The turbid eyes of the Asura Progenitor narrowed slightly as he gazed at Meng Qi and said, “The aura of the Yellow Springs…”
Before he could finish, his right hand lifted, dragging out a blade radiance that was dark red, nearly black. The entire Buddha hall was instantly filled with agonized wails, unsettling the mind and inciting savagery. The void trembled, and countless mutilated corpses flickered in and out of existence, surging along with the blade radiance.
In that single slash, it seemed as though every life the Asura Progenitor had ever taken was resurrected!
From the dawn of creation, when the Nine Nether was born, the Asura Progenitor emerged. Since then, he had fought endlessly, slaughtering without pause. The sheer number of souls he had reaped was unimaginable, and the terror and cruelty he had accumulated could strip even immortals of their will to fight, leaving them at his mercy.
Faced with the blade radiance that arrived in an instant and the chorus of screams, Meng Qi’s smile remained unchanged. He curled a finger and flicked it lightly.
Instantly, a murky, blood-brown sword qi shot forth, like a miniature Yellow Springs, carrying within it countless eternally damned vengeful spirits, all wailing in unison with ghastly cries that matched the blade radiance’s howls in intensity.
Splash!
The rolling Yellow Springs outside the gray stone temple surged with monstrous waves, and the damned creatures that had accumulated since its inception roared and shrieked, their voices shaking both shores.
The sword qi clashed with the blade radiance, the blood-brown tide washing away the memories of the dead, drowning the severed limbs, and neutralizing the ghostly wails and screams. The Buddha hall fell into silence.
In that soundless moment, the blood-brown sword qi and the dark-red blade radiance canceled each other out, vanishing without a trace, leaving only faint ripples trembling in the void.
Yet, at the instant of their collision, on the other side of the wasteland, within the Asura tribe, Bulan suddenly clutched her ears in agony. Her head felt as though it were being churned by a blunt knife, the pain piercing her soul. She lost all control, her legs giving way as she collapsed to the ground, writhing and clutching her head. Around her, all the Asuras were in similar torment. The evil dragons soaring above the wasteland plummeted, crashing into the earth and leaving massive craters, while grotesque demonic birds rained down like a macabre storm.
Neither the Asura Progenitor nor Meng Qi launched further attacks. They stood quietly opposite each other, bathed in the dim lamplight, as though the previous clash had been nothing but a dream.
“To cultivate the power of the Yellow Springs to this extent—aside from those old monsters who might have split their avatars to control it—there is likely only one genius in the Real World who could achieve this: the founder of the Primordial Demonic Path,” the Asura Progenitor said in a voice as aged and corroded as a blunt knife scraping bone. “You must be the ‘Yellow Springs True Body’ he split off.”
Here, he let out a self-deprecating laugh. “I have been sealed away for too long, dormant for many years, and know little of the current state of the Real World. Perhaps there are other rising stars who have attained the ‘Yellow Springs True Body’ and elevated it to this level.”
Meng Qi took a step forward, his figure mottled by the dim lamplight, and smiled faintly. “Your insight is truly remarkable, fellow Daoist.”
He seemed to tacitly acknowledge that he was the “Yellow Springs True Body” split off by the Demon Lord.
The Asura Progenitor studied him deeply, the exaggerated wrinkles on his face twitching slightly. “Fellow Daoist, what is your purpose in deliberately leaking the news of the Yellow Springs Reincarnation Body to me?”
“The disappearance of the Yellow Springs Reincarnation Body nearby likely involves the secrets of this stone temple built by the Buddha. For now, I am at a loss,” Meng Qi admitted candidly, his tone leisurely. “But you, fellow Daoist, were born at the dawn of the Nine Nether, witnessing nearly all of its history. You must have seen the Buddha construct this temple, perhaps even interacted with him. You are the most suitable person to consult. Thus, I used the two young ones to convey this message to you. Had you shown no interest, I would have sought other methods. As the saying goes, ‘The willing fish catches itself.'”
The Asura Progenitor snorted. “When the Buddha built this temple, he converted many of my Asura kin into guardians of the Buddhist dharma.”
His few words painted a breathtaking picture. It was clear that neither he nor the Asura tribe would have allowed the Buddha to convert them without a fight. Countless battles and conflicts must have ensued.
For a figure of his stature, half-god and half-demon, he refrained from directly calling the Buddha “old bald donkey.”
A true living fossil, a witness to history… Meng Qi nodded slightly. “What was the Buddha’s purpose in building this gray stone temple? Did it truly seal away certain beings?”
The Asura Progenitor shook his head, his eyes growing even more turbid, as if lost in distant memories.
“At that time, the Buddha seemed not yet to have reached the Other Shore—or perhaps he had been there for ages. The true state of such beings is beyond our comprehension. He came alone to the Nine Nether, preaching to demons, from the ‘Nether Sea’ to the ‘Heaven of Freely Enjoying Others’ Conjurations,’ from the ‘Black Prison’ to the ‘Demon Pool,’ from the ‘Yellow Springs’ to the ‘Asura Battlefield,’ measuring each step. At the time, the Demon Lord and the Heaven Slayer still existed, so he did not act too aggressively. It seemed he was merely completing an ascetic journey.”
“During this process, he paused eighteen times, building a similar gray stone temple at each stop. Nine were placed deep within the layers of the Nine Nether, and the other nine along the banks of the Yellow Springs. None of them sealed any beings.”
“All these years, I have pondered the purpose of these temples. I have some vague understanding—he seemed to be probing the mysteries of the Nine Nether to perfect himself. These eighteen temples were his tools for measuring the Nine Nether.”
Probing the mysteries of the Nine Nether to perfect himself? Meng Qi’s heart stirred, feeling as though he was on the verge of grasping the secrets of the Other Shore.
“Alas, the specifics elude me. Perhaps only by reaching the level of the Heaven Slayer and his ilk could one truly understand,” the Asura Progenitor sighed.
Meng Qi took two slow steps forward. “So, the gray stone temple does not seal any powerful beings? That means no one witnessed the disappearance of the Yellow Springs Reincarnation Body…”
The trail seemed to have gone cold.
At this point, Meng Qi suddenly had an epiphany. He turned to the Asura Progenitor with a smile. “If there were no clues here, you would not have come. Arriving at this late hour, you must have a reason.”
The Asura Progenitor chuckled hoarsely, his tone laced with mockery. “The Buddha, in his ‘boundless compassion,’ took pity on the beings of the Nine Nether. When he built this temple, he made arrangements: those who harbor goodwill and are willing to lay down their blades may enter and step into the Pure Land, attaining liberation.”
“Light the green lamp, strike the wooden fish, and sincerely chant scriptures or the Buddha’s name before the faceless Buddha, and the Pure Land will reveal itself.”
Meng Qi understood. “The gray stone temple hides a Pure Land. You suspect the Yellow Springs Reincarnation Body entered it?”
The Asura Progenitor nodded, then sighed. “I have lived too long—so long that I began to believe I would live forever. But reality has shown me this is but an illusion. Thus, I sought the Origin of Life and Death, hoping to comprehend the mysteries of death. Yet, I have never found its ‘door.’ My only gain was following the ‘Yellow Springs’ upstream, spending millennia only to return to my starting point.”
In other words, the Yellow Springs forms a loop? A cycle without source or end? If so, where is its origin, and where is the Origin of Life and Death? Meng Qi was visibly moved. Suddenly, he smiled. “Fellow Daoist, you are half-god, half-demon, with a nature steeped in slaughter and battle, possessing the selfishness and cruelty unique to demons and evil gods. How did you overcome your nature to share such secrets with me?”
Frankly, were it not for the Yuanxin Seal secretly cast through the Yellow Springs bones assuring him of its veracity, Meng Qi might not have believed it.
The Asura Progenitor’s turbid eyes flashed with clarity as he replied calmly, “I did not overcome my nature. The instinct to fear death and seek survival overcame all other desires.”
Alone, he had made no progress over the millennia. External aid was necessary, and the secrets of the Origin of Life and Death were not something one could monopolize.
“Then let us enter the Pure Land,” Meng Qi said no more, pointing at the faceless Buddha.
The Asura Progenitor laughed. “Expecting you and me to lay down our blades and harbor goodwill is no easier than unraveling the secrets of life and death. We must find suitable beings to do so.”
Meng Qi smiled but did not respond. With the ease of a leisurely stroll, he walked to the incense table, picked up the stone mallet, and struck the wooden fish.
In that instant, his aura transformed completely. From an eerie, weathered, and drifting old man, he became a monk of transcendent wisdom and boundless compassion, his temples graying with the marks of worldly experience and ultimate enlightenment.
As the Buddha’s name echoed and the chant resonated, the Asura Progenitor watched Meng Qi’s aged, robed figure, his heart rippling with emotion.
Had he not witnessed the deathly filth of the “Yellow Springs True Body” moments ago, he might have mistaken Meng Qi for a true ascetic monk who had spent untold years by an ancient lamp and Buddha.
For the first time, he felt he could not see through this man.
Unnoticed, the meditation hall grew even more serene. The faceless Buddha’s visage twisted, morphing into the elderly countenance of Meng Qi.
I see the Tathagata, and the Tathagata is me!
As the Buddha’s face appeared, glazed pure light surged from the green lamp, forming a golden gate adorned with swastikas before Meng Qi and the Asura Progenitor.
Being a monk was my original profession… Meng Qi mocked himself inwardly. He and the Asura Progenitor glanced back at the door simultaneously before stepping together into the “Gate of Pure Land.”
As their figures vanished, the Blood Slaughter Daoist suddenly appeared outside the stone temple, his eyes filled with both joy and confusion.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage