Chapter 631 — The Divine Eye Reveals Its Might

When the Buddha-child Jiankong had followed King Yama far away and left the Great Brahma Heaven behind, his heart was deeply perplexed, and he thought: "Something that happened in childhood? What happened in Layman Shen's childhood? Why did my Buddha meet him in Youdu?

And why does Layman Shen no longer remember it?

" He thought a great deal, but plainly King Yama was keeping his counsel, unwilling to say more. And King Yama walked fast and urgently, as though it were not that he could not bear to watch Shen Mu slaughter the Buddha-children, but rather that he wished to flee the Great Brahma Heaven early, lest he be dragged into it.

"My Buddha knows many secrets, but he will not tell me.

Can Layman Shen truly be so terrifying? " he thought to himself.

In the Great Brahma Heaven, before the ruined temple, Shen Mu's figure could scarcely be caught by the naked eye; only when all the Buddha-children opened at once such divine powers as the Buddha Eye and the Heavenly Eye could they seize hold of his shape. His speed was too great, a flicker of light, a shadow upon water; sword arts, divine powers, blade arts, spear arts, fist arts, every kind of technique was unleashed, and unleashed in the midst of a furious sprint, so that the eye could not keep pace.

The Buddha-child Kongxiang roared, his body blazing with golden light like a great four-faced Buddha with four heads and eight arms, flying in midair to meet Shen Mu head-on as he came pouncing. The two hurtled through the air, speed against speed; Kongxiang stood two zhang six or seven in height, immensely burly, yet as they flew it was Shen Mu who pressed him backward.

In midair their fists collided like thunder; the other Buddha-children flew up to surround him, and suddenly golden blood filled the sky, raining down. Kongxiang's qi and blood burst within him; from every part of his body came a crackling detonation, his skin split open, his blood gushed forth.

He had traded hard blow for hard blow with Shen Mu, and his qi and blood boiled; his flesh could not contain so much, and the raging qi and blood surpassed the limit his body could bear, so he burst apart and died.

In the very instant the other Buddha-children shot skyward to surround Shen Mu, they saw Kongxiang's battered corpse tumble down from the air. Those who had rushed into the sky suddenly saw sword-light flicker in midair; their hearts startled, they hurriedly unleashed their own divine powers to blast at the heavens. But they saw a sword-light like a vast ocean of blood pour down: one sword opens the imperial blood, a boundless sea!

Raging qi and blood mingled with sword-light swept across; in that sea of blood the swords came forth like dragons, darting at will, and one after another the Buddha-children clutched at their throats or shielded their brows, their bodies sinking into the bloody ocean.

And above that ocean of blood, Prince Makara trod upon the great sea, lotuses churning beneath his feet, pinching a single lotus blossom to block Shen Mu's assault.

Whoosh — Shen Mu turned, robes fluttering, long hair flying, sword in hand, his back to him.

Prince Makara saw the opening and was about to strike when suddenly the sea of blood split apart, and a dark, heavy gate passed straight through his body. Prince Makara stared blankly; his body slowly sank into the sea of blood.

His primal spirit had already been drawn by the Gate of Heaven's Inheritance into Youdu.

The sea of blood dispersed, and one corpse after another fell from the sky.

Compared with these young Buddha-children sent by the Heavenly Court, Shen Mu stood far, far above them in combat experience and skill.

The Heavenly Court's Buddha-children dwelt the year round in the Buddha Realm, and the Buddha Realm had never known war; it was calm as a pool of dead water.

Living in such a place, the common folk were naturally content and prosperous, free of desire and ambition, but at the same time too much peace had caused the arts of the Dao and divine powers to regress.

When the arts of the Dao and divine powers serve no purpose, no one cultivates them, and no one studies them.

They had been at peace too long; they had lost the daring and the drive to fight and strive. Shen Mu was different.

The place where Shen Mu had lived as a child was the Wilderness Ruins, perilous beyond measure, and yet by the time he was a youth he could already walk through those ruins, danger on every side. As for Jingping, it was a nation brimming with vitality, its strength rising madly; it had enemies, but it also had a stable rear.

The arts of the Dao and divine powers changed with each passing day.

While the soldiers at the front slaughtered and were slaughtered, the practitioners of divine powers in the rear applied the arts of the Dao to the common people, remaking their daily lives. Thus tower-ships, flying chariots, true-yuan cannons and all manner of novel things swarmed into being, making Jingping ever more creative, and its arts of the Dao and divine powers ever newer. As for Taihuang Heaven, the war there was so savage that it had no stable rear at all; even its social structure was incomplete, and with no soil for innovation and creation, the arts of the Dao and divine powers had no way to develop.

Shen Mu was born in the Wilderness Ruins; from childhood he had the careful instruction of the village head and the nine elders, and he came of age just as Jingping was expanding, in the great era of the Jingping Emperor's Master's reforms; that was how he had come to his present achievements. Moreover, he was one of the leaders of those reforms, the originator of the Eighteen Sword Forms, the pioneer of the Primal Spirit Guide, a being who had taken his first steps toward entering the Dao through the sword.

Compared with these Buddha-children who had lived in the Buddha Realm and never weathered a single storm, he and they had long since ceased to be people of the same order.

Shen Mu looked up. Ahead, the Buddha-child Puzhao was racing toward him.

This Buddha-child was a powerhouse of the Heaven-Human realm; he had debated the Dharma with Xuanliao the Demon Ape, his Buddha light shining upon all beings, and then the Demon Ape had raised a hand to block him, and he had coughed blood against his will and nearly died. He could not match Xuanliao the Demon Ape in debate, but his strength was unfathomable; as he ran he layered seal upon seal, each move, each fist and kick, vast and majestic, awesome in its discipline.

He unleashed his most practiced seal arts; with every seal struck, an impression of the Buddhas appeared. Behind him his primal spirit sat enthroned like a towering Buddha, and around that primal spirit hovered the phantom shadows of Buddhas great and small, each performing its own seal in time with his.

Puzhao ran, rolling toward him like thunder in the clouds; before the sound arrived, the lightning came! The seal art he now performed was a great divine power of the Great Merit Heaven of the Buddha Realm: Illuminating All Beings!

To master such a great divine power was granted to only a few even among the Buddha-children!

His momentum grew stronger and stronger, his primal spirit stronger and stronger, until it was the arrow on the string that must fly! At that moment, Shen Mu pressed his index and middle fingers together, formed a sword-finger, and touched it to his brow; then he thrust the sword-finger forward! The first form of the Tribulation Sword: Opening the Tribulation!

Puzhao had already erupted to his limit; a sword-light flew at him head-on, and he roared, the phantom Buddhas behind him each bursting forth, ten thousand dharmas striking forward. Shen Mu turned and walked away, leaping down from the air, falling to the ground.