Stop Fighting

Monk Zhiquan also knew what he was carrying on his back.

Monk Zhiquan stood at the entrance to Wula Station, refusing to go inside.

Lu Feng's butter lamp illuminated his figure, and also the tangled shadows on the ground. There, Zhiquan's shadow held a Vajra and fought a "large dog" behind him. The shadows kept trembling and intertwining, yet in reality, Lu Feng saw Zhiquan standing at the entrance with his palms pressed together, not daring to advance.

Lu Feng also calmly watched the face clinging to his back. It was a face that constantly changed, now becoming a woman, now a large dog. But whether woman or dog, her eyes were red as burning coals, and great quantities of poisonous gas kept spewing from her mouth.

The poisonous gas seeped into Zhiquan's body. Ghost Resonance also emanated from the Buddhist treasure he wore, the prayer beads hanging around his neck. Layer upon layer of Ghost Resonance enveloped Zhiquan, protecting him. Zhiquan absorbed the poisonous gas without any awareness. It was unclear what Yidam he worshipped, but he was probably close to death now.

Yet even now, his "Immovable Mind" had not shattered, so he had not become a Malevolent Ghost and was still locked in combat with this one.

He even had a thread of breath caught in his throat, sustaining his last trace of life.

However, Lu Feng knew very well that if Zhiquan failed to maintain his "Immovable Mind" in the final instant before death, his Buddha-nature might shatter, turning him into a Malevolent Ghost.

Under normal circumstances, however, the Malevolent Ghost Zhiquan became would also be one of the Sixth Stage of the Gradual Path. Lu Feng could subjugate him through his own great courage and Great Compassion Resonance, because ordinarily, Zhiquan was only a senior monk who had completed the first empowerment and first offering, obtaining the first level of Secret Mantra.

Of course, it was possible he was somewhat stronger. As Elder Mingli's attendant monk, he ought to know other secret mantras as well. When Master Zhuogedunzhu was vanquishing demons at Gaqila Tusi's Official Fortress, he had said he had come because he received a dream from the Soma War God, wishing to subjugate Gaqila Tusi's grandmother.

She had become a tiger-very likely representing wrath and anger, an Obstacle Mara on his path of cultivation. Once he subjugated this mara, he could obtain a Stainless Mind, continue cultivating and studying, enter Pingzan Vajra Temple's Esoteric College, and take the examination for the Fourth Stage of the Gradual Path degree, attaining a higher level of cultivation.

He had also witnessed the strength of Master Zhuogedunzhu, who held a Fifth Stage of the Gradual Path degree. Calling it enough to destroy heaven and earth would certainly be excessive, but saying it could clear out an entire Official Fortress would be more than fair. Elder Mingli had never exerted his full strength, but if he did, he presumably would not be weaker than Master Zhuogedunzhu.

In other words, Elder Mingli had never gone all out? The only time he had displayed his methods was when he took Lu Feng away to evade the "Dakini." The powerful Ghost Resonance had directly suppressed Lu Feng's "fire," making him faint. When he woke, he was already in "Wula Station."

Was Elder Mingli still not going to act?

Or did he want him to subjugate the Malevolent Ghost that Zhiquan would become?

Holding the butter lamp, Lu Feng glanced at the watchtower behind him. There were many monks inside, and as an elder of the Discipline Hall, Elder Mingli had brought Dharma Protector Lamas from the Discipline Hall. None of them moved-Lu Feng did not yet know that they were soothing King Mingzhu while maintaining their auras, preventing King Mingzhu's Great Terror Resonance from spreading out of the watchtower.

Lu Feng had survived such terrifying resonance time and again.

That did not mean the other attendant monks could survive such terrifying resonance too.

Quite the opposite: if Elder Mingli's Great Terror Resonance escaped the watchtower, every attendant monk outside would become a Malevolent Ghost. Apart from Lu Feng, no one would be spared.

Lu Feng's "Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra" differed from the secret mantras they studied. The "Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra" involved neither empowerment nor offerings, seemingly presenting an extremely low threshold. Yet in truth, although many recited the "Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra," those who truly produced Great Compassion Resonance through recitation and obtained a Compassionate Mind were like highland barley scattered into the earth.

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They could only be heard of, never seen.

Even slaves, the lowliest beings in the monks' eyes, could practice the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra, yet not a single slave had mastered it.

Clearly, no one was going to help him.

Lu Feng picked up the Prayer Wheel inscribed with the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra in one hand and motioned everyone back with the other, leaving an open space. He set the butter lamp on the ground, letting its faint light illuminate the front entrance, lighting the whole area clearly.

He took out the Kapala rosary, holding the beads in one hand and turning the Prayer Wheel with the other.

Within the chakra below his navel, Compassionate Resonance began to circulate.

Lu Feng strode forward!

Compassionate Mind, Immovable Mind.

Lu Feng did not know how he should subjugate a Malevolent Ghost. He had subjugated the six eminent-monk Malevolent Ghosts beside him with the help of the "Fire Offering" Mandala on the mountain behind, and had brought out the first Abbot Dharma Venerable along with them.

Nor did Lu Feng have any reference point. He did not know what level his Secret Mantra had reached, and could only assume that opening one lotus petal meant completing one level of Secret Mantra, and two petals meant two levels. The barriers to knowledge in the Secret Dharma Region were simply too thick. Even Lu Feng could not glimpse the mysteries within. His empowerment had lasted only a single day.

Only a few short days had passed since he became a "great monk" of the Sixth Stage of the Gradual Path. Even the scripture concerning Obstacle Maras was something he had only read today. After reading it, he had immediately pieced everything together and understood the reason behind what he had witnessed at Gaqila Tusi's.

Thus, at this moment, Lu Feng said nothing more. He only advanced, the rounded wisdom of the Kapala rosary resting against his fingers. Lu Feng closed his eyes and imagined a fire between his brows!

A fire that burned, then became an incomparably sharp sword of compassion, utterly cleaving apart Monk Zhiquan before him and the "large dog" he carried on his back!

"Om mani padme hum."

"Om mani padme hum."

"Om mani padme hum."

The Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra grew louder with each repetition. Finally, the attendant monks saw a layer of "golden fire" blaze above that Lama's head. Then the golden flames became a sword and slashed toward Monk Zhiquan before him!

"Good!"

That single stroke gave Zhiquan a chance to catch his breath. He formed the fearlessness mudra with one hand, drew a Vajra Bell from the shadow behind him with the other, and turned his face toward the thing clinging to his back, chanting a secret mantra!

"Om!"

"Sarva tathagata."

The Malevolent Ghost retreated again and again. Lu Feng remained unaware. He only thought of the words Zhuogedunzhu had spoken: "Burn. Imagine a fire between your brows. Burn!"

Lu Feng imagined a fire between his brows, then made it blaze, burning away the thing before him!

Boundless flames of compassion streamed like ribbons of splendor, forming great chains of the Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra that bound the Malevolent Ghost before him. Endless flames of compassion scorched her.

A lotus dais made of flame appeared there, and the Malevolent Ghost let out an ear-splitting, deafening shriek.

Lu Feng remained unaware.

He only concentrated on imagining a fire between his brows.

Burn!

Burn everything away!

Burn!

Burn this Malevolent Ghost dry, burn her clean, and offer her to "Om"!

He sensed the aura of a Fire Offering.

Coming to his senses, Zhiquan grabbed Lu Feng and pleaded over and over!

He begged this red-robed monk to stop, not to bring utter catastrophe upon them.

"Yongzhen, Yongzhen, you mustn't, you mustn't!

Just drive this Malevolent Ghost away. You mustn't truly kill her, you mustn't truly kill her!

She is the Ubao God's companion deity.

The Ubao God lives on the sacred mountain nearby. You cannot kill his companion deity!

Otherwise, you will provoke the god's wrath.

Hah! Yongzhen! Stop! Stop at once!"