Volume Four: The Buddha Saves No One; Only I, the Demon, Deliver Them - The Crazy Taxi (Part Two)

The Six Suchness Wasteland had six different faces. The first was a gentle breeze, as mild as a maiden in her chamber; the second brought fierce winds and a darkened sun, savage as a man-eating demon; the third brought frantic winds and a scorching sun, violent as a fiend from purgatory; the fourth was all treacherous clouds and waves, cunning as a traitor who stole a kingdom; the fifth was shrouded in clouds and waves, blinding as the darkest hour before dawn; the sixth churned with clouds and waves, chaotic as a world torn by war.

Beyond these natural dangers, the vicious beasts and evil spirits of the Six Suchness Wasteland were no less numerous than those of the Carefree Cloud Sea. This journey would be more perilous than Luo Qian's last exploration of the Carefree Cloud Sea, never less. Back then, at worst, he could be reborn in a flash of white light. Now he had four others to worry about.

Though the sun was shining and a gentle breeze blew—the Six Suchness Wasteland's kindest face—Luo Qian did not dare race ahead while the weather held. The beasts needed to save their strength for whatever dangers lay ahead. The carriage rolled along at a steady, unhurried pace, and the day slipped away on the road. As sunset painted the sky, Hua Shiwei called to him, "We can't go any farther. At night, nothing survives in the Six Suchness Wasteland."

Luo Qian nodded. "Find somewhere sheltered from the wind and rain," Hua Shiwei said. "We'll camp there." Mountains were rare in the Six Suchness Wasteland, but there were plenty of hills. Before long, Luo Qian found one about a hundred meters high. "This will do," Hua Shiwei said. "Go to the foot of the hill." Once there, Luo Qian put