Chapter 248 — Return to the Mortal World

"Fill all twenty heavens, and you are a Tathagata?"

Shen Mu's eyes lit up. The Great Tingming Temple deserved its name as the highest holy ground of the Buddha Way, and the Tingming Mahayana Sutra deserved its name as the cult's supreme secret art, worthy to stand beside the Great Nourishing Dark Demon Sutra and the Fourteen Chapters of the Dao Sword.

Three great holy grounds — truly, not one of them was famed without cause.

The Kingdom of Jingping was in the grip of a snow disaster, yet here the four seasons were as mild as spring. Many refugees from Jingping had fled this way and taken shelter in temple after temple, and no few of them had converted to the Buddhist faith.

"Great Tingming Temple's doing here smacks of taking advantage of another's misfortune," Shen Mu said in a low voice, studying the temples that crowned peak after peak.

The Blind Elder shook his head. "Shen'er, never mind what their purpose is — look at what they do. The Great Tingming Temple saved these people's lives, and that is a good deed. Whether or not he means by it to swell the Buddhist order and spread the Buddhist doctrine, what he has done is good. If you pick at the Great Tingming Temple's intentions and never look at its deeds, you are no different from Fan Xuanshu."

Shen Mu felt a chill of awe, and nodded his assent.

A person's life is one long cultivation, and it is easy to be led astray by extreme thoughts. Any notion not carefully weighed, not put to the test, can bend one's own spirit out of true.

These days, keeping company with Fan Xuanshu, Shen Mu had been influenced by him without ever realizing it.

The former cult master of the Dark Demon Cult was steeped in demonic nature and his cast of mind was extreme, and yet he was a grand master besides, his words so full of reason that a moment's carelessness would have one unknowingly absorbing his ideas.

The dragon qilin came to the Golden Summit, its cloud of fire sinking lower and lower, and set down upon the ground. The Golden Summit stood above the clouds; mist flowed beneath their feet, and the ground was paved with white jade the very color of the clouds.

To arrive here was to walk into a fairyland.

Shen Mu looked all around and could not help but marvel inwardly. The Golden Palace of Loulan was extravagant, but it had about it the air of a parvenu; the Great Tingming Temple was extravagant too, yet far more solemn, displaying everywhere the gravity and the culture of the Buddhist order.

On the Golden Summit stood pagoda upon pagoda, and one tall tower was grandest of them all. Long-browed monks sat within it, and others sat upon its spire and upon its eaves, chanting sutras without cease, the Buddha's voice rolling and shaking.

"Can that be the Ten Thousand Aspects Pagoda?" Shen Mu wondered.

A bodhisattva maiden in white came forward, a pure vase in her hand, and bent in greeting. "Cult Master of the Dark Demon Cult, God of the Horse King, Madam Si, and this old fellow cultivator — the Tathagata has been awaiting you this long while. Please follow me."

"Thank you, sister," Shen Mu said.

"Sister?"

The bodhisattva maiden burst out laughing. "Cult Master Shen jests. This way, please."

Shen Mu and the others followed in her steps. All across the Golden Summit, eminent monk after eminent monk blazed with Buddha light, each seated upon a cloud, rings of golden radiance forming behind them, dazzling to the eye.

The old Tathagata was chief of all the monks, seated highest, his flesh body vast, venerables at his left and right. Below his seat were the bodhisattvas, arhats, vajras, and dharma protectors, and some who were the old Tathagata's junior fellow disciples, of exceedingly mighty cultivation. There were also monks of other kinds who had attained the Way, who did not look to be of the human race.

Shen Mu and the rest drew near. Shen Mu made his salute and said, "Senior Brother."

The old Tathagata hurriedly rose and returned the salute. "Senior Brother."

As he rose, the many dharma protectors, venerables, bodhisattvas, arhats, and vajras all rose too, saying with one voice, "Senior Brother!"

When the greetings were done, the old Tathagata raised a hand and invited Shen Mu to take a seat. Shen Mu looked down: the seat was a hassock, and if he sat, he would be far lower than the monks floating in the air.

"Shen'er, sit," Lord Huo said.

Shen Mu sat down, and felt a soft force come to him, lifting him and the hassock together to settle upon the dragon qilin's back — quite the imposing sight.

The old Tathagata looked at Lord Huo and smiled. "Disciple, have you finished with the red dust, and made up your mind to come back to the mountain?"

"Back to the mountain? I have a Mount Sumeru in my heart, and there is no Buddha left in it."

The old Tathagata smiled. "When there is not even a Mount Sumeru left in your heart, then you are a Tathagata. Well said. Set down the wife and child in your heart. Before long I shall enter nirvana and perfect enlightenment; you shall preside over the Great Tingming Temple."

Lord Huo shook his head. "If I preside, I will slaughter every thieving bald monk on this mountain."

The faces of dharma protector after dharma protector, arhat after arhat, changed greatly; they roared in fury, making wrathful faces.

The old Tathagata said, "You are still deluded, still clinging. Last time you came up the mountain, I hurried back as fast as I could, and still I arrived one step too late. You know I still hold to the bond between master and disciple. You cut off your own arm and sent it to me; I reflected that you would finish with the red dust and worldly affairs, and at the last return to the Great Tingming Temple, and so I ordered the monks to place your arm within the Ten Thousand Aspects Pagoda, hoping for the day you would see your error and come back. You know my heart."

Lord Huo said gravely, "I know it. But my wife and child died at the hands of the Great Tingming Temple. A blood feud must be answered."

"Foolish child!"

The old Tathagata shouted him down like a thunderclap. "Wife and child, wife and child — all are dreams, bubbles, shadows, a stinking sack of skin! Had you Buddha-nature, you would know that what bond, what karma, what fruit — in the end it is all emptiness."

Lord Huo was furious. "Emptiness, my arse! I cut off my own hand, and you were still not satisfied? You had to kill my wife and child as well? All that talk of women being rosy skeletons, of demons holding a man back — what if I love my rosy skeleton? I call you master to give you face, because I have need of you. Nag at me again, monk, and I will overturn you, wash this Golden Summit in blood, and beat every bald donkey on this mountain to death!"

The monks on the mountain changed countenance; not one of them could sit still.

Shen Mu, too, had never expected Lord Huo to erupt like that. Lord Huo had always been mature and steady, the steadiest man in the village, the man the lame old man most admired and revered — and now, once he erupted, no one could hold him back.

Upon the Golden Summit dark clouds came suddenly. A moment before, it had been mild wind for ten thousand li, auspicious clouds and golden light, blessed beyond speaking; now the air was rank with killing intent.

Shen Mu coughed once and laughed. "A guest stealing the host's thunder — stealing his thunder indeed. Senior Brother Tathagata, I have not yet made introductions. This is my Grandpa Huo, commonly called Lord Huo; he is two generations above me. This is Granny Zhu, two generations above me. This is Grandpa Blind, two generations above me. Senior Brothers, there is no need for ceremony."