Chapter 229
Hanuman raised his iron rod high and charged toward the towering snow-capped mountains on the horizon.
The Yang Pill hovering in Hebe's palm seemed unable to bear watching any longer, but Hebe blocked it with her other hand. "Rama, Sita! Don't run away, watch carefully how your senior brother fought for the survival of all people. Because of this, we must all remember his sacrifice..."
Hebe's voice grew softer and softer.
Hanuman now possesses six blessings; he constantly flashes, shifts his position, and leaps swiftly to the ends of the earth.
This is an increasingly difficult undertaking, as the world is folding as the Vedas enter their final stages.
It's like someone on a computer desktop repackaging various files into folders and then compressing them.
This is reflected in Hanuman's view: the scale of space is constantly changing, but the Snow Mountain Pure Land is always right in front of him, neither near nor far.
Although Hanuman possesses the blessing of indestructibility, this blessing originates from Hebe's authorization, and its power comes from the computing power of the Snow Mountain Pure Land server.
In the TV series about Hebe's past life, those ascetics, after receiving the blessing of the Trimurti, were able to challenge the Lord who gave them the blessing.
This is on the premise that the Trimurti are willing to abide by the rules of the game they set.
But at the end of a generation, at the end of an era, all rules must be discarded and need to be re-established.
Therefore, Hanuman's journey to the Snow Mountain Pure Land has essentially become Hebe's test of the two ruling states—she is resisting the rule of the two locked-up rulers.
Rumble—
Accompanied by an indescribable, muffled thunderclap, the gates of the Snow Mountain Pure Land were suddenly shattered.
Hanuman climbed into the snow-covered mountain that had never melted for millions of years. He used a stick to support his body, stood up, and shook himself.
According to legend, the Holy City of Kashi is located in the snowy mountains. But in Hanuman's eyes, there are no magnificent buildings or towering, sturdy city walls, only vast stretches of low-lying farmland covered with rye grass, and slaves toiling away in the fields.
These slaves were missing limbs, their bodies were gaping open, or their heads were missing. In more extreme cases, most of their bodies were cut off and dissected, and dark brown, lifeless internal organs could be seen in the cross-sections of their bodies...
Hanuman even saw people he knew among these slaves.
They were all commoners who died as a result of the war to unify Bharata —yes, these slaves were either of the Shudra or Vaishya castes, not the nobles.
They suffer in the world, and even in death they will be enslaved and tormented for eternity.
This is the Holy City of Kashi, this is the pure land of Shangri-La?
Hanuman suppressed his anger, because he had just tried and found that he could not easily interfere with these unjustly killed ghosts.
He simply took off running, and after a vast expanse of black wheat fields, a magnificent golden palace appeared before him.
Its size is almost boundless; it was the Southern Cross Palace the Immortal Zhongyou once built through arduous cultivation, for the Sugarcane King to reside in.
But when Hanuman entered, he did not find the Sugarcane King himself; instead, he found only Kshatriya drinking and reveling everywhere.
Hanuman swung his iron rod, but it passed right through the bodies of these Kshatriya as if he were swinging a phantom.
Like those slaves, Hanuman was not unable to reach them, but it would take a lot of effort and strength.
The Kshatriya in this place number in the tens of thousands, countless.
Hanuman swiftly passed through the palace, and the moment he stepped out of the palace gates, he had already arrived at the halfway point of the snow-capped mountain.
There is no longer any distinction between up, down, left, or right; there is only endless light.
Amidst the boundless light, countless handsome celestial beings were dancing and playing music.
These were the Gandharvas and Kinnaras. Sita killed ninety percent of the Kshatriya and Brahmin on earth, and the number of Devas also increased to an unprecedented level.
Hanuman knew that the Vedic gods, represented by Indra, must be hiding among the gods.
But he was not misled by the celestial beings, nor did he linger there to vent his frustrations.
Because he knew that this strange phenomenon was not only caused by the nobility, but also by the Dharma formed by the two rulers.
After passing through infinite light—
Hanuman suddenly lost his weight.
This time, he lost not only his sense of direction, but also his concepts of light and shadow.
Was he inside or outside the snow-capped mountains?
It doesn't matter at all.
This place is neither inside nor outside the snow-capped mountains, nor is it the boundary between the inside and outside of the snow-capped mountains.
Before Hanuman, the air was filled with the faint scent of sandalwood, and there stood a lotus platform.
There is a statue on each side of the lotus platform. The one on the left is Vajra, and the one on the right is Bodhisattva.
Vajra appears in a wrathful form, displaying a terrifying appearance. He has four arms and three eyes, wears a bone crown, holds a trident, and carries a precious bow at his waist.
The Bodhisattva appears in Great Silence, with a face as white as a full moon, and is painted in accordance with the proper rites.
Why do this?
Hanuman asked.
Upon seeing the lotus platform, he knew that it was the manifestation of the "Dharma".
The lotus platform was empty, but a voice could be heard from behind the two statues.
The sounds coming from behind the Vajra statue resembled the howls of wild beasts, the roars of wounded animals, the buzzing of winged creatures flapping their wings, and countless rustling sounds reminiscent of the crawling of insects.
Behind the Bodhisattva statue came the rumbling of thunder, the howling of wind, the patter of rain, and the gurgling of water... All these sounds overlapped harmoniously, like a magnificent symphony.
First, the voices emanating from behind the Bodhisattva statue gradually faded away, becoming subtle and eventually understandable to Hanuman.
"I am the King of No Sorrow, and also the Chakravarti. However, the wheel I manifest is not for proclaiming the subtle Dharma, nor for wielding all kinds of Buddha treasures, but for the King of the Wheel of War who destroys the afflictions of sentient beings... Therefore, sentient beings must be awakened and tossed about in their suffering, and then awaken again from their suffering."
"Losing first and then gaining can release one's desires; gaining first and then losing can soothe one's heart."
"Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!"
The thunder, lightning, wind, rain, mountains, and rivers all seemed to echo in agreement.
Then came the voice coming from behind the Vajra statue.
However, he wasn't speaking to Hanuman, but to the statue of a bodhisattva.
"You are the Brahma King of No Sorrow, therefore you should have no sorrow. If you have sorrow, I will take the blade of the Three Insights and cut it off for you."
"If I were to take their lives, those evil beings would fall into the Naropa realm. If I did not, they would commit the sin of Avici Hell and suffer great torment. I would rather kill them and fall into the Naropa realm than let them suffer the torment of Avici Hell!"
As the sounds subsided, the lotus platform returned to silence, with only the lingering fragrance of sandalwood drifting like clouds.
"One of you says that all beings should be tossed and turned in suffering while remaining conscious, so that they can let go and see through things; the other says that all the killing you have done is not to harm people, but to relieve the suffering of believers, and is a wonderful way to save them from the endless sea of Sea of Suffering..."
"What you're really saying is that you're right and all living beings are wrong, so you want to humiliate and kill them, so that they won't find peace even in death."
"But why is there a distinction between nobles and celestial beings? Is it because they possess 'blessings' that come from nowhere?"
Hanuman's voice grew sharper and more mocking, "What you want is not for all living beings to transcend, but for them to forever wallow in their suffering..."
"And now you want me to do it 'willingly'?!"
The next instant, a roar erupted from Hanuman's chest.
"Fuck your grandma!"
The enraged monkey swung its iron rod and smashed it against the lotus platform!
Hanuman once broke away from the monkey tribe, wanting to become human. After many years of practice, he finally transformed himself into a human being. Many Kshatriya and Brahmin might not have been as dignified as him.
But now, he has taken off his clothes again and become once more the little monkey who roared in fury when he saw his mother die.
Suddenly, boundless roars of wrath echoed through the void.
"When performing this ritual, one holds a sword made of human bone. One walks in the Vajra stance, traversing the ten directions, circling the sword. At that time, all ghosts and spirits see the Great Holy Sword descending from the sky, filling the entire void, and each of them cuts off their own bodies in great fear!"
"Let it go! Let it go!"
"See through it! See through it!"
The iron rod that Hanuman had already raised suddenly felt as heavy as a thousand mountains, and he could no longer make any extra movements. The radiance of the six blessings dimmed one by one.
However, at the same time.
Hebe's calm yet weary voice suddenly rang out.
"The enlightened one visualizes himself as the vast emptiness; I am neither one nor different from the emptiness!"
In an instant, Hanuman's body became indistinguishable from the void, and the terrible pressure could no longer hold him in the slightest.
The iron rod came crashing down.
A crack suddenly appeared on the lotus platform.
Hanuman puts away his staff.
He fell heavily from the void like a stubborn rock, crashing into the snow with a thud.
Millions of snowflakes gathered from all directions and clung to his body.
Hanuman was about to say something when he suddenly felt a familiar presence, just like when his master rose from under the Bodhi Tree and gently stroked his forehead when he was desperate years ago.
Then a slight smile appeared on his lips, and he said nothing more.
Atop the deserted snow-capped mountain, a new statue has appeared.
It was a monkey holding an iron rod.
The rumbling sound of thunder rolled down from the snow-capped mountain peak.
Amidst the seemingly endless fields of rye grass, the cries and struggles of those slaves who had toiled endlessly were no longer silent. A terrible crack seemed to have appeared in the sky, and their cries rose from within it.
Their cries reached the Southern Cross Palace, and the Kshatriyas who were drinking and making merry Kshatriya changed their expressions.
The Golden Armor worn by the nobles was decaying and fading, looking like the worn-out rags of peasants; the wine in their cups had become cloudy, as if it were a drink squeezed by slaves; and the magnificent palace, now weathered by centuries of time, was no longer as splendid as it once was, though still tall.
The Kshatriya were no longer friendly; they seemed to have remembered past grievances, and their eyes were no longer kind to each other.
The cries of the unjustly killed ghosts reached not only the Kshatriya, but also higher places.
In the boundless light, the celestial beings, who seemed never to tire, showed worry and weariness between their brows.
Their dance rhythms were off, and the timbre of their instruments became muddy.
The Vedic gods, represented by Indra, were no longer purely spiritual beings.
The sorrow of those who died unjustly, and the anger and joy of the Kshatriya, touched them, gradually causing them to rediscover the emotions they had when they were human.
The status of the Vedic gods is declining.
Although they were never true gods, they are now more like human beings than the lofty gods.
"What to do?"
Agni, the god of fire, asked Indra.
Whether they were once successors to the Demon King or now hold divine positions among the Vedic gods.
Their relationship was always closer than that of the other Vedas gods.
"If only it could have been earlier, but alas..."
Indra replied, "It is too late for us to do anything now, or rather, in the Dharma Age, anything we do is wrong."
How could this be?
Vulcan asked in a deep voice, "What if I were to relinquish the name Agni..."
"It's useless."
Indra said, "This is no longer our time. Let's enjoy ourselves—we never really enjoyed ourselves when we were living as Sarkaz anyway."
The "world king" who was about to lose his supreme position calmly raised his hand.
Then, from the light emerged countless magnificent palaces, as well as layers of fertile land and clouds.
Among these, the most magnificent was Indra's royal city, a vast and flat city with walls cast in gold. A thousand gates stood atop it, facing in all directions, adorned with pearls, conch shells, coral, and silver trees. The ground was composed of silk, its surface feeling like brocade to the touch.
This was Indra, the Sudharma City resided during the Dharma Age.
However, if Hebe were here, he would realize that this city still bears the shadow of the ancient Egyptian lands city of Thebes.
The cities and palaces of the other gods also rose up in this boundless light.