Stranger Danger

Chapter 1169: Mayadevi Sarira

“Excellent!”

Mara Buddha Sovereign’s voice boomed. “You will have the ‘Buddha Emperor Myriad Arts Boundless Sutra’ and the ‘I Alone Reign Mara Art’. They will pave your path to the supreme Way.”

“Thank you, Mara Buddha Sovereign,” Devi Ruyi replied respectfully.

A golden lotus and a silver lotus emerged from the Mara Buddha Sovereign’s eyes and flew toward Devi Ruyi’s forehead.

A second before the two lotuses would sink into Devi Ruyi’s forehead, an old man’s face suddenly surfaced and consumed the lotus flowers.

Crunch! Crunch!

The old man’s cheeks wriggled as the crisp sound of crunching came from his mouth.

“Argh!”

On the throne, the Mara Buddha Sovereign abruptly let out a bloodcurdling scream the moment the lotuses were consumed. The next moment, blood poured out of his eyes and dyed his pupils, and his Buddhist light transformed into murky, deathly qi.

The throne underneath the Mara Buddha Sovereign had transformed into a massive twin-headed serpent with a human face. Rotting and smelling like death, its body formed what looked like a throne.

In the sky, the Mara Buddhas surrounding the throne had turned dark and evil as well. Their appearance was abnormal in the first place, but now they looked positively demonic. Ugly, savage, skeletal, rotting, withering, bleeding, cracked all over the body, covered in eyes, covered in tentacles... not a single Buddha looked as holy and noble as they were before.

“I knew you weren’t the Mara Buddha Sovereign!”

Devi Ruyi rose to her feet and looked down on the ugly, tainted “Mara Buddha Sovereign” and the evil, terrifying Buddhas in front of her with a calm expression. It looked like she had anticipated this.

“I am the master of the Buddha Emperor Mountain; the Mara Buddha Sovereign.”

The “Mara Buddha Sovereign” lowered his head and glared down at Devi Ruyi. The twin-headed serpent were towering over the devi intimidatingly and hissing at her as well. At the same time, countless rotting, gnarly corpses were climbing out of the earth and crying a soundless howl. A terrifying, evil presence quickly enveloped the whole land.

“How dare you disrespect me, the Mara Buddha Sovereign. You deserve death!”

Devi Ruyi was unmoved by his threat, however. She said indifferently, “The Mara Buddha Sovereign had long passed away in the great war three thousand years ago. You are just a Stranger born from the fragments of the Buddha Emperor Mountain and the anomalous energies of the Myriad Buddha Plains. Therefore, you are not the Mara Buddha Sovereign, much less the master of the Buddha Emperor Mountain.”

“I am the Mara Buddha Sovereign, the one and only Mara Buddha Sovereign! Kneel!”

Enraged, pillars of bloody light burst out of the Mara Buddha Sovereign’s eyes and dyed the grayish sky red. The surrounding Buddhas also howled in unison:

“Kneel!”

“Kneel!”

“Kneel!”

Rumble...

As the terrifying voices shook the sky, the dark, tainted qi in the air began to converge. They darkened the sky and formed all sorts of terrifying illusions that threatened to engulf Devi Ruyi whole.

“There is no need to be angry!” said a calm, mellifluous voice. At first, a few wisps of clear light cut through the countless layers of darkness and illusions like the beginning rays of dawn. Then, as if night had passed, and the day had risen, every veil of darkness, every ounce of cold no matter how vast or ancient were swept away, leaving only the light behind.

The darkness was scattered, the illusions were shattered, and the bloody lights were extinguished.

In the sky, the deformed Buddhas wailed in pain and misery.

At the center of the clear light, Devi Ruyi was holding a jade ruyi that was also emitting rays of clear light. It was warm and gentle, but also grandiose and indomitable.

“I’ll kill you!”

The Mara Buddha Sovereign was also wearing a look of pain. It was because his vigor was slowly but surely being eroded by the clear light.

His roar was like a heavenly decree that froze the entire sky of Buddhas. The next moment, they flew into a mindless rage and charged toward Devi Ruyi.

Devi Ruyi turned the jade ruyi she was holding, and the clear light suddenly began rippling like waves. Each ripple was like a layer of space that kept the Buddhas from approaching her. It looked like she was right in front of them, but no matter how they howled, no matter how hard they struggled, they just could not get close to her no matter what.

“Mara!”

Seeing this, the Mara Buddha Sovereign let out a roar and changed his arm position. Now, his left arm was pointed toward the ground, and his right arm the sky.

When the left arm was pointed toward the sky, and the right arm the ground, it meant that the Buddha alone reigned supreme above the heavens or below the ground.

But now, it meant that the heaven was overturned, and the ground was flipped upside down. And who could reign supreme in a chaotic world like this?

The demon.

Rumble!

It was as if the world had turned upside down, and everything it held was being destroyed. The waves of clear light began disintegrating inch by inch.

The countless Mara Buddhas attacking her were disintegrating as well, but the power cared not for friendly fire. It continued to crush the waves and reduce the area the clear light encompassed until Devi Ruyi’s face turned pale.

The woman still did not look worried or afraid, however, and the reason revealed itself a moment later. The old face hiding inside her forehead abruptly revealed itself once more and spat out a finger.

The finger was milky white like jade and translucent like diamonds. It looked like the magnum opus of the greatest craftsman of the entire world. No words were enough to describe its beauty, only that it was so wondrous that it did not belong in the human world.

As soon as the finger appeared, a pure, a wave of holy light washed out toward the surroundings. It was neither fierce nor oppressive, and yet its march was utterly unstoppable. Wherever the light traveled, the collapsing space slowly recovered like a balled piece of paper being spread out and ironed back to perfect smoothness.

Crack!

There was a crack, and the Mara Buddha Sovereign’s hands dissolved into nothingness. A single finger was floating inside his pupils as well.

The finger was no bigger than a blade of withered grass compared to the Mara Buddha Sovereign’s gigantic, sun-like eyes. And yet, the Stranger was sensing a deadly threat from the seemingly insignificant object.

“What is this?” Mara Buddha Sovereign asked.

“This is the Mayadevi Sarira. It is an object left behind by Mayadevi when she attained nirvana, and it is the sacred object of my Mara Sect.”

Devi Ruyi explained, “A long time ago, when my Mara Sect was still prospering, we once possessed Eight Treasures and Thirteen Artifacts. They are known together as the Twenty One Buddha Treasures of Mara. The Buddha Emperor Mountain was the first, and the Mayadevi Sarira the twenty-first.”

“But although the Mayadevi Sarira is ranked the lowest of the twenty one treasures, it possesses one unique ability that is known within the Mara Sect only. It is the natural bane of the Buddha Emperor Mountain.”

“My natural bane? What a joke?” Mara Buddha Sovereign scoffed.

“I’m sure you know whether it is a joke or not.”

Devi Ruyi said smilingly, “If the Buddha Emperor Mountain is at its peak condition, and the real Mara Buddha Sovereign is still alive, then of course the Mayadevi Sarira would not be able to threaten either one of them. But now, the Buddha Emperor Mountain is broken, and you are not the real Mara Buddha Sovereign either. Naturally, you are no match for the Mayadevi Sarira.”

“So, you and your sect were prepared for me from the start,” Mara Buddha Sovereign said coldly.

“Indeed, we have known of your existence for a long time,” Devi Ruyi admitted. “The reason I came to the Myriad Buddha Plains today is to retrieve the Buddha Emperor Mountain and the Mara Buddha Sovereign.”

“Let me guess. You’re planning to wipe me from existence?” Mara Buddha Sovereign asked.

“That could happen—if that is the fate you choose!” Devi Ruyi answered.

“What do you mean?” Mara Buddha Sovereign looked puzzled.

“It’s simple. If you agree to serve me, then I will permit you to exist and return to my Mara sect.”

Devi Ruyi said simply, “If not, then you will cease to exist.”