack easily, then travelled through the rain, approached the chessboard world, and came to the mountain peak.

A star fell into the hands of Sangsang.

Countless extremely bright lights, which were born from the hands of Sangsang, sprayed from the field to the mountain peak and made the rain evaporate easily. It was continuing to spread.

Ning Que took out his sunglasses and put it on.

The ritual implements containing the infinite Power of Buddha in the air outside the mountain peak melted and disappeared in a short time after encountering the lights emitted by the star.

Countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who floated in the rain sensed the terrifying the Power of Heaven and fled toward the outskirts of the field. But there were still thousands of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas being purified by the lights of the star and turned into nothingness.

The starlights sprinkled from the peak, and the river shone with silver, which was extraordinarily tranquil. The big ship was just one step away from the cliff, but it could no longer move forward.

Countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas fled in horror toward the field behind the big ship, like a tide. And the indigo lion was transformed into a indigo light and fled in a flash.

Seeing this, Sangsang revealed no emotions. She walked to the cliff, stretched her hand into the rainstorm and loosened her fingers, letting the star in her palm drop.

The star came to the bottom of the mountain and fell into the river, arousing a wave that was hundreds of zhang tall. The big ship was rocked to creak, as if it would fall apart any moment. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who were running on the ship were lifted high by the wave and then fell to their deaths, splashing the golden blood of Buddha everywhere.

Then the horrible vibration spread to the field from the bottom of the river. The ground vibrated at a high frequency, and the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, cicadas, and frogs were all instantly shattered like raindrops on the surface of the drum.

The star knocked a bottomless hole in the depths of the river bottom, and the mud was burned into porcelain chips by the high temperature. Inexhaustible springs came up from the hole and blackened the river in a flash. And the river flowed over its banks and flooded thousands of golden ponds, thus making the ponds an endless black sea at at a speed visible to the naked eye in the rainstorm.

The black sea stirred up hundreds of waves which spread to all directions of the field, turning everything it passed through, including the hard rocks and the soft willow branches, into the finest pieces.

Rising and falling in the back sea, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas screamed and then were swallowed. The indigo lion was lifted high by the wave and then fell to the sea heavily. The beast kept kicking at the ground under the sea since it was as high as hundreds of zhang. Seeing what had happened, the indigo lion was frustrated and horrified. What would be left of this world if the black sea were to keep spreading?

The rainstorm kept falling and stirred up the chessboard world. Only the mountain peak stood still in the uneasy black sea, as if Sangsang was standing quietly on the sea looking from afar.

The mountain peak was the statue of a handmaiden, with flowers and a Bodhi tree on the top. And there were tens of thousands of Buddhas on the Bodhi tree. Standing under the Bodhi tree, Ning Que and Sangsang looked at the black sea and the crowds floating in the sea.

Sangsang saw the indigo lion by the far side of the black sea and reached out from far away. The indigo lion uttered a heartrending cry and came to Sangsang the next moment. Being caught in the neck by Sangsang, the beast did not dare to move and kept trembling. It was all wet and just a few chi long at this moment. It looked like a drowning dog.

The raging black sea was rushing in. It wouldn’t take long for the black sea to flood the Styx River and the redwood forests on both sides of the river. And soon, Chaoyang City would be destroyed too. The Buddha land would become the drowned land, losing all of its glory.

It was all because Sangsang picked off a star.

Seeing the miserable scene in the Buddha land, Sangsang revealed no emotions and showed no mercy. She just kept releasing the Power of Heaven and making the black sea fiercer. She wanted to destroy the world with a flood.

She had been trapped here by the Buddha for more than a millennium. If it were not for Ning Que, she might have been trapped here and lost herself forever. Haotian would have become the prisoner in the chessboard.

She couldn’t stand the shame. She must vent the anger and all the negative emotions contained in her cyan dress in some way.

“Don’t do this.” Ning Que said, “Any plant, tree, or stone in this world can be the Buddha. You have to destroy the whole world to kill him. It will take too long and might not work.”

Sangsang did not respond. She was still looking for traces of the Buddha in the waves and rainstorm.

Ning Que walked to the edge of the cliff, took her hand and said, “Let’s go.”

Sangsang went silent for a moment and replied, “Let’s go.”

Ning Que turned to look at the tens of thousands Buddhas on the Bodhi tree, raised one hand to the chest and said sincerely, “Brothers, I have to go.”

The Bodhi tree shook gently in the torrential rain. Tens of thousands Buddhas sitting on the green leaves of the Bodhi tree all announced their names calmly, put their palms together and praised, “Farewell, my master.”

Ning Que and Sangsang, holding hands, slowly floated off the mountain peak and flew to the intersection of the two cracks on the dark sky facing the rainstorm and the starlight.

Seeing the doomsday scene of the Buddha land, the indigo lion did not dare to struggle in Sangsang’s hand and revealed a sour emotion since he knew that he could never be back.

…

…

At the Back Hill of the Academy, the Sixth Brother was still hacking at the chessboard and the crowd was gathering around the chessboard to watch him. The spring rain kept falling, wetting the pear tree, the crowd, and the chessboard.

The Eldest Brother did not return to the palace tonight. He stood under the pear tree and stared at one spot as if he was thinking of something. He was not looking at the chessboard, but at the sky and the stars hanging in the sky.

All of a sudden, one star left its original position, turned into a stream of light, and headed toward the ground. The star came to the Back Hill in a flash, broke through the Cloud Gate Array and fell on the chessboard!

There was a loud noise!

The crowd around the chessboard was taken aback and wondered how the star had fallen. What if the star had fallen on the flowers, the plants, and all the people here? Who can react quickly and avoid it?

After the star fell, the small crack on the chessboard appeared to be wider.

The Eldest Brother looked at the chessboard and and said with a smile, “Welcome back.”

…