Mahamayuri Bodhisattva arrived at the gods' encampment.
From afar, he saw strange clouds rising one after another above and below the tents, with thunder rumbling and fire roaring, concealing profound mysteries.
Mahamayuri Bodhisattva could not help praising him. "Well done, Li Jing! He truly keeps strict military discipline. Though there is no fighting by day, he still drills his troops in battle formations. Let me watch in secret."
Mahamayuri Bodhisattva covered himself with Five-Colored Light. The Five Phases generated one another, giving rise to all things in the world; he became a breeze and minute particles, breath and motes of light, concealing himself so that no one could detect him.
Entering the camp, he indeed found the gods deploying a formation.
He saw a formation thus:
Above, it enacted the numbers of Primordial Heaven, drawing upon Primordial Heaven Pure Qi and concealing the workings of Chaos, uniting heaven, earth, and humanity as one.
Below, it followed the numbers of the Earthly Way, concealing a dense and weighty substance and displaying the wonders of concealment and emergence, with endless transformations that brought death without revival.
Within, it followed the arts of the Human Way, concealing Four Hundred Immortals and Gods. Following Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, a million lethal forces issued from within.
Anyone who fell into this formation would first be struck from above by Primordial Heaven thunder and blasted into powder; earthly fire would surge from below and burn them to flying ash; within were a million lethal forces, Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind interweaving, leaving no possibility of returning to life.
Even Mahamayuri Bodhisattva could not help calling it a fine formation when he saw it.
Just then, he saw the immortals and gods throw Tathagata's Alms Bowl into the formation. At once, an unceasing roar filled the