touchnovel Chapter 18.2 A Golden Immortal Defects from Buddhism? One Sentence Startles a Great Bodhisattva into
Chapter 18.2 A Golden Immortal Defects from Buddhism? One Sentence Startles a Great Bodhisattva into
Manjushri stepped back three steps.
His chest was still heaving violently.
The sword of wisdom hung limply at his side, its tip pointing weakly at the ground.
He looked at the young man sitting cross-legged on the stone drinking soup and finally realized something.
This isn't Sun Wukong acting.
This is not an oversight in any part of Buddhism.
This person is truly evenly matched with him.
He, Manjushri, one of the four great Bodhisattvas of Buddhism, is an absolute powerhouse in the Three Realms. Today, he was utterly humiliated and beaten to a pulp by this mortal for half an hour.
"Who exactly are you?"
Manjushri's tone changed.
He asked that question with an interrogative tone.
He asked this question now with a sense of apprehension that he himself was unaware of.
"Why are you obstructing the journey to the West?"
Lu Chen finished the soup in his bowl.
He put down the bowl and patted the stone beside him.
"Buddha, sit down and let's talk. You must be tired after fighting for so long."
Manjushri stood still.
He didn't want to sit.
For him, sitting down was an act of acknowledging that the mortal before him was worthy of being his equal.
He, the dignified Manjushri Bodhisattva, does not know how to sit.
"Okay." Lu Chen shrugged and smiled. "You can stand."
He shifted to a more comfortable position, sitting cross-legged more steadily.
"Then let me tell you about yourself."
Manjushri's heart skipped a beat.
He didn't like this opening line.
He was all too familiar with this kind of opening line.
When Lu Chen was talking to Sun Wukong, he started by mentioning "弼马温" (a low-ranking official in charge of horses). When he was talking to Zhu Bajie, he started by mentioning "撩娥" (teasing Chang'e). When he was talking to Sha Wujing, he started by mentioning "破璃盏" (breaking a glass lamp).
Now it's his turn.
"Bodhisattva." Lu Chen smiled gently, as if chatting with an old friend, "Do you know what your name used to be?"
Manjushri's expression changed.
He hasn't spoken yet.
Lu Chen continued speaking to himself.
"Before you converted to Buddhism, you were Manjushri Guangfa Tianzun, a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun. You were one of the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect."
Manjushri's face turned pale instantly.
The air freezes.
Lu Chen spoke these words very softly.
But its weight is as heavy as a mountain.
The Twelve Golden Immortals betrayed the Chan Sect and entered the Buddhist sect.
This is one of the biggest taboos between Buddhism and Taoism.
Since the end of the Investiture of the Gods, the Western Sect has been renamed Buddhism. The Golden Immortals who defected from the Chan Sect have all changed their appearance. The Chan Sect has never officially acknowledged this, and Buddhism has never publicly acknowledged it either.
This is a topic that all the great powers know in tacit agreement, but no one dares to openly discuss.
It's been a thousand years.
No one dared to discuss this matter openly in the Three Realms.
Now, an ordinary person of unknown origin sits on a broken rock and tells it with a smile.
Manjushri felt his hands trembling.
"you……"
"Your senior brother Puxian, your junior brother Cihang," Lu Chen continued slowly, "the three of you betrayed the Chan Sect together."
"Your teacher, Yuanshi Tianzun, was so angry that he didn't eat for three days."
"We almost threw the Investiture of the Gods at your heads."
"If the Tongtian Sect Leader hadn't fallen out with your teacher back then, and the Primordial Celestial Lord hadn't been too busy to deal with you and the others, do you think you'd still be drinking tea on Mount Ling now?"
Manjushri's hands began to tremble.
It wasn't a slight tremor; it was an uncontrollable tremor that came from the depths of my heart.
Every word Lu Chen said was true.
Every single word is precise down to the smallest detail.
The fact that someone hasn't eaten for three days is something that even Laozi, the Supreme Lord of the Heavenly Court, might not know so clearly, except perhaps for his direct disciples.
How could this mortal know?
"What, you don't want to listen?" Lu Chen looked at his expression and smiled understandingly.
"Then let me say something lighter."
Manjushri breathed a sigh of relief.
This relief didn't last long.
"Your mount, the Azure Lion," Lu Chen said, "do you know what it was originally used for on Mount Ling?"
Manjushri instinctively replied, "A mount."
"No," Lu Chen shook his head, "He's a gatekeeper."
"What?"
"Buddha thought its roar was loud enough to scare away bystanders, so he had it sit at the side gate of Mount Ling as a gatekeeper," Lu Chen said with a smile. "Later, you asked Buddha for it to be your mount."
"Why are you asking for it?"
"Because you think riding a lion is powerful."
Manjushri's face paled even more.
This isn't taboo, but it's shameful.
"And your sword of wisdom." Lu Chen raised his chin and pointed to the sword in Manjushri's hand.
Manjushri instinctively hid the sword behind his back.
Do you know its origin?
Manjushri bit his lip and remained silent.
"Back when you were in the Chan Sect, this sword was called the Dragon-Hiding Stake."
Dragon-Hiding Stake.
A layer of cold sweat appeared on Manjushri's forehead.
This is a part of his past that he never lets anyone mention.
"After entering the Buddhist order, you felt that the name 'Dragon-Hiding Stake' was too Taoist, so you changed it to 'Wisdom Sword'."
"Even the sword blade was reforged."
"Back in the Taoist sect, your teacher, Yuanshi Tianzun, is still talking about this matter. He says you wouldn't even leave a magic weapon intact."
"The original words of Yuanshi Tianzun were..."
Lu Chen cleared his throat and imitated the old man's tone of voice.
"This unfilial disciple, he ran away and changed the names and appearances of the magic treasures. He didn't even give an old man like me the slightest bit of face."
Manjushri stood there, stunned.
He had never heard that phrase before.
But he knew without hearing it that these were the kinds of things his teacher would say.
That tone. That choice of words. That feeling of anger mixed with helplessness.
Not a single word is wrong.
Lu Chen continued.
He spoke of the old grudge between Manjushri and Samantabhadra. Back when they were in the Chan sect, they had argued fiercely over a magical treasure. Later, after they entered Buddhism, the Buddha learned of this and mediated the dispute.
He was talking about the minor disagreement between Manjushri and Cihang. After Cihang converted to Buddhism and changed her name to Guanyin, her prestige grew, at one point overshadowing Manjushri, which made Manjushri quite unhappy. Manjushri himself thought that only he knew about this matter.
He explained the origin of Manjushri's Seven Treasures Tree. It was originally a material for refining weapons from the Chan Sect, which Manjushri took with him when he betrayed the sect. Strictly speaking, it was theft.
He said that the essential mantra of Manjushri's Vajrabhairava Mudra was something Manjushri himself spent three hundred years comprehending. On the day he finally understood it, Manjushri was so excited that he danced around in his room for half an hour, when Maitreya happened to pass by and saw him.
He said...
He said far too much.
Every single detail is so precise it's mind-boggling.
Everything was a secret that Manjushri believed only he knew, or only a few close people knew.
It's like reading a book called "The Secret History of Manjushri Bodhisattva".
Sun Wukong, standing to the side, raised his eyebrows repeatedly.
He had only heard rumors about these things back in Heaven.
But I've never heard such a detailed and precise version before.