To the onlookers, this scene was somewhat strange. None of them could figure out what the Nether Monk was doing.
The three martial brothers did not stop him either. Although they were somewhat worried about Big Head, they could also sense that the Nether Monk did not seem intent on harming him. If he truly wanted to harm him, given the Nether Monk’s cultivation that kept them from even approaching, there would be no need to manifest such a dharma form just to deal with Big Head.
The towering phantom of a divine Buddha that made people look up suddenly collapsed before everyone’s eyes, breaking into sparks that danced in the air. The sparks scattered like rain, falling into a sea of red, blazing molten lava.
Yu Qing and the others were instantly amazed. How could they not be amazed after witnessing such a fantastical spectacle?
The one with the greater reaction was clearly Big Head. The struggling Big Head suddenly went quiet, as if he had seen a familiar environment. He twisted his head left and right, as if looking around.
The scene before them seemed to be an illusion, as if they had mistaken sparks for stars. In fact, it was a sky full of stars. Under the starry dome, there were continuous mountain ranges with spines like dragons. A fire dragon walked through the mountain ranges, vaguely a group of people holding torches and winding their way forward.
In the light and shadow, Big Head seemed to want to fly closer to see the fire dragon procession. The closer he flew, the brighter the fire dragon scene became. When he got close, he realised it was all an illusion. In fact, it was a winding river gleaming in the sunlight, flowing onward to some unknown destination.
Big Head seemed to chase the river and fly far away. The river crossed mountains and rivers, where birds and beasts could be seen running, playing, or hunting. The river crossed plains, where great armies made sounds like mountains roaring and seas howling, fighting and killing, with corpses lying everywhere. The river crossed grasslands, where flocks of sheep could be seen.
Countless ever-changing scenes were all along both banks of the river. Big Head sometimes rested on flower branches, sometimes clung under eaves watching street vendors and common people coming and going.
Flying along the river all the way, Big Head seemed to land on a boat. He watched the boatman raise the sails, watched the boat ride the wind and break the waves straight to the vast sea. On the blue waves, he saw the vastness of the sea and sky, the fierceness of the towering waves and giant waves. Schools of fish suddenly leapt out of the water, and the countless splashes of water turned into countless spring flowers. Various bees and butterflies gathered nectar from the flowers, various insects and ants busied themselves among the vegetation. Earthworms were carried away by birds, the hunting of snakes and mice happened in the hidden movements. Thousands of ecosystems flourished in the spring light, or turned into honey, or hunted to fill their bellies.
A gust of wind came, and the swaying flowers turned into summer lotuses. On the big tree beside the garden view, Big Head seemed to rest on a branch, with cicadas chirping nearby. In the school beside the tree, a teacher shook his head as he taught reading, and a group of children recited fluently after him. A distracted child looked toward the cicada chirping on the branch, as if he also saw Big Head. Suddenly, a few claps of thunder came from the sky, and dark clouds drifted over, quickly covering the sky dome. A heavy rain fell. The sound of thunder and rain could not suppress the children’s reading voices. In the sound of the pouring rain, there was instead a special clarity. The reading voices grew louder and louder, and the children slowly grew up, becoming a group of young men. The reading voices became clear word by word, defeating the raindrops. Countless raindrops turned into words. The water-written words slowly turned into ink-written words, then gradually turned golden. Finally, each word became golden. Every sound of reading precisely matched every falling word, and a golden rain of words fell around this school.
As the rain fell, it turned into golden waves of wheat. It was the autumn harvest season. Village dogs played in the fields, and farmers, men and women, old and young, all joined in the busy farm work. Some enjoyed the joy of the harvest, while others fell ill and passed away. Before the grave mounds, family members wept in grief, and scattered white paper floated in the sky.
The floating white paper falling turned out to be snowflakes, a heavy snowfall. The snow was torrential, and the world was a vast expanse of white. An old man in a straw raincoat fished alone in a solitary boat on the cold river.
The falling heavy snow then turned into sand flying all over the sky. In the vast sea of sand, insects and ants still struggled to survive with difficulty, and birds crossed the sea of sand.
The constantly appearing scenes made the watching crowd forget the passage of time, as if they had sunk into illusory seas turning into mulberry fields and the changes of years. It was not until they realised the illusory scenes were shrinking, shrinking to the point where they could no longer see clearly, that everyone gradually woke up.
After waking up, the crowd was horrified. They discovered that while they were immersed in the scenes, they had actually heard sounds from the scenes, the sound of wind, rain, reading, and various other sounds. If it was said to be an illusion, they still remembered some of the golden words that appeared in the scenes, some characters they did not recognise, and the reading voices had taught them how to read them.
There were also smells from the scenes. They had smelled the food from the streets and alleys, and the fragrance of flowers in the wilderness. They seemed to have felt the cold of the icy world and the heat of summer.
Was all of this an illusion? If those outside the illusion felt this way, what kind of feeling would it be for those inside the illusion?
Big Head was still floating quietly, without the slightest movement, as if he were asleep.
All the illusory light and shadow rapidly shrank, turning into a tiny drop of pure white radiance, much smaller than a grain of rice. The Nether Monk, with his hands pressed together, opened his eyes. One hand formed a flower-holding gesture, and the tip of his index finger held that point of pure white radiance. He gazed at Big Head floating before him. “Since you are fated with this poor monk, this poor monk shall grant you a crossing!”
After speaking, the flower-holding finger turned over, with the pure white radiance at the fingertip. Like gently touching the surface of calm water, he pointed from a distance at a place one finger away from Big Head’s head. The pure white radiance instantly turned into thousands of strands of holy Buddhist breath, continuously drilling into Big Head’s head.
After the last strand of radiance drilled into Big Head’s head, the Nether Monk withdrew his hand and let it hang down. His other hand slowly twirled the dark prayer beads again.
Big Head, still floating in the air, was enveloped by a faint, lingering white glow of Buddhist breath. He had already drifted back, landing on Yu Qing’s shoulder, motionless on his shoulder.
After a good while, the white glow of Buddhist breath fully converged into Big Head’s body. But Big Head still showed no movement for a long time, remaining silent.
Yu Qing turned his head and stared at his own shoulder for a while. “Master, what was that?”
He did not know whether what had just happened was good or bad, and wanted to ask what had been done to Big Head.
The Nether Monk twirled the prayer beads in his hand and asked in return, “What is spiritual nature?”
Yu Qing was instantly dumbstruck. He seemed to know what this was about, but had never really thought it through carefully.
The three martial brothers looked at each other again. In the end, Nan Zhu tentatively replied, “It should mean being relatively clever, right?”
The Nether Monk answered on his own, “If the beasts of the mountains and forests do not understand human nature, all they seek throughout their lives is nothing more than fullness and warmth. Of all things under the heavens, those who attain the Dao first draw near to humans. Those who draw near to humans first understand human nature. Those who first understand human nature first attain the Dao. Among the five categories of creatures under the heavens, those who can shed their mortal bodies and cultivate to become demons, the flesh-and-blood bodies come first. Why do they come first? Because they draw near to humans, similar to humans, all being flesh-and-blood bodies. Therefore, among the five categories of creatures, insects very rarely cultivate to become demons.
They also cannot compare to the spirits and monsters of plants and trees. In the deep mountains, thousand-year-old trees are everywhere, able to gradually understand human nature and awaken to cultivation after enduring long years. Insects have short lifespans. Although this fire cricket is not among the five categories of creatures, the laws of heaven and earth have ultimately given it the body and orifices of an insect, so it naturally cannot escape the laws of heaven and earth.”
Yu Qing pondered, “Does the master mean to help it cultivate to become a demon, so it can be like us cultivators, strengthening the body, cultivating the essence, spirit, and soul, and competing with heaven for longevity?”
The Nether Monk said, “Although this fire cricket has already gained spiritual nature, its intelligence is like that of an unenlightened child. You and it are not of the same kind. How can you teach it, how can you enlighten it? Being able to meet this poor monk is its fortune, and also its fate with this poor monk. This poor monk has gifted it a hundred years of cultivation. This cultivation is not that cultivation. Do you understand?”
They were all cultivators, so of course they knew that cultivation was divided into two kinds, power and the realm of the mind. This cultivation should be the latter.
At this point, the three martial brothers finally understood what that dreamlike, illusory scene was about.
Many demon cultivators, before they cultivate to take form, if they do not have a senior to train them and rely only on themselves, truly need to comprehend bit by bit over long years until they grasp the trick. This is also why many demon cultivators need hundreds of years before they can become spirits. And the Nether Monk before them was clearly afraid that Big Head would not live that long, so he used Buddhist Dharma to pass a long period of experience to Big Head.
Saying he gave Big Head a hundred years of cultivation was not an exaggeration at all. Big Head could be said to have truly obtained a great opportunity.
Yu Qing was slightly stunned. After understanding what was happening, he was instantly overjoyed, almost telling Big Head to kneel down and kowtwice to express thanks. However, Big Head did not seem to understand this. He could only cup his hands repeatedly and say, “This junior thanks the senior on behalf of Big Head for this gift. If Big Head can cultivate to become a demon, this junior will definitely urge him to repay the senior generously.”
Speaking of this, he paused again and tried to raise his head. “None of us know the method to help it cultivate to become a demon. Does the master have a way to help it all the way?”
The Nether Monk said, “Insects have short lifespans. Those who can cultivate to become demons are very few, not to mention it is not among the five categories of creatures, but a spirit insect born from heaven and earth. Ordinary demon cultivation methods for the five categories of creatures are not suitable for it. This poor monk giving it a hundred years of cultivation is only giving it a chance. After it integrates this hundred years of cultivation as its own, when it encounters a good opportunity for cultivation, it will naturally be able to comprehend, and will not enter a treasure mountain only to return empty-handed. If you must ask this poor monk whether I can help it, this poor monk cannot say there is absolutely no way. If it stays in this Sweeping Dust Temple, listening to scriptures day and night and bathing in Buddhist Dharma, it might awaken, and it might not be impossible for it to form its own path. Are you willing?”
“Uh…” Yu Qing was stunned. If Big Head’s wondrous uses were made public now, he could be sold for quite a lot of money, probably enough to pay off all their debts. This was the fallback plan the three martial brothers had discussed and prepared for when there was really no other way. Was it appropriate to leave something this valuable here?
To give away so much money for nothing? Nan Zhu’s heart was already pounding with fear. He felt that the three martial brothers had not received that much kindness from the other party. Their serious injuries were healed by their own bodies’ self-recovery, were they not? They had not asked the other party to give Big Head any hundred years of cultivation. The other party had done so voluntarily.
He turned his head and exchanged a knowing glance with Mu Aotie. Then he quietly tugged at Yu Qing’s clothes from behind, signaling no, and smiled dryly to help decline. “Master, this broken insect is used to being with us. If it stays here, it will definitely tear down your temple. Then we would be guilty. It is definitely still used to following us, so we will not trouble the master by leaving it here.”
Mu Aotie also nodded. “It is better not to disturb the master.”
Yu Qing also nodded repeatedly, with a fawning smile on his face, somewhat afraid the other party would force them to leave Big Head. The three of them tied together could not beat the other party, after all. There was no need for him to even make a move. With just one word, they would have no temper.
The Nether Monk smiled faintly. “As you wish.”
Hearing this, all three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Yu Qing hurriedly said again, “Then we will not disturb the master any further. We will take our leave now.”
He wanted to leave quickly, afraid the other party would change his mind. This monk clearly had a fondness for Big Head, otherwise why would he gift a hundred years of cultivation.
Who knew the Nether Monk would say, “No rush. There are still some practical matters to discuss with you. The matter of helping you heal your injuries is settled. Consider it this poor monk’s compassion. But what about the courtyard wall? Since that insect is unwilling to take refuge in the Sweeping Dust Temple, then we must keep things separate. Tell me, who should pay for the courtyard wall being damaged like this?”