That's What You Think

Bao Yun stood in the center of the main hall of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, looking up at the seven Arhat statues lined up to her left and right. The lamplight stretched her shadow long across the floor, casting an ambiguous shade beneath her eyelashes. She wore a red mink robe trimmed with a white collar; the plush ruff crafted from snow-jade fox tails cradled her delicate jawline, giving her complexion a spring-like flush as though she had brushed on rouge. Her dark hair was coiled into a cloud-piled chignon, through which a vermilion hairpin was slanted. From it hung a red coral bead that dangled near her neck, swaying gently and shimmering with lustrous light. Of the seven Arhat statues, only one possessed a complete form and features, bearing a seventy percent resemblance to Tuoba Hong. The rest had blurred faces. The three on the left in particular had no features whatsoever, having barely secured their pedestals, their golden body dharma idols not even fully shaped. Bao Yun turned her head to look at Wei Yuan. "Aren't we playing too big a game?" Wei Yuan shook his head and smiled. "I doubt it." Bao Yun pointed overhead. "Those Bodhisattvas possess vast divine powers. With you provoking them so recklessly, aren't you afraid they'll slap you down again?" "They just swept through once; they won't strike again anytime soon. Besides, they wouldn't gain anything from doing so anyway." Wei Yuan was currently adhering to the principle of exposing only his head to observe the movements above the Sea of Bitterness, keeping his entire body submerged beneath the water. Having fought against the Pure Land for years, Bao Yun understood both the Pure Land and Buddhist cultivators quite well by now, yet she was still somewhat uneasy. "Warfare on the Sea of Bitterness relies on Wisdom Kings and Vajras. Unless the blessed lands or Buddhist realms are directly attacked, their golden bodies won't budge. The Pure Land suffered a heavy loss last time, so they are bound to dispatch several ferocious Wisdom Kings this time. "We have only these few Arhats, and Tuoba Hong has merely the strength of a dharma idol. The disparity is simply too vast. Even if you descend in person, the Pure Land will surely have prepared champions to meet you." The Pure Land possessed numerous fruitions. While seated upon their fruitions, Bodhisattvas and Arhats held the status of Immortals. What was more, ascending to a fruition sometimes required only karmic affinity and comprehension, making the threshold far lower than that of an Immortal. However, whenever Bodhisattvas and Arhats descended as avatars, their cultivation dropped by an entire tier. Under ordinary circumstances, the avatars of Arhats and Wisdom Kings possessed only Scenery Command strength; only when seated upon their fruitions did they hold the status of Immortals. Yet Wei Yuan's seven Arhats were newly established. Only Tuoba Hong had attained a golden body, while the rest were mere candidates. Without a golden body, it was difficult to draw upon the faith and vow power accumulated by the fruition—and new Arhats had hardly any vow power to begin with. Thus, when the seven Arhats took to the battlefield of the Sea of Bitterness, they would be at most seven dharma idols. Even if Wei Yuan descended and possessed one, the vessel would still be fundamentally grounded in a dharma idol. He might hold an advantage against an ordinary Wisdom King, but if several arrived at once, not even Wei Yuan could withstand them. Wei Yuan remained unconcerned. The phantoms of seven great grotto-heavens manifested above his head. Pointing upward, he said, "Rest assured, I've prepared a means that will catch them completely off guard. But you'll need to endure a slight grievance." "As long as we can win, I'll do whatever it takes." *** Out in the Sea of Bitterness, the Heaven of Sorrow and Longing and an embryonic realm-heaven were moving swiftly, closing the distance toward the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. At the speed these two realm-heavens traveled, their gravitational pull was astonishingly immense. On the sixth layer of heaven, Bodhisattva Di'antian slowly opened his eyes. Looking at Baoxing, who stood barely taller than his seated knees, he chanted a Buddhist epithet. A lotus pedestal formed beneath Baoxing's feet, lifting her until their gazes met at eye level. Though Baoxing's fruition status was lower than Di'antian's, Di'antian knew full well that she possessed a formidable background, and thus he never treated her as an inferior. Baoxing accepted the gesture placidly and said, "With war imminent, the external demon has clearly caught wind of our moves and is hauling the Heaven of Sorrow and Longing toward him with all his might. May I ask how the Bodhisattva's preparations are proceeding?" Di'antian said slowly, "The Heaven of Sorrow and Longing is a terrifying bodhimanda, no lesser in status than ultimate bliss itself. Such a Buddhist heaven and Pure Land must not fall into the hands of external demons. In this battle, haste is preferable to delay. I shall send down the Dakini-Flame Wisdom King to aid the fight." Baoxing was overjoyed. "The Bodhisattva of Immeasurable Light will also send down the Kundali Wisdom King! With these two Wisdom Kings aiding the battle, the outcome is assured!" Di'antian gave a slight nod. "I have placed Chanming into the Lightless Realm for bitter cultivation; he will not emerge for ten years. For this battle, we need not call upon him, correct?" Baoxing brought her palms together. "To temper his Chan mind is a good thing. Naturally, we shall not disturb his quiet cultivation." Di'antian nodded and spoke no more. He extended a Buddha's palm, allowing Baoxing to step upon it, and conveyed her all the way back into her own great sun fruition before withdrawing his hand. Baoxing had intended to return to her fruition, but suddenly halted and listened intently. A distant, chill voice echoed in her ear: "On the first layer resides an Arhat by the dharma title of Karma Zhenyu Arhat. Go seek him out. With him joining the fray, victory is guaranteed." "An Arhat on the first layer? Could it be the Venerable Zhenyu of the past?" "Indeed. But this man is untamed and willful; my dharma decree alone is not enough. You must go invite him in person." Baoxing smiled. "What is so difficult about that?" *** In the Sea of Bitterness, Wei Yuan's dharma body suddenly cracked its eyes open, gazing at a figure walking across the waves. It was an honest, unvarnished middle-aged man wearing a coarse linen shirt commonly seen on manual laborers. His hands were covered in rough, hardened calluses, and a hand pick was tucked into his waistband. Such a rough-hewn man, looking no different from any ordinary laborer, could actually tread upon the waves of the Sea of Bitterness? This was a divine power not even Wei Yuan possessed. Wei Yuan's dharma body floated upward slightly. His head alone was now some seventy to eighty feet tall, bringing him level with the newcomer. The man walked up before Wei Yuan, clasped his hands together, and said, "I'm Zhenyu. Word has it you've kicked up quite a storm since arriving in the Sea of Bitterness, so I came over to have a look at you." Wei Yuan's eyes were now dark gold, and Buddhist radiance drifted behind his head. He said calmly, "I merely wished to create a paradise for the followers who placed their faith in me, yet no sooner did I arrive than enemies came knocking at my door, slaying many of my innocent believers. It seems that in a place like the Sea of Bitterness, lacking strength means you deserve to die!" Zhenyu frowned, unexpectedly finding himself at a loss for words. After a moment of silence, he finally said, "Why don't you come over to my place for a bowl of coarse tea and a chat?" Wei Yuan said, "Lead the way, Senior." The man simply drew his hand across the air, carving open a portal. Wei Yuan caught hold of an immortal orchid attempting to scurry away, plucked off one of its leaves, and fired it from between his brows. The leaf transformed into an avatar the same height as Zhenyu. One after the other, the two walked through the portal. Behind the door lay an ordinary realm-heaven. It had daylight but neither sun nor moon, barely meeting the status of a realm-heaven, belonging to the lowest rank among immortal heavens and Buddhist realms. Towering mountain ranges ran across the land, their snow-capped peaks nearly touching the sky. Vast stretches of exposed rock covered the mountains, where a few hardy trees clung stubbornly to life. At the foot of the mountains lay gentle slopes carpeted in brownish-green meadows, dotted with several villages. The single town did not seem to have many inhabitants either; a road ran straight through it toward the great mountain, ending where the rocks had been quarried away. "My teapot is over there," Zhenyu said, pointing into the mountains. In the next breath, he brought Wei Yuan to a quarry. Here, several hundred people were scattered across various stone-quarrying sites, chiseling away at the rock bit by bit, cutting it into stone blocks on the spot, which were then carried out of the mountains on shoulder poles. Every two people carried a single massive boulder, trekking slowly down the mountain. At their pace, it would take at least a full day. These people included men, women, and even children of seven or eight, all laboring at the quarry just the same. Zhenyu led Wei Yuan into a thatched shed, picked up a clay pot, poured two bowls of coarse tea, and handed one to Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan drained it in one gulp. Instantly, he felt a stream of stone qi rise from his belly, actually nudging his comprehension of the Sea of Bitterness a small step forward. "Good tea!" Wei Yuan set down the tea bowl and praised it from the heart. Things capable of advancing his cultivation even by a fraction were few and far between these days. Zhenyu did not explain the origins of the tea as Wei Yuan had expected. Instead, he pointed to the people outside and asked, "What do you think of these people of mine?" Wei Yuan said, "Their lives are a bit bitter, and rather crude. They ought to read some books." Zhenyu visibly stiffened; Wei Yuan's answer clearly caught him unprepared. After a pause, he finally said, "Once they arrive here, they naturally know what they need from birth. There is nowhere they need to read or write, so not reading books seems fine." Wei Yuan replied, "One reads books not merely to recognize words, but to understand reason." Zhenyu pointed to a little girl not yet ten years old. "All she needs to do every day is quarry stone. Once these stones are cut and finished, they are delivered to the Pure Lands and Buddhist realms of other Bodhisattvas to construct temples and erect statues, which earns another share of merit. However much stone she chisels is how much merit she gains. With such a simple method of cultivation, what reason could she possibly fail to understand?" Hearing this, Wei Yuan said, "Then what does Senior think of those believers in other Buddhist realms and Pure Lands who enjoy ultimate bliss?" "Muddled and senseless, idling away their days waiting to die, nothing more. To experience bliss every day is to experience no bliss at all. Did they cultivate across countless past lifetimes in the end just so they could comfortably do nothing and merely enjoy the incense offerings of others?" Wei Yuan smiled faintly. "From where I stand, watching these people quarry stone is even worse than enjoying ultimate bliss. Enjoying bliss is at least a result, whereas these people quarrying stone are enduring cultivation—enduring bitterness. May I ask then, Senior: what is the purpose of cultivation, and where does it end?" Zhenyu said in a deep voice, "The path of cultivation is boundless; how could there be a limit to one's attainment? If one engages in bitter cultivation day after day, they will steadily move forward bit by bit. As days turn into years, looking back, they will find their starting point left far behind at the foot of the mountain. That is the meaning of it." Wei Yuan nodded. "There is meaning in it, but that is merely the meaning you yourself perceive, Senior. Just like the ultimate bliss of Shanle's Buddhist Realm is merely what Shanle deems to be bliss. Be it bitter cultivation or ultimate bliss, whatever you decide is meaningful becomes the path the believers must walk. "Pardon my bluntness, but both you and Shanle are Bodhisattvas and Arhats, exalted on high, looking down upon all living beings as ants. Whatever you think becomes reality; whatever you deem meaningful must be meaningful. As for the ants, they have no right to think at all." Zhenyu frowned. "I do it for their own good." "That's what you think." Having said his piece, Wei Yuan stood up. "Then I shall wait in the Sea of Bitterness, waiting to see just how remarkable this path of bitter cultivation truly is." Zhenyu's brow furrowed even tighter. "Why have you stopped calling me Senior?" Wei Yuan smiled faintly. "In the Dao, there is no first or last; whoever attains it is the teacher. Going by those words, referring to myself as 'I' is already being rather modest."