Recaps

Qu Zan returned to Corpse Camel Temple after gaining fortune essence in the Form Realm, advancing his Peacock Wisdom King Esoteric Method, and completing the journey with Luosang’s caravan. He delivered the Golden Cylinder to Bei Ruogema, who revealed that he had thought Qu Zan’s entire force had been wiped out.

• Qu Zan escaped the Form Realm after sensing an enormous bird, gained 0.5 fortune essence, and used his points to advance his cultivation and strengthen his body.
• Suolang gave Qu Zan a carriage loaded with fourteen antiques, and Qu Zan later parted from Luosang at the foot of Red Sun Mountain.
• Qu Zan and Zhulin approached Corpse Camel Temple and concluded that Hell’s Beings had stopped ambushing pilgrims because the Buddha’s Sarira had already been seized.
• Qu Zan safely returned to Corpse Camel Temple and handed the Golden Cylinder to Bei Ruogema, who said he had thought their entire force had been wiped out.

Qu Zan returned to Corpse Camel Temple and learned that the ambush at Bado Manor had killed nearly everyone, including Namkha and two elders. Bei Ruogema accepted Qu Zan’s explanation for surviving and secured his promotion to Whole-Monastery Geshe, then asked him to recount his journey along the Northern Route.

• Bei Ruogema told Qu Zan that Elder Tudeng Gero, Elder Awang Gesang, Namkha, and Jiumo had died, and that the enemy had taken their Golden Cylinders.
• Qu Zan explained that he had traveled the Northern Route while the other monks drew the enemy toward the Southern Route, and Bei Ruogema praised his resourcefulness and offered him support.
• Qu Zan said Elder Tudeng Gero had promised to recommend him for Whole-Monastery Geshe, but several monks questioned whether the promise could be honored without a Written Contract.
• Bei Ruogema argued that Qu Zan deserved recognition for his service and ruled that he should be promoted to Whole-Monastery Geshe.
• Bei Ruogema asked Qu Zan to describe what had happened to him on the Northern Route.

After returning to Corpse Camel Temple, Qu Zan learned that Zhulin would give the monastery the Buddha's Sarira and began investigating why this world's scriptures concealed the Buddha's true name and background. He suspected the Buddha might not be Gautama Siddhartha and wondered whether Ananda had altered the scriptures.

• Qu Zan reported his journey to Bei Ruogema, who found animal bone instead of the Buddha's Sarira in the Golden Cylinder and confirmed Qu Zan would receive the Geshe position.
• Bei Ruogema told Qu Zan that Zhulin would give her Buddha's Sarira to Corpse Camel Temple, and explained the protections a stupa enshrining sarira was believed to provide.
• Qu Zan questioned why Bei Ruogema knew no name for the Buddha beyond Shakyamuni, and realized the scriptures in this world omitted the Buddha's original name and background.
• Qu Zan searched the Pali Vinaya and found that it also excluded the Buddha's background, as though someone had removed it.
• Qu Zan considered whether Ananda, the Buddha's close attendant and foremost in extensive learning, might have changed the scriptures.

Qu Zan visited Jomo Duo'erna before taking part in the ceremony that made him a monastery-wide Geshe named Gyatso. Giving alms to the gathered monks raised his Giving talent to level five and unlocked Giving Bestowal, and afterward he learned that the Sutra Academy had assigned him a separate courtyard residence.

• Qu Zan visited Jomo Duo'erna, helped prepare medicinal herbs, and gained progress in Secret Medicine Identification.
• Qu Zan completed the ceremony to become a monastery-wide Geshe, receiving his certificate and the Dharma name Gyatso.
• Tuya presented Qu Zan with gifts as his patron and mourned Namkha and her father.
• Qu Zan delivered his first public Dharma lecture and distributed food to more than a thousand monks.
• Qu Zan's Giving talent reached level five and transformed, unlocking the ability Giving Bestowal.
• The academy steward told Qu Zan that the Sutra Academy had arranged a separate courtyard compound for his new residence.

After becoming a Geshe, Qu Zan moved into a spacious courtyard residence and declined the attendants assigned to him, preferring privacy. He visited Guocuo to learn what paths were open to him, and Guocuo began outlining the opportunities available to a Geshe.

• Qu Zan packed his belongings and declined Rinchen’s offer to serve as his attendant.
• Qu Zan moved into his Geshe courtyard, inspected its rooms, and found that it had space for the antiques he had brought back.
• Qu Zan accepted the residence and Geshe clothing but sent away the assigned attendants, asking only for meals to be prepared.
• Qu Zan visited Guocuo and asked what he should do as a Geshe.
• Guocuo explained that Qu Zan could pursue advancement within the monastery or become a High Monk supported by a Manor, then began describing a third path.

After earning the fifth-rank Whole-Monastery Geshe degree, Qu Zan decided to pursue the fourth-rank Great Prayer Geshe examination and learned what further practical cultivation it required. His new standing granted him access to the Warrior Monk Academy’s mudra methods, and he planned to visit it the next day before finding a carriage waiting outside his courtyard.

• Qu Zan rejected secluded retreat and itinerant Dharma propagation, then told Guocuo he wanted to earn a higher-ranking Geshe degree.
• Guocuo explained that the fourth-rank Great Prayer Geshe examination took place at Tian Zhao Temple in Mìdì and drew more than three thousand candidates each year.
• Qu Zan asked Duo'erna about the examination, and she warned that its practical disciplines required years of experience but offered to teach him mantras and mandalas directly.
• Qu Zan told Nyepa that he had completed his first chakra and learned that his Whole-Monastery Geshe degree let him access the Warrior Monk Academy’s mudra methods.
• Qu Zan planned to visit the Warrior Monk Academy the next day, but found a carriage parked outside his courtyard.

After saying goodbye to Zhulin, Qu Zan visited the Warrior Monk Academy to study mudras and attended a Yogi lesson. As the class practiced, Sanghai was surprised to see how well Qu Zan had cultivated his chakras.

• Zhulin told Qu Zan she would return to her temple the next day and promised to send him a mind-entering object and the gold she still owed him.
• Qu Zan went to the Warrior Monk Academy and used his Geshe seal tablet to gain access to mudra cultivation methods.
• Basang invited Qu Zan to attend a Yogi class, where Sanghai explained how mudras worked and warned that practitioners needed perfected chakras.
• Qu Zan followed Sanghai's instructions to guide his breath through his channels, and Sanghai was surprised by his level of cultivation.

Sanghai taught Qu Zan and the Yogis how Mudras united body, intent, and the Three Mysteries, then demonstrated four basic fist Mudras. Qu Zan began to understand their principles and wondered how Indra’s Hand might change their power, while Danyun proved strongest in a practice match.

• Qu Zan answered Sanghai’s question by explaining that bodily gestures originated in the mind, and Sanghai confirmed that Mudras also expressed a practitioner’s intent.
• Sanghai taught the Lotus Fist, Vajra Fist, Outer-Bound Fist, and Inner-Bound Fist Mudras, and Qu Zan gained insight into their use with the body’s Chakras.
• Qu Zan considered trying the Mudras with the God-and-Demon Power of Indra’s Hand when he was alone.
• When Kaizhu questioned how to practice Mudras while moving, Danyun explained that walking meditation also counted as meditative concentration.
• Sanghai paired Danyun with Kaizhu for a demonstration, and Danyun quickly overpowered him with the Vajra Fist Mudra.
• Danyun explained that matching a Mudra’s fist intent with one’s disposition increased its power, and Sanghai agreed.

After Kaizhu defeated the Yogis in his class, he challenged Qu Zan, the Whole-Monastery Geshe, and was knocked unconscious by Qu Zan’s Lotus Fist Mudra. Danyun then challenged Qu Zan to a final match and charged at him, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Kaizhu recovered from his loss to Danyun by fighting the other Yogis and swept through the class until they stopped challenging him.
• Kaizhu invited Qu Zan to spar, and Qu Zan accepted after asking that they avoid serious injury.
• Qu Zan evaded Kaizhu’s attacks, struck him with a Lotus Fist Mudra, and knocked him unconscious.
• Danyun examined Kaizhu, then challenged Qu Zan to spar and removed his robe to prepare.
• Qu Zan agreed to fight Danyun, who charged toward him and split the carpet beneath his foot.

Qu Zan defeated Danyun in a spar using the basic fist mudras, then studied how to inscribe a Dharma Mandala through visualization and spirituality. He successfully formed an invisible mandala after confronting memories of his past.

• Danyun attacked Qu Zan with fierce mudras, but Qu Zan blocked his strikes with ease.
• Qu Zan struck Danyun with the Lotus Fist Mudra, sending him flying and winning the spar while showing mercy.
• Qu Zan left the Warrior Monk Academy with the Fourteen Mudra Manual of the Immovable One and went to Duo'erna for his studies.
• Duo'erna taught Qu Zan to visualize a Dharma Mandala through meditation and spirituality.
• Qu Zan suppressed memories of his past and inscribed an invisible mandala through visualization.

Qu Zan learned how his spiritual mandala could protect and aid his cultivation, then discussed the four maras and ritual artifacts with Duo'erna. After Duo'erna identified the deities associated with his Three-Pronged Vajra, Qu Zan reacted involuntarily to Indra's name.

• Qu Zan told Duo'erna that memories of the past had troubled him while he constructed his spiritual mandala, and she explained that cultivators commonly faced the four maras.
• Duo'erna described how a practitioner from the Chöd School had helped her sever an obstacle mara, while Qu Zan resolved to remember the school as another possible source of help.
• Duo'erna taught Qu Zan that ritual artifacts symbolized Buddhist teachings and could support cultivation, especially when imbued with a god's or adept's power.
• Qu Zan showed Duo'erna his Three-Pronged Vajra, and she identified it as a valuable gold artifact likely forged by a cultivator rather than a divine object.
• Duo'erna named Vajra Mother, Vajrapani Bodhisattva, and Indra as deities who wielded Three-Pronged Vajras, and Qu Zan's left hand twitched at Indra's name.

Qu Zan studied Buddhist ritual artifacts with Duo'erna, who showed him her treasured Jambudvipa Ritual Artifact Catalog. Their discussion led Duo'erna to recount how her grandmaster became trapped in deep meditation and never awakened, leaving Qu Zan concerned about the dangers of meditative absorption.

• Qu Zan kept the true name of his Ghost Hand secret, while he and Duo'erna discussed whether the Three-Pronged Vajra had belonged to a god or Buddha.
• Duo'erna showed Qu Zan the Jambudvipa Ritual Artifact Catalog and explained the khakkhara's original use and later forms.
• Qu Zan called Duo'erna "Master" and asked where her grandmaster had gained her knowledge.
• Duo'erna explained that her grandmaster acquired scriptural knowledge through meditation but became unable to awaken from deep absorption.
• Qu Zan learned that Duo'erna's master had also entered deep meditation while trying to save her own master, and he asked whether the grandmaster had fallen into a coma.

Duo'erna told Qu Zan that her master, He Yanjialuo, had changed after waking from the Form Realm and disappeared in Mìdì. Qu Zan secretly entered the Form Realm to gather Fortune Essence, then attended the morning Dharma Assembly, where the Sutra Academy Abbot summoned him.

• Duo'erna warned Qu Zan to avoid the Form Realm and explained that her master had awakened as someone different before disappearing in Mìdì.
• Duo'erna described He Yanjialuo as a beautiful former healer who controlled the powerful Vengeful Ghost [Thousand Hands Avalokiteshvara].
• Qu Zan returned to his residence, entered the Form Realm using [Secret Conduct], gathered Fortune Essence, and withdrew when he sensed a being approaching.
• Qu Zan spent his Fortune Essence to raise [Extensive Learning lv3] to lv4.
• Qu Zan attended the morning sutra-chanting Dharma Assembly, and an Attendant Monk told him that the Sutra Academy Abbot wanted to see him.

Qu Zan met with Qiong Re Ganbu, who discussed his future as a Geshe and instructed him to keep an attendant. Qu Zan chose the dim-witted novice Liuwa as his servant, pleased that Liuwa admitted he was stupid.

• Qiong Re Ganbu asked Qu Zan about his plans, and Qu Zan said he wanted to stay at the monastery and continue his studies.
• Qiong Re Ganbu explained Qu Zan’s duties as a Geshe and told him to keep an attendant so people could find him.
• Qu Zan went to the administrative office and asked to choose a young menial worker as his servant.
• Qu Zan selected the scrawny novice Liuwa from among the children, despite their surprise.
• Liuwa said he was afraid he would not understand the job because he was stupid, and Qu Zan decided he was well suited to be his servant.

Qu Zan hired Liuwa as a simple-minded servant to watch his courtyard, then practiced the Fourteen Mudras of the Immovable One and ignited his heart chakra. He eventually combined a mudra, mantra, and visualization to unleash a Lion's Roar that startled Liuwa below.

• Qu Zan chose Liuwa as his servant after learning he was willing to work for food, and the steward took him to wash and change.
• Qu Zan settled Liuwa in the courtyard storeroom and instructed him to answer the door, serve guests, and stay out of the main house.
• Qu Zan studied the Fourteen Mudra Manual of the Immovable One, practiced its mudras, and ignited his heart chakra.
• Qu Zan tried combining the Lion's Vigor Mudra, the Lion's Roar Heart Mantra, and mental visualization, failing several times before succeeding.
• Qu Zan's Lion's Roar shook the windows and sent a fierce wind through the room, frightening Liuwa as he swept outside.

Qu Zan used Circular-Light Divination to identify a strange wolf-like beast attacking livestock near Shali Village and gave Sangji protective talismans after warning that Warrior Monks might be needed. Sangji returned home and began placing the talismans around his livestock shelter, though his wife doubted they would help.

• Qu Zan welcomed Guocuo, learned that wealthy visitors had been seeking him, and received thirty taels of secret silver from sales of Nectar Scale-Moistening Paste.
• Sangji, the headman of Shali Village, asked Qu Zan to investigate livestock disappearing or dying at night.
• Qu Zan performed Circular-Light Divination and saw a concealed wolf-like beast eating a white yak beneath a huge red rock west of the village.
• Qu Zan divined that the villagers could not defeat the beast and advised seeking the monastery's Warrior Monks, then drew protective talismans as another possible defense.
• Sangji returned to his village and began searching for places to paste the talismans around his livestock shelter while his wife questioned their usefulness.

Sangji and the village elders weighed Geshe Gyatso’s warning against Master Baga’s displays of Jain powers as they waited for the beast stealing their livestock. At night, a Livestock-Thieving Beast appeared on the wall, and Baga identified it.

• Sangji doubted whether Geshe Gyatso’s talismans would work and sent an attendant to inspect beneath the red rock on the western mountain.
• Sangzhu brought Master Baga, a naked Digambara Jain ascetic, to Sangji’s home to subdue the demons threatening the village’s livestock.
• The attendant found bloodstains and gnawed bones beneath the red rock, confirming Geshe Gyatso’s prediction about where the beast had eaten its prey.
• Baga warmed the hall with his body, convinced Sangji and the other wealthy men of his powers, and agreed to help the village.
• Sangji, Sangzhu, Laba, Pubu, and Baga waited through the night in a fortified house beside the livestock shed.
• An eerie gust unsettled the animals, and Baga spotted a dark shape on the wall and identified it as a Livestock-Thieving Beast.

Baga fought a Livestock-Thieving Beast but was overwhelmed when four more appeared and injured him. A talisman from Geshe Gyatso protected the livestock pen, leaving the people inside the stone tower house exposed to the beasts.

• Baga left the stone tower house and fought a Livestock-Thieving Beast in the courtyard, while Sangji, Sangzhu, Pubu, and Laba watched in fear.
• After Baga knocked the beast down, four more Livestock-Thieving Beasts appeared and surrounded the courtyard.
• Baga tried to escape, but a beast struck him into the livestock pen and tore open his chest.
• A beast lunged at Baga but was burned by an invisible barrier, which Sangji recognized as protection from the talismans he had placed around the livestock pen.
• Sangji revealed that he had not put talismans around the stone tower house, and Sangzhu realized they were more exposed than Baga.

Sangji and the others survived a night trapped behind Qu Zan’s talisman while a Livestock-Thieving Beast attacked, and the beast died after its body was worn away by the barrier. They visited Qu Zan to thank him and offer Secret Silver, while Qu Zan learned how effective his talisman had been.

• A Livestock-Thieving Beast attacked Sangji, Laba, Pubu, and the others, and Pubu was scratched as they fled into the livestock shed behind the talisman’s barrier.
• The group spent the night trapped while the beast repeatedly struck the barrier, then found it dead at dawn with half its body ground away by the magical light.
• Sangji vowed to make an offering to Geshe Gyatso and arranged to take the beast to the Corpse Camel Temple, while Master Baga was carried inside to recover.
• Sangji, Laba, Pubu, and their companions brought the beast to Qu Zan’s courtyard and waited patiently while he napped.
• Qu Zan heard Sangji recount the attack, then Sangji and Laba offered him five hundred taels of Secret Silver each in gratitude.

Qu Zan examined the Livestock-Thieving Beast’s memories and discovered a terrifying Vengeful Ghost whose missing hand might be connected to his own god-and-demon hand. He learned how to store his growing wealth, turned in the beast’s useful remains, and ended the chapter by improving his Extensive Learning talent.

• Qu Zan collected two thousand taels of Secret Silver from the merchants, then used the Livestock-Thieving Beast’s mind-consciousness to glimpse a bone-built village and a skeletal Vengeful Ghost.
• Qu Zan’s Ghost Hand and eye reacted to the apparition, and he suspected the ghost was Indra’s Bone, with other body parts such as Indra’s Head still missing.
• Duo'erna told Qu Zan that the beast’s skullcap and claw bones could be used for ritual artifacts, advised him to deposit his silver at the temple, and said the remaining remains should be burned.
• Qu Zan submitted the skullcap and claw bones to the Merit Hall, earning three merits, then deposited his Secret Silver at Corpse Camel Temple’s treasury while keeping his gold.
• Qu Zan continued his lessons and cultivation, gathered fortune essence in the Form Realm, and raised his Extensive Learning talent to v5.

Qu Zan returned to his family home with supplies and promised Meiduo and Duimu money to start raising livestock. When Meiduo went to fetch Duimu from Wada’s manor, the manor’s Duiqiong tried to deny Duimu her earned wool, and Meiduo stood up for her mother.

• Qu Zan left the monastery with Bodhi carrying tea, cloth, wool felt, and other supplies for his family.
• Meiduo welcomed Qu Zan home, and he told her to bring Duimu back from her work shearing sheep at Wada’s manor.
• Meiduo approached Wada and his guests, then persuaded the Duiqiong to bring Duimu out, despite their reluctance to let her leave.
• Duimu hurried home after hearing Qu Zan had returned and agreed to stop working for Wada’s household.
• The Duiqiong threatened to withhold Duimu’s wages and wool, but Meiduo argued that her mother deserved payment for her work.

Qu Zan used his standing as a Whole-Monastery Geshe to help Meiduo recover Duimu’s unpaid wool from Wada, then left his family money and protection before returning to the Corpse Camel Temple. There, Liuwa told him that someone had come looking for him and left a message.

• Meiduo told Qu Zan that Wada’s Manor had withheld Duimu’s wages, and Qu Zan gave her a paper bearing the incomplete seal of a Whole-Monastery Geshe.
• Wada recognized the seal and ordered his household to give Meiduo a cartload of wool, while she refused his offer of secret silver and insisted on the wool.
• Meiduo followed Qu Zan’s instructions to have the wool unloaded at their gate, and Wada left in fear after glimpsing a monk’s red robe inside.
• Qu Zan left two hundred taels of secret silver for Duimu and Aji, promised to help Meiduo learn to read, and returned to the Corpse Camel Temple.
• Liuwa told Qu Zan that someone had come looking for him and left a message.

Qu Zan used the Dharma Protector Butter Lamp to enter the depths of his mind and search for the Obstacle Mara. In the dreamlike manor, he killed a Rebudian Chieftain he suspected was the Mara, but the dream continued, leaving him to seek another target.

• Magyala of Yueqing Monastery delivered the Dharma Protector Butter Lamp and nine hundred taels of gold, and said she would help Qu Zan overcome the Obstacle Mara.
• Magyala prepared the lamp with Qu Zan’s hair and blood, then guided him as he lit it and entered a mental realm.
• Qu Zan found himself as a Nangsheng serf beside Meiduo, without his usual abilities, and resolved to find and kill the Obstacle Mara.
• Qu Zan stole Tsering’s crossbow and bolts, then diverted a Rebudian Chieftain away from Bado Manor after hearing him mention the Five-Extremities Offering.
• Qu Zan shot the Rebudian Chieftain through the neck, but the dream did not dissolve, showing that the man was not the Obstacle Mara.

Qu Zan killed everyone in the Manor while searching for the Obstacle Mara, then realized that his final obstacle was his attachment to himself and stabbed himself. After subduing the Obstacle Mara, he entered the mysterious Bamboo Grove Vihara, where he glimpsed the force behind his transmigration, then returned to reality as Magyala recited the Heart Sutra.

• Qu Zan found poisons in the Rebudian Chieftain’s hidden copper box and put them away.
• At dinner, Qu Zan revealed the severed faces of Dunzhu and Lob, then told Bado Weilei that the steward and guards were dead from aconite.
• Qu Zan killed Tsering, Madam Bado, and Bado Weilei, believing none of them was the Obstacle Mara.
• Qu Zan’s sister Meiduo appeared and threw herself onto his dagger; realizing that self-attachment was his final obstacle, Qu Zan stabbed himself.
• After the Manor scene burned away, Qu Zan saw a gigantic palm send a point of light from his former rented room and realized it had caused his transmigration.
• Qu Zan entered the Bamboo Grove Vihara in the mysterious space, then returned to reality opposite Magyala, who was still reciting the Heart Sutra.

After destroying his Obstacle Mara, Qu Zan meditated with greater clarity and gathered more Fortune Essence. When Jimiao came to him with recurring nightmares after visiting her family’s newly excavated salt well, he performed a dream-invocation ritual and saw an evil entity surrounding her before using the Peacock Wisdom King’s power to cleanse her nightmare.

• Magyala explained the Four Maras and the stages of Buddhist cultivation, and Qu Zan thanked her for helping him overcome his Obstacle Mara.
• Qu Zan returned to his Separate Courtyard, entered the Form Realm with Secret Conduct, gathered 2.4 Fortune Essence, and put it into Patience.
• Tuya brought her friend Jimiao to Qu Zan because Jimiao kept dreaming that she was buried alive.
• Qu Zan classified Jimiao’s nightmare as a possible intrusion dream and learned that she had recently visited her family’s newly excavated salt well.
• Qu Zan performed a dream-invocation ritual and saw black vapor from an evil entity enveloping Jimiao at the saltworks.
• Qu Zan used Tail Screen Opens, Turning Karma into Compassion, and a gigantic peacock appeared in Jimiao’s dream and swept away the surrounding filth.