Chapter 258

"Shut up!"

Unfortunately, Pashin had absolutely no desire to listen to any of Qi Xing's pity or sympathy.

"You 'Descenders' from other worlds always love to stand on high, pointing fingers at a world that doesn't even belong to you! I've had enough!"

Because what Pashin hated most were these 'Descenders' who preached logic and spoke 'correct words'!

Anyone can spout correct principles! It's easy to say, but if you can't do it, you can't do it—what's the damn use of that?!

In his fury, several terrifyingly powerful Tathagata Palms slammed into Qi Xing. Yet, Qi Xing continued to press forward, his crescent blade slicing through the Buddha-light, striking directly at Pashin.

"You definitely won't like hearing this, but I still have to say it."

Qi Xing said, "Sasa is right; what you look like now is not her responsibility."

"Ha!" This made Pashin laugh in extreme rage. "Master Leipu, have you already been reduced to a slave under my despicable mother's skirt?"

"I'm not speaking for her; I'm being serious." Qi Xing sighed and added an explanation,

"You may indeed be a device designed and manufactured by Sasa to clear the petri dish and restart the experiment. But for countless years since the creation, Sasa has never activated you—not even once, right?"

This time, Pashin did not immediately retort, but merely frowned… because what Qi Xing said was indeed a fact.

What exactly did he want to say?

"She has never truly pressed that button, not even once."

Glancing at the Sasa blade in his hand, Qi Xing reached out to stroke the back of the blade and raised an eyebrow,

"Even if primitive humans started fighting while wearing meat armor, even if the entire human society looks like a garbage dump in her eyes, even if the world is full of holes, no matter how shameless she is, she has never truly flipped the table or overturned the whole game."

"She has never truly activated you to wipe out all of humanity, reset the elements, and start over—regardless of whether it's stupid or not, I believe she truly has the ability to do so."

"I guess that is her bottom line."

"You think she is a despicable mother, you think she is shameless, but you should know better than anyone—she has never crossed that line. You are the best proof. She created you, but never let you execute the function of destroying the world and restarting it."

"Therefore, you cannot push all of your failures onto her."

Once these words were spoken, not only was Pashin stunned, but even Sasa herself couldn't help but be taken aback.

[Qi Xing… you… so your opinion of me is actually this high?]

In an instant, Sasa felt somewhat flattered, her heart beating a little faster.

"Shut up, stop saying stupid things that lower my favorability towards you—no matter how much you fail or how foolish you are, the fact that you never truly wanted to kill all of humanity and start over is something I vaguely noticed back in Japan, and only now have I truly confirmed it."

Qi Xing quickly reached out to cover her mouth.

"As for your hesitation and worry about whether you are the true Maitreya…"

Speaking of this, Qi Xing couldn't help but feel a trace of genuine sorrow.

"I have indeed never seen the true Maitreya in the upper universe."

"…But ever since you made the vow to save the world, instead of following the factory settings Sasa gave you to kill all of humanity, weren't you already the true Maitreya?"

However, he could not persist.

Since the Buddha-son had already lost to his own heart before defeating Pashin, then naturally, there would be no true Buddha.

This is perhaps the greatest tragedy and irony in this story.

Volume 6: Thunder █ Hero · Lunar Expedition: 237: Savior

If the Buddha-son had chosen to remain himself from the beginning, could he have transcended the Giant Spirit's factory limitations and become the true Maitreya?

Perhaps.

But as Pashin himself said—anyone can spout great principles, but actually doing them is incredibly difficult.

This is especially true for 'Descenders'. Who the hell wants to listen to you transmigrators standing high up, pointing out the path and preaching the 'correct way'? Huh?

Therefore, even upon hearing Qi Xing's revelation, Pashin only paused slightly.

Perhaps Qi Xing was right. Perhaps whether one is endowed with the power of Maitreya is not important at all.

If Siddhartha had been defeated by his own heart before becoming a Buddha, then there would be no Buddha in the world. Pashin, perhaps, is just a Buddha-son who lost to himself.

If he had persisted before, would there have been a turning point? Would he have been more likely than Qi Xing to save this world?

But history has no 'perhaps', no 'what ifs'. No one can stand in the heavens and objectively view all possibilities.

Therefore, Pashin will not turn back. Having committed to this path, he cannot regret it, nor will he.

At this point, things are no longer clear, and precisely because they are unclear, he can only move forward.

"Even so, since I was born as the child of fallacy, I shall use this body to extinguish all fallacies!"

The black mud accumulated over a hundred years churned and contracted behind Pashin, condensing into a vast and solemn golden array diagram.

"I will use all my strength to kill you, and use the Lunar Sanctuary to destroy this chaotic world!"

It was the Womb Realm Mandala outlined in gold and black mud. Suspended in the void, it spread out like a cosmic web.

Layer upon layer of square and circular altars surrounded each other, like rotating galaxies. Countless small Buddhas and Bodhisattvas sat within, some holding lotuses, some wielding swords, some holding luminous jewels, encircling the center layer by layer.

The entire structure seemed to be a microcosm of the world itself, turning the order of the universe into a geometric and sacred arrangement.

In the concepts of Esoteric Buddhism, the Womb Realm Mandala is the unfolding of Vairocana's mind, symbolizing compassion and the foundation upon which all sentient beings rely. It is the womb of the universe, the primordial scene of all Buddhas and gods.

But at this moment, Qi Xing saw clearly: the center of that Mandala was not painted with Vairocana, but with Maitreya sitting under the Dragon Flower tree.

Therefore, this was by no means the original Womb Realm Mandala; it was likely an array diagram 'developed' and 'recast' by Pashin himself.

It was time to unleash the realizations of a lifetime, all obsessions, and all accumulations upon his enemy.

He would use the name of 'Savior' to personally destroy this world.

"Om." With his hands forming the teaching mudra before his chest, Pashin chanted the final mantra:

"Amoghavairocana, Mahamudra jewel, lotus, flame, turning and emitting light."

"Now, I shall shine the light of extinction!"

"[Savior's Salvation Mandala]!"

In an instant, the Mandala interwoven with gold and black mud roared and trembled, shaking all things! The entire altar pattern burned like the sun, emitting a divine light that was hard to look at directly!

—What kind of special divine power did the Mandala created by Pashin himself possess?

Actually, the effect was quite simple.

As that sun-like radiance radiated out, the surface of the moon covered by the light—the lunar seas, canyons, craters… all disintegrated, dissipated, and were cleared away in an instant, as if they had never existed.

It was not a collapse, not an explosion, but an erasure—reality itself was wiped away inch by inch. It was like a model that hadn't finished loading, collapsing frame by frame.

It was like spilling fire on paper, turning the pattern and the paper into nothingness, revealing the endless gray beneath.

However, although this was the first time seeing this Mandala array diagram, it was not the first time Qi Xing had encountered this kind of move.

"Is it the Giant Spirit's [Formatting] again?!"

He had already taken it head-on once before when fighting [Mahamayuri]!

It's just that last time, [Mahamayuri]'s formatting was a bland halo, like the Creator's eraser, calmly wiping everything away and then redrawing a new world using the blueprints in the database.

But now, Pashin's [Savior's Salvation Mandala] was completely different.

It was not a 'reset' that would be rebuilt after erasure, but a destructive beam concentrated into a bundle.

There was no restart, only complete erasure. It was no longer the Creator's 'redrawing', but a complete deletion.

It was not Sasa's 'system formatting', but 'destroying the hard drive'.

—The Giant Spirit actually had the ability to destroy the hard drive?!

I'm afraid this is no longer just simple Giant Spirit authority, but an advanced application of the [Destruction] silver coin developed by Pashin himself.

Only Sasa herself should possess the fundamental authority to erase the universe. Yet, Pashin had already reached this level.

[Savior's Salvation Mandala] is a light of destruction that denies fate, denies karma, denies humans and gods, and denies the world. In this light, everything denied by Pashin will disappear.

Perhaps this is proof: Pashin is no longer just a 'manufactured Giant Spirit'; he has surpassed his original identity.

It was time to decide the winner.

"Pashin." Therefore, Qi Xing drove his intense consciousness into the enemy's heart as if speaking.

"Don't you want to know who the mythological prototype I drew from the [Truth] silver coin is?"

"Now, I will let you know how I, Qi Xing, will defeat you."

Wielding his divine crescent blade, he slashed at the void; holding high the [Truth] silver coin, he began to chant:

"For victory, come quickly before me!"

"O immortal sun, bring me the shining steed!"

"I am the glorious Lord of the Sun, Mithra!"

"O wondrous steed of divine speed, quickly bring your master's wheel of light!"

Different spells, different languages. Both languages longed for light, but the concepts of pursuing the sun were completely different.

Qi Xing's will called for radiance, while Pashin's will was to extinguish life with light.

However, when these two wills clashed head-on, Pashin couldn't help but be stunned— "It actually happens to be Mithra?!"

Because the divine name Qi Xing shouted was actually Mithra!

In Buddhism, Maitreya is the Bodhisattva who will descend after Shakyamuni to save the world. And the transliterated term 'Maitreya' originates from the Sanskrit 'Maitri', meaning loving-kindness.

And in Central Asian history, Mithra was the god of the sun and contracts worshipped by ancient Persia and Roman mystery cults; he is a symbol of light, justice, and the guardian of contracts.

If one traces the origins in language, these two divine names actually share the same root: the ancient Aryan word 'mitra', meaning 'covenant' or 'friend'.

In the Vedic era, Mitra was the 'Lord of Covenants' among the gods. Moving west into Persia, he transformed into the 'Guardian of Contracts and Light'; moving east into Buddhism, his name was molded into the future Buddha 'Maitreya'.

When Shakyamuni's order constantly pondered the 'salvation of the Age of Dharma Decline', they needed a future successor. Thus, the meaning of 'friend' in Mitra was absorbed by Buddhism as 'Maitreya'—the Buddha who comes with great compassion. Mithra's contract transformed into Maitreya's compassion.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Mediterranean, Mithra transformed into a warrior god of protection and salvation within the Roman legions. He split rocks to let life-giving springs flow; he slaughtered the sacred bull, letting its blood turn into crops and harvest. That was salvation brought about by force to establish order.

That was the faith of iron-blooded warriors, growing further and further away from the Eastern Bodhisattva Maitreya, yet still sharing an original prototype in its deep structure: the 'friend' of salvation.

In the depths of the human soul, both converge into the same longing—a longing for a friend who transcends the mundane, who can stand against things for us, bear things for us, and bring us new order and hope when the world is in ruin.

The forms of salvation may vary, but the longing for salvation runs through the history of human civilization.

This is an existence that forms a contrast with Pashin's 'Maitreya'.

One is the future Buddha regarded as the savior of the end times.

The other is the sun god who wields a sword to establish and protect order.

It is by no means a coincidence that Qi Xing was able to draw the power of 'Mithra' from the [Truth] silver coin.

Two rays of light, mirroring each other, both are names bearing the will of a 'Savior'.

The two of them fighting this battle here, both attempting to change the world… is by no means a coincidence.

No sooner said than done!

Despite being in the endless dark universe, following Qi Xing's call, the void in the east suddenly lit up with brilliance.

At first, it was just a faint dawn, like a glimmer of morning light at daybreak; but within a few short breaths, the light suddenly expanded, and a golden sun rose from the universe!

The sun summoned by Mithra's power released heat capable of rivaling a solar flare eruption.

The white celestial fire that guards order and punishes sinners turned into a steed, galloping from the east and charging towards Pashin!

The light of extinction that destroys and denies,