Chapter 477: The Desire Realm

"Venerable Monk, you jest—this Western Journey is fraught with demonic miasma, so I've come to impart a method." Bodhisattva Mara's smile never faded, utterly unconcerned by the hostility and aura displayed by all present.

"If the Venerable Monk would share this Mahayana Dharma with me, it would indeed reflect your boundless benevolence—but if you possess Mahayana Dharma, why then seek the True Sutras in the Western Heaven?"

"To forsake the near for the distant—isn't that casting all sentient beings into fire and water?"

"With such a heavy hand for killing, how can the Venerable Monk liberate others—or even himself?"

As a barrage of questions poured forth, others braced themselves, but Li Huowang paid no heed—he pulled out a Cross-Domain Talisman and prepared to summon Yi Donglai for a group brawl.

Su Lin's true body, clad in the Tianhe Battle Robe, stepped forth from history and said: "If the Chan Master wishes to debate Dharma, I know a fine place for mutual exchange."

Without seeking the sutras, where would the cosmic fortune come from?

Without cosmic fortune, how could one draw prizes?

Killing to protect life—cutting karma, not beings—do you understand?

"Gentlemen, there's no need for such tension." Bodhisattva Mara gazed at Su Lin's true body, whose purple imperial robe shimmered with immortal light, then at Shi Hao's Great Luo Sword Embryo, and smiled: "I come only to impart Dharma—I shall depart shortly."

"Subhuti, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form?" Su Lin returned the smile and said: "The humble monk has already mastered it."

Bodhisattva Mara shook his head, formed the Wish-Granting Mudra, his face filled with compassion, ignoring the lightning-fast attacks that erupted around him, and closed his eyes.

"Behold: all six desires are fulfilled; liberate all suffering and distress. Subhuti, seeing form, desire is fulfilled—countless hues, form is not emptiness, emptiness is not form; sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness—likewise."

"Subhuti, dharmas have no inherent emptiness; birth and death are uncertain, hence called chaos, heaven determines increase and decrease. Therefore, enjoy the moment—no sensation, perception, volition, or consciousness; yet there are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—aware of the desires of mouth, belly, and eyes; there is the realm of sight, up to the Sixth Desire Heaven."

Bodhisattva Mara released his hands and opened his eyes—the heavens and earth had transformed.

Before him stood a modern world of steel and concrete, cars gliding along roads, sunlight glinting blindingly off glass facades.

Above him, a young man in modern attire stood vertically upon the glass wall, ninety degrees perpendicular, gazing down upon all below.

"What do you want?" Bodhisattva Mara asked.

Lord of the Sixth Heaven of Desire, Bodhisattva Mara.

His specialty: attacking the mind through others' emotions and inner desires, luring them into downfall, chasing after cravings.

In the past, he could do nothing against great cultivators or those with perfect minds—but times are not as before. Having obtained the Buddha's body, he had surpassed himself, surpassed the Buddha!

Crossing beyond sentient nature, crossing beyond the Prajna light that guards the mind, he gazed at the young man before him.

This was the external desire avatar of the reincarnator—either external stimuli or internal expectations.

"What do you want?" Bodhisattva Mara asked again.

Yet the other gazed down from above, his pupils reflecting the countless masses passing below—no sorrow, no joy, no arrogance, no satisfaction of ruling all beings.

Heaven and earth are low; mountains and marshes are level.

Unlike the Buddha, who sought to control and transcend desire, he simply watched—like heaven itself, devoid of the seven emotions and six desires.

At least, on the surface.

In most cases, he needed no such method to understand the desires of sentient beings—he knew instantly all information contained within desire.

Seeing such a phenomenon, rare among great cultivators, Bodhisattva Mara walked toward the young man.

Like ripples on water, he entered the body of the youth whose face was identical to Su Lin's.

This time, he arrived at a boundless emerald plain where day and night stood side by side; beneath a sky full of stars, a man with Su Lin's face sat atop a floating island's peak.

He reclined in a rocking chair by the lake, a brazier at his feet holding a teapot, the rhythm of the Dao drifting from its spout.

Time flows, years pass in tranquil peace.

Bodhisattva Mara gazed at the symbol of the other's external desire and spoke as Lord of the Desire Realm.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted longevity, even immortality—I've achieved it. Now, each day I wish to see something interesting."

The youth rolled over, seemingly uninterested in responding.

Latent desire also exhibits inertia.

Bodhisattva Mara clasped his hands, closed his eyes, and descended deeper into desire—why he valued this man so greatly was because he sensed this person held value for liberation.

The Buddha's Dharma body, immense cultivation, and merit demanded his utmost caution.

He no longer sought merely what the other desired, for "desire" was not merely that—his worries, his attachments, his thoughts, his musings—

All of it left traces in the Desire Realm.

Moreover, even without desire, one could create desire; even indifference could be amplified, influencing the body until a flaw emerged in the mind.

This time, he would uncover fragments of the reincarnator's past—thoughts born repeatedly from emotional and desire-driven echoes.

He opened his eyes again—dozens of youths, all bearing Su Lin's face, wandered through a starry void, surrounded by tens of thousands.

Universes?

"Would destroying a universe's karmic cause be too great? Would it deduct my merit and harm my cosmic fortune? After all, it's all Fusheng Heaven's fault."

"Don't want to work. Just want to lie flat."

"Life is short. Want to live longer."

"All these multiverse brawls are such a pain."

"Have to fight offline with so many universes and a bunch of great beings—is ten years enough?"

"Too much crap. Just achieve ultimate transcendence already. f***."

"Just want to be God without fulfilling God's duties."

"Find a chance to rip open Kleine's mouth. Find a chance to sew it shut, find him a matchmaker to shut Kleine's mouth."

"Go all-in. Going all-in is wisdom."

"Give me a love story."

"Should I spend big and create a universe to play with? Nah, too expensive."

"Want to see more people and scenery, want to go to more worlds, want…"

"Give me some fun."

From the faint, unimportant traces to the heavier trace of "desire."

Mara: "."

Don't disturb, he's thinking.

What exactly does this Buddha's frequent thought mean?

He didn't quite understand, but Mara felt profoundly shaken.

Mara turned off that vast pile of "speech" traces and temporarily tried to comprehend what information he had received.

No, he didn't need to understand what this Buddha was thinking.

He reversed the Dharma-Realm Seal, followed the external desires to Su Lin's mental boundary, disrupted his mind, corrupted his wisdom, and induced a state of inner chaos, preparing multiple methods to shatter Su Lin's will.

At that time, he could further advance by borrowing Su Lin's undamaged fruit position.

Mara revived a thought Su Lin had once had, expanded it, solidified it, and transformed it into a white lotus, sending the flower flying deep into Su Lin's mind.

He formed the gesture of holding a flower; his right hand conjured a peach blossom out of thin air, causing it to bloom, symbolizing fulfilled lust; his left hand revealed an epiphyllum, letting it bloom and wither, symbolizing the loss of longevity and the return to samsara.

"When all six desires are fulfilled, one reaches the Heaven of Transformation and Self-Enjoyment."

"Bestow blessings to satisfy all, liberating their hearts with eternal bliss, guiding them together into the Buddha's vow-sea."

The Desire Realm descended; Mara used his great spiritual power to pull Su Lin and others' minds into the Heaven of Transformation and Self-Enjoyment, manifesting their desires, thoughts, and fears.

The ninety-nine trials must include this tribulation.

Above the sky, vast sheets of crimson petals fell, swirling and drifting, one by one, crystal-clear and luminous.

When Shi Hao came to his senses, he felt as if he had forgotten something, but he believed he could recall it if he thought hard.

A graceful figure approached; she stood at the edge of the Fire Mulberry Grove, tears continuously falling: "Little brat, you're back?"

Shi Hao's heart trembled; he widened his eyes, unable to believe it, and turned to look at the woman.

"Huoling'er."

At dusk, Guangling City's lanterns flickered dimly, magnificent and grand, filled with the warmth of the mortal world.

Meng Qi looked at the beautiful white-robed woman in his arms, her lips stained with blood, her breath fading like a dying lamp.

"Must I save you a hundred, a thousand times before you believe my heart?"

That was the very thing he least wanted to experience.

It was merely text.

It should be text right now.

"Wu Xiang Gong."

The river reflected the stars; the mortal world was deafeningly loud, waves of despair and resentment crashing against the soul.

Fear of loss, fear of gain, closeness and distance, truth and illusion, reality and fantasy.

Bone-deep hatred solidified into substance, regardless of whether these emotions originated from himself or whether the scene before him was real.

Purple lightning blazed; a blade's gleam, the Kuangdao Bawang's Absolute Blade sliced along the imprint into the mind.

Meng Qi embraced the cold body in his arms, rose while gripping the blade, and suddenly turned toward a direction, coldly saying: "I am angry."

Since Fingal left the dorm, this doghole of a room looked noticeably tidier.

Lu Mingfei sat on the desk by the window, a few streaks of orange light filtering through the tree shade; he seemed to have had a very long dream, in which.

He traversed many worlds, met many people, and even changed the future right after arriving in Tokyo.

Although this world had been turned into a playground for those two, and had developed in strange directions, everyone had come alive.

"Your package has arrived, brother."

He didn't know how the Little Devil had gotten the package into the dorm, but Lu Mingfei stared at the tightly wrapped parcel inside, addressed to Tokyo, Japan.

The sycophantic Lu Mingze handed him a small knife; Lu Mingfei trembled as he took it and sliced it open.

It was a painting.

In the painting, he wore a German noble-style military uniform; Hui Liyi wore a low-cut court gown with a farthingale, the background being St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

As if they had just finished their wedding ceremony and stepped out of the church, receiving countless blessings from subjects.

"Lu Mingfei, who could possibly outdo you?" Lu Mingze sneered at him.

"Ten thousand and three hundred and twenty flower tickets couldn't hold you, so even a quarter of your life couldn't keep her."

"But now it suits you just fine, Chairman Li Jiatu—so many beautiful girls to choose from; Kai Sai left you a huge harem, of course, he doesn't know you once lusted after his fiancée."

"Just deal with this thing however you like."

"By the way."

The Little Devil's mocking tone abruptly shifted to calmness; his golden eyes, carrying the weight of ancient, timeless years, fixed on Lu Mingfei's pale, devastated face.

Like the calm before the storm, with hidden currents beneath the sea.

"How much longer will you play with this lowly thief?"

Lu Mingfei froze; only then did he realize that the Little Devil seemed different today.

The white decorative flower on his chest was stained red with blood; he lay silently in the coffin, gazing at him with pity.

"Why are you still wearing clothes?"

"Venerable Monk, come for dual cultivation."

"Aren't you seeking immortality? Here—"

Su Lin sat cross-legged on the dragon throne, within a misty, sacred celestial palace, surrounded by beautiful girls he had seen and hadn't seen, all dancing in sheer gauze.

"First, that one over there uses magic—there's no such thing as dual cultivation techniques," Su Lin's eyes were hollow; he swirled the night-light cup filled with wine and said:

"Second, most characters' expressions are too seductive—they don't fit their profiles. You'd better give me a more interesting dream, at least not reuse the old tricks those outer gods used."

"Otherwise, I swear by God, once I leave here, I'll use this nine-ring staff your Buddha Uncle gave me to beat your ass soundly."

"Oh no, I mean I'll use Mahayana Dharma to educate you."

Su Lin's eyes were lifeless; he stared at the black-haired, long-straight beauty walking up to him with a fruit tray, his expression unchanged.

"Do you really think all of this is false?" The silver-haired woman beside him lifted Su Lin's chin, peeled a grape, and brought it to his lips.

"Even if you don't take off this primordial treasure on your body, can't you still sense it? This is a real world."

These 'demons' born from spirit and memory coexist with the Hehua Zizaitian, surpassing the innate nature of all beings, piercing straight into the depths of the heart, infiltrating without a single gap.

But even Poxun never expected that Su Lin's Tianhe Battle Robe could protect its master to this extent.

With the full force of the Desire Realm unleashed, anyone else would not remain mostly lucid like Su Lin—deeper buried longings would be stirred.

Su Lin and the others also never expected that the 'Wuchao Chan Master's' Heart Sutra had become the Desire Sutra, and its effect was indeed powerful—this move was utterly unexpected.

"Holy Monk, do you believe in the emptiness of the Four Great Elements?"

"What? When I look at you, are your eyes empty?"

Su Lin snorted, swallowed the grape offered to him, and silently gazed at the wine pool and meat forest before him.

Another woman approached—her face cold and serene, her figure tall and slender; in appearance and aura, she was identical to Zhao Shuangdian, whom Su Lin knew.

She sat beside Su Lin and whispered softly: "You are not a Buddha, nor a monk—you are merely a mortal. Life is short; enjoy it while you may."

As she spoke, she tried to undress Su Lin.

At that moment, Su Lin's own emotions added a new sense of loss and fear, familiar and deep.

That fear was like the child he once was suddenly realizing the concepts of "death" and "end"—distant, yet right at his doorstep.

"You seem to have forgotten," the woman's voice grew gentle, the surroundings blurring, "there is no immortality in this world."

"What are you talking about, you who are a Heaven's Dao of the Immortal Realm?" Su Lin retorted.

The blurred scene froze; the fear of life's brevity and one's own limited scale vanished largely.

"What did you say?" The woman blinked in surprise.

"You once gave me part of the Heaven's Dao—I could live forever even if I lost all my cultivation," Su Lin said.

The woman fell silent; the sensual scenery around them gradually faded.

"If you seek pleasure, why cling to those boring moral constraints?" Poxun appeared beside Su Lin, urging: "I can sense you're holding to unnecessary boundaries."

Unable to achieve immediate results, Poxun had to try subtly reshaping him, planting seeds of change.

"The chasm of desire can never be filled; precisely because of this, when the way you pursue pleasure crosses the boundary, it equals surpassing the threshold."

"If I satisfy myself this time, next time I'll have to do something even more perverted. Not good."

Su Lin looked at him.

Poxun shook his head. "You haven't even tried—how can you say it's not good?"

Su Lin fell silent.

"How about it? Try it," Poxun's voice was seductive. "Forget those boundaries and pursue pleasure. Imagine—if you cast aside all restraints, what would you most want to do right now?"

Once Su Lin's mind stirred, he could make him act out evil thoughts and desires in reality.

"What do I want to do…"

"Yes."

"There's plenty."

"You can do all of it."

Poxun affirmed.

"Destroy this world."

"What did you say?"

"Honestly, after I destroyed that universe last time, I've been wondering—when creating a new one, could I add a few more elements? I think it'd make a good story after many years."

"Destroying this Journey to the West world? With some effort, it's still possible."

What is this man talking about?

"But wouldn't that be too cruel?"

"Yes."

"Then don't do it, right?"

"Right."

Poxun stared blankly at him, wondering who the Demon King was—but then he sensed something wrong and looked into Su Lin's eyes.

Only then did he realize: the confusion in Su Lin's eyes had vanished, replaced by a strange glow.

"Master…"

"It's time to hear the Mahayana Dharma."

A chilling, eerie voice echoed at his ear.

"The Dao that can be spoken…"

"Fuck you!" Li Huowang exploded into motion, turning into a blur as he chased after the Chan Master.

Poxun's face twitched—he couldn't understand why this man was still chasing him when everyone else had been ensnared.

"Thus have I heard…"

"Hear your fucking head! Where did you put them?!"

Li Huowang realized the Chan Master was more agile than a monkey—he immediately used Primordial One Qi, trying to strip away something from the man.

Poxun didn't understand: why couldn't this Sha Monk understand the sutras? He couldn't enter his mind or pull him into the Hehua Zizaitian.

He sensed a strange power appearing out of nowhere—inevitable, about to strike him.

"Damn weird stuff!" Poxun muttered.

At that moment, a blade of light split the space beside him, tracing back cause and effect to slash at him—its radiance fierce, violet lightning surging, shaking the soul, carrying the same aura of supreme solitude!

"Strange," Poxun frowned.

As soon as he finished speaking, Bodhisattva Mara suddenly formed the Prayer Seal, opened the Desire Realm, and launched a golden palm print that sliced through space and time.

He seized out a formless, writhing illusory creature that bore his own aura, and without hesitation, obliterated it with all his strength.

"Cough… is it related to you?!" Bodhisattva Mara, sensing the absence of his divine soul and memories, laughed: "It seems our exchange ends here…"

"Eat a slash!!!"

A roar rang out; Meng Qi seized the opening created by the Desire Realm's activation and slashed out another bolt of purple lightning.

Flames of mulberry blossoms danced, gradually drifting down and withering.

"Wait for me." Shi Hao held the Great Luo Sword Embryo, his left hand reaching to touch the girl's face—but halted.

Huo Ling'er's eyes shimmered with tears; she gripped Shi Hao's arm and pleaded: "Are you leaving again?"

"I'll go find you," Shi Hao whispered. "This time, I won't let you wait long!"

He broke free from Huo Ling'er's grasp, spun around, and focused the Great Luo Sword Embryo's blade light into a single point.

"Little brat!" Huo Ling'er chased after him.

Shi Hao waved his hand and smiled: "Gone, Fat Girl!"

(End of Chapter)