The mortal body into which Shuo Lei had been spontaneously reborn was that of a young man of merely nineteen years of age.
His figure was tall, slender, and upright. Though well-built and robust, he was neither overly rugged nor excessively broad-shouldered. Every contour of his face was exquisitely defined, while his skin was flawless, bright, and clear. His mesmerizing eyes radiated a gentle, tender, and ancient luster. His thick, ink-black, bow-shaped brows only made the structure of his brow and countenance appear even more naturally harmonious, open, and magnificent.
The proportions of his nose were utterly perfect, while his lips were fresh, full, and richly colored.
All these gifts of nature and destiny came together to form an astonishingly handsome face, almost entirely without flaw.
His honey-colored, luminous skin was delicate and lustrous, resembling the universe at that fleeting moment just before dawn, when the first light was about to break but the world had not yet fully emerged from darkness. It harmonized perfectly with the primordial heavenly radiance that had accompanied him when he emerged from his golden cocoon.
At this moment, Shuo Lei had become a young man who truly possessed supreme, irresistible charm.
Everything about him perfectly fulfilled the first karmic blessing bestowed upon him by Maya across his countless past lives.
And especially...
The faint, intermittent seven-colored rainbow radiance that seemed to breathe beneath his honey-colored skin.
Only sentient beings whose hearts had been sufficiently refined through countless past lives, whose spirits were sufficiently pure, could perceive it with their naked eyes.
This ethereal rainbow divine radiance made Shuo Lei, whenever he walked upon the earth, appear almost like an unrivaled heavenly prince who had descended from the highest celestial realm into the mortal world.
And yet...
Shuo Lei had been accustomed to the silent, formless, and featureless state of his Brahma nature for far, far too long.
Throughout his immeasurably long existence in the Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana realm, all that remained to him was thought, memory, and the ethereal core of pure consciousness.
Now, having suddenly regained this flesh-and-blood mortal body—
His six sense faculties—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—exploded back to life all at once!
The first coolness of dawn in the mortal world passed across every inch of his skin, flowing directly into the clear gateway of his consciousness.
In the ancient forest far away, countless birds greeted the dawn with ringing songs. Their crisp calls entered his ears without the slightest obstruction.
Primordial dewdrops gathered upon the tips of leaves and blades of grass, carrying with them the fresh fragrance of soil and vegetation, instantly captured by his sense of smell.
The clean, cool taste of mountain spring water quietly moistened his mouth and tongue, which had once been utterly lifeless.
And before his eyes...
There spread an entire forest at dawn, beautiful enough to soothe the soul, overflowing with vibrant life.
All these sensations of the mortal world...
For an ancient existence who had been accustomed to perceiving the myriad phenomena of the universe through pure consciousness alone for more than ninety million years, they caused his soul, now housed within flesh, to settle into true stillness for the first time.
He seemed...
Completely overwhelmed by the vivid, weighty, and incomparably real mortal world before him.
Only at this moment did the ancient instinctive memories of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind gradually awaken within his mortal body.
Those sensory memories, almost completely erased by hundreds of millions of years, had long since fallen into a deep sleep within the furthest depths of his consciousness because he had existed for so long in a state without form or color.
But now...
Beneath the first light of dawn in the Tretā Age—
They had all returned.
And so, Shuo Lei once again experienced the worldly pleasures brought forth by touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight.
The worldly desires that had slept within the deepest recesses of his consciousness also suddenly awakened in that instant.
And coupled with the natural joy that arises within every living being at the moment of first entering mortal existence—
For a brief moment, Shuo Lei actually forgot the divine nature he had cultivated through his own existence, intoxicated by these sensations of new life.
The nineteen-year-old young man simply collapsed onto the primordial forest floor, still covered in cool morning dew, allowing his supple and upright body to roll freely among the soil, fallen leaves, and broken branches.
He felt no disgust.
He did not consider himself dirty.
He was like an innocent child who had only just discovered that playing in mud and sand could be such an indescribably wonderful delight.
This scene...allowed Itihasa, Bhadrakāla, and Maya, who had all been secretly observing him from afar through their supreme powers of mind, to understand a fundamental law of the universe:
Simply abandoning one's physical form and retaining only thought while sitting in eternal stillness cannot truly eradicate the latent defilements of karma.
Even an existence like Shuo Lei, who had already stood at the summit of the Three Realms and enjoyed the supreme state of the Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana heaven—
Though he had, throughout countless ages, cleansed himself of everything within the mortal world that could serve as the root of sensual craving and attachment to existence...
Once he regained a mortal body of flesh and blood, those dormant senses could still cause subtle joy to arise within him once again.
They could still make him fall in love with sensation.
They could still make him become immersed in enjoyment.
Just as he was now.
The reason was simple.
The experiential impressions of the six sense faculties had never truly been erased from karma.
What remained were memories lying dormant like latent defilements.
The attachments created when those senses once touched and experienced the world still lay hidden within the deepest abyss of thought.
So long as suitable reverse stimulation and karmic conditions appeared within the mortal world, they could erupt and awaken once more at any moment.
And this was by no means something that would happen only to Shuo Lei.
Even among the mighty Brahmas of the Formless Realm—beings stronger than Shuo Lei, or whose thoughts and wisdom were comparable to his—
so long as they had not attained even the lowest level of noble attainment, the Stream-entry fruit, then once they regained mortal flesh, regardless of whatever heavenly law governed their spontaneous rebirth, they would find it exceedingly difficult to completely avoid being briefly dragged into these mortal emotions when their six senses suddenly awakened.
Just as Shuo Lei was experiencing now.
Shuo Lei completely forgot the laws of his former existence and immersed himself in the rolling pleasure brought by his mortal body and newly awakened six senses.
Until...
Upon the branches of the ancient trees and beneath the vast sky, flock after flock of birds dwelling within the primordial forest began circling above, watching this strangely behaving young man in simple cloth garments.
They seemed to find the youth's actions utterly ridiculous.
For a time, the birds all began chirping noisily and shrilly at once, as though mocking him from every direction beneath the heavens.
It was precisely these birdsongs that finally awakened Shuo Lei from his mortal pleasures like the sudden tolling of a temple bell at dawn.
He abruptly froze.
Within those crystalline eyes, black as gemstones, there flashed the unmistakable embarrassment peculiar to an ordinary mortal.
His full, well-proportioned lips also curved into a slightly bashful smile.
Seeing that the human youth had finally regained his senses, the birds immediately took flight, beating their wings and scattering in all directions.
Clearly, even by instinct, they feared that this strange young man might take his embarrassment out on them.
Only after the birds had vanished did Shuo Lei slowly gather his thoughts and once more begin examining his newly-born mortal body once more.
He first slowly raised his hands, turning them palm upward, then palm downward, staring intently at the lines of his palms and the contours of each of his ten fingers.
Then he lowered his head slightly and strained his eyes to examine the structure and form of his own body.
Suddenly...
That ancient mystery he had questioned himself about through millions upon millions of lifetimes and countless cycles of life and death once again rose uncontrollably within the sea of his consciousness:
What do I truly look like?
Is the image of me perceived by mortal eyes truly identical to what I now see myself as?
Why can I never see my own complete body as clearly as I can see the bodies of others?
This very mystery...
Once again reminded Shuo Lei of the ultimate answer he had arrived at through countless ages and kalpas.
Why cling to it and trouble oneself needlessly...?
This is itself the ultimate prelude to Impermanence.
Where, then, is the true and indestructible “self”?
If I cannot even see the entirety of this mortal body before my own eyes, by what right can I insist that the self others perceive must perfectly match the fleshly form I imagine myself to possess?
All phenomena are empty. All things are merely provisional names of the mortal world, bubbles and illusions.
It was precisely because I saw through this truth countless kalpas ago that I have continued to tread upon the path of cultivation with utmost caution until this very day—simply so that this fragment of consciousness might one day finally break free from that primordial illusory net called the cycle of kalpas and rebirth.
At that thought...
The supreme vow he had established deep within his soul across countless past lives once again resounded within him like a great bell, reminding him of what he had once sought before all the gods and Buddhas of the heavens.
Yet the old memories awakened alongside his six senses also mercilessly reminded him of another dream—
The magnificent dream that had once driven him to reincarnate as a great man, attain the enlightenment of a supreme sage, and descend alone into the mortal world to save all beings throughout the universe.
And as that brilliant dream once again broke through the soil of his mind...
The memory of the devastating failure that had consumed countless years of his effort, only to end in complete defeat, came crashing back like a raging tide.
Shuo Lei was no clay statue or wooden idol.
Within this body of flesh and blood, he was not completely incapable of feeling mortal sorrow.
In the deepest abyss of his soul...
He still hurt.
The pain reached all the way to his bones.
Yet within his soul there forever dwelled the four immeasurable Brahmavihāras of serene Brahmic abiding:
Loving-kindness.
Compassion.
And—
That supreme virtue of immeasurable power, which had repeatedly driven back the interference of countless demonic obstacles:
Sympathetic joy.
It was precisely because of this utterly pure heart of sympathetic joy that he could use profound mindfulness to truly release the regrets of his former life.
And yet...
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Letting go did not mean that pain would simply vanish from the mortal world.
No matter how transcendent his divine mind might be, within this nineteen-year-old mortal body he still lacked the power to completely extinguish every subtle pain produced by the instincts of flesh whenever the six senses touched his heart.
And by nature and temperament, Shuo Lei had always been extraordinarily capable of enduring pain.
His proud yet gentle nature would never allow anyone in this world to see his weakness or suffering.
Therefore, since the primordial age, he had always possessed a unique way of releasing and venting the emotional storms accumulated within his heart.
That was—
Using the compassionate methods unique to the Bodhisattva Path to transform all the suffering he himself received into supreme happiness bestowed upon the sentient beings of the Three Realms.
This lifetime was no different.
When the sorrow accumulated across his former lives finally overflowed its banks and could no longer be suppressed...
The young man dressed in pale blue cloth slowly extended his long, jade-like fingers and picked up the Ancient Gao Three-String Qin lying in the grass beside him.
Then...
Beneath the mottled canopy of the towering primordial divine tree, he gently plucked the strings.
A clear, lonely, yet incomparably gentle melody flowed from his fingertips like spring water.
He was not performing for the sake of entertaining the mortal world.
Nor was he seeking the applause or praise of mortal beings.
He simply transformed the vast emotions overflowing from the depths of his heart into mortal music, stroke by stroke.
With that music, he gently soothed and healed the pain within his mortal body.
At the same time...
He offered the supreme tenderness and joy carried by the music as a tiny gift to all the plants and innocent living beings awakening quietly within a radius of a hundred li around him at dawn.
And precisely at that moment—
The universe finally reached the break of dawn.
The divine twin brothers who governed the Nine Heavens had just completed their daily celestial duty in the heavens and were preparing to turn their divine chariot around.
Their sacred duty was to drive their chariot through the night sky each morning, opening the heavenly road for the Goddess of Dawn, Uṣā, so that she might spread her beautiful dawn-radiance across the mortal world.
And just as these two great knightly gods were preparing to drive their golden chariot back toward the heavenly palace...
A melody of such exquisite beauty that it could make even the gods of heaven yearn and weep passed through layer upon layer of clouds and entered the ears of the divine twin brothers without obstruction.
The hearts of the two celestial knight gods were violently shaken.
Almost at the exact same moment, they pulled back on the reins and brought their primordial divine chariot to a halt.
“Whose music is that...?”
“How can it be so moving that even the gods must stop and shed tears?”
The elder brother rested a hand upon the divine sword at his waist and gazed down upon the mortal world from the sky, his voice hoarse with astonishment.
“Though the melody carries a trace of sorrow, it is so beautiful that it makes the soul tremble. I cannot tear my attention away from it even for an instant.”
The younger brother's expression was moved as he raised his eyes toward the direction from which the music flowed.
“Brother, look over there.”
The direction indicated by his slender finger was precisely where Shuo Lei sat beneath the shade of the primordial tree, dressed in pale blue cloth.
The elder brother followed his gesture and looked closely.
In the next instant...
The supreme celestial god, who had witnessed the countless wonders of creation throughout the heavens, could not restrain his astonishment.
“Could there truly be a mortal in this human world possessed of such an astonishing appearance?”
"With his natural bearing and proud countenance, he is even three measures more handsome than we, the heavenly knights reputed to be the most beautiful beings throughout the heavens."
“Could it be... that he is a great Mahāpuruṣa who has already reincarnated and descended into the mortal world?”
The younger brother immediately shook his head and answered with absolute certainty:
“Impossible. It is only the beginning of the Tretā Age. The karmic conditions for the Enlightened One to descend into the mortal world have not yet arrived.”
The elder brother remained silent for a moment, gazing at the cool and tranquil young man beneath the tree.
“If he is not a Mahāpuruṣa descended into the world, then what manner of cosmic creation does this mortal carry within him...?”
“Enough. Let us simply descend and ask him ourselves.”
The younger brother nodded.
Thus, the elder brother personally lowered the golden divine chariot.
“Who are you?”
“Why do you possess such astonishingly beautiful features, even surpassing those of us Heavenly knights?”
The elder brother remained high upon the divine chariot, one hand upon his sword as he questioned him.
Shuo Lei remained perfectly calm.
He stood beneath the tree, his tall figure displaying the utmost humility without sacrificing the dignity of his bearing, and answered with a respectful bow.
“My name is Shuo Lei.”
“I have just severed my divinity and reincarnated from the highest level of the Formless Realm—the Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana heaven.”
“Now, through the blessings of karma, I have descended into this mortal world in my original state of spontaneous human generation, possessing great wholesome resultant consciousness unassociated with wisdom.”
“Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana heaven...”
The elder brother repeated Shuo Lei's words.
Within those ancient, eternally radiant eyes of the celestial god, an overwhelming astonishment suddenly erupted.
The younger brother beside him could no longer restrain himself either. He stared directly at the youth in blue and asked:
“Truly astonishing.”
“Just moments ago, we used the supernatural powers of the mind to examine your former lives, you once established a magnificent vow to attain the enlightenment of a Mahāpuruṣa Buddha.”
“But in this life, you received no prediction of Buddhahood from any Buddha.”
“Furthermore, you were once targeted for spiritual extermination by Arati, the Demon King's eldest princess. She even used an extremely evil power to force the six sense faculties to arise within you while you were in the Formless Realm...”
“We are utterly unable to understand.”
“How did you escape that abyss of the demonic realm completely unharmed while surrounded by layer upon layer of demonic obstacles?”
Shuo Lei remained silent for a moment.
His fingers gently passed over the Ancient Gao Three-String Qin.
Then, in the same gentle and tranquil voice, he answered:
“For me... whether I can become that Mahāpuruṣa Buddha who sees through all things, or whether this lifetime is destined to end without my becoming a Mahāpuruṣa...”
“The value of either outcome is inherently identical.”
“There is no difference.”
A look of unprecedented astonishment flashed across the younger brother's face.
“You mean... you no longer wish to pursue the position of Mahāpuruṣa Buddha?”
Shuo Lei gently shook his head.
His youthful smile was as clear as a primordial forest spring.
“It is not that I do not wish for it.”
“It is simply that, from the very beginning, my original Great Vow—to cultivate the Dharma and seek the source of liberation from birth and death—was never made for the sake of sitting upon that supreme throne of Mahāpuruṣa before which countless beings bow in worship.”
“I merely... grew deeply weary of the suffering caused by attachment throughout this endless cycle of rebirth.”
“And I grew equally weary of the endless suffering I once endured, in the Eight Great Hells and all manner of unfortunate realms, as punishment for the evil karma I had created in distant former lives.”
“So what my soul truly craves... is nothing more than eternal liberation from this endless, withered cycle of rebirth.”
“Regarding the state of the Mahāpuruṣa Buddha... if the conditions are ripe and I can attain it, that would naturally be wonderful. I could then utilize it to benefit countless sentient beings.”
“But if I cannot attain it...”
“It causes no difficulty.”
After hearing this, the younger brother's normally tranquil divine heart was struck by a tremendous storm.
His voice overflowed with astonishment and admiration.
“Oh... you were actually able to release the attachment of your heart to such a transcendent degree?”
“Among all the gods who have lost the karmic prediction of Buddhahood and once pursued the throne of Mahāpuruṣa, such a state of mind is something never heard of and never witnessed throughout millions of kalpas!”
The elder brother leaned forward, unable to contain his curiosity.
“Shuo Lei... how exactly did you accomplish such complete release through sympathetic joy?”
“Why, after losing such an opportunity that could have reached all the way to Heaven, can your divine heart still rest within the bliss of liberation?”
“And how were you even able to use that state of mind to reverse the process of purification and completely break free from the spiritual parasitism of the demons?”
“We are truly fascinated.”
Shuo Lei did not answer immediately.
He raised his clear black-gem eyes and instead gently asked:
“Then... celestial knights who possess authority over the divine physicians of all Heaven, what, in your eyes, is the law that defines ‘happiness’?”
The two Aśvin brothers looked at one another.
Then the elder brother answered proudly:
“The supreme happiness of us... is to heal and redeem those sentient beings throughout the Three Realms who are suffering from disease, injury, and profound hardship.”
“Before the primordial wilderness of Heaven and Earth, We established an undying vow.”
“So long as there remain living beings in this universe suffering under illness and pain, we shall drive our chariot down from Heaven, rescue those in danger, aid those in distress, and help them escape their suffering forever.”
“And this primordial Great Vow...”
“We have upheld and guarded it without regret all the way to this very day.”
The voices of the two great heavenly knights thundered through the dawn forest, every word carrying the supreme pride of the primordial divine physicians.
After listening, the corners of Shuo Lei's lips curved into an extraordinarily gentle smile.
“What a wondrous and subtle karmic affinity.”
“Great gods of Heaven... the happiness you cherish is, in such a strange way, remarkably similar to the happiness I seek.”
“If one day the merit I have accumulated across my former lives allows me to attain Buddhahood, that shall be my great fortune.”
“But if I cannot become a Mahāpuruṣa...”
“Then I shall simply continue fishing quietly within this mortal world, waiting for the day when liberation belonging to me finally arrives.”
“And before that day of eternal liberation truly descends into the mortal world...”
“So long as I still possess sufficient merit and blessings to freely choose the karmic results of my reincarnations and the destinies of my mortal bodies throughout future lives...”
“Then I would willingly reincarnate, life after life, as nothing more than a mortal musician.”
“And then...”
Shuo Lei raised his hand and gently plucked a lingering note from the strings.
His robes drifted lightly in the breeze, and for an instant he seemed like a banished immortal walking the earth.
“I would continually comfort and aid those mortal friends who encounter hardship and adversity within the bitter sea of rebirth.”
“Whenever they appear before me, whenever they linger within the reach of my ears...”
“I shall do everything within my power to pull them back from suffering.”
“This...is the supreme happiness of me.”
The two celestial knights remained silent, immersed in his words for a long while.
At last, the elder brother rested a hand upon his sword and asked:
“We understand, more or less.”
“Yet one mystery remains within our hearts.”
“What manner of immense willpower allows you to completely release the tremendous disappointment brought by the karma of fate?”
“And what manner of supreme virtue allows you to sincerely rejoice and offer blessings to those sentient beings who have obtained what you once dreamed of most desperately—the prediction of Buddhahood?”
Shuo Lei remained tranquil and answered:
“What Your Divine Highness asks about... is the Four Brahmavihāras.”
“They are the fundamental morality of the Brahma race.”
“And I am merely one who has just severed his divinity and departed from the Brahma Realm.”
“I simply have not forgotten the virtues of that sacred realm.”
“Among them, the most crucial... is sympathetic joy.”
“Therefore, I can sincerely rejoice for those friends who are more fortunate than I, whose merit and blessings are deeper than mine.”
“As for myself...”
“Deep within my heart, there will naturally remain indelible regret and sorrow.”
“I have also mourned the fact that I myself could not become a great sage capable of illuminating the universe as they do.”
“But...”
“I can still feel complete.”
“Because my heart is clear.”
“So long as I continue to cultivate and refine myself according to the true Dharma...”
“Then one day, through my own strength, I will still be able to liberate one person from the sea of suffering and lead that person to liberation.”
Shuo Lei's face softened into a smile.
The young man's smile was clear and immaculate.
“And that person...”
“...is myself.”
These words of causality, profound enough to shake the heavens, struck the hearts of the two celestial knights with overwhelming force.
The elder brother could no longer restrain the surging admiration within him and exclaimed:
“Shuo Lei... the nature of your heart and the nobility of your character are truly too lofty and immaculate.”
“In this vast mortal world, it would be almost impossible to find anyone who could stand beside you as an equal.”
“Only now do we truly understand.”
“It is precisely because the foundation of your soul has reached such purity that you were able to receive such an astonishing birth—and that faint, seven-colored divine radiance.”
The younger brother smiled brightly as well and spoke in a clear voice:
“We truly adore you, Shuo Lei.”
“Please accept the supreme sacred blessing of the celestial knights.”
As his words fell, the two celestial knight gods standing in the air simultaneously raised their hands and bestowed upon the young man in blue beneath the tree the supreme creative blessing of Heaven's laws.
Their divine voices were clear and melodious, like celestial jade bells suddenly ringing through the primordial dawn.
“Shuo Lei... from this day onward, you and we shall be as brothers born of the same womb across countless former lives.”
“Therefore, the divine powers, healing abilities, and heavenly authorities possessed by us... may all be shared with you through karma!”
“May you possess sacred power equal to ours.”
“And may you wield and carry this gift of creation throughout the world, following your pure and benevolent mortal vow to save and aid every sentient being within the Three Realms.”
After completing the blessing, the two celestial knight gods looked upon Shuo Lei with concern and solemnly warned him:
“Yet there is one immutable cosmic law of causality that we must ask you to remember within your divine heart.”
“Within the Three Realms, any being who attempts to obstruct, or forcibly distort, the flow of another sentient being's karmic causes and effects...”
“No matter how compassionate their original intention may be, no matter how righteous or noble the reason they believe themselves to possess...”
“The karmic retribution that has been forcibly interrupted must ultimately be borne in full by themselves.”
“Therefore...”
“If, while rescuing those in distress within the mortal world, you interfere excessively with the sins and suffering that another person was destined to receive...”
“Then you yourself shall likewise suffer a terrible karmic backlash.”
“The road ahead is long.”
“Please proceed with the utmost caution.”
Shuo Lei's expression remained clear and serene as he quietly nodded.
“My heart understands.”
“And I sincerely thank Your Divine Highnesses for your protection, goodwill, and concern.”
“I shall restrain my personal desires and do everything within my power to use this healing and martial power to open the greatest possible benefit for the universe.”
“To bless and aid as many sentient beings as I possibly can.”
The two celestial knights were delighted by his answer and once again spoke in unison, with the purest friendship.
“May it be so, Shuo Lei.”
“May it be so.”
Shuo Lei's lips curved slightly upward.
“May the same be true for both of you, honored gods.”
The two Aśvin brothers looked at one another and smiled.
Then they waved farewell and departed into the heavens.
The golden divine chariot rose amid auspicious radiance.
Higher and higher it ascended until finally transforming into a blazing rainbow, disappearing completely into the depths of the dawn sky.
...
Although they had already departed from Shuo Lei...
The minds of the two celestial knight gods still could not move away from this extraordinarily unusual human being.
Eventually, when they had driven their chariot to the middle of the celestial road, the elder brother could no longer resist pulling on the reins and stopping.
High above the Nine Heavens, he sighed.
“He and we are fundamentally different.”
“It is precisely because his divine heart eternally preserves that pure sympathetic joy that he was not corrupted by the countless demonic obstacles of Heaven and did not fall into becoming that hideous demon.”
The younger brother's star-like eyes shifted slightly before he gently continued:
“But... he still lacks the supreme karmic conditions necessary to attain the Buddhahood of a Mahāpuruṣa.”
The elder brother nodded slightly.
“That is true.”
“So long as that final quality of equanimous letting-go within his divine heart has not reached true perfection...”
“He will never be able to sit upon that Buddha-throne.”
The younger brother's long hair was swept upward by the wind as he murmured:
“Just like us brothers.”
The elder brother gently shook his head.
“Similar, but ultimately different.”
“Our brothers are already content with our present immortal identities.”
“And we are completely satisfied with the salvific duty that destiny and Heaven have bestowed upon us.”
“Throughout our countless ages, we have never coveted or attempted to usurp the position of that Mahāpuruṣa Buddha who could use the supreme Bodhisattva Path to relieve every suffering of the sentient beings of the Three Realms.”
“We merely hope that...”
“When we travel to the farthest reaches of the universe and encounter fragile lives suffering from disease, injury, or the brink of death...”
“We may do everything within our power to heal them and pull them back from the abyss.”
The elder brother sighed and looked down upon the mortal world, one hand resting upon his sword.
“Therefore...”
“I merely hope that Shuo Lei can cultivate that true perfection of equanimous letting-go within a single mortal lifetime.”
“And even more, I hope that he will not resent the injustice of fate and Heaven...”
“...and ultimately fall into becoming a demon because of the regrets he refuses to release.”
After hearing this, the younger brother instead smiled, breaking the heaviness that had settled over the Nine Heavens.
“Yet I firmly believe Shuo Lei will never reach that point.”
“Though he is a noble and immaculate Brahma of the Formless Realm who has enjoyed three hundred and sixty million years of existence...”
“He possesses, paradoxically, a heart of compassion that remains extraordinarily close to the vast earth—a mortal heart that cherishes the warmth and coldness of human life.”
“Perhaps...”
“His present calm and indifference toward the tricks of karma, and toward his inability to ascend to the throne of Buddhahood...”
“...may itself already be the most extraordinary and supreme form of equanimous letting-go in the Three Realms.”
The elder brother remained silent for a very long time amid the stillness of the sea of clouds.
At last, his divine heart was relieved.
He nodded slightly.
“I sincerely hope Heaven and Earth shall ordain it.”
The magnificent divine voices of the two great gods eventually fell silent amid this shared understanding of heavenly destiny.
Then the younger brother rested a hand upon the golden divine chariot and suddenly suggested:
“Brother... why don't we join our powers and establish a sacred prayer for Shuo Lei?
“Perhaps within this infinite universe, even after another ten great kalpas of seas turning to dust and mountains crumbling...”
“...the earth may never again give birth to a second being like him.”
The elder brother's eyes shone with clarity.
He answered proudly:
“I wholeheartedly agree.”