Chapter 248 — Return to the Mortal World

The old Tathagata laughed heartily, and the dark clouds that filled the sky dispersed. "Cult Master Shen, you and I are bound by great karma. You obtained Ximilo — that Ximilo was in the beginning the staff I carried through the rivers and lakes, and you came by it. You and I were fated to be master and disciple. I once meant to go to the Desolate Wastes and beg a karmic bond of the old fellow cultivators of Hidden Remnant Village, to take you under the Great Tingming Temple's gate. Who could have thought the bond would break, and that when next I met you, you would already be the demon cult master of the Dark Demon Cult. Such is the hour, such is fate; fortune makes sport of us all."

Shen Mu smiled faintly. "The Tathagata jests. I have come this time to ask the Tathagata to subdue a demon and cast out an evil. Within Granny Zhu's body there is a great master — Fan Xuanshu, former cult master of my holy cult. Fan Xuanshu transformed himself into a demon seed and planted it within the granny's heart of the Dao. And so I make bold to ask the Tathagata to subdue this demon and rid the world of a public scourge."

A venerable said in a low voice, "World-Honored One, this Granny Zhu is Si Youyou, holy maiden of the Dark Demon Cult's previous generation. On the very night she married Fan Xuanshu she slew her husband — murdered Fan Xuanshu. She is no good woman either, a demon among demons."

Dharma protectors and arhats said one after another, "This is a family matter of the demon cult. How can we intervene?"

The old Tathagata raised a hand and smiled. "All living beings are equal. The Buddha is a living being, and the demon is a living being too. Since Cult Master Shen asks it, I ought to lend my aid."

Another venerable's eyes flickered, and he said in a low voice, "We take incense money even for the gift of scriptures. This subduing of a demon — might we perhaps..."

The old Tathagata waved his hand to silence him. "Cult Master's widow, will you show us your true face?"

Shen Mu hesitated, then shook his head. "Tathagata, best not."

The Blind Elder tapped his bamboo staff upon the ground. "Old Tathagata, best not look upon the granny's true face, or it will be no pretty thing if it ruins the cultivation of the monks upon your mountain."

"Love's tangles are but passing smoke, and peerless beauties are rosy skeletons. Fellow cultivator, you underestimate the cultivation of the monks of my Great Tingming Temple."

The old Tathagata smiled. "I mean to enlighten Cult Master Li. Without seeing the widow's true face, I cannot lend my aid. Cult Master Li's love begot love, and love begot the demonic barrier in his heart. I shall let him see that the thing he holds most dear is no more than this."

Granny Zhu gave a tittering laugh. "Blind Elder, Lord Huo, will you two not unseal me? Cult Master Shen, peel this ugly skin of mine off, and I shall have a meeting with these monks whose mouths say one thing while their hearts mean another, and see what powers of concentration they truly have!"

The Blind Elder frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "Lord Huo, what do you think?"

Lord Huo hesitated. He looked at the monks of high attainment all over the mountain. "The old Tathagata's Buddhist Dharma far surpasses mine. He should have the skill for it. Shen'er, what do you say?"

Shen Mu thought a while, then said, "For now we can only treat the dead horse as a live one. Grandpas, be on your guard; do not let Cult Master Li escape."

Granny Zhu cackled with laughter. "I have fought this old bald donkey at the game of Dharma for more years than I can count. Such an amusing business — would I run? You could drive me off and I would not go!"

Lord Huo sighed, drew back the spirit Buddha's primordial spirit from between her brows, and nodded to the Blind Elder.

The Blind Elder reached out and grasped; strand after strand of silver essence, like so many dragons, flew out of Granny Zhu's body and returned into the Blind Elder.

Shen Mu stepped forward and cut lightly. Granny Zhu's skin split open, and within it stood a woman of peerless beauty, black hair like a waterfall, slowly raising her head, her bright eyes glancing about, her gaze passing from one high monk's face to the next.

Upon the Golden Summit, not a crow or a sparrow made a sound.

Even the sutras and the Buddha-voices in the Ten Thousand Aspects Pagoda halted at that moment. High monk after high monk went dry in the mouth, their hearts thumping wildly, the prayer beads in their hands spinning faster and faster.

Suddenly a bodhisattva's halo of Buddha light scattered, and he fell from midair, tumbling into the valley below the clouds.

A long while passed. Then came the thud of a heavy body striking the ground.

Thud. Thud. Several more thuds followed — arhats and vajras who had fallen one after another.

The old Tathagata's expression shifted slightly, and he hurriedly looked around. The monks' eyes had gone straight, fixed and staring upon that peerless beauty, the beads in their hands spinning faster and faster, clattering aloud.

"Ho!"

The old Tathagata was about to shout, when suddenly a bellow rang out — an arhat rushed at Granny Zhu in fury, crying harshly, "This is a demon spawn that confounds all beings, a heavenly demon! One look at her and demons breed in my heart. She must be beaten to death!"

"I shall slay this demon for the world!" Another vajra, brandishing his demon-subduing pestle, charged out, revealing three heads and six arms, hurtling at Granny Zhu.

Suddenly an old monk rushed out, blocked the arhat and the vajra, tore his own monk's robe, snapped his prayer beads, and, mad as a man possessed, laughed aloud. "I've always been one for killing and burning, never for attaining the fruit of the Way. All these years I've eaten vegetarian and chanted the Buddha, and felt only that the first half of my life was wasted! Now I have seen this beauty and I know my whole life has been wasted! I'm leaving the order!"

Several more arhats charged in, and for a time the Golden Summit was in chaos.

The old Tathagata's yellow robe shook, and suddenly the Buddha-voices in the Ten Thousand Aspects Pagoda rose in a great chorus, a thousand Buddhas chanting together, so that the monks brawling upon the Golden Summit woke as from a dream, each returned to his seat, and each said inwardly, For shame.

"What good are vegetarian food and chanting the Buddha? Attain the fruit of the Way — and then what? You die all the same. Better to take your pleasure while you can! I am leaving the order!" Suddenly a white-browed monk leaped up, sprang down from the Golden Summit, and fled far away.