There was a dead silence in the Buddhist hall, as if all the gods and Buddhas were missing, all the sounds were swallowed up by the infinite void, and there was not even a trace of air vibration.
Phoenix suddenly felt that something was wrong.
He frowned slightly, and at this moment, the light on the large pure gold floor tile in front of him faintly outlined a shadow, hazy, and it took a long time to gradually show his figure.
"— Venerable Ba Ti?" Phoenix asked in astonishment.
Venerable Ba Ti looked very embarrassed, his eye sockets were sunken and his face was blue and gray, and the skin on his face was wrinkled. He looked a bit like the five declines of heaven and man. However, Phoenix knew that Venerable Ba Ti had not shown signs of weakening for tens of thousands of years. It was impossible for him to die suddenly, so he immediately leaned over and helped him up: "What's wrong with Venerable?"
"..." Ba Ti stared straight at him and opened his mouth.
"Your Honor?"
Ba Ti breathed for a moment, took the Buddha bone hanging from the red thread on Phoenix's hand, and stretched out his hand to hook from his temple.
A tiny and gorgeous golden light came out of his brain along his fingertips, and was immediately covered on the Buddha's bone by Ba Ti. At that moment, the whole Buddha bone glowed brightly, and then the golden light disappeared into the bone marrow and quickly extinguished, as if nothing had happened.
Badi said hoarsely: "Please protect it..."
Phoenix asked curiously, "What is this?"
Ba Ti leaned into Phoenix's ear, his voice was extremely soft, and if you listened carefully, you could even notice the trembling of the ending: "...it's the soul of a true Buddha..."
"I forcibly ascended to Wushengtian and brought the soul of the true Buddha down from the hiding place..."
Phoenix's first reaction was dazed, and then it was nonsense.
But the expression in his eyes was very solemn, and it didn't look like he was joking at all.
—This Venerable is really not the type to joke around. Strictly speaking, he is the cousin of the Buddha. He cultivated a righteous fruit under the twin trees. He was enshrined in Xuebao Mountain from the first day that Mount Sumeru broke out of the sea. On the top of the Buddhist hall, he has always been a person with a pure heart and few desires.
"This... is this Shakyamuni?" Phoenix pointed at the Buddha's bone, feeling very absurd.
Who knew that Ba Ti would immediately stop him: "Don't mention that person's name!"
"… what?"
"Don't mention that person's name. Although he is in the colorless sky, his alaya consciousness is everywhere, and mentioning his name will startle him. I managed to lure all the gods and Buddhas out of the sky and avoid him. Perceive to find the only remaining soul of the true Buddha..."
Phoenix has no other feeling in his heart other than his astonishment: "You said Shi... You said 'he' is not a true Buddha? Then what is 'he'?"
Ba Ti took Phoenix's hand, put the Buddha's bone in the palm of his hand, and pushed his fingers, letting him hold the bone that hides the true Buddha's soul.
"I practiced under the Bodhi tree with Zheng Buddha for thousands of years, and we were very familiar with each other. Until that year, when the glacier moved, the phoenix jade body was shaken into the sea of blood, and the Buddha went to hell to pick it up. Heaven, but turned into a human body to stay in Mount Sumeru, and turned into a 'he' that made me feel very strange..."
This "he" clearly refers to Shakyamuni, and Venerable Bhati is indeed careful to avoid mentioning this name.
"'He' raised you in the Temple of Mount Sumeru for a long time, and most of the time he was hidden from sight. I once asked him why he didn't return to the lotus seat? Years of Buddha Kalpa; and his present posture is the human body born for the Buddha Kalpa. Only after the first round of Buddha Kalpa has passed, can he recover his golden body and return to the colorless heaven."
Sakyamuni is the human form of a true Buddha. The so-called "first round of Buddha's calamity" was also lifted when the Phoenix Cleared the Sea of Blood. Therefore, Sakyamuni was able to leave Mount Sumeru and return to the Colorless Heaven. This Phoenix knew it for a long time.
Is there anything wrong with it
"Do you know why it is necessary to clear the sea of blood in the first round of the Buddha's kalpa?" Venerable Ba Ti took a breath and asked tiredly while sitting on the ground.
Fenghuang asked suspiciously, "Isn't it Shi... Wasn't it his big wish?"
But Badi shook his head:
"The purpose of making a vow is to become a Buddha. He is already a Buddha, he just needs to return to the lotus seat. Why is it necessary to make a vow?"
Phoenix never thought about this question.
Not only him, but no one on Mount Sumeru has thought about it - after all, very few people know about Shakyamuni, and even if someone knows, the unshakable cognition of the status of the true Buddha has been deeply implanted in the hearts of people for tens of thousands of years. , it is impossible to produce the slightest shake.
Ba Ti smiled sarcastically, not knowing whether he was mocking Phoenix for taking it for granted, or he was mocking himself at the gods and Buddhas in the nine heavens and ten places, but no one thought of this.
"This person who returned to Mount Sumeru from hell with you and raised you in hiding was born in the devil's eye of hell. He claimed to be the person who should have been born when Buddha saw the phoenix break out of its shell, but In fact, it could be something else."
Venerable Badi paused and said, "It's another kind of... very scary thing."
Phoenix seemed to suddenly understand something, Huo Ran stepped back half a step and stared at Venerable's haggard face, before shaking his head for a while, "This is not... this is impossible!"
"Why is it impossible? Only in this way can we explain why 'he' must clear the sea of blood before returning to the colorless sky." Venerable Ba Ti said coldly: "You must know that the magic eye is the fixed point of the hell energy circulation system. Every moment, infinite energy is concentrated from all parts of hell, gathered to the magic eye, and then circulated from the magic eye to all hell creatures. Most of these hell creatures are ordinary hell monsters born in the sea of blood, and if they are in the magic eye If it is born, it has another characteristic."
He paused and said, "This feature is that no matter where the monsters born in the magic eye go in the future, they can automatically absorb the energy circulating in the magic eye as the support of the soul, so that the magic eye can be supplied to all places in hell. The energy gradually decreases, and it can be called the snatchers of the energy of the entire hell. On the contrary, if the monsters in hell itself exceed a certain number, the energy consumption will be multiplied, and the energy that can be occupied by the snatchers will be greatly reduced. "
"The period from when you broke out of the shell to when you first emptied the sea of blood happened to be the stage when the number of hell creatures was rapidly expanding. Therefore, the hell energy that 'he' could absorb on Mount Sumeru was also drastically reduced, so that it was impossible for him to absorb at all. Go up to the colorless sky to fight against the remaining soul of the true Buddha."
"Until you shoot the Great Asura King and empty the sea of blood for the first time, the Great Demon of Hell has almost been subdued. At this time, 'he' has no competitors, and can fully occupy all the energy circulated by the Demon Eye. The strength is unimaginable, so I went to Wushitian to suppress the soul of the true Buddha. For you, it means that the 'Buddha' has successfully crossed the calamity and returned to his place..."
Phoenix could hardly believe his ears, he stood there stiffly, his face as pale as paper.
"Then he... Then what is he?"
Venerable Badi smiled, but that smile was more bitter than crying: "I don't know."
Phoenix stood there, shocked and speechless, not knowing what to say.
All kinds of strangeness and capriciousness of Shakyamuni, as well as the absurd actions of the Dao of Heaven for thousands of years, and even the actions of conquering the four evil realms and emptying the sea of blood in hell, seem to have been answered at this moment. However, it was still difficult for him to believe that the person who raised him was actually a demon, or a demon born from the golden body of a true Buddha!
"But... but I was also born under the devil's eye. Am I also... "
Badi gave a slightly odd and very complicated smile.
"You are an immemorial bird, with a demonic nature. Even if the magic eye energy circulates to you, it will be immediately offset by the divinity of the phoenix. But besides you, there are other people in the world who were also born in the demon eye, you know Who is it?"
Phoenix opened his mouth, his teeth were shaking slightly: "Zhou Hui..."
Ba Ti nodded and said, "There is another one, the current Great Asura King Fanluo."
- No wonder Zhou Hui is the only one among the tens of thousands of hell demons who has become a human being. No wonder his strength is so powerful that he 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 tingle, "...So now Zhou Hui and Fan Luo are sharing the hell energy circulating in the devil's eyes with 'him'?"
"In the beginning, it didn't stop there, but the other creatures born in the devil's eyes were either wiped out by you when you cleared the sea of blood, or they didn't become climate, and were solved by 'he' himself. Now the remaining Fan Luo and Zhou Hui, one is The great Asura king with godhood, who is with you all year round, he can't find a chance to start."
Venerable Ba Ti spoke in a hurry, covering his mouth and coughing a few times. The voice seemed to vibrate dully from his chest, and it sounded like a torn trachea, but it was conceivable that he was severely injured.
Phoenix half-kneeled in front of him and said earnestly, "Sir, please let me heal you..."
"No, it's too late." Badi smiled bitterly.
"I found clues from the various weirdness of 'hi', and I was worried that he would completely destroy the true Buddha when he was strong enough to a certain extent, so he went up to the colorless sky, stole the last ray of the true Buddha's soul, and then used the whole body The cultivation base has closed the only exit of the colorless sky."
He pointed to the Buddha's bone in Phoenix's hand, and said, "With his current strength, Wushengtian won't be closed for long, and soon he will break through the confinement and come down to Mount Sumeru - my cultivation base is destroyed now, it's just an empty shelf, Once you face it, there is only one way to die. But I just ask you to protect the last strand of the true Buddha's soul, so that one day in the future, we can expel the false Buddha, let the truly compassionate Buddha return to his place, and prevent the six realms from being utterly ruined. …”
Phoenix's pupils shrank, looking at the bones in his hands that were hidden by the golden light, he hesitated, "But how to expel the false Buddha?"
Badi was silent and did not speak for a long time.
"Your Honor?"
"..." Badi finally opened his mouth, but it seemed a little difficult: "People born in the same devil's eyes can kill each other. So you can kill the Great Asura King, refine his godhead as energy, and ignite the nine heavens and ten earths. The most divine fire of Nirvana may be able to burn that person in the colorless sky to death…”
He took a breath and didn't turn his head to look 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 Zhou Hui and… my two children do?"
In fact, Phoenix's first reaction in an instant was, what should Zhou Hui do? But he was stunned before the words came out.
He thought he would think about what to do with Maha, what about Garuda, how can he face the unpredictable wind and rain and the treacherous fate in the future when his child is so young? However, at the moment before the words were spoken, Zhou Hui was the first person that came to mind.
The man who came to propose to him from thousands of troops, the man who brought him out of the empty and lonely temple to be with him for thousands of years, the man who came from the crowd countless times, took his hand, and asked him if Miss your man.
Children will always grow up, and they will always meet the person they should meet at a certain turning point in their fate.
However, Zhou Hui only has him, and the hell demon's life is still so long, what will he do in the future
Will he sit dazed and numb as he used to, in a vacuum where there is no light and no hope day after day, until death finally comes one day in the future
Will he reminisce over and over again the bits and pieces of the thousands of years he has spent with him, like a gambler who drinks a dove to quench his thirst, accepts endless torture in the interlacing of fantasy and reality, and finally collapses to the end
Phoenix trembled slightly.
At that moment, he suddenly felt that the Buddha's bone in his hand was so heavy that he had an unbearable illusion.
"His Royal Highness," Venerable Ba Ti's voice was gentle, but there was some sad pity in his eyes: "If you let Sakyamuni do nothing, Zhou Hui will have no way to survive... The person in the colorless sky will not let his competitors and himself snatch the devil. With the power of eyes, one day he will attack the Great Asura King first, and then turn to Zhou Hui when his strength grows. At that time, there will be no strength that can compete with him in the nine days and ten places. Finished?"
Phoenix's heart was shocked.
Seeing him stunned and speechless for a long time, Venerable Ba Ti sighed and said, "Let me tell you another reason why you have to do this. King Peacock Daming won't live long after being deprived of his divine status, unless he is given a sigh of relief. A similar godhead to replace—His Royal Highness Mahama is extremely evil by nature, except for close relatives within the six realms, it is difficult to have similarities. Only the current Great Asura King Fanluo, born in the eye of the devil, is known as the devil, and his godhead may be comparable to the peacock. King Daming matches... Try it or not, it's up to you, Your Highness."
After Venerable Badi finished speaking, he covered his chest and coughed. He probably said too much, his voice was so hoarse that he could hardly hear a human voice, and a lot of golden blood spattered from the corners of his mouth, which was wiped away by his gritted teeth.
Phoenix looked at him blankly, and asked after a while, "Then... what are you going to do?"
"Me?" Venerable Bhati breathed and laughed: "I'm waiting here. I'm waiting for him to kill me, my soul will return to the realm of ruins, and continue to wait there to see him commit suicide. ... I don't believe that there is a thing in this world where a dove occupies a magpie's nest for a lifetime. I have done everything that can be done, and I will wait for the rest."
Phoenix's complexion changed slightly. After a long time, he got up and stepped back half a step. He bowed to Venerable Ba Ti and said, "I will protect the soul of the true Buddha and do my best to restore the Buddha to his rightful place."
He paused, his voice low but insistent: "But not for the illusory so-called justice or 'heaven's way', but for myself - if I die because of this, it is also for the people I love in my heart, and for me own beliefs and expectations…”
Venerable Bati said safely: "Cultivation of Buddha is to cultivate oneself."
Phoenix finally bowed, clenched the Buddha bone holding the red rope in his hand, turned around and strode out of the hall.
That was the last time Phoenix saw Venerable Badi.
For hundreds of years after that, all the gods and Buddhas in the sky were silent, and there was no news of Venerable Ba Ti.
When Phoenix returned to Buzhou Mountain, Zhou Hui was looking for him in hell, and the search range was about to step out of hell and head towards Liulitian. Phoenix actually felt a bit like a child who did something wrong. He stood there hesitating, only to see Zhou Hui's eyes looking at him fiercely for a moment, but he immediately covered it up and waved, "Come here."
Phoenix stood there for a while, then walked over slowly, and was hugged tightly by Zhou Hui.
"Where did you go?"
"… "
Zhou Hui didn't pursue it immediately. He kissed his temple and whispered, "It's good to know when you come back."
Zhou Hui suddenly woke up late that night and felt that Phoenix was moving his hand beside him. He didn't make a sound, and lay quietly in the dark with his eyes open. After a while, he felt the phoenix lift his hand beside him into a hugging posture, then curled up into his arms, buried his head, and didn't move. .
At that moment, Zhou Hui couldn't tell how he felt in his heart. He looked at the hazy ceiling in the dark night, and after a while, he turned around and hugged Phoenix, smelling the water lily-like breath on his body and in his hair.
"What the hell did you do?" Zhou Hui asked in a low voice in the dark, "You have something to hide from me, don't you?"
Phoenix's forehead was firmly pressed against his hot chest, without making any sound.
What if you tell Zhou Hui
The creatures born in the eyes of the devil kill each other, gain the strength of each other, and then go to assassinate the heart demon Shakyamuni in the colorless sky...
... Zhou Hui will do it for himself, right? Phoenix thought.
However, hell demons who cannot Nirvana will surely die if they do so.
For some reason, Phoenix suddenly remembered the story he heard in the human world many years ago. When a couple grow old, they hope that the other person will walk before them, because the person who leaves first can avoid repeating one day in the long and dark years. day of despair. At that time, he thought that he must be the one who left, but it was only when things came to an end that he realized that he had hidden such a selfish side in his heart.
"I won't tell you," Phoenix said stubbornly, his voice melted into the thick darkness like a long river as soon as he left his mouth.
He gropingly grabbed Zhou Hui's hand, clasped his fingers together, and sighed softly after a while, "...I won't tell you."
Volume Five: The Last Volume of Nirvana