Lion-Headed Dakini

"Shouldn't the empowerment take place in the main hall? With a ritual arranged before the Buddha, then pure water poured over my head..." Qu Zan felt that this place was rather different from what he had imagined.

The steward smiled. "That is for reassuring the masses. True empowerment, through which one gains power, takes place inside a secret chamber. How could it possibly be performed in public... That is where the word 'secret' comes from!"

Standing there, Qu Zan saw five doors ahead, leading to five secret chambers. They also seemed to represent five different lineages of practice.

Empowerment. I wonder what kind of empowerment it will be, Qu Zan thought.

"Take off all your clothes," the steward said.

Qu Zan was puzzled, but since the steward had said so, he could only comply.

Just then, several tall, burly monks walked over.

Seeing Qu Zan hesitate, the steward frowned. "Hurry up. Your underclothes too. You must be completely naked."

Qu Zan cried inwardly, Surely this isn't really that trick fake Living Buddhas use to deceive female devotees?

A monk spread a piece of felt on the floor. The steward motioned for Qu Zan to lie on it.

Stripped completely naked, Qu Zan could only lie down on it, face up.

The steward smiled. "Relax a little. Your body is too stiff for us to write the incantations on you."

A monk brought over a bamboo brush, saturated it with ink, and began writing on Qu Zan's body.

The brush touching his body had a slippery feel that made him uncomfortable.

Moreover, the ink smelled utterly foul.

Qu Zan noticed a trace of red in the black ink. Clearly, human blood had been mixed into it.

"Is this blood?" Qu Zan asked quietly.

"Ghost blood!" the monk writing on him replied coldly.

Ghosts have blood too! Qu Zan thought.

Before long, Qu Zan's face, chest, abdomen, back, thighs, and even the soles of his feet were covered in black scripture.

It made him look exceedingly eerie.

Once the ink on Qu Zan's body had dried, the steward said, "Go in. The room in the middle. Remember, don't say too much. Get in and out quickly. Don't dawdle..."

Seeing the expression on the steward's face, Qu Zan's heart tightened.

The steward smiled faintly and reassured him, "Don't be afraid!"

That smile only deepened Qu Zan's fear.

Qu Zan stood up and, filled with unease, pushed open the door and entered the room.

The moment the door opened, dense yin energy and the smell of rust hit him in the face.

The room was simply furnished. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all golden. They had probably been covered in gold leaf.

A statue was enshrined against the far wall.

The statue had a human body and a lion's head, wore a crown of five skulls, and had fifty bloody human heads strung around its neck, bone ornaments, and a human-skin cloak... It was utterly terrifying.

A burning butter lamp cast shifting black shadows through the room, like ghosts.

An old monk sat on a meditation cushion before the statue.

The old monk looked even more frightening than the eerie statue. He was so thin that he was little more than a skeleton, like a dried corpse stripped of its skin, with blackish-red flesh wrapped around his bones. His gums were exposed, every tooth clearly visible.

Through eyelids as thin as cicada wings, his eyeballs could be seen moving slightly.

Can someone still be alive looking like this? Qu Zan wondered.

A little flesh covered the old monk's bones, and a thin layer of skin enclosed his chest. His heart could be seen beating, contracting and expanding, pressing against the flesh and skin.

"A recipient of the teachings?" The old monk's voice was shrill, a grating sound coming from his damaged throat.

"Yes, this humble monk has come to receive empowerment..." Qu Zan was nervous. This fellow before him was neither quite human nor ghost. He was far too frightening.

"Sit!" The old monk wasted no words.

Qu Zan sat cross-legged on the cushion in front of the old monk.

Closer to the old monk, Qu Zan smelled an even stronger stench of decay, as though the person before him were a corpse that had already rotted away in grave soil.

"Your vitality is truly vigorous!" The old monk pulled his face into a smile, though it was a skinless face. "Have you practiced the Yoga Method?!"

"Yes!" At his question, Qu Zan dared not conceal anything.

"The essence in your blood has already been awakened!" The old monk's jaw opened, and a long tongue emerged, quivering like a snake.

"Good. The more exceptional the offering, the stronger the curse seal bestowed!"

"I will empower you with the aura of the [Lion-Headed Dakini] to help you attain realization!" the old monk said indistinctly.

Creak, creak!

Amid a teeth-grating crunch of bones, a ghost crawled out of the old monk's mouth.

Dense black energy coiled around the ghost as it forced the old monk's jaws apart and slowly emerged.

The ghost's head was that of a rotting lion, with blood-red, round-pupiled, vertically set eyes. Its eyeballs bulged outward, and the downturned corners of its eyes exuded malice. Withered women's braids hung behind its ears...

This is the Lion-Headed Dakini! The hairs along Qu Zan's spine stood on end. The longer he looked at the ghost, the more his scalp prickled.

The Lion-Headed Dakini spread its sharp claws and seized Qu Zan's shoulder and neck with one claw.

Blood gushed out in great torrents, and a terrifying aura poured into Qu Zan's body.

What Qu Zan could not see was that the black scripture on his body was slowly writhing, converging around his shoulder and neck.

A bone-piercing chill erupted from within.

At that moment, Qu Zan felt as though all warmth had been drawn out of him, leaving him as cold as a corpse. In his mind, a lion with bulging eyes stared at him.

He felt grayish-white hair burrowing out from beneath his flesh, piercing through his skin. Fangs lengthened, a mane sprouted, and he became a Ghost Lion.

Qu Zan woke from the hallucination drenched in sweat, as though he had just been hauled out of the water.

He felt extremely weak...

He discovered that all the scripture on his body had vanished, leaving only a faint black mark around his shoulder and neck.

"I have infused you with the power of the [Lion-Headed Dakini]. You will gain the immense strength of a lion. As you use this power, your appearance and physique will grow increasingly like those of a Ghost Lion.

"Hold on to your awareness and reason. Do not lose control. Though your mind and awareness are far stronger than those of ordinary people, a ghost's power far surpasses a human's. The more you use it, the closer you will come to losing control...

"Abuse this power, and you will become a monster, reduced utterly to a ghost's slave...

"The vitality in your blood is powerful. You have also been granted a [Reversal and Obstruction Method]. It is immensely powerful and can annihilate hostile curses, evil miasma, hexes, and gu sorcery..."

Qu Zan said, "I have mastered a ghost's power." He could feel that, if he wished, he could wield that supernatural power immediately.

"Thank you, Lama!" Qu Zan bowed with his palms pressed together.

Qu Zan stepped through the red door. Only as he closed it did he let out a heavy breath.

[You have received empowerment. You have mastered an eerie power. Acquired: Lion Ghost Curse Seal lv1, Reversal and Obstruction Method lv1]

Lion Ghost Curse Seal: Using this curse seal grants you the enhanced abilities of an adult male lion, giving you the strength, striking power, explosive power, and speed of a ferocious beast.

[Detected shared cultivation attributes between your Lion Ghost Curse Seal and Lion's Roar Heart Mantra. Fuse these related methods to improve the Lion Ghost Curse Seal?]

"Choose fusion!"

[Lion Ghost Curse Seal lv1 progress 0%]--[Lion Ghost Curse Seal lv1 progress 10%]

Qu Zan had not expected such an unexpected gain! He felt especially delighted.

And this Reversal and Obstruction Method was very useful too.