Chapter 18: The thoughtful senior brother
Chapter 18: The thoughtful senior brother
He Lingyun's mood was mixed before, but after hearing the hidden truth, she felt an unspeakable sadness in her heart and almost burst into tears.
As a fellow demon, she felt the same way as the fox girl and had a strong sympathy for her.
Although the fairy crane and the demon fox do not belong to the same species, He Lingyun is innocent and naive, and has no idea what human love is, but the crane family and even many birds have the habit of being loyal in their nature.
Even if they are not yet intelligent, red-crowned cranes only have one partner in their lifetime. If the partner dies unexpectedly, the surviving crane will be heartbroken and die of depression.
Feeling sympathetic, the crane girl could not help but glance at Wen Rui, but she saw that Senior Brother Wen had a calm face, observing the extremely miserable Fashan with dead fish eyes, and was carefully taking notes on the jade slip.
He Lingyun sighed secretly, feeling disappointed for no reason. He thought that this big liar senior brother was really heartless and was just a human puppet without any emotions. It was a pity that he was still a human. He had no humanity at all.
After a long time, Fashan gradually calmed down, lowered his eyes, and there was no light in them, like a walking corpse.
He whispered to himself in a hoarse voice: "Even if we are separated by the dead, I must find her... I want..."
"late!"
Wen Rui said coldly: "Not to mention the killing karma she created by killing monks, just the fact that she was entangled with you and caused rumors to spread and the monks to fall apart has violated the great Buddhist sin of 'breaking up the harmony of the monks'. Such a demon who persists in evil and destroys the Dharma to confuse the people will surely fall into the Avici Hell, where there will be no end to the suffering, no end to the body, no end to time, no end to the form, and she will be forever burned by the raging fire and will never be able to be reborn!"
At this point, he unconsciously revealed a trace of fear, and slowly shook his head, his tone as sinister as a demon returning from hell: "Believe me, you can't endure that kind of pain for even a second, but she will have to endure it forever without relief."
Fashan was struck by lightning when he heard this, but at this time he had exhausted all his energy and was too weak to cry or wail, so he could only mourn in silence.
Wen Rui observed Fashan, who was in deep sorrow, for a long time, and suddenly said, "But there is a way... It's just a little difficult."
"any solution!?"
Fashan looked up suddenly as if he had grasped the last straw, and asked in a hoarse voice with all his strength.
"A great Buddhist master who has reached a certain level of spiritual attainment can liberate the souls of sinners who are suffering in hell."
Wen Rui said sternly, "The seventh disciple of the Tathagata Buddha, Venerable Maudgalyayana, is known as the best in Buddhist supernatural powers. He can save your mother who is suffering in the Avici Hell. It's a pity that you are entangled in karma and your realm is low. You can't even achieve the Arhat level in this life, let alone the Venerable level above Arhat."
The Taoist realm and Buddhist fruit position are roughly converted. The first-fruit Arhat Sotapanna corresponds to the Mahayana realm, the second-fruit Arhat Sakadagami corresponds to the earthly immortal, the third-fruit Arhat Anagami corresponds to the celestial immortal, the fourth-fruit Arhat Arahant corresponds to the true immortal, the Avalokitesvara Pratyekabuddha corresponds to the golden immortal, the Bodhisattva corresponds to the Daluo Golden Immortal, and the Buddha corresponds to the Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal or the quasi-sage.
Arhats, Pratyekabuddhas, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas are known as the Four Saints of Buddhism, who are those who have attained the supreme enlightenment.
Venerable Maudgalyayana has attained the state of Arhat. All defilements have been eliminated. He is neither born nor destroyed, does not enter the cycle of reincarnation, and does not come to the world. This is equivalent to the realm of true immortal.
Fashan has not yet stepped into the immortal realm, and has not even achieved the first level of Arhat. He is at least five major realms away from the Arhat level. Unless he is equipped with a pig's foot template, it is nothing but a foolish dream for a mere master to achieve Arhat.
Hearing Rui say casually that it was a little difficult, Fashan could only smile bitterly and shake his head. As a Buddhist monk, he didn't know that achieving the Arhat status was harder than ascending to heaven, and it would take many reincarnations to achieve enlightenment. How could it be just a little bit?
Fashan collected his thoughts, looked at Wen Rui deeply, clasped his hands together and bowed to him, then turned to look at He Lingyun and said, "Daoyou, I destroyed your flying sword. Now I know my mistake and I should correct it. Please present the broken flying sword to me. I have a secret Buddhist method to repair it."
He Lingyun was stunned. She didn't expect such a good thing to happen, but she didn't dare to act on her own. She subconsciously looked at Wen Rui. Seeing Wen Rui nodded slightly, she took out the remains of the flying sword from her bag and held it in front of Fashan.
Her flying sword had been broken into two pieces, with only a few inches of the sword body connected to the hilt remaining, making it look more like a dagger.
When she approached Fashan, Fashan's eyes suddenly became fierce, and he suddenly slapped her on the head with his palm. The swung palm was condensed with powerful Buddhist power. If this palm hit her, He Lingyun's brain would surely burst and she would die on the spot!
This unexpected and dangerous change happened too suddenly. If it were the previous He Lingyun, she would have been beaten to death. After experiencing a life-and-death battle, she was very alert and her combat awareness was different. She subconsciously stabbed the broken sword in her hand into Fashan's chest, forcing him to withdraw his palm and defend himself at the cost of her life.
However, Fashan was determined to die, and he ignored the broken sword that was coming to kill him, and slapped it down with his palm firmly!
He Lingyun was so frightened that his soul almost flew away. Marbles began to run in front of his eyes. He shrank his neck and closed his eyes, waiting for the severe pain and death to come.
But she waited for a long time and nothing happened, so she opened her eyes in confusion.
The broken sword had pierced Fashan's heart and was about to pierce his heart. His raised palm paused half an inch above He Lingyun's head, hanging there without falling at all.
“I bow to all the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times with all my heart, and all the Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas, and pray that they may bless and protect all good beings like you, so that they may be treated kindly by this world…”
His hand gently fell and stroked He Lingyun's head, and a powerful but extremely soft and warm Buddha power poured down, which was the great blessing of touching the head of the Buddha. The broken sword that pierced Fashan's heart emitted a dazzling golden light, and Fashan's body was visibly dry and withered, as if all the vitality had been taken away by the broken sword.
He Lingyun felt extremely light and comfortable, and even her realm was faintly improving. She realized that the fierce monk was just trying to trick her into killing him subconsciously.
The withered Fashan showed no sadness or joy, and he put his hands together in worship again. Then his withered body cracked and shattered in a breeze, turned into ashes, and disappeared without a trace.
The broken sword was suspended in the air wrapped in golden light. The fragments glued themselves together, and lotus patterns of silver appeared on the sword. The material was transformed from metal to transparent and flawless colorful glass.
The body turned to ashes, and a faint shadow came out of the body. At this time, a crack appeared in the clouds in the western sky, and the sun shone down. Under the Tyndall effect, it seemed as if a ladder of light ascending to the sky was opened, and colorful rays of light appeared at the edge of the clouds.
The phantom looked at the auspicious celestial phenomenon in the western sky, but shook his head.
The shadow's lips moved slightly, but no sound came out. However, He Lingyun immediately knew what the shadow wanted to express.
"I have wasted this life, and I have an immense karmic debt, even more so to the demons. How dare I set foot in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? With all the Buddhas as witnesses, I make a small vow to enter the samsara in the next life, and to save all living beings who are born from eggs and covered with fur and horns. If any of their six organs are defective or incomplete, I will not attain the supreme enlightenment."
"Fellow Daoist, I will repay you this sword as interest for the time being. I will name it 'Demon-Protecting Sword' as a token of my gratitude..."
After this information was transmitted, the shadow of the bardo body sank into the earth and fell into the reincarnation disk of the underworld. The auspicious signs of rosy clouds in the sky also quickly dissipated.
The glazed sword seemed to have recognized its master, and gently floated in front of He Lingyun. He Lingyun took the sword, feeling the rich spiritual energy and magnificent Buddha power flowing through the sword, staring blankly at the gold text engraved on the sword, and muttered: "Why did he do this?"
"It's nothing more than treating you as a substitute to make up for the shortcomings."
Wen Rui said coldly: "I am using the empathy effect. You and that fox girl have a lot in common. You can affect Fashan's deep subconsciousness, which will be more conducive to my cleansing, ahem, enlightenment of him."
He Lingyun held his breath and asked: "Brother! Although your cultivation level is not high, you are very..."
At this point, He Lingyun couldn't help but be stuck, not knowing what words to use to describe Wen Rui.
"Very cunning, no no, very powerful. Even if the monk is very advanced, it shouldn't be difficult for you to kill him. Why do you spend so much time planning and must use such a complicated method to kill him through my hand?"
"Cultivating immortals is not about fighting and killing."
Wen Rui restrained his expression and said, "Everyone in the secular world understands this principle, but many immortals and great powers do not. This is the reason why our Jiejiao was destroyed. Fighting is the continuation of politics, and politics is about making friends more and enemies less."
He Lingyun was like a duck hearing thunder and could not understand Wen Rui's words at all.
"What can I gain by killing that monk? If I kill the younger one, the older one will come, which will only attract more revenge from the powerful Buddhists."
Wen Rui didn't care whether she understood or not, and continued: "After this act, I helped the monk to break through obstacles and eliminate karma. Originally, his highest achievement was to be a guru. After I cleansed and enlightened him, he will be reincarnated in the next life to fulfill his ambition of saving the demon race. He may achieve the status of an Arhat."
"If he sticks to his original aspiration and perseveres through several more lives, constantly accumulating great merits and dedicating them to his original aspirations, he may even become an Arhat and save the fox demons suffering in hell. Would his seniors have the nerve to seek revenge on me? It's too late to thank me!"
"Oh..." He Lingyun nodded, not quite understanding, "It seems to be the case."
But she changed her mind and thought that if the great Buddhist had the nerve to come and seek revenge, he would not go to find Senior Brother Wen Rui, because she was the one who was tricked by him into killing people, and she would be the only one who could seek revenge. Thinking of this, she fell into confusion again.
"That Fashan is a true Buddhist, with deep wisdom and a strong will. I believe he will be a good monk again in 18 years."
Wen Rui continued, "After my cleansing and enlightenment, he has subconsciously transferred his guilt towards his true love to the entire demon race. In his next life, even if his Dharma name is Fahai, when he sees the White Snake and Xu Xian getting married, not only will he not try to stop them, he will probably rush over to give the gift money, eat at the wedding banquet, be the best man, and make a scene in the bridal chamber!"
"Eighteen years later, if the disciples of Lishan are hunted by villains outside, the reincarnated Fashan will be the number one demon protector and will willingly rescue the demon cultivators of Lishan. He will also spread the idea that all living beings are equal, that all demons can be saved, and that we should protect rare demons, and mobilize more Buddhist monks to join this demon protection movement."
"Once a seed is planted, the harvest in the future will be immeasurable. Do you still think it's meaningless for me to go through all this trouble?"
"Eh--"
He Lingyun stared at Wen Rui in disbelief. Only then did he truly understand the reasons behind everything Senior Brother Wen Rui did. His facial expression was completely out of control, his eyes were as big as bells, and his mouth was so wide open that he could almost swallow a watermelon.
(End of this chapter)