Chapter 255 — The Source of Calamity

The Monk's Heart exhaled a breath of turbid air. In his day he too had broken through four heavens in succession, reaching the mental state of the Sun Palace Son of Heaven. When he came to the Morizhi Heaven Court, he had failed to cultivate it through—yet even so, it was enough for him to be called a Buddha-Son.

Did this not mean that Shen Mu also had a Buddha-heart, one to match his own?

If Shen Mu kept walking forward and broke through the Morizhi Heaven mental state, would that not mean this demon's Buddha-heart and Buddha-nature surpassed his own?

How could a demon be more possessed of Buddha-nature than a cultivator of the Buddha?

They came to the Morizhi Heaven Court. Shen Mu listened to the sutra, and before long, radiance blazed up from his body.

Thunder roared in the Monk's Heart's mind, stunning him into a daze. Shen Mu, this demon among demons, had actually cultivated all the way to the fifth heaven in one breath—a constitution equal to the Horse-King God, a Buddha-heart the same as his!

How was it possible?

He was a demon! A great demon, plainly! A demon could not cultivate the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra!

The Monk's Heart, the Buddha-Son, steadied himself. He was already the monk of Great Thunderclap Temple with the highest constitution and comprehension, the finest Buddha-heart, in the past hundred years—and yet a demon had surpassed him.

The party came to the Mother of Demon-Children Heaven Court. At this pass Shen Mu was finally stymied, unable to cultivate through the sixth heaven of the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra.

The Monk's Heart was beside himself, a man bereft of his soul. Shen Mu had cultivated through five heavens in one breath—this was already the constitution of a Tathagata!

"If he took refuge in the Buddhist faith, Master would most likely choose him as the next Tathagata..."

His heart churned with gain and loss, and suddenly the thought came: "I must not let him become a disciple of the Tathagata. The next Tathagata can only be me!"

Once the thought arose, it could not be contained.

"Buddha-Son, I hear that in years past the Imperial Preceptor Jingping came here. How many heavens did he cultivate through?" Shen Mu suddenly asked.

The Monk's Heart, the Buddha-Son, steadied himself and said: "The Imperial Preceptor Jingping's visit here was a matter of one or two hundred years ago. I heard the temple elders say that the Tathagata accompanied him at the time, and in but a short while the Imperial Preceptor Jingping comprehended seven heavens."

Shen Mu started in fright, shook his head and said: "Worthy of a prodigy seen once in five hundred years. I cannot compare."

Old Master Huo said in astonishment as well: "The Imperial Preceptor Jingping comprehended seven heavens in one breath? Remarkable! Had he entered the Buddhist faith, he would have been a Tathagata; entered the Daoist faith, a Dao Lord; entered your Heaven-Sage Cult, a Cult Hierarch! A talent like that is rare in a hundred generations!"

The blind elder sighed in admiration too, praising: "The Lame Elder had a leg chopped off by him—he was not wronged at all."

Old Master Huo and the blind elder led them all the way to the topmost floor of the Twenty Heavens Pagoda. Unnoticed, two or three days had passed, and Shen Mu had listened through all twenty heavens of the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra. He could not but exclaim at its exquisite subtlety—no less fine than the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra.

He had no intention of cultivating the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra, but a stone from another mountain may polish one's jade; the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra held great reference value for him.

The Monk's Heart looked at Shen Mu, his gaze flickering: "Cult Hierarch Shen's constitution is hardly inferior either. Cult Hierarch, I have shown you our Great Thunderclap Temple's Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra. Might this humble monk be permitted to peruse the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra?"

Shen Mu took a ball of thread from his Taotie Pouch and said with generosity: "What objection could there be? The Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra may be studied by anyone in my cult; even to spread it abroad would be no matter."

He pinched the thread's end and gave it a gentle pull; at once countless characters swarmed forth, rolling through the air.

Shen Mu held nothing back, laying the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra bare before the Monk's Heart.

When the Monk's Heart saw the first sentence of the opening of the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra, his expression changed drastically; he felt it clashed with Buddhist principles. Reading on, when he came to the Seven Chapters of Creation, he could not help frowning again and again, and said: "This is truly a demon-cult cultivation method, without a shred of good intent—all of it evil arts that teach men toward wickedness! Cult Hierarch, put it away. This humble monk cannot bear the sight of it!"

Shen Mu was surprised, and put the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra away; it was once more a ball of thread.

Just then, a monk suddenly came hurrying over and whispered something in the Monk's Heart's ear. The Monk's Heart was startled, then without betraying any emotion made his salutation and said: "You three, the hour is late. Please, each of you, return to your meditation chambers and rest."

The blind elder yawned and said: "We are guests; guests follow the host's convenience. Shen-er, Old Huo, let us return to our rooms and rest."

The three descended the tall pagoda, and the blind elder suddenly said: "That monk just now told the Monk's Heart that the Crown Prince of Jingping has arrived, seeking an audience with the Old Tathagata."

Shen Mu's heart gave a slight jolt. The Crown Prince of Jingping?

What was the Crown Prince of Jingping doing running to Great Thunderclap Temple at this hour?

He sought an audience with the Old Tathagata—what scheme did he have?

The blind elder's ears twitched, and he said: "The Monk's Heart had a monk lead the Crown Prince of Jingping to the Great Hero Treasure Hall, while he himself went to the Ten-Thousand-Appearance Pagoda, preparing to inform the Tathagata... He has entered the Ten-Thousand-Appearance Pagoda. What goes on inside, I can neither hear nor see. The Tathagata has come out, and told the monks of the Ten-Thousand-Appearance Pagoda to do all in their power, chanting true words to suppress Fan Xuanshu within the pagoda."

Old Master Huo's expression shifted slightly, and he said hurriedly: "How could those monks' Buddhist dharma possibly suppress Fan Xuanshu? The Tathagata has been careless—the thousand Buddhas in the pagoda are dead; even if the monks use true words to rouse the activity of the Buddha-bodies, they still cannot suppress Fan Xuanshu! Hurry to the Ten-Thousand-Appearance Pagoda, lest Fan Xuanshu escape!"

The three rushed in panic toward the Golden Summit. Shen Mu's steps were considerably slower than theirs. Passing by his own quarters, he saw the Dragon Qilin still sprawled there, snoring soundly, while beside it that white-browed monk was still chanting sutras at the Dragon Qilin.

"Dragon Fatty!"

Shen Mu shouted in alarm. The Dragon Qilin woke at once, and legs flailing, came running this way, leaving that white-browed monk behind. The white-browed monk said angrily: "Beast! Not a shred of wisdom-root!"

Shen Mu vaulted onto the Dragon Qilin's back and said: "Fastest speed, to the Golden Summit!"

The Dragon Qilin said: "Cult Hierarch, you have not come back these several days, and you still have not fed me."

Shen Mu barked: "Get to the Golden Summit as fast as you can, and I will give you two dou!"

The Dragon Qilin's spirits surged, and it charged madly toward the Golden Summit.

At the Golden Summit, the Ten-Thousand-Appearance Pagoda: within the pagoda were the fleshy bodies of Tathagatas of successive generations; outside, monks sat upright at the pagoda's eaves and roof and at its doors and windows, using Buddhist true words to rouse the activity of the Tathagatas' fleshy bodies within.