novelno Chapter 221 The Illusion of the Heavenly Palace, Five Finger Mountain
Chapter 221 The Illusion of the Heavenly Palace, Five Finger Mountain
As the sun sets, crimson rays of light emerge from the western horizon, and clouds of red, purple, yellow, and orange blanket the sky.
The rosy light streamed in through the dilapidated roof, illuminating Lü Qian and making his already imposing aura appear even more divine.
The radiant light emanating from Lü Qian's body intertwined with the magnificent sunset, and the ethereal, five-colored aura seemed to be plated with a layer of gilded color.
Lu Qian sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. The seven-petaled lotus beneath him swayed in the wind, and between the opening and closing of the lotus petals, a vibrant life force overflowed, causing the messy thatch at the bottom to sprout new buds.
A touch of green peeks out from the withered stems of the thatch, as if transforming into a base for the growth of colorful lotus flowers, becoming a patch of green lotus leaves.
Lu Qian seemed oblivious to the situation, still immersed in that profound and unobstructed state, his aura and radiance rising and falling with each breath.
"Amitabha, now I understand why the Taoists were so nervous before."
Zen Master Huijing sat facing Lü Qian. He stared at the strange scene before him with wide eyes and unconsciously straightened his originally relaxed posture.
He shook the tattered palm-leaf fan in his hand, calculated the time with his fingers, and said, "Since the ascension of the Wudang Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng, there have been no other clearly recorded ascensions in the mortal world."
"If this succeeds, it will be the first time in six hundred years."
Looking at the increasingly sacred and solemn Lü Qian, he couldn't help but shift his position slightly backward, then reached out to tidy up his messy appearance.
This is a future figure who will be remembered in history, so one cannot be careless when dealing with him; he also wants to gain some good reputation along with him.
As Zen Master Huijing carefully groomed himself, he recalled the inexplicable anger of his senior brother a few years ago, and suddenly everything became clear to him.
"This is the first time in six hundred years that we've missed it. I'd be angry too."
After tidying up his appearance, Zen Master Huijing smiled slightly. His appearance was quite different from before, somewhat resembling the Buddha holding up a flower in a temple.
He glanced at the four-finger palm print on the head of the young monk Jiekong, unsure whether to lament whether his nephew's luck was good or bad.
If he's lucky, the person who hit him isn't an ordinary person; he might even become famous for that slap.
Bad luck, got slapped... ugh, knocked out of the dantian, and the experience of being hit might be remembered.
Well then, misfortune may be a blessing in disguise, and a blessing may be a misfortune in disguise. Whether it is good or bad depends on one's own fate.
Shaking his head, Zen Master Huijing stopped thinking about it and continued to observe Lü Qian's changes.
At this moment, Lü Qian's figure became increasingly ethereal and otherworldly, and the sense of tranquility and naturalness became even more profound, as if he were about to ascend to immortality at any moment.
His dazzling radiance and ethereal aura rose and fell with the rhythm of his breath, like a tide, as if to lift Lü Qianxia up to heaven.
Against this backdrop of ethereal beauty, Lü Qian felt himself becoming increasingly dazed and serene, his consciousness seemingly detached from the hustle and bustle of the world, transforming him into a deity overlooking humanity.
At this moment, he felt as if he had ascended to the celestial realm, and what lay before him was the Heavenly Palace.
He opened his eyes and saw in the distance magnificent palaces and intricately carved pavilions. Thousands of golden rays rolled like red rainbows, and auspicious clouds sprayed forth purple mist.
Amidst the swirling clouds and mist, Lü Qian seemed to hear the laughter and conversation of immortals. Their figures, sometimes visible and sometimes hidden, appeared in the distance. They were dressed in colorful robes and cloud-draped garments, appearing even more otherworldly than the statues in palaces, temples, and monasteries.
The magnificent fairyland before him seemed to be beckon Lü Qian, the newly ascended god, to come. He looked down and saw that the chaotic mortal world could be stirred up into surging waves with a flick of his wrist. There was no place in the human world that he could not reach.
"No, that's not how it works."
In a daze, a spark of inspiration ignited from the void, and Lü Qian, who was high above the mortal realm, instantly regained consciousness.
"I almost got caught up in the splendor of the inner world and became the Monkey King who was about to be suppressed by Buddha."
In his consciousness, Lü Qian opened his eyes, and everything around him seemed to have changed, transforming from a misty fairyland into an endless void.
Lu Qian was very familiar with this void; this was the [Inner Landscape].
Lu Qian rose from the void, standing tall and strolling through this vast, desolate interior landscape, and remarked with great interest.
"I never imagined that this was the calamity that caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace in Journey to the West. The Patriarch's description is truly vivid."
The story of "Journey to the West" actually predates the Ming Dynasty, and historically, it wasn't just the Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled west; there was also the Taoist master Qiu Chuji, also known as "Changchun Zhenren".
This Taoist patriarch's path was no shorter than that of the monk Xuanzang, and may even have surpassed it.
At that time, the Mongol emperor invited Qiu Chuji to the Western Regions, and Master Qiu led eighteen disciples to accept the invitation.
During this journey to the west, Master Qiu stopped the fighting and war, and saved the people with a single word.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty novel "Journey to the West" is also closely related to this Taoist patriarch who traveled west.
Master Qiu Chuji passed down many profound secrets of alchemy, which were later compiled and modified by later generations and passed down through novels and stories.
It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty that "Journey to the West" was truly completed, and the book underwent revisions by many prominent figures from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
It has long transcended the original work by the author that satirized officialdom, and has become a true classic!
(PS: So, some readers shouldn't say that the author distorts Journey to the West or that the alchemist is just making things up to gain attention; Journey to the West is indeed not simple.)
In Taoism, Journey to the West is hailed as a Taoist text outside of the Tibetan scriptures.
The most captivating and eye-catching part of this book is [Sun Wukong wreaks havoc in the Lingxiao Palace, and the Buddha Tathagata suppresses the monkey with his palm].
Ordinary people see Sun Wukong as someone who dares to rebel and fight against heaven and earth, but in the eyes of cultivators, this plot symbolizes a calamity.
That is the calamity of being lost in the inner world!
After Sun Wukong stole the peaches of immortality, drank the nectar, ate the elixir, and underwent alchemy in the furnace, his cultivation had actually reached a turning point.
The splendor and magnificence of the Heavenly Palace correspond to the illusory and fleeting illusions within its interior.
Who can see the nine-layered heavenly palace? It is nothing more than the moon in the dreams of mortals.
Therefore, Sun Wukong, who wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, was actually trapped in the illusion of the inner world and could not extricate himself.
This is the same principle as Lü Qian's previous attempt to transcend in a daze.
But upon opening one's eyes, the ethereal fairyland of clouds and mist was nothing more than an endless, desolate inner void.
At this moment, Lü Qian, who was in a clear mind, strolled through this inner void, his eyes fixed on the empty and desolate scenery around him, yet he did not find it boring.
"When I see the Tathagata of Emptiness, then the Five Elements and Five Fingers will strike me, this practitioner, down to the mortal realm."
After wandering around with great interest for a while, Lü Qian raised his palm and muttered to himself, a five-colored radiance appearing in his palm.
After Sun Wukong caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace, he encountered the Buddha and was suppressed by the Five Finger Mountain.
"Tathagata" means the enlightened emptiness, so seeing the Tathagata means seeing the true nature of emptiness.
At this point, the "mind monkey" trapped in the heavenly realm must shed its status as the Heavenly Emperor's mind, fall back into the mortal world, transform into a "mortal mind," and begin to cultivate its nature anew.
The means to transform one's mortal heart is the "Five Fingers Five Elements Mountain".
"If I can't wait for the Buddha, then let this humble Taoist priest return to the mortal realm."
As Lu Qian looked at the palm radiating five-colored light in front of him, before he finished speaking, the palm suddenly pressed down on his chest.
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Chapter One!