Cyber Ghosts

Chapter 182 The Manjusri Showed Up
“Ha‒” Liu Shuai yawned and said with two weepy eyes, “Is Hao Ning possessed by a drama queen? He speaks one set of theories after another!”

“How dare you!” The blue-light man seemed to be unwilling to give up and he shouted, “If you kill me, Pixiu can’t stay alive, either! Auspicious Beasts in the world died out all for you. You’re the origin of the causalities, thus you will be guilty!”

“Em?” Hao Ning winked and asked Xiao Hong, “Is that true, what he said just now?”

“Yes. Whenever you kill an Auspicious Beast,” Xiao Hong nodded, “you won’t have a happy ending.”

“D**n, then why’s he not afraid?” Hao Ning pointed at the blue Doctor Xue.

“Because he didn’t!” Liu Shuai’s voice rose from the speaker, “Professor Hao Ning, finally, you’re finished. You made me sleepy! Are you silly? He used the Parasitism Trick, so even if he kills the Auspicious Beast, it will be others who actually commit the sin. He won’t be involved in any causalities!”

Hao Ning made sense of it by Liu Shuai’s explanation. When parasites dwelt in a snail and the snail was eaten by a bird, it would be the bird who killed the snail so that also the bird who bore the causalities. In that way, Doctor Xue feared nothing. Because whoever encountered Pixiu, Doctor Xue would dwell in him. Not only Pixiu wouldn’t die but also Doctor Xue would continue living in his body. But now, Doctor Xue’s parasitism didn’t work on Hao Ning. Meanwhile, Hao Ning was intended to kill him, which indicated that Doctor Xue would die after Pixiu. Therefore, he said those words in order to threaten Hao Ning with the side-effects.

“Does the bloody causalities have glaucoma, presbyopia, cataract, or high myopia accompanied by astigmatism?” Hao Ning muttered, “I have no way to deal with their short-sight.”

“Don’t mind that.” Xiao Hong said and burned the blue light in his hand with Samadhi True Fire, saying in hatred, “Since he fears the spear in your hand, Brother Hao Ning, let’s ‒ let you take advantage of our dominance, move on and kill him first!”

“But how about the causalities?” Hao Ning hesitated, “It will still fall on me. Doesn’t that matter?”

“No worries!” Xiao Hong opened his mouth, with a whir, a drift of flame spurted from inside and twined on the Flame Spear, which immediately was lightened with red glitters. Xiao Hong, after throwing up, receded lightly, sniffed, and then he whispered, “It’s the flame connected to my own life. You kill the demon with it, and the causalities will count as mine!”

“Xiao Hong, won’t it put you at risk?” Hao Ning frowned and didn’t act. He knew what Xiao Hong meant. He killed Doctor Xue face to face using Xiao Hong’s life fire, so the causalities would naturally be conveyed to Xiao Hong. But in that way, Xiao Hong would be put into danger as well, wouldn’t he? Hao Ning shook his head, “I won’t do that. I can’t get you in trouble.”

“Hey!” Xiao Hong shook his head with a smile, “Just obey the result of our judgment. Though the causalities will come to me, I won’t be doomed to death. To say the least, I’ve donated a large amount of money as Sudhana in the past years. I should be able to bear these causalities ‒By the way, Brother Zhang is such a prophet. He has foreseen that I’ll cause trouble, so he asked me to do some good before… Huh, today your grandfather Sheng I will break the rule and slaughter lives!” He sensed his errors after he finished and grinned at Hao Ning instantly, “Of course, I count on your help, Brother Hao Ning.”

“…” Hao Ning, watching Xiao Hong murmur to himself and his face change seven or eight times with a breath, nodded and said, “It’s such a waste that you give up an actor career ‒ Leave it here and just take care of your hand.”

After that, he held the Flame Spear, shook out a spark, stepped on the hot wheels and flew towards the blue light man.

The blue light man didn’t expect that such a sly man like him could have encountered the two silly dogs who didn’t fear to pay their lives. Especially the Innate Fire Spirit, as a god he should have ignored the causalities and wanted to kill him ‒ His little knowledge was to be blamed anyway. Nobody didn’t know that Sudhana, before he achieved the cultivation, had done so many ridiculous things as a naughty child. Now, though he was in course of cultivating his disposition, how could his naughty temper be totally dissolved? For the case here, any other people, taking their own causalities into account, should have retreated. But he happened to bump into such a naughty child as Xiao Hong. It was really ‒

Red Boy never hid his real temperament. Though his achievement was recognized he was still pretentious.

He’d only learned that divines and Buddhists fear causalities, while he ignored that impulsive boy even dared to laugh at stars!

“Huh!” The blue light man, though frightened, steered Pixiu to defend Hao Ning’s Flame Spear. Hao Ning couldn’t approach him at the time.

“Piss it!” Hao Ning switch to seven or eight kinds of method, which amazed Xiao Hong to gape. The point wasn’t at the force and speed of his actions but at his free exertion. Hao Ning’s action, though complicated, wasn’t disorganized. He attacked forcefully and lightly. When his stroke was about to reach Pixiu, then he wouldn’t go further and dealt with it in a strengthless way. But if the stroke wouldn’t reach Pixiu, no matter it was aimed at the surroundings or at the blue man, he made it enormously strong. It was after several rounds later that Xiao Hong realized that there were differences between the stroke which didn’t reach Pixiu. If it was aimed at the blue light man, it would be more powerful, while when it was to somewhere else, the strength would be weakened. Xiao Hong was good at manipulating spear, so he knew that when stuck out the spear, it would be difficult to control the strength. Especially when it was his Flame Spear. Once it acted, the Samadhi True Fire coming with it was shapeless and intangible. To make that, Hao Ning had to calculate precisely before he attacked that if the stroke would meet him or not, or where it was about to reach. This was already uneasy when acting on the ground, let alone when in the air.

“Master Hao Ning is so great!” Zhe had woken up some time and gazed at Hao Ning’s performance, praising. Liu Shuai couldn’t make sense of it, so Zhe tried to make it clear.

“I get you.” Liu Shuai listened and smiled. He glimpsed at Hao Ning’s attack and movements, lowered his head, pondering, and then said to Zhe, “When it’s finished, you say four words to Master Hao Ning and he’ll completely change his view on you.”

“Which four words?” Zhe stepped on eagerly and asked.

“The four words, once you speak them out,” Liu Shuai was like tempting Zhe, “Hao Nong would not only change his view on you, but also, if he’s satisfied, he might teach someone his kung fu‒” Then he glanced at Zhe’s eyes, found them full of starlight and then he affected to wink, “Ah, but my renting contract is going to be expired. The house happened to be far away from my workplace. Meanwhile, it’s not convenient for my girlfriend to commute to her job, so…”

“You’re taking advantage of other’s weakness!” Zhou Yuan snorted at Liu Shuai’s petty face and ignored him.

“In the Rose and Full Moon near your company I hold an estate of six floors. I just finished establishing the elevator recently.” Zhe said without consideration, “I don’t know if it’s favorable or not, and I have no time to pay a visit recently. Brother Shuai, you’re working in IT, so you must be thoughtful in terms of users’ experience. How about you occupying it for me? The feedback on the living experience is very important to me. The longer it takes, the more accurate it’s supposed to be. How about Brother Shuai you bother yourself to settle there for seventy years?”

“What!” Liu Shuai’s heart was about to jump out of his bosom. Villas of six floors? With an elevator? Seventy years were offered? It was literally a gift for him! Zhe really was skillful in his talk. He didn’t say anything about a gift, and he expressed in a way of asking for his favor. He gave him both the gift and the respect. What a kung fu lover! At that thought, Liu Shuai cleared his throat, “What the great mountains. You speak only the four words but nothing else.”

Zhou Yuan smiled and thought in his heart that knowledge meant such wealth. The “what the great mountains” mentioned by Liu Shuai was a sword skill in Jin Yong’s novels. When people acted with the sword, they sneezed their fingers of the left hands as if doing a calculation whereby they could derive the best force and direction to do the attack based on the actual sunlight and the wind directions. Hao Ning exerting his spear so accurately all thanks to that kung fu skill, though he used the spear in the place of a sword. Meanwhile, based on Hao Ning’s logical analysis ability, he probably didn’t need any calculation.

But how could Hao Ning foresee that Liu Shuai, only for a villa, betrayed him in the Two Elements Dust Array‒Later when Hao Ning learned it, he just complained that Liu Shuai hadn’t got him a similar one when faced with such generous offer. So, we could tell that the two held resemblant temperance. Leave all above aside, when Zhe proposed the four words to Hao Ning after that, Hao Ning, though knowing in the heart that someone had given him instructions, was moved by Zhe’s admiration for kung fu. Later when Hao Ning picked up the methods to teach Zhe the kung fu in books, he hid nothing so Zhe benefited a lot from that and became a master. These were all later stories and let’s simply wrap it up.

At the moment, Hao Ning kept exerting Sliding-over-the-water Art and fought against the blue light man in the air. It was after some time that Hao Ning came to realize the strength of Sliding-over-the-water Art: The Sliding-over-the-water Art originated from Cao Zhi’s poem “Sliding over the water, socks tainted by dust”. It was originally interpreted as the depiction of a woman walking over the water. But the title of the poem was the Goddess of the Luo! It was a goddess. She didn’t walk over the water but flew. So, Sliding-over-the-water Art itself was used for averting attacks when flying in the air. It was applied on the ground before so more or less faced some limits. But now Hao Ning was using it in the air on hot wheels, in which way it was compensated and improved, thus returned to its real nature.

As expected, after scores of rounds, the tiny light man was already hit by the heat from Samadhi True Fire on the Flame Spear for hundreds of strokes, while Pixiu remained safe and sound. Meanwhile, the blue light was fading. In this way, with dozen rounds more the blue light man would lose his life.

“You junior! I’ll kill you!” The blue light man burst into blazing glitter and Pixiu’s body was flashing blue light as well. Hao Ning couldn’t look through the situation and receded without hesitation.

“No, it’s demon’s dissolution art!” Xiao Hong retreated also. The Flame Spear brought Hao Ning to Xiao Hong’s side.

“Today I’ll pay my life to ruin everything!” Then they couldn’t see the blue light man anymore. The whole Pixiu got blue as if about to explode.

“Jerk! Go die!” Then a voice came down from the sky. Fragrance spread and a gold sword arrived splitting the air. It pricked Pixiu’s body.

With a zap, which wasn’t as gorgeous as the battle before, but a light noise that couldn’t even be heard, the blue light of Pixiu dispersed. They took a look and found the blue light of the man was fading and he turned into a headless body top with cracked skin. On his neck, there was a ball of a bowl’s size, where stuck the gold sword. There was a crackle and the body fell from Pixiu, moveless.

Hao Ning was amazed. But Xiao Hong didn’t manifest any funny expression and had already contracted his shape and kneeled down. He murmured in his mouth, “I don’t know that Manjusri Bodhisattva is coming so your follower I didn’t try to avoid. I should die for my guilt!”

“Hong Hai’er!” It was exactly at noon and the voice was from the sky. When he uttered, the sunlight was as if covered, “Why you said in your mouth but did nothing in your hands?”

“What’s he saying?” Hao Ning was bewildered. He understood the words “said in your mouth”, which referred to the words Xiao Hong said, but what did “did nothing in your hands” stand for?

“Bodhisattva! It’s not that I don’t want to palm put my palms together and greet you,” Xiao Hong’s forehead was covered with cold sweat, “but my hands were poisoned to numb by the evil and can’t move now ‒”

“You drink and you eat, everything contains causalities!” The voice didn’t wait until Xiao Hong finished before he announced his title, “Amitabha!”

When his voice trailed off, the blue on Xiao Hong’s hands had disappeared. Xiao Hong tried to clench a fist and found his hands totally recovered. Xiao Hong eagerly put his palms together and hit his head to the ground in rapture to express his thanks, “Bodhisattva, thank you for saving me out!”

A golden beam flashed and set on Pixiu’s back. When exposed to the golden light, Pixiu began to contract, and in no time, it was already in the size of a lion. While the golden light had turned into a dressed-up Bodhisattva. Behind him, there were many lotuses about to bloom. The outlook was much prettier than Zhang Chi Hang’s. Hao Ning, though not acquainted with him, knew in his heart that this should be the Manjusri Bodhisattva in Xiao Hong’s words.

Manjusri Bodhisattva waved and the sword accompanied by Doctor Xue’s body all moved to his feet. Pixiu saw the body and chewed it in his mouth instantly.

“How is the sword so powerful?” Hao Ning didn’t believe in Buddhism. He even dared to encounter Avalokitesvara, so of course, he was fearless, which thanks to his ignorance. Then he turned back and asked Xiao Hong, “Ah, you speak.”

“This is the sword of wisdom.” the Bodhisattva noticed Xiao Hong’s silence out of reverence, smiled and explained, “Hong Hai’er, there’s no need to bond yourself with the manners. Just explain it to him.”

“Yes. I’ll obey you.” Xiao Hong stood up immediately, bowed and said in respect, “Brother Hao Ning, Manjusri Bodhisattva is the symbol of wisdom. And the Da Baojian (sword) of wisdom ‒”

“Massage?” Hao Ning stared at Xiao Hong, dull, “Bodhisattva even has such a job? Does it include fast food, and is it overnight?”

“Stop your nonsense!” Xiao Hong was about to faint when hearing Hao Ning’s words, wiped his sweat and whispered Amitabha in his mouth, “The Da Baojian of wisdom is a sword! Which could cut off all the fixations and deal with poisons from everywhere!” At that point, Xiao Hong said to Hao Ning quietly, “Big bro, you mind your words! Or your future career would be affected!”

“I don’t belong to your system.” Hao Ning said in confusion, “Meanwhile I can’t cultivate any power. So, in which way will my career be affected?”

“Big bro,” Xiao Hong was about to weep and he muttered, “My career, mine! I beg you, play your role…”

“Eh, Bodhisattva, what are you up to today?” Hao Ning, seeing Xiao Hong’s stressed comportment, stopped his joke, put his palms together and bowed, “Are you here to save us?”

“Amitabha, everyone’s in their own causalities.” A lotus bloomed behind the Manjusri, and when he talked, the scented wind rose while the golden lotus sprawling on the ground, “So are they in need of the help from outside? I come here this time, first because I’ve learned that such evil is in the earth, enchanting people and making a disturbance; second, is to captivate the Pixiu to be my horse.”

“Bodhisattva, isn’t your horse the‒” Xiao Hong heard his words and felt bewildered. He couldn’t stop himself from asking, “The lion?”

“Ah…” Bodhisattva lowered his brows, shook his head, while he said in a pleasant voice, “Though I’ve got affluent incense in my Bodhimanda, after May 4th Seal God event I need to reform my body. Though it’s done, my horse needs more incense to be formed. So, I have to do this.”

“That’s it.” Hao Ning got him. To interpret, it meant that the incense he’d accumulated all these was only enough for himself. He’d got no money for a horse, so he decided to capture a random one for use. He didn’t expect a Bodhisattva could also be so realistic. Then he stayed silent.

“The catastrophe’s ended. Auspicious Beast, just go with me.” The scented wind came around. Bodhisattva nodded at them and was to leave. He was surely extraordinary every time he showed up. Endless Buddhist sounds spread and there were countless Buddhist monks reading sutra in the air. Such a scene was really amazing.

“You put down a little your pomp,” Hao Ning muttered in his heart, “and you’ll have enough incense for your horse, won’t you?” Thinking about that, he laughed in heart, “People rely on clothes and Buddhas rely on gold. However poor one is, he should never be reserved in his display. However bitter one is, he should never let his outlook be mean. So, the only thing he could do was do something on his transport tool.”

“Wait a minute!” Behind he suddenly came Liu Shuai’s voice.