All Demons Born, Innards Burn

Luo Bei sat cross-legged under a large tree with lush branches and leaves, the morning sunlight falling in dappled spots upon his body.

The "Mahākāla Secret Method" lay spread on the ground before him, three feet long and wide, its golden characters tiny but as if carved in relief, very clear. In the center of the first scroll was a golden Buddha, seated in the void, with jewels and garlands surrounding it, a red sun hanging above its head, pouring its radiance onto this golden Buddha statue. The seated posture of this golden Buddha matched Luo Bei's own, but its appearance was completely different from the ordinary Buddha statues in temples—instead, it had a blue face and fangs, extremely ferocious, making one's heart tighten at first sight.

After silently reciting the scripture once more, Luo Bei looked up, steadied his mind, slowly cast aside distracting thoughts, then raised his head to gaze at the sky, observing and memorizing, before suddenly closing his eyes. Following the hand seal of the golden Buddha in the first scroll of the "Mahākāla Secret Method," he visualized himself, like that golden Buddha, suspended in the void, with the light of the sky entering his body inch by inch.

To the world of cultivation, Luo Bei could be said to be a completely blank slate. For an ordinary beginner cultivator, just achieving "calm stillness" was difficult enough, let alone Luo Bei, who relied entirely on rote memorization and couldn't help but wonder if he had remembered his meridians correctly. But his nature was simple, he had little experience in the world, and his heart held few distractions—thus reaching this step was actually much easier. After sitting for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he gradually entered the state.

In his visualized thoughts, the radiance of the rising sun, like tangible rays of light, threaded into his body strand by strand. As these strands of light entered his body, a warm current seemed to flow through Luo Bei's meridians, as if he were soaking in a hot spring, his entire being indescribably comfortable. "This is the first step described in the scripture!" Luo Bei felt an involuntary joy, but the moment this thought arose in his mind, the sensation throughout his body vanished instantly.

The state of calm stillness and self-forgetfulness had been broken.

Luo Bei was not discouraged. He steadied his mind again, sat quietly, and formed the hand seal. Soon, his whole body felt as if strands of light were being absorbed, bringing comfort once more. This time, he had experience; he firmly guarded his mind and continued according to the scripture, first merging the strands of light into his internal organs, then diverting them upward from his dantian, passing through his throat via his sealed hands, falling to the roots of his teeth, and directly gathering in the Mud Pill Palace.

As more and more light was absorbed, Luo Bei's Sea of Consciousness seemed to grow increasingly hot, condensing into a small red fireball. This red fireball began to spin slowly, faster and faster, like a whale drinking water, drawing in all the strands of flowing light.

Suddenly, countless tongues of flame burst from the fireball. Luo Bei's entire body stung, his scalp tingled, and then the flames from the fireball seemed to envelop him in an instant.

The scene before him changed, as if he had fallen into the Asura Hell. Ahead lay a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, countless hideous and terrifying ghosts swarming up from all sides, each seeming ready to pounce and devour flesh and blood.

Even in his nightmares, Luo Bei had never seen such a sight. Almost instinctively, he couldn't help but raise his arm to cry out in alarm.

The moment the terrified thought surfaced in his Sea of Consciousness, his mind was lost. The scene shifted again—the ghosts and yakshas instantly condensed into a colossal Red-faced Demon God, its body wreathed in rolling flames. The mountain of corpses and sea of blood turned into a blazing inferno, engulfing Luo Bei in raging fire.

"Not good!" A hundred meters away, Old Zhao Nan, hidden behind a rock, changed expression drastically.

Just from seeing Luo Bei swaying unsteadily, his face twisted in pain, and sweat drops the size of beans falling from his head, Old Zhao Nan knew that Luo Bei had fallen into an extremely dangerous situation.

Although Old Zhao Nan had told Luo Bei that cultivating this "Mahākāla Secret Method" would involve all kinds of unprecedented illusions, and that he must resist the temptations of his nature and guard his original mind...

But this "Mahākāla Secret Method" was no ordinary cultivation technique.

The reason the Buddha images on it all had blue faces and fangs, appearing exceptionally ferocious, was that this "Mahākāla Secret Method" was actually the treasured temple canon of the Western Regions' Zhenyan Esoteric Buddhism Zhebang Temple, one of the supreme esoteric techniques for subduing demons and vanquishing evil. The Buddhas depicted were also the Asura forms of Esoteric Buddhism. This technique was far superior to ordinary cultivation methods—if Hetu and the others could obtain the Mò Chà Pearl and trade it with Yuan Tianyi for this scroll, they would likely be overjoyed.

But generally, the more profound and mysterious a cultivation technique, the more perilous the process of cultivation. Unlike ordinary cultivation methods, because Esoteric Buddhism emphasizes cultivation and attaining Buddhahood in this very body, this "Mahākāla Secret Method" also prioritized cultivating the Primordial Spirit and mind first.

To subdue demons and vanquish evil, one must first see demons and evil without being moved, yet demons arise from the mind. Thus, cultivating this technique meant facing not just simple illusions—during cultivation, the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, along with sound, form, fragrance, taste, touch, hatred, resentment, harm, deceit, flattery, falsehood, and fear would all attack at once! Only those with firm resolve and great concentration could guard their original mind and advance in cultivation; otherwise, their lives would be in immediate danger!

The reason Old Zhao Nan hadn't told Luo Bei all of this was that telling him would be useless—the more afraid and terrified one was, the easier it was for Heart Demons to invade.

But now, Luo Bei, who was directly cultivating such a profound technique, had clearly been invaded by Heart Demons, with True Fire Burning his Body!

Old Zhao Nan couldn't help but take a step toward where Luo Bei was sitting, but after just one step, he forcibly halted his movement.

With this "Mahākāla Secret Method," the deeper one cultivated, the stronger the Heart Demon invasion became. If external help got one through it temporarily without tempering one's Primordial Spirit and mind, then cultivating again would inevitably repeat the mistake, leading to an even more dangerous situation.

Beyond that, there was an even more important reason!

In many major sects of the world, when disciples cultivated, there would be a teacher with profound cultivation acting as a protector nearby. With a protector, the dangers of cultivation were greatly reduced, and cultivation speed increased.

But the Luofu Sect had always cultivated on its own, with no such thing as a protector.

Just as the Luofu Sect had always been one teacher, one disciple, passed down in a single line, this was also a rule of the Luofu Sect.

Cultivation and enlightenment, after all, mostly depended on oneself. Otherwise, even if a teacher helped in every way, once one reached the same height as the teacher, one still had to rely on oneself below that.

And the ultimate consequence of constant assistance was that many disciples could never surpass their teacher's realm.

As for the disciples of the Luofu Sect, either they didn't appear, or when they did walk the world, they were bound to astonish everyone—this rule was one of the reasons for that.

Old Zhao Nan dared not violate this rule of the Luofu Sect, so he forcibly stopped his steps, only crying out in confusion in his heart: "Master, why not let him cultivate your 'Empty Life Extinguishing Sea Glazed Art'? Why make him cultivate this technique?"

"So this is how dangerous cultivation is!"

Surrounded by raging flames, Luo Bei felt as if his whole body were truly being scorched, every part of him splitting apart. He instinctively wanted to stop cultivating, but found he couldn't move at all, feeling as if he were truly about to be burned to ashes, his soul scattered.

"Times like today count only as a minor pain. When you truly cultivate, the suffering you endure and the terror you see will be a hundred or a thousand times greater." But at that moment, Luo Bei suddenly recalled what Yuan Tianyi had said to him by the sea that day, when with a single glance, he had placed him in the illusion of a volcanic magma flow.

"This is just the beginning! I must persevere!" Suddenly, Luo Bei's will became exceptionally firm again!

In his mind, he reimagined that golden ferocious Buddha image!

In his Sea of Consciousness, he transformed into that golden Buddha, facing the towering demon god wreathed in rolling flames, struggling to withstand the flames in the void around him.

Strands 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 brittle by the overbearing, fierce heat of the True Sun Fire, while Luo Bei's frail body looked as if it had been pulled from water, drenched in sweat.

But Luo Bei's body seemed to grow hotter and hotter, the sweat evaporating again. This repeated cycle of sweating and drying caused Luo Bei to rapidly waste away, his entire body surface coated with a layer of salt that formed a shiny, hard crust. His lips and the corners of his eyes cracked dryly, and the seeping blood instantly dried, forming scabs.

The physical pain was magnified several times in his Sea of Consciousness.

This feeling was truly one of internal combustion!

Yet Luo Bei's body remained motionless, absorbing those strands of spiritual energy mixed with True Sun Fire and circulating them through his meridians according to the technique.

Following this specific cycle, after thirty-two Minor Cycles, the golden Buddha image Luo Bei visualized suddenly burst with intense golden light. The demon god wreathed in towering flames melted away like snow and ice!

His Sea of Consciousness became clear again, with only the initial fireball spinning swiftly. This fireball had changed from its original red to a faint gold.

With a crack, Luo Bei, having exceeded his physical limits, finally couldn't hold on. He opened his eyes, the dried salt crust and blood scabs falling off, fresh blood oozing from the cracked wounds. But his gaze was filled with joy, fortitude, and endurance!

Whoosh—Old Zhao Nan, who had been staring fixedly at Luo Bei from afar, let out a long breath. A strange light flashed in his murky eyes.

Luo Bei had actually mastered the first scroll of the "Mahākāla Secret Method"—Qi Introduction, opening his meridians with the hand seal—and successfully taken the first step!

As this stooped old man unclenched his two tightly balled fists, neither he nor Luo Bei knew that on a nearby mountain peak, a pair of eyes was quietly watching all of this.

Those were eyes that even women would envy, beautiful enough to be described as such, yet seemingly devoid of any worldly dust—clear and limpid.

Now, in those clear eyes, there was also a trace of approval, a trace of warmth. "Luo Bei, you have not disappointed me after all."