Chapter 1506 — He Who Calls Himself the Tathagata

"Maha!

" Within the layered dreams of Shen Mu, a great many tiny Shen Mus gathered together. Some wore solemn expressions, some exuded a wild aura, some were clad in beast-hide shorts and vests, bearded and unshaven like savages, some seemed gentle and refined as scholars, and some went barefoot shouldering a cleaver like a butcher of hogs, while others put on the airs of a master of the profound. Then a host of monk Shen Mus came running over, like Buddhas who had attained the Way, Buddhist light blazing from their whole bodies. These tiny Shen Mus of the dream assembled in one hall, encircling the dream beside Shen Mu's primordial spirit.

Shen Mu's primordial spirit was vast; his body pierced through layer upon layer of dream, like a Mount Sumeru running through countless worlds.

The many diminutive Shen Mus talked over one another, each airing his own views, racking their brains to analyze the principle behind the divine powers of the Primordial Sage of the Miluo Palace, and to find how one might avoid having one's thoughts assimilated by him.

The first few days passed without incident.

But on the third day, one tiny Shen Mu was fervently expounding how he would break the Sage's arts; in the heat of his eloquence, the maha, maha of his speech suddenly changed. "What Heaven confers is called nature; to accord with that nature is called the Way; to cultivate the Way is called instruction.

. . " He at once became a freak among the many tiny Shen Mus, and the horde of diminutive Shen Mus fell upon him and beat him to death on the spot.

Yet before long, more tiny Shen Mus were assimilated and turned into sutra-chanters; and though these were beaten to death as well, new tiny Shen Mus kept falling, one after another.

"Maha!

" "Guji! " Inside the dream, countless tiny Shen Mus fell into chaos.

Then a Buddha Shen Mu rose to his feet and formed the Immovable Mudra.

A single resonant boom of a bell rang out, filling the whole scene, cowing those disordered little figures and steadying their hearts and spirits.

Beneath the Buddha Shen Mu's feet a golden spring welled up, and from the spring rose a lotus that lifted him aloft, holy and solemn, and countless tiny Shen Mus turned to look at him. "Ma! Ha!

" The Buddha Shen Mu formed his mudra and slowly seated himself, chanting sutras that to outsiders no one could understand; yet those flustered tiny Shen Mus seemed able to understand them, and one and all they sat down on the ground and chanted along with the Buddha Shen Mu. At once an incomparably magnificent sight appeared within Shen Mu's layered dreams: hundreds of thousands, millions of Shen Mus, a dark and endless mass, seated upon a vast plain like a forest of monks, all chanting the same sutra with one voice, the sound growing louder and louder, more and more unified!

That sound was like a flood of conviction, sweeping across all the dreams, vast, far-reaching; though unintelligible, it shook the heart to its core!

His dreams were like so many Buddha-lands, so many Buddha-realms; Buddhist light spread outward from every dream, boundless and luminous, the Buddhist chant rolling on, calming the soul. Granny Zhu, the Silent Craftsman, the Blind Elder and the others saw this sight and could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. The Lame Elder, after these days of recuperation, was much better than before, and seeing this, he too set his heart at ease.

Granny Zhu laid down the divine bow and said softly, "The Buddhist dharma of the Great Thunderclap Temple is a study of the mind; it is not a faith but a conviction, a tempering of the soul. It may well be able to contend with that Primordial Sage of the Miluo Palace. " The Lame Elder's face was still somewhat sallow. He said, "Shen'er has raised up his own conviction, attaining a mind like vajra, subduing the monkey of his heart.

There should be no one left in the world who can throw his mind into disorder. " The several of them waited quietly.

On the tenth day, all at once an inharmonious voice appeared amid the flood of Buddhist chant in Shen Mu's dream! Granny Zhu and the others felt their eyelids twitch.

They saw the countless Shen Mus like so many great Buddhas, seated in the heavens around Shen Mu's primordial spirit, and that voice came from the lowest of those heavens. ".

. .

Equilibrium is the great root of the world; harmony is the universal Way of the world. .

. " This voice disrupted the Buddhist dharma.

Its interference was not strong, but like a plague it gradually infected the other tiny Shen Mus. Granny Zhu and the others grew more and more grave.

A second tiny Shen Mu was assimilated, quickly chanting the scriptures of the Primordial Sage of the Miluo Palace, and then came a third, a fourth.

. .

In time, several hundred tiny Shen Mus had been assimilated, and the speed of this contagion increased sharply, spreading steadily toward the center, more and more tiny Shen Mus assimilated without cease, layer after layer of dream polluted! Granny Zhu's face was grim.

She picked up the divine bow she had thrown aside and gripped it tightly. The Lame Elder stared at her hand, then his gaze fell upon the divine bow in it, and his face abruptly darkened.

"Old woman, what do you mean to do?

" "None of your business! " Granny Zhu said coldly, her eyes still fixed on Shen Mu's dream.

The Lame Elder grew frantic, pacing to and fro; suddenly his form shifted, and he lunged to snatch the long bow from Granny Zhu's hand!

Granny Zhu had been on her guard.

She raised her other palm, and with a series of rumbling crashes, the terrestrial geomagnetic essence in her palm erupted; one after another of her great geomagnetic divine powers pressed down upon the Lame Elder, descending in turn like mountain after mountain, crushing him flat to the ground, his speed utterly negated! "Lame Elder, you were gravely wounded before; you know nothing of the reasons behind this! " Granny Zhu said angrily, drawing the divine bow, her eyes still fixed on the tiny Shen Mus being assimilated one after another within the dream, while the arrow of her drawn bow was aimed only and ever at Shen Mu's primordial spirit at the center of the heavens of the dream. "I don't know!

" The Lame Elder braced his four limbs against the ground, struggling to rise, but again several rumbling crashes pressed down and flattened him once more.

His eyes grew bloodshot, turned crimson. Struggling with all his might, he rasped, "Si Youyou, you damned woman, I don't know what reason you have that you must shoot Shen'er dead!

But this I do know: Shen'er was picked up by you, yet every time it was you who sent him away!

Every time it was you who thought raising him too much trouble, and every time it was I who stole him back! " He could not break free from the geomagnetic divine power.

Suddenly he roared: "I was the one who raised Shen'er! Primordial Spirit, Exchange the Sun! " His body did not move; his primordial spirit left its shell, and with a swoosh it broke through the geomagnetic divine power and in an instant arrived at Granny Zhu's side, reaching for the divine bow. Granny Zhu put away the divine bow and turned, her skirts swaying; her geomagnetic divine light became countless stars, and the stellar forces between star and star formed chains of law, shuttling up and down, interweaving and crossing, laying out a heaven-encompassing net!

The Lame Elder's primordial spirit plunged into the heaven-encompassing net, yet was not snared; instead it sped through the starry sky, and he raged, "If not for me, Shen'er would long ago have been given away to others by you! If you would kill him, then kill me first!

" His primordial spirit suddenly swelled, becoming immeasurably towering; he shifted the stars and exchanged the constellations, throwing Granny Zhu's divine powers into disorder, and the Shadow Thief's supreme art was displayed in him to the fullest! "Lame Elder, do not be rash!