The Secret Dharma Region beneath the night sky was not particularly eerie. In fact, the moonlight made the place quite bright.
But when the wind blew through,
the cold was piercing.
Like a knife scraping bone.
It scraped every trace of warmth from a person's body. Monks whose cultivation was weak, or who wore thin clothing, could freeze to death in the night.
Even so, the distant pastures were lush with green, and the surrounding mountains were full of green trees and vegetation.
Only farther south, beyond the great snow mountains that gleamed white, would one see mountains of stone.
Not a blade of grass grew on them.
The exposed rocks were a lifeless iron color.
Even the roads were an iron-black mixture of gravel and soil. With a single breath, one felt dirt entering one's throat.
That belonged to the central prefecture, the territory of the renowned foremost temple of the central region among the east, west, south, north, and center. But reaching it required crossing an exceptionally terrifying uninhabited zone.
Even the Abbot Venerable would not ordinarily cross that uninhabited zone.
It was too terrifying.
A mounted party traveled along the road outside the Secret Dharma Region. Naturally, at its head was the man directing this operation, the Abbot Venerable of the Endless White Pagoda Temple.
He held a Damaru representing emptiness. As it beat, the surrounding darkness seemed to retreat. The ceaseless Damaru guided the mounted party along its way.
When traveling at night, his voice, the voice of the guardian Lama at the head of the party, and the voices of their companions were all untrustworthy.
Only by following the sound of the Damaru could they avoid being lured away by other things.
Beside the Abbot Venerable, Zhiyun looked at this Damaru and felt cold rising from his own body.
It coiled together with the surrounding icy wind.
As cold as a charnel ground.
This Damaru was made from the skin of an eminent monk, with the skulls of two eminent monks inside, representing "supreme nature."
Every beat was emptiness and impermanence.
It sounded as though eminent monks were chanting sutras.
Secret mantras that only the Abbot Venerable understood were also engraved upon it.
Their purpose was unknown.
They were very likely secret mantras for subjugating the Outer Dao and malevolent ghosts. Each beat was the sounding of a secret mantra, the circulation of a passage of scripture.
Even when encountering an outer god, this ritual implement could subjugate it through the profound subtleties of the Dharma. Yet the skins of these eminent monks all shared the same origin: they had belonged to monastic officials who had sought to eliminate the Abbot Venerable years ago. Before the Abbot Venerable had completed his studies, when he intended to reclaim all authority, they had planned to act against the disobedient abbot. As a result, they attained final nirvana the very next day.
Their bodies had willingly been made into ritual implements.
The Abbot Venerable's Kapala bowl had always had an "inherited vessel," but he preferred the one he had made himself.
Zhiyun had met all the owners of these ritual implements.
When he was still a yellow-robed Sutra Student Monk, he had seen those great red-robed monks.
Of the string of Kapala rosary beads he had given Zhasa, one bead had been made from the brow bone of a monastic official here. The mounts they rode, whether tall horses or the white elephant beneath the Abbot Venerable before him, were all malevolent ghosts they had subjugated, transformed into various forms.
Among them, horses were auspicious and precious creatures, while the white elephant represented the power of great compassion, and might even represent the secret Yidam of the Abbot Venerable's practice.
That white elephant was like a piece of fine porcelain. As it walked through the darkness, radiance spilled from it even without light.
Only the Abbot Venerable dared venture out into the night.
Most others who went out at night never returned.
Or there was something even more dangerous.
The person who went out and the person who returned were not the same.
As the Abbot Venerable surveyed their surroundings, he said to Master Zhiyun beside him, "Did you see the mark that child held clearly? Are you certain it belongs to a second-rank Lineage of the north?"
Master Zhiyun answered with utmost respect, "Venerable One, that is indeed the case. It also bears that monk's message in secret mantras. Everything he said was true.
"That scripture student named Zhasa is indeed a servant monk of that second-rank Lineage. The secret mantra he held was the Soma War God Mantra of Pingzan Vajra Temple, with the White Vajra God Mantra outside it.
"There were names as well: Master Zhuogedunzhu's monastic and secular names, the name of the honored great Lama who bestowed empowerment upon him, and the names of his grandfather and father within his Lineage.
"There was nothing suspicious about any of it.
"Zhasa is indeed a servant monk of that Lineage, and belongs to Zhuogedunzhu. His standing is exceedingly honored."
The Abbot Venerable said nothing more. He glanced around. At some unknown point, numerous shadows had appeared around them. These shadows had no physical substance, yet they existed there, constantly circling outside the mounted party. Whenever an opportunity arose, they sought to attach themselves to the monks' shadows and replace the monks.
Fortunately, none of the monks carried torches now. Only moonlight shone down.
Their shadows all lay on one side.
The monks he had brought were all guardian deities of the temple and Duoduo Monksoldiers. Naturally, guardian Lamas rode ahead and behind, protecting the others.
The monks advanced while reciting mantras. Master Zhiyun could not help saying, "Venerable One, there have been many more malevolent ghosts around the temple lately."
The Abbot Venerable said, "Not just around the temple. Whether traveling north to south or south to north, the chieftains who did not migrate last time have also begun driving their cattle, sheep, and slaves toward Great Peng's Roost."
"I have also received letters from many villages. They are willing to submit to our temple, asking only that Lamas be stationed permanently in their small village temples. They are willing to offer their children, cattle, sheep, butter, tsampa, and other things, seeking only the peace of the Dharma."
At this point, Abbot Venerable's eyes lit up.
He reined in the white elephant.
The mounted party also halted. They looked up and saw that, not far away, the previously sealed gates of Gaqila Fortified Village stood wide open. Voices of men and women were actually coming from within.
Inside, there seemed to be an unclothed woman, flickering in and out of sight.
She was hiding just behind the gates.
Beneath the moonlight, she brimmed with a stimulating, primal desire.
After one glance, some monks in the mounted party began to grow restless. Even the malevolent ghosts beneath them became unsettled. Master Zhiyun also felt his mouth and tongue drying out. The instant he sensed this, he lowered his gaze and silently recited mantras, forcibly suppressing the wayward thoughts in his heart.
His heart shuddered.
This was a malevolent ghost!
"Zhasa told me that when he left the fortified village, he carefully closed the gates."
Master Zhiyun spoke quickly, only to discover that Abbot Venerable was not surprised. But among the monks who had first seen the woman, some had already begun coughing. Abbot Venerable shook his Damaru once more.
Within his mind treasury, flames suddenly blazed, like a great conflagration filling all ten directions, seeking to burn away everything that was not "still." Upon his body, the flames that guarded his path swept across the entire fortified village in an instant, like a true spirit!
The "woman" within the fortified village immediately turned into a wisp of black smoke, without even time to leave.
Not only that, the flames also flowed down the white elephant's four legs to the ground, traveled along it, and burned over the monks behind him, sweeping away all the "pestilential qi" upon their bodies.
"Come, let us go inside."
Abbot Venerable said, "Let us see just what outer god this Outer Dao practitioner Gaqila has colluded with to blaspheme the Buddha!"
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