A thread of golden light instantly emerged from behind Indra, with points of light twinkling and transforming into the countless stars of the Ganges.
The stars, scattered yet connected, enveloped the Milk Sea.
However, beneath this radiance, all things remained the same, as if what had just transpired was merely a special effect.
"Hahaha!"
"Since when did you, Indra, possess the Maya Illusion Power, you can't scare me!"
Jinmu laughed in spite of his rage.
Maya!
That is the power of illusion!
The Vedas Scripture narrates that within the universe exists an omnipotent and omniscient cosmic entity — Brahma.
Brahma is the source of all things; eternal, unaffected by time and space.
All things in the world are manifestations of 'Brahma'; they are created through its manifesting illusion power and are therefore not real, just illusions. Only by shattering the 'illusion' can one find 'Brahma', and thereby achieve the ultimate state of unity with it.
Therefore, Maya is a manifestation of Brahma, like a dream, a bubble's shadow, the light of day, the shadow of the moon.
"Teacher Bi, what are you doing? You're not going to trick me, are you?"
Indra was slightly startled and looked around.
"Jinmu!"
Vishnu's calm voice suddenly resounded, echoing over the Milk Sea.
This voice seemed to come from the limitless high above, as if it spanned immeasurable distances, higher than the Earth, the Mortal Realm, the Heavenly Realm, higher than Brahmaloka, greater than Kailash, above the world.
Following the voice, Indra looked up.
He saw Vishnu's manifested form high above, a cyan figure with four arms reigning supreme in the boundless heights.
At this moment, Vishnu seemed to be within the celestial Gokul, sacred radiance upon him, holding with one hand the heavy great cow's milk, from which flowed the aromatic milk to form the Milk Sea.
Great!
So mighty!
As if he could destroy the world in an instant.
As the Protector God, Vishnu, in the process of preserving the world's continuity, had power that could momentarily surpass Shiva and was enough to destroy the world.
But he would never destroy the world, for then he would also lose the power and identity of the Protector God.
Jinmu looked distantly, his heart filled with shock and fury.
A flash of golden light, and the Mysterious Wheel of Sight flew from his grasp.
Swish!
The Mysterious Wheel of Sight flew out from Vishnu's fingers, dreamlike and illusory as if crossing countless spaces, instantly aiming for Jinmu's neck.
Caught by surprise, the surrounding devas quickly came to their senses, exclaiming with joyous shouts.
"That's great! The Supreme Lord has taken action, Jinmu is as good as dead!"
"Hahaha! No god can withstand the Mysterious Wheel of Sight, with Jinmu dead, the leaderless Asuras can't lead an assault on the Heavenly Realm!"
"Yay!"
Surya and other devas jumped for joy.
However, it was at this moment that Indra realized something and frowned.
"Didn't Jinmu receive Brahma's blessing?"
Indra murmured to himself.
He narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Jinmu.
At this moment, Jinmu was a mixture of shock and rage, involuntarily turning his head and closing his eyes in the face of the Mysterious Wheel of Sight.
Bang!
In the blink of an eye, the Mysterious Wheel of Sight landed on Jinmu's neck, spinning ceaselessly, but despite its power to part the Milk Sea and slice through Mandara Mountain, it was as if it had met an impassable barrier and couldn't even cut a single hair from Jinmu's neck.
Vishnu's brow furrowed slightly as his colossal divine form returned,
and two beams of golden light descended with him.
One beam fell beneath the falling Mandara Mountain in the Milk Sea, causing giant waves as the divine turtle Kurma surfaced to uplift Mandara Mountain.
Mandara Mountain slowly ascended.
The divine turtle, Kurma, extended its beaked head above the water.
The other beam of golden light flickered incessantly, appearing beside Indra, revealing Vishnu in his original form, staring intensely at Jinmu before him.
"Blessing!"
Vishnu muttered.
A pair of golden eyes slowly opened.
"Hahaha!"
"The Protector God is nothing special, in this world, only me and my brothers are the strongest!"
Jinmu, the Asura, tilted back his head and laughed loudly.
He clasped his hands around his head, twisted his neck, and the bones crackled with a grating noise.
Then he smirked arrogantly, lifted his hand, and with a pinch of two fingers, he caught the Mysterious Wheel of Sight, which halted in mid-spin between the fingers of Jinmu, who defiantly stared at Vishnu.
Vishnu's expression slightly tightened, as his fingers subtly moved, the Mysterious Wheel of Sight vanished into a golden light, and gracefully returned to his fingertips.
Bestowing blessings was like a program in a game, directly embedded into the game, and even a GM would find it difficult to deal with.
The gods were terrified beyond measure.
This Jinmu Asura was too horrifying, for not even one of the Three Aspects Deity, the Protector God, could harm him.
"Impossible! How could he possibly withstand the Supreme Lord's Mysterious Wheel of Sight!"
Sun God Surya's eyes widened.
"He must have received a blessing, could it be that he has been rigorously practicing asceticism towards Lord Brahma?" Agni suddenly slapped his thigh and speculated.
"It must be so! It must be so indeed!"
Wind God and Water God were also shocked and spoke in unison.
...
Within Brahmaloka.
Brahma's face darkened slightly as he slowly turned his head, avoiding the gaze of Salabhamvid Goddess at his side.
Salabhamvid Goddess grew even more curious.
She was now certain that the blessing must have been given by her husband!
"Alas!"
"Jinmu once performed rigorous asceticism on Earth and received a blessing from me, rendering him invulnerable to gods, demons, and mortals!"
Brahma explained the origins of the situation and said solemnly.
Upon hearing this, Salabhamvid Goddess had a calm look in her eyes and her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
"If that's the case, then the Devas are in trouble!"
...
"No one can defeat me!"
"No one!"
Jinmu's booming laughter resounded, stirring the Milk Sea, as he manifested a Divine Hammer in his hand that blotted out the sky and swung it mightily at Indra.
Indra snorted coldly and retreated behind Vishnu.
With the Blessing Force within Jinmu, no one in heaven and earth, god, demon, or human, could harm him.
The legend has it that Vishnu once split himself into a boar that was neither god nor demon nor mortal, and after a thousand years of ferocious battle with Jinmu Asura, he finally killed him.
Jinmu was indeed powerful.
But before Indra stood Vishnu, and all Indra needed to do was to stand there, and no one could make him flinch.
A faint golden light emanated from Vishnu's body, rose ethereally, and with a resounding roar, repelled the tremendous force of the hammer.
Vishnu furrowed his brows in thought.
At that moment, a bright white light suddenly shone in the distance, and under its cover, led by Sukhacara Sage, the Asura teacher, with Vajra Body, Holika, and other siblings at the forefront, and Brahman, Vibhrajit, Sinhika as generals.
Tens of thousands of Asuras came forth in a formidable array.
"Hahaha, my Asura army has arrived. Today, all of you Devas will be my captives!"
Jinmu Asura laughed heartily, his gaze sweeping over the numerous Devas.
With so many Asuras, capturing a few Devas who had lost their divine power was a piece of cake.
He had won!
Won, won, won, won, won!
Surya and other gods were frightened and dared not speak; they could only fly towards Vishnu and look up at the Supreme Lord in prayer.
Vishnu frowned.
Seeing Vishnu remaining silent, the gods became even more panic-stricken.
"With so many Asuras, we are definitely no match; perhaps we should return to the Heavenly Realm?" Water God Varuna suggested quietly.
No sooner had these words been spoken than they were immediately endorsed by the other Devas.
"Indeed, we should consider the long-term strategy!"
"Supreme Lord, what should we do?"
"Yes, Supreme Lord, nothing should go wrong with you here, so let's leave for now!"
The gods all displayed their true cowardly nature, frantically looking for an escape route.
Indra also looked toward the grand army, his eyes shining like the sun, growing brighter and brighter, as if the sun itself were his eyes.
Such orderly ranks! So many Asuras!
This can't be good!
These Asuras are rather too civilized!
Indra wore an expression of loyalty.
He sidestepped slightly, tilted his head subtly, and advised Vishnu.
"If Jinmu cannot be killed, can't the other Asuras be killed?"
"Supreme Lord, use the Mysterious Wheel of Sight on them!"