Volume 4: The End of Heavenly Secrets, Chapter 487: Three Hundred Years

The Thirty-Six Heavens of the Heavenly Court no longer existed. Led by the Qilin, the people of Qitianling carried away every valuable item from the Heavenly Court without leaving a trace, after which they began to dismantle it thoroughly.

Below the Thirty-Two Heavens, each layer was occupied by numerous demon soldiers. The Great Peng, Jiu Ling Yuan Sheng, and the Bull Demon King transformed into their true forms to clean each layer. Upon encountering the demon soldiers, they would say, “Those who wish to join Qitianling, I will protect you. Those who become scattered demons on earth can only rely on fate.”

Back then, Qitianling fought against the Heavenly Court and utterly defeated it; even Li Jing, the Heavenly King who wielded the pagoda, perished in battle. These events had long spread throughout the Heavenly Court. The demon soldiers revered and feared Qitianling, and now that there was a chance to join them, half of them joined the Qitianling demon clan without hesitation. The other half, though hesitant at first, would realize after descending to the mortal world that Qitianling had established temples of the Rain God and the Earth Goddess across the four great continents. In other words, everywhere in the world now had spies of Qitianling.

It should be noted that it was difficult for demons to survive on earth. In the past, they might have had opportunities to commit evil deeds, such as eating human flesh and harming mortals, yet they still had to constantly fear being captured by heavenly soldiers. Now, even those opportunities were gone. Qitianling enforced strict control; those who dared to harass mortals faced unforgivable crimes. Thus, for these demon soldiers, the idea of living a carefree life was as unattainable as reaching the heavens.

The Thirty-Six Heavens relied on the power of Creation to sustain their formations, allowing them to float in the air. Once that power was cut off, those formation foundations would eventually fall into the vast seas below.

Now, the Thirty-Six Heavens were almost empty. The only remaining palace was the Jade Pure Palace on the Thirty-Fifth Heaven. Its master, Yuan Shi, had not returned yet, so the palace was supported by the Supreme Lord Laozi and the Spirit Treasure Daoist, waiting for Yuan Shi’s return to decide its fate.

At this moment, Yuan Shi Tianzun was deep in thought inside the Creation Furnace. The structure of the furnace was far more complex than he had imagined. Inside, there were 1,440 small chambers, each with intricate formations in operation. To fully control the Creation Furnace, one had to understand all these formations.

Although Xuan Nu came to help, she merely served as a guardian. Though talented, she had not devoted much effort to understanding formations, so compared to Yuan Shi, she was not even at the beginner level.

There were only two Creation Furnaces in the world. Tracing back to their origins, both were created by Buddha. One was now in Buddha’s hands, while the other was the one Yuan Shi was refining.

Controlling the Creation Furnace is of great significance; whatever the Tathagata truly intends to do, the secret likely lies within it. Although this Creation Furnace was brought by the Tathagata from the previous era and may not be as powerful as the one in the Stupa Tower, it still allows us to roughly infer his intentions.

Xuan Nu sat outside the Creation Furnace, waiting for him to achieve enlightenment. Yet, determining how long such enlightenment would take is truly difficult—if inspiration strikes, it might take a year; if not, even a hundred years may pass.

Amidst the fierce winds, Xuan Nu employed the secrets of the Mysterious Sky Art. She saw the qilins and others in the thirty-six heavens busily clearing the celestial realm, while Zi Wei Zhen Wu and Lao Jun Ling Bao used their supernatural powers to relocate palaces to suitable locations on earth. She also observed the vast crowds at the Sacred Mountain in the Western Heaven, as well as the many rises and falls, victories and defeats in the world, which filled her with sighs.

Since the Tathagata did not appear, the great issue of the world remained unresolved. Yet, unaware of this anomaly, people continued to live their lives as usual—whether this was fortunate or unfortunate was hard to say.

Thinking of the Tathagata, Xuan Nu devoted more attention to the matter. He must be hiding somewhere in the world, refining his body as the Great Sun Tathagata, and to do so, he needed the power of reversing creation, which could only be obtained by connecting with the forces of the world.

Hmm, to harness this power of reversing creation, he must be connected to the world; otherwise, if he remained hidden only in the Stupa Tower, how could such power exist? The Buddhist hell realms no longer dared to appear in the world, and the Tathagata would surely not resort to killing ordinary people to create this power.

At this thought, Xuan Nu had an idea—she might find a way to locate the Tathagata. Since he needed to connect with the world to obtain this power, and the Great Sun Tathagata required an enormous amount of it, given the unique talents of the Creation lineage, there must be plenty of such power in the world—likely where the Tathagata was hiding.

At the thought of possibly finding the Tathagata, Xuan Nu grew anxious. Since Yuan Shi had not yet finished refining the Creation Furnace, she could not leave. Although the world seemed stable, figures like the Yellow-Horned Immortal were nowhere to be seen. If they still coveted the furnace and launched a counterattack, even Yuan Shi Tian Zun would not be able to resist.

Who could replace her in guarding it? The Creation Divine Ape had already withdrawn into seclusion, and it was hard to find anyone in the world who could rival the Yellow-Horned Immortal. After pondering for a long time with no solution, she gave up the idea, deciding to wait until Yuan Shi fully refined the Creation Furnace before taking action.

And so, she waited for a full three hundred years.

Over the course of three hundred years, many people have come to see the Mysterious Maiden—Qilin, the Nine Spirits’ Sage, the Great Peng… Oh, that kid, the Great Peng, has even become a sage. Yet even after attaining sainthood, his fastest movement is still only 108,000 li. The Mysterious Maiden couldn’t help but think of Wukong. She had seen many masters, but only the Spirit Monkey could teleport over 108,000 li in an instant. She wondered if he could go even further after emerging from his seclusion this time.

Dayu and Hou Tu also came. Though they were busy taking care of the affairs of the people every day, they appeared radiant and showed no sign of fatigue. The people of the four great continents now regarded the Temple of the Rain God and the Temple of Goddess Hou Tu as deities, while the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West had long been forgotten.

These are ordinary people. They only care about the present; they are good at forgetting and struggle to see the future. In this world, the majority are ordinary people, along with those ordinary flowers, plants, and trees—these are the foundation of the world.

Tathagata is truly wise. He knew that though the position of ruler of the world is tempting, what’s the use even if one becomes the ruler? After all, this world is meant to nourish all things and isn’t owned by just one person. Could this also be considered a form of transcending the mundane?

Maitreya and Guanyin also came. Maitreya told the Mysterious Maiden that the Medicine Buddha had now converted to Ling Mountain. Tathagata’s scripture seemed to only have an effect of a few decades. Now that Tathagata had left this world, the Medicine Buddha’s mind was clear, free from his former fanaticism. Hearing this, the Mysterious Maiden reminded Maitreya to be cautious, as the Medicine Buddha had once been one of Tathagata’s followers.

Maitreya then said to the Mysterious Maiden, “I hear the peacock is still with you. The peacock is somewhat similar to the Medicine Buddha. Why not set him free to see what happens? If he can gain freedom, it would be a good thing.” After thinking it over, the Mysterious Maiden followed Maitreya’s advice and brought out the peacock, placing it inside a formation in the Creation Furnace. Whether it would be a good or bad thing would take time to prove—anyway, the peacock couldn’t get out.

Guanyin said to the Mysterious Maiden, “They haven’t come out yet.”

The Mysterious Maiden nodded. Guanyin was naturally referring to Wukong and the others. Although there were seven Creation Monkeys, Guanyin wasn’t very interested in the Five Elements Monkeys. What concerned her was Wukong and Yin-Yang… Well, maybe only Wukong.

Sure enough, Guanyin said, “The Dragon Maiden wants to see Wukong.”

The Mysterious Maiden nodded. She knew about the slight affection between the Dragon Maiden and Bodhisattva Nagarjuna back in the day, so she said, “When Wukong emerges from his seclusion, I’ll take him there.”

Guanyin and Maitreya bid farewell. A few years later, Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha arrived, along with the divine beast Diting.

“I have found Tathagata,” Ksitigarbha said calmly. That was Ksitigarbha—no matter how great the matter, he remained unfazed.
Xuan Nu also came to a realization and replied, “Since the Divine Ape has not appeared yet, who can control Tathagata?”
Ksitigarbha said, “No one can.”
Xuan Nu shook her head and said, “I’m really worried. The Seven Divine Ape Gods have finally gathered together—let’s hope nothing goes wrong.”
Ksitigarbha said, “As I heard, they are all still alive and living well.”
Xuan Nu looked at Diting, wanting to laugh but not knowing where to find the joy.
Ksitigarbha left, and Laojun and Lingbao arrived again. The two of them came here most often, checking in every ten years.
Yuan Shi was exhausted from his efforts, and both of them were worried. Lingbao even said, “What’s the use of guarding this furnace? It’s possible Tathagata deliberately abandoned it!”
Xuan Nu replied, “Even if he did abandon it on purpose, we still need to see what mystery lies within!”
Laojun shook his head, muttered two words, and then left. Those two words shocked Xuan Nu deeply.
Obsession!
Yes, that’s what Laojun meant—obsession.
Indeed, it was obsession! Xuan Nu suddenly realized that Yuan Shi, herself, and even Wukong all harbored an obsession with Tathagata. It was this obsession that drove them to obsessively seek to uncover Tathagata’s secrets. In the process, unbeknownst to them, they also followed in Tathagata’s footsteps.
At this thought, Xuan Nu felt an ominous premonition—was this also part of Tathagata’s plan?
Suddenly, a sentence popped into her mind: “Those filled with desire are like those holding a torch. Walking against the wind, they will surely burn their hands.”
Then there was Wukong’s words, “Never lose your true heart; help others not lose theirs either.” Xuan Nu repeated these two sentences many times before suddenly waking up and shouting, “Yuan Shi!”
At that moment, Yuan Shi leaped out of the furnace, his face weary but unable to hide his joy. He said, “It’s done!”