Chapter 635 — The Soul-Reaving Strings
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
King Buddha Sakra had finished laying his divine power and came to the top of the altar. This Buddha Patriarch, youthful and handsome in appearance, looked out over the Sakra Heaven Realm with no little reluctance to leave.
"King Buddha, the longer we drag this out, the greater our peril," Shen Mu reminded him.
King Buddha Sakra nodded lightly. The clouds of care cleared from his face, and he laughed openly: "When I have washed the chamber pot clean, I will return to this place and be a Buddha Patriarch again. Why put on a child's airs? Young friend Shen, let us go!"
Shen Mu's primal energy surged out and poured into the altar's activating runes. At once light flowed, lighting rune after rune, and the whole altar seemed a giant beast waking from sleep, its layer upon layer of steps turning and shifting. At last the Spiritual Energy Transfer Bridge came alive, and a pillar of light shot up into the sky, straight beyond the heavens!
"On the way, one cannot feel time pass, but I calculated once: from Taihuang Heaven to the Wilderness Ruins takes one quarter-hour."
Shen Mu walked shoulder to shoulder with King Buddha Sakra into the stream of light and raised his voice: "From the Buddha Realm to Taihuang Heaven may take a while longer! A day and a night is one hundred quarter-hours; the moment to destroy the Spiritual Energy Transfer Bridge must come after we have arrived at Taihuang Heaven! King Buddha, the measure of time you use — is it the measure of the Wilderness Ruins?"
"Yes!"
King Buddha Sakra answered loudly: "My divine power will erupt in three quarter-hours and destroy the Spiritual Energy Transfer Bridge!"
The two figures vanished into the stream of light.
And at that very moment, in the Great Brahma Heaven Realm, the demonic aura of Youdu came surging; the place had become a demon sea. Youdu's demon nature and demonic aura had invaded, and little by little one could see Youdu creatures swimming here, now and again revealing long bodies and black scales in the murky ocean.
Suddenly the demon sea heaved and turned; a vast whirlpool opened, and a pair of dark giant horns rose slowly, turning, out of the whirlpool.
The waves howled and surged, louder and louder. And just then, on the island at the center of the Great Brahma Heaven Realm, a Reclining Buddha rose slowly from a ruined temple, light blazing abroad.
The Reclining Buddha lay within a lotus, a lotus of inconceivable size that towered above the ruined temple; the temple seemed to have become a golden spring, lotus leaves scattered all about, the lotus swaying gently.
The Reclining Buddha woke and raised his head, and saw a black god-devil rising from the demon sea: horns on his head, tiger's eyes, an ox's body, and a third eye grown at the center of his brow.
"Brother Dao!"
King Buddha Great Brahma said hastily: "That the affairs of my Great Brahma Heaven Realm should have disturbed Brother Dao and brought your avatar down to me — I am overwhelmed with dismay."
That horned, tiger-headed god-devil was none other than Tubo. He glanced about, his voice quaking: "Great Brahma King, your heaven realm has become a Youdu. Driving the Youdu demonic aura out of it would not be hard for you — why have you not done it? Do you need my help?"
King Buddha Great Brahma laughed. "I would never put Brother Dao to such trouble! Besides, the Youdu in my heaven realm is evidence; it must be kept, lest the Heavenly Court send down its blame. And the Buddha Realm has only light and no darkness, and cannot advance another step; it needs darkness for the Buddha Dharma to keep growing. Let this stretch of Youdu remain."
"So that is how it is."
Hearing this, Tubo understood the whole sequence of cause and consequence. "It was my failure to discipline him that let the Youdu Son-of-Heaven come to your realm and make trouble. I beg your pardon."
"You are too kind."