Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

Chapter 546 Everyone is mortal, some people need a little help
“It is easy to preach but difficult to cultivate. If you don’t get rid of distracting thoughts, you will always be idle. The dust and labor of the world are always a hindrance, and sitting quietly in the mountains is in vain.”…

Zhang Zhiwei rolled up his left sleeve, then rolled up his right sleeve, and said as he did so:
"You just said, 'If I don't go to hell, who will?' So, you entered the whole nature, and you compared the whole nature to hell. Then I ask you, what are heaven and hell?"

Wu Man opened his mouth and said: "The Buddha said..."

Before he could finish his words, he saw Zhang Zhiwei's body covered in a golden light as thin as a cicada's wing. His figure flashed and he appeared in front of Wu Man. He raised his big palm and slapped it down on her head, bringing up a shrill hissing sound, as if he was splitting a mountain.

Wu Man was shocked and immediately used his mysterious skills. His body suddenly grew in size and his clothes were torn into pieces, revealing the golden skin underneath. He had already activated his Vajra Indestructible Body.

He gathered his strength, assumed a horse stance, and with his palms facing upward, he tried to take Zhang Zhiwei's blow like a king lifting a tripod.

As soon as the two sides came into contact, there was a loud roar like a huge bell, and a huge shock wave spread all around. The windows were shattered and the tablets in the ancestral hall were shattered to the ground.

The people who were watching the situation outside the door had their hair blown back. They were all a little stunned. The little master changed his attitude very quickly. He was talking fine one second and started fighting the next.

"That's the feeling. I've disliked that guy for a long time. He starts taking action as soon as someone walks away. Senior Brother Zhang is really a like-minded friend of mine!" Lu Ci sighed.

"Stop flattering yourself. Senior Brother Zhang, this is true character. You are a real person!" Lu Jin retorted.

"My character is better than that of a reckless man like you!" Lu Ci replied.

……

"Brother Wang, do you want to go in?" Patriarch Lu glanced at his youngest son unhappily, then looked at Patriarch Wang and said.

"Wait a little longer. I don't think it will be that simple. Besides, Brother Lu, don't you think that what the little Taoist priest said before makes sense?" said the head of the Wang family.

Patriarch Lu said in a deep voice, "I am indeed deeply touched, but haven't we heard enough about the truth? Knowledge gained from books is shallow. If you don't truly experience some things and understand some truths, it will be in vain no matter how much you hear."

Patriarch Wang nodded and said, "Brother Wang, you are right. I am just a little sad. To be honest, what I envy most is not the little celestial master's methods, but his character. He is so young, but he has already been enlightened and lives so clearly. Unlike ordinary people like me, even though we have passed the age of forty, we are still full of doubts. It is said that people know their destiny at the age of fifty. Although we are getting older year by year, where is our destiny?"

Patriarch Wang sighed, "Brother Lu, please don't blame me. I just listened to what the little Taoist said and was touched for a moment."

"I understand, everyone understands. So now let's..." said the head of the Lu family.

"Just wait and see. The little Taoist priest must know that we are here. He didn't ask us to come in. He must have his reasons!" said the head of the Wang family.

On the other side, inside the ancestral hall, Wu Man received a slap from Zhang Zhiwei, but he did not feel good. He felt that all the bones in his body were crackling, and even his indestructible body seemed to be about to explode at any time.

He endured the pain in his body, looked up at Zhang Zhiwei, and said with difficulty: "Little Heavenly Master, I am not here to fight with you today, I am here to seek the truth."

"Discussing the Dao? It's just a waste of words!"

After saying that, Zhang Zhiwei's hand suddenly shook, and a brilliant golden light burst out. The huge impact force blasted Wu Man backwards and crashed into the tablet in the ancestral hall.

Zhang Zhiwei shook his hands and said indifferently: "I asked you what heaven and hell are, and you said Buddhist things when you opened your mouth and closed your mouth. You are just like those corrupt scholars who talk nonsense. Have you become stupid because of reading Buddhist scriptures?"

Zhang Zhiwei looked down at Wu Man with an extremely cold and hard face. The pupils in his narrow eye sockets were as bright as stars, and his eyes were full of arrogance as they opened and closed slightly.

"You just asked me how to let go. When doing things, how can we deliberately pick up and put down things? I never think about these things. In my opinion, as long as we do good things, we don't care about the future. We just need to have a clear mind."

"Your mind is not clear, you can neither pick it up nor let it go. In this case, I will help you let it go!"

Wu Man pushed aside the scattered tablets and crawled out in a panic. His clothes were covered with stains. He spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at Zhang Zhiwei, somewhat puzzled as to how he was going to help him put it down.

But he soon realized that what the other party said about helping him to let go was actually sending him to hell.

He was not afraid of death. When he came here to wait for Zhang Zhiwei, he was already mentally prepared. He was just afraid that his death would be meaningless.

How can I die before accomplishing my mission when my pursuit of the truth has not yet been completed?
At this moment, Wu Man burst out with unprecedented power. The golden skin around him suddenly turned from gold to black, and the Qi in his body also turned black, deep and sticky, with overwhelming demonic energy, giving people a feeling of extreme malice.

The black energy was extremely turbulent, spewing out from his eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears. It gathered together and coiled around his body like a poisonous snake, forming a gigantic figure that resembled both a Buddha and a demon.

There were sounds of Sanskrit chanting around the figure, with the sounds overlapping, as if countless men and women, young and old were chanting together.

"When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva practiced the profound Prajnaparamita, he saw that the five aggregates were empty and was able to transcend all suffering. Shariputra! Form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is form..."

These sounds were extremely penetrating, and the few people watching from the outside got goose bumps just by hearing them. It felt like a poisonous snake was coiling around their spine, winding its way up.

Lu Ci forced himself to swallow his saliva. His curiosity and desire to improve eventually overwhelmed his fear, and he took a heavy step forward.

Seeing that Lu Ci had raised his foot, Lu Jin got excited and wanted to follow suit.

But as soon as the two took a step, they were grabbed back by the head of the Lu family, who scolded them:

"When gods fight, mortals suffer. Do you two want to die?"

Lu Ci and Lu Jin are the absolute best among the younger generation and have few rivals, but they are not as good as the older generation. And Wu Man is an absolute strong man even among the older generation. If these two guys go there, won’t they be courting death?

The Buddhist chants inside were getting louder and louder, with shadows looming and devilish sounds filling the ears.

"There is no ignorance, nor is there an end to ignorance; there is no old age and death, nor is there an end to old age and death; there is no suffering, no accumulation, no cessation, no path. There is no wisdom, and no attainment."

"Because there is nothing to be gained, the bodhisattva, relying on the prajna paramita, has no worries in his mind. Because there are no worries, there is no fear. He is far away from upside-down dreams and finally attains nirvana."

"All the Buddhas of the past, present and future, relying on the Prajnaparamita, have attained the Anuttara Samyaksambodhi."

The sound of Sanskrit became more and more powerful.

Suddenly, an extremely powerful Qi descended from the sky, and a face as big as a house suddenly appeared above the ancestral hall.

This face has beastly fangs, and there is a smaller face strangely on top of the head. This face is a human face, but it is hideous, with a green face and fangs.

"This is……"

Patriarch Wang and Patriarch Lu did not quite understand the situation and thought that this was Wu Man's trick. After all, his appearance was a little too hideous and ugly, and very much like the angry faces of the Bodhisattvas and Vajra Sects in the legends.

The powerful aura emanating from this ferocious face was like a wall collapsing from the air. Patriarch Wang and Patriarch Lu looked at each other and were about to go in to help Zhang Zhiwei when they heard:
"Marshal Tianpeng, Senior Brother Zhang is using Marshal Tianpeng. Let's get away from him. This god is very big. When he opens his eight arms, there will be lightning and thunder. Don't get hurt by him by mistake!"

Lu Ren quickly suggested that he had seen Zhang Zhiwei use the protective divine general, so he reacted the moment he saw this face.

"Marshal Tianpeng?" The two family heads were stunned, and then they noticed that after the head was fully materialized, the body of Marshal Tianpeng also emerged. It was a phantom at first, but soon solidified. His body was as strong as a mountain, and his eight arms were opened, grabbing towards the ancestral hall.

To avoid being injured by mistake, they quickly retreated and kept their distance.

"Boom!"

Eight giant hands collapsed and the entire ancestral hall was completely destroyed, turning into a pile of rubble.

In the middle of the ruins, Wu Man looked up at the divine general who was much taller than his Vajra Dharma Body, chanting the Buddha's name. The terrifying Qi in his body burst out again, rolling up from the bottom to the sky.

The two sides collided head-on, the sound of the collision was like muffled thunder, and sharp cracking sounds rang out one after another.

Under this sound, the continuous chanting of Sanskrit can no longer be heard.

Both sides are not playing tricks and are competing with each other with hard power.

During the fight, Wu Man's eyes were bloodshot, he felt tremendous pressure. Even though he had tried his best, his Dharma image was still crumbling under the high pressure of Marshal Tianpeng.

The ink-black demonic energy was also being gradually eliminated.

In the end, the demonic energy was completely wiped out, and his Dharma image was completely destroyed by the eight hands.

Dharmadhatu is a derivative of life, a construction, a manifestation. If Dharmadhatu is broken, life will naturally be severely damaged as well.

Wu Man's body was badly damaged, with white bones exposed in many places. Many parts of his chest and back were burned to charcoal by thunder, but his chest was still rising and falling slightly, so he was not dead yet.

"Amitabha!"

Wu Man chanted a Buddhist name, then half-knelt on the ground. He looked up with difficulty at the huge god in the sky. The closer his body was to death, the calmer his heart became.

This was an extreme silence, something he had not experienced in decades.

In this state of tranquility, although there are still some questions in my mind that have not been answered, my heart is no longer restless.

Zhang Zhiwei's mind moved, he put away the mountain-like bodyguard, looked at the dying Wu Man, and said:

"I asked you about heaven and hell before. Now, do you have the answer?"

Wu Man, who had almost turned into a skeleton, said calmly:

"My mind is in heaven, my body is in hell!"

Zhang Zhiwei nodded: "The mind is in heaven, the body is on earth, isn't this the answer? An answer that is not written in the Buddhist scriptures."

Wu Man suddenly realized that something was going on in her mind.

He blurted out: "When the mind is wise, everywhere is heaven; when the mind is foolish, everywhere is hell!"

Zhang Zhiwei nodded and said, "After talking about hell, I remember you also said that seeing your enemies is like seeing your own parents."

Wu Man said: "It's not me who said this, but the words of the saints. I have practiced it all my life. In Quan Xing, even Liang Ting, whom I dislike very much, I treat him equally."

Zhang Zhiwei said: "If it were me, I would definitely kill him, but I can't say your idea is wrong."

"Because my Taoist ancestors also said something similar. You said you read a lot of Buddhist scriptures, but I actually read a lot of Taoist scriptures as well. In the 63rd chapter of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu said, 'No matter how big or small, repay grievances with virtue.'"

"This sentence is generally understood to mean that no matter how much resentment others have towards you, you should respond with a moral principle of tranquility and inaction. Isn't it similar to the saying 'treat your enemies as if they were your own parents'?"

"As a descendant of the sage, I should take his words as truth and practice them, but..."

Zhang Zhiwei looked at Wu Man, his eyes filled with arrogance, and spoke word by word:

"This is 'Laozi's' principle, not Laozi's principle. Laozi does not approve of it, and Laozi does not practice it!"

Zhang Zhiwei restrained his momentum and continued, "Speaking of which, I feel that what Confucius said, 'Repay grievances with justice, repay kindness with virtue', is more suitable for me. Repaying grievances with virtue is generous to the grievance, but if there is nothing to repay kindness, then isn't it also poor for the kindness?"

"The straight path has no selfish crookedness!"

Zhang Zhiwei walked up to Wu Man and put his hand on the top of her head.

Wu Man stared at Zhang Zhiwei blankly, his mind rumbling as if he had just been enlightened, but his thinking was not affected.

He was much older than Zhang Zhiwei. He had been a monk three times and had entered the secular world three times. He could be said to have experienced a lot in the world. He had acquired the ability to remain calm even when a mountain collapsed in front of him or a tiger approached behind him.

But Zhang Zhiwei's words just now, and the aura he exuded just now, were like raging waves, constantly crashing through his mind.

This is a feeling that is difficult to express in words. It is not simply because it makes sense, nor is it because of how majestic and powerful the momentum is.

Rather, it is a devastating overthrow and baptism of past cognition.

This baptism was unprecedented and exceptional, and it almost overturned the values ​​that Wu Man had adhered to for most of her life.

When everything in the past is overturned, new cognition is rebuilt in the ruins, breaking down and then building up.

A smile suddenly appeared on Wu Man's bloody face. He raised his head and laughed:
“Hahahaha, it’s done, I’ve done it, hahahaha… Ignorance, the five aggregates are empty, hahahaha…”

He laughed hysterically and said:

"A leaf blocks the view of Mount Tai. It turns out that I am so close to ignorance. It turns out that I am so foolish. Therefore, I am not at ease in the perfect enlightenment. Therefore, I am not at ease in the perfect enlightenment."

What this sentence means is that one does not have a clear understanding of the perfect nature of self-awareness that is neither defiled nor pure, and is attached to "emptiness" and "ignorance", so one cannot be at ease and cannot be considered to have achieved great enlightenment.

This situation is actually not uncommon in spiritual practice. Some people who practice kung fu have reached a state of purity, free of distracting thoughts and delusions.

However, their understanding is not thorough, and they think that purity is the way, and that impurity and emptiness are not the Dharma. Thus, they hinder themselves.

(End of this chapter)