Legend of the Great Sage

e hand in hand, where one often turns into the other!”

“You’re not returning to the Heaven realm anymore?”

“The Heaven realm? How can the Heaven realm compare to Sukhāvatī?”

The deva all believed in buddhism.
Their greatest wish often was not to survive the tribulations and become immortals, but to enter the Western Paradise Sukhāvatī.

As the buddha said, Why is this land called paradise? The people of this land are free from suffering, yet they still have joys, thus it is called paradise.

By entering Sukhāvatī, they were completely freed from the impurities of the world, without any need to suffer from the roots of suffering, freed from the circumstances of celestial decay.

This pure land was imbued with the buddha’s power of great benevolent belief, free from any wicked demons externally and devoid of suffering internally.
They enjoyed endless lifespans, just like the buddha.

By paradise, it was definitely no exaggeration.

“Are you certain this is Sukhāvatī?” However, Li Qingshan refused to believe there was something as great as that in the world.

Princess Qin smiled.
“Listen closely, sir.”

As a result, Li Qingshan listened closely.
The wind blew through the golden-leaved bodhi trees, but it did not emit the regular sound of rustling trees.
Instead, there was a strange rhythm and a metallic timbre.
Combined with the strange bird cries, it formed a wondrous tune, both enchanting and calming.

As the buddha said, The sounds heard by people of this land all resemble study of the buddha, the dharma, and the sangha.

“It was the wondrous sound that I heard that made me dance in the air uncontrollably.”

“Perhaps we’ve only accidentally entered a certain holy land of buddhism,” Li Qingshan continued to refute her stubbornly, even more certain that he had fallen into a trap.

Princess Qin smiled and prodded his chest gently with her slender finger.
“I was originally quite dissatisfied with you sir, both with how you took my chaste and how you refused to treasure me, but in consideration of the fact that you saved me, I could not help but depend on you, wanting you to become my cultivation partner.
That was why I tempted you to enter the Heaven realm, in hopes that you could change your mind.
I really did suffer great agonies of the mind.”

“But after arriving in Sukhāvatī, I was suddenly freed from my emotions.
I felt no more resentment or bitterness.
Instead, I was filled with gratitude.
I felt like this was a heaven-sent opportunity, so I might as well go with the flow.
Why place so much emphasis on what I’ve gained and lost, persisting over this measly affair? I no longer hoped to spend all of our time together, only hoping that you can always be well.
If this isn’t Sukhāvatī, what other place is so wondrous?”

Li Qingshan looked over with squinted eyes.
Princess Qin was filled with sincerity, without any attempt at deception at all.
It should have touched him and caused him a sense of guilt, but it only made him feel cold inside.

He could not help but examine himself.
He discovered the ox demon, the tiger demon, the ape demon, and his many demonic thoughts were declining.

Letting go of his stubbornness, diluting his wrath, and no longer deluding himself.
Was that a good thing?

He could not help but admit that he really did feel very happy and very comfortable.
He had basically never felt so at ease in his life, but it also frightened him for some reason.

With his cultivation as a Daemon God and identity as a successor of the devaputra-māra, this world could actually influence his will without him knowing.
Apart from the legendary Sukhāvatī, what other place could this be?

Before the buddha’s power of great benevolent belief, what was a measly Daemon God’s beliefs supposed to be?

Li Qingshan said firmly, “No, I can’t stay here!”

“Why?” Princess Qin was extremely surprised, almost tempted to ask, Are you stupid?

“I promised to take you back to the Heaven realm.
This isn’t the Heaven realm.
And don’t forget, we snuck our way in here.
Perhaps someone will be here to chase us away very soon.
Who knows, they might not even come peacefully?”

“Sir, you promised me a fancy cart, a pulling cart, yet now, I’ve received a great cart pulled by a white ox instead.
I can’t even celebrate enough! Let alone me, even the buddha won’t blame you.
You might as well say that is what the buddha has done.”

“You’re completely underestimating Sukhāvatī, actually comparing it to the Heaven realm.
The deva are all proud and self-conceited, reserved, and stingy.
Meanwhile, the buddha is benevolent and magnanimous, so why would someone chase us away, much less violently? Those who are not destined can go through thousands of lives without ever setting foot here, while those who are destined can do so in a single step.
You’re here means that you’re here.
You have the destiny means you have the destiny.”

Princess Qin smiled and sighed, shaking her head.
She seemed enchanted, like she had just been enlightened.
Her words were filled with a buddhist truth, having drawn a clear line separating herself from those lowly deva already.

Li Qingshan cringed.
The beacon of liberal democracy had basically captured her, and she had even run into it willingly.

What he was most worried about right now was whether there was a scheme involved, just in case the buddha suddenly appeared and crushed him then and there with his palm.

“Then, princess Qin, why do you think we’ve been brought here? Has your sincerity touched the buddha?”

“Of course.
I’ve never done anything, so why would I be received by the buddha’s light? Sir, do you have a bound duty?”

“Writing novels?” He remembered that he was a disciple of the school of Novels, so his bound duty should have been writing novels.

“No, I’m talking about a bound duty allocated to you by the heavenly palace.”

“I’ve only just undergone the sixth heavenly tribulation recently.
I don’t have any connections either, so why would I be given a duty?”

“There you go.
I think you’ve been chosen as a sangharama guardian.”

Li Qingshan had heard of that phrase before.
So-called sangharama god were both “guardian gods” of buddhism, as well as another path and system beyond the heavenly palace.
It was a path taken by monks.

Then he remembered how Maheśvara was one of the devatà and could also be classified as a part of buddhism.
Devaputra-māra were also a form of god.

And a very, very long time ago, he was once a secular disciple of buddhism.

Motherfucker, so it really is the study of the buddha, the dharma, the sangha!

“Sir, you have a destiny with the buddha!”

As a result, he remembered it all.
Every single monk he encountered in his life seemed to say that exact phrase.

He had always treated that phrase as a joke.
Even when the Upraised Light abbot tried to convince him otherwise, he could not shake his will.

Never did he think it would be a prophecy come true, ending up in Sukhāvatī and becoming some sangharama guardian when he momentarily dropped his guard.

“It’s a cursed destiny!”