Kalpa of Destruction (Continued)

Si Ming thought for a moment, then pointed to the courtyard ahead and said, "There are two trees in this courtyard, one is a pear tree, and the other is also a pear tree."

Fahong nodded slightly, closed his eyes as if appreciating the statement, then opened them and exclaimed, "Excellent! The Alliance Leader's words seem superfluous and redundant, but in fact, they are extremely concise, containing movement within stillness. If one were to put oneself in that situation, one would see a scroll slowly unfolding before one's eyes. First, one sees the first pear tree, and then, as the gaze moves, one sees the second pear tree. If one were to simply say 'both are pear trees,' then that statement would be lifeless, but with the Alliance Leader's words, it comes alive."

Si Ming clapped his hands and said, "Impressive! I almost believed it myself."

Fahong said, "The masses are ignorant and foolish, mistaking the true Buddha for a false one, and fabricating stories that the leader of the alliance is the reincarnation of the Buddha. Should the Glazed Temple step forward to clarify these rumors?"

Si Ming sighed and said, "Even you, Abbot, are not immune to the common fear of offending the dragon's might. How much more so are ordinary people? They probably know that the clay Buddha statue is fake. Their day and night worship is just to seek peace of mind. It won't hurt me to be worshipped a couple of times, so let them worship. Besides, I quite like the story of Buddha Rōcana."

Si Ming formed the Skanda Mudra with both hands and said, "In times of war and calamity, I will teach all sentient beings to uphold the precept of non-killing and even right view, to rescue sentient beings from the ten evils, and to guide them to abide in the ten virtuous paths, to dispel all ignorance, and to reveal the good Dharma. I will eradicate the defilement of this calamity, the defilement of life, the defilement of sentient beings, the defilement of afflictions, and the defilement of views, leaving none remaining."

Compared to other Buddhas, Buddha Rōcana was a pragmatist. As stated in the * Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka Sūtra *, in a past life, Skanda Bodhisattva was a brother of Śākyamuni Buddha. In a previous kalpa, a universal monarch had a thousand sons. After studying Buddhism, each of the thousand sons made a vow. Skanda Bodhisattva, upon hearing their vows, said, "When you attain enlightenment and propagate the Dharma, I will protect you and support you. After you all become Buddhas, I will be the last to attain Buddhahood." Later, the thousand sons of the universal monarch became the so-called Thousand Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa, with Śākyamuni Buddha as the fourth and Skanda Bodhisattva as the last, named Buddha Rōcana.

The appearance of Buddha Rōcana symbolizes the arrival of the Age of Dharma Decline. He first protects all Buddhas in their path to Buddhahood, and then protects all sentient beings in their fight against the calamities of the Dharma-ending Age. Throughout his life, he has been constantly fighting, fulfilling his responsibility as a guardian deity.

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the believers of Glazed Temple worship Si Ming as the Buddha Rōcana, rather than the Buddha or Bodhisattva associated with the Medicine Buddha.

"Excellent! The Alliance Leader is willing to condescend to impersonate a false Buddha for the sake of all beings. This old monk thanks the Alliance Leader for his kindness on behalf of everyone."

Fahong bowed to Si Ming with his palm raised. Si Ming did not dodge, but simply turned his body to the side and took half of the blow.

"Please come in, everyone. Sect Leader Zheng and the others from the Evil-Slaying Sword Sect have already arrived." Fahong walked at the front, leading everyone towards the back hall.

Ying Zhou quietly approached Si Ming and said with a sneer, "You two were really good actors just now, singing in unison. And this old monk was really annoying, going around in circles. Why didn't he just say that to appease the people, he asked you not to clarify the rumors?"

Si Ming, without glancing to the side, said, "Foolish! This is how you make it interesting, so it can be passed down as a popular story. Do you think those fables in textbooks came about? Were the ancient people in those stories really that stupid, that pedantic, that naive?"

Ying Zhou was dumbfounded. "There's such a saying? You guys are really going all out to make it last for thousands of years. Is this what they mean by 'life imitates art, and art imitates life'?"

Si Jingyu covered her face with her fan, smiling as she said, "You actually believed that? His so-called 'future' isn't something as distant as being passed down through the Barbarian Continent ends, when the Glazed Temple will spread the story of what just happened, using it as a short story to dispel rumors. This is far more effective than a rigid official statement. Then people will know that the leader of the Heavenly Martial Alliance is not the reincarnation of Buddha Rōcana, but he deliberately tacitly acknowledged this identity to appease the people. He is truly benevolent and wise."

Yu Shuying continued, "The so-called request not to clarify the rumors is actually a guarantee that the rumors will definitely be clarified. Fahong deliberately put on this show to demonstrate his sincerity to us and to show that Glazed Temple really doesn't want to take advantage of Si Ming, but is just using this as an expedient measure."

Ying Zhou was a little confused. "Is it really as mysterious as you all say?"

He glanced sideways at Si Ming, his eyes full of doubt, unable to believe that the other could pull off such a scheming act. Could it be that he had been possessed and replaced by someone?

Si Ming snorted, slightly raised his chin, and adopted an air of superiority, as if to say, "True Person doesn't reveal their abilities; those who reveal their abilities are not True Person."

"I still don't believe it. That old bald man was just groveling in the end, 'condescending' and 'pretending to be a fake Buddha.' To flatter you, he even called his own Buddha a fake Buddha, while calling you the real Buddha. He really has no shame. I don't think even the Valley Master of Medicine King Valley is as obsequious as him," Ying Zhou said disdainfully.

"That's why I said you're stupid. I'm asking you, who killed the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King and protected the people of Glazed Temple?" Si Ming pointed to the Buddha statue next to him, "Was it this clay sculpture, or the Buddha in the scriptures?"

"... It's you."

"That settles it then. The true Buddha and the false Buddha are obvious at a glance. And having the discerning eye to identify the Buddha proves that the abbot is a truly enlightened monk. Stop being so disrespectful, you old bald head."

"I only said 'old bald man,' which is more than you've said."

Seeing Ying Zhou's reluctant expression, Si Ming stretched out his hand again and asked, "What is this?"

Ying Zhou pondered for a moment and said, "A part of the front end of the arm of a common primate?"

"What nonsense! This is called Buddha's Hand!" Si Ming smacked the other person on the head in annoyance. "You're such a blockhead, completely devoid of Buddhist spirit. All that Buddhist School martial arts you've practiced is for nothing."

"Tch, what is Buddha-nature? Can you eat it? You talk like it's something special." Ying Zhou scoffed.

Whether or not Abbot Fahong heard the conversation, he never turned around.

The group traveled to the Sarira Hall and met the people from the Evil-Slaying Sword Sect. They exchanged brief greetings without much pleasantries, as the purpose of their trip was already clear to everyone.

The group arrived at the innermost altar and stood on the Great Teleportation Array.

"Stand in the center of the altar, and when the array lights up, remember to close your eyes and jump in place. You don't need to jump too high."

The abbot of the Sarira Hall Faji, did not know whether Si Ming had explained the relevant matters to others, but just in case, he repeated it again.

Everyone nodded and took their positions. Several monks standing nearby formed a Law Seals, chanted Method Formula, and simultaneously channeled their True Qi into the formation to activate it.

When the array lights up completely, everyone immediately closes their eyes and jumps on the spot, experiencing a brief feeling of weightlessness. However, before it can affect their bodies, they return to normal and their feet land back on the ground.

Si Ming opened his eyes and saw that apocalyptic scene again. The sky was a dim yellow, and dark clouds covered the sky, leaving no gap for the sunlight. As far as the eye could see, the earth was dry and yellow, devoid of fertility, with sparse vegetation. It was only slightly better than a desert and could be called a wasteland.

"It feels even more serious than last time. Last time, at least there was a glimmer of hope, but now there's truly no hope left," Si Ming sighed.

"The alliance leader's intuition was correct; please look this way."

Faji guided everyone's gaze to the towering Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, which had sixty-four floors, each engraved with different patterns. Six fist-thick chains hung down from the top of the tower, just as magnificent as he remembered.

However, there are also differences. Originally, the patterns on each layer were shining brightly, but now half of them are dull and lifeless.

Si Ming looked around. Originally, there were a thousand elderly monks chanting scriptures and sending their vital Primal Qi up the chain to the top of the tower. Now, the number of monks had remained the same, or even increased slightly, but the extra ones were all middle-aged monks. He realized the significance of this and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"So, the power of the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda has weakened, causing the Black Tide's erosion to intensify. But what does this have to do with the resurrection of the King of Monsters?"

Faji said, "We Buddhists believe that the process of a world from birth to destruction can be divided into four periods: formation, existence, decay, and emptiness, also known as the four kalpas. Of course, this is not a unique understanding of Buddhism. In summary, all things follow the same pattern: growth, peak, decline, and death. A person's life is the same."

In recent years, our temple has consulted many ancient books, especially some documents transmitted from the Divine Continent of the Central Land. We can roughly determine that the Nine Continents are currently in a period of Kalpa of Destruction, and it is at the end of the Kalpa of Destruction. That is why there are frequent disasters, such as the invasion of heavenly demons, the emergence of Anomalies phenomena, and the chaos caused by evil spirits.

According to Buddhist scriptures, during the period of Kalpa of Destruction, beings in hell who die will not be reborn. Subsequently, other beings in the animal realm, the ghost realm, and the human and heavenly realms will also gradually perish.

After sentient beings destroy the world, it will be successively destroyed by three major calamities: fire, water, and wind. The fire calamity is caused by the appearance of seven suns, which will turn the First Dhyāna Heaven of the Desire Realm and the Form Realm to ashes. The next calamity is the water calamity, which will completely destroy the Second Dhyāna Heaven and below. Finally, the wind calamity is caused by the collision of winds, which will completely desolate the Third Dhyāna Heaven, extinguishing all life.

After a pause, Faji looked up at the Black Tide in the sky and said, "This Black Tide should be the wind calamity, belonging to the third calamity. That's why I said we are now at the end of the Kalpa of Destruction calamity. After the Kalpa of Destruction comes the Kalpa of Emptiness, which means the destruction of the world. Except for the Fourth Dhyana Heaven, which can survive in the Age of Dharma Decline, all other Dhyana Heavens will enter the void. Only by waiting for the next cycle of reincarnation to restart the Kalpa of Formation can they be reborn."

The crowd fell silent, unsure of what to say. Master Faji's revelation was far too powerful and explosive. They had previously worried about the safety of the martial world and protecting the people from the Monster Race' rampage—a concern that already demonstrated a broad-mindedness and high vision. Now, the topic had escalated to the point of world doom.

If the former difficulty can be described as climbing the world's highest peak, then the latter difficulty is like physically breaking through the atmosphere.