The Word of Heaven

Chapter 328 Meeting with the Buddha
There was dead silence outside Cihang Temple. No matter tourists or believers, no one made any sound at this moment.

Everyone knew that the Demon Lord must be extremely powerful, but no one expected that Cihang Temple would be so vulnerable, like a blade of grass destroyed in a crushing defeat.

The nearly ten thousand-year heritage of Zen Buddhism and the great reputation of the Southeast Buddhist ancestral temple, and more importantly, the Demon Lord has never entered the realm of immortality again... People are so surprised at this moment because they subconsciously have hope for Cihang Temple and believe that this will be a fierce battle.

A fierce battle has now become a nonsense. If it continues like this, it may not even be considered a battle. It can only be the Demon Lord's unilateral and indifferent crushing of the monks.

The deacon from the Sky Patrol Department who had sent the sword book could no longer hold on. With shock in his heart, he walked out from the shadows and came to Pei Jinge's side. When he was about to ask that question... a cold voice sounded first.

“Cihang Temple is much more than this.”

There was no emotion in Pei Jinge's eyes.

She quietly watched the flying petals following Gu Zhuo, lingering with the breeze, unwilling to disperse.

This was certainly a very beautiful picture, but she didn't like it because it reminded her of an old incident several years ago.

Gu Zhuo drew his sword outside Baicao Garden and fought thirteen times in a row, winning every time with just one sword. This attracted many noble ladies in the city to spend huge sums of money on Hua Ying Dao.

Changzhou Academy certainly cannot be compared with Cihang Temple. The thirteen practitioners in the Cave True Realm can only glance at Gu Zhuo from afar today... But Pei Jinge still couldn't help but think of this, and then fell silent.

The story of seeing all the flowers in Wangjing in one day ends not with the bowl of Sichuan cuisine outside Changzhou Academy, but with the carriage parked outside the door.

The person sitting in the carriage was Gu Zhuo. Pei Jinge met him for the first time that day and they parted on bad terms.

What about today?
Could it just be a one-time breakup?
Regardless of the outcome of the battle between Cihang Temple and Gu Zhuo, she must stand here and wait for the dust to settle.

then.

Meet Gu Zhuo.

Pei Jinge's eyes were cold.

……

……

The Cihang Temple was filled with fallen figures and blood, but almost no one was dead.

As a result, the monks' wailing became more and more tragic, covering up the sound of scriptures floating in the mountain gate formation. The formation seemed to have become a little weaker as a result, and no longer had its previous magical power.

Gu Zhuo still walked with his hands behind his back.

Under the repeated attacks of those old monks, more and more petals were stained with blood. They no longer had the original light and ethereal feeling, as if covered with dust.

The monks of Cihang Temple are using their own blood and realm as a price to forcibly interfere with Gu Zhuo's control over the mountain gate formation, doing their best to reduce his influence.

The scene becomes increasingly tragic.

If Gu Zhuo had the intention to kill, the temple would have been littered with corpses by now.

The wounded monk was aware of this fact because he was alive, but he did not feel any relief or gratitude for it, only anger.

Silence can be the greatest contempt.

Not killing is not necessarily mercy, it can also be a humiliation.

Monk Kuzhou raised his head and looked at Gu Zhuo, who was less than three feet away from him. He spoke in a very hoarse voice, as if he wanted to ask something, but in the end he said nothing.

The next moment, he floated up from the wheelchair with both knees broken, and his monk robe fluttered in the wind.

He pursed his lips, his eyes were firm and indifferent, and a strange fragrance emanated from his body.

That is the smell of burning sandalwood.

To be more precise, this is the movement brought about by a Zen secret method called the Burning Body Method.

Using a Zen body as a Buddha statue and incurring the wrath of the Vidyaraja is undoubtedly the most powerful life-threatening means in Zen Buddhism, enough to bridge the gap of an entire realm, and the price is the destruction of both the soul and the Zen body.

Gu Zhuo's expression remained calm as before.

He probably guessed what the monk Kuzhou was thinking at the moment, which was nothing more than self-blame and guilt. He could not accept that the fragment of the Yuanmie Mirror he gave was used as a means to deal with Cihang Temple, and he no longer had the face to live on.

The bitter boat monk flew towards him.

Like the Buddha statue sitting in the temple.

Brilliant golden light shone from his body. Although there was no open flame, it seemed like burning.

The bitter boat monk faced his palms outwards and pushed forward horizontally.

Gu Zhuo did not stop.

The flying flowers are still there, but this time they no longer flow forward and condense into a wall.

Facing this Buddha's palm that was meant to show his willingness to sacrifice his life for justice, Gu Zhuo used his fingers as a sword and stabbed out.

Before the sword and palm met, the monk Kuzhou suddenly felt a biting chill coming towards him, and his Zen body, which was about to catch fire, suddenly dropped in temperature rapidly. A thick fog spread out from his body with a loud bang, covering the surrounding area for dozens of feet.

There was no sound, but the monks in the fog seemed to see a fire being extinguished by cold water, making a sizzling sound.

"What method is this?"

Through the fog, the bitter boat monk asked in confusion.

Gu Zhuo replied: "This is the sword of my good friend Wang Ji."

The bitter monk was at a loss for words.

The next moment, a tremendous amount of true energy burst out between the finger sword and the palm of his hand. With a loud bang, his body retreated faster than when he came, and sat back in the wheelchair exactly.

The wheelchair began to move backwards at a high speed, causing violent friction with the hard bluestone floor. Sparks flew and the sound was extremely harsh.

Before the lingering sound faded away, Gu Zhuo had already walked out of the fog.

A little mist lingered on the sleeves and was reluctant to leave, like a thread, adding to the calmness.

The head of the Discipline Hall looked at his back with a bewildered look on his face and asked, "What are you going to do?"

Saving a life is much harder than killing one.

Not to mention saving a person who is determined to die.

Gu Zhuo did just that.

The explanation he gave was so speechless.

"I'm not here to wipe out your entire family, why should I let your blood spill on me?"

After saying this, Gu Zhuo walked through the monks, stepped onto the stone steps, and headed towards the highest point of Cihang Temple.

Whenever the weather is fine, the glazed tiles of the Buddhist temple on the top of the peak will be reflected by the sunlight, shining golden, which is extremely dazzling.

People in the world call this beautiful scenery the Golden Summit.

……

……

There were still people along the way, and people kept standing up and trying to stop Gu Zhuo from moving forward.

Those brave monks were like monkeys performing acrobatics, trying their best to attract the attention of the passerby, but always to no avail.

Looking at that terrifying figure, some people cried out in confusion, some anxiously chanted Buddhist scriptures in an attempt to calm their minds... and more people lay there in despair, staring at the sky, but they saw Gu Zhuo in the azure sky.

The abbot of Cihang Temple is in the Golden Summit Hall.

Yes, the abbot of Cihang Temple is not Daoxiu.

This is exactly the same as the head master of Tiandao Sect, Gu Zhuo.

So much so that in the past years, many elders in the cultivation world believed that Daoxiu was imitating Daozhu, and there were even some boring jokes in private that they were really a family.

Daoxiu knew this very well, but never responded.

Even this point is very similar to Gu Zhuo.

The old abbot turned around and faced the visitor.

His eyes were full of compassion and there was a warm smile on his lips, as if he knew nothing about what was happening outside the temple, or perhaps he had a premonition of today's scene.

It was quiet inside and outside the Buddhist temple.

Gu Zhuo stood with his hands behind his back, raised his head slightly, and looked into the eyes of the Buddha statue in the hall.

The old abbot suddenly said, "When my brother was alive, he often gazed at the Buddha like you do now."

Gu Zhuo didn't say anything.

The old abbot said: "Over the years, I have asked Brother what he was thinking about. He gave many different answers, but I know they were all talking about the same thing."

Gu Zhuo remained silent.

The old abbot said slowly, "How can one reach the highest state of wonder in the world, which is called "Yuhua" by the Taoists and "Nirvana" by the Zen sects?"

Gu Zhuo once again thought of the questions Dao Xiu had asked him before his death in front of Weiyang Palace.

This is probably Daoxiu's real obsession, rather than worldly matters.

Gu Zhuo retracted his gaze, looked at the old abbot, and said, "This is the reason why I came here today."

The old abbot said no more.

A distant bell sounded from this hall.

The same formation became completely different at this moment.

The Buddha statue sitting in the hall seemed to open its eyes, allowing its gaze to pass through the distant years and fall on Gu Zhuo.

……

……

Outside Cihang Temple.

Pei Jinge's eyes darkened suddenly. The next moment, she appeared in the sky, level with the Cihang Golden Summit.

The mountain gate formation seemed to be no different from before, but she sensed an extremely noble aura, which was somewhat similar to the White Emperor who had returned not long ago.

The wind was still blowing, and the Buddha's light gradually took shape, closing up like a cassock.

Throughout history, who has been qualified to wear such a robe?
There is only one answer.

……

……

The bell rang continuously, and the world in front of Gu Zhuo changed accordingly.

Countless leaden clouds surged over the golden roof like waves, covering the azure sky and casting darkness and rain on the world.

The rain was not heavy, but drizzling, bringing a chill.

The glass-like bricks and tiles were washed pale by the rain in the blink of an eye, wiping out those brilliant colors, and even the walls of the Buddhist temple became mottled. The old and peaceful smell overflowed in the air, making people's hearts gradually calm down.

This is the original Cihang Temple.

This is not a return of time, but a reappearance of yesterday, the remnants of the old times.

So the Buddha statue was missing from the temple.

The Buddha statue itself stood in front of Gu Zhuo with a puzzled look on his face.

"Donor, you are a Taoist, why are you here?"

"look at you."

Gu Zhuo said: "Let's chat for a while."

The monk had not yet become the Buddha of later generations. He was wearing a gray robe and had a sad look on his face.

After enduring suffering for a long time, a kind of approachable feeling is brewed, just like the well in the backyard of an ordinary family, or the lush banyan tree at the entrance of the village, which makes people feel warm.

Gu Zhuo looked at the monk's face and frowned slightly.

For some reason, he always felt that this strange face was strangely familiar.

"Okay."

The monk agreed readily.

He walked out of the hall and stood in the slightly cold rain, looking quite unrestrained.

Gu Zhuo followed and asked, "Did you succeed in Nirvana?"

The monk thought for a moment and said, "I thought it was a success, but in fact it seems to be a failure."

Gu Zhuo wondered why monks always liked to talk like this?

If Lin Wanyi were present at this moment, he would definitely not be able to help but seriously complain about the above sentence, saying that this is also your favorite way of speaking.

“Where is success?”

He asked, "How do you explain failure?"

The monk patiently said: "Nirvana is the highest state of Zen Buddhism, which is equivalent to Taoism's ascension. The difference is that I don't want to leave this world, so my success is to enter Nirvana and stay here."

Gu Zhuo understood.

Sure enough, the monk continued, “The reason for success is that my request was fulfilled, and the reason for failure is that it was not the way I wanted.”

Having said this, he sighed deeply, touched his head with a worried look on his face, and added a sentence with extreme helplessness.

“That’s why I want to keep this Zen thought.”

Gu Zhuo looked at him quietly.

The monk put down his hand, shook his head and said: "I really want to tell you what caused me to fail, but I can't keep the truth to myself..."

Gu Zhuo suddenly said: "Yuan Dai."

The moment he finished speaking, the monk's body visibly stiffened.

Then, those eyes, as clear as if washed by water, were suddenly covered with thick dust.

The rain came suddenly and was no longer gentle.

Countless tiny cracks appeared in the sea of ​​clouds, and what poured down from them was not sunlight, but darkness.

The Zen thought that the Buddha left for Cihang Temple actually underwent such drastic changes because of those two words. It became shaky and could be destroyed at any time.

"who are you?"

In the heavy rain, the monk raised his sleeves and wiped his face.

Gu Zhuo said calmly: "According to the rules, Yuan Dai is my ancestor."

The monk looked at him, suddenly laughed, and said, "Then I have a reason to kill you."

Gu Zhuo remained unmoved and continued to ask, "Why does he attack everyone who enters the Immortal Realm?"

The monk rolled his eyes and said, "Is Yuandai my ancestor? Is he your ancestor? Why don't you ask him instead of asking me? And you beat up all my disciples and grandchildren. Why should I bother with you?"

"I did something a while ago."

Gu Zhuo's tone was very calm: "Go to the Tiandao Sect's ancestral hall and kill my ancestor once."

The monk was silent.

After a while, he raised his thumb with awe in his eyes and praised with admiration: "You are amazing!"

"Unfortunately, I don't know what your ancestor is crazy about and why he did this."

The monk spread his hands sincerely and said, "If I hadn't thought of leaving from the very beginning, and had luckily managed to find a few thoughts of Zen for myself and avoid a death without a burial place, you wouldn't even have the chance to see me. Now you expect me to find out what Yuandai wants to do, which is more or less absurd."

Gu Zhuo was stunned and looked at him with confusion, not knowing what to say.

The monk was annoyed by being looked at, and he coughed pretendingly, then said, "But I am indeed very dissatisfied with this result. I wanted to stay, but this is not how I want to stay, so I did think about how to deal with your ancestor."

Gu Zhuo asked: "Hmm?"

The monk thought for a moment and said, "Swear an oath?"

Gu Zhuo said: "If I don't betray my master and destroy my ancestors, will I have no hope of becoming an immortal in this life?"

The monk's expression suddenly became serious, and Xiaoyi asked, "What do you think?"

"no point."

Gu Zhuo was too lazy to deal with it, and said, "You are a dead man, with only a piece of Zen left in the world. You will never see the day when I betray my master and destroy my ancestors. Besides, how can an oath constrain a great man like me?"

The monk was very displeased when he heard this.

It wasn't because of the oath, but because of the unquestionable strong pride revealed in the words.

"You think you're better than me?"

"of course."

"Why?"

"A hundred years ago, when I ascended to heaven, I suffered the same thing as you, but I survived, while you died in an unclean way."

Gu Zhuo said honestly: "This is the gap."

The monk was a little angry and said angrily: "Who knows if Yuan Dai saw that you are his disciple and was reluctant to kill you!"

Gu Zhuo looked at him quietly and asked directly: "Do you believe this?"

The monk was stunned for a moment, then sighed helplessly and said, "Believe... Well, I really don't believe it."

As the two were talking, more and more cracks appeared in the sky.

As the Zen thoughts left by the Buddha are truly awakened, the old illusion can no longer last and is about to be finally destroyed.

The monk stopped talking nonsense and turned the rain into flowers.

Gu Zhuo took the flower from him.

The moment we met, countless messages came along.

That is what the Buddha has thought and gained over thousands of years.

Gu Zhuo's expression remained unchanged.

The sad-looking monk sighed again, then forced a smile and prepared to say goodbye.

At this moment, Gu Zhuo suddenly asked, "Did you die completely in the end?"

When he said this, his expression was inexplicably serious and his tone was slightly cold.

The monk was slightly startled, his smile turned into a playful one, and he said, "I'm not the kind of person who would rather die than live."

Gu Zhuo said: "But?"

"You know."

The monk said with a half-smile: "The will of the dead is never followed by the living, otherwise you wouldn't betray your master and ancestors, right?"

The conversation ends there.

The illusion is shattered.

The rain suddenly stopped and the sun returned to the earth.

There was suddenly a sense of emptiness and silence at the Cihang Golden Summit.

(End of this chapter)