Spirit Shaman

"Empty of self, unmoving in suchness. Om mani padme hum."

Lu Feng said nothing. He simply kept reciting the mantra and striving to advance, trying hard to imagine himself as a "○," with everything around him nonexistent and false.

Only he himself was real. This was the "immovable mind" he had comprehended. As for whether this "immovable mind" was correct, Lu Feng did not know either. When he had been a Sutra Student Monk, no red-robed senior monk had been willing to discuss the "immovable mind" with him.

It was his first time being a red-robed monk, too.

Thus, all external things became a single point of origin, settling onto Lu Feng's lotus dais. All external things vanished.

Within the silent watchtower, only King Mingzhu's Wrathful Deity remained. With the Outer Dao that needed subjugating gone, the Wrathful Deity turned its sights on Lu Feng before it, the attendant monks beside him, and the senior monk Mingzhi. But just as the great hands bearing bells emerged from underground, the senior monk Mingzhi picked up his Iron Staff.

He struck the ground, beating all the great hands on its surface back down, then straightened again and walked toward "King Mingzhu," his expression unchanged.

He knew that King Mingzhu had to be soothed with offerings now. And so, pure white silk was draped around Elder Mingli's neck. Elder Mingzhi took out his Kapala Bowl, placed spices and some murky, foul-smelling liquid inside it, and kept making offerings.

He tried to soothe King Mingzhu's anger.

He stood before "King Mingzhu," making offerings as he said, "O honored King Mingzhu, the wind upon the snowy mountains blows stirring music, like the sweet snowmelt upon those mountains quenching your wrath. Those kind young women and men beat gongs and drums to welcome your arrival."

"O honored King Mingzhu, the butter tea in the herders' pots, their yaks and flocks of sheep, all belong to you."

"O honored King Mingzhu, the temple bells are your favorite music, and the wind blowing through Donggu is your favorite season. We monks all enjoy happy lives beneath your protection."

"O honored King Mingzhu, because of your wrath, those Obstacle Maras that obstruct the Buddha all tremble within your fury. O honored King Mingzhu, it is you who shelter our Endless White Pagoda Temple."

"O honored King Mingzhu, your fame is like the bravest Duoduo riding a fierce horse along those great roads, spreading your mighty name..."

A hymn of praise rose and fell from Elder Mingzhi's lips. The attendant monks held offerings in their hands-drinks beneficial to King Mingzhu, gemstones beneficial to King Mingzhu, scriptures beneficial to King Mingzhu, and Dharma Implements useful to King Mingzhu-and sang and danced around him.

One of Elder Mingli's attendant monks even began a celebratory dance to please King Mingzhu, stamping hard on the ground and repeatedly making loud "claps" to soothe him.

Lu Feng could see nothing, so he had never imagined that a high monk's attendants could serve so many functions. Once these dances and offerings were over, the drink in the Kapala Bowl in Elder Mingzhi's hands reflected Elder Mingli's terrifying face within it.

Elder Mingzhi was not surprised in the slightest. He watched all the drink turn into plain water inside his Kapala Bowl, which was inlaid with turquoise and emeralds and preserved with gilding. He stirred the water with one hand and flicked it onto Elder Mingli while reciting a Secret Mantra.

Lu Feng did not hear which Secret Mantra he recited, so he could not know which Yidam Elder Mingzhi had taken refuge in.

But under this constant soothing, Elder Mingli returned to normal. His entire "person" abruptly shrank back, sweat pouring from his head. He staggered backward two steps, and an attendant monk immediately hurried forward to support his master and wipe away his sweat.

Elder Mingli shook all over, jolting the attendant monk beside him away. He pressed his palms together, bowed to Elder Mingzhi, and asked, "Senior Brother Mingzhi, did you see what my disciple was holding just now?"

Elder Mingzhi said, "I vaguely sensed something, but I could not determine exactly what it was, so I could not use a 'Torma' to make offerings to it and curse it.

"So there was nothing I could do either.

"Junior Brother Mingli, this matter is yours, so I will not interfere.

"You will have to handle what follows yourself."

Elder Mingli pressed his palms together and said to Elder Mingzhi, "Thank you, senior brother."

Elder Mingzhi said meaningfully, "We are fellow disciples, you and I. There is no need to be so distant. You and I are one. No matter when or where, all that matters is that you do not forget this."

After speaking, Elder Mingzhi left with his attendant monks, leaving Elder Mingli and Lu Feng behind. Lu Feng had also come to his senses by then, and he looked down at his hands.

The Thangka in his hands was gone.

Everything was gone.

Watching this, and especially seeing Lu Feng's expression, Elder Mingli summoned his attendant monk and said something to him. The attendant hurried out, while he said to Lu Feng, "Make some preparations. We may need to leave the temple for a while."

Lu Feng asked, "Lama, where are we going?"

Elder Mingli said, "Northwest from the temple. On packhorses, we can get there in three days and two nights."

Elder Mingli said, "What is happening to you involves certain matters from rather ancient times. The temple's records of these matters are not detailed.

"So there are some things we must ask certain manor lords about."

Lu Feng pressed his palms together, thanking and praising his Lama.

Elder Mingli called a yellow-robed monk to sit in the watchtower and take over Lu Feng's work. Moreover, when someone of his standing left the temple, there were matters he had to make arrangements for, and such news could not be kept hidden.

This news would also soon reach other people's ears and become known.

Elder Mingfa sat quietly on his meditation cushion, silently reciting a mantra. Elder Mingchu was beside him as well, and drank a cup of butter tea.

Elder Mingchu found that he could no longer quite see through the senior monk before him. It seemed he had truly cultivated his secret Yidam, eternally unmoving like Mount Sumeru.

Even after hearing the news, he did not so much as raise his eyelids, as though everything lay within his grasp.

Only after they had finished exchanging pleasantries and Elder Mingchu had left did Elder Mingfa raise his eyelids slightly.

"Monk Yongzhen, the Abbot Venerable, Monk Mingli."

He gave a derisive chuckle. His gaze seemed to pierce the hall's walls and turn toward the abandoned hall on the mountain behind the temple. What had happened that morning had spread throughout the entire temple; he had learned of it long ago.

Connecting it with the flames on the mountain behind the temple that night, Elder Mingfa said leisurely, "Nothing but a severed Dharma Lineage."

After he spoke, though his great hall was plainly empty, someone still spoke to Elder Mingfa. "You must guard against it."

Elder Mingfa said, "There is no need."

After saying that, Elder Mingfa added, "Once I have subjugated you, it should be time for my mastery of the Dharma to advance greatly. Then you must come with me to Zajuben Temple, when it is time to further my Buddhist practice.

"By then, the Abbot Venerable will enter final nirvana."

He closed his eyes and said slowly, "Even Monk Mingli is merely a speck of dust blocking my path. Once the wind of the wilderness blows, nothing will remain but me.

"Clean and pure, without a single attachment!"