Volume One, Chapter Sixty-One: Mistaken Coordinates

Chapter Sixty-One: Misplaced Coordinates

That evening, Tu Zhe really did stay behind, heading straight for the Hall of Virtue and sitting near the front. He wore the expression of an attentive listener, nodding, shaking his head, and making faces as if he were deeply engrossed in the lecture. The old emperor was nearly driven out of his wits.

What on earth is this supposed to mean? Are you mocking me? Not planning to leave tonight?

The old emperor watched as midnight came and Tu Zhe still listened with unflagging energy, nearly vomiting blood out of frustration.

What is this little rascal up to?

On the third morning, after breakfast, Tu Zhe loudly and openly bid farewell to the Jin brothers. A whole band of yakshas escorted him directly toward the teleportation array.

Upon receiving the report, Hu Lu Zhi grinned savagely. “Now it’s done for, just wait to collect the corpses. Daring to challenge me? That’s like the old immortal tying his own noose—courting death, haha!”

When Indra got the news, he was puzzled.

What tricks are you playing, brat? Are you really going to Mount Chakraloka? If so, I might have misjudged you. With your abilities, are you even worth my attention? The eighth prince will have you run ragged.

Tu Zhe arrived at the teleportation array and immediately requested the yaksha guarding the array to send his party to Mount Chakraloka.

The yaksha, after receiving a high-grade Brahma crystal from Tu Zhe, bustled about eagerly, anxious to ensure nothing went wrong.

Nearby, Dog circled the array, making childish noises: “Let me check, let me check! Is this old array reliable? Won’t it break down halfway and kill us?”

It was Tu Zhe’s first time seeing a teleportation array.

On the vast floor of a grand hall, a hexagonal platform built of seven treasures gleamed. Symbols flashed atop, and several recesses inlaid with Brahma crystals powered the array.

A compass-like device was etched at one position, covered with numerous cross coordinates.

Tu Zhe, playing the diligent student, asked the yaksha, “Are these the coordinates for different destinations? Let me see, lest we select the wrong one and end up in some distant star sea—now that would be something.”

After familiarizing himself with the coordinates, Tu Zhe called his group up, selected the Four Heavenly Kings’ Heaven as their destination. The Brahma crystals shone brightly, symbols spun, and in a flash, Tu Zhe and his companions were whisked away.

Did they really arrive in the Four Heavenly Kings’ Heaven?

Indeed, they did.

Hu Lu Zhi laughed heartily.

The old emperor managed a bitter smile. “Well, I’m a bit tired today. We’ll continue the lecture another time. Someone, go to the northern sea and announce there’s been a change. Dismiss everyone.”

Have I complicated a simple matter?

Is the eighth prince about to seize an unexpected advantage?

The channel isn’t deep, but the ship’s enormous.

Meanwhile, Tu Zhe’s party felt a brief dizziness; a flash of light—and they arrived in the Four Heavenly Kings’ Heaven.

Stepping out of the teleportation array, Tu Zhe looked around carefully. Everything matched Sumeru Mountain’s array. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and cursed—he’d forgotten something important and needed to go back.

“How many Brahma crystals does it take for a round trip?” he asked.

He was told it required a hundred medium-grade Brahma crystals. Tu Zhe counted out the crystals, grumbling and cursing about his pig-headedness—how could he have forgotten gifts for the Four Heavenly Kings?

So, he handed a few supreme-grade Brahma crystals to the yaksha and pleaded, “Please, I need to go back and will return shortly.”

The yaksha had no objection. They re-entered the teleportation array, and as the yaksha reached for the coordinates, Dog barked from the side, “Let me, let me—hey!”

The array flashed, and the yaksha cried out in alarm, “You’ve pressed the wrong coordinate!”

“What? Wrong coordinate?”

Tu Zhe and his companions shouted in confusion, but it was too late.

The light flickered, and they vanished.

The yaksha stood dumbfounded. Whose careless hand was that?

They’d selected the coordinates for Mopati City. When the young prince returned, wouldn’t he curse the yaksha to death?

Curse to death? Everyone knows, haha.

In the teachings of the clan, the first layer of the Three Realms’ heavens is the Four Heavenly Kings’ Heaven, midway up Mount Sumeru.

Over a thousand yojanas away from Mount Sumeru’s Four Heavenly Kings’ Heaven, beneath the vast surface of the Great Salt Sea, with Sumeru Mountain at the center, four mighty Asura Kings dwell under the waters to the east, south, west, and north.

The four Asura Kings are: Vimaladvara (meaning “Garland”) beneath the eastern sea; the Energetic King beneath the southern sea; Shapara beneath the western sea; and Rahu beneath the northern sea.

Rahu is the leader. He is none other than the father of Tu Zhe’s sister, the Celestial Lady of Delight.

Each Asura King’s domain is nearly as vast as Mount Sumeru, with cities built ten thousand yojanas beneath the surface. Four wind wheels elevate the immense sea above these cities. The wind wheels are called “Various,” “Steadfast,” “Unfallen,” and “Firm.”

Thus, though the Asura Kings’ cities lie beneath the sea, they never touch the water, and are no different from Sumeru Mountain above.

Rahu’s city is Mopati City, stretching eighty thousand yojanas, with seven walls, seven balustrades, seven rows of tara trees, and seven nets of bells.

The city boasts eleven gates, towers, and defensive pavilions, all crafted from gold, silver, crystal, coral, shell, red pearls, and agate—the seven treasures. There are gardens, ponds, flower marshes, forests of various trees, countless blossoms and fruits, fragrant aromas, and flocks of exquisite birds, all singing in harmony.

Mopati City’s most famous sights include the Hall of Seven Heads, the Cycad Forest, the Jasmine Forest, the Kovidara Forest, the Nanda Forest, the Nanda Pond, and the myriad lotus pools. Aside from the Hall of Seven Heads, which hosts the gathering of lesser Asuras for discourse, the rest are venues for bathing, games, massages, and other indulgences—luxurious pleasures and favorite pastimes, always unfolding. The city’s splendor rivals that of Mount Sumeru.

At this moment, the Celestial Lady of Delight was in Rahu’s palace, pestering her father to promise to teach the Solar Secret to her brother, Tu Zhe.

Rahu doted on his daughter, granting her almost every wish. Yet today, he was unusually reluctant, offering no firm answer.

It wasn’t that Rahu considered his Solar Secret especially precious—the truth was, this art was his eternal pain and shame.

Long ago, Rahu and the ancestral deity Vishnu fought for over a thousand years for reasons mysterious and obscure, neither able to overcome the other. Eventually, exhausted, they agreed to a truce and joined forces to search the ocean depths for the nectar of immortality.

Rahu disguised himself as a minor deity and slipped into Vishnu’s party, secretly drinking much of the immortal nectar. When the Sun God Surya and the Moon God Soma discovered this, they reported him.

Vishnu, enraged, used the divine discus to sever Rahu’s head and arms. Yet, as Rahu had already achieved immortality, his upper body became the Black Star, capable of devouring and corroding sun and moon, never forgetting old grudges, always seeking revenge when the memory returned.

Rahu’s true form is four-armed with many dragon tails. His upper body transformed into the Black Star; his lower body became countless comets, wandering the cosmos, venting his frustration by bullying the most arrogant stars and constellations.