Of all this.
Lu Feng knew nothing.
After he waited outside for a moment, the steward came out through the door, looked Lu Feng up and down, and seemed quite satisfied with his appearance.
After asking Lu Feng to recite a passage of scripture on the spot.
He was even more satisfied with Lu Feng.
"Good, good, good. Young master, which temple are you from?"
As the steward led Lu Feng into the fortress, he signaled for the soldiers to stand down.
Once night fell, everything outside the watchtower belonged to the malevolent ghosts.
All people could do was shut the watchtower gates and pray that no terrifying Malevolent Ghost would wander over and wipe out everyone in the chieftain's stronghold.
Some strongholds had done nothing at all, yet became realms of death simply because a malevolent ghost passed through.
The same was true of some temples.
Their incense offerings flourished by day, only for a malevolent ghost to visit that night, leaving not a single monk alive and severing their Dharma lineage.
Ganye Temple, which Lu Feng wanted to revive.
Belonged to the latter category.
A medium-sized temple.
Although it stood in a village, it had possessed a complete "college" system in its heyday.
It had a great monk who held the honorific title of "Qubilghan."
Monks from the surrounding villages all came there to study.
The entire village was encompassed within Ganye Temple.
The temple had more than a thousand people in all.
Temples with a "college" could confer the lowest degree-the "Kalyāṇamitra" degree that Lu Feng intended to take the examination for.
This also meant that Ganye Temple had a Lama capable of bestowing empowerments.
Every Lama possessed inconceivable power, enough at least to protect himself when facing malevolent ghosts.
Yet even so, Ganye Temple had fallen into decline.
In the end, it had even lost the things most important to a medium-sized temple: its "Dharma seat," its "lineage," and its great monk's "honorific title."
It had become a small temple through and through.
Even its "college" system had been stripped away.
The calamity that had befallen Ganye Temple had also become a knot in the original Zhasa's heart.
Hearing the steward's question, Lu Feng said, "This humble monk comes from the Endless White Pagoda Temple. I am a student monk there, and have come expressly to pray for the chieftain's grandmother!"
"Oh, so you are from the Endless White Pagoda Temple, whose abbot holds the title of 'Great Scholar.' Please, come with me."
Upon hearing where Lu Feng came from.
The steward immediately grew respectful.
The temple Lu Feng came from was a large temple established in the prefectural seat—though across the entire Secret Dharma Region, it ranked as a medium-sized temple.
Its abbot was a Qubilghan with the title of "Great Scholar," versed in the teachings of both exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, and a great monk who held a third-tier degree.
He wielded authority over personnel, finances, monk soldiers, taxation, and other matters in the surrounding prefecture.
The Endless White Pagoda Temple was also intertwined with the local chieftains and Dzongben.
It was a colossal power entrenched in the prefectural seat!
A monk from such a temple could not be treated lightly.
Watching the sky as he went, the steward led Lu Feng into the watchtower and toward the monks' quarters.
Lu Feng saw.
That this chieftain's watchtower was quite typical.
The stairways throughout the watchtower were extremely steep, and it was painted white, blue, and yellow. In many corners hung heavy prayer flags covered in Sanskrit and mantras.
The scent of incense wafted from them.
Strange white bones could also be seen in some dark corners.
The steward brought him to the monks' temporary lodgings.
The moment he lifted the heavy door curtain, he smelled the rich aroma of butter tea and tsampa.
Lu Feng bent down and stepped inside, where he saw at least seven or eight monks seated.
The monks sat in an orderly arrangement. In the center sat a Lama wearing a cockscomb hat, prayer beads in one hand and a prayer wheel in the other, constantly chanting mantras. His recitations echoed throughout the room.
The student monks all sat far away from the Lama, leaving a large space around him, not daring to intrude.
The steward came in as well and pointed out a place for Lu Feng to sit before leaving.
Lu Feng sat down and glanced around, and indeed spotted a few familiar faces.
They were monks who studied with him at the Endless White Pagoda Temple.
Seeing Lu Feng, these monks gathered around. Before they could speak, the steward returned and gave Lu Feng a bundle stuffed with dried meat and tsampa. Only then did he press his palms together, say, "May good fortune be with you," and leave for good.
Lu Feng was ravenous. Sweeping his gaze around, he spotted the copper butter-tea kettle in front of the Lama at the very center, placed there for the Lama's convenience. He went over and filled his own bowl with butter tea, taking a look at the Lama as he did so. The Lama's eyes were tightly shut, his lips moving in constant recitation. He did not look like a Lama from any nearby temple; Lu Feng had never seen his face before. Judging by his clothes, he had come from afar and was travel-worn.
"Zhasa, you rascal, you came too."
Back at the place where he had been sitting.
A monk spoke.
"Yes. Haven't you come too?"
Zhasa looked at the people beside him. They were all his fellow students, though he was only familiar with two of them. One had studied for fifteen years, the other for thirteen. Both were student monks, one named Duoji and the other Tudeng.
Like him, both student monks came from small temples whose Dharma lineages had been severed. Coming out to "work" when an occasion like this arose was perfectly normal.
"Of course."
Drinking butter tea.
He took dried meat from his pocket and wolfed it down.
Once he had eaten his fill, Lu Feng licked his bowl clean and began reciting scriptures.
Night gradually fell. The chieftain's grandmother's birthday was the following day-tomorrow.
Once the gates of the chieftain's stronghold closed today, it meant no one else would be coming.
Unless something was urgent enough to be a blazing emergency, no one would travel at night.
The gates of the chieftain's stronghold shut tight.
Only the wind from the wilderness kept battering the closed gates, with inside and outside completely cut off from each other.
Meanwhile, the chieftain, who had yet to show his face, was hiding in his room, his face the color of earth.
Before him stood a divine statue one handspan tall.
The deity enshrined was a protector goddess.
He kept smearing yellow grease and fresh blood over the goddess, but cracks continued to spread across her body, and all the offerings in the offering bowl before her remained untouched.
Even the bubbling sound of the mixture of heart and brain matter had failed to please the goddess.
That was already enough to prove certain things!
"Are even you unwilling to shelter us any longer?"
The chieftain cried out in despair, but the goddess gave no response.
From a hole in the ground not far from him, his grandmother's voice kept coming, growing increasingly urgent and fierce.
As though, if he did not answer soon.
She would crawl out of the hole.
"Gaqila, Gaqila, where are you?"
"Gaqila, Gaqila, if you don't speak, I'm coming out to find you!"
"Gaqila, Gaqila, my dear grandson, I'm hungry!"
Hearing the voice coming from the hole, the chieftain shuddered all over. In terror, he grabbed a corpse beside him and kicked it down the hole.
Soon, spine-chilling sounds of chewing came from below.
The calling also stopped for the time being.
His eyes wide and his head covered in sweat, the chieftain hurriedly tried to run outside.
He did not want to stay here a moment longer.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
In the monks' quarters.
After reciting scriptures for half the night, Lu Feng was a little thirsty. He tiptoed over to pour himself some butter tea, only to see the Lama watching him in the dim room, his open eyes gleaming.
He was awake.
"Where do you come from?"
The Lama suddenly asked.
Lu Feng hurriedly pressed his palms together and bowed. "This humble monk comes from the Endless White Pagoda Temple."
Hearing this, the Lama nodded and said, "Not bad, not bad.
"Hereabouts, the Endless White Pagoda Temple counts as a fine place to come from.
"Your Endless White Pagoda Temple has two scriptures. One is called the 'King Mingzhu Dharma Protector Mantra,' and the other the 'Vajra Bodhi Mahā Mahāmudrā.' Both are wondrous teachings capable of cleaving the Vajra Cutter and bringing forth great enlightenment.
"Which of the two have you studied?"
This was the first Lu Feng had learned of the methods practiced at the Endless White Pagoda Temple, where he studied.
Seeing that the Lama seemed kindly, Lu Feng promptly followed the snake up the pole and said, "This humble monk is only a Sutra Student Monk and has yet to earn the 'Kalyāṇamitra' degree. I do not know what fine Dharma lineages our temple possesses.
"May I ask where you come from, Lama, and how you know of our temple's two wondrous teachings?"
The Lama said, "I come from Pingzan Vajra Temple, one of the Four Great Dharma Protector Temples beneath the 'Supreme Great Snow Mountain.' I am a monk of the esoteric college who has just earned the fifth degree. I was to take charge of a temple and become its Dharma-seat abbot.
"But guided by a dream, I came here expressly to complete the final step of my practice."
Hearing where the Lama came from.
Lu Feng's pupils trembled.
For no other reason than the Pingzan Vajra Temple he had mentioned.
That was the great temple everyone dreamed of entering!
A place of unsurpassed prestige!
Pingzan Vajra Temple!
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