Chapter 1043: Reversing the Heavenly Order

Master Mingyu was completely stunned upon witnessing this scene. The requirement of this trial was for the monk not to utter a single cry of pain while being whipped; doing so meant passing.

Of course, the mystic realm would not allow the overseer to keep whipping indefinitely. Further along, a stone would fall from the divine statue and crush the overseer to death.

The overseer committed countless misdeeds, and being crushed to death by a falling stone perfectly aligned with the Buddhist concept that good begets good and evil begets evil.

Master Mingyu had hosted the Western Paradise Mystic Realm over a thousand times and had seen the choices of countless monks within it. The greatest difficulty of this trial lay in enduring the pain. Ninety percent of the monks could not hold out until the overseer met his retribution and would cry out in pain. Those remaining who did persevere all did so by biting their teeth, which was why he favored Xinzhen, who had entered a state of selflessness.

Buddhism advocated understanding suffering through mindfulness, thereby reaching a realm that transcended suffering.

But seeing someone like Xinding start beating someone up right from the beginning was truly a first, and judging by the overseer's wretched screams, Xinding was putting exceptional effort into the beating.

"Wait a moment, why are you beating him?" Master Mingyu could not help but manifest himself upon seeing this. To a certain extent, he could control the Western Paradise Mystic Realm, and in a short while, Xinding would forget that he had ever appeared.

"He wanted to beat me." Xinding said placidly. In fact, his face had not even changed color while he was beating the man just now.

In the Western Paradise Mystic Realm, the monks would all exhibit their most instinctive reactions, unable to fake or lie.

"Do you not know that our Buddhism advocates remaining unfazed in the face of suffering and observing it mindfully?"

"I know. But if it were my fault, I would accept the beating. However, right now it is this group of overseers forcing excessive labor. I lost my strength from carrying the stones, which is why the stone fell. It is the overseer's fault, so why should I be beaten?" Xinding said righteously. Even the abbot had to be reasonable.

"Then do you know that our Buddhism emphasizes that good begets good and evil begets evil? This overseer whipped others at will, so he will face retribution."

"Isn't him being beaten by me right now his retribution?"

"I..."

Master Mingyu choked for a long while, utterly unable to find any words to counter him.

This trial tested "endurance." One could pass by not crying out in pain, and Xinding did not utter a single cry of pain throughout the entire process, passing smoothly.

With the help of the Immortal's divine sense, Lu Yang witnessed the performance of all the monks in the illusion, and Xinding's performance was the most outstanding.

"A fine prospect indeed." Lu Yang praised Xinding greatly. Based on Xinding's performance alone, passing the trial of the Daoist Sect would pose no problem.

After watching the first trial, a question popped into Lu Yang's mind, and he asked one of the five founders of Buddhism in puzzlement, "But Immortal, does Buddhism advocate being beaten?"

"Oh, I accidentally discovered that whenever Qilin Immortal was beaten by Xiao Ling and Lianyi, he always pretended to look very pained, but was actually snickering. I asked him why, and he said this was a Buddhist cultivation method: experiencing suffering, comprehending suffering, and transcending suffering."

"At that time, I asked him why I didn't remember such a principle being in the Buddhist stories we made up, and he said it was there now."

Hearing this, Lu Yang quickly distanced himself, "Hey hey hey, I didn't hear a thing."

How could he not control his curiosity? Now he knew yet another ancient secret.

"You didn't hear? Then this Immortal shall tell it again..."

"No need, no need." How would Lu Yang dare to listen a second time? The second time, the Immortal Immortal might associate it with other matters and reveal other ancient secrets.

"By the way, is this illusion a snippet of a certain era intercepted from the Great Gan period?" Lu Yang changed the subject.

All illusions had to be based on reality. Cultivators could not imagine things they had never seen, so the one who constructed this illusion should be a Great Gan Buddhist cultivator.

The scene of the entire illusion showed countless slaves carrying stones upward on their backs to construct a divine statue. If a slave showed the slightest poor performance, they would be whipped by the overseer, living a life of unspeakable misery.

The divine statue was more than half built, and Lu Yang happened to recognize the original form of the statue.

The two divine lords who ambushed the Laurel Immortal Palace: the Demon-Subduing and Fiend-Slaying Lords.

In the early days of the Great Gan Dynasty, massive construction projects were undertaken to build statues of various divine lords to spread faith and gather incense.

"It should be. The owner of this Buddhist aura was a Buddhist cultivator of the Great Gan period. It was likely many Buddhist cultivators purifying and expiating something, which led to this mystic realm having so much Buddhist aura," the Immortal Immortal analyzed.

"In the depths of this mystic realm, how can I sense the aura of the Heaven-Matching Immortal and the Time Immortal? Could it be an immortal artifact refined by the two of them together?" the Immortal Immortal sensed vaguely, always feeling it was a very familiar immortal artifact, but unable to recall it on the spur of the moment.

Just like all the trials hosted by Master Mingyu before, this time ninety percent of the monks were still filtered out, while ten percent passed.

Except that Xinding's way of passing was somewhat peculiar.

Those monks who were filtered out would, under the control of the Buddhist aura, walk out of the Western Paradise Mystic Realm in a daze and leave the chaotic fog forbidden zone. Outside the forbidden zone, there were monks already arranged to receive them and take charge of the subsequent work.

The second trial was likewise an illusion.

Before Xinchen, who had entered the Martial Monks' Courtyard along with Xinding, there was a wide river. Next to the river were two people: his old monk master and a beautiful but timid woman.

The woman dared not cross the river.

The old monk stepped forward on his own initiative and carried the woman across the river on his back, with Xinchen following closely behind.

After crossing the river and parting ways with the woman, Xinchen frowned, deeply perplexed. Holding back his doubt all along the way, he finally could not help but ask, "Master, won't you violate the precept against lust by doing this?"

The old monk patted Xinchen's head lovingly, "Xinchen, I have long put it down, but you have not."

Xinzhen of the Precepts Courtyard witnessed the whole process and did not speak throughout. The moment the old monk put the woman down, he had also put it down, with no doubts in his heart.

Xinchen failed, while Xinzhen passed.

Master Mingyu smiled. Xinzhen was indeed a fine prospect, and he was very satisfied with both consecutive trials.

The theme of this trial was "putting it down."

Buddhism asserted that female beauty was but a pink skeleton; a true monk had to view female beauty as nothing. If one could view female beauty as nothing, one would not ask questions.

Under the influence of the Buddhist aura, the truth could not be hidden. Having witnessed the process of carrying the woman across the river, if the test-taker had doubts in his heart, he would definitely ask them. Asking them meant he had not put the matter down, and the trial would thus end in failure.

"How is Xinding doing?" Master Mingyu recalled Xinding's special performance in the previous trial and developed a bit of curiosity toward him.

He entered Xinding's illusion, and Xinding's choice once again exceeded his expectations.

He saw Xinding take a step ahead, actively carrying the woman across the river before the old monk could. Moreover, because Xinding was still underage and not tall enough, carrying the woman on his back would wet her shoes, so he simply carried her in his arms, in a quite ungraceful posture.

In these over a thousand times of the mystic realm, no one had ever done this!

Master Mingyu was profoundly perplexed. After Xinding crossed the river, he manifested himself once more, wanting to ask clearly.

"Xinding, why did you carry that woman across the river?"

Seeing Master Mingyu appear, Xinding was extraordinarily surprised.

"Abbot, why have you still not put this matter down?"