This side of Guanyin was not one anyone had seen before — certainly none of the monsters present. As the old saying went, even the Buddha has eyes, and even the Buddha can lose his temper for a moment. After watching Yang Jian die, Guanyin's fury was absolute.
But when Demon King Peng saw her arrive, far from retreating, he wore a face full of confidence.
"You wretched creature. Killing a true god of the Heavenly Court is an unforgivable crime. Whatever power you've gained, you won't escape this reckoning."
"Oh? Kill a couple of Heavenly Court men and the Bodhisattva comes running from Lingshan at once. Seems like this westward trip really is interesting after all. Let me ask you one thing."
"What?"
"Do you actually think you're worthy of speaking to me like that?"
Demon King Peng gave a perfect demonstration of what arrogance looked like, and what mockery sounded like. When he'd first heard this plan, he had genuinely been afraid. But ever since he'd killed Yang Jian, that fear had drained clean out of him. He was a believer of God now. What was a mere Guanyin to him?
The monsters nearby were stunned speechless, because every one of them had always feared this Guanyin — after all, she was the one who had killed the Monkey King five hundred years ago.
At that moment, the Dragon King, who had been keeping to the shadows until now, stepped forward as well. He looked at Guanyin with open contempt and said, "My brother here isn't very good with words, but Guanyin, you really have lost your mind. Do you think you speak for this whole world? Or do you think you speak for the Way of Heaven itself? Let's be blunt — these so-called laws of heaven are nothing but the Jade Emperor's little brat keeping the gods in check. What business is that of mine? Come at me if you disagree... let's see if Buddhism actually has the strength to back up its words."
Guanyin's face went from white to red, from red to green, and finally from green to black. She bared her teeth and said, "Fine... fine... fine. You crooked beasts grow more shameless by the day. A handful of ants daring to lecture heaven's will..."
"Don't act so high and mighty. You're nothing but a dog on the Tathagata's leash."
Another voice rose from among the monsters. This time it belonged to a person — an immortal, to be exact. The Bodhi Ancestor.
How could it possibly be him? This time it wasn't just the monsters who were shocked — even the Heavenly Court's own people stood there dumbfounded. What in the world was going on here? Had he thrown in with the demons? Or was this whole thing some scheme of the monsters'? And yet here he was, bold enough to curse out a monk to his face. So it really was the genuine Bodhi Ancestor.
"Heh... has this old fool been eating the wrong medicine? Talking to Avalokitesvara like that? Someone — seize the Bodhi Ancestor for me."
"Yes, sir."
Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, seeing the Bodhi Ancestor offend Guanyin, moved at once to have the man captured — a gesture that would please Guanyin and curry favor with Lingshan at the same time.
The Bodhi Ancestor only sneered. "Kill him for me!"
What? Kill who?
Everyone froze at the words. Then the heavenly soldier standing right beside Li Jing drove a blade straight into his body — and did it so fast that Li Jing had no chance to react at all.
"You... cough... what is the meaning of this..."
"So you really didn't know. These heavenly soldiers were placed under my illusion technique long ago — same as the Buddhist soldiers keeping watch over Wuyue Mountain."
The Bodhi Ancestor said it with a wicked grin. The whole scene shifted in an instant. The Buddhist soldiers raised their weapons and turned on their own comrades. The Bull Demon King and the others were shaken to their cores by the chaos unfolding in front of them.
What in the world was happening here? Had the tables turned completely? Had they all been part of someone's calculations from the very start? How was it that they, the monsters, felt like nothing more than pieces on someone else's board?
Guanyin's eyelids twitched as she stared at the Bodhi Ancestor's grinning face. She had already guessed he was behind the deaths of those who'd gone missing before.
Thinking him the hidden hand behind it all, she said, "No — this needs to be reported to the Tathagata at once!"
Sensing that things had gone wrong, Guanyin turned to flee. But two beams of light, one gold and one silver, cut her off.
"Weren't you just calling us crooked beasts? Come on then... come at us!"
"If you ask me, Buddhism is nothing but two-faced hypocrisy..."
Two demon kings, neither one weaker than Guanyin herself, closed in on her from both sides. The battle turned savage at once. The plains nearby collapsed under the force of their clash. Thunder roared, golden feathers scattered through the air, and for a while Guanyin found herself unable to gain the upper hand against either of them.
Her shock only deepened. These two had clearly been far weaker before — now they displayed a terrifying strength that defied belief.
Boom.
A thunderous crash rang out as the Dragon King's fist shattered the lotus platform Guanyin had been standing on. Demon King Peng followed with an attack meant to finish her off outright.
But at that moment, golden light flared from the west, and the whole world turned to gold.
"Amitabha..."
A single, simple invocation — and yet it froze time itself in the area.
The Tathagata had arrived. In truth, he had been watching from the shadows the entire time; what was happening at Wuyue Mountain was simply too strange, and it was also where the trouble had first surfaced. As a properly cautious old schemer, the Tathagata had no intention of sitting still on Lingshan while all this unfolded.
The sheer force of his power shocked everyone present — even a first-rank ancestor's strike could ruin the world, and this was no exception. Of course, the time-freeze lasted only an instant. Once Guanyin was saved, there was no reason to keep the frame paused any longer.
Back before the Tathagata's golden lotus, Guanyin's robes were in tatters and her face was etched with terror. This had been horrifying. For one moment, she had genuinely felt death close in on her.
"My thanks to the Tathagata Buddha for the rescue. I am ashamed before all of Buddhism..."
"No, this isn't your fault. The enemy is simply too cunning."
The Tathagata's eyes locked onto the Bodhi Ancestor. The latter didn't so much as flinch — he simply raised a middle finger.
"You don't need to mock me so much. Whatever power you've gained, however strong you think you are, you're still far too weak in front of me."
He was, after all, the ruler of the Three Realms. The Tathagata was the Tathagata, and his words carried an overwhelming weight. When the Bull Demon King and the others saw the Tathagata appear, they moved at once to retreat. But the instant they actually tried to leave, they found their feet pinned by an immense, invisible weight. There was a formation laid into the very ground beneath them.
But when had it been set? Demon King Peng and the Dragon King exchanged a glance and turned their eyes back toward Wuyue Mountain.
The Bodhi Ancestor gave a contemptuous smile. "Weak, are we? No... you're the one who's truly weak here."
"Heh. Then why don't you bring out the master you've been hiding in the shadows? Let's see if such an existence can really stand against me and the Jade Emperor."
The Tathagata spoke lightly. A beam of white light fell from the sky — the Jade Emperor's own second son had come in person, bringing others with him. Things were escalating fast now. Every monster present turned to look at Demon King Peng and the others, hoping they would rise to the occasion once more.
At that moment, Wuyue Mountain itself — ignored by everyone until now — began to shake violently. A great roar rolled through the air, and the mountain began to crumble. A magnificent altar slowly emerged from within, in full view of everyone present.
———
Please give me Power Stones!
Support me on Patreon @ patreon(dot)com/SorenEclipse
Read 15 Chapters Ahead on Patreon!