Senior

Lu Feng had not forgotten that all his preparations were meant to help him obtain a Dharma Lineage, return, and inherit the position of presiding abbot of Ganye Temple.

Leaving aside how many offerings inheriting that position required, or which stage of the "Kalyāṇamitra" degree he needed.

There was no point asking about any of that now.

Only once he truly entered the ranks of Lamas of the Sixth-Stage Order.

Would he have a chance of finding someone to ask about it.

Setting that matter aside.

There were still the Malevolent Ghosts.

The single Malevolent Ghost lingering in Gangcuo Baima alone was enough to give him a headache.

Without sufficiently high cultivation, if he went to Gangcuo Baima, not only would he be unable to subdue that Malevolent Ghost, he would very likely be harmed by it instead, following in the footsteps of Ganye Temple's Lama.

But staying here was not what Lu Feng wanted. He wished he could leave the Secret Dharma Region right now. This place was far too dangerous. Even climbing higher offered no sense of safety. Whether it was the Malevolent Ghosts outside or the people inside, Lu Feng had no choice but to keep his wits about him and deal with them carefully.

The mental effort he expended here far exceeded anything he had done before coming here.

Every step was like a pregnant woman walking a tightrope.

Danger lurked on all sides.

Every plan he made carried great danger within great opportunity.

With many things, once he took that step, there would be no chance to regret it.

Lu Feng sat cross-legged, continually scrutinizing everything he had done, considering whether he had overlooked anything.

Whether he could have done better.

With the Ancient Scroll's blessing of wisdom, Lu Feng thought about many things.

Just then, something writhed in the shadow of the Buddha statue beside him. Long, slender, greasy arms reached out from within it, grasping toward Lu Feng.

Lu Feng raised his brows slightly and, without betraying anything, took a strand of Coral Prayer Beads from his shoulder bag. With both hands, he offered them to those long, slender, greasy arms. The arms accepted the offering and actually withdrew just like that.

Lu Feng paid no heed to what it was. His expression unchanged, he picked up the golden-bead-like prayer beads again and resumed chanting the "Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra." A faint Compassionate Resonance emanated from him. This time, he no longer divided his attention among several tasks, but devoted himself wholeheartedly to chanting the "Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra," experiencing its true intention.

Nor did he use Vajrayana. He slowly moved the prayer beads with the mantra alone. Eventually, it was no longer he himself moving the beads, but his mantra continually setting them turning. That feeling of "himself yet not himself" appeared again, but this time it was a merging, not a separation!

No ghostly aura appeared either. Instead, there was something of Buddha-nature about it.

As the embodiment of great compassion among the Three Protectors, Guanyin Bodhisattva was someone whose image Lu Feng had never seen in the temple. The temple's Buddha and bodhisattva statues were all locked behind great doors, within mandala sanctuaries, and were not readily shown to people. Even when shown, they were like those Lu Feng had seen today: their faces covered with red cloth and their bodies concealed beneath blankets, allowing no one so much as a glimpse.

Only the Lamas who made offerings to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas had a sliver of hope of glimpsing the statues' true appearances.

Still less could one see the mandalas in the murals.

As the "essence of all things" and the "complete and perfect circle," the mandala sanctuaries were fraught with danger. Every guardian Lama protecting them was stern and impartial. Even Lamas cultivating Yidam Practice might not be able to enter the sanctuaries whenever they wished, let alone a Sutra Student Monk like Lu Feng.

As for the bodhisattva images he had seen before, they could not serve as his Visualization Yidam. In cultivating this mantra, Lu Feng also could not refine it to the Great Perfection method, attaining enlightenment without visualization and stepping directly into the realms of "true nature" and "emptiness."

He could only put in the slow work of grinding with water, gradually advancing his cultivation.

As he cultivated in this way, Lu Feng did not sense the strange phenomena appearing again. He remained seated in the courtyard, a Compassionate Resonance slowly spreading from him like ripples of water, undulating through his surroundings.

From a single step around his feet at first, to three steps, then slowly reaching the threshold.

As his chanting gradually got underway and he immersed himself in it with his entire being, his Compassionate Resonance steadily expanded, like a faint radiance illuminating the finest hairs. The golden beads in his hands seemed to emit a faint light as well, seeping into his body. Monks appeared behind Lu Feng once more, but these monks now carried no eerie quality at all. They merely followed behind him, blessing his recitation of the mantra.

[ ]

Lu Feng said nothing and felt nothing.

He was immersed in this vast "intent."

Dimly, Lu Feng also felt that everything around him was Great Luminosity, as though countless rays of light surrounded him.

The world took on its most fundamental form, becoming earth, water, fire, wind, and space.

Within the channels and chakras of his own body, there were also bodies vibrating and cultivating together with these five great primal elements.

"Om mani padme hum."

"Om mani padme hum."

"Om mani padme hum."

Whether it was an illusion or not, the oil lamp, whose light had originally been as faint as a hair-fine glimmer, gradually brightened under the mantra's blessing.

Within Lu Feng's body, faint light seemed to turn into motes of dust and drift outward.

Even the eminent monk standing outside the courtyard.

Turned his head slightly.

And glanced into the courtyard.

At his feet was a Malevolent Ghost he had just subdued. Now a great mouth appeared on his body. As it opened, one could still see the eminent monk's organs and intestines writhing within, rumbling like thunder as they swallowed the Malevolent Ghost.

He was tall and powerfully built, dressed in a dark red monastic robe that left his right shoulder bare. In his hand was an iron staff weighing well over ten jin, which struck the ground with an imposing sound.

The iron staff was blessed with numerous secret mantras and possessed supreme majesty.

His body was covered in bulging muscle. He did not wear the cockscomb hat commonly seen on eminent monks, yet neither was his head uncovered. Amid the flickering dark shadows above his head, light and shadow seemed to shift. He looked more as though he wore a black hat adorned with red streamers.

Human skulls hung around his neck, forming a strand of prayer beads.

This did not mean he was flaunting his martial prowess. It was proof of his "offerings to King Mingzhu." He had "offered" his "fear" and "terror" to his yidam, the temple's Dharma Protector, "King Mingzhu," obtaining empowerment and the secrets of his yidam.

At this moment, divine light of majesty shone all over him. Upon encountering this man, even the monk Zhiguang, who hurried over afterward, had no choice but to press his palms together and address him as "Uncle-Master Mingli."

At the sight of Uncle-Master Mingli, the monk Zhiguang trembled from head to toe.

He had never imagined that when the Abbot Venerable left the temple, he would not take Uncle-Master Mingli with him. Uncle-Master Mingli belonged to the same generation as Master Mingfa. As the lead chanting monk, with a seat on a Dharma Throne in the Great Sutra Hall, Mingfa was effectively the chief of the sutra college within the academy.

He was a nail the abbot had driven into the academy, where the influence of the Dzongben Nobles intertwined.

Mingli, meanwhile, was one of the Abbot Venerable's most important people within the Discipline Hall.

He was not its chief, but even the Discipline Hall Chief had to heed his advice.

Elder Mingli offered his own body to "King Mingzhu." He was one of the few Lamas of great magical power in the temple who dared to make offerings to "King Mingzhu" without having their fundamental mind cowed by him and turning into an Outer God. Rumor had it that Zajuben Temple, First in the North, had once tried to recruit Elder Mingli, offering him a position as one of its guardian Lamas. Unfortunately, Elder Mingli had politely declined.

He had stated outright that he offered his body to "King Mingzhu" and would never leave.

Now that he had encountered Elder Mingli here, even Zhiguang's calves were trembling.

Elder Mingli looked at Zhiguang, his pupils contracted to pinpoints, the whites of his eyes vast.

He looked down from above.

Not the slightest power leaked out, yet the Great Terror rhythm he naturally emitted left Zhiguang utterly unable to entertain any other thought.

He wanted only to kneel and prostrate himself in worship.

He merely looked at Zhiguang like that, and Zhiguang dropped to his knees with a thud.

Elder Mingli pointed two fingers toward the Discipline Hall and said to Zhiguang, "Hah! Go to the Discipline Hall yourself. Receive ten lashes and a penalty of one nine."

As though granted a great pardon, Zhiguang pressed his palms together and bowed repeatedly, then turned and left without lingering at all.

He did not even dare open his mouth to ask where the Dharma Protector he had subdued had gone. All he wanted was to leave this place with his life!

What a terrible loss!