Chapter 116 — A Heart of Pure Innocence

Shen Mu committed it to memory with all his attention, fixing in his mind the diagram of the Six Harmonies Realm of the Arcane Body Three Elixirs Art carved upon the pillar. He had obtained the fragmentary Five Luminaries Realm diagram of that same art in the Palace of Averting Calamity, and now, with the Six Harmonies Realm diagram added to it, the parts of the fragment he had never been able to comprehend gradually grew clear — though to complete the fragment remained all but impossible. The Youthful Patriarch had, after all, seen the cultivation diagrams of the Arcane Body Three Elixirs Art; perhaps he still possessed the fragmentary Five Luminaries Realm diagram. Even if it were incomplete, it might, joined with the fragments Shen Mu already knew, serve to complete the Five Luminaries Realm.

This concerned his own cultivation; he must give it his whole heart. Suddenly a monk came walking from behind the hall and said in a deep voice, "Which of you are the scholars of Jiangling? Scholars of Jiangling, step forward.

You need not pass this trial; go and wait at the next.

" Wei Yong was stunned for a moment, then stepped out with the other two scholars and walked toward the inner hall, turning his head to say, "Brother Shen. .

.

" "No noise!

" The monk said in a deep voice, "The scholars of Jiangling have suffered grievous casualties; those who follow need not be examined further. The rest of you remain here and await your trial.

" Shen Mu was astonished beyond measure — there were monks in the Grand Academy as well!

Having seen so many Daoists, he had assumed that this place, though it bore the name of the Grand Academy, was in truth a domain of the Daoist school; he had never expected to meet monks here too. "Monks and Daoists mingling at the Grand Academy — I wonder what the Great Thunderclap Temple makes of it?

" Scarcely had the thought crossed his mind when another monk came from behind the hall, robed in yellow, with high, prominent browbones and long, flowing eyebrows, a register in his hand.

He swept his gaze around the hall once, and the snow-bright look in his eyes silenced the scholars within, and he said, "This trial tests the nature of your hearts. " His voice boomed and rang like a great bell and a mighty pitch-pipe, so that the eardrums of all in the hall hummed and their minds went blank. He sat cross-legged, his brows and eyes lowered, and said, "The sutra I shall recite holds true words within it.

If you cannot bear it, withdraw from the hall.

Those who can withstand this sutra of mine may go on to the next trial. " He pressed his palms together, turned the prayer beads in his hand, and recited, unhurried, "The Buddha told Subhuti: all Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas should thus subdue their minds.

All living beings whatsoever — whether born of eggs, born of wombs, born of moisture, or born by transformation; whether with form or without form; whether with thought or without thought; whether neither with thought nor without thought — I cause them all to enter Nirvana without residue and be extinguished. And yet, though immeasurable, countless, boundless living beings are thus extinguished, in truth no living being has been extinguished. And why? . . .

"① The Buddha-voice surged and quaked; every phrase of the true words was as a Tathagata descending, crashing from the sound into the minds of every scholar in the hall, into their bodies, into their vital essence, their Primordial Fetus spirit treasury, their Five Luminaries spirit treasury! Even within their thoughts appeared one great Buddha Tathagata after another, radiant with light. The quaking grew stronger and stronger, until it was past bearing; the reverberation set their blood and breath churning, scattered their vital essence, and made their spirit treasuries hard to hold.

To contend against the sound of the recitation was likewise unspeakably difficult; their thoughts could not withstand it at all, as though every notion were lit up clear and plain, with not the least secret left.

At last one scholar could bear it no longer; he rose and dashed out of the hall! If he kept listening to the yellow-robed monk's recitation, he feared his vital essence would simply collapse, his spirit treasury be occupied by the Buddha-voice, and perhaps even his flesh, skin, bones, and meridians be shaken apart.

Scarcely had this scholar run out of the hall when several more could endure no longer; they rose and ran for the door, and before they had even left the hall they were vomiting violently, as though they wished to spew out their very heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. The yellow-robed monk was unmoved and went on reciting the true sutra; the Buddha's true words thundered on without cease, the sound growing heavier and heavier, and more scholars fled the hall in wretched disarray.

Before anyone knew it, only some twenty-odd men remained in the hall.

Shen Mu sat within it as the Buddha-voice came surging and crashing, shaking everything in him; the youth was unmoved, silently reciting the demonic tongue, locked in a deadlock with the Buddha-voice — now one attacking while the other defended, now one defending while the other attacked — and he was enjoying the fight immensely. The Buddha-voice affected him least of all; it could not disturb his consciousness in the slightest.

After a while Shen Mu switched to the divine tongue he had learned and pitted it against the Buddha-voice, and the two contended fiercely. After a long while more, the yellow-robed monk frowned, opened his eyes, and looked toward Shen Mu. He saw Shen Mu sitting there perfectly at ease, head raised to study the murals on the pillars, seemingly without the least reaction to his recitation — and by now only a dozen or so men were left in the hall.

"Strange. His assessment clearly reads 'of a wicked nature, to be watched closely.

' If he were truly evil at heart, how could he hold out so long beneath my Buddha-voice? " The yellow-robed monk was greatly perplexed, and his recitation slowed without his noticing. He thought, "There is not a trace of wickedness in him now.

If I deliberately make him retreat before the difficulty, I fear every scholar in this hall would be driven out, and none would pass.

" He stopped, rose, and said, "You have passed.

Leave by the rear hall and go on to the next trial. " Everyone felt as though a great weight had lifted; they rose one after another, and only then realized they were drenched in sweat, their clothes soaked through. Only Shen Mu seemed to have felt nothing at all, without a single drop of sweat.

The yellow-robed monk studied him a few more times, then took out the register and made notes after each man's name. When he came to Shen Mu, he hesitated a moment, then lifted his brush and wrote: "A heart of pure innocence, unmoved by outward things.

" The monk walked out through the rear hall and tossed the register into the air; a crane flew down from midair, caught up the book in its beak, and soared upward, while the yellow-robed monk returned to the hall. The crane flew to the mountainside and alighted before a great hall; holding the register in its beak, it delivered it to a boy attendant who came forward. The boy hurried into the hall and presented the book to a middle-aged Daoist within: "Reverend Master Lingyun, the register has come.

" The Daoist Lingyun opened the register and said with a smile, "Every year the Grand Academy grants ten places, selecting the outstanding among the scholars of the Spirit Fetus Realm and the Five Luminaries Realm.

I wonder what talents there are this year. " He read through them one by one and nodded slightly.

"Fourteen remain, and their assessments are all high. Though this year has been troubled and the talent falls short of years past, there are still some young prodigies worth noting. .

. Eh?