Legend of the Great Sage

Roar!

The brutal and violent beast’s howl broke the singing and dancing. A vicious demonic beast that resembled a bear emerged out of nowhere. Its entire body was falling apart, with bone spikes jutting out of its hide. The grim demon qi it gave off temporarily obscured the moonlight, casting a thick, stinking shadow.

The demonic beast shook its head violently, splattering its sticky saliva all over the ground, which corroded away to form great pits.

The noise and activity on the square caught its attention. A mad, blood-thirsty light erupted in its eyes. It lunged over with a push of its paws.

The foul air filled their faces, and “Eggborn” jerked awake from the Dance of the Devaputra-māra. He immediately spotted the hideous demonic beast. However, when everyone stopped dancing, they were still dazed. They had not completely recovered yet.

At such a critical moment, the Upraised Light abbot just happened to be gone too.

He widened his eyes as his heart thumped away. His nightmares had turned real now! If the demonic beast made it onto the square, who knew how many people would die. He made up his mind and rushed straight towards the Demon Sovereign beast.

Right when they were about to collide, he suddenly noticed that his heart thumped away like a drum not out of fear, but because of irrepressible impulse.

He came to a realisation. So the reason why the nightmares have been so terrifying is because I’ve been running away from them the entire time!

The demonic beast swung its paw at him. The air cracked deeply, taking his breath from his lungs.

At this very moment, there was a crack! Like a shattering river of ice, water surged out from the cracks. Countless memories rushed out, such that he was taken by surprise, unable to distinguish between them for the time being, which left him dazed.

Boom! The ground cracked to pieces, sinking to form a great pit. He was slammed into the ground by the paw.

Only then did everyone completely recover. Cries rang out endlessly as they ran all over the place. The soldiers tried to retrieve their weapons in a hurry, but how could they make it in time?

The shadow rapidly loomed over. Everyone raised their heads in shock. A giant beast descended from above. If that landed, who knew how many people would be crushed to death.

At that critical moment, all they heard was a yell, “Grow! Grow! Grow!” It was a child’s voice, but it was filled with firmness and resolve.

At this moment, countless thorns burst through the sky, dancing like wild snakes and piercing the demonic beast, wrapping around it firmly mid-air.

“Eggborn” walked on air, emerging from the pit step by step. His long hair danced around even without any wind as he stared at the demonic beast with his jade-green eyes, shining with a stunning light. He also seemed like a wild beast.

In an alleyway to the side of the square, the Upraised Light abbot let out a silent sigh of relief, lowering the staff in his hand.

Under the silver moon, the demonic beast let out miserable shrieks, struggling violently. Demonic blood fell like torrential rain, splattering on the people below. Their expressions immediately changed slightly.

A man fled from the square. The person in front of him moved a little slower, so he immediately shoved him aside viciously. The person behind him directly stepped over the person on the ground, without any sympathy or intention to help.

Hints of scarlet appeared in “Eggborn’s” green eyes. His brows pressed down as he closed his hand abruptly. “Die!”

Even more thorns burst out from the ground, piercing and moving through the Demon Sovereign beast’s body, tearing apart every inch of its flesh. However, the demonic beast’s vitality was extremely tenacious. It actually continued to struggle.

“Eggborn” snorted coldly and charged towards the demonic beast again. He was wrapped in rings of fire, piercing the demonic beast’s colossal body in a single strike and digging out a huge demonic heart.

The demonic beast immediately stopped struggling as its eyes gradually lost their glint.

“Eggborn” stood on the demonic beast’s head, raising the demonic heart in his hand high into the air.

Everyone was saved. They stopped where they were and began cheering, but it was filled with a different kind of fervency.

In the blink of an eye, the square where they sang and danced had turned into a primitive, bloody hunting ground. They, the tribesmen, offered their greatest respects towards the mightiest warrior.

Everyone forgot about the first precept of buddhism—abstaining from killing!

“Eggborn” smiled proudly and gazed into the distance. There were actually traces of demonic beasts throughout the entire city. Soldiers clad in armour and wielding weapons fought against them.

These demonic beasts were bloodthirsty and deranged, but most of them were not powerful, while the guards were well-prepared. They worked together well and easily suppressed them. Killing them was just a matter of time.

Apart from those in the square, most of the residents hid in their homes, so they were unaffected.

As a result, he did not continue fighting. He descended from the air slowly, and everyone rushed over, lifting him up high into the air and tossing him towards the sky again and again, calling out “Hurray!”

From the corner of his eyes, he spotted the Upraised Light abbot again, who nodded towards him.

No matter what, this idea was indeed effective. Most of his memories had recovered, and he only needed a few days at most before they completely returned to him.

However, he felt strangely uneasy, like something was amiss, but he had no time to assemble the memory fragments into a complete picture right now. He was not certain where the issue was.

The howls of the demonic beasts died down very soon, but the people on the square were imbued with an abnormal emotion, perhaps because they had been doused in demonic blood. They gathered around the demonic beast’s corpse and actually began dancing around again.

Their dance this time was very different. The men pushed and shoved, while the women began to bicker. It was extremely tense.

Some men and women downright embraced each other and began feeling each other up, stripping off their clothes. However, because there were more men than women, the distribution was uneven, leading to even more disputes and chaos.

“Eggborn” was young, but he still became a target for the women. He was forced to jump off the demonic beast’s corpse and avoid these crazy women.

The soldiers were drawn over by the disturbance here. When they saw this, they were all dumbfounded. They had no idea what to do.

The Upraised Light abbot shook his head, bringing his palms together. “Amitābha, please pardon my sins.”

If he had taken action personally, the demonic beast would have been destroyed the moment it appeared, and these people would not have been splattered by the demonic blood, avoiding all these sins. However, compared to what he was about to do, these sins were nothing.

“Eggborn” could not help but laugh aloud. He found it all extremely fascinating. If they held these gatherings a few more times, there would be children running around everywhere in a few years’ time.

Suddenly, sleepiness overcame him, making him yawn. He remembered it had already been a very long time since he last slept, and the memories that constantly surged forth made his head light as well. As a result, he just laid down on the demonic beast’s back and began snoring away. He was no longer worried about any nightmares.

As for those powerful enemies in the dreams, hmph! I shoudn’t fear them. They should fear me!

The long night passed, and the sun rose up in the east. The first ray of sunlight landed on the square.

The demonic beast’s corpse vapourised as black mist, revealing its pale bones very soon, which also rapidly dissipated.

“Eggborn” woke up. He slept soundly, without any dreams at all. He stretched his arm. He had grown significantly bigger, already a teenager now.

The men and women on the square woke up as well and black mist rose up from their naked bodies too. They looked at one another and let out a yelp.

“Eggborn” grinned and took out the demonic heart again, only to see it dissipate as well. It vanished before long, and everyone on the square had run away too.

Everything that happened last night felt extremely surreal, like a great dream. This was clearly paradise, so why would there be demonic beasts?

The Upraised Light abbot walked over. “It’s time for us to set off.”

“To where?”

“Nālandā.”