Legend of the Great Sage

In the Hundred Herbs garden, beneath the bodhi tree.

Deep in his thoughts with his eyes shut, Li Fengyuan’s face suddenly became covered with tears. A hint of sorrow appeared on his handsome face.

The nine-coloured deer noticed this secretly, and she became slightly reluctant to see this. This kid is still so young after all. Despite his courage and boldness, he’s just not as staunch as his father. Though, according to the age of humans, he’s probably still just a child. Great danger is imminent, so why doesn’t he feel fear?

At the same time, in the Great Thunderclap temple within his dream, Li Fengyuan touched his cheeks and gazed at the moisture on his fingers in surprise. “Hmm? What’s this!? Why am I crying?”

He had already experienced this sight and situation countless times in his dreams. The destruction of the Great Thunderclap temple was no longer news to him, yet for some reason, at this exact moment, he found it especially moving.

He thought about it seriously, and only then did he understand. I’m fearing death!

A fear for death and a lust for life was nothing but the most common of emotions among all living creatures.

The spirit turtle may enjoy longevity, but there is still a time when death comes. The divine dragon rides on the mists, but there is still a time when it will be reduced to dust.

However, the phoenix was an exception. It was not just different from regular living creatures. It was also an exception among all the natural spirits.

The phoenix would use “nirvāṇa” to transcend the fate of “disintegration, then emptiness”. It possessed an endless lifespan from birth, so it lacked the concept of “death”.

The nine-coloured deer’s comparison was actually wrong. Humans divided their measly few decades of life into several stages and called them infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood…

However, phoenixes could not be categorised like this because their lifespans were “limitless”. They were both infants and old people. The endless cycle called “nirvāṇa”.

And, Li Fengyuan was far more courageous than the nine-coloudred deer had imagined. The courage and determination he had inherited from Li Qingshan had completely become a part of his spirit a long time ago, and because he did not go through all those fears and worries like Li Qingshan, it was even more pure than Li Qingshan himself.

At this moment, the reason why he shed his tears was because he experienced the concept of being “limited’ for the first time in his life, which was the concept of “death” that regular people spoke of.

Li Fengyuan gazed down at the tip of his toes. Once he took this step, it would be death. Whether they won or lost, there would only be death.

Even if Li Qingshan defeated all the powerful foes in the end, claiming the title of the heavenly emperor beyond the Nine Heavens, he would not be able to redeem his life among the six realms of saṃsāra and the trichiliocosm.

Li Qingshan’s victory or defeat had yet to be determined in this crisis of the world, but his fate was already fixed.

If ants dragged out a pointless existence, then was the divine bird, the phoenix, any different?

Li Fengyuan did not know what the other phoenixes had chosen, but he was Li Qingshan’s son. As a result, he wiped away his tears with a smile and strode onwards with composure, welcoming death calmly.

With this step, everything before his eyes, whether it was the halls, towers, and pavilions or the monks and guardians, they all turned to dust, green, yellow, red, white, and black, curling and dispersing by his side. This long dream would come to an end one day.

With this step, he would become the true Meat-stewing Heavenly King. Even though that was just one of Li Qingshan’s jokes, he had never viewed it as a joke. Instead, it was a goal he tried his best to achieve.

He suddenly had a realisation—a determination—overcome him; this was the first time in his life, as well as the last, that he would shed tears for himself.

When the dust dispersed, Nālandā was already gone. All that remained before his eyes was a grove, filled with lush, flourishing golden-leaved bodhi trees. The ground beneath him was paved with golden tiles. The sun shone over his head, reflecting off the ground, making it glisten.

If Li Qingshan were here, he would definitely find it all extremely familiar. That was the same grove that he had seen when he first entered Sukhāvatī, identical down to each blade of grass and tree. However, compared to everything else he experienced afterwards, the grove had been far too ordinary, such that it left behind almost no impression.

However, Li Fengyuan had been expecting this, and he was familiar with the allusions of buddhism. He immediately stated the name of the grove. “Jetavana!”

In the distant age, before the Great Thunderclap temple had been founded, before Mahāyāna Buddhism had been established, this was once where the buddha primarily gave his sermons. It was constructed under the resolve of Anāthapiṇḍada and prince Jeta, which was why it possessed such a name.

If the Great Thunderclap temple was where buddhism developed and prospered, then this was where everything began.

Li Fengyuan said loudly, “The world honoured one, I’ve come!”

“Are you aware that by coming, you will definitely be incinerated by the flames of karma and be doomed for eternity?” An old, sombre voice rang out, echoing between Jetavana.

“I am already aware. I have no regrets.” Li Fengyuan had come here exactly for those flames.

“Why have you come?”

Li Fengyuan answered, “To shoulder Li Qingshan’s sins!”

The flames of karma and the lightning of tribulation were all a part of the Dao that operated in the world. Even gods and immortals could not escape from them. The path that Li Qingshan would be walking down would definitely lead to boundless sins. He would be incinerated by the flames of karma. If no one shouldered them for him, he would never be able to achieve victory.

“What are Li Qingshan’s sins?” The voice answered with a question.

Li Fengyuan was speechless. He never felt like Li Qingshan had committed any sins.

“Go! If you’re only thinking for your father, you are not a disciple of mine.”

Like a thunderclap, Li Fengyuan suddenly realised something. “I’ve come to shoulder the sins of the living creatures, to face the suffering of the living creatures.”

“What is benevolence? What is compassion? Who are you to the living creatures?”

However, Li Fengyuan was unable to answer again. The difference between the phoenix and the numerous living creatures was like the clouds to mud, but before this, he did not even know what “death” was. What did the living creatures have to do with him?

“If you treat yourself as a god, then the living creatures are ants. If you treat yourself as a master, then the living creatures are servants. Even if you take pleasure in the welfare of the living creatures, even if you have a heart of benevolence, you are not one of us.”

“All living creatures are equal,” Li Fengyuan suddenly said, “Is this why you chose first father? Giving him the laws of Sukhāvatī and making him become the lord of the Demon domain.”

“It was Li Qingshan who chose to become Li Qingshan. It was Li Qingshan who chose to become the lord of the Demon domain.”

Li Fengyuan smiled. “Yeah, who can make a choice in Li Qingshan’s place? Even if you’re the one honoured by the world. If you really did possess great benevolence and compassion, possessing omnipotence like how they all describe you, why would the trichiliocosm be a sea of suffering?” Then he said firmly, “If you have benevolence, then you have no power. If you have power, then you have no benevolence.”

He had converted to buddhism, but when he faced the sovereign of buddhism, a supreme existence among the gods and buddhas, he still talked and laughed freely, without any particular reverence or respect.

The voice fell silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Abilities, no matter how limitless, are unable to defy karma.”

Li Fengyuan asked, “What is karma?” He had come for the flames of karma, but he still was not clear on what exactly “karma” was. The buddhist scriptures had many sayings about it too, unable to completely agree on what it was.

“Actions and consequences.”

“Will actions always result in consequences?”

“Actions will always result in consequences.”

“I see. So possessing abilities is karma!”

Li Fengyuan immediately understood and came to a realisation.

The endless laws, the countless techniques, were all a result of karma, a result of actions and consequences.

From gathering spiritual qi to circulating power, and then to casting techniques in the path of cultivation, they were only a small portion of actions and consequences. Without any power to circulate, there were no techniques to be cast. Without any spiritual qi to gather, there was no power to circulate.

The people in the world respected the great might of abilities and techniques, able to shift entire mountains and oceans, but their very nature was no different from the kicks and punches of a mortal, except mortals did not gather spiritual qi but ate food instead.

Many years ago, the first lesson that Li Qingshan had learnt on the path of cultivation was eating meat.

That was why abilities, no matter how limitless, were unable to defy karma, as abilities in itself were karma. That was why even the world honoured one could not shoulder all of the karma, unable to become so-called “omnipotent”.

Li Fengyuan had already understood the answers to everything regarding this. “I have not come this time for Li Qingshan or the living creatures, but to shoulder my own actions and consequences. If there was no Li Qingshan, there would not be Li Fengyuan, so Li Qingshan is my action, so I have to shoulder his consequences.”

“Phoenixes are able to transcend life and death, but they cannot transcend this action and consequence, this karma. When it comes to this, a phoenix is no different from a mortal, and a mortal is no different from an ant. All living creatures are equal. I… am a living creature.”

Li Fengyuan only felt enlightened. He no longer had any worries. Even his fear of “death” had dissipated. He only found karma to be natural, to follow a logic of its own. The cycling between life and death had always been cycling through the same thing.

That was why while phoenixes possessed an endless lifespan, he had never heard of a phoenix surviving from the ancient times. They possessed eternal life, but they had to die. Instead, the number of phoenixes diminished. They must have all shouldered their own karma.

The voice smiled. “Exactly! Come up to me.”

Li Fengyuan relaxed inside. He knew he had passed the test and could continue seeking death, so he made his way into the depths of the grove.

However, because of the revelation just then, his mind whirled away rapidly. His thoughts ran amok as his emotions soared, unable to calm down. Vaguely, he could sense that this was not that simple. Apart from Li Qingshan, there seemed to be even greater karma regarding himself, except it was as if a gate separated it from him, unable to realise what it was for the time being.

By the time he had reached the depths of the grove, he finally witnessed the buddha’s true appearance. He did not glisten or possess a round face like the statues in the temples. Instead, his face was sunken, and his nose was curved. He seemed like a regular old monk, just like Jetavana itself, nothing special in appearance.

And, his drooping lips and curved nose made him seem very unfriendly. If mortals ran into him, they would not even necessarily be willing to give him alms.

However, Li Fengyuan felt a strange feeling of closeness instead, like they were connected by blood. There was a flash of inspiration through his head, and the gate swung open, immediately understanding everything involved.

He said in disbelief, “You’re… the primordial phoenix!?”