Lingji Bodhisattva held the Flying Dragon Staff and looked down at the wretched demon king below, a strange glint passing through his eyes.
"Wretched beast, do you know your crime?"
Great King Yellow Wind trembled all over, but he did not beg for mercy. He merely lifted his head with a bitter smile, his voice hoarse:
"My crime? What crime have I committed? To save my people, I offered my body and soul to that rat... and what came of it?"
"Had your Buddhist Order not stood by and watched coldly, how could my Sihali Kingdom have come to this! How could my people have become these half-human, half-demon creatures!"
Lingji Bodhisattva shook his head. His gaze swept over Great King Yellow Wind's face, covered in yellow fur, and he sighed:
"Deluded fool, you know only of that monstrous insect, not where it came from."
Lingji Bodhisattva lowered his cloud and landed thirty feet in front of Great King Yellow Wind.
"The Sihali Kingdom lies at the westernmost edge of Jambudvipa, where the sun sets and yin and yang meet. Since ancient times, this has been a place heavy with baleful qi. That monstrous insect, Fuban, was born of the baleful qi that accumulated beneath your kingdom over millions of years."
"When the Buddha bestowed the Sunset Drum, it was not to demand incense and offerings. It was to suppress the baleful qi underground through the Buddhist Order's great vow power."
"When the people believed in the Buddha and held kindness in their hearts, that vow power formed an invisible seal, pinning the monstrous insect beneath the earth so it could never rise."
"But you... tore down your own Great Wall."
Lingji Bodhisattva pointed at Great King Yellow Wind, his tone growing stern:
"Out of selfishness, you bred jealousy and hatred in your heart. You ordered Buddhism eradicated, smashed the golden bodies, and banished the monks. That act broke the seal of vow power. The baleful qi ran wild, and only then did the monstrous insect burst out of the earth and bring disaster!"
"That was my fault..."
Great King Yellow Wind gave a bitter laugh, his nails digging deep into the earth.
"I admit it! But don't you think your explanation is laughable? Why did that monstrous insect have a Buddha's head? Wasn't that your Buddhist Order's doing? Wasn't it punishment for my disrespect?!"
"That was not a Buddha's head."
Lingji Bodhisattva's voice suddenly dropped:
"It was... my head."
Silence fell at once.
Beside them, Sun Wukong blinked his Fiery Golden Eyes in astonishment and looked at Lingji Bodhisattva.
Sure enough, beneath that solemn Five-Buddha Crown, the once-perfect golden Dharma Form now seemed inexplicably insubstantial.
"I was ordered to guard Lesser Mount Sumeru, where I kept watch over this yellow-furred marten spirit that had committed an offense."
"When the monstrous insect Fuban emerged without vow power to suppress it and ravaged the Sihali Kingdom, I took pity on the suffering of all living beings. Knowing that this marten's innate power, the Samadhi Divine Wind, was the insect's very bane, I lifted its restriction and ordered it to descend to the mortal world and help you slay the demon!"
"But I never imagined..."
Lingji Bodhisattva's voice carried suppressed fury:
"It would seize the opening as I lifted the restriction to ambush me, bite the head clean off my Dharma Form, and grievously wound my Dharma Body."
"It then mounted that head on the monstrous insect to fabricate an act of Buddhist retaliation. Thus it stirred your hatred of the Buddhist Order and made you abandon all thought of returning to the Buddhist Dharma!"
"It found you and deceived you, claiming to be Great Sage Yellow Wind, come expressly to save you. But it said the insect was so powerful that it needed to merge your royal qi with its demon body before it could kill it."
"It lied that only by turning the people into Ratfolk could they escape the Buddhist Order's retaliation. It wanted to turn you and every person in this kingdom into its Demon Soldiers and Generals and establish a Demon Kingdom."
At this point, Lingji Bodhisattva looked at Great King Yellow Wind, who stood frozen like a wooden chicken, and a trace of ruefulness entered his voice:
"It never meant to help you! It wanted to devour human king qi to cultivate! To turn all the people of this kingdom into its Demon Soldiers and Generals and increase its cultivation!"
"But for all its countless schemes, it never reckoned with the strength of your resentment and will as a Human King. At the very moment it devoured you, your resentment and obsession instead suppressed its primordial spirit and seized control of this body."
"You hated your whole life, resented your whole life. Little did you know that the one you hated wanted to save you, while the one you trusted was the one who harmed you."
Great King Yellow Wind was stunned.
Within Yellow Wind Cave, the wind sobbed.
There had been no tragic, heroic sacrifice, no bold defiance of heaven to rewrite fate.
Only a mortal king, toyed with in the palm of a demon's hand.
"Haha... hahaha..."
Great King Yellow Wind covered his face, his laughter uglier than crying. "Karma... such fine karma... so I was a joke all along..."
"Now that the causes and consequences are known, this karma is settled."
Guanyin Bodhisattva spoke softly from the side:
"Venerable Lingji, take him away. Bring him back to Lesser Mount Sumeru and discipline him strictly. That will at least give the Sihali Kingdom an answer."
"Wait."
Xuanzang slowly rose.
He brushed the dust from his monk's robe and stood in front of Great King Yellow Wind.
"Xuanzang?" Guanyin Bodhisattva frowned slightly.
"The truth is clear. You still mean to interfere?" Lingji Bodhisattva asked.
"The truth is clear? No. What this humble monk sees is an even greater veil of delusion."
Xuanzang pressed his palms together, yet showed not the slightest deference. Instead, he advanced a step and raised his head to look Lingji Bodhisattva straight in the eye:
"Bodhisattva, you say that monstrous insect was born from underground baleful qi and needed the Buddhist Order's vow power to suppress it. Without belief in the Buddha, the vow power would disperse, and the insect would emerge."
"This humble monk dares to ask-was the treasure bestowed by the Buddha meant to suppress the monstrous insect, or to pen believers like livestock?"
"If this were true compassion, then upon seeing that insect, even if the people did not believe in the Buddha, even if their king was foolish, shouldn't you have acted directly and wiped it out?"
"Why wait? Why watch? Why let that monstrous insect eat people? Were you planning to use it to demonstrate the price of 'not believing in the Buddha'?"
Lingji Bodhisattva's expression darkened. "Xuanzang! This is the cycle of the Heavenly Dao; each must bear their own karma! If everyone disrespects the Three Treasures, what becomes of the order of heaven and earth..."
"Then let me ask you another question, Bodhisattva!"
Xuanzang's voice abruptly rose, cutting off Lingji's defense. "You say the marten ambushed and gravely wounded you, leaving you unable to act. If you were gravely wounded, why didn't you ask someone else to act? Were you afraid of punishment?"
"From the Sihali Kingdom's suffering, to its king becoming a demon, to its people turning into rats and scraping out a living over this past century."
He turned and also looked at Taibai Jinxing behind Guanyin.
"Let me also ask you, Jinxing: why did the Heavenly Court not subdue the demon?"
"Through all those long years, where were all the gods and Buddhas in heaven?"
"What were you doing while the people here suffered?"
Xuanzang's gaze swept over them like a sharp sword:
"Was it merely because this place disrespected the Three Treasures and spoke presumptuously of gods and Buddhas?"
"Or was it because..."
Even this holy monk had been stirred to anger. With a bleak, cold smile, Xuanzang said:
"Or was it because you had foreseen this scene long ago, yet deliberately ignored it, deliberately left this king with nowhere to turn, left this entire kingdom's people to suffer..."
"Just to wait for today, to make them a trial on this humble monk's Journey to the West?"
"To wait for this humble monk to pass by, so you could appear, subdue the demon, and stage a fine show of 'merit brought to perfection'?"
"What about the people? No one cared while they suffered, and only when the Pilgrim arrived did this 'compassion' finally come limping in?!"
"Insolence!!" Golden light blazed from the Flying Dragon Staff in Lingji Bodhisattva's hand, and an oppressive aura descended in an instant:
"Xuanzang! Do you know what you're saying?!"
Hearing this, Taibai Jinxing nearly fell off his cloud in shock. This monk has gone mad!
Xuanzang did not budge beneath the oppressive aura, his back ramrod straight.
"Of course this humble monk knows."
"This humble monk is saying-how can immortals and Buddhas sit idle and watch coldly! Is this what you cultivate for?!"
"You won't care whether these people live or die. I will!"
"..." Guanyin Bodhisattva looked at Xuanzang with an utterly conflicted gaze, then silently closed her eyes.
Xuanzang turned to Great King Yellow Wind, his voice growing gentle:
"Your Majesty, if they won't save your people, this humble monk will."
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