Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

When he spoke, Meng Qi had another name in his mind, Ksitigarbha!

He was one of the four strongest Bodhisattva that was unanimously recognized by all the Pure Lands amongst the Buddhist Society. He made a great aspiration to achieve the Pure Land of Complete Sambhogakaya. It was highly possible for him to involve himself in the Battle of Spirited Mountain. As he was good at handling the Way of Life and Death and guiding one to realization, he represented the Buddhist Society to preside the fight between the real Hells. He was the bane of resentful spirits and the obsession to death. Not only he was not afraid of the pollution from the Nine Levels of Underground, he had the intention to turn the Nine Levels of Underground into Hell and make it into his personal Pure Land. Facing the deadly yet grimy power that was generated during the change of the Thousand Buddha Formation, he was the Great Medium with the most potential to be able to temporarily withstand the great power and seize the opportunity to run away when the Great Sage Equalling Heaven blitzed Spirited Mountain.

The only question was that the Ksitigarbha reached the essence of Taoism relatively late. He and his animal Di Ting did not experience the deification. Moreover, he had been hiding within Tianzhu Mountain. Unless there were some other reasons, there was no need for him to disguise as the animals of Samantabhadra and Avalokitesvara, namely the mighty person of the Jie Sect and the great sage of the Demon Tribe who had been through deification and the Pilgrimage to the West. Besides, with his expertise in martial arts and Sambhogakaya, he was able to exceptionally control the fall and death. It was not logical for him to remain at the status of neither dead nor alive until today.

Meng Qi strongly believed that, except for the influential figures of the Nirvana Realm, the only person among the Buddhist Society who was able to escape was the Ksitigarbha. However, the one before Meng Qi was most probably not the Ksitigarbha.

“Samantabhadra, Avalokitesvara…” The Immortal Demon Fairy mumbled the two names before he heaved a depressing sigh, “My past has died and my present is yet to be alive. Why are you so concerned about my previous identity?”

He did not deny, yet did not agree. As his current self, he seemed to not want to meet anyone with his previous title.

Resembling a ghost and being stuck within death and life were the worst insults a Bodhisattva could possibly face during their journey. That was the reason why the angry shriek of Ananda persistently echoed across the dilapidated Spirited Mountain.

As the Immortal Demon Fairy remained silent to Meng Qi’s question, Meng Qi thought it was inappropriate to probe further. To be frank, he secretly preferred Samantabhadra to be the answer to his suspicion. The Avalokitesvara was one of the Western Three Great Sages, the Maha Bodhisattva of the Pure Land of Elysium, and Amitabha’s left flank. He participated in various matters at Spirited Mountain on behalf of Amitabha, the ancient Nirvana Realm Individuals. He was a sound and healthy man. As long as he did not lose his life on the spot and successfully escaped from Spirited Mountain, he was capable of returning to the Pure Land of Elysium. Even if both his Golden Body and Sambhogakaya were completely annihilated, he could reincarnate at the Eight Treasures Pond of Merits and Virtues within the Pure Land of Complete Sambhogakaya. It was impossible for him to live in such humiliation, hanging on for dear life, when the Amitabha was still alive.

After the Qing Emperor from the Middle Ages proved the essence of Taoism, Meng Qi believed that Amitabha was still alive.

After the deduction, Samantabhadra was naturally the answer to his question.

However, Meng Qi noticed a hint of unusualness during their conversation. The Immortal Demon Fairy addressed the monkey as the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, a title that showed neither intimacy nor impudence. The monkey had betrayed and left Spirited Mountain before it caused a great catastrophe. For the Samantabhadra who was aloof to the monkey, it was illogical for him to address the monkey as the Great Sage Equalling Heaven even if he was not enraged like the time he met Ananda. At best, he would call the monkey Sun Wukong.

Therefore, based on the appellation, Meng Qi made a bold guess. He reckoned that the Avalokitesvara had stopped calling the monkey Monkey Head, but changed to the Great Sage Equalling Heaven instead, disregarding all the laughter and memories they shared.

“I care nothing about your past identity,” Meng Qi grunted before he continued. “I’m concerned about the reason why the Buddhist Society left a Maha Bodhisattva of the Creation Realm uncared for and neglected.”

That was his biggest doubt.

If the Legendary mighty people were the backbone of the many forces, specifically the Buddhist Society, the Taoist Sect, the Heavenly Court, the Nine Levels of Underground, the Demon Tribe, and the others that ruled the Myriad World of the Heavens, then the strong people from the Creation Realm would be the superior individuals of these forces. They were called the Great Medium. Before the demons invaded the earth, the Qing Emperor, Black Emperor, Golden Emperor, and Fire Emperor among the five emperors of ancient time had merely achieved this realm. Although they, together with a small amount of people, had achieved fulfillment, got close to the Nirvana Realm and were stronger than the rest of the Great Medium, they were still lingering at this level, confined within the sea of sufferings. That proved the scarcity and preciousness of the Great Mediums from the Creation Realm.

Regardless of how powerful the Buddhist Society was during the ancient times, there were not many Buddhas, Maha Bodhisattva, or Great Arhat from the Creation Realm. Other than sock puppets like the Three Corpses, Past Body, incarnation of Jin Gang and incarnation of Bodhisattva, there were only a few Great Mediums, for instance, the four elite Maha Bodhisattva, namely the Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, Ksitigarbha and Samantabhadra; two Great Arhat, Ananda and Maha Kasyapa; Akshobhya Buddha, Amogha-siddhi and Ratna-sambhava among the Five Wisdom Buddhas; Buddha of Ancient Past, Ran Deng; Buddha of Future, Maitreya Maha Bodhisattva; Buddha of three horizontal worlds, Bhaisajyaguru; and the current Vairocana Buddha.

Even if he included the few Buddha that he was unsure if they were from the Creation Realm, the Mahastamaprapta and the abandoned corpse of the Buddha of Ancient Past, together with the newcomer and protector of Tirthankara, the Mahamayuri, Victorious Fighting Buddha and the Garuda, the numbers would barely reach twenty.

The Great Mediums were only present at the many Pure Lands and innumerable spurs, for instance, the Pure Land of Elysium of Buddhist Society, Saha Pure Land, Pure Land of Azure Stone, Pure Land of Abhirati, and others. After the distribution, some of the pure lands had solely one Great Medium. Regardless of Avalokitesvara or Samantabhadra, that must be a superior individual or core person of the Buddhist Society. When the Buddhist Society had not been completely wrecked, why was he stuck at Tianzhu Mountain, between life and death, barely breathing?

Once again, the Immortal Demon Fairy fell into wordlessness, remaining silent for a long period of time. Seeing that the incarnation of Meng Qi’s Undying Tao Body was expiring, he spoke unhurriedly, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Don’t judge a book by its cover… Meng Qi gently took a breath. All of a sudden, he felt more fascinated by Gautama Buddha claiming the Fruit of Dao and the Battle of Spirited Mountain. After running the thoughts in his mind, there were equal possibilities for the Immortal Demon Fairy to be either Samantabhadra or Avalokitesvara.

After some consideration, he thought it was impractical to dwell on this issue. Apparently, the Immortal Demon Fairy changed the topic and asked, “During ancient times, the Sacred Buddha from Buddhist Society arrived at the Nirvana Realm. I wonder how much the Demon Fairy knows about him.”

The Sacred Buddha practised the Arts of Eight-Nine and had achieved the Bodhi Golden Body. Meng Qi had long suspected that he might be the Premier Incarnation. Now that he had encountered a Great Medium who was active during the Mythological Era, he would never let the chance slip.

The Immortal Demon Fairy began to talk in an unvarying tone, “The Sacred Buddha was initially a Tirthankara. He was led into the Buddhist Society by the Bodhi Ancient Buddha to practise Dharma to complete his Arts of Eight-Nine. That effort was for him to escape from the shackles and break free from the restraint. Eventually, he achieved Bodhi Golden Body. He then began to live in seclusion and keep minimal contact with the other Buddhas. Slowly, no one knew his whereabouts anymore.”

To complete his Arts of Eight-Nine, escape from the shackles and break free from the restraint… no one knows his whereabouts… Meng Qi’s heart was palpitating as he listened to the Immortal Demon Fairy’s story. Despite not saying it explicitly, the Immortal Demon Fairy was suggesting that the Sacred Buddha was the incarnation of Heavenly Lord Yuanshi!

Was this not the way to escape from the biggest karma among the heaven and earth?

Moreover, Meng Qi was astonished at the fact that the Sacred Buddha was guided by the Bodhi Ancient Buddha into the Buddhist Society. The game between the Nirvana Realm Individuals was more intense and soul-stirring than Meng Qi expected.

However, what would be their expression when the original Jade Golden Fairies, the Samantabhadra and Avalokitesvara, committed to the Buddhist Society and found out later that their previous teacher, too, had joined the Buddhist Society with a sock puppet? That must be an interesting scene.

Of course, there were also chances that they might not be the original Jade Golden Fairies. They might be Taoist Bodies created from Buddha and Maha Bodhisattva and later joined the Jade Palace. For instance, Priest Cihang, who experienced the deification, was transferred to the Buddhist Society to follow Amitabha. Then, he incarnated as Avalokitesvara and created the previous Buddha’s body. However, the story could be reversed too, that Avalokitesvara created Tathagata, the body of the previous Buddha, then made Priest Cihang and entered the Jade Palace to study the Seal of Yin Yang. When he fulfilled his Heavenly Tribulation and finished his studies, Priest Cihang returned to his Noumenon, so that the Golden Body of the Merciful Guan Yin Bodhisattva could have the traits of both Dharmakaya and Sambhogakaya, both Yin and Yang, turn from a male to a female, achieve fulfillment and arrive at the Creation Realm.

Besides, there were other stories, such as Lord Dao De joining the Pilgrimage to the West, transforming the Gautama Buddha’s sock puppet, Siddhartha Gautama…

Nonetheless, due to all the sock puppets heedlessly created by the Fairies and Buddhas, the relationship between the Taoist Sect, Buddhist Society, and Heavenly Court was very peculiar and incomprehensible, leaving the future generation like Meng Qi confused. The limited sock puppet is indeed the trend… Meng Qi thought to himself.

“I see,” Meng Qi gave a subtle nod before he asked again. “Does the Demon Fairy know the whereabouts of the descendents of Wu Zhuang Guan?”

The Immortal Demon Fairy answered, “Zhen Yuanzi was involved in the fall of the Heavenly Court and no one knows if he is still alive. Subsequently, the Wu Zhuang Guan was separated into two groups. One returned to the World of Gods and the other group hid at the mortal world carrying the ginseng fruit tree.”

They returned to the World of Gods? Meng Qi squinted, That means the Pilgrimage to the West budded out from the Deification?

Now it all made sense to Meng Qi, the fact that Martial Uncle Xiaobai was able to obtain the direct knowledge, World in the Sleeve.

“As I’ve been confined within Tianzhu Mountain for many years, I have no knowledge of the group who ended up at the World of Gods. On the other hand, the other crew has always been hiding, never revealing their whereabouts. However, a few decades ago, Donghai Dragon Emperor somehow laid his hand on the ginseng fruit tree,” the Immortal Demon Fairy said in adagio.

“The ginseng fruit tree?” Meng Qi’s expression subtly changed. The root of heaven and earth has shown up too?

It seems like the clue regarding Wu Zhuang Guan is with Donghai Dragon Emperor. Shall I make a fuss at the Dragon Palace, too?

Why is my fate so similar to the monkey’s…

During the conversation, his incarnation gradually vanished. The last thing he heard was a sigh from the Immortal Demon Fairy.

“I would have fallen if I left the world of the Pilgrimage to the West earlier.”