Chapter 79: The Buddha Said: All Things in the World Are Bound by Cause and Effect; All Sins Arise from Conditions and Vanish with T

“Great Sun Tathagata!”

Director Takahashi stared fixedly at his phone, wishing his eyes could merge with the screen to see every detail.

The next moment.

Every hair on his body stood on end, his scalp tingling with numbness.

He had not misseen it! Not an illusion! The old monk had chanted the Buddha’s name, and the boundless Buddhist light that had eradicated the six-eyed demon remained undiminished, surging outward toward the village of Teyrin, located behind the demon.

The Buddhist light was too brilliant.

Radiating ten thousand rays, dazzling yet not blinding, its glorious luminescence illuminated heaven and earth, and faintly, a slow, ethereal chant of Buddhist sutras drifted down—as if from the edge of the cosmos, crossing the Nine Heavens and Ten Realms, echoing from the Western Pure Land of the Tathagata.

Beyond the cordon, Director Takahashi and the others simultaneously tore their eyes from their phone screens, lifting their heads to gaze toward the direction of Higashiozu.

They froze in place.

Far away, above Higashiozu, the dark clouds had long since dispersed; the sky had once again regained its vast, majestic expanse, white clouds piled high—but these were not what drew their attention. What truly seized them were the two suns hanging in the azure heavens.

One was in the east—the ordinary sun, rising daily in the east and setting in the west, bringing boundless light and warmth, the supreme fire seed of heaven and earth.

There should have been only one sun—but now, another had appeared.

The other was a Great Sun, radiating boundless light capable of dispelling all evil in the world and purifying every shadow in the hearts of mortals, surrounded by ceaseless Buddhist chants.

Great Sun Tathagata!

If one had to liken this Great Sun to something, everyone instantly thought of the Great Sun behind the Great Sun Tathagata—the Buddha’s radiance, the Buddha’s halo, the Tathagata’s Great Sun—many names, but the meaning remained unchanged: it symbolized the Tathagata, the supreme in the Pure Land of Buddhism.

At this moment.

Everyone stared, spellbound, yearning to kneel, their hearts swelling with reverence.

Director Takahashi and the others knew clearly: that Great Sun, radiating divine Buddhist light like the Great Sun Tathagata, was not a Great Sun, nor was it the sun—it was light condensed from the old monk’s single chant.

The Buddhist light had become a Great Sun.

It rose into the sky, surging toward the distance, as if to pierce the Nine Heavens, to strike into the cosmos—but upon closer observation, the Buddhist Great Sun did not fly into the heavens; it moved toward one direction, one place.

“That’s… Teyrin Mountain,” Mori Tian Takeshi’s face turned pale; he exchanged glances with Director Takahashi and suddenly shuddered.

They remembered—the informant had said the six-eyed demon had emerged from Teyrin Mountain. And now, the Buddhist Great Sun was hurtling straight toward Teyrin Mountain.

“Amitabha.”

The old monk clasped his hands together, his countenance solemn and majestic, his voice ancient and hollow, drifting and quiet, neither real nor illusory—seeming unreal, yet undeniably spoken.

It was as if he was not speaking to this world.

But to another world—to carry his words across the endless dark of the Nine Heavens, to the Yellow Springs of the Wheel of Rebirth.

“The Buddha says: all things in the world are bound by cause and effect; all sins arise from conditions and vanish with them—there is a natural law. The transgressions you have committed must also have cause and consequence.”

As soon as he spoke, everyone’s scalp prickled, their souls trembling.

The old monk’s words clearly targeted the six-eyed demon—but the six-eyed demon was already dead. Was he, standing in the mortal realm, speaking to the six-eyed demon in the netherworld…?

As they thought this, countless people were gripped by horror, afraid to think further, afraid of touching what they were not meant to know, afraid that continuing to think would drive them mad.

Could it be… that reincarnation exists?! Could the Underworld be real?!

They dared not think further, pretending the old monk was merely muttering to himself, speaking to the dead six-eyed demon—but could they truly convince themselves? The old monk’s voice was ethereal, drifting, utterly unlike self-talk. Perhaps only time could slowly erase this memory.

At this moment, they suppressed their chilling thoughts, focusing all attention on the Buddhist Great Sun.

From the old monk’s words, they faintly understood: perhaps the six-eyed demon’s death was not an end. Perhaps its death was merely the first punishment it faced for its sins.

Not long after.

The Buddhist Great Sun reached Teyrin Mountain.

Boundless Buddhist radiance erupted, the light blazing fiercely, illuminating heaven and earth as bright as noon, filled with sacredness, bringing boundless purity—so dazzling that heaven and earth blurred, as if even the horizon had been lit, as if heaven and earth had merged into one. Simultaneously, infinite Buddhist chants roared, reverberating with dread and awe.

The light was too intense; even though it was gentle, it forced eyes shut—even with hands shielding them, vision remained blurred.

“That is…”

Through blurred vision, endless Buddhist radiance illuminated everything. Director Takahashi and the others each saw dimly: the Great Sun resembled an open gateway to the Pure Land, through which they glimpsed billions of divine Buddhas seated in meditation, chanting a single truth of the Dharma.

“Not through action, nor through inaction.”

The rolling truth of the Dharma surged into a torrent, rippling across the Pure Land, flowing gently out through the gateway, echoing throughout Teyrin Mountain.

The vast Teyrin Mountain trembled violently; trees, grass, and foliage swayed as if performing the Buddhist gesture of clasped hands.

And the entire mountain shook, as if trembling in fear—begging forgiveness from the Tathagata of the Pure Land for failing to protect this land, allowing demons to emerge and bring calamity upon the mortal realm.

At that moment.

Director Takahashi and the others saw: within the Great Sun’s gateway, the billions of divine Buddhas, clasping their hands and chanting the Dharma truth, simultaneously extended one palm. The Buddha-palms reached out, imprinting beyond the Pure Land, striking toward Teyrin Mountain.

At that same moment, the old monk’s body erupted in boundless radiance, dazzling beyond measure.

Many stared, dumbfounded.

At this moment, the old monk’s form towered infinitely, his entire body glowing with light, his countenance like the Tathagata, his Shenhou Buddha-halo exploding with ten-directional boundless radiance—as if he now were the billions of divine Buddhas, surrounded and honored by them, seated upon a golden lotus throne, the Buddha of the Pure Land himself!

The Buddhist Great Sun above Teyrin Mountain shone to the heavens; the old monk’s radiant aura pierced the sky. The two glowed in mutual resonance, as if cause and effect were born together—where there is cause, there must be result.

Then, within the Buddhist Great Sun, the billions of divine Buddhas’ palms merged into a single Buddha-palm, and the entire Buddhist Great Sun flowed into that palm.

The Buddha-palm was small—not tall, not large—only the size of a human hand—but it blazed with the radiance of a divine sun, imprinting itself into Teyrin Mountain.

CRACK!

Before countless horrified eyes, the Buddha-palm plunged deep into Teyrin Mountain, into a floating vortex of mud.

The next moment.

The mud vortex shattered like a mirror, splitting into thousands of fragments, raining down—then each fragment dissolved into radiant light and vanished.

But the shattering did not stop. The cracks in the mud vortex spread like lightning, jagged and grotesque, extending outward from the vortex, cracking across the mountain, the earth, the sky.

At this moment.

Centered on the mud vortex, the entire sky and earth of Teyrin Mountain resembled a colossal, shattered mirror.

“AHHH!!”

The Japanese Prime Minister screamed in terror, falling from his chair, face pale, drenched in fear.

“Space—space is breaking apart!!”

…