Luo Bei sat cross-legged beneath a large tree with luxuriant branches and leaves, the morning sunlight falling over him in scattered specks.
The "Mahākāla Secret Method" lay spread out on the ground before him, three feet in length and width. The golden characters upon it were tiny, yet as clear as though they had been embossed. In the middle of the first scroll of scripture sat a golden Buddha in the void, surrounded by jeweled necklaces and ornaments. A red sun hung above its head, bestowing all its radiance upon that golden Buddha statue. This golden Buddha sat in the same posture as Luo Bei, but its appearance was utterly unlike the ordinary Buddha statues in temples. Its face was green, its fangs blue, and it was so ferocious that one's heart chilled at first sight.
After silently reciting the scripture once more, Luo Bei raised his head and calmed his spirit. Slowly casting aside the stray thoughts in his heart, he looked up at the sky, watching and memorizing. Then he suddenly closed his eyes, formed hand seals as the golden Buddha image in the first scroll of the "Mahākāla Secret Method" did, and visualized himself as that golden Buddha, suspended in the void as the light of the sky entered his body inch by inch.
To the world of cultivation, Luo Bei was a completely blank sheet of paper. For an ordinary cultivator just beginning cultivation, merely entering meditation was difficult enough. Luo Bei relied entirely on rote memorization, and even had to keep wondering whether he had remembered the meridians throughout his body correctly. Yet his nature was simple, and he had not been long in the world, so his heart held few distracting thoughts. Because of that, reaching this stage was instead much easier for him. After sitting for about the time it took to burn an incense stick, he gradually entered the state.
Within his visualization, the radiance of the rising sun seemed to become tangible beams of light, slipping into his body thread by thread. As those threads of light entered him, it felt as though fine warm currents were flowing through Luo Bei's meridians. It was as if he were soaking in a hot spring, and his entire body felt incomparably comfortable. This is the first step described in the scripture! Luo Bei rejoiced without meaning to, but the instant that thought surfaced, the sensation throughout his body vanished.
His state of tranquil self-forgetfulness had been broken.
Luo Bei was not discouraged. He calmed his spirit again, sat in meditation, and formed the seals. Very quickly, it felt as though threads of radiance were once more being drawn into his body, and he became comfortable again. Having learned from before, he held fast to his mind and followed the scripture, first merging those threads of radiance into his five viscera and six bowels, then channeling them upward from his dantian. They passed through his throat via his seal-forming hands, descended to the roots of his teeth, and entered straight into his Mud Pill Palace to gather.
As he absorbed more and more radiance, Luo Bei's Sea of Consciousness seemed to grow increasingly scorching. A tiny red fireball condensed there. The red fireball began to slowly spin, then spun faster and faster. Like a great whale drawing in water, it sucked in every thread of radiance that flowed within.
Suddenly, countless tongues of flame erupted from the fireball. Luo Bei's entire body was stabbed by pain, and his scalp seemed to explode. Then the tongues of flame emanating from the fireball appeared to wrap around him in an instant.
The scene before his eyes changed. It was as though he had fallen into Asura Hell. Ahead lay mountains of corpses and seas of blood, while countless hideous and terrifying evil ghosts closed in from every direction, each seeming ready to pounce upon him and feast on flesh and blood.
Even in nightmares, Luo Bei had never seen such a sight. Almost instinctively, he could not stop himself from wanting to throw up his arms and cry out.
The moment that terrified thought surfaced in his Sea of Consciousness, Luo Bei's mind lost its guard. The scene changed again. The ghosts and yakshas instantly condensed into an incomparably gigantic Red-faced Demon God, its body engulfed in rolling flames. The mountains of corpses and seas of blood instantly became a towering sea of fire, wrapping Luo Bei in blazing flames.
"Not good!" Old Zhao Nan's expression changed drastically as he hid behind a mountain rock a hundred meters away.
Just from seeing Luo Bei sway on the verge of collapse, his face filled with pain and beads of sweat the size of beans falling one after another from his head, Old Zhao Nan knew that Luo Bei had fallen into an extremely dangerous situation.
Old Zhao Nan had told Luo Bei that cultivating the "Mahākāla Secret Method" would bring all manner of illusions never seen before, and that he needed to withstand the temptations of his nature and guard his true heart.
But the "Mahākāla Secret Method" was no ordinary cultivation art.
The reason the Buddha images upon it all had green faces and blue fangs, appearing exceptionally ferocious, was because the "Mahākāla Secret Method" was in truth the temple-guarding treasure of the Western Regions' Zhenyan Esoteric Buddhism Zhebang Temple, one of Esoteric Buddhism's supreme arts for subduing demons and vanquishing devils. The Buddhas depicted upon it were all Esoteric Buddhism's Asura forms. Compared to ordinary cultivation arts, this technique was unknown amounts more profound. If Hetu and the others could obtain the Mò Chà Pearl and trade Yuan Tianyi for this cultivation art, they would likely be wild with joy.
Yet the more profound and mysterious a cultivation art was, the more perilous its cultivation process became. Moreover, unlike ordinary cultivation methods, Esoteric Buddhism placed importance on cultivation and practice, seeking to become a Buddha in one's present body. Thus, the "Mahākāla Secret Method" first cultivated the Primordial Spirit and one's heart-nature.
To subdue demons and vanquish devils, one must first see demons and devils without allowing the heart to stir. Yet demons were born of the heart. Therefore, cultivating this art meant facing more than simple illusions. During cultivation, the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion; sound, color, fragrance, taste, touch; enmity, resentment, harm, deceit, flattery, falsehood, and fear would all descend at once! Only those with unwavering minds and immense concentration could guard their true hearts and advance in cultivation. Otherwise, their lives would immediately be in danger!
The reason Old Zhao Nan had not told Luo Bei all this was that telling him would have been useless. The more one feared and dreaded it, the easier it was for the Heart Demon to invade.
But Luo Bei, directly cultivating such a profound art, had clearly already been invaded by the Heart Demon. True Fire Burning Body!
Old Zhao Nan could not help taking a step toward where Luo Bei sat cross-legged. But after taking only that one step, he forcibly halted himself.
The further one cultivated the "Mahākāla Secret Method," the deeper one's cultivation became, and the stronger the Heart Demon's invasion would be. If outside help allowed one to survive it for the moment, while one's own Primordial Spirit and heart-nature remained untempered, then further cultivation would inevitably repeat the same mistakes, instead plunging one into even greater danger.
Beyond that, there was an even more important reason!
In many great sects of the world, when disciples cultivated, teachers of profound attainment would stand beside them to protect the Dharma. With someone protecting them, the dangers of cultivation naturally decreased greatly, and their cultivation also advanced more quickly.
But the Luofu Sect had always cultivated alone. There was no such thing as Dharma protectors.
Just as the Luofu Sect had always passed from one teacher to one disciple, a single lineage handed down generation after generation, this too was a rule of the Luofu Sect.
In cultivating the Dao and comprehending its laws, one ultimately had to rely mostly on oneself. Otherwise, even if a teacher supported you in every possible way, once you reached the same height as him, you would still have to rely on yourself from then on.
And under constant support, the final result was instead that many disciples could never surpass their teachers' realm.
The disciples of the Luofu Sect either did not appear at all, or, once they walked the world, they would surely astonish heaven and shake the earth. This rule was one of the reasons why.
Old Zhao Nan did not dare violate this rule of Luofu. Thus, he forcibly stopped in his tracks and could only cry out in bewilderment within his heart, Master, why did you not let him cultivate your Empty Life Extinguishing Sea Glazed Art, but instead make him cultivate this technique?
So cultivating the Dao is actually this dangerous!
Surrounded by raging flames, Luo Bei felt as though his entire body were truly being burned. He felt as though he were about to split apart. Instinctively, he wanted to stop cultivating, only to discover that he could not move at all. It felt as though he truly would be burned until his soul scattered and his spirit dispersed.
"Something like today only counts as a tiny bit of pain. Once you truly cultivate, the pain you endure and the horrors you witness will be hundreds, thousands of times worse than this." Yet at that moment, Luo Bei suddenly remembered what Yuan Tianyi had told him at the seashore after casting him into an illusion of volcanic magma with a single glance.
This is only the beginning! I must keep going! In an instant, Luo Bei's resolve became incomparably firm once more!
Luo Bei once again envisioned that golden ferocious Buddha image!
Within his Sea of Consciousness, he became that golden Buddha, facing the towering Demon God whose entire body surged with flames, desperately resisting the blazing fire throughout the surrounding void.
Threads of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy mixed with True Sun Fire were drawn into Luo Bei's body at an even faster rate. The weeds around him were scorched yellow and blackened by the tyrannical, violent heat of the True Sun Fire. Luo Bei's frail body looked as though it had been fished out of water, soaked through with sweat.
Yet Luo Bei's body seemed to grow hotter and hotter. The sweat pouring from his entire body was steamed dry, over and over again. With the repeated sweating and steaming dry, Luo Bei rapidly grew thinner. A layer of salt formed over the surface of his entire body, hardening into a glittering shell. His lips and the corners of his eyes cracked open from dryness, and the blood that seeped out was instantly scorched dry, forming bloody scabs.
The agony of his body was magnified severalfold within his Sea of Consciousness.
This was true five viscera ablaze!
Yet Luo Bei's body remained completely motionless. He gathered those threads of spiritual energy mixed with True Sun Fire and circulated them through the meridians of his body according to the art.
Following that fixed cycle, after completing thirty-two Minor Cycles in succession, the golden Buddha image Luo Bei envisioned suddenly shone with brilliant golden light. The towering Demon God wreathed in flames melted away swiftly like ice and snow!
His Sea of Consciousness became clear once more. Only the original fireball remained, spinning round and round. That fireball had already changed from red into a faint gold.
With a crack, Luo Bei, whose strength had reached its limit, finally could not hold on any longer and opened his eyes. The scorched salt shell and blood scabs fell away, while fresh blood surged from the dry cracks once more. Yet Luo Bei's gaze was filled with joy, fortitude, and endurance!
With a whoosh, Old Zhao Nan, who had been staring fixedly at Luo Bei in the distance, let out a long breath. An indescribable gleam flashed through his clouded eyes.
Luo Bei had actually mastered the hand seals of the first scroll of the "Mahākāla Secret Method"—Qi Introduction and opening the meridians—and successfully taken the first step!
As the stooped old man released his two tightly clenched fists, neither he nor Luo Bei knew that atop a mountain peak not far away, a pair of eyes was quietly watching everything.
They were clear eyes so beautiful that even women would be jealous, eyes that could be described as beautiful, yet seemed untouched by the dust and smoke of the mortal world.
And now, within that clear gaze, there was a trace of approval and a trace of warmth. "Luo Bei, you truly have not disappointed me!"
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