area51novel Chapter 1001 Profound Compassion
Chapter 1001 Profound Compassion
"You mean the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra of Mount Emei?" Sun Wukong, carrying his golden cudgel, scratched his cheek. "That old monk usually looks kind and benevolent. How come he's even more difficult to deal with than Manjushri?"
"Samantabhadra Bodhisattva primarily cultivates 'great practice,' representing action and practice, and his character carries a touch of fortitude and stubbornness." Chu Yang, his bangs flying wildly in the wind, continued, "His old elephant with yellow tusks has astonishing defensive capabilities, immense strength, and a much more volatile temperament. Like master, like mount. When we get to Mount Emei, if he still tries to intimidate us with his lofty Buddhist doctrines, Brother Monkey, you'd better not hold back; make as much of a commotion as possible."
"Hehe, don't worry about that!" Sun Wukong's eyes gleamed with golden light as he gripped his golden cudgel tightly. "I may not be good at much else, but smashing things up is an ancestral skill! I only managed to smash one gate at Mount Wutai, and I wasn't satisfied yet! This time at Mount Emei, I'm going to rip that golden summit off!"
As the two spoke, the sea of clouds ahead suddenly thickened. Unlike the golden light of Mount Wutai, the sea of clouds at Mount Emei was a vast, pure white, like a rolling ocean. Above that white ocean, several precipitous and uniquely shaped peaks pierced the sky like sharp swords.
The central peak, bathed in brilliant golden sunlight, refracts the light through the sea of clouds, creating a vast and magnificent halo that is both sacred and solemn. That is the symbol of Mount Emei – the Golden Summit Buddha's Light.
The faint chanting of sutras mingled with the cries of monkeys in the deep mountains and forests, drifting up along the sea of clouds.
"We're here. The Golden Summit of Mount Emei is just ahead." Chu Yang pointed to the enormous halo around the statue, his eyes instantly turning icy. "Monkey King, it's up to you now. Remember, strike first!"
"Alright!" Sun Wukong chuckled and stomped his foot hard on the somersault cloud.
The somersault cloud emitted a deafening sonic boom, transforming into a golden meteor. Instead of slowing down, it hurtled straight toward the sacred golden halo of Buddha's light with extreme ferocity.
Outside the main hall with its golden roof, on a spacious white jade plaza, hundreds of monks dressed in grey robes were practicing staff techniques. Their unified shouts echoed across the plaza. On either side of the hall stood eighteen imposing golden statues of Arhats, crafted entirely from pure gold.
Just then, a piercing shriek suddenly came from the sky, as if some huge object was tearing the air apart.
The monks stopped what they were doing and looked up.
The golden halo symbolizing the Bodhisattva's majesty and never dissipating suddenly distorted violently, like a mirror struck by a stone. Then, with a deafening roar, the halo was shattered by a golden meteor, turning into countless golden specks of light that rained down from the sky.
"Who goes there! How dare you shatter the Buddha's light on my Golden Summit!" A leader of the temple's guarding monks, wielding a monk's knife, roared in shock.
The golden meteor crashed into the very center of the white jade square.
"Thump—!"
As if a magnitude 10 earthquake had been triggered, the solid white jade plaza collapsed instantly, and countless huge stones flew in all directions like cannonballs. The eighteen pure gold Arhat statues were shaken to the side by the violent shockwave, and some even fell directly off their bases, crashing to the ground with a dull metallic clang.
As the raging wind subsided, amidst the billowing dust, a monkey with a hairy face and a thunderous mouth, dressed in a tiger-skin skirt, stood defiantly in the center of the pit, carrying a gleaming iron rod. Beside him stood a young mortal man with black clothes, black hair, and piercing eyes.
"Old man Puxian! Your grandpa Sun has come to collect a debt! Get out here now!" Sun Wukong ignored the terrified monks and unleashed a thunderous roar towards the Great Hall of the Buddha.
This shout shattered the glazed tiles on the doors and windows of the main hall, sending them crashing to the ground.
"You audacious monkey! Cease your arrogance!"
With a furious shout, the hall doors swung open without any wind. Eight Vajra Arhats, clad in red and yellow robes and radiating dazzling golden light, flew out of the hall, wielding various demon-subduing weapons, and surrounded Sun Wukong and Chu Yang.
"A few mere gatekeepers dare to block my path?" Sun Wukong sneered, tapping his golden cudgel lightly on the ground with a muffled thud.
"Form the formation! Subdue the demons!" The leading Arhat, Subduing Tiger, shouted, and the eight Vajra Arhats instantly stepped into mysterious positions, pointing their weapons at Sun Wukong simultaneously. A golden net formed from pure Buddhist power descended upon the two of them.
"Brother Monkey, don't waste your breath on them." Chu Yang crossed his arms and watched coldly, showing no intention of making a move.
"That suits me perfectly!"
A fierce glint flashed in Sun Wukong's eyes, and instead of retreating, he advanced. He completely ignored the golden net that was descending from the sky, and directly swung his golden cudgel, using brute force to overcome skill, smashing it down on the Tiger-Taming Arhat directly in front of him.
"Break it!"
A dazzling golden light erupted from the golden cudgel, instantly transforming it into a colossal pillar supporting the sky. The so-called demon-subduing net, before the golden cudgel, was as fragile as a spiderweb, torn to shreds with a "ripping" sound.
The Arhat Subduing Tiger was terrified and hurriedly raised his Vajra pestle to block.
"clang!"
With a crisp crack, the Vajra Pestle, forged from meteorite iron, was smashed into an inverted V shape by the Golden Cudgel. The Tiger-Taming Arhat's arms were shattered, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. He flew backward like a kite with a broken string into the main hall, overturning the offering table.
The other seven Arhats were terrified at the sight and dared not step forward.
"stop!"
Just as Sun Wukong was about to demolish the entire Great Hall of the Buddha with his staff, a peaceful and resonant Buddhist chant suddenly descended from the sky. This voice carried an irresistible majesty, instantly suppressing the violent aura emanating from Sun Wukong.
The sea of clouds surged in the sky, and the phantom of a huge white elephant, pure white with six crystal-clear tusks, slowly emerged in mid-air. On the elephant's back sat a Bodhisattva wearing a five-Buddha crown, holding a ruyi scepter, with a resolute and majestic face.
It was Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.
"Wukong, instead of protecting Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West, what are you doing running wild on the Golden Summit of Mount Emei? You even injured my temple's guardian Arhats and destroyed my Buddhist light. Do you know your crime?" Bodhisattva Samantabhadra looked down at Sun Wukong, his voice like a resounding bell, shaking the very soul.
Sun Wukong looked up at Samantabhadra Bodhisattva in mid-air, showing no fear whatsoever. Instead, he sneered, "Know your crimes? What crimes have I, Old Sun, known? I, Old Sun, risked my life to protect my master in the mortal realm, while you Bodhisattvas in heaven are unleashing your dogs to bite people! Your yellow-tusked old elephant is currently eating human flesh and drinking human blood at Lion Camel Ridge! And you, hiding atop this golden peak chanting scriptures, pretending to be all compassionate and merciful!"
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's expression suddenly darkened. Unlike Manjushri Bodhisattva's tactfulness, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva placed greater emphasis on dignity and discipline. His divine eyes instantly locked onto Sun Wukong, and his tone became stern: "Nonsense! My mount, the white elephant, has been diligently listening to the scriptures in the Spirit Beast Garden behind the mountain. When has it ever descended to the mortal realm to become a demon? You demon monkey, in order to escape the hardships of the journey to the West, you have actually fabricated such absurd lies to slander me. Your crime is simply unforgivable!"
"Oh? Still won't admit it?" Sun Wukong turned to Chu Yang, winking and saying, "Brother, this old monk won't shed a tear until he sees the coffin. Show him your treasure!"
Chu Yang slowly walked forward from behind Sun Wukong, his gaze meeting the oppressive stare of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva in mid-air without flinching.
"What a grand display of power and such a defiant tone from the Bodhisattva," Chu Yang sneered, pulling out the recording stone from his pocket.
He infused his spiritual power again, and the image-recording stone projected that bloody and realistic scene into the air.
This time, the scene not only showed the conspiracy of the three demon kings in the central palace, but also precisely cut to the scene outside the cave where the yellow-toothed elephant monster was frantically attacking the golden light barrier.
In the scene, the enormous yellow-toothed elephant monster's body was like a small mountain, its long trunk bearing terrifying scorch marks from Chu Yang's Heaven-Burning True Fire. It frantically lashed at the light barrier while letting out deafening roars:
"Sun Wukong! Come out and face your death! Today I'm going to crush your master into mincemeat and swallow him with my wine!"
The picture was incredibly clear, and the sound was incredibly realistic.
On the Golden Summit of Mount Emei, all the martial monks and arhats were stunned. They stared at the ferocious monster in the picture, spewing vulgarities, and then looked up at the sacred six-tusked white elephant phantom under the seat of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra in mid-air. They simply could not reconcile the two.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's face instantly turned ashen. He gripped the Ruyi scepter tightly in his hand, and the peaceful Buddhist light that had surrounded him became disordered due to the violent fluctuation of his emotions.
"This...this is impossible..." For the first time, a hint of panic appeared in Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's voice, but being a Bodhisattva after all, he immediately forced himself to calm down and said in a deep voice, "This must be a trick played by you, you demon monkey, deliberately creating an illusion to deceive me!"
"A fabricated illusion?" Chu Yang suddenly burst into laughter, his laughter filled with uncontrollable sarcasm. "Bodhisattva, are you deceiving yourself, or do you think everyone in the world is a fool? This recording stone is a Taoist treasure; the aura it records cannot be faked. The demonic aura on that yellow-tusked old elephant is of the same origin as the Buddhist aura of your Mount Emei. Do you dare say you can't smell it?"
Chu Yang abruptly stopped smiling, his eyes turning as cold as ancient ice. He pointed at the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra in mid-air and demanded sharply:
"Bodhisattva Samantabhadra! You keep saying that you are listening to the sutras in the back mountain, but who gnawed on the countless white bones within an eight-hundred-mile radius of Lion Camel Ridge? Who slaughtered the hundreds of thousands of wronged souls in the Lion Camel Kingdom? Your mount has been committing evil deeds in the mortal realm for hundreds of years. Are you, the so-called 'Great Bodhisattva,' blind and deaf?!"
Chu Yang's questions came like a barrage of bullets, each word piercing the heart, every sentence like a sharp knife, fiercely stabbing into the high and mighty hypocritical mask of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.
"How dare you! You mere mortal, how dare you shout at a Bodhisattva like that!" A arhat, who had managed to stand up, roared at Chu Yang.
"Shut up!" Sun Wukong swung his golden cudgel, a gust of wind sending the Arhat sprawling to the ground. "My brother's words are all true! Old man Puxian, if you don't admit it today, I, Sun Wukong, will smash this golden-roofed hall to pieces, then take this stone to the Heavenly Palace of Lingxiao, to the Great Thunderclap Temple in the Western Paradise, and show it to the Jade Emperor and all the gods and Buddhas! Let's see what kind of man-eating demons your so-called pure Buddhist sanctuary has nurtured!"
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva stared intently at Sun Wukong and Chu Yang. He knew that the situation had completely spiraled out of control. Manjushri Bodhisattva had likely already been annoyed by the monkey. If they truly made a huge scene, Buddhism would be utterly disgraced.
"Amitabha..." Samantabhadra Bodhisattva closed his eyes and chanted a long Buddhist name, concealing the gloom in his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, the anger on his face had disappeared, replaced by a deep compassion and helplessness.
"Wukong, Benefactor Chu. I acted rashly in my haste just now." Samantabhadra Bodhisattva slowly descended from mid-air, landing in front of the two. "The scene in this image stone is indeed that of my wretched beast. Hundreds of years ago, I was in seclusion meditating, and that beast, still clinging to worldly desires, seized the opportunity to bite through the iron chain and sneak down to the mortal realm. I had just emerged from seclusion and had not yet noticed. It is truly my fault that Tang Xuanzang was frightened and Benefactor Chu suffered."
"Ouch, another one that bit through the iron chain?" Sun Wukong couldn't help but roll his eyes, picking at his ear. "Are the iron chains in the Western Paradise made of tofu? How come even the Bodhisattva's mount broke them with a single bite? Next time, ask Laozi to forge some sturdier ones for you!"
Chu Yang ignored Sun Wukong's banter. He looked at Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, his tone still icy: "Since the Bodhisattva has admitted it, then things are easier. Just now at Mount Wutai, Manjushri Bodhisattva agreed to accompany us down to the mortal realm to subdue the Green-haired Lion and compensate me for my medical expenses. I wonder, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, how do you intend to deal with your elephant?"
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva frowned. He hadn't expected Manjushri to have already backed down and even offered compensation. This made him feel extremely troubled. He cultivated "practice," and his personality was inherently protective and strong-willed. Making him bow down and apologize to a mortal and a monkey demon was worse than death for him.
"I will personally descend to the mortal realm to capture that wicked beast and bring him back to Emei Mountain for strict supervision," said Samantabhadra Bodhisattva in a deep voice. "As for compensation... Wukong, you protected Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West, and you were already under the protection of Buddhism. As for this benefactor Chu, you are a mortal, and it is truly wrong of you to be involved in this calamity on the journey to the West. Considering your merit in saving Tang Sanzang, I will bestow upon you a peace talisman to ensure that you will be free from illness and disaster for the rest of your life. You should leave quickly."
"Amulet for safety?"
Chu Yang seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He looked coldly at Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, his eyes full of disdain: "Bodhisattva, do you think I'm a beggar? Here in Lion Camel Ridge, trying to save the pilgrim designated by your Buddhist sect, I was almost strangled to death by your fine mount's nose. I exerted all my strength, even my natal flying sword was dulled, and the true fire within me was almost completely exhausted in fighting against its thick demonic hide." (End of Chapter)