Every Orifice and Every Limb Held Divinity

"When the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire appears, even if the Qingwei Sect hasn't come in person, it means an Immortal Sect has arrived. That makes this risky..."

On the road, the Young Daoist moved like lightning as he sent a voice transmission to Junior Brother.

"We should've gone ages ago! If we'd tied the lord up before he entered the temple and taken him back to the sect, we wouldn't have all this trouble." The other young Daoist followed close behind.

The Young Daoist looked speechless. "That would go against our tradition."

"We have a tradition for bringing people into the sect?" His junior brother looked puzzled. "Are we supposed to trick them?"

"Shut up!"

Even as the two brothers talked, their feet never slowed. In the blink of an eye, they reached the Stone Pavilion where they had met Chen Cuo that day. One more rush would take them straight to the temple.

The Young Daoist reached into his robe for a visiting card, but suddenly froze and stopped in his tracks.

Beside him, his junior brother did the same. Both looked up.

Faint purple qi was rising from the Hilltop, but it vanished in a flash.

Then Golden Light spread, enveloping the Hilltop.

"What nerve!" The Young Daoist's expression changed, then he sneered. "Guishan Temple is a treasured site because it stands atop the Dragon Vein. And now someone dares plot against that Dragon Vein here? No wonder Gaozu of the Southern Dynasty is watching. Are they trying to swap the beams and pillars right under his nose? The reigning imperial line isn't descended directly from Gaozu. Otherwise, that single disturbance would shake Guishan Temple to its foundations!"

"Who has the nerve for that," his junior brother asked uneasily, "let alone the means?"

"The means are impressive, but the nerve matters most. Anyone with True Dragon Bloodline could... Wait! The Marquis of Linru County has True Dragon Bloodline too!" The Young Daoist's expression abruptly changed.

"Amitabha." The tightly shut temple gates suddenly opened, and Guest-Master Monk Huizhi walked out. "Greetings, Daoist masters. Our Presiding Monk invites you in."

The young Daoist paused and looked to his Senior Brother.

"Sorry for the trouble." The Young Daoist drew out his visiting card and flicked it forward. "Nanmingzi and Chuiyunzi of the Cloudsky Sect on Great Hua Mountain request entry."

"Please follow me." Huizhi nodded and turned to lead the way.

Nanmingzi and Chuiyunzi followed him inside. As soon as they entered, the gates rumbled shut.

"Senior Brother..." Chuiyun sounded uneasy.

"It's fine." Nanmingzi remained composed. With a sweep of his broad sleeve, he strode onward. "Guishan Temple is an orthodox establishment. It won't do anything to harm us." His tone turned stern. "Don't disgrace our Master’s Sect!"

The words worked. Chuiyun cast off his worries, straightened his back, and settled down.

Huizhi led, with the two brothers behind him. Each stride carried them several yards. Taking the long path beside the main hall, they quickly passed the halls of the front court.

When they reached the courtyards on the Mid-Slope, Nanmingzi flicked a finger. A pill flew out and landed outside Chen Cuo's courtyard, immediately burrowing into the soil.

Without breaking stride, Nanmingzi formed a hand seal. "Yin-Yang Reversal!"

A point of white spiritual light rose and covered Chen Cuo's courtyard. The white turned black, then vanished without a trace.

"That should conceal it for a while."

He breathed a little easier. By then, they had reached the Hilltop.

Ahead, a thin veil of Golden Light covered a vast hall.

Huizhi stopped and turned. "Please wait a moment. The Temple Master's Magic Power envelops the Scripture Repository Hall and seals it off. We must wait for someone inside to open a passage..."

"No need for such trouble. Great Hua Mountain has its own arts!" Nanmingzi waved a hand, and a bamboo slip flew up.

Plain as it looked, the slip flew through the air without a sound, pierced the Golden Light, then turned and opened a gap.

On the other side stood the old Presiding Monk.

After invoking the Buddha, he smiled. "I've long heard of the Cloudsky Sect's Life-Bound Treasures, which can turn the mundane into the miraculous. Is this your companion Treasure, Daoist master?"

"I've only been refining it for a dozen years. It hardly counts as a Treasure." Nanmingzi stepped through the opening. The bamboo slip flew into his sleeve, and he cupped his hands. "Greetings, Presiding Monk of Guishan Temple."

"You are honored guests, but matters within the temple may prevent us from receiving you properly." The old monk pressed his palms together in apology.

Nanmingzi smiled. "We didn't come to be entertained. Yours isn't the only household that knows about the lord. Why not make the arrangements first?"

The old monk's eyelids twitched, though he did not seem surprised. "In that case, please follow me."

This time the old monk led, with Nanmingzi and Chuiyunzi behind him.

They crossed the square before the hall and headed straight for the central hall of the Scripture Repository.

As he walked, Chuiyunzi looked around. The hall glittered with gold and splendor. Even before he entered, its wealth seemed to press down on him, leaving him short of breath.

"So rich. The place is huge, too, and magnificent..." Chuiyun was still muttering when he caught his Senior Brother's icy look and hurriedly shut his mouth.

Nanmingzi looked away and swept a hand across his eyes. He focused first on the hall to the right. A glimmer of understanding crossed his eyes, and he relaxed. Then he looked toward the left hall. After a few breaths, his expression changed. "Is someone with True Dragon Bloodline in the left hall?"

The old monk had never intended to hide it. "A commandery prince is there."

Nanmingzi fell silent for a moment. As they reached the doors, he said, "Guishan Temple is one of the nodes of the Five Elements Dragon-Sealing Formation. If someone uses Buddha Light to pry at the Dragon Vein, the entire Southern Dynasty will be affected. Does your temple not understand the danger?"

The old monk smiled bitterly. "That man is the Prince of Ancheng."

Nanmingzi paused, confused.

"You live apart from worldly affairs, Daoist master, and know little of Southern Dynasty politics. In time, you'll understand the position our temple is in." With that, the old monk entered the central hall.

Nanmingzi shook his head and followed.

Inside, the first thing he saw was a vast, empty hall.

Green Smoke curled through every corner.

Nanmingzi peered into it and saw the mortal world within the incense offerings, with sorrow and joy, parting and reunion flickering through the haze. He quickly withdrew his gaze.

"Isn't this the Scripture Repository Hall?" Chuiyun asked. "Where are the books?"

The old monk smiled. "The Buddhist scriptures are precious, so they're kept in the rear hall under the protection of a Bodhisattva statue. The front hall holds the joys and sorrows of mortal life: the Book of Human Hearts. Those with Buddha-nature can see them."

"Then this must be the Buddha Land Portal." Nanmingzi looked deeper into the hall.

Chuiyun followed his gaze and saw several seated figures.

Five people sat on five cushions. The monks wore kasayas and differed in age and appearance, but each had a solemn, hallowed bearing and gave off a golden radiance.

Merely looking at them brought Chuiyunzi a sense of peace.

"This..." Nanmingzi's eyelids twitched. He sensed an immense threat from the five. "Five cultivators in the Longevity Realm? Or even beyond it!" He drew a deep breath and reined in his Mind Thought and Divine Sense.

The old monk spoke. "The one in the middle is our Temple Master. The others are temple masters and Dharma Masters from renowned temples around Jiankang City. They're here to oversee the great formation!"

"I see!" Nanmingzi took a deep breath. "It seems someone has Guishan Temple under duress, and you need witnesses. No wonder you invited even the two of us."

Dong! Dong! Dong!

As his words ended, bells rang outside the hall.

Noon had arrived.

The ground suddenly trembled. The disturbance came from the halls on either side.

Buddha Light flared all around. Red light showed on one side, purple qi on the other!

Hum!

Golden Light blazed from the five seated monks, forcibly suppressing the disturbance. The hall fell empty and still again, though its wisps of Smoke Aura had scattered.

The sun stood directly overhead.

"Noon has come!"

Chen Cuo opened his eyes, a gleam passing through them. Without hesitation, he lit an incense stick, placed it in the Little Incense Burner, and closed his eyes again.

Food sat on the outer edge of the table like offerings. Behind it stood the Little Incense Burner with its lit stick, and behind the burner lay the Little Gourd, resting atop a blank scroll.

Chen Cuo sat on the bed at the innermost end, like a Divine Statue.

Offerings, incense burner, Divine Altar.

This arrangement is a ritual, meant to remind and guide my mind, help order my thoughts, and focus my will. One day, a single thought will suffice. But this is my foundation. Better to be careful than skip a step.

With that thought, he drew a deep breath.

He swallowed the Incense Smoke Aura straight into his belly.

The first step in laying a foundation through visualization is to imagine my heart as a temple. Incense offerings come from a deity, and a deity dwells in a temple. But that is the secret of the Buddhist School Heart Temple Method. The Temple Dragon King was a clay statue in a temple from the start. He never had to deliberately imagine a Heart Shrine. For him, everything followed its natural course.

With the Temple Dragon King's inherited insights and the Heart Temple Method to compare against them, Chen Cuo understood that the temple within the heart was only a concept, a name.

To absorb the thoughts of the multitude and refine Incense, the most important thing is to hold fast to myself. Other people's thoughts are chaotic and can disturb my own heart, so understanding my true self is the foundation. But to visualize and establish a deity, I also need to guide those thoughts as they gather and disperse in my heart. I need something that will always remind me who I am and keep my purpose clear, so I won't lose myself or let my will fall into disorder. The Heart Temple Method chiefly emphasizes the conviction that I alone am supreme!

Seated cross-legged on the bed, Chen Cuo let his thoughts flow slowly through his mind like water.

It makes me supreme and everyone else a worshipper, clearly dividing master from follower and strong from weak. But it also binds me to that conviction. If I settle on it, the path ahead may grow narrower with every step. Neither my former life nor the world Chen Fangqing grew up in gives me any affinity for it. Besides, I have no later stages of Buddhist cultivation. Here, I should draw on the Temple Dragon King's method...

At that thought, Mind Thought shifted, and he separated out a few strands of memory to recreate a century's shifting light and shadow within the Dragon King Temple.

Gradually, his mind sank into it. He seemed to become an Incarnation, a clay statue seated upon a Divine Altar, unregretful through a hundred years.

Regrets from his previous life, sealed deep in his heart, surfaced. A flood of powerful thoughts followed.

The Sixty-Four Gilt Characters trembled, resonating with Chen Cuo's thoughts!

"If I hear the Dao in the morning, I could die content that evening!"

Suddenly, a pitch-black sky appeared deep in his mind. Star Lords glittered above, while banks of Auspicious Clouds stretched below.

Beneath the rolling clouds, something seemed to be taking shape.

When will I see the truth of everything?

The thought sank, and a point of light appeared.

An unyielding urge to seek answers rose in his heart, wrapping around his Mind Thought and will.

Chen Cuo stirred his thoughts and opened his eyes. Golden Light flashed in them. His thoughts shone like gold, on the verge of boiling.

The next moment, he drew his own form into his visualization.

"Form is spirit, and spirit is form. The human body is one; its spirit cannot be two. If the two cannot be separated, then every orifice and every limb holds divinity!"

As the thought arose, boundless Golden Light rose from the depths of his heart and shattered the form he had visualized!

His thoughts scattered at once, becoming a wild wind that raged through every corner of his mind!

By the way, July New Show is an author I like very much. His new work has begun serialization. After the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, Qin Dynasty, and Han Dynasty, he has reached Xin Mang under Wang Mang.

"New Book": At the end of the Xin dynasty, Wang Mang's reforms had failed and All Under Heaven stood on the brink of chaos. The Red Eyebrows and Green Forest rebels raised their banners of Righteousness, while Liu Xiu and his brothers sought to restore the Han Dynasty.

Reborn into such an age, what would you do?

The Xin dynasty had rotted away. Without destruction, there could be no renewal. Only those who came after could write the next chapter with bold strokes!