Chapter 219
At some point, the impact of their battle grew, and its location moved closer and closer to the city gate.
The group of friends had somber expressions and remained silent.
He had clearly grasped the Demon King's "playful intentions." But the fatal flaw was that Ravana was almost entirely right.
The loss of an arm greatly weakened the group's fighting strength; and the numerous rituals performed along the way, as well as the enlightenment of the Gouwei, also consumed a great deal of the Immortal Zhongyou Maya Illusionary Power.
After becoming Brahmin Immortal, he never had time to fulfill his vow and engage in ascetic practices.
The Gouwei, panting heavily, chased after the Immortal Zhongyou.
In the immortal's water jug, only a thin layer of clear water remained.
In fact, this "clear water" is the manifestation of the Maya Illusionary Power obtained by immortals through arduous cultivation in the mortal world.
Therefore, when facing the tyrant of the city-state, he did not actually utter a curse, but instead exerted pressure through words and gestures.
The group can still cast one more curse at most, but that may not be effective against the crowned Demon King.
He had a vague feeling that the Demon King's "authority" in the Snow Mountain Pure Land might be far greater than his own.
After experiencing that dual suppression of blood and spirit, everyone realized that this feeling was mostly real.
Therefore, he could not grant Ravana's wish and could not utter the curse!
With a loud crash, the city gate collapsed.
The group holstered their guns, grabbed the Gouwei, and jumped towards the outside of the city gate.
Before they could discern the exact direction, the immortal vanished in an instant.
Ravana strolled leisurely out of the ruins, raised his hand to calculate the exact location, and then leaped with all his might.
"Don't go astray again, Hanuman the Monkey King."
Six white-clad sages surrounded Hanuman, who was holding an iron club. Their expressions were calm, and they showed no intention of threatening him.
But Hanuman had a persistent water stain on his shoulder.
"As you can see, the Immortal Zhongyou spared no expense in using their own Maya Illusionary Power to Shudra."
The young sage, holding a small arrow in his arms, spoke up, "And this has seriously violated the Dharma since the Vedas."
"We paid an incredibly heavy and painful price to establish the Dharma we have today. This was a necessary sacrifice to maintain the operation of Bharata."
"I don't hear any sacrifice involved."
Hanuman suppressed his anger, looking at the puddle of water on his shoulder.
He just withdrew from the battlefield, which is equivalent to using an untargetable state to avoid Ravana's ultimate move.
Hanuman's intention was to re-enter the battlefield after Ravana's ultimate attack ended.
Even if he couldn't kill Ravana, he had plenty of ways to weaken him.
But just as he landed, the six immortals simultaneously splashed water at him! Hanuman couldn't dodge in time and was splashed squarely on the shoulder.
If this is a curse, Hanuman is not afraid.
After receiving Hebe's preaching, his status became frighteningly high.
The problem is that this is not a curse, but a blessing!
These sages blessed Hanuman, ensuring that he could always listen to the entire course when he was given instruction.
Frankly, this blessing was completely useless to Hanuman.
Because he was always extremely attentive when listening to Hebe's lectures, but when listening to the lectures of the Immortal Zhongyou, he selectively comprehended them.
Hanuman did not want to stay here for even a second longer.
But the blessing had nothing to do with rank. One after another, these immortals told him stories, and Hanuman was forced to listen to their nonsense until the puddle on his shoulder dried up.
"Don't be impatient, Monkey King."
The Immortal with the Arrow in His Hands—the immortal holding the small arrow in his hand—smiled slightly.
"You may not know this, but the existence of the Dharma system is beneficial to both of us. Take asceticism as an example. I need to practice asceticism for a year to fill this water jug to one-tenth full. But as Kshatriya, you would need to practice asceticism for five or even ten years."
And what about the Shudra? Even if they practiced asceticism for a hundred years, their efficiency might not be one-thousandth of ours. And how much Maya Illusionary Power would they need to maintain their lives?
Hanuman, Hanuman! Think about it carefully. Our asceticism brings blessings to the world, while the asceticism of the Shudra only brings harm! The Maya Illusionary Power a Shudra expends to become a sage is enough to fertilize the land that sustains 100,000 people!
These friends think they are doing good, but in reality they are harming the people! If more and more Shudra follow the example of that untouchable, our Bharata will be completely finished!
"Is that so?"
Hanuman said coldly, "But who established the Vedic Dharma?"
"It was you sages who defined what you considered the righteous Dharma and established the precept that 'Shudra should not practice asceticism.' I don't want to argue with you about whether Shudra should practice asceticism under the Dharma. I just want to ask you, why did you establish the current Vedic Dharma in the first place!"
"In order to maintain the operation of the world, in order to preserve the future of Bharata, in order to protect the good people, and in order to destroy the evil people."
The Sage of the Edge Arrow replied with a stern face, "Hanuman, your ignorance reveals your arrogance! You do not know the terrible price we paid to subdue the demons who were threatening Bharata... We almost destroyed the civilization we were born from in order to successfully resist those great enemies—the sacrifices we made in the past are still unknown to this day!"
"Hanuman, how dare you question our resolve to establish the Dharma?!"
In any case, the only beings who possess memories of the previous era, besides the ancient immortals who survived from the time of Mohenjo-daro, are that Demon King with the Black Crown.
As educators, Brahmin also controlled the transmission of writing, history, and rituals, and naturally, they could easily distort right and wrong with their own words.
Seeing that Hanuman did not answer, the Sage of the Edge Arrow smiled smugly again.
"It's alright to tell you, Hanuman! The reason we were able to wait in comfort is all thanks to the great sage Bhriku."
The Sage of the Border Arrow said, "He is one of the Seven Great Immortals who mastered the ancient Vedic Astrology. He was respected even before the time of the Progenitor Daksha, but he left the world due to some changes."
If it weren't for the perverse actions of the Immortal Zhongyou, the great immortal Bhriku would not have returned to the mortal world.
Their ability to predict Hanuman's landing point in advance was due to the Bhrigu Immortal's use of Vedic Astrology to calculate the location beforehand.
The Immortal Bianjian said with a sigh, "The Ant-hill Immortal is my master, and the Great Immortal Poligu is my ancestor. This position of Lord of Life should rightfully belong to the two of them. How could that old, senile Kashyapa Immortal be worthy of the throne of Lord of Life?"
"Now that the Great Immortal Bhriku has returned, our glory will be proven once again!"
Inside the Mithila Kingdom, at the very moment that the Immortal Zhongyou and the Ravana rushed out of the city gates, Sita had already reached the edge of the Divine Bow.
She reached out and effortlessly lifted the Divine Bow from the ground.
The moment she made that move, the sky collapsed.
No, it wasn't the real sky, but rather the "sky" in her consciousness that had collapsed.
Hebe never described in detail to Sita what Rama's destiny was, but she did speak to her disciples about the destiny of the beast.
That is a system distinct from the Path of Ascension, a chaotic and vast destiny. Even those who bear the mandate of heaven often do not know where they should go next.
Those who walk on the Beast's Destiny, when they act, all things closely related to their destiny will unconsciously and involuntarily gravitate towards them, just like satellites captured by massive celestial bodies.
Now Sita knew.
Rama's divine mandate was to lift Shiva's Divine Bow, kill the Demon King, and then establish an empire that unified Bharata.
If we trace back to the wilderness, this should correspond to the path of the February Archon Scarred Father.
But at this moment, there was no Scar Father here, only the Fisher King and the Crippled Wolf, two half-crippled rulers; and Hebe and Eris, two potential rulers hiding in the shadows.
It's like a planet capturing a satellite, or a star capturing a planet.
Not to mention, the bow she picked up at that moment was Shiva's "Bow of Victory"!
Just as the iron rod that was once a trident in Hanuman's hand, the Bow of Victory also represents Shiva, which is a certain essence of the wolf.
She did indeed successfully inherit the mandate of heaven.
—The destiny belonging to "Shiva".
Chapter 286 Friends.
Memories flooded my body like a tidal wave, bringing with them power.
The Bow of Victory fell to the ground.
This longbow is merely a vessel for the divine aspect; in the right hands, it is as light as a feather, but if it is not the destined one, it is heavier than a mountain.
Sita felt this chaotic omnipotence, her spiritual body completely transcending her mortal form.
Her consciousness flickered amidst the countless sacrificial fires of Bharata, tumbled in the wildfires burning across the plains, gnawed at the remains of trees struck by lightning, cried out in the pits where countless brides had been sacrificed, and writhed in the furnaces where weapons were forged...
She is both all the fire in the world and all the suffering born of fire. She exists simultaneously between nothingness and suffering. Compared to this, her life of less than twenty years is as insignificant as a speck of ashes in the fire.
Rather than Sita inherited Rama's destiny, it would be more accurate to say that this destiny was coming to life from her body in the form of flames.
She is now a chaotic spark, like a wild beast, wandering aimlessly.
The power of the Bow of Victory resided in her arms, staining Sita delicate fingers red.
The simple lines follow the curves of her arm muscles upwards, extending all the way to her elbows, looking like a blood-red glove.
Under such a massive shock, Sita's self-awareness was in grave danger, but ultimately it was not completely lost.
Because the vow she had made with Hebe was still echoing in her mind.
"Abandon your animalistic heart and sever the root of evil. From the mundane to the sacred, you will ascend to the true path."
"If one breaks a major precept, one may fall into the abyss. One's flesh will be removed and one's bones returned, and one's body will be reborn in the Pure Land."
The bodies of the Immortal Zhongyou and the Gouwei kept appearing in the wind, in the forest, and in the water.
But as the sage Bianjian said, a "pure" Brahmin Immortal who tries to lead a "filthy" Shudra will inevitably be dragged down by him.
From Hebe's perspective, Immortal Zhongyou is like a shortcut that keeps cutting and pasting itself between various folders on a computer.
Because it is merely a "shortcut," it can quickly cut and paste itself.
However, Gouwei is equivalent to a file filled with redundant data.
Immortal Zhongyou wanted to take the Gouwei with him and run away, it would take much longer than if he moved on his own.
"Immortal, please put me down!"
Gouwei said in a low voice, his voice broken and intermittent, like grass blades being shredded by the wind.
"Don't talk nonsense."
It is a hoarse voice from the Immortal Zhongyou.
They ran for over ten minutes, covering a distance of nearly a hundred kilometers. Ravana never truly caught up; the light of day flickered, like mercury dripping down.
Gouwei's violent heartbeat gradually calmed down, and he thought they had successfully escaped.
As for Sita and Hanuman? To be honest, they are far more powerful than the Immortal Zhongyou.
"Immortal! Where are we going now?"
"Have no idea."
The Immortal Zhongyou's voices also relaxed somewhat, and they slowed down the frequency of their transfers.
"Gouwei, there are some things I've actually been keeping from you."
The Immortal Zhongyou raised his hand and wiped away his sweat. "I have already performed the initiation ceremony for you, which means that you can actually cultivate and meditate on your own without a teacher. But remember to build your own Forest of Asceticism first."
If you are absolutely forced to ask, you should answer that you are a Dalit Asura who has been converted by the Dharma, rather than say that you are a Shudra.
As the Immortal Zhongyou talked, smiles began to appear on their faces, and he continued to run at full speed.
Many, many years ago, he had longed for this scene.
—The father and son ran wildly through the vast night, shaking off all the pursuing disasters, fleeing from the city to the wilderness, and from the wilderness to another country.
"Gouwei, I've given you a new name—Hundred Chariots."
The Immortal Zhongyou said, "It signifies extremely diligent and arduous cultivation. I bestow this name upon you; when your arduous cultivation yields results, you will become a [Immortal Baicheng]."
The immortal's pace gradually slowed down, and not far away was a dense forest, its edges indistinct.
"Ahead lies the primeval forest. Once you enter, you will be free. But be careful, do not return to the mortal world before you become an immortal."