The Buddhist hall was deathly silent, as if all the gods and Buddhas across the heavens had vanished, every sound swallowed by the infinite void. Not even the faintest vibration in the air remained.
Phoenix suddenly felt that something was not right.
He frowned slightly. Just then, on the large, pure gold tiles before him, the light faintly outlined a shadow. It was hazy and indistinct, only gradually taking shape after a long while.
“Venerable Bhadra?” Phoenix said, stunned.
Venerable Bhadra’s appearance was utterly wretched. His eye sockets were sunken, his complexion ashen, and the skin on his face was wrinkled. He looked as though he was suffering the five signs of celestial decay. However, Phoenix knew that Venerable Bhadra had shown no signs of weakening for tens of thousands of years, and it was impossible for him to suddenly fail now. He immediately bent down to help him up. “Venerable, what has happened?”
“…” Bhadra stared blankly at him, his mouth agape.
“Venerable?”
Bhadra gasped for a moment, took the Buddha bone hanging from a red thread in Phoenix’s hand, and then reached out to hook a finger at his own temple.
A slender, brilliant wisp of golden light was drawn out from his brain along his fingertip and immediately covered the Buddha bone. In that instant, the entire bone glowed with a dazzling light, which then receded into the marrow and quickly extinguished, as if nothing had happened.
Bhadra said hoarsely, “Please, protect it…”
Phoenix asked, puzzled, “What is this?”
Bhadra leaned close to Phoenix’s ear, his voice extremely faint. If one listened closely, a tremor could be heard at the end of his words. “…It is the soul of the True Buddha…”
“I forced my way into the Formless Heaven and brought the soul of the True Buddha down from its hiding place…”
Phoenix’s first reaction was confusion, followed by disbelief.
But Bhadra’s expression was extremely solemn, not at all like he was joking.
Indeed, this Venerable was not the type to jest. Strictly speaking, he was a close relative of the true Buddha, having achieved enlightenment under the twin Sāla trees. From the first day he emerged from Mount Sumeru breaking through the sea, he had been enshrined in the Buddhist hall atop Xueba Mountain. He had always been a man of few desires, disciplined and upright.
“This… this is Sakyamuni?” Phoenix pointed at the Buddha bone, feeling the situation was utterly absurd.
But as soon as Bhadra heard this, he immediately stopped him. “Do not mention that person’s name!”
“…What?”
“Do not mention his name. Although he is in the Formless Heaven, his Ālaya-vijñāna1 is everywhere. Mentioning his name will alert him. It took all my effort to lure away all the gods and Buddhas, then evade his senses to find this last remaining soul of the True Buddha…”
Phoenix felt nothing but shock. “You’re saying Sak—… you’re saying ‘he’ is not the True Buddha? Then what is ‘he’?”
Bhadra took Phoenix’s hand, placed the Buddha bone in his palm, and pushed his fingers closed, making him grip the bone that concealed the soul of the True Buddha tightly.
“I cultivated with the true Buddha under the Bodhi tree for a thousand years. We knew each other well. Then, that year, the shifting glaciers shook the Phoenix’s jade embryo into the Sea of Blood. The Buddha descended to the Demon’s Eye of Hell to retrieve it. After he returned, he no longer went to the Formless Heaven but instead took on a human form and remained on Mount Sumeru, becoming the ‘him’ I found so unfamiliar…”
This “him” clearly referred to Sakyamuni, and Venerable Bhadra was being very careful to avoid his name.
“‘He’ raised you for a long time in the temple on Mount Sumeru, hiding his form from sight most of the time. I once asked him why he did not return to his lotus throne. His answer was that the Phoenix was born with an aspect of extreme evil, fulfilling the prophecy of the Buddhist calamity of the next thirty thousand years; and his current form was the human body born to meet this calamity. Only after the first wave of the calamity was passed could he restore his golden body and return to the Formless Heaven.”
Sakyamuni was the human form of the True Buddha, and the so-called “first wave of the Buddhist calamity” was resolved when Phoenix cleansed the Sea of Blood, allowing Sakyamuni to leave Mount Sumeru and return to the Formless Heaven. Phoenix had long known this.
Could there be something wrong with that?
“Do you know why the first wave of the Buddhist calamity required clearing the Sea of Blood?” Venerable Bhadra took a breath and asked wearily, sitting on the floor.
Phoenix asked doubtfully, “Was it not the great vow that Shak— that ‘he’ made?”
But Bhadra shook his head.
“One makes vows to become a Buddha. He already was a Buddha; he only needed to return to his lotus throne. What need was there to make a vow?”
Phoenix had never considered this question.
Not just him, but no one on Mount Sumeru had ever thought of it. After all, few knew of Sakyamuni, and even for those who did, the belief in the True Buddha’s unshakable status had been deeply ingrained over tens of thousands of years, making any doubt impossible.
Bhadra smiled mockingly, whether at Phoenix for his assumptions or at himself and all the gods and Buddhas of the heavens and earth for never having considered this point.
“This person who returned with you from Hell to Mount Sumeru and raised you in secret was born in the Demon’s Eye. He claimed to be the human body born in response to the calamity when the Buddha saw the Phoenix hatch from its shell, but in reality, he may be something else entirely.”
Venerable Bhadra paused, then said, “Something else… a very terrifying thing.”
Phoenix seemed to understand something suddenly. He staggered back half a step, staring at the Venerable’s ashen, haggard face. After a long moment, he shook his head. “That’s not… that’s impossible!”
“Why impossible? Only this can explain why ‘he’ had to empty the Sea of Blood before he could return to the Formless Heaven.” Venerable Bhadra said coldly, “You must understand—the Demon’s Eye is a fixed point in Hell’s energy circulation system. Every moment, infinite energy from all corners of Hell converges on the Demon’s Eye, and from there, it is circulated and dispersed to all creatures of Hell. Most of these creatures are ordinary hell demons born from the Sea of Blood. But if one is born within the Demon’s Eye, it gains another characteristic.”
He paused for a moment. “This characteristic is that no matter where a demon born in the Demon’s Eye goes in the future, it can automatically absorb the energy circulated from the Demon’s Eye to support its soul, gradually reducing the energy supplied to the rest of Hell. It can be called a plunderer of Hell’s entire energy supply. Conversely, if the number of existing demons in Hell exceeds a certain amount, the rate of energy consumption multiplies, drastically reducing the energy the plunderer can claim.”
“The period from when you hatched to when you first cleared the Sea of Blood was a phase of rapid expansion in Hell’s creature population. Therefore, the hell energy ‘he’ could absorb on Mount Sumeru was drastically reduced, to the point where he couldn’t ascend to the Formless Heaven to confront the remnant soul of the True Buddha.”
“It wasn’t until you shot the Great Asura King dead and cleared the Sea of Blood for the first time that the great demons of Hell were almost all subdued. At that point, ‘he’ had no competitors and could monopolize all the energy circulated by the Demon’s Eye, gaining a strength that was unimaginably powerful. That was how he was able to ascend to the Formless Heaven and suppress the soul of the True Buddha. To you, it seemed as if ‘the Buddha’ had successfully passed his tribulation and returned to his rightful place…”
Phoenix could hardly believe his ears. He stood there, frozen, his face as pale as paper.
“Then he… what on earth is he?”
Venerable Bhadra smiled, but it was a smile more bitter than tears. “I don’t know.”
Phoenix stood there, utterly shocked and speechless, not knowing what to say at all.
Sakyamuni’s various oddities and fickle behavior, the absurd actions of the Heavenly Dao over the past few millennia, and even the later crazed campaigns against the four evil paths and the clearing of Hell’s Sea of Blood—all seemed to be answered in this moment. Yet he still found it hard to believe that the person who had raised him was actually a demon, and a demon born from the golden body of the True Buddha at that!
“But… I was also born near the Demon’s Eye. Does that mean I also…”
Bhadra gave a strange and very complicated smile.
“You are a divine bird of antiquity. Your nature is to vanquish demons. Even if the energy from the Demon’s Eye circulates to you, it is immediately neutralized by your divine Phoenix nature. But besides you, others in this world were also born in the Demon’s Eye. Do you know who?”
Phoenix’s jaw trembled slightly as he spoke. “Zhou Hui…”
Bhadra nodded. “There is one more: the current Great Asura King, Fan Luo.”
No wonder that among the millions of hell demons, only Zhou Hui had cultivated a human form. No wonder his power was so great that it even surpassed that of the Asura clan. So that was the reason behind all the inconsistencies!
Phoenix’s heart pounded. The rapid flow of blood made his fingertips tingle. “…So now Zhou Hui and Fan Luo are sharing the hell energy circulated from the Demon’s Eye with ‘him’?”
“There were more at the beginning, but the other creatures born in the Demon’s Eye were either eliminated when you cleared the Sea of Blood or were too insignificant and dealt with by ‘him’ personally. The ones remaining now are Fan Luo and Zhou Hui. One is a Great Asura King with a divinity, and the other is always with you. He can’t find an opportunity to strike.”
Venerable Bhadra spoke too quickly and clutched his mouth, coughing a few times. The sound seemed to rumble from deep within his chest, as if it were tearing his trachea. It was clear he was gravely injured.
Phoenix knelt before him. “Venerable, please let me heal you…”
“No, it’s too late.” Bhadra gave a bitter smile.
“I discovered traces of the truth from ‘his’ various oddities. I worried that once his power reached a certain level, he would completely destroy the True Buddha. So I forced my way into the Formless Heaven, stole this last wisp of the True Buddha’s soul, and then used all my cultivation to seal the only exit from the Formless Heaven.”
He pointed to the Buddha bone in Phoenix’s hand. “With his current strength, the Formless Heaven cannot be sealed for long. Soon he will break through the confinement and descend to Mount Sumeru. My cultivation is now completely destroyed; I’m just an empty shell. A direct confrontation means certain death for me. But I beg you to protect this last wisp of the True Buddha’s soul, so that one day in the future, the false Buddha can be expelled and the truly compassionate Buddha can return, saving the six realms from utter devastation…”
Phoenix’s pupils constricted as he looked at the bone in his hand, its golden light now hidden. He hesitated. “But how do I expel the false Buddha?”
Bhadra suddenly fell silent and did not speak for a long time.
“Venerable?”
“…” Bhadra finally spoke, but it seemed difficult. “Those born in the Demon’s Eye can kill one another. So you can kill the Great Asura King, refine his divinity as energy, and ignite the Nirvana Fire—the most powerful divine fire in all the heavens and earth. Perhaps you can burn the one in the Formless Heaven to death…”
He took a breath and turned his head, avoiding Phoenix’s eyes.
Phoenix’s breath caught. For a long time, there was no sound.
“But,” he finally said after a long while, “if I die, what will happen to Zhou Hui and… my two children?”
In that split second, Phoenix’s first thought was actually, what will happen to Zhou Hui? He was stunned even as the words left his mouth.
He thought he would have wondered what would happen to Maha, what would happen to Jia Louluo. His children were still so young; how would they face the uncertain storms and treacherous fate of the future? Yet in that instant before he spoke, the first person to surface in his mind was Zhou Hui.
The man who came through a thousand armies to propose to him. The man who brought him out of the empty, lonely temple and accompanied him for thousands of years. The man who, countless times, walked out from a crowd, took his hand, and asked if he missed him.
Children would grow up. At some turning point in their destiny, they would meet the person they were meant to meet.
But Zhou Hui only had him. The life of a hell demon was so long. What would he do in the future?
Would he be like he himself once was, sitting numbly and aimlessly in a vacuum world without light or hope, day after day, until death finally arrived on some future day?
Would he replay the memories of their thousands of years together over and over, like a gambler drinking poison to quench his thirst, suffering endless torment in the interweaving of fantasy and reality, until his spirit finally broke and he reached his end?
Phoenix began to tremble slightly.
In that moment, he suddenly felt that the Buddha bone in his hand was so heavy that it seemed almost unbearable.
“Your Highness,” Venerable Bhadra’s voice was gentle, but his eyes held a sad pity. “If you let Sakyamuni be, Zhou Hui will have no chance of survival… The one in the Formless Heaven will not allow a competitor to vie with him for the power of the Demon’s Eye. One day he will strike at the Great Asura King first, and after his power grows, he will turn to deal with Zhou Hui. By then, in all the heavens and earth, there will be no power that can stand against him. When the nest is overturned, how can any eggs remain intact?”
Phoenix’s mind reeled.
Seeing him standing there, stunned and silent with horror, Venerable Bhadra sighed. “Let me give you one more reason why you must do this. The Peacock Wisdom King cannot live long after his divinity was stolen, unless he is given a similar divinity to replace it. His Highness Maha’s nature is extremely evil; within the six realms, apart from his close relatives, it is unlikely any divinity would be similar. Only the current Great Asura King, Fan Luo, born in the Demon’s Eye and known as the Demon Lord, might have a divinity that could match the Peacock Wisdom King’s… Whether you try or not is up to a single thought from you, Your Highness.”
After speaking, Venerable Bhadra clutched his chest and gave a muffled cough. He had probably spoken too much. His voice was so hoarse it barely sounded human, and flecks of golden blood splattered from the corner of his mouth, which he wiped away with a clenched jaw.
Phoenix looked at him blankly. After a moment, he asked, “Then… what do you plan to do?”
“Me?” Venerable Bhadra laughed, gasping for breath. “I will wait here. I will wait for him to come and kill me. My soul will ascend to the Realm of Guixu, and from there I will continue to wait and watch him bring about his own destruction… I don’t believe anyone can usurp another’s place forever. I have done what I can. I will wait for the rest.”
Phoenix’s expression changed. After a long moment, he rose, took half a step back, and bowed to Venerable Bhadra with his palms pressed together. “I will protect the soul of the True Buddha and do everything in my power to restore the Buddha to his rightful place.”
He paused, his voice low but firm. “But not for some ethereal notion of justice or the ‘Heavenly Dao,’ but for myself. If I die because of this, it will be for the one I love, and for my own faith and hopes…”
Venerable Bhadra said serenely, “To cultivate Buddhahood is to cultivate oneself.”
Phoenix gave one last, slight bow, tightened his grip on the Buddha bone tied with red thread, and turned to stride out of the hall.
That was the last time Phoenix ever saw Venerable Bhadra.
For several hundred years after, all the gods and Buddhas were silent, and there was no news of Venerable Bhadra.
Phoenix returned to Mount Buzhou. Zhou Hui was searching all over Hell for him, his search radius about to cross from Hell into the Luminous Heaven. Phoenix felt a bit like a child who had done something wrong. He stood there hesitating, only to see Zhou Hui’s gaze turn ferocious for an instant before it was suppressed. He beckoned. “Come here.”
Phoenix stood in place for a moment before slowly walking over, and was immediately pulled into a tight embrace by Zhou Hui.
“Where did you go?”
“…”
Zhou Hui didn’t press the matter immediately. He kissed his temple and whispered, “It’s good that you know to come back.”
Late that night, Zhou Hui suddenly woke up, feeling Phoenix moving his hand beside him. He didn’t make a sound, lying quietly in the darkness with his eyes open. A moment later, he felt Phoenix lift his arm, arrange it in an embracing posture, and then curl up into his arms, burying his head and becoming still.
In that instant, Zhou Hui couldn’t describe what he felt in his heart. He stared at the hazy ceiling in the darkness. After a long while, he turned over and held Phoenix, inhaling the water lily-like scent from his body and hair.
“What did you really go and do?” Zhou Hui asked in a low voice in the darkness. “You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”
Phoenix’s forehead pressed tightly against his firm, hot chest, making no sound.
What would happen if he told Zhou Hui?
Creatures born in the Demon’s Eye killing each other, gaining the other’s power, and then assassinating the heart-demon Sakyamuni in the Formless Heaven…
…Zhou Hui would do it for him, wouldn’t he? Phoenix thought.
But a hell demon who cannot achieve nirvana would surely die doing so.
For some reason, Phoenix suddenly remembered a story he had heard in the human realm many years ago. An old couple both wished for the other to pass away first, because the one who went first could avoid the despair of enduring day after day in long, gray years. At the time, he thought he would surely be the one left behind, but when the time came, he discovered that he, too, had such a selfish side hidden within him.
“I’m not telling you,” Phoenix said stubbornly, his voice melting into the vast, heavy darkness as soon as it left his lips.
He fumbled for Zhou Hui’s hand, interlacing their fingers palm to palm. After a long moment, he sighed softly again. “…I’m definitely not telling you.”
Volume Five: The End of Nirvana
- Ālaya vijñāna, also called “storehouse consciousness,” refers to a foundational, subconscious level of consciousness in Buddhist philosophy that stores all karmic imprints from past and present lives ↩︎
