Volume 4: The End of Secrets – Chapter 519: Tactics of Human Relations
The meaning behind the Great Sun Tathagata’s words was clear: he intended to keep Qitianling in the Buddhist hell. According to their previous wager, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable, but how could Qitianling give up all its foundations so easily?
Hou Yi remained silent, drawing both bows to full tension. Though there were no arrows on the strings, his murderous aura was intense—not for himself, but because Chang’e was also on Qitianling.
The Great Sun Tathagata paid no attention and said, “Even if you fight, can you defeat me? And even if you do, can you find the Buddhist realm?”
At these words, everyone fell silent. The Great Sun Tathagata was indeed right—with these people, it might not be possible to defeat him. And if he decided to flee, who could stop him? A real fight would likely result in mutual destruction. Even if they defeated him, they still wouldn’t find the location of the Buddhist hell and thus couldn’t save Qitianling.
Tongfeng suppressed his anger and asked, “What do you want?”
The Great Sun Tathagata replied, “In today’s wager, I’ve lost. Since the Five Elements Divine Ape and the Phoenix Qilin have left the Buddhist realm, I certainly won’t deny it. But the wager was only for today. When we meet again in the future, I will still capture you all. As for Qitianling… it’s of no use to me. What good is giving it back to you?”
Hearing this, everyone was stunned. Why was the Great Sun Tathagata so easy to reason with? If he had forced them to keep Qitianling, they would have been helpless anyway.
Tongfeng hesitated and said, “In that case… thank you.”
The Great Sun Tathagata sighed instead and waved his hand. “There’s no need for thanks between me and the Creative Divine Ape. His voice faded gradually, and his figure disappeared.
Wang Yu suddenly shouted, “Return my master!”
The Great Sun Tathagata’s voice came from the void, “Not now…”
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. If the Great Sun Tathagata had spared Qitianling, why keep Xuan Nu? What was his intention?
Hou Tu said, “Let’s go back and discuss this. First, let’s see if Qitianling is unharmed.” They rushed back to Qitianling at lightning speed and found it intact. Everything that had happened over these three days seemed like a dream.
Regardless of the Tathagata’s motives, at least Qitianling was safe. This battle turned out to be a false alarm, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they landed. Hou Tu said, “It seems the Tathagata has done you a favor.”
Tongfeng nodded. “It seems so, but I still feel uneasy.”
The wise divine ape took the colorful phoenix and entered the palace on the mountaintop to begin seclusion. Having obtained the Nirvana Fire, his desire to reach the Heavenly Saint realm was extremely strong. Having barely escaped from the Buddhist Hell, he naturally wanted to seek guidance from the colorful phoenix.
Tongfeng said, “I’m going to look for Wukong. Everyone… take care of yourselves.”
Take care of yourselves? Those words sounded very strange, but upon reflection, this was indeed the current situation. The Great Sun Tathagata was so powerful that even Qitianling could be swallowed whole by Buddhist Hell. No matter how many people stayed here to defend it, it would be useless. If not for his overconfidence in the invincibility of the walls of Buddhist Hell and his insistence on making a bet, if not for the Five Divine Apes’ persistent efforts over three days, and most importantly, if not for the colorful phoenix’s timely Nirvana… the Five Divine Apes would likely have been captured by the Great Sun Tathagata and still be in Buddhist Hell.
What the Great Sun Tathagata was most interested in were the Five Elements Divine Apes. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have deliberately provoked Qitianling. Although the people of Qitianling had repeatedly ruined his plans and even sent him to Buddhist Hell, strangely, the Great Sun Tathagata seemed to have no desire for revenge at all!
Yes, in his heart, there was no sense of grudges. Though the world was vast, not a single person was worthy of his attention.
The Great Sun Tathagata had only one goal: to ascend to the heavens. The Creative Divine Ape was someone who could help him achieve this, which was why he kept a close eye on him.
Knowing that the Great Sun Tathagata wouldn’t give up easily, Tongfeng left in a hurry, hoping that Yin Yang and Wukong would protect them. When he reached the banks of the Tongtian River, Tongfeng took a distant look and was shocked.
The 800-li-long Tongtian River was churning with waves, its banks lined with pebbles. On a giant rock shaped like a lying ox, Yin Yang sat motionless, covered in dust from head to toe, seemingly unchanged since they sat down.
Wukong, meanwhile, lay on the ground thousands of feet away from Tongfeng, his body buried under sand and stones, with only his head exposed, resembling a mound. Tongfeng had heard that Wukong was in seclusion, but he was surprised to realize he couldn’t sense Wukong’s presence at all!
Tongfeng landed and went to Wukong’s side. If he closed his eyes, he couldn’t even sense the presence of another Creative Divine Ape right in front of him. What was going on? How could such a thing happen within the lineage of Creation?
As he pondered, he heard Yin Yang say, “Tongfeng? How did you get here?”
Tongfeng turned and saw Yin Yang opening his eyes and looking at him. Tongfeng said, “Wukong—he—”
“Wukong is fine. Did you come for help?” Yin Yang asked.
Tongfeng replied, “You already know.”
Yin Yang nodded and said, “There’s no need to worry. The Tathagata’s actions are actually a form of surrender.”
“Make peace?” Fengtong was surprised. The enmity between Tathagata and the Creator had lasted for ages. Since the beginning of the era, he had deliberately suppressed the Divine Ape and gone to great lengths to seize the essence of Pangu’s creation. How could he even think of making peace? Could it be that Tathagata, seeing the Divine Ape’s formidable strength, wanted to win it over?
Yin Yang said, “If you’re not at ease, go and bring those four here. I’ll protect you, and Tathagata surely won’t dare come.”
Fengtong nodded and asked, “Since you know about Tathagata’s arrival, why didn’t you capture him?”
Yin Yang’s expression became very strange. After thinking for a while, he said, “I’ve been pondering something lately.”
“What?” Fengtong asked.
Yin Yang said, “Who do you think is the strongest in this world?”
Fengtong replied, “That goes without saying. The strongest one is undoubtedly Pangu.”
Yin Yang nodded and said, “Exactly. Then why hasn’t Pangu subdued Tathagata?”
Fengtong was momentarily stunned. “I have no idea what Pangu is thinking, but the Divine Ape and Tathagata do share a deep-seated hatred.”
Yin Yang said, “That’s true. But where does this hatred come from?”
“Where does it come from?” Fengtong asked. “That’s something one should ask Tathagata.”
Yin Yang said calmly, “As I expected, Tathagata will come.”
At that moment, in the Buddhist Hell, Xuan Nu stood in a dark place, feeling greatly relieved. She had watched the previous battle from start to finish clearly. Though she had been worried, the Five Divine Apes had managed to emerge unharmed from that realm.
To her surprise, after a while, Tathagata actually removed Qitianling from the Buddhist Hell. Xuan Nu was usually very thoughtful, but she couldn’t figure out the reason at the moment.
As she pondered, she felt the restrictions in the surrounding void lift, and she was temporarily free within the Buddhist Hell. But this freedom was limited to that realm only. Where else could she go? She was still under Tathagata’s control.
At that instant, Tathagata’s figure flew in from afar and stopped in front of Xuan Nu, looking at her with a smile.
Xuan Nu wasn’t surprised. She gradually understood that Tathagata had handed over Qitianling intact precisely to set the stage for this moment.
Tathagata asked, “Did you see clearly during the battle just now?”
Xuan Nu nodded. At this moment, the cultivation level of the World-Honored Tathagata was roughly on par with hers. She knew that Tathagata didn’t need to cultivate at all. The Three Bodies of a Buddha were closely connected. Once the Great Sun Tathagata’s body was formed, the cultivation levels of the Muni Tathagata and the World-Honored Tathagata both advanced rapidly—nothing strange about that. But no matter how powerful he was, could he surpass Tian Sheng?
Tathagata continued, “I showed mercy, and you must have seen that clearly.”
Xuan Nu nodded again. The Tathagata said these things to show her goodwill—how could she not understand?
The Tathagata said, “The Creative Divine Ape is the most precious thing in this world. I underestimated them.”
Xuan Nu replied, “Not just them. Even Pangu and the Kunpeng likely haven’t caught your attention either.”
The Tathagata smiled and said, “You’re right. Pangu is just an old servant. As for the Kunpeng, it has a bit of foolishness akin to mine—I actually have some fondness for it.”
Xuan Nu suddenly asked, “What about us?”
The Tathagata replied, “You? The Three Pure Ones? Hehe, since I’ve taken you four as disciples, how could I compare you to ordinary people? Among the four of you, you’re the most astute. The other three are rather foolish.”
Xuan Nu sneered, “Astute? I’ve ruined your plans many times. Instead of hating me, you praise me?”
The Tathagata shook his head and said, “Hating is the most useless thing in this world. Do your own thing—other grudges and feelings have nothing to do with it.”
Xuan Nu seemed to understand the Tathagata’s intentions. He had trapped her in the Buddhist hell not as he claimed, nor was it to use her as bait to see her ascend to heaven. With his state of mind, it was fine for her to ascend on her own—there was no need to prove anything to others. She was merely his disciple, not someone of great importance. That reason was just to comfort her.
As for using her as bait, it might be half true, half false, but after witnessing that great battle, Xuan Nu saw through everything clearly. The Tathagata using her as bait wasn’t to capture the Creative Divine Ape—given his powers, capturing the five divine apes wouldn’t be difficult at all. From start to finish, aside from the Phoenix’s Rebirth possibly being beyond the Tathagata’s expectations, everything else was under his control. In other words, he was deliberately holding back. And the reason for holding back was to deliberately do a favor for Qi Tianling!
The Tathagata and Qi Tianling had always been enemies—so why do this? As the saying goes, “Don’t strike someone who’s smiling.” This applies everywhere.
The Creative Divine Ape and Qi Tianling’s followers were straightforward by nature, with clear distinctions between kindness and enmity. By doing this, when they met again in the future, Qi Tianling’s followers would likely be in a difficult position. Even if they fought, they might not go all out, after all, the Tathagata had overlooked them once, showing no grudges.
Now that the Tathagata had come for her, it was obvious he wanted her to act as a mediator to repair his relationship with Qi Tianling. That was her role.
And Tathagata is also extremely accurate in judging people. In this world, there is no one more suitable than himself. The Three Pure Ones? Maitreya? Guanyin? Ksitigarbha… These people either hate Tathagata deeply or have overly lenient temperaments; they would never easily change their true nature to help Tathagata in the slightest.
As for himself, what is his true nature? Must he really fulfill Tathagata’s wishes, forget the past together, and plot some grand scheme? Doesn’t Xuan Nu also desire to escape? Within the vast furnace of heaven and earth, despite the current prosperous scene, it will eventually revert to chaos. Going outside brings hope; the unknown always inspires longing.
But he belongs to the lineage of creation now. Should he ask Pangu about this?