Phoenix abruptly sat up, narrowing his eyes at the Three Worlds Wisdom King. “How are you here?”
—This was the peak of Mount Xueba, very close to the Buddhist temple, a forbidden area of Sumeru Mountain. By rights, ordinary people couldn’t ascend here. Only Phoenix, as an ancient divine bird whose nature was to reside in high places, and who had grown up isolated here since childhood, had never grown accustomed to living in the lower levels of the Thirty-Three Heavens, and so had remained here.
No matter how one explained it, Three Worlds Wisdom King’s presence here late at night was far too strange.
“…Someone told me to come up,” Three Worlds Wisdom King said after a moment of silence. “Were you dreaming just now?”
Phoenix frowned.
“I saw you smiling.”
Phoenix blinked, unsure how to respond for a moment, then finally asked, “Who told you to come up?”
Three Worlds Wisdom King did not answer.
“…If there’s nothing, please leave.”
However, Three Worlds Wisdom King still remained silent and unmoving, his gaze in the darkness exceptionally bright, to the point of being unsettling.
Phoenix’s breathing gradually deepened.
He had more experience in the Blood Sea than almost anyone in the entire Heavenly Dao, and he had seen too many great demons’ postures before an attack. The feeling was too similar to Three Worlds Wisdom King’s current presence, both giving a chilling premonition.
He narrowed his long eyelashes, his body instinctively tensing. He coldly asked, “Still not leaving?”
Unexpectedly, as soon as he spoke, the Three Worlds Wisdom King moved, but not to retreat. Instead, he reached out and brushed the hair from Phoenix’s face behind his ear.
This action made Phoenix’s first reaction not one of alertness or anger, but astonishment—a kind of stunned bewilderment. He didn’t even react as Three Worlds Wisdom King bent one knee, half-kneeling on the bed, his hand that had brushed Phoenix’s hair now gently resting on his shoulder.
“Don’t blame me,” he said. “I’m just…”
Phoenix rose abruptly and pushed Three Worlds Wisdom King away with a palm strike!
“What are you doing! Get out!”
The Three Worlds Wisdom King stumbled on the ground before regaining his balance, his expression seemingly sorrowful, though it was unclear whether it was due to being pushed away without hesitation or something else.
At this moment, Phoenix had no mind to pay attention to his reaction. He rolled off the bed and started to walk out. As his robes billowed, they emitted the scent of water lilies in the moonlight, a clear aroma wafting into his nostrils as he brushed past. The three Worlds Wisdom King suddenly grabbed his hand: “Wait! Phoenix, wait, you truly don’t…”
He stared directly into Phoenix’s eyes, and for a moment, as if possessed, he asked inexplicably, “…never thought of me at all?”
Phoenix’s answer was to forcefully push his hand away: “What are you talking about!”
This utterly unhesitating response somehow provoked the Three Worlds Wisdom King, turning all his hesitation and guilt into a subtle anger. He forcefully grabbed Phoenix’s wrist and dragged him back. In the struggle, they both fell to the ground. Phoenix kicked him away and rushed out, but in the chaos, Three Worlds Wisdom King grabbed his hair, causing him to fall back onto the smooth, cold floor tiles.
“Are you sick? Get lost!”
Three Worlds Wisdom King’s response was to press down on his slender body. In the moonlight, half of his profile was shrouded in shadow, looking even somewhat terrifying: “Do you know why I appeared here?”
“You…”
“Because you don’t care about me at all. No, you don’t care about anyone except that person, but you are even more annoyed and disgusted by me. So, the possibility of you falling in love with me is the lowest. You’re always like this…”
Phoenix pushed Three Worlds Wisdom King away forcefully, but the next second, he was violently flipped over and pinned down again. In the confusion, the back of his head hit the ground with a thud.
The blow was truly brutal; the intense pain blurred his vision somewhat.
“…always so naive and indifferent, no one cares about you, and you don’t care about anyone…”
Three Worlds Wisdom King grabbed Phoenix’s hair, forcing him to lift his head, and gazed mesmerized at his neck, which was so fair it was almost translucent in the moonlight.
“Who would you care about more, hmm? Only Sakya, or including the children you will bear in the future?”
At that instant, Phoenix’s pupils, which had been diffused by dizziness, constricted. He finally understood what this absurd situation was all about, but the sudden fleeting guess was too terrifying, making his first reaction disbelief.
No… impossible, it can’t be like this.
Even if he’s been lying to me all this time, it can’t be like this…
“Yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking,” Three Worlds Wisdom King said cruelly, a twisted pleasure flashing through his heart as he watched Phoenix’s blank face, overcome with disbelief.
“I’ve already told you that person ordered me to come here, understand? The eldest son is greatly detrimental to the Buddha. The only way to completely eliminate the possibility of this great detriment in its infancy is to completely sever the karma, to strangle your so-called eldest son in his infancy… That’s why I came here. Rather than letting you bear an eldest son with some unknown person, it’s better with someone you fundamentally won’t like, and who has no possibility of diminishing your blind infatuation with that other person…”
Phoenix’s eyes widened, his lips trembling slightly, seemingly unable to utter a sound.
“See, you’re just so naive.” Three Worlds Wisdom King caressed his face, letting out a low chuckle: “Naively hoping others will be good to you, naively reciprocating with all your emotions, naively believing you will never be betrayed or hurt in your entire life…”
There was actually a hint of pity in his voice, though he himself did not realize it.
“No…” Phoenix instinctively shook his head in denial, but it sounded somewhat weak due to his lack of confidence: “No, it’s not like that, I just…”
He gasped for a moment, then said blankly, “It’s not like that…”
Three Worlds Wisdom King’s fingers dug deep into the cool hair at the back of his head, gazing at Phoenix’s bloodless face, his eyes holding something very deep and incomprehensible. After a moment, he lowered his head and kissed those cold, trembling lips, but the encroaching heat made Phoenix shiver violently and push him away with force!
“Phoenix!” Three Worlds Wisdom King roared.
Phoenix stumbled to his feet and rushed out of the hall. Three Worlds Wisdom King immediately gave chase. However, Phoenix then turned, a string of glazed prayer beads appearing in his hand, which, as his robes fluttered, transformed into a pure azure short blade, pointing directly at him as he shouted, “Stop!”
“What are you going to do, question the Buddhist temple? Don’t be foolish!” Three Worlds Wisdom King’s mind was filled with anger, an inexplicable mix of embarrassment and fury, making his tone particularly irritable: “Do you think protesting will solve it? Great detriment to the Buddha! This isn’t something you can refuse! Phoenix, I… I’ll be very good to you. Don’t you just want someone to accompany you? If it were anyone else, they might not be as, as…”
“I’m not going to the Buddhist temple.” Phoenix gasped violently, but his expression had calmed down: “And I don’t want you.”
Three Worlds Wisdom King roared, “Why?!”
At that moment, Phoenix recalled Venerable Bhadra’s words: You will bear two sons with someone not within karma—not within karma, such a simple phrase, yet it sparked Phoenix’s most tender and beautiful imagination.
Would he despise me for having an extremely evil aspect? Would he be good to me?
Would he stay with me forever?
This stranger, whom he had never met, was like a faint hope for the future in a world of ice and snow, granting him infinite confidence and strength from that hope, suddenly igniting within him a desperate fighting spirit against this perilous situation and bleak reality.
“No why,” Phoenix lowered his eyes, his voice soft but resolute: “I want to leave this place.”
Three Worlds Wisdom King was shaken, followed by a surge of anxiety and anger for reasons even he didn’t understand—the humiliation of being ruthlessly rejected couldn’t compare to hearing this simple phrase, “I want to leave this place.” In an instant, he lunged forward, grabbing Phoenix’s hand, and roared, “Where do you think you’d go? This is Sumeru Mountain! Do you want to go to the Four Evil Paths—!”
Phoenix twisted his wrist and swung his blade, forcefully pushing Three Worlds Wisdom King away!
He turned and flew towards the outside of the hall. However, behind him, Three Worlds Wisdom King manifested his ferocious three-headed, eight-armed form, smashing into the stone pillar of the hall, and in a blink of an eye, caught up!
Phoenix had never seen Three Worlds Wisdom King’s true form. Three Worlds Wisdom King had always appeared in his normal state in Phoenix’s eyes, with two eyes and two hands, nothing unusual.
However, the true forms of the Five Great Wisdom Kings were all terrifying. As Phoenix flew over the ice, he saw the reflection of the shadow clinging closely behind him. His heart pounded wildly, and he immediately turned in mid-air, sweeping his blade horizontally. With a clang, he fiercely blocked the battle-axe that Three Worlds Wisdom King thrust towards his back!
Three Worlds Wisdom King’s three heads and nine eyes all stared at Phoenix’s still-shocked pupils: “If you don’t stop, I’ll have to call for help.”
“…” Phoenix looked up uncomfortably, trying to widen the distance between his gaze and Three Worlds Wisdom King’s. The next moment, he heard him coldly say: “Do you think calling for help will save you? No, you’ll still be promised to me then—or if you’re still unwilling, the true manifestations of the other Wisdom Kings will be even more terrifying, more violent…”
Phoenix roared furiously: “Shut up!” With that, he swiped his blade horizontally, forcefully knocking the battle-axe away amidst dazzling electrical flashes!
Three Worlds Wisdom King was caught off guard. When he stepped back two paces and steadied himself, he saw that Phoenix had already broken free with a single strike, like a soaring white bird gliding over the ice field, instantly flying to the end of the icy slope. Three Worlds Wisdom King sneered, then lunged forward like an arrow released from a bow, shouting, “Stop—”
Phoenix’s true strength was not actually superior to the Five Great Wisdom . Although he had performed more demon-subduing acts and his battle achievements were more glorious, that was merely experience. Furthermore, he had sustained severe bone-shattering injuries from ninety-eight blows of the Vajra Bell, which were not fully healed. This chase on the ice offered him no advantage whatsoever. When Three Worlds Wisdom King caught up, he swept his halberd horizontally, instantly shattering a huge ice slope.
With a thunderous crash, he plunged into the lake beneath the ice. Three Worlds Wisdom King dove in, swimming through the bone-chilling water, and grabbed the snow-white corner of Phoenix’s robe floating in the water.
The next moment, Phoenix tore his robes, rushed out dripping wet from the other side of the lake, enveloped in a spray of water, and charged onto the suspended walkway!
The walkway was a long bridge connecting the peak of Mount Xueba to the main peak of Sumeru Mountain, with a bottomless, pitch-black abyss below. Three Worlds Wisdom King stepped onto the walkway amidst earth-shattering roars, immediately causing the entire bridge to tremble violently, and a resounding boom echoed from deep within the mountain ravine!
“Stop, don’t run!” Three Worlds Wisdom King shouted fiercely: “You can’t leave Sumeru Mountain!”
Phoenix gathered his soaking wet outer robe. His hair, dark from being immersed in water, made his face appear even paler, giving him an almost transparent, ice-like quality against the vast moonlight.
His beautiful, delicate cheeks were slightly blue-white from the cold, and drops of water falling from the tip of his blade froze into ice in the frigid wind.
He looked somewhat pitiful in this state, but Three Worlds Wisdom King knew that he would not yield or surrender because of it.
He knew this little Phoenix, this seemingly slender and fragile little Phoenix. Many times, he thought that facing such grievous deception and blows, he surely wouldn’t be able to endure, he would surely collapse; yet each time, Phoenix did not fall. With a resolute and stubborn posture, he stubbornly clung to a tiny hope, never for a moment truly bending his knee to this painful reality.
The surging anger within Three Worlds Wisdom King’s heart gradually subsided a little. He said in a deep voice, “Come back, Phoenix, you have nowhere else to go but Sumeru Mountain. Do you need some time to accept me? I will take good care of you, I have always…”
However, Phoenix shook his head.
“This is not where I belong,” his voice was soft, and very stubborn: “And the person I need is not you.”
His gaze drifted beneath his long eyelashes, looking towards the valley beside the walkway where the cold wind howled. Three Worlds Wisdom King suddenly felt a bad premonition and abruptly stepped forward: “Stop—”
But it was already too late.
Phoenix grabbed the railing with its gold-traced ink carvings and leaped into the deep ravine!
Three Worlds Wisdom King rushed to the railing, only to see Phoenix’s figure plummeting rapidly through the air, like a kite with a broken string, quickly becoming an indistinct speck in his vision.
The next moment, that speck burst forth with golden light, even illuminating the entire valley. In the light, Phoenix transformed into a flying bird, his tail feathers shimmering with brilliant starlight like the Milky Way. His clear cry resounded throughout Sumeru Mountain, then he plunged headfirst into the abyss!
Three Worlds Wisdom King tightened his grip on the railing: “Phoenix—”
However, the next second, a cold voice came from the void: “Don’t chase him.”
The Three Worlds Wisdom King suddenly looked up, his pupils widening.
He saw nothing in the deep black night sky. Mountains surrounded them on both sides, and the ice and snow-covered peaks flickered with faint lights against the night sky. After a moment, the sound of wind came from between the mountain peaks, as if the voice had sighed very faintly from the void.
The Three Worlds Wisdom King did not move, gripping the railing and waiting. But he waited for a long time afterward, and that person neither spoke nor gave any further instructions.
Phoenix disappeared from the deep ravine, and there was no news of him for a long time.
He likely did not go to the Four Evil Paths but descended Sumeru Mountain, recuperating in some spatial rift at the boundary between the Heavenly Dao and hell.
Three Worlds Wisdom King told no one about that night’s events, and hardly anyone on Sumeru Mountain remembered to inquire about Phoenix Wisdom Kings’s whereabouts. After all, many people had complicated feelings about Phoenix. This ancient divine bird, born with an extremely evil aspect, had brought too many ominous signs to the Heavenly Dao. Anyone who came into contact with him would suffer a curse-like misfortune, and over time, he became a semi-taboo subject.
The Heavenly Dao’s prolonged suppression of the Four Evil Paths over the years finally provoked strong resistance from the Asuras.
Luminous Heaven, below Sumeru Mountain, had always been a boundary where gods and demons coexisted. After Sumeru Mountain’s failed expedition against the Asura tribe, the new Great Asura King, Fan Luo, rallied his tribe and the demons of the Hell Path, boldly launching an assault on the Heavenly Dao. In a single night, they occupied most of Luminous Heaven.
Three Worlds Wisdom King received Sumeru Mountain’s order to advance to Luminous Heaven. As expected, the outskirts of this city were swarming with densely packed demonic creatures. Black miasma shrouded the sky, and the void outside the city gates already showed signs of transforming into a sea of blood.
The moat surrounding the city walls was dyed blood-red, staring straight up at the gloomy sky like a giant, lifeless eye.
At the border of Luminous Heaven, in a desolate suburb.
Three Worlds Wisdom King gently stepped into the Buddhist temple, seeing only light smoke swirling in the deep, dim main hall. The bluestone floor, polished by long-term friction, was warm and subtly gleaming. The gentle scent of sandalwood floated in the air, instantly settling all the magnificent golden aura brought down from Sumeru Mountain.
A slender figure knelt by the Buddha lamp, clad in a pristine white kasaya and a light gray outer robe, with long hair tied up at his side, its ends slightly curled and draped over his robes.
“…Phoenix,” Three Worlds Wisdom King murmured.
Phoenix’s eyes were slightly closed; he did not turn back, his fingers gently turning a glazed prayer bead.
His body had recovered considerably; at least his complexion was no longer as pale as it had been that late night. Three Worlds Wisdom King stood beside him, his gaze subtly scanning the side of Phoenix’s face beneath his hair, meticulously, even down to the soft, fine hairs near his ears. After a while, he saw Phoenix turn a full circle of prayer beads, and then stop.
“Why are you here?” He opened his eyes slightly, speaking indifferently.
He did not rise, nor did he lift his gaze to look at Three Worlds Wisdom King. This detached attitude was no different from before, as if that unbearable night had been completely erased, leaving no trace, at least on the surface.
“…I came to propose marriage,” Three Worlds Wisdom King said after a moment of silence.
“It’s my sister, the Snow Mountain Goddess Shakti… you’ve met her. If you don’t like male Wisdom Kings, at least she…”
The Three Worlds Wisdom King paused but only saw Phoenix gently turning a prayer bead, seemingly a little tired: “Isn’t she practicing dual cultivation with you?”
There were many cultivation methods in the Heavenly Dao, and dual cultivation was extremely common, so there was nothing strange about it. Phoenix’s tone was so normal, as if he had only asked the most ordinary question, but it was precisely this ordinariness and normalcy that suddenly made Three Worlds Wisdom King extremely awkward. After a moment, he argued, “That was a long time ago; it has already—”
“No,” Phoenix said, “you don’t need to explain it to others.”
He closed his eyes, continuing to slowly turn the prayer beads one by one. The emerald green glaze in his fair, slender fingertips was of such pure beauty it was like a painting.
Three Worlds Wisdom King thought he was reciting scriptures and stood there, unsure whether to remain or leave, feeling somewhat helpless and stunned.
—But he didn’t know that Phoenix wasn’t actually reciting scriptures.
When Phoenix closed his eyes, his mind was on that person not within karma. He knew that person was not Three Worlds Wisdom King, nor Shakti, nor any random passerby he might encounter on Sumeru Mountain; every day, with tenderness and piety, he constantly imagined what that person looked like, what their eyes and face were like, how they would walk out of the crowd and stand before him.
When he knelt before the Buddha, he thought of how that person would appear; when he turned the prayer beads, he thought of how that person would hold his hand and lead him away from this boundless sea of lotuses.
Three Worlds Wisdom King watched his calm face, not knowing what to say. That seemingly soft face was like it was behind a transparent, invisible wall, blocking any curious touch or prying gaze, making it impossible to fathom the deep, watery inner world.
“Shakti… she truly is your best choice,” he finally spoke after a long moment, making one last attempt to persuade him: “Your true form is a phoenix that devoured a feng. If you even reject the Snow Mountain Goddess, when you return to Sumeru Mountain, you might encounter more people you dislike, and who knows how you’ll be treated then…”
The meaning in these words was very genuine, yet even Three Worlds Wisdom King himself could feel how pale and powerless these words were before Phoenix.
As expected, Phoenix did not open his eyes. He only shook his head slightly, indicating refusal, and then turned another prayer bead.
Three Worlds Wisdom King’s hidden anger quietly resurfaced from within his heart.
—So persistent, for a stranger you’ve never met, who might not even be good to you?
However, this time he hadn’t even had a chance to speak when hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the main door. Immediately, a Vajra figure rushed into the front of the Buddhist temple, bowing deeply: “Your Highness! The Asuras are leading demons to invade the Luminous Heaven Palace, and they have already reached the city walls!”
Three Worlds Wisdom King’s mind, full of annoyance, instantly rushed to his head: “What did you say!”
Luminous Heaven Realm, in front of the city tower.
The gigantic black shadow of a nine-headed infant circled in the air. The moat’s blood-red waves surged, constantly spewing fire-breathing monstrous fish. Three Worlds Wisdom King, having manifested his three-headed, eight-armed form, stood on the city wall and hurled his battle-axe into the sky. The next moment, it pierced the nine-headed infant’s massive forehead, and a sharp infant wail immediately pierced the sky!
“Despicable demons!” Three Worlds Wisdom King roared, his voice like a huge wave sweeping across the demon-filled land: “If you don’t surrender today, I will eliminate you all right here—!”
The Snow Mountain Goddess Shakti stood beside Three Worlds Wisdom King, but her gaze shifted from the battlefield to Phoenix on the other side of the city tower.
Phoenix Wisdom Kings, unlike the legendary figure who repeatedly swept through the Blood Sea and emptied hell, seemed indifferent to all of it. The strong wind lifted the sleeves of his light gray Dharma robe and the pristine white kasaya beneath. Although on a battlefield, he looked as if he could transform into the wind and depart at any moment.
“Truly beautiful,” the Snow Mountain Goddess thought.
As the legends said, so beautiful that it even gave one a… very ominous feeling.
She tilted her head with interest, and the next moment, suddenly saw Phoenix Wisdom Kings look into the distance, as if noticing something, his gaze fixed. At the same time, an indescribable change occurred in his expression.
—Although this change was extremely subtle and hard to detect, Three Worlds Wisdom King on the other side also noticed it. He immediately turned to look at Phoenix, then followed his gaze to the battlefield.
In the distance, above the densely packed demonic horde, a man in iron armor stood in mid-air. Behind him, the void seemed to burn with raging flames, emanating a chillingly strong demonic aura amidst the hurricane that connected heaven and earth.
The distance was too great to clearly see his appearance, but his actions were very clear. The man raised a long blade, its tip dripping blood, and pointed it directly at the city wall—
Pointing at Phoenix Wisdom Kings on the city wall.
Phoenix looked slightly puzzled, knitting his long brows.
Immediately the next second, the man leaped forward with his blade held horizontally, enveloped in a hot, powerful dark aura, and rushed towards him like a sharp arrow in the world-sweeping wind!
__
Author’s Note:
Zhou Hui: 😭😭😭 Wife, when I proposed back then, you shot me eleven arrows. Baby is unhappy, baby is suffering…
Phoenix: You came at me with a blade, okay?!
