In an incomparably vast hall bathed in immeasurable radiance, Chanming, Qingxutian, and Arhat Dexin knelt at the center like mere ants. If they lifted their heads to look up, they could see only brilliant, dazzling Buddha light. Faintly discernible amidst that sea of light was a figure seated in meditation—his body anchored to the earth, the crown of his head touching the heavens, as though he alone propped up this entire firmament.
This colossal Buddha bore a faint hint of ferocity upon his visage; he was none other than Chanming's master, Bodhisattva Di'antian.
At this moment, the three were reporting the battle's outcome. Chanming spoke first: "The outer demon was rampant. In this battle, your disciples lost one Wisdom King, twenty-two Vajras, and two hundred and seven mighty warriors. In addition, one Xuanzhan treasure ship was destroyed, and another... fell into enemy hands."
The young girl turned her head toward Chanming. "Weren't both destroyed?"
Chanming paused, but ultimately replied, "They were not both destroyed. One was suppressed by the outer demon, and when taken, it was largely intact."
The girl glared fiercely at Chanming, but Chanming remained resolute and did not change his words.
At that moment, the giant Buddha statue spoke, his voice drifting down ethereally: "Since the outer demon was so rampant, how did you three manage to flee back? Was there truly never any turning point?"
"The outer demon was slaughtering the Vajra mighty warriors, and the three of us seized the chance to board our ships... and disengage from the battlefield..." Chanming bowed his head, utterly overcome with shame. To put it bluntly: while the Vajra mighty warriors were still fighting to the death, the three Arhats and Wisdom Kings had run away first.
The giant Buddha remained silent for a long while before saying, "Bring forth the final imagery for me to see."
The girl turned her head and glared venomously at Chanming, her lips moving slightly with an unmistakable threat.
Gritting his teeth, Chanming presented a speck of light nonetheless.
Within that light, while the tide of battle was not yet decisive and Dexin's Wisdom King had just fallen, the girl had already piloted her Wisdom King onto a treasure ship, immediately setting sail without even sparing a glance for her own Vajra mighty warriors. Many of her warriors hadn't had time to board and were forced to scramble toward Chanming's and Dexin's ships. Then came Dexin abandoning his heavily wounded Wisdom King and flying straight back to his treasure ship. Along the way, that young man had eerily appeared beside him, tapped his shaven scalp with the back of a butcher knife, and then actually smiled toward the perspective of the recording before vanishing just as mysteriously.
Looking at the young man smiling across the void directly at him, the colossal Buddha form suddenly went silent.
In the recording, Dexin hadn't dared to look back even once, bolting back to the treasure ship and fleeing full steam ahead.
Only Chanming had led his Wisdom King forward, attempting to rescue the Vajra mighty warriors who had pushed deep into the interior. But after just a few steps, the young man blocked his path. The two did not come to blows; they merely exchanged a few words on the spot before Chanming turned back to board his ship. The young man had not pursued him either, instead turning back to butcher the Vajra mighty warriors scattered across the vast battlefield.
The scene laid everything bare: the girl had fled without fighting, Dexin had fled in defeat, and only Chanming had intended to fight to the death, though for some reason no blows were struck. At the very least, he had brought back the ship-guarding Vajra mighty warriors abandoned by the girl and Dexin.
Seeing her conduct on the battlefield exposed before the Bodhisattva, the girl flew into a rage and shouted, "Chanming! I'll fight however I want, and I'll fight whenever I want! It's entirely my business—what does it have to do with you?! Keep your nose out of my affairs! Why did you capture an image of me? Do you think just because you have Di'antian backing you, you can meddle in the affairs of our Immeasurable Clear Light?"
Chanming chanted a Buddhist invocation without fear and said, "This humble monk merely presented the true state of battle for Master to examine."
The girl raised her voice, shrieking in fury, "This crushing defeat was clearly because you colluded with the outer demon! Otherwise, why would the demon let you go? He could have slain you in a single strike—how could you have come back alive? In my eyes, you're the outer demon's mole!"
Chanming sighed. "The outer demon did not spare me. I did, in fact, clash with him, but my skills were inferior. Before I could even unleash a single spell, he had already left two strands of blade qi inside the Wisdom King that were capable of obliterating my fruition. That blade qi was terrifying; had I not retreated, the Wisdom King would have perished, and even my fruition could not have been preserved. In all things, fruition takes precedence, which is why your disciple had no choice but to yield."
"You liar! Your Wisdom King is clearly unharmed! Where are the blade wounds?"
"Once your disciple retreated from the battlefield, the blade qi vanished."
"Go tell that lie to a ghost! It was your collusion with the outer demon that brought about this catastrophic defeat! For such a crime, you should be stripped of your fruition and cast down to the mortal realm to live as a pig or dog!" The girl's voice grew shriller and shriller.
After another long pause, Di'antian finally spoke: "Chanming, how then do you think this should be handled?"
Before Chanming could speak, the girl cried, "Speak of your own deeds! Keep me out of it!"
Chanming remained unmoved and said, "The outer demon was rampant, making defeat in this battle inevitable, yet the losses could have been minimized and should never have been so catastrophic. Your disciple believes that the chief culprit is Wisdom King Qingxutian..."
"Chanming! How dare you?!"
Chanming paid her no mind, continuing, "...She should be temporarily demoted from her Wisdom King seat, reduced to a Vajra, and sent to the Heaven of Purity to cultivate for a century. Your disciple bears the secondary guilt and should be demoted to a Vajra while temporarily acting in the Arhat seat, to be fully restored only after accumulating sufficient merit. Junior Brother Dexin fled in defeat, bearing the lightest blame; he should be penalized a century's worth of merit and cultivation, working to atone for his offenses."
"Hmm..." Bodhisattva Di'antian's voice echoed through the sea of light, drawn out remarkably long.
With the true body of a Bodhisattva, every single breath was spent responding to thousands upon thousands of believers and dissolving countless karmic debts. Moreover, his fruition hung high above, so even uttering a single word took a considerable amount of time just to transmit here. The brief conversation just now had already consumed several days.
The girl naturally knew this. She knew even better that she could not let Di'antian finish speaking, for once a great Bodhisattva opened his golden mouth, he might genuinely demote her to a Vajra. Furthermore, cultivating in the Heaven of Purity for a hundred years would drive someone of her temperament completely mad.
The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, "Only Master can punish me! Master, Master! Master Mingyue!"
The girl shrieked at the top of her lungs, while Bodhisattva Di'antian's long, drawn-out hum reverberated endlessly, as though it could last until the end of time. Finally, a moment later, the light within the hall suddenly shifted, glazed with a cool, watery sheen. The pervasive luminous mist dissipated somewhat, and between heaven and earth faintly emerged a full moon, its center tinted a faint, dark silver.
This full moon was so enormous that it occupied nearly half the celestial dome, larger even than the entirety of Bodhisattva Di'antian's dharma body.
The girl instantly threw herself to the ground, weeping and wailing, "Master, they want to strip me of my Wisdom King seat... Master! They all want me dead!"
From above the vault of heaven drifted down a voice as cold and clear as jade, chilling the Buddha light throughout the entire hall the moment it descended.
The voice was majestic and brooked no question: "Qingxutian and Chanming shall each return to their seats, chanting scriptures to dispel karma. Dexin lost his Wisdom King; his crime cannot be pardoned. He is demoted from his Arhat status and cast into the lower realm to enter reincarnation. His fruition shall be bestowed upon another destined soul."
Di'antian then said, "Very well."
Dexin was struck as if by lightning. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that all the blame would fall entirely on his head! And he was punished to the utmost, while being the only one punished! Yet under that chilling moonlight, he was utterly unable to move, let alone utter a sound. He could only kneel there, watching helplessly as the Buddha light around him dissipated with the decree.
The girl rose, glaring venomously at Chanming, evidently far from having vented her wrath. At that moment, a beam of moonlight fell, wiping her away into thin air and causing her to vanish from the hall. Then, the colossal full moon in the sky seemed to shift slightly before slowly fading away.
As the full moon vanished, only then did Chanming realize that the moon was no Buddhist divine manifestation—it was an eye, a single eye of Immeasurable Clear Light Bodhisattva. Stripped of his Buddha light, Dexin flew out of the great hall, tumbling down into the lower realm. For a time, only Chanming and Di'antian remained in the hall.
Chanming stood dazed for a moment before speaking: "Master, Junior Brother Dexin's fault did not warrant this!"
The colossal Buddha form leaned forward slightly, looking down as he said, "Do you feel this is unjust?"
Chanming gritted his teeth and spoke loudly, "Yes! The guilty go unpunished while a minor fault receives the harshest penalty! Your disciple finds this unjust—profoundly unjust!"
Di'antian said slowly, "The best outcome would have been for you to submit nothing when I asked for the battlefield recording. You must have known this as well, so why did you not do so?"
Chanming said loudly, "Yet the recording clearly existed, and right and wrong were plain to see! Why shouldn't I have submitted it? Qingxutian's guilt was clear as day. If even that goes unpunished, then in the Pure Land and the Sea of Bitterness, what justice remains?!"
"You harbor an obsession in your heart, obstinately clinging to justice, yet the result is that Dexin has been cast into the lower realm for reincarnation. Does such an outcome suit your desires?"
Chanming replied, "This was never your disciple's intention!"
The giant Buddha said slowly, "You knew it would end this way, yet you did it nonetheless, which means this was your intention. For Dexin's demise, the primary responsibility lies with you."
"Yet..." Chanming hesitated, unable to find words.
He knew there was another reason: Dexin's patron master was merely an Arhat whose fruition was lower than Dexin's own. But everyone knew this, and it was only one of the reasons, so there was no need to state it explicitly.
Yet the more Chanming thought about it, the less reconciled he felt. He said stubbornly, "Immeasurable Clear Light Bodhisattva is so partial, so blatantly unfair—is there truly no recourse? If worst comes to worst, I will risk offending her and take my appeal before the Buddha!"
Di'antian seemed to sigh softly, saying, "Immeasurable Clear Light Bodhisattva has spent many years placing her pieces upon Qingxutian; this was done by design. Tell me, do you think that scrap of justice in the heart of a newly ascended Arhat like you matters more, or does the big picture of Immeasurable Clear Light matter more?"
Chapter 1262