Lantern: Reflection of the Peach Blossoms

There was a dead silence in the Buddhist hall, as if all the gods and Buddhas in the sky had disappeared, and all the sounds were swallowed up by the infinite void, without even a trace of air vibration.

Phoenix suddenly felt something was wrong.

He frowned slightly, and at this moment, suddenly a shadow was vaguely outlined by the light on the large pure gold floor tile in front of him, which was hazy, and it took a long time to gradually reveal his figure.

"—Honor Bati?" Fenghuang asked in astonishment.

Venerable Bati looked very embarrassed, his eye sockets were sunken, his complexion was blue and gray, and the skin on his face was wrinkled. It looked a bit like the five declines of heaven and man - but Fenghuang knew that Venerable Bati had not shown any signs of weakness for tens of thousands of years. Now it is impossible to die suddenly, and immediately leaned over to help him up: "What's wrong, Your Honor?"

"..." Bati stared straight at him and opened his mouth.

"Your Honor?"

Bati gasped for a moment, took the Buddha bone hanging from the red thread in Phoenix's hand, and then stretched out his hand to hook it from his temple.

A subtle and brilliant golden light was pulled out from his brain along his fingertips, and then covered by Bati on the Buddha bone.At that moment, the entire Buddha bone glowed with bright light, and then the golden light disappeared into the bone marrow, and quickly extinguished, as if nothing had happened.

Bati said hoarsely: "Please protect it..."

Fenghuang wondered: "What is this?"

Bati leaned over Fenghuang's ear, his voice was extremely soft, and if you listened carefully, you could still hear the trembling at the end: "...It's the soul of a true Buddha..."

"I forcibly went to the Colorless Heaven and brought down the soul of the true Buddha from hiding..."

Phoenix's first reaction was to be at a loss, and then it was nonsense.

But Bati's expression in his eyes was very serious, and he didn't look like he was joking at all.

——This venerable is indeed not the type to joke about. Strictly speaking, he is a cousin of the Buddha. On the top of the Buddhist hall on the top of Baoshan Mountain, he has always been a pure-hearted person who keeps his body and integrity.

"This...is this Sakyamuni?" Fenghuang pointed at the Buddha bone, feeling very absurd.

Unexpectedly, Bati immediately stopped him when he heard it: "Don't mention that person's name!"

"……what?"

"Don't mention that person's name. Although he is in the Colorless Heaven, his Alaya Consciousness is everywhere. Mentioning his name will startle him. I managed to lure away all the gods and Buddhas in the sky, and then avoided his attack. Perceived to find the only remaining true Buddha soul..."

Fenghuang felt nothing but astonishment in his heart: "You said Shi...you said 'he' is not a true Buddha? Then what is 'he'?"

Bati took Fenghuang's hand, put the Buddha bone in his palm, and pushed his fingers, making him tightly hold the bone that hides the soul of the true Buddha.

"I practiced under the bodhi tree with Zhengfo for thousands of years, and we are very familiar with each other. Until that year, when the glacier moved, the phoenix jade embryo was shaken into the sea of ​​blood, and the Buddha went to the devil's eye of hell to pick it up. God, but turned into a human body and stayed on Mount Sumeru, turning into a 'he' that made me feel very strange..."

This "he" clearly refers to Sakyamuni, and the Venerable Bhatti was indeed very careful to avoid mentioning this name.

"'He' has been raising you in the temple of Mount Sumeru for a long time. Most of the time he hides his body from people to see. I asked him why he didn't return to the rosette? His answer was that the phoenix was born with a very evil appearance, which corresponds to the next 3 years. Years of Buddha Kalpa; and his current posture is a human body that was born for Buddha Kalpa. Only after the first round of Buddha Kalpa passes, can he recover his golden body and return to the colorless heaven."

Sakyamuni is the human form of the true Buddha. The so-called "first round of Buddha kalpa" was also lifted when the Phoenix cleared the sea of ​​blood, so Sakyamuni was able to leave Mount Sumeru and return to the colorless sky. This Phoenix has long known.

Is there something wrong with it?

"Do you know why it is necessary to clear the sea of ​​blood in the first round of Buddha Kalpa?" Venerable Bati took a breath and asked tiredly while sitting on the ground.

Fenghuang wondered: "Isn't it Shi... Isn't it his great wish?"

But Bati shook his head:

"The vow is to become a Buddha. He is already a Buddha, and he just needs to return to the lotus seat. Why do we need to make a vow?"

Phoenix never thought about this question.

Not only him, but no one on Mount Sumeru has ever thought about it—after all, few people know Sakyamuni, and even if someone knows, the unshakable cognition of the status of the true Buddha has been deeply implanted for tens of thousands of years. People's hearts cannot be shaken in the slightest.

Bati smiled sarcastically, and didn't know whether he was laughing at Fenghuang for taking it for granted, or laughing at himself for being full of gods and Buddhas, but no one thought of this.

"This person who returned to Mount Sumeru from hell with you and raised you up with a hidden identity was born in the devil's eye of hell. He claimed to be the human body of the Buddha who was reborn when he saw the phoenix break out of its shell, but Actually, it could be something else."

Venerable Bati paused, and said, "It's another...very scary thing."

Fenghuang seemed to understand something suddenly, he took half a step back and stared at the haggard gray and haggard face of the Venerable, and shook his head after a while and said: "This is not... this is impossible!"

"Why is it impossible? Only in this way can we explain why 'he' must empty the sea of ​​blood before he can return to the Colorless Heaven." Venerable Bhati said coldly: "You have to know—the magic eye is the fixed point of the hell's energy circulation system , At every moment, infinite energy concentrates from all parts of hell, gathers in the magic eye, and then disperses from the magic eye to all hell creatures. Most of these hell creatures are ordinary hell devils born in the sea of ​​blood, and if in the magic eye If you are born in the eyes, you will have another characteristic."

He paused and said: "This characteristic is that no matter where the monsters born in the magic eye go in the future, they can automatically absorb the energy circulated in the magic eye as the support of the soul, so that the magic eye can supply it to all parts of hell. The energy gradually decreases, and it can be called the snatcher of the energy of the whole hell—on the contrary, if there are more than a certain number of monsters in hell itself, the intensity of energy consumption will increase exponentially, so that the energy that the snatcher can occupy will be greatly reduced .”

"The period from when you broke out of your shell to when the blood sea was emptied for the first time happened to be the stage when the number of hell creatures was rapidly expanding. Therefore, the hell energy that 'he' could absorb on Mount Meru was also sharply reduced, so that he could not absorb it at all. Go to the Colorless Heaven to fight against the remaining soul of the true Buddha."

"Until you shot the Great Asura King and emptied the sea of ​​blood for the first time, the devil of hell was almost subdued. At this time 'he' has no competitors, can fully occupy all the energy circulated by the magic eye, and has It is so powerful that it is unimaginable, that's why you went to the Colorless Heaven to suppress the soul of the true Buddha, and for you, it means that the 'Buddha' has successfully passed the catastrophe and returned to his throne..."

Fenghuang could hardly believe his ears, he stood there stiffly, his face was as pale as paper.

"Then...then what is he?"

Venerable Bati smiled, but that smile was bitterer than crying: "I don't know."

Fenghuang stood there, stunned beyond words, completely unsure of what to say.

All kinds of weirdness and capriciousness of Sakyamuni, as well as the absurd actions of the Heavenly Dao for thousands of years, and even the crazy conquest of the four evil realms and the emptying of the sea of ​​blood in hell, all seemed to be answered at this moment.However, it was still hard for him to believe that the person who raised him was actually a demon, or a demon born from the golden body of the Buddha!

"But...but I was also born by the side of the magic eye, could it be that I also..."

Bhatti gave a slightly odd and very complicated smile.

"You are an immemorial divine bird, with the nature to destroy demons. Even if the energy of the demonic eye circulates on you, it will be immediately offset by the divinity of the phoenix. But besides you, there are other people born in the demonic eye, you know Who is it?"

Fenghuang opened his mouth, his teeth trembling slightly: "Zhou Hui..."

Bati nodded and said, "There is one more, the current Great Asura King Fanluo."

——It’s no wonder that among the tens of thousands of demons in hell, only Zhou Hui has cultivated into a human body. It’s no wonder that his strength is so strong that it even surpasses the Asura tribe. It turns out that this is the reason behind a series of unreasonable things!

Phoenix's heart was pounding, and the rapid blood flow made his fingertips a little numb, "...So now it's Zhou Hui and Fan Luo who share the hell energy circulating in the magic eye with 'him'?"

"In the beginning it was not enough, but other creatures born in the magic eye were either wiped out when you cleared the sea of ​​blood, or they were not good enough to be solved by 'he' himself. Now the remaining Fan Luo and Zhou Hui, one is A godlike Great Asura King, who stays with you all the year round, he can't find a chance to strike."

Venerable Bati spoke in a hurry, covered his mouth and coughed a few times.The voice seemed to be vibrating from the muffled chest, and it sounded like a tearing trachea, and it was conceivable that he was seriously injured.

Fenghuang half-kneeled in front of him, earnestly said: "Honorable One, please let me heal your wounds..."

"No, it's too late." Bati smiled wryly.

"I found clues from all the weirdness of 'him', and I was worried that he would completely destroy the true Buddha after his strength reached a certain level. The cultivation base has closed the only exit of the colorless sky."

He pointed to the Buddha bone in Phoenix's hand, and said: "With his current strength, the colorless sky will not be closed for long, and soon he will break through the confinement and come down to Mount Sumeru--my cultivation base is completely destroyed now, it's just an empty shell , once you face it head-on, there is only a dead end. But I just ask you to protect the last ray of the soul of the true Buddha, so that one day in the future, the false Buddha will be expelled, and the truly compassionate Buddha will return to his place, so as to avoid the six realms of life and bones Charcoal..."

Phoenix's pupils constricted, looking at the bones in his hand that were hidden by the golden light, he hesitated and said, "But how to expel the false Buddha?"

Bati fell silent for a long time without speaking.

"Your Honor?"

"..." Bati finally opened his mouth, but it seemed a little difficult: "People who were born in the same magic eye can kill each other. So you can kill the great Asura king, refine his godhead as energy, and ignite nine days and ten The fire of Nirvana with the strongest divinity in the earth may be able to burn that person in the colorless sky to death..."

He took a breath, and turned his head away from looking into Phoenix's eyes.

Phoenix's breathing stopped, and there was no sound for a long time.

"But," he finally said after a long time, "if I die, what will happen to Zhou Hui and...my two children?"

In fact, Phoenix's first reaction in an instant was, what should Zhou Hui do?But before the words came out, he was stunned.

He thought he would think about what to do with Maha, what to do with Garuda, his child is still so young, how will he face the unpredictable wind and rain and the treacherous fate in the future?However, at the moment before the words came out, the first thing that came to mind was Zhou Hui.

The man who came from thousands of troops to propose to him, the man who brought him out of the empty and lonely temple to accompany him for thousands of years, the man who walked countless times from the crowd, held his hand, and asked if he Miss my man.

Children will always grow up, and they will always meet the person they should meet at a certain turning point of fate.

However, Zhou Hui only had him, and the hell devil's lifespan was still so long, what would he do in the future?

Will he be like he used to be, sitting in a vacuum day after day without light or hope, dazed and numb, until death finally comes someday in the future?

Will he recall the thousands of years of being with him over and over again, like a gambler drinking doves to quench his thirst, accepting endless torture in the interlacing of fantasy and reality, and finally going to the end of mental breakdown?

Phoenix trembled slightly.

At that moment, he suddenly felt that the Buddha bone in his hand was so heavy that he had the illusion that it was unbearable.

"Your Highness," Venerable Bati said in a gentle voice, but there was some sorrow and pity in his eyes: "If you let Sakyamuni do nothing, Zhou Hui will have no way out... That person in the colorless sky will not let competitors compete with him." With the power of the magic eye, one day he will attack the Great Asura King first, and then turn to deal with Zhou Hui after his strength grows—by that time, there will be no power that can compete with him, and under the overthrow of the nest, How can there be any eggs?"

Phoenix's mind was shocked.

Seeing him standing there in shock for a long time, Venerable Bati sighed and said, "Let me tell you another reason why you must do this. King Peacock Daming can't live for long after being deprived of his godhood, unless you give him A similar godhead to replace—His Royal Highness Maha is extremely evil by nature, and it is difficult to have similarities in the six realms except for close relatives. Only the current great Asura King Vatican, who was born in the magic eye and is known as the demon king, may have a godhead comparable to Peacock Daming King's marriage...whether you try it or not is up to your Highness."

Venerable Bhati covered his chest and coughed. He probably talked too much. His voice was so hoarse that he could hardly hear a human voice. A lot of golden blood foam splashed from the corner of his mouth, which was wiped away by his gritted teeth.

Fenghuang looked at him blankly, and asked for a while, "Then... what are you going to do?"

"Me?" Venerable Bhati gasped and laughed: "I'm just waiting here. I'm waiting for him to kill me, and my soul will go to the Realm of Return to the Ruins, and continue to wait on it to see him kill himself ... I don't believe that there is such a thing as a dove occupying a magpie's nest for a lifetime in this world. I have done everything that can be done, and I will wait for the rest."

Fenghuang's complexion changed slightly, and after a long time, he got up and took a half step back, and bowed his palms to Venerable Bati: "I will protect the soul of the true Buddha, and do my best to bring the Buddha back to its rightful position."

He paused, his voice was very low but he insisted: "But it's not for the illusory so-called justice or 'Heaven', but for myself - if I die because of this, it will be for the people I love in my heart, and My own beliefs and expectations..."

Venerable Bhati said calmly: "Cultivating the Buddha is to cultivate oneself."

Finally, Fenghuang bowed his body, clutching the Buddha bone with the red string in his hand, turned around and strode out of the hall.

That was the last time Phoenix saw Venerable Bhati.

After hundreds of years, the gods and Buddhas in the sky were all silent, and there was no news of Venerable Bhati.

When Fenghuang returned to Buzhou Mountain, Zhou Hui was looking for him all over the hell, and the search range had almost crossed the hell and headed towards Liulitian.Fenghuang actually felt a bit like a child who did something wrong. He stood there hesitating, and saw that Zhou Hui's eyes were very fierce for a moment, but he immediately covered it up and waved, "Come here."

Fenghuang stood there for a while, then slowly walked over, and was immediately hugged tightly by Zhou Hui.

"Where did you go?"

"..."

Zhou Hui didn't pursue it immediately, but kissed him on the sideburns, and said in a low voice, "It's good to know when you come back."

That night Zhou Hui woke up suddenly, feeling that Fenghuang was moving his hand beside him.He didn't make a sound, and lay quietly in the darkness with his eyes open. After a while, he felt Phoenix lift the hands beside him into an embracing posture, then curled into his arms, buried his head, and remained motionless. .

At that moment Zhou Hui couldn't tell what he was feeling.He looked at the hazy ceiling in the dark night, and after a while he turned over and hugged Phoenix, smelling the water lily-like scent on his body and in his hair.

"What did you do?" Zhou Hui asked in a low voice in the dark, "You have something to hide from me, don't you?"

Fenghuang's forehead was tightly pressed against his strong and hot chest, without making any sound.

What would happen if I told Zhou Hui?

The creatures born in the magic eye kill each other, gain each other's power, and then go to assassinate the heart demon Sakyamuni in the colorless sky...

...Zhou Hui will do it for himself, right?Phoenix thought.

However, hell demons who cannot Nirvana will definitely die if they do this.

For some reason, Fenghuang suddenly remembered the story that he heard in the human world many years ago. When a couple gets old, they hope that the other party will go before them, because the one who goes first can avoid repeating the same day in the long and gloomy years. Days of despair.At that time, he thought that he must be the one who left behind, but when things came to an end, he realized that there was actually such a selfish side hidden in his heart.

"I won't tell you," Fenghuang stubbornly said, and the moment his voice came out, it melted into the thick darkness like a long river.

He groped to grab Zhou Hui's hand, crossed his fingers together, and sighed softly after a long while: "...I won't tell you."

Book Five: The Final Book of Nirvana