Chapter 255 — The Source of Calamity
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The Monk's Heart exhaled a breath of turbid air. In his day he too had broken through four heavens in succession, reaching the mental state of the Sun Palace Son of Heaven. When he came to the Morizhi Heaven Court, he had failed to cultivate it through—yet even so, it was enough for him to be called a Buddha-Son.
Did this not mean that Shen Mu also had a Buddha-heart, one to match his own?
If Shen Mu kept walking forward and broke through the Morizhi Heaven mental state, would that not mean this demon's Buddha-heart and Buddha-nature surpassed his own?
How could a demon be more possessed of Buddha-nature than a cultivator of the Buddha?
They came to the Morizhi Heaven Court. Shen Mu listened to the sutra, and before long, radiance blazed up from his body.
Thunder roared in the Monk's Heart's mind, stunning him into a daze. Shen Mu, this demon among demons, had actually cultivated all the way to the fifth heaven in one breath—a constitution equal to the Horse-King God, a Buddha-heart the same as his!
How was it possible?
He was a demon! A great demon, plainly! A demon could not cultivate the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra!
The Monk's Heart, the Buddha-Son, steadied himself. He was already the monk of Great Thunderclap Temple with the highest constitution and comprehension, the finest Buddha-heart, in the past hundred years—and yet a demon had surpassed him.
The party came to the Mother of Demon-Children Heaven Court. At this pass Shen Mu was finally stymied, unable to cultivate through the sixth heaven of the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra.
The Monk's Heart was beside himself, a man bereft of his soul. Shen Mu had cultivated through five heavens in one breath—this was already the constitution of a Tathagata!
"If he took refuge in the Buddhist faith, Master would most likely choose him as the next Tathagata..."
His heart churned with gain and loss, and suddenly the thought came: "I must not let him become a disciple of the Tathagata. The next Tathagata can only be me!"
Once the thought arose, it could not be contained.
"Buddha-Son, I hear that in years past the Imperial Preceptor Jingping came here. How many heavens did he cultivate through?" Shen Mu suddenly asked.
The Monk's Heart, the Buddha-Son, steadied himself and said: "The Imperial Preceptor Jingping's visit here was a matter of one or two hundred years ago. I heard the temple elders say that the Tathagata accompanied him at the time, and in but a short while the Imperial Preceptor Jingping comprehended seven heavens."
Shen Mu started in fright, shook his head and said: "Worthy of a prodigy seen once in five hundred years. I cannot compare."
Old Master Huo said in astonishment as well: "The Imperial Preceptor Jingping comprehended seven heavens in one breath? Remarkable! Had he entered the Buddhist faith, he would have been a Tathagata; entered the Daoist faith, a Dao Lord; entered your Heaven-Sage Cult, a Cult Hierarch! A talent like that is rare in a hundred generations!"
The blind elder sighed in admiration too, praising: "The Lame Elder had a leg chopped off by him—he was not wronged at all."
Old Master Huo and the blind elder led them all the way to the topmost floor of the Twenty Heavens Pagoda. Unnoticed, two or three days had passed, and Shen Mu had listened through all twenty heavens of the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra. He could not but exclaim at its exquisite subtlety—no less fine than the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra.
He had no intention of cultivating the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra, but a stone from another mountain may polish one's jade; the Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra held great reference value for him.
The Monk's Heart looked at Shen Mu, his gaze flickering: "Cult Hierarch Shen's constitution is hardly inferior either. Cult Hierarch, I have shown you our Great Thunderclap Temple's Thunderclap Mahayana Sutra. Might this humble monk be permitted to peruse the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra?"