Ksitigarbha Legend - Chapter 17
"Oh?" A golden toad jumped up to the height of a person, startling Mao Mao, who hid behind Professor Xiao in fear.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god? My father's essence? Give it to me!" The golden toad jumped onto Professor Xiao's hand, and no matter how hard he tried to shake it off, he couldn't get rid of it.
"Stop fooling around, little toad!" The Demon-Subduing Golden Staff jumped up and smacked the golden toad on the forehead. The golden toad stumbled down, dazed, and cried out, "Oh? I just wanted to take it for a little worship, oh?? Where's Grandpa Ksitigarbha?"
“Back to Hell!” said the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl. Big M stood behind the Demon-Subduing Golden Staff as if nothing had happened, followed by Mirror and Liu Wei, who were panting heavily.
Upon seeing Mao Mao, Liu Wei immediately embraced her excitedly, crying, "You're not dead yet..."
Mao Mao pushed Liu Wei away, "Do you want me to die?"
Liu Wei thought for a moment and said, "I don't know."
"I don't know" is a very strange answer; an ordinary person would answer "I don't want to".
The mirror remained silent as he watched the doctor in the white coat drag Xiao Ru's body onto the truck, his eyes stinging with tears.
"Let's go to hell and find Grandpa Ksitigarbha!" said the golden toad.
Big M looked up at the sky: "Death has arrived."
The Grim Reaper, with a deadpan expression, floated down, bowing his head and saying, "I have come to welcome Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva."
"Didn't that old man go back?" the Demon-Subduing Golden Staff said.
"He's probably off nagging somewhere again!" Ruyi Baomingzhu said, jumping up and down.
Big M frowned, closed his eyes, and said solemnly, "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva... he's probably really... dead..."
"Oh? Oh? What does that mean?" The golden toad hopped around like a jumping insect.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva truly sacrificed himself to dispel the resentment of the demon.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is truly dead; it's not as simple as just returning to hell. Otherwise, how could Tongtong be so easily resigned to this?
The question of love or not love has been a tangled mess for centuries. Killing or being killed, sacrificing or being sacrificed, cannot serve as proof of love or not love.
Hundreds of years ago, after the ant plague was brought under control, when Jin Xiaoluo roared, "Changping! I am utterly disappointed in you!" and when she sealed Tongmei inside the ant eggs, she asked him again if he loved her.
Kim Hyo-ra said, "To love or not to love, that's the answer!"
Tongmei leaped into the air, tentacles sprouting from her forehead, and roared, "Stop making me play guessing games! I've been guessing for hundreds of years, I'm tired of it!"
Just then, Ah Ming returned to the tomb, dragging a man's corpse—it was Old Li.
Ah Ming knelt down and said, "Please, let him live."
Tong Mei glanced at A Ming and said, "Why should I?"
“Look at my eyes…” Ah Ming raised his head, his eyes turning from blood red to silver white for some reason.
Tong Mei laughed loudly and bent down to bite Old Li.
Old Li slowly opened his eyes, as if he had just had a long and tiring dream in which the world was in chaos.
He spotted Ah Ming at a glance, raised his hand and slapped him across the face: "You brat! Where have you been! Disobedient! Disobedient!" The younger brother hit and cursed at him, while Ah Ming cried and hugged Old Li: "It's good that you're alive."
No matter how we live, that's all that matters; that's what we often hope for.
Tong Mei sneered, "Changping, you useless thing, just watch how I turn the tables!"
Xiao Lu looked at Tong Mei with confusion, wondering to himself: "We clearly killed Dizang and won, so why is it said that we turned defeat into victory? And who is Chang Ping?"
Never mind all that, Xiao Lu shook his head. Now the family was finally reunited—Xiao Lu still regarded A Ming and Lao Li as his family.
It snowed, but the ground was black.
A dense, black swarm of ants rolled over.
54.
When we were kids, we would hold an ant in our hands, laughing as we watched it struggle, then place it on a leaf and let it embark on its own adventurous journey.
When we were kids, we would carry a kettle of hot water and happily pour it into the ant hole, watching these little black creatures curl up in a ball and lie on the ground.
When we sit idly under a tree, crushing an ant with our fingers or tearing it apart, do we realize that human nature is to kill?
Did we ever imagine that one day the ants would launch a full-scale counterattack?
We kill them because they are weak; we are powerless to retaliate precisely because they are small.
Small, therefore it can penetrate anywhere.
The snake-skin birds and pangolins that Big M summoned were all wiped out in less than an hour; there were simply too many of them.
Humans, having just awakened from the nightmare of frog poison infection, were powerless to resist. They used water, fire, insecticides, and every other method they could think of, but still could not stop the ants from trampling over the corpses of their "martyrs" and continuing their relentless advance.
What makes ants so terrifying is that they have no individual consciousness; they only exist as a collective.
When there is a collective, unity is strength.
The ants sang loudly: "This power is iron!—This power is steel!—"
Where ants pass, not a single bone is left.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, layer upon layer.
The ants multiplied, spreading out layer upon layer.
Natural disasters and ant plagues.
In a panic, the government ordered all survivors to climb to the highest building in sight and then release the water.
The water flooded the house and gradually froze, revealing frozen ants inside, like giant black sesame ice cream cones. Above the ice cream cones were live ants, which continued their attack along the walls.
In Professor Xiao's laboratory, Big M and the others used camphor balls to create a low fortress, temporarily repelling the ants' attack.
Big M transformed into a boy, holding the wish-fulfilling life pearl, and suddenly remembered that Ksitigarbha had said: Give this to Master Jingcheng.
Master Jingcheng.
Mirror.
"Mirror, here you go." Lingling handed the Ruyi Treasure Life Pearl to the mirror, who looked completely bewildered.
"What are you going to do with me?"
“I don’t know. Before the great calamity, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva instructed me to give it to you,” Big M said.
The wish-fulfilling jewel, as desired by all beings.
"Um..." Mirror mumbled, clutching the wish-fulfilling life pearl, unsure what to say. A couple of ants poked their heads out from the camphor ball enclosure. "Wish-fulfilling life pearl, let those ants go to hell!" Mirror said.
As soon as the words were spoken, countless evil spirits emerged from the ground. The ants were terrified, but... they weren't afraid of ghosts.
The demon-subduing golden staff jumped up and banged on the wish-fulfilling life pearl, shouting, "Little Pearl, you're such a pig! You're so stupid! If you see a ghost, you really see a ghost!"
Ruyi Baomingzhu innocently said, "Please explain it more clearly!"
"Let the evil spirits go back!" said the mirror! The evil spirits vanished in an instant.
The Ruyi Jewel, emitting a dark purple light, cried out, "Mirror, do not make wishes! The will of the ants has already overwhelmed us; they want to rule the earth!"
"So what if we come over?" Mao Mao asked.
"Anyone who makes any wish will be controlled by the ants' will and become their own wish. I don't want to be used by these little bugs!!" the Wish-Fulfilling Pearl cried out.
Several ants crawled onto Mao Mao, who yelled and slapped them to the ground, killing them.
"What should we do?" Fine beads of sweat appeared on Big M's forehead.
As he stared at the wish-fulfilling pearl, a sharp pain shot through his head.
The purple light of the Ruyi Baoming Pearl spread and spread, and Liu Wei, Jingzi, and Mao Mao all rolled on the ground, clutching their heads.
"Little Pearl, what are you doing? You idiot!" The Demon-Subduing Golden Staff jumped around, and the little toad was at a loss.
"I don't know either... It seems the protective barrier that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva placed on me has been opened! It turns out the mirror was the key to opening the barrier!"
Liu Wei let out a long howl, transforming into the green-faced River God. Mao Mao leaped up, dressed in short clothes, while Jing Zi rose from the ground...
55.
From now on, we should call the mirror Jingcheng, Liu Wei Fengyi, and Mao Mao Mifei.
Jingcheng held the Ruyi Bao Life Pearl, looked at Mi Fei with deep affection, and said, "This is our pearl."
Mi Fei said sadly, "Yes, these beads were forged with our lives."
Feng Yi angrily pulled Mi Fei behind him: "Jing Cheng, you adulterer!" With that, he slashed at her with his palm, but Jing Cheng nimbly dodged. The camphor ball fortress vanished into nothingness, and ants flowed in from all directions. The word "flowed in" was an apt verb.
Big M lifted Professor Xiao up, and the group flew into the air.
Mi Fei angrily retorted, "So, by calling him an adulterer, you mean I'm an adulteress?"
Feng Yi was speechless, stammering, "I...I didn't mean that..."
"Hmph!" Mi Fei pulled Jing Cheng aside and said, "We've finally met again..."
Big M tossed Professor Xiao to the Demon-Subduing Golden Staff, and Professor Xiao straddled the staff. The Demon-Subduing Golden Staff immediately transformed into a broom, and he muttered, "This shape suits me better."
Big M stood in the middle of the three and roared, "This is not the time for jealousy and rivalry!!!"
The ants, thinking themselves clever, began to build an ant ladder, one stepping on the back of another, and the ladder rose higher and higher, and the group flew several meters higher.
"Even if I turn back into my true form now, what difference will it make?" Jingcheng whispered, holding the Ruyi Treasure Life Pearl.
"The Ruyi Treasure Life Pearl!" During his time as Liu Wei, Feng Yi stayed by Mao Mao's side and almost forgot his mission in the world. Now that his lover has been snatched away and the crisis has returned, he flew up and struck Mi Fei with a palm. Jing Cheng hurriedly stood in front of Mi Fei. Feng Yi turned around and took advantage of Jing Cheng's distraction to snatch the Ruyi Treasure Life Pearl.
Feint to the east while attacking in the west.
Feng Yi held the Ruyi Treasure Life Pearl, looked at Mi Fei, and said, "A Luo, you can only love me!"
"May the goddess Luo Shen Mi Fei love only the river god Feng Yi for all eternity!"
"Don't make a wish!!!" Big M shouted, but it was too late.
The Ruyi Bao Life Pearl emitted ten thousand rays of dark four colors, shooting towards the ants on the ground.
Feng Yi's wish was not fulfilled, but the ants got what they wanted.
The ants on the ground swelled and grew rapidly, becoming taller than a person, and people's screams suddenly filled the air.
"Feng Yi! Look what you've done!"