Intent Like a Crane, Seeing Through Inside and Out

"This Mind-Platform Bodhisattva Soul-Departure Method really doesn't suit me. There's no Bodhisattva in my heart, no lotus platform, and even the Ghost-Faced Facial Mask hasn't truly taken shape. According to Huizhi, you need to reach perfect Transcendence and possess a White Bone Relic before you can master it."

Chen Cuo opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

"Huizhi cultivates the Two Truths of Ultimate and Conventional Reality and seeks Ultimate Emptiness, not Dispelling Heresy and Revealing the True. It isn't quite right for me. Besides, this temple's methods are probably different from those elsewhere. There are too many obstacles for an ordinary person to use them, so I really can only treat them as a reference."

Yesterday, Huizhi had been discussing the Dao with Chen Cuo, and all had been going well. Then, after a single remark from Chen Cuo, he had suddenly attained an insight. He had not become a Buddha on the spot, but he had clearly made great progress. Once he had stabilized his new level, Huizhi had returned and told Chen Cuo everything he knew, holding nothing back.

"Daoist Zhou is vague at every turn, and the Daoist I met outside the temple chose his words carefully. Huizhi, though, brought things up of his own accord. Perhaps the temple put him up to it. Guishan Temple has been strange from the first day. They went from haughty to deferential, and even their Presiding Monk came to apologize. Still, I haven't taken advantage of them. I donated Incense money and helped guide the monks. By any measure, they're the ones who benefited. So from here on, I'll make as much use of this place as I can to achieve my aims!"

His goals were clear: first, avoid the Evil Ghost and escape disaster; second, find a cultivation method and strengthen himself.

"According to Huizhi, Guishan Temple's visualization method follows a set process. The first visualization creates something from nothing, establishing its source and foundation, so it's crucial. Every monk has to go to the Scripture Repository Hall atop the Small Hill, study the inherited portrait of Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, then sit in meditation and picture a Bodhisattva seated on the lotus platform of the mind. But they must imagine that Bodhisattva with their own face. That's the key to the method."

He picked up the scripture beside him and flipped to a page.

"Nagarjuna said: The Buddhas teach sentient beings by relying on two truths: one is conventional truth, and the other is ultimate truth."

Chen Cuo narrowed his eyes at the passage, then shook his head.

"Never mind how profound those words are—the thinking behind them doesn't agree with mine, so I can't use it directly. Besides, Guishan Temple's visualization method requires rituals, tonsure, fasting, and reciting the Buddha's name. You also have to bathe and change clothes, enter the Scripture Repository Hall atop the hill, study the painting, and meditate for seven days. It's too demanding, and I don't have the right conditions. I can only borrow ideas from it."

With that thought, his gaze returned to the box by his bed.

"Huizhi's method may not suit me, but I can still borrow some of the techniques he shared. The Mind-Platform Bodhisattva Soul-Departure Method, for instance, sends the visualized Bodhisattva out through the Niwan Palace to roam beyond the body. But it has many limitations. It's fragile and easily damaged; sunlight or a gust of wind might injure it. Just now, I couldn't even complete the first step of shaping my intent. There are several reasons, and the mask in my heart not having taken shape must be one of them..."

Chen Cuo went to the bed and took the Ink Crane from the box.

"But if my guess is right, my earlier ability to control the Ink Crane came from extending my mind. The principle is the same. I could draw on that and send my mind out of my body into the Ink Crane, then use it to fly. It's an alternative method. If it works, that will be enough to prove I've entered Transcendence..."

At the thought, Chen Cuo could not help feeling a little moved.

He had been through a great deal, but strictly speaking, fewer than ten days had passed since Daoist Zhou arrived.

In those ten days, he had risen to fame and might even be about to take his first step on the Path-Seeking. If word got out, it would surely cause a stir.

"Unfortunately, I'm figuring all this out on my own. I don't have a sect to guide me. Where the road leads, and whether I'm right or wrong, I'll have to find out for myself."

With that in mind, Chen Cuo cupped the Ink Crane in both hands and held it before him. Then he closed his eyes again.

At a shift of intent, his entire mind sank inward and slowly focused on the blue-violet Facial Mask deep in his heart.

The Facial Mask trembled, then rapidly swelled. Driven by his intent, it began to rise.

Chen Cuo imagined his intent merging with the Facial Mask and riding the wind upward!

Hum!

Once again, his body trembled, and a wisp of Azure-violet smoke rose from the top of his head.

This time, however, he did not use his intent to trace the outline of a Facial Mask above his head. Instead, the smoke drifted straight toward the Ink Crane!

The next instant, all of it flowed into the Ink Crane.

At once, the Ink Crane came alive.

"Just as I thought! This must be what it feels like when a Wandering Soul leaves the body!"

Chen Cuo guided the Ink Crane through a circle around the room, its wings spread wide.

Unlike the previous times he had controlled it, this was not merely an extension of his will and sight. It felt as though his entire being had merged into the crane, though he could still sense his connection to his body.

At a thought, Chen Cuo brought the Ink Crane down onto his body's head.

A glimmer rose from his body, wound around the Ink Crane, and merged into it.

A flood of information poured into Chen Cuo's mind.

Understanding dawned on him.

"So that's it. This state of a Wandering Soul differs from the physical body. As the Buddhist scriptures put it, it isn't shackled by the Five Senses, Six Thieves, and Seven Emotions. It has none of the body's many limits: it can see what eyes cannot, hear what ears cannot, and go where the body cannot."

He beat his jade wings and took flight again. This time, he did not hesitate. He flew toward the window, but before he was halfway there, several dim glimmers rose from his body, turned into long whips, and coiled toward him.

The Ink Crane did not dodge. The whips wrapped around it, and a heaviness settled over it, as though it were flying with a great weight on its back.

"This is Cause and Effect. I took this body and was reborn, so I must bear this man's Cause and Effect as well. Only by settling it can I be whole. That's fair enough. My rebirth was a gift, and I ought to repay it. But..."

Chen Cuo's understanding grew clearer. In this state, with his mind outside his body, his thoughts were so pure and clear that even the Clarity Pill could not compare. Through it, he also learned much about the body he had taken.

"The original Chen Fangqing took too much Five-Stone Powder and died when it burned his heart. I entered his body twelve hours after his death. In other words, he was already dead. That's strange. This man's name went down in history, even if only in a few lines. He shouldn't have died just after receiving his title—that wouldn't make sense. If I hadn't entered his body, what would have happened to him?"

Chen Cuo pondered for a while, but weariness crept over him without bringing an answer.

"This world isn't the original course of history, after all. Supernatural powers are out in the open, and it has both Daoist arts and the power of incense offerings. Perhaps that changed things."

He gathered his thoughts and eased some of the fatigue in his mind.

When he entered the Dream Marsh and controlled the Ink Crane from afar, he felt little weariness. Now, however, he had sent his mind directly into it. Even without a detailed explanation of the method, he could tell that doing so would take a toll.

"Time is precious. Now that I understand more about myself, I should investigate this temple's Buddha Light. I've been taking it in for quite a while, so I ought to see what it is. I'll stay within the courtyard. If there's any danger, I'll return at once!"

At a thought, the Ink Crane took off, circled the room, and flew out through the window.

The moment it went outside, everything changed. A layer of Golden Light fell over him, filling Chen Cuo with warmth, utterly unlike the alternating heat and cold he had felt in the Marquis's Residence.

That warmth seemed to urge him to surrender to it and lose himself within it. Chen Cuo's awareness wavered, but then rolling Auspicious Clouds and the Black Firmament Constellations flashed through his mind as if by instinct. He immediately came to his senses.

"Impressive. This must be the power of the Buddha Light. There are many wills within it—likely the gathered consciousness of countless believers."

Perhaps because he was in the form of a Wandering Soul and no longer relied on eyes, ears, nose, or mouth to perceive the world, he could glimpse secrets that had been hidden from him before.

He climbed higher and saw that several halls seemed shrouded in layer upon layer of Golden Light and waves of rosy radiance!

"So there is something to this place!"

With a single glance, Chen Cuo discerned a clue. That Golden Light was likely formed from the accumulated thoughts of many people, and he could not touch it carelessly.

He made his decision at once and beat his wings, ready to return to the room.

But without warning, the Ink Crane lost its balance, and the world spun around him!

This is bad, Chen Cuo thought. By the time he recovered, a hand as white as jade was holding him. A gentle face filled his view: a handsome man with a shaved head, chanting the Buddha's name.

"Greetings, my Lord. I am Yuanhui, Temple Master of this place." He smiled faintly. "A Magical Artifact of this sort draws out a sliver of your Divine Sense and extends your sight. At first, it feels light and easy to command, as responsive as your own limbs. But once it flies out the window, the wind brings a chill, and the sun brings harm. If it encounters someone like me, whose flesh and blood can make contact with it, I need not even grip it. My vigorous blood and vital energy alone can hold it fast. Did the person who gave it to you not warn you? You should know—"

Before he could finish, the Ink Crane suddenly rose from his hand. With a beat of its wings, it shot back into the room like an arrow loosed from a bow!

The monk froze, then pinched his fingers together in midair, shock spreading across his face.

"That wasn't a mere sliver of Divine Sense. He used an object to let his spirit roam! And he used the Mind-Platform Bodhisattva method. He mastered it in less than a day? He hasn't even entered the Scripture Repository Hall to lay the foundation. He took one example and worked out the rest on his own!"

At that thought, he no longer dared to presume. He cupped his hands toward the room and called, "Yuanhui, Temple Master of Guishan Temple, has come to pay his respects to my Lord!"