There was no one here. More precisely, this place was frighteningly desolate, nothing like the rear mountain of the Endless White Pagoda Temple. It was more like a place of exile.
Lu Feng could safely take out his Ancient Scroll and examine it closely.
The Ancient Scroll was now divided into three sections. The top section listed what he needed to do this time-three tasks, not one of which had been completed.
In his current terms, he was still on the Accumulation Path. Only by building a firmer foundation of resources could he complete his tasks with greater ease and dispel more danger.
In the Secret Dharma Region, anyone could come to grief, including those great monks. No one knew what a great monk might encounter the next time he went out, especially when it came to matters even great monks could not refuse, such as the various Dharma assemblies, or orders from still greater monks.
Or demands from more powerful secular nobles.
Even great monks were subject to others.
This was the drawback of the patronage system. If you accepted support, you had to let your patrons hold you hostage to a certain extent. The Endless White Pagoda Temple was indeed second to none in the nearby prefectures, but it was not, after all, the greatest temple in the north.
Otherwise, it would not have been jointly controlled by the Tusi and the Dzongben Nobles. Whenever a new Abbot Venerable was selected, he had to study at Zajuben Temple, the greatest temple in the north. The road there was thick with bandits, and ghostly disasters lay everywhere.
A large party had to travel together, a mixed procession of monk-soldiers, great monks, Spirit Shamans, and even tralpa, securing their footing at every step.
Let alone cross the Great Snow Mountain and head into the heart of the Secret Dharma Region.
Setting out from here, even the safest road passed through a stretch of no-man's-land. No one knew what lay within it.
Or what they themselves would encounter.
Even the great Divine Abilities of great monks sometimes failed in no-man's-land. Many inconceivable things could be encountered there, things even great monks could not tell were real or illusory.
Now, even in this temple filled with people and great monks, Malevolent Ghosts roamed-particularly within the sacred stupa burial grounds on the rear mountain.
Even Lu Feng knitted his brows tightly.
This incident immediately brought something to mind, as though the view had suddenly opened before him. He looked at the date again, confirming those words: contaminated.
The Fire Rooster Year, contaminated beyond legibility.
He had always assumed this contamination meant stains. Now, could this "contamination" carry a deeper meaning as well?
Contaminated-by what?
Lu Feng did not know. There was too little information. He could only make bold hypotheses and verify them cautiously.
Below this, occupying the large middle section, were the newly drawn scenes. The evil ghosts and Malevolent Ghosts within those scenes seemed ready to crawl out and do something to the living people beyond them. Their hatred of living things utterly exceeded Lu Feng's imagination.
Arm after arm emerged from the shadows.
"The scenes actually move and change."
At this sight, Lu Feng's brows drew even tighter.
"Om mani padme hum."
Lu Feng instinctively recited the mantra, turning the Kapala rosary in his right hand as he completed one recitation.
At the very bottom were a small Chang Ghost and the Tiger Ghost that Gaqila Tusi's grandmother had become.
After dying completely, they had turned into two streams of energy and been absorbed into the Ancient Scroll, bringing Lu Feng a different kind of clarity and wisdom. A time was written below as well, telling Lu Feng that this blessing from the Subjugation of Malevolent Ghosts now had only a little over five days left.
Once that time elapsed, he would return to that state of muddleheadedness.
Had he never tasted this feeling of intelligence, he could naturally have remained mired in that muddleheadedness forever.
But after tasting this feeling of intelligence, he found it impossible to stop and unwilling to relinquish it.
Even in death, he would not willingly give up this feeling of wisdom, cleverness, and clear hearing and sight.
This, too, was a desire. It was simply that Lu Feng knew he could not relinquish this desire for the time being.
He was entirely incapable of reaching such a state of wanting and seeking nothing.
So, after his empowerment, he would have to find a few Malevolent Ghosts to fill the emptiness in his Ancient Scroll.
But certainly not those Malevolent Ghosts of the White Pagoda Temple on the rear mountain.
The stupa burial grounds were filled with Malevolent Ghosts. Whatever was going on, the waters here were far too deep.
Lu Feng had no intention of going over to investigate.
He already had enough trouble in the temple.
Were it not for the great contribution he had truly made to the Abbot Venerable's faction this time, along with the protection of Master Zhuogedunzhu's reputation, he reckoned he would already be gone.
Under such perilous circumstances, if he went stirring up trouble in the stupa burial grounds where the temple's Abbot Venerables and elders were laid to rest after passing into nirvana, he feared even Master Zhuogedunzhu's name could not protect him.
"Then will these Malevolent Ghosts attack me now?"
After examining the Ancient Scroll over and over, Lu Feng ventured a guess: its "perception range" had a distance limit, and that distance was not very great. That was why he had never seen the Malevolent Ghosts in the white pagoda forest during his many years in the temple, only seeing them after coming to the rear mountain.
Could this also mean that no Malevolent Ghosts existed in the Ancient Hall where he was to comprehend the "Immovable Mind"?
If so, nothing could be better.
Once he made it safely through tonight, he could choose his Yidam Lama.
As Lu Feng turned it over in his mind, he saw the great sun sink behind the snowy mountains. Darkness enveloped the entire Secret Dharma Region with tremendous speed.
Night fell.
Wind blew down through the mountain pass, and the temperature in the Secret Dharma Region began plummeting, dropping to a level that could freeze people to death.
Although Lu Feng was not wearing only a single layer,
the hall was far too dilapidated. Those waist-high walls offered no shelter from wind or rain.
It was open on all four sides, letting wind in everywhere.
The wind howled like wailing ghosts and wolves.
Left with no choice, Lu Feng shielded the oil lamp before him with one hand and resumed reciting mantras with the other. Not knowing what was about to happen, he could only meet all changes by remaining unchanged. Ordinarily, he might have invoked exoteric scriptures such as the Vajra Mantra or the Avatamsaka Sutra to settle his mind.
But now he already had the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra. Thus, he devoted himself entirely to invoking it. The golden "paint" on the Kapala rosary in his hand seeped into his skin, until night came, deep night, when the moon stood overhead.
The Kapala rosary in Lu Feng's hand had turned entirely a jade-like white, like glazed glass, inscribed with the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra.
Within the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra, a Malevolent Ghost was imprisoned in every bead!
As Lu Feng recited,
Ghost Resonance emanated from his body.
It emanated from the Kapala rosary.
Around him appeared one Malevolent Ghost after another, each formed from a monk.
They all stood outside the hall, staring at Lu Feng as he recited within. Suddenly, they became formless Malevolent Ghosts, seeking to rush inside, flay him and tear apart his bones, ripping him to pieces on the spot.
But all were blocked by the Great Compassion Resonance surrounding Lu Feng.
Not only that, the Great Compassion Resonance turned into streams of vital essence that poured into their bodies.
It pinned them firmly outside the hall!
They had been suppressed for plotting to murder the Abbot Venerable and made into the Kapala rosary. None had done so willingly, and naturally they had become Malevolent Ghosts.
Controlled by their own great Dharma power and subjected to an ingenious design, they were continually "delivered" by the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra whenever someone held the Kapala rosary and recited it.
At this moment, the Malevolent Ghosts formed from six great monks who had plotted rebellion or been defeated by the Abbot Venerable had all appeared, all outside Lu Feng's body.
Yet Lu Feng was utterly unaware.
Here, in this place for comprehending the "Immovable Mind,"
the great peril of this place had yet to descend.
The true crisis had already arrived.
Six Ghosts Feeding!
Before you continue