The examination began (part two)

The elder of the Discipline Hall held great authority and high standing. The "academy head" was his equal in rank.

However, the "academy head" of the Endless White Pagoda Temple was the Abbot Venerable himself. In other words, even as chief elder, Elder Mingfa still stood below his own senior brother.

Not a single person here was his equal in rank. Without the Abbot Venerable present, he was the most exalted person here.

Elder Mingzhi gave Elder Mingfa an indifferent glance and sat in the second seat.

He made no particular response to Elder Mingfa's respectful greeting.

Master Zhiyun also led Lu Feng to sit on the meditation cushion nearest them. He himself paid his respects to the two elders in turn before sitting in the last seat.

He silently closed his eyes.

He spoke no more.

He began silently reciting a mantra.

Lu Feng did the same. He closed his eyes. It had been no illusion: during those earlier moments when danger lurked on every side, he had felt a "mind's eye" open within him.

Just now, he had seen with his "own eyes" a pair of skeletal hands reach out from beside Elder Mingfa, with strings of beads hanging from them.

On the left hand was a string of dry skulls.

On the right hand was a string of wet skulls.

In his hand was a heart that still writhed and beat, but as it approached Lu Feng, the heart began to wither, turning into a seed.

It was as though, amid the "impermanence of life and death," something of great terror had taken shape between life and death.

A heart of terror had become a seed, about to be stuffed into Lu Feng's heart.

It was at that moment that the elder of the Discipline Hall arrived. Immediately afterward, Lu Feng saw with his "own eyes" a stream of flames burn toward him, incinerating that "seed." The pair of skeletal hands also swiftly vanished.

Caught between two elders exchanging blows, he was like an ant on the ground. For these great monks to walk past and crush him to death would be perfectly normal. The other elder might have protected him only because of the Abbot Venerable.

Whether he lived or died had not mattered in the first place, but once the Dzongben Nobles and the Tusi Lineage, the Abbot Venerable and the original Tusi monks, Master Zhuogedunzhu and the Endless White Pagoda Temple became involved-

His life and death began to matter.

If that was the case, though, this great monk named Mingfa, who had attacked him, ought to be a representative of the Tusi Lineage.

He did not believe that his report about the Gaqila Tusi Lineage serving the "Outer Dao" would not get out.

After these two or three days, the news would certainly have reached the Tusi Lineage's ears. He had expected retaliation, but he had never expected it to come so decisively, so directly, so bluntly!

There was not the slightest pretense of warmth.

The great monk Mingfa had dared to employ his methods openly beside "Zhiyun," another man Lu Feng considered a great monk. As a direct follower of the Abbot Venerable, Zhiyun could do nothing beyond crying, "You must not, you must not." It seemed strength truly mattered in the Secret Dharma Region.

Having cultivated to this point-

There was little chance that a great monk would be brainless.

For him to dare do this-

That could only mean Lu Feng had previously been at the very bottom of the monastery.

He had never even heard of the struggles among the upper ranks of the Secret Dharma Region.

Such struggles were exceedingly common among the upper ranks of the Secret Dharma Region.

He still had to learn.

The sea of learning had no shore.

Learning had no end.

He had been taught a lesson the moment he entered, but no ripples stirred in Lu Feng's heart. He merely sat down and recited the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra again.

The Kapala ritual implement, like golden beads, slipped between his thumb and forefinger. After that "great danger" just now, Lu Feng felt as though he had comprehended something.

Along with it, the aura and essence within those Kapalas, amid the constant opening and closing of his lips and the constant turning of the Kapalas-

As though their paint were peeling, the gold gradually seeped into his fingers. A faint, elusive layer of power flowed through the energy channels in his fingers. He did not know what it was, but a luminous point seemed to have appeared within the channels of his navel chakra.

These strands of aura entered his Bindu, bringing a feeling of "warmth." That warmth gradually radiated from his body, enveloping this grove.

Sensing the fluctuations coming from Lu Feng, Elder Mingfa opened his eyes and looked at him. Seeing the "gold paint" on his fingers seep into his body, he wanted to speak.

Unexpectedly, however, Elder Mingzhi spoke at that moment.

"Mingfa, the Abbot Venerable will not be coming today. His attendant monk will come instead, and the chime will be struck as the signal. What do you think?"

Although Elder Mingfa knew Elder Mingzhi was saying this deliberately to tell him not to disturb this Sutra Student Monk, he dared not leave Elder Mingzhi's words unanswered.

He immediately pressed his palms together and said respectfully, "Since the Abbot Venerable has said so, he naturally has his reasons. There is no reason not to comply."

"Very well."

Elder Mingzhi nodded and said, "Then recite mantras and pray for the Abbot Venerable's blessings."

Zhiyun and Elder Mingfa had both entered alone.

Elder Mingzhi, however, could bring four attendant monks in with him. This was his special privilege as elder of the Discipline Hall.

He told Mingfa to pray for the Abbot Venerable's blessings. Even though Mingfa knew what the Abbot Venerable was doing outside-he was out there cutting flesh from their Tusi faction-he still had no choice but to recite mantras and offer prayers.

Master Zhiyun heard all of this but remained motionless, like a stone Buddha. Yet in his eyes as he looked at Lu Feng-

There was also profound astonishment.

Merely by reciting the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra-

Could he actually obtain Vajrayana?

The exceptional quality of Kapala ritual implements lay in their being "alive." Using a Kapala ritual implement could grant one an "infusion of great wisdom" from one's predecessors.

Thus, the Kapala bowl used during an empowerment held special significance, and the same was true of a Kapala rosary.

But saying so was one thing.

Those who could truly achieve it were few and far between.

Otherwise, he would not have given this object to Zhasa.

Master Zhiyun's resources were not yet so deep that he could disregard a Vajrayana inheritance.

If the Kapala rosary truly possessed such exceptional Buddha-nature, then the one who comprehended the true intention of the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra left by those eminent monks before him should have been Zhiyun himself, not some insignificant Sutra Student Monk.

He hardly needed to elaborate on the exceptional qualities of the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra. Everyone in the Secret Dharma Region, monk or slave, knew its effects.

If one truly cultivated the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra and took a bodhisattva as one's Yidam, one's prospects would naturally be boundless. Yet many people recited scriptures all their lives without ever seeing anything at all. And so, Zhiyun closed his eyes.

This great opportunity was rightly Zhasa's. There was naturally a reason why this Sutra Student Monk named Zhasa could earn the favor of a great second-tier Lineage. Now it seemed his Buddha-nature ran deep, and his affinity with the Buddha was as vast as the sea. This, too, was a good thing.

With his eyes closed, only Elder Mingfa's voice reciting scriptures and praying for blessings could be heard throughout the rear courtyard.

The Great Sun of the Secret Dharma Region rose ever higher, and the temperature outside rose as well. By noon, the class debates outside had ended, and sixteen monks entered one after another. These were the sixteen student monks who had won their debates.

Lu Feng suddenly raised his brows, returning to his senses from that feeling of "emptiness."

He looked back. Among these sixteen Sutra Student Monks, at least six harbored deep malice toward him, like Malevolent Ghosts peering at him.

Lu Feng knew that today, his trial-

Had arrived.