Within the meteor belt, nearly a thousand kilometers thick, nested in Jupiter's massive ring system, a Buddha statue, nine hundred meters tall, sat cross-legged upon a black lotus pedestal.

The black statue, the black pedestal, silhouetted against the pitch-dark void of space, exuded a dense, sinister aura despite its utter stillness. The statue depicted Shakyamuni seated in meditation, cast entirely from a dull, matte black metal. The craftsmanship was breathtakingly exquisite; every line, from the top of the head down to the very last petal of the lotus base, was inscribed with intricate patterning. On closer inspection, each pattern resolved itself into perfectly sculpted scripture: the nine-hundred-meter-tall figure was covered in millions of characters, all comprising Buddhist canons and Zen texts.

A Roman vessel suddenly jumped into existence from the space near Jupiter's orbit, unleashing silent waves of sapphire-and-violet electronic mist that diffused outwards. The Roman ship paused briefly, quickly triangulated its position using the dense network of positioning satellites throughout the Solar System, and then engaged its engines at full thrust toward the Jovian rings.

Carefully navigating the furiously surging meteoroids within the ring system and skillfully avoiding several cosmic radiation streams pulsing with immense energy, the Roman vessel finally arrived before the black Buddha statue.

Inside the palm of the statue’s upraised right hand, a massive, slowly rotating Swastika Mudra symbol gradually opened, revealing a wide passageway. Several small transport craft detached from the Roman vessel and flew into the opening. After making more than a dozen such round trips, the Roman vessel recalled its transports and departed along the course from which it came. The Swastika symbol at the center of the Buddha's palm spun nine times, and the passage slowly sealed shut.

Descending dozens of meters down the passageway, within a circular hall nestled inside the Buddha statue's abdomen, over three hundred raggedly dressed Federation soldiers were huddled together in terror, staring blankly at the dozen Roman figures standing respectfully against the base of the hall walls. Unlike the Romans they were familiar with, these men had shaved their heads completely bald, even scrubbing their eyebrows and eyelashes clean. Instead of the luxurious silk robes they usually wore, these Romans were clad in rough, patched canvas monastic garments.

The Romans usually seen were slender and delicate, as beautiful and fragile as flowers raised in a greenhouse. But the Romans dressed as monks here were all massive and burly, their physiques thick and solid like bulls gorged on testosterone. The fists of these Romans were the size of the Federation soldiers' heads, their arms as thick as the soldiers' thighs, and their waists brought to mind the sheer bulk of elephants for every Federation soldier present.

These Romans stood with eyes tightly shut, palms pressed together, chanting scriptures in low tones that sounded like the grinding pain of a toothache. The droning 'Ohm, ohm' of the chanting unsettled the captured Federation officers and men, filling them with a sense of dread, as if something terrible was about to transpire. "Ah~ ah~ ah~ No~"

Suddenly, a doorway ten meters high and wide yawned open in the hall wall, from which poured forth a seductive moan that seemed capable of shattering the soul. The Federation personnel, already unnerved by the bizarre atmosphere, instinctively looked over, and every single one swallowed hard.

The space beyond the doorway was a clean, empty square room, containing nothing but a vast slab of red jade covering the floor. On the jade slab, nearly a meter thick, a bald Roman giant nearly four meters tall sat cross-legged. Clustered upon the slab lay more than a dozen completely naked Roman women, panting heavily. One particularly voluptuous Roman beauty, whose long hair trailed down to her ankles, was straddling the giant's hips, twisting her body with frantic energy.

From the top of the giant's head, a beam of reddish mist, thick as a human fist, shot up seven or eight meters high. Within the faint crimson haze, the writhing form of a monstrous beast, vaguely serpentine yet not quite a dragon, could be glimpsed.

The Roman woman writhing wildly suddenly emitted several sharp, high-pitched screams. Panting, she collapsed onto the giant’s chest, her fingers digging deeply into his body. "Hmph!" The giant snorted coldly, grabbing the woman by the arm and tossing her sweat-soaked body aside. He then rose slowly to his feet, naked, and ambled out of the room.

The monstrous beast in the red mist above the giant’s head continued to writhe and churn, and an aura of prickly, numbing pain—like a full-body electric shock—emanated from him. This terrified the Federation soldiers into shrinking back into a tighter ball; the three hundred men nearly compressed into a single, writhing mass of flesh, all watching this disconcerting Roman strongman with horror, unsure what he intended to do.

Looking down upon the trembling Federation troops from his superior height, the giant suddenly sighed softly. "Pitiable sentient beings, all suffering. When will they attain ultimate bliss?"

A Federation officer with dark hair and sallow skin, clearly of Asian descent, mustered his courage and stammered out, "Venerable... honored Sir..."

The giant gently extended a hand and slowly stroked the head of the Federation Major. He smiled, "This humble monk's Dharma name is Chilong Wang (Red Dragon King)! What were you intending to say?"

The Major swallowed hard, his voice dry. "Honorable... Master... may I ask, you brought us here..."

Chilong Wang smiled faintly. "Originally, according to the plan, you were meant to be exchanged for captured Roman citizens. However, this humble monk requires individuals to assist in comprehending the Dharma, so I requested the Roman King issue an order to transfer you here. Our meeting today is also a matter of karmic connection."

The Major offered a strained, dry laugh. "Yes, yes... we... we have fate!"

A Federation Lieutenant standing near the Major muttered under his breath, "Oh great Lord!" Judging by the Lieutenant's blond hair and blue eyes, he was of pure European descent, naturally devoted to the heavenly deity of the Church.

Chilong Wang, who had maintained a gentle and cultured demeanor, suddenly turned icy upon hearing the Lieutenant's words. He snatched the Lieutenant's head with one hand and with a sickening hiss, ripped him out of the tightly packed cluster of men. With a casual flick of his thick arm, the Lieutenant shot out like a projectile, slamming into the wall over a hundred meters away.

With a loud smack, the Lieutenant’s body exploded, disintegrating into a thin sheet of blood and gore that splattered across the metal wall spanning hundreds of meters around. The blood ran swiftly down the surface, soaking the robes of several bald Roman figures standing close to the wall.

"Before the Buddha, all other gods must yield!" Chilong Wang stated with profound authority, looking sternly at the pale-faced, terrified Federation soldiers. "Whether it be God, Satan, the Three Pure Ones, or the Jade Emperor, all deities are illusions before the Buddha—mere threads of attachment within your souls, demons born from your own minds, the root cause of all suffering in this world!"