Leiyin Temple, past the first set of doors.
Master Monk Jian Kong had a terrified look on his face as he stared dead ahead through the crack of the door.
Past the second sets of doors, the toilet, straw shed, the brushwood door, the monk's accommodation, archive chamber, meditation temple, and the huge hall have all been destroyed.
Further away, the only one left was the Imperial Prince, who was standing on one side of the top of Tathagata. The wind was running through his black hair. He stood still and quiet in the heavy snow.
Jian Kong wanted to take this opportunity to escape.
However, he did not dare to do so.
If he had tried, it would only mean certain death.
Within the temple, he was currently Leiyin Temple's highest-ranking monk other than that senior of his on Mount Meru's ninth peak.
He had watched as many of his second and third generation disciples, even his seniors and juniors, died at the hands of this Imperial Prince. There was a lot of rage in his heart, but he was very reluctant to come forward and take action. Even the very thought of taking action gave him chills all over. He could not overcome himself and was fearful of having to fight.
He had seen the Imperial Prince transform into Buddha and broke the Demon Suppressing Formation in an instant, causing more than four hundred chanting monks to lose years off their lives, aging with grey hair.
He had also seen this Imperial Prince form the blood-colored Tathagata and broke the Arhat Formation with a flick of the finger, causing uncertainty within three hundred and twenty-four warrior monks. They ended up being beheaded with their corpses lying on snowy grounds.
He had also seen this Imperial Prince interchange between righteousness and evil, creating hell, sun, and the divine form of Vidya-raja. The flammules that were supposed to burn sin did not even manage to touch him.
This capability, this state of mind, had far surpassed all levels he knew of and anything that he had imagined.
That was why even though Jian Kong was angry, he was even more terrified. His heart was filled with cowardice and a terror that was born from the fact that he had no control over his life and death. For a moment, his mind wandered and he recalled many things before he had become a monk.
When he was a child, his family was very rich. He had been fated to be taught by Monk Yun Shui and cultivated a pure Buddhist inner vitality.
After that, his father noticed that he enjoyed learning martial arts and employed a teacher for him, whom his father paid handsomely, to train him in swordsmanship. The teacher was rumored to have been a dismissed disciple of the Heavenly Sword Clan. Even though he was dismissed, but his swordsmanship skills were quite impressive.
However, when his teacher was kicked out of the clan, he had made an oath to demons that he would never impart the swordsmanship of Heavenly Sword Clan to any outsiders in his lifetime. That was why his teacher did not teach him any skills from Heavenly Sword Clan, but he was taught swordsmanship from other clans, which was enough for him.
He had cultivated twelve years of inner vitality and practiced swordsmanship for ten years. Both his inner vitality and strength were considered ample and he was finally able to hold his own.
After that, he had become a wandering swordsman of justice and was known as the Green-shirt Swordsman. He had a saber with him and had a strong sense of chivalry and justice. Time went on… Finally, he killed someone he was not supposed to.
He remembered it very clearly.
It all began with a young master of nobility from Magnificent Mountain City who lusted after a woman.
The woman had a husband who, unfortunately, was a commoner.
All the young master needed to do was to make some arrangements and to cause the death of the woman's husband. He next arrested the woman's son to threaten her. If she did not serve him obediently, her son would end up being sent to the borders.
There was a simple explanation as to why this happened. The child had 'accidentally' heard the truth about his father's death and went to get revenge. However, attacking a person from nobility was a huge crime, and he was arrested and placed in prison. This had seemed reasonable and within legal boundaries.
The woman was miserable and angry, but there was nothing she could do. For the sake of her son's life, she had to endure the shame and humiliation…
Unfortunately, what the woman was unaware of, was that her son possessed a natural strength that was stronger than the common man. He had hurt the face of the noble young master and had ended up with his tongue cut off and his legs chopped off earlier on. He was thrown into the dark, musty jail to await death. For the young master to have his revenge on the boy who had hurt his face, he had ordered someone to tell the boy what he was doing with the boy's mother every day.
The boy had roared in anger and misery in the jail and later hit his head against the wall and died.
Three months had gone by just like that and when the young master had gotten bored with the woman, he finally told her the truth.
The woman drummed the drums of justice in the courthouse, asking for justice to be done, but the officials protected each other and schemed among one another. The truth was distorted and changed, hidden and blocked, delayed and misrepresented, white was described as black with ease and flourished. The woman had nowhere to cry injustice and in the throes of desperation, hung herself to death.
Jian Kong was a hot-blooded man back then. When he heard about this, he was so angry about it that he headed stealthily into the city, and in the name of justice, he cruelly tortured and killed that young master of nobility.
However, the act of murder incurred a monstrous disaster. After that, not only was his family ruined by misfortune and death, even he had ended up being a panic fugitive. That was until he had once again met Monk Yun Shui, who had taught him martial arts when he was a young man.
Monk Yun Shui was the previous abbot of Leiyin Temple. As fate had them as master and disciple, the abbot performed tonsure for him and later asked him if he was aware of what he had done wrong.
He had said, "My fault in this was that I was not strong enough to slaughter all the injustices of this world."
The abbot made him kneel for three days before asking him again, "Do you know what you did wrong?"
He said, "If I had killed every member of the noble family and not leave anyone behind to become collateral, no one would have known I was the one who did it, and I would not have ended up being a fugitive."
The abbot made him kneel again for three days before asking, "Do you know what you did wrong?"
This time, he did not reply because he was about to pass out.
The abbot instructed someone to bring him to have a vegetarian meal before passing some scriptures to him and instructing him to face the wall to think about what he has done while chanting the scripture day and night.
One month later, the abbot asked him the same question again.
This time, he had replied with uncertainty. "He might have sinned, but I have sinned as well. He had murdered, and so did I. There is no difference between him and me."
"Creating a sin is planting a seed of sin. We will be constantly having revenge against each other without stop or rest. If he was reformed through benevolence and was given teachings, it would be planting the thought of kindness. Only then could he be guided to regret his doings and use the rest of his life to conduct charities and make up for his sin."
The abbot smiled and said, "There is no limit to the sea of misery, and one should turn back to return to the shore of repentance. What did you see?"
He gave another answer with uncertainty, "All matters are immaterial."
The abbot laughed heartily, "Your Buddhist name shall be Jian Kong from now onwards."
His state of mind was calm and serene from then onwards. All matters in regards to the material world were settled with the help of the abbot. Since he was a monk, it meant that there was no home for him to return to. He would now retire his sword, and would now stand tall as a Buddhist.
After the abbot passed away, his senior took over the abbot's monk's staff. As for the monks of the last generation, they had also passed away one after the other in sitting posture.
In a blink of an eye, he had become the first-generation disciple of Leiyin Temple. However, his cultivation made no progress and the same could be said for his Buddhist Zen method. No matter how hard he tried to achieve a breakthrough or how hard he longed for it, he still seemed to have reached the end of his achievements.
Buddha had said that it was pointless to force oneself if there was no fate for it. So, he stopped his longing and instead chanted scriptures, cultivated, and practiced his martial arts every day. He spent days being unremarkable and he was now forty-six. He was also the least achieving person among the first-generation disciples. Although, many helpful people came through Leiyin Temple and gradually, there was no need for him to be concerned about martial arts.
That was until now, as he watched the Imperial Prince standing atop Buddha statue, a demon who killed without blinking. His usual serene state of mind was now in a state of turbulence. He could not get a hold of himself as fear, chills, and panic spread within his heart.
These emotions were non-existence when he was at the age of not more than twenty.
Even then, he had already killed the son of a noble, made a run for it wherever he could, was hunted by others with no guarantee of safety every day, and yet, he had not experienced such bone-chilling fear, panic, and uncertainty…
Could it be that his state of mind now could not be compared to his twenty-year-old self?
He did not fear death then, but why was he afraid now?
What was the point of cultivating so many years of Zen?
What did he get from this?
Jian Kong started to doubt everything.
"Why… Why is this?"
He laid prostrate on the ground. He could not understand this.
"Why is this happening?"
He questioned himself once again.
He did not know the answer, but no matter what the answer was, it was no longer important because everything had come to an end. The last statue of Tathagata was about to crumble and Leiyin Temple was about to become history.
However…
He waited for a long time, but his wait did not come to fruition as the last crashing sound of the statue crumbling was never heard.
…
Xia Ji placed his palm on Tathagata's stature, which currently had cracks all over it.
The old spirituality was gone and he was pouring new spirituality into it.
The Ninth Level of Dhyana of the Present allowed Xia Ji to create the divine form of Tathagata, but this was a form that belonged to others, after all.
The second time he had obtained the skill bead turned the skill bead into a dark golden color, which allowed the divine form to fuse with his intentions, turning it into light red evil Tathagata. This was a spirituality that belonged only to him.
The upgrade of Dhyana of the Present had also resulted in the upgrade of the Trailokya Dhyana as a whole.
The gift of spirituality from the three Buddha statues of Leiyin Temple had helped him enhanced to the point of being able to leave his 'spiritual mark' behind.
Right then, the originally grey and lackluster statue slowly regained its liveliness.
The cracks had also seemed to magically heal at a gradual speed.
After a long while…
He had completed the record of his spiritual mark.
The Buddha statue stood upright once again. Even though it was not plated in gold, it still looked extraordinary.
From now onwards, all those who came in prayer to Buddha would pray only to him. Monks do not go against Buddha, and those who prayed to him should not go against him.
Xia Ji was tired but serene. He leaped down from the Buddha statue and the statue's palm seemed to have a life of his own as the hands crossed across its chest just in time to catch Xia Ji.
"Listen to my teachings."
The serene voice could be heard from all directions.
The voice seemed to have a strong demonic power in it, which sounded like the words of Buddha. The remaining monks did not dare disobey.
With that, Jian Kong followed the rest of the monks and appeared from within the darkness, shaken and in terror. They held their breaths in, fearful of breathing out loud as they sat quietly on the snowy ground, looking at each other.
A serene chant sounded in the air.
"Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, when practicing the profound Prajnaparamita, the Five Aggregates were illuminated but were all found empty, transgressing all that is misery and bitterness. Sarira, all that is immaterial are material, yet all that is material are immaterial. The same truth is found in thought, action, and knowledge…"
The scripture was a common one, but it contained Xia Ji's demonic intention, thus making it uncommon.
This demonic intention and the Buddha statue seemed to bring out the best in each other as the scripture was instilled into the minds of all the monks present, shaking their state of mind with uncertainty as it subverted all they had learned.
If it was during normal times, these monks would not have been easily swayed by this demonic intention, but they were now facing the terrifying prospect of death and their guard had already been taken down, which allowed the chanting of this demonic voice to invade them.
After a round of chanting the scripture, Xia Ji started to chant the second verse.
…
Time flew by quickly.
Soon, the chanting of the scripture had ended. The snow was now falling slower, but the sky was still dark.
The Imperial Prince laid down within the hands of Buddha as he rested. He looked comfortable, gentle, and at peace. His eyes were only half-opened.
As for the monks who had listened to his teachings, they were now suffering from a splitting headache.
Some of them had gone mad because they were unable to endure it.
A few of them continued to stand guard on their soulful altars and maintained their original meditative minds.
However, some of them had a quick change in spirituality overnight, and one of them was Jian Kong.
Jian Kong watched the Imperial Prince, who looked just like a sleeping Buddha as his heart beat rapidly. He had listened to the teachings the entire night and initially, he had rejected it heavily although there was uncertainty. Many thoughts and intentions within him clashed like two warring armies who continually slaughtered each other, but very soon, his heart and thoughts followed the chanting of the Imperial Prince. After that, he felt a great release from within his heart, as if he no longer had any obsession nor troubles.
However, there was still a wall obstructing him. Whenever he thought about it, he would have difficulty breathing, as if he was drowning.
He took a step forward and knelt with his head to the ground as he asked, "In respect to Buddha, please explain this teaching to me. Why are… All matters immaterial?"
His words had 'woken' the question within many of the monks.
These monks waited expectantly for the answer.
"It's wrong."
A calm voice replied in turn.
There was a befuddled look on Jian Kong's face.
The voice gave another teaching.
"All, matters, are, permitted."
The four words were said slowly.
Only one word was changed.
However, it was enough to create a rumble.
It was like a severe warning.
It felt like it was filled with wisdom.
These four words instantly morphed into a wild, savage beast, charging furiously right into every corner of Jian Kong's mind. All of his spirituality, all of his consciousness, and all of his past broke and shattered the last obstructing barrier within him.
He suddenly understood why he had been terrified and why he was never able to advance after dozens of years.
It was because the scriptures he had chanted were not his scriptures, the Buddha he knelt and prayed to was not his Buddha. His state of mind was blocked. How was he able to advance??!
He bowed deeply with his head on the ground. Many thoughts flowed through him at each bow.
When he lifted his head, he was no longer the same person from the past.
He had welcomed a new life.
A red glow flashed within Jian Kong's eyes.
After that, he got up and circulated his inner vitality. He suddenly attacked the monks next to him. Those monks were still frowning as they had yet to be enlightened nor understood the intention of this new Buddha.
Since they were unable to welcome new life, they should welcome destruction instead. The disciples of Buddha were here and there was no need for Buddha to lift a finger.
Following that…
Another round of slaughter was conducted beneath the Buddha statue. One side belonged to the Leiyin Temple monks who were now Xia Ji's followers, while the other side belonged to monks who maintained their original beliefs and were still in a state of fright.
However, the spirituality on both sides was completely different. The former had quickly completed the slaughter of the latter and later walked around the area to check if there were anyone who had escaped.
Xia Ji did not notice the slaughter. He had fallen asleep out of fatigue after he had said those four words.
All he wanted to do right now was to try his best to maintain the position of a sleeping Buddha. If it was permissible, he would want to lie comfortably all sprawled out and slept until he woke up naturally. It would also be okay if he was woken up from the noise of a chatty sister.
The winter's snow was beautiful and it was a good time to enjoy plum wine and listen to some songs. It would even be better if he rewarded a songstress he had eyes for with thousands of gold and bringing her back to warm his bed. However, none of these had anything to do with him.
He was like a demonic Buddha that belonged here as he slept amidst the falling snow.