The West, Spirit Mountain.
Sanskrit chants rang out in waves, and golden Buddha-light flowed like something tangible over every inch of land, illuminating it in boundless splendor.
Beside the Eight Treasures Merit Pool, two figures sat facing each other.
Ripples spread across the water, reflecting the scene within the Grand Hall of the Great Hero.
A colossal golden-bodied Buddha sat upright upon a Lotus Platform, and below him were tens of thousands of Bodhisattvas and Arhats, listening as if drunk and entranced.
As that Buddha expounded the scriptures, lotus flowers spilled from his mouth and golden springs surged from the earth; every word pointed straight to the Great Dao, polishing the originally somewhat rough doctrines of the Western Teachings until they were seamless and unobstructed.
The Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree in Zhunti's hand brushed gently. On that face, which always carried a measure of shrewd calculation, there was now a rare ease.
"Senior Brother, we made the right move with this piece."
Jieyin also gave a slight nod. On that face of his, bitter and sorrowful through all the years, the corner of his mouth tugged into the faintest curve.
"Tathagata is not only profound in Buddhist law; rarer still is his ability to command the entire situation."
"In just a few tens of thousands of years, he has tidied up the rotten mess Burning Lamp left behind in perfect order, and even perfectly merged the two lineages of the Greater Vehicle and Lesser Vehicle."
"The first disciple of the Jie Sect—his reputation is well deserved."
Zhunti looked at that solemn, majestic figure in the image, and could not help sighing inwardly as well.
"Indeed. Ever since we established Buddhism, though Fellow Daoist Burning Lamp did all he could, it was always little more than small skirmishes."
"Now that Tathagata