The immortal is beside me

Chapter 91: Step on Lingshan Mountain, smash the lotus platform, and burn all the Buddhas in the nine heavens!

Yizhou, Tianjiyuan.

Night has fallen, but the lights in the Tianji Academy's deduction room are still brightly lit.

A giant Bagua formation lay across the center of the room, slowly rotating, emitting spiritual light that illuminated the entire hall.

Thirty-two Yishu practitioners from the Tianji Academy sat and lay around the Bagua formation, guarding the central leader Luo Mingxian.

He lay there cross-legged with his eyes closed, and eight talismans floated and flickered in front of him until the rotation of the formation stopped temporarily and the floating talismans fell to the ground one by one. Only then did he open his eyes and stare at the hexagrams formed by the talismans.

After the joint meeting, the discussion between immortals and Buddhas has been made the top priority in all official departments, and the Tianji Academy, as the intelligence center, will naturally not be left out.

Shortly after the meeting, the relevant documents were secretly delivered to the Tianji Academy headquarters, and all the elite Yi Xiu in the academy were summoned to work together to deduce, trying to find a way out from the vast amount of intelligence.

According to intelligence, the Buddhist sect will send thirteen presiding monks at the Nascent Soul stage and above to this discussion, along with over a hundred accompanying monks. In addition, there will be several people from the Cangtian Sect serving as presiding officers.

And this was only their apparent strength. Behind this lay tens of thousands of Lingshan monks and arhats, a vast network spanning the entire country, connected by the Dharma.

Even if Jiuli could miraculously defeat the other party in the discussion arena, the Buddhist network behind them would inevitably be affected, and Buddhas from all directions would flock here.

Behind all these big networks is the mysterious magic weapon called "Pure Land" and the peerless great power named Sakyamuni.

Such a huge number of factors to consider was rare even within the Tianji Academy. Luo Mingxian had already mobilized his most elite personnel for this deduction, but the results were unsatisfactory.

Luo Mingxian slid his fingers across the talisman, and wherever he passed, one special hexagram symbol after another appeared. Seeing those symbols, the frown between his brows became deeper and deeper.

This was his twelfth deduction. He had tried several different combinations of cause and effect, incorporating every possible factor that might have an impact, but the result remained the same.

——Buddhism will win.

The Tianji Academy is the brains of China's extraordinary system. In such a major matter where the decision is difficult, divination and deduction are the most trustworthy reference.

In the twelve simulations just now, he had tried all the action plans that his side could make, but no matter what actions the official side took, it could not change the established simulation results, as if this was already a set future.

As a practitioner of Yishu, he has already used all the means available to him, but the future he deduced is obviously not the result that many Chinese units want.

At this critical moment, the Heavenly Master was not in the courtyard. Luo Mingxian did not know his purpose, but he only knew that he left a vague message before leaving, saying "I'm visiting an old friend," and then he walked out the door without even taking his guards.

For Luo Mingxian, this was like his old father with dementia who insisted on going to the market alone to buy vegetables. It was difficult to stop him, and he couldn't sit still. He was afraid that his old father would be left in a corner or even kidnapped by someone with ulterior motives. If that happened, the sky of Tianjiyuan would collapse.

Luo Mingxian wiped the sweat from his head and narrowed his eyes slightly.

This night had been truly awful for him, but he couldn't stop. Finding the one future that would break the impasse among countless possibilities was the fundamental responsibility of any Yishu practitioner.

He picked up the talisman on the ground and was about to give the order to start a new round of deduction, but he heard a knock on the door and the secretary's voice came from outside.

"Boss Luo, the Heavenly Master is back."

These words were like a shot of adrenaline, and Luo Mingxian immediately sat up from the formation. When he looked up, he saw a figure in casual clothes holding a folding fan walking into the room from the door, which made him feel relieved.

"Tianshi!" He saw the man's shadow and said, "I'm glad you're back. How did you get back?"

"Of course, I'd take the high-speed rail," Yuan Tiangang said, fanning himself. "Travel in the mortal world is incredibly fast these days. It only takes four incense sticks to get back from Liangzhou to Yizhou. It's truly convenient."

What you are riding is not the high-speed train, that is my blood pressure.

Luo Mingxian muttered to himself, but he finally breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "You've returned just in time. Regarding the Buddhist matter, the higher-ups issued a notice a few hours ago, hoping for our help in deducing it, but..."

"I already know about this."

Seeing Yuan Tiangang nodded slightly, Luo Mingxian was about to ask for his opinion, but he saw him walk forward and wave his folding fan with one hand.

"Children, disperse now," he said casually, "There's no need to deduce the Buddhist affairs any further."

This sentence made everyone in the room stunned. Luo Mingxian was also confused. After thinking for a long time, he asked, "What do you mean by no need to deduce further?"

"Inform the various departments of China that they no longer need to worry about the discussion between the immortals and Buddhas. Send personnel to monitor the movements of the Buddhist sects in all four directions of China immediately."

Yuan Tiangang fanned himself and said, "I have already discussed this with Brother Zhou, and he will be involved in this discussion."

Everyone looked at each other. They all knew that it was an "old friend" who had pulled the Heavenly Master back from the brink of the Five Degenerations of Heavenly Beings, and they had heard some of that person's deeds, but this statement still left them puzzled.

"That senior will participate in the discussion," Luo Mingxian murmured, savoring the words. "Have you deduced the consequences of his actions?"

"No need for deduction." Yuan Tiangang shook his head. "Since he has made his move, the outcome is already determined."

His tone was so casual that everyone who was still immersed in deduction was confused.

One must know that Yishu is a discipline that emphasizes caution, and deviating from deduction is of course the greatest taboo. But now, this Heavenly Master, who sits at the pinnacle of the discipline, has no deduction at all, and is so sure of this result?

Is he so sure that "Brother Zhou" can overturn all this?
Although everyone had doubts in their hearts, no one dared to question the Heavenly Master's order.

The elite warriors sitting around withdrew their spiritual energy one by one, the Bagua formation in the center dimmed, and the people working on the deductions left the room one by one. When only the master and disciple were left in the hall, Luo Mingxian finally lost his patience and spoke.

"Master, what you mean by the result being determined is..."

"If the Buddhist sect truly intends to do something harmful, they will surely suffer a bloody disaster this time."

Yuan Tiangang looked out the window at the night sky: "Just like those 1,200 years—but this time the blood will be even greater than before."

Luo Mingxian looked at his back, pondered for a long time, and then asked carefully, "Twelve hundred years ago, did that senior also fight against Buddhism head-on?"

The question was asked in a cautious tone. For a long time, China's major supernatural organizations had always had a very vague understanding of the "Shakya Rebellion." This discussion brought everything back to light, and many questions that had been buried under the dust also surfaced.

As a true witness of that war, the value of Yuan Tiangang's oral account goes without saying. His question represents not only the Tianji Academy, but also the entire Chinese system behind it.

"It's natural."

Yuan Tiangang closed his eyes gently. "During the Sakya Rebellion, the Immortal Alliance almost unleashed an outpouring of support to fight against Buddhism. Tens of thousands of cultivators perished during the hundred-year war, and much of the Immortal Alliance collapsed." "The core figure of the Buddhists at that time was the great master Kasyapa, who had grasped the Buddha's true intention. In the eighty-fourth year of the war, he finally revealed his true form. To combat Kasyapa, the Immortal Alliance lost all five Divine Transformation cultivators, dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators, and countless more at the lower levels."

"Under the threat of the Great Venerable, he naturally went there and threw himself into the world called 'Pure Land'."

Under Luo Mingxian's gaze, the closed eyes opened slightly.

"That fierce battle lasted for forty-nine days, with both sides fighting to the last man standing. It was a truly bloody and devastating battle, with countless lives lost. Everyone, including me, believed he wouldn't survive."

"And in the end, he broke through the sacred mountain."

The bleak wind blew up the sand and gravel, and red dust filled the sky.

This was the forty-ninth day of the war, and the only sounds under the sky were the wind and the crackling of flames.

Everything around had been razed to the ground long ago. All monks and Buddhas were dead. Only two figures were still moving on the huge battlefield.

On one side stood a Buddha, shrouded in light. After a long battle, the towering Buddha seemed to have dimmed slightly, but the light surrounding him remained as serene and noble, appearing divine against the backdrop of the golden lotus blossoms.

In stark contrast was the sea of ​​blood and corpses on the other side. Countless corpses lay piled beneath the sky, including those of Immortal Alliance monks, but even more were half-burned Buddhas, each body mixed with charred ashes, appearing black in the flames.

In the wind and sand, a figure stepped on the mountain of corpses. He was completely soaked into a bloody man. Flames danced around him, and the rising blood mist rose straight into the sky.

Amidst the blood-soaked mist, the Buddha's light illuminating the sky wavered slightly. The towering Kasyapa Buddha opened his eyes, a tiny, ant-like crimson figure reflected in his glass-like pupils.

"Taoist Wuqing is truly worthy of his reputation."

The ethereal Buddhist sound echoes between heaven and earth, without sadness or joy, without waves or ripples.

"Since you have such means, why dwell in the Nine Li Demonic Path, trapped in greed, anger, and ignorance? It is better to convert to Buddhism, merge into the Holy Mountain, and from now on sit and lie on the lotus platform, transcending the world, and no longer being bound by external things."

The ethereal Buddhist music echoes between heaven and earth, seeming to carry a captivating magic.

Buddhism brings with it the true meaning of the Buddha, which also includes the merit of the Pure Land.

From the first moment of their fight, both sides fell under the influence of the Pure Land. The power from the Buddha strengthened Kasyapa and influenced him all the time.

So far, Kasyapa had not seen much effect from the Pure Land, but after forty-nine days of non-stop fighting, it was impossible for him to be completely fatigued.

Fatigue will bring flaws, and flaws will allow the Pure Land to infect the soul. Rocks are indeed strong, but as soon as the first crack appears on the surface, a rapid collapse will follow.

Both sides knew this, so Kasyapa was waiting, waiting for him to reveal that fatal flaw, waiting for him to face a fatal situation.

".Merge into the sacred mountain, sit or lie on the lotus platform?"

The swirling strong wind distorted the Taoist's voice, sometimes sounding like a quiet whisper, and sometimes like a flamboyant laugh.

The fire raged again, its blazing flames overwhelming the surrounding Buddha's light. At the center of all the light, a blood-red figure slowly raised his sword, his eyes reflecting the towering sacred mountain in the flames.

"Today, I will step on Lingshan Mountain, shatter the lotus platform, and burn all the Buddhas in the Nine Heavens!"

The swirling flames blew up a howling wind, which blew up the man's long hair and robes like flying flags.

Before the blazing true fire, the golden Buddha raised his giant palm engraved with the swastika seal. As the seal flashed, thousands of Buddha shadows appeared around him, and the Buddha's will covered the red shadow in front of him like falling rain.

A raging fire suddenly rose up, like a blazing tsunami sweeping up and submerging all the Buddhas. In the blink of an eye, it turned into thousands of scattered white smoke. A sword light pierced through the sky and broke out from the sea of ​​fire, slashing towards the giant Buddha with a force that could tilt the sky.

The entire sky and earth flickered rapidly, and every collision between the two sides illuminated the entire dome, and after the silence, it fell into darkness for a brief moment.

The Buddha's power soared, and the giant Buddha Kasyapa continuously created new Buddha shadows, forming sacred mountains on all sides. However, all the new ones were reduced to ashes the moment they came into contact with the flames and sword light. This was the tug of war between new life and death, and that shadow was death itself.

Another sword light flew down, and the moment it touched the four sides, it tore into pieces countless Buddha shadows. In the reflection of the sword light, the huge Buddha's palm that covered the sky and the sun slowly rose up, pressing towards the sword light with the power of Mount Tai.

The palms and swords collided, a strong wind blew, the blood-red dust in the sky suddenly spread away, and the blurry world became clear again.

A long sword rested before the swastika on the Buddha's palm. Compared to the size of the palm, the blade looked like a thin needle. In the morning light, a hairline crack emerged from the tip of the sword, slowly climbing up the palm.

"It seems that what Buddhism calls 'neither birth nor death, neither increase nor decrease' is not an infinite state."

The fall of five incarnated gods and the rush of countless monks were ultimately saturated with the overwhelming Buddha's light. Before this sword light, condensed with ultimate killing intent, the Buddha, blessed by heaven and earth, finally revealed a flaw before his opponent.

A blazing fire lit up from under the palm, and the raging fire swept upwards, lifting up the huge Buddha's palm. The towering giant Buddha Kasyapa also stumbled back, and even the sacred mountain behind him dimmed a little.

This was his first retreat since he took control of the Central Plains.

As soon as the first crack appears in the rock, it will begin to collapse.

The dim sky suddenly turned into a patch of white. The extremely strong flames blocked out the light of the morning light and merged the red-clothed figure into it, as if the sun in the sky suddenly expanded.

The huge sun fell from the sky and hit the golden body of the Buddha. In the strong wind that swept for thousands of miles, it crashed into the sacred mountain surrounded by golden light and shattered the pure land that permeated everywhere. Until finally, the dazzling light burst out, enveloping the heaven and earth in heat.

In the radiance, the mountains and rivers turned to ashes, the earth became flat, the lotus flowers withered, and the Dharma seal finally extinguished.

The relic, shimmering with golden light, fell into the pile of ashes and slowly lost its color as the remaining fire burned it.

From 755 to 839 AD, the great Buddhist master Kasyapa appeared and attacked with other Buddhas, killing more than 5300 monks of the Jiuli Immortal Alliance. The impact extended to the entire Central Plains, triggering secular unrest. After a hundred years of war, the population of the Central Plains dropped sharply from 2000 million to less than million.

At the end of 839, Taoist Wuqing beheaded Venerable Kasyapa in Guanzhong. On the same day, Lingshan was shattered and the Pure Land collapsed.

In 840, Emperor Wuzong of Tang, Li Yan, ascended the throne. He changed the trend of his predecessors who respected Buddhism and launched a campaign to destroy Buddhism throughout the Tang Dynasty. By 846, a total of temples had been destroyed and monks and nuns had returned to secular life. This was known in history as the "Huaichang Buddhist Persecution."

The Sakya Rebellion ended here.

P.S. "Zizhi Tongjian, Tang Ji 64": "In the fifth year of Huichang… an imperial edict was issued to expose the evils of Buddhism, publicizing them to both China and the world. Over 4,600 temples were destroyed, 265,000 monks and nuns were forced into secular life, over 2,000 Daqin Muhu and Zoroastrian monks were forced into secular life, and over 40,000 monasteries and hermitages were destroyed. Tens of millions of acres of fertile land were seized, and 150,000 people were enslaved. The remaining monks were all under the control of the master, not the Ministry of Rites. Zhang Zhongwu sealed two swords and handed them to Juyongguan Pass, saying, 'Any wandering monk who enters the country will be executed!'"

(End of this chapter)