Zhou Hui stayed in the divine hall on the glacier’s summit for a period of time. He was perhaps the first demon from Hell to openly reside in the forbidden land of the Heavenly Dao since the creation of heaven and earth.
Perhaps the Heavenly Dao monks couldn’t detect the situation in the divine hall, or perhaps they knew but didn’t dare to intervene. In any case, no one disturbed him, nor did anyone drive him away. Everyone, by tacit agreement, ignored the existence of that divine hall.
In the eternally desolate ice and snow plain, it was indeed easy to overlook the passage of time. Above was the vast and boundless sky, and below were the snow-capped peaks winding away like giant dragons. When long nights fell, auroras spanning the heavens would appear in the distance, stretching out magnificently under the vast galaxy, emitting brilliant light bands.
Zhou Hui sat in the empty hall, watching rows of silver-white floor tiles spread into the distance. The moon crossed the meridian, moving shadows at the boundary of darkness, reflecting his solitary figure.
“Is this where you lived?” Zhou Hui asked the egg in his arms.
“It really is very lonely,” he murmured.
The handsome Hell demon walked through the snow-white stone pillars, caressing every inch of the cold walls. He felt the smooth stone cracks slide across his fingertips, imagining the Phoenix doing the same thousands of years ago, walking the same paths and touching the same wall bricks through countless long nights. At that moment, it was as if he had traversed the river of time, gazing back at the young Phoenix King, both their eyes filled with confusion.
Will you come back? Zhou Hui thought.
If time could be reversed, and one could go upstream to that moment when the Phoenix asked him if he still wanted her, and he had answered yes, would the outcome now be different?
Five months after staying in the divine hall, Venerable Bhadra returned to Sumeru Mountain.
Venerable Bhadra forcibly entered the Formless Heaven, seized the true Buddha’s soul, exhausted all his dharma power to seal the entrance to the Formless Heaven, and imprisoned Sakyamuni within for several centuries. After entrusting the true Buddha’s soul to the Phoenix King, the Venerable’s spiritual consciousness could no longer sustain itself, and he thus entered nirvana, ascending to the Guixu beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.
After the true Buddha returned to his place, he used some unknown method to retrieve Venerable Bhadra’s soul from the Guixu, reshaped his golden body, and sent him back to Sumeru Mountain. All the Vajras, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats considered it a grand event, gathering outside the Buddha hall to respectfully welcome him. For a time, the sky was filled with Buddha’s light and celestial music. However, the Venerable did not ascend back to his lotus seat amidst the crowds of believers. Instead, he avoided everyone, crossed the ice-bound Mirror Lake alone, and arrived before the Ice Glacier Divine Hall.
Zhou Hui stood on the nine-tiered steps, looking down at Venerable Bhadra from above, and asked, “Are you here to take the Phoenix jade embryo?”
Venerable Bhadra put his palms together and said gently, “No, Your Highness, the Phoenix King, knowing all, naturally wishes to remain by your side.”
“Then are you here to drive me away?”
“Also no. You come as you please, and leave as you please. Who could stop you?”
Zhou Hui’s expression softened a little, but he was still very grim.
“Then what is the Venerable’s intention in coming? If there is a way to make the Phoenix jade embryo hatch early, you may stay and talk. If not, please leave.”
“The ancient divine bird transcends heaven and earth, beyond the comprehension of the Heavenly Dao and Buddhist law. I also do not know how to make the jade embryo hatch early.” Venerable Bhadra chanted a Buddhist invocation, apologizing, “However, if you are willing to leave the jade embryo in the hot springs of Sumeru Mountain, perhaps with the help of geothermal heat to nourish the jade embryo, it might…”
Zhou Hui said coldly, “No thanks. We’ll be returning to Hell’s Buzhou Mountain in a while.”
He didn’t look at Venerable Bhadra again and turned to walk deeper into the divine hall. However, the Venerable suddenly called out to him from behind, “Wait, Benefactor Zhou—are you so cold this time because you still resent me for entrusting the true Buddha to His Highness, the Phoenix King, which led to all this?”
Zhou Hui’s footsteps paused, and after a moment, he turned his head, a terrifying crimson deep in his pupils.
This should have been a terrifying and absurd scene: a Hell demon, high above the most noble Ice Glacier Divine Hall of the Heavenly Dao, looked down upon Venerable Bhadra, who was as old as the Buddha, his eyes filled with undisguised, superior killing intent.
“I thought that if one benefited, one should keep it to oneself and not show off. Since you don’t understand this principle, it seems you want me to personally teach it to you.”
The wind swept across the steps. Venerable Bhadra looked up at Zhou Hui’s gloomy eyes, and after a moment, a chill suddenly rose from the depths of his heart. “Benefactor Zhou, you misunderstand. I didn’t mean that.”
The Venerable bowed slightly and said, “I merely wished to tell you that no matter for what reason His Highness, the Phoenix King, did all this—killing the false Buddha, returning the true Buddha to his place, and even undergoing nirvana for it… even if it was fundamentally just for your survival, he changed the great karma of this world, saving countless beings from suffering in the future. He is a truly remarkable person.”
“When I was in the Formless Heaven, the Buddha mentioned you. He was deeply moved and…”
“No need,” Zhou Hui interrupted him. “I didn’t do this for him. Who is Buddha? I don’t know him. I only have an acquaintance named Zhang Shun.”
Zhou Hui turned and walked into the divine hall. Below the steps behind him, Venerable Bhadra stood stunned for a long time, his expression complex and bewildered.
Soon after this conversation, one evening, Zhou Hui walked through the snowfield, painted golden by the setting sun, with the Phoenix egg in his pocket, and left Sumeru Mountain alone. Just as when he arrived, his departure was also very quiet. It seemed no one knew or noticed, and his footprints in the wind and snow were quickly covered and disappeared into the vast world.
Many in the Heavenly Dao believed that Venerable Bhadra’s private visit to the Ice Glacier Divine Hall that day and his words had forced the arrogant Hell demon to retreat, thus leaving the sacred Thirty-Three Heavens. The monks breathed a long sigh of relief, kneeling in the continuous temples stretching down the mountain, their eyes conveying their faith and reverence for the Venerable.
Yet, no one knew that upon learning of Zhou Hui’s departure, Venerable Bhadra had chased out of the Buddha hall and stood on the ice cliff, but it was already too late. The entire world was only a vast expanse of white, and the ice river spanning the snowfield reflected large areas of light. Looking into the distance, there was a small gray dot very far away, moving step by step towards the even more distant horizon.
That was the direction towards Hell.
Zhou Hui returned to the Four Evil Realms, passed through the Ten Thousand Li Iron Wheel Mountain that separated the human realm and Hell, crossed the tumultuous Sea of Blood, and finally returned to Buzhou Mountain. Thousands of years had brought tremendous changes to Buzhou Mountain’s landscape. The sea of fire during the Phoenix’s Nirvana had almost razed the primeval forest on the mountaintop to the ground.
Zhou Hui climbed to the summit, stood on the cliff overlooking the demonic eye, and when he turned back, he saw the winding mountain road in the distance. High above, a huge rock protruded abruptly, like a natural platform spanning a deep chasm.
On that platform was a charred ruin, completely collapsed, but still vaguely discernible as the shape of a former house. Zhou Hui’s eyes were hazy, carrying a hint of longing and melancholy he didn’t even notice himself.
—That was where he and the Phoenix had lived on Buzhou Mountain.
Zhou Hui spent a week clearing the scorched earth, felling towering trees for timber, and rebuilding a small house on the ruins. He sowed Asura flower seeds around it and meticulously repaired the courtyard walls and fences. He paved a small path with bluestone, and opening the door led to a vast cliff. Further away, the demonic ginkgo forest stretched green and lush on the hillside, as far as the eye could see.
“This is our home,” he said to the Phoenix.
“Welcome home.”
The egg lay quietly in his warm hand, as if in a sweet slumber.
Zhou Hui meticulously arranged his and the Phoenix’s small house, using fine timber for tables, chairs, and beds, and soft rabbit fur for quilts. The Asura flowers he planted soon bloomed, and looking out from the cottage window every day, a vibrant splash of crimson swayed in the wind, as if constantly celebrating. Zhou Hui loved the sight and often took the Phoenix egg to water the garden. Sometimes, he would walk out, through the mist-filled mountain paths, to stroll around the demonic eye in the deep chasm.
Jia Louluo had visited once. It was one day when Zhou Hui was returning home after a walk, and he saw his second son standing by the courtyard gate, looking up at the small house inside, his expression filled with surprise. Upon seeing him, he called out, “Father, this… did you build this yourself?”
Zhou Hui asked, “How did you find me?”
“Maha was in the Sea of Blood. He saw you near the demonic eye that day and told me.”
“Why didn’t he pounce on me, making a fuss?” Zhou Hui asked.
“…He thought Mother might be in your pocket, so he didn’t act rashly.”
Jia Louluo said, continuously examining the somewhat rough yet peaceful and harmonious small house. He was probably very surprised that his father, whom he knew to drive luxury cars, live in villas, and frequently throw money around, could actually build such a courtyard with his own hands.
“How is Mother?”
Zhou Hui was silent for a moment, then shook his head, saying nothing. Jia Louluo actually knew this would be the outcome and sighed softly.
“I just came… to tell you that there’s nothing major happening in the human realm, and everyone is doing well. If you’re in the mood, please come and visit the human realm. Everyone misses you both very much. Mortals’ lives are not very long…”
Jia Louluo briefly spoke about matters in the human realm, which were indeed very mundane. It seemed that with the passing of the false Buddha Sakyamuni, the entire Six Realms had settled down, and every day passed uneventfully. Zhou Hui listened noncommittally, neither agreeing nor refusing to go, nor did he actively inquire about the current situation of his companions in the human realm. Jia Louluo soon ran out of things to say and didn’t stay too long. He left some daily necessities brought from the human realm and then bid farewell.
“Can I visit occasionally?” Jia Louluo asked before leaving. “You can also tell me if you need anything. After seeing you, I can visit Maha in the Sea of Blood. Roughly a few times a year, it won’t be too frequent…”
Zhou Hui stood inside the courtyard gate, and Jia Louluo stood outside. The young man was increasingly acquiring the contours of an adult. From Zhou Hui’s perspective, he could even find overlapping shadows of himself in some of Jia Louluo’s expressions.
But his eyes were composed, as if shielded by an invisible, indifferent barrier, yet also as if constantly perceiving everything in this world, clear, detached, and unfathomably deep. Those were the Phoenix’s eyes.
“…Whatever you want,” Zhou Hui finally said after a long silence. “Just don’t come too often.”
Jia Louluo breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I won’t.”
Jia Louluo indeed didn’t come too often. He didn’t appear in the second month, and in the third month, he only left some daily necessities and plant seeds at the door, without showing himself. Upon receiving those seeds, Zhou Hui planted them, absentmindedly hoping they would bloom in Hell next year. Then, he continued to take the Phoenix for a walk in the valley after lunch every day, returning only in the evening.
This had almost become his fixed schedule. Time was unknown in the mountains, and sometimes he even had the thought that if his life continued like this forever, it wouldn’t be so bad. However, Zhou Hui never expected that during the few days when his second batch of planted seeds were about to sprout, he discovered a newly re-established divine realm passage near the demonic eye.
The timing of this discovery was accidental. At first, only the flow of air pressure and wind speed made him feel something was wrong, and Zhou Hui thought it was his imagination. Later, one day he found the demonic eye area glowing at night, and when he went to check in the daytime, he found that the passage had already formed, just as it had when it naturally opened. It was a transparent cavity in the void, difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, leading to another dimension of the divine realm.
Could this be part of the reconstruction of the Formless Heaven?
Zhou Hui stood at the entrance of the passage, feeling a rare stir of interest. After a moment of hesitation, he finally took a few steps inside. The next second, the dimension suddenly twisted, and space formed countless intricate angles. Before Zhou Hui could even stand firm, he was thrown into the vast void!
“Hey!”
Thud!
Zhou Hui was like being caught by a tidal wave and washed ashore, falling heavily to the ground. He was dizzy for a long time before finally getting up, disoriented.
The world before his eyes was also very familiar, a vast expanse of golden-white. The path beneath his feet stretched towards a towering building not far away, with golden and jade walls, carved beams, and painted pillars. It was precisely the grand Buddha hall that had been shattered into dust during the decisive battle.
…Formless Heaven?
It was that simple to get up here?!
Zhou Hui’s mouth twitched slightly. He checked that the Phoenix egg was still in his pocket, then composed himself and walked towards the Buddha hall.
After a while, he faintly heard music coming from ahead. He thought he misheard, but after quickening his steps, he realized it was the increasingly clear ending theme of a famous popular human realm TV drama—so popular that it was once played everywhere, even the Phoenix hummed a few lines.
Zhou Hui: “…”
Zhou Hui walked to the Buddha hall and looked inside from behind the high threshold. A familiar back, wearing a sailor shirt, beach shorts, and several strings of Buddhist beads around his neck, was sprawled on a lotus seat, resting his head, intently watching a TV screen connected to a DVD player not far away. Two wires trailed from behind the TV, connecting to a small generator placed in the corner of the Buddha hall, which was buzzing away.
“…” Zhou Hui’s expression was indescribable:
“Zhang Shun…?!”
Zhang Er Shao turned his head, stunned. “Foolish Zhou… Zhou Hui?”
Inside and outside the threshold, the two looked at each other, the atmosphere incredibly bizarre. Five seconds later, Zhou Hui suddenly stepped over the threshold, furiously rushed towards Zhang Shun, and with a kick, sent the True Buddha, who couldn’t dodge in time, tumbling off the lotus seat. “I worked my ass off for you, suffering down there waiting for the Phoenix to hatch, and what the hell are you doing here, staying home watching DVDs?!”
The True Buddha scrambled to get up using both hands and feet, but was then knocked down by a punch from Zhou Hui. Zhou Hui then looked back at the TV, even more enraged. “Zhang Shun! You’re a monk, for crying out loud. What the hell are you doing watching ‘Empresses in the Palace’?!”
