Correct Explanation of the Four Marks

Chu Qiuzi could not help laughing and replied, "I said it was the greatest sect two hundred years ago. Successive leaders of Xuanhuang Dao served as imperial preceptors of the Former Dynasty, so of course it was destroyed by this dynasty along with the Former Dynasty! When the Former Dynasty fell, Xuanhuang Dao backed the wrong horse, supporting the King of Chongxiao, Yang Sui, and opposing the Founding Emperor and Emperor Taizong of this dynasty. After the Founding Emperor won the realm, he sent a great army to encircle and annihilate Xuanhuang Dao, wiping out its lineage."

"Xuanhuang Dao had countless experts. Although surrounded by the army, a group of disciples still escaped, including the Seven Sons of Xuanhuang. They each established a sect, becoming a grave threat at the heart of this dynasty."

Wang Chong asked somewhat uneasily, "Since Xuanhuang Dao was a great enemy of this dynasty, would someone who practiced its martial arts be regarded as a rebel?"

Chu Qiuzi shook her head. "When the Founding Emperor of this dynasty destroyed Xuanhuang Dao, he seized a great many of its secret manuals. Although the Seven Sons of Xuanhuang carried away its three supreme divine arts, the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation was scattered and lost during their escape. The other martial arts circulated widely at court, and people in the martial world practiced them too. Even Wudang and Qingcheng have two or three arts preserved in their collections. There is no harm in cultivating them."

Only then did Wang Chong relax, thinking, So that was how it was.

To actually get his hands on the supreme secret manual of an ancient great sect-Sun Yanqi had the makings of a protagonist too! Surely I didn't get this world's chosen son killed?

Pah! I wasn't the one who killed him. The blame can't fall on my head.

The Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation has quite a formidable background. It's not convenient to reveal it just yet... He said quietly, "My family has handed down a volume of scripture called the Correct Explanation of the Four Marks. It might be a fragment of Xuanhuang Dao's wondrous martial scripture. Although I've studied it for a long time, I've never managed to find my way through its door. I'd like to seek your guidance, Chu Fairy."

Chu Qiuzi pursed her lips in a faint smile. "Since it is a family heirloom of yours, Young Master Wang, how could a girl like me presume to read it?"

Wang Chong blurted out, "You're no outsider, Chu Fairy."

The girl had already come over to read with him by lamplight. If he did not take the opportunity to slip in a couple of teasing jabs, all those past girlfriends would have been for nothing.

Sure enough, Chu Qiuzi's cheeks flushed. When Wang Chong handed her the scripture, she did not refuse. She pondered for quite a while before gently opening it.

Although Wang Chong had memorized both the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation and the Correct Explanation of the Four Marks, he did not understand their contents very well.

This Correct Explanation of the Four Marks in particular merely explained the foundations of the Divine Buddha Sign, True Treasure Sign, Demon Sign, and Bird and Beast Sign, with no concrete cultivation methods. He could never work out just what on earth it was talking about.

Chu Qiuzi read for just under an hour, then pondered for a long time before saying quietly, "Young Master Wang, perhaps your family are not people of the martial world and have never told you about its affairs. Since you trust me, I will offer you a word of advice. You must not tell anyone this secret manual exists, including your parents, wives, concubines, close relatives, or dear friends." At the words "wives and concubines," Qingcheng's second senior sister could not help blushing slightly.

Much surprised, Wang Chong asked, "Why is that?"

Chu Qiuzi replied, "The Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation is the supreme art of the western Vajrasana Monastery."

"It is said that over a thousand years ago, there were two eminent monks in the west, Ronakasantī and Moon-Hidden Auspicious Wisdom, each the head of a great Buddhist school. The faithful who made offerings to them spanned dozens of countries, and their exalted standing surpassed that of kings. To debate Buddhist principles, the two eminent monks held a Buddhist Debate Assembly at a small frontier monastery. Both had profoundly mastered Buddhist teachings and attained wondrous insight into the Heavenly Dao. Neither could persuade the other. After debating the scriptures for a thousand days, both eminent monks suddenly attained enlightenment together and entered the Transcendent Realm. The eminent monk Ronakasantī went into seclusion for seventy-seven days and created the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation, which shook the western nations and subdued thousands of sects. The Great Esoteric Vajrayana flourished as a result, and that small frontier monastery also rose to great renown. Countless monks flocked there, building hundreds of monastic halls, and it became the great root monastery of his lineage: Vajrasana Monastery, the root monastery of the Great Esoteric Vajrayana and one of the Three Great Buddhist Monasteries of the Western Buddhist Sect."

Wang Chong listened with his heart surging, thinking, Buddhism in this world is different from what we have back home.

Chu Qiuzi pointed at the Correct Explanation of the Four Marks and said, "Ronakasantī attained insight into the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation, but after the Buddhist debate, Moon-Hidden Auspicious Wisdom sat in meditation for three days, then departed lightly, his whereabouts unknown. His Mind-Consciousness School declined as a result. Several more decades passed before Moon-Hidden Auspicious Wisdom appeared again, entering Vajrasana Monastery a second time and debating the scriptures with Ronakasantī in a secluded chamber for a hundred and twenty-one days. No one witnessed this Buddhist debate, nor did anyone learn its outcome. Afterward, Moon-Hidden Auspicious Wisdom once again departed lightly into the distance, and no trace of the monk was ever seen again. Ronakasantī was already over a hundred and seventy years old then. With his profound mastery of Buddhist teachings, it would have been nothing unusual for him to live several more decades, past two hundred, but the debate had severely depleted his essence, Qi, and spirit. Within a hundred days of the debate, he passed away in seated meditation. His junior disciples found this volume of the Correct Explanation of the Four Marks beside him. However, its handwriting was different, so it clearly had not been written by Ronakasantī. His seventh disciple had once read Buddhist scriptures handwritten by Master Moon-Hidden Auspicious Wisdom and brought them over for comparison, confirming that it was Moon-Hidden Auspicious Wisdom's work. Because this scripture seemed to disparage the fundamental great art of the Great Esoteric Vajrayana, although the monastery enshrined it as the work of an eminent monk of an earlier generation, no one practiced it."

Wang Chong nodded repeatedly as he listened, then asked, "How did these two scriptures later reach the Central Lands?"

Chu Qiuzi smiled. "The fourth Dao Master of Xuanhuang Dao traveled through the west and specifically visited the Three Great Buddhist Monasteries to debate the scriptures. He won every debate, and no one could defeat him. He also swept through the western monasteries in combat, fighting his way through all of Buddhism. The abbot of Vajrasana Monastery refused to accept defeat and specially brought out the monastery's supreme treasured scripture for the fourth Dao Master to read. He declared that it was merely the Buddhism of that age that lacked outstanding disciples, not that western Buddhism was inferior to Xuanhuang Dao."

"The fourth Dao Master was a dazzling genius. After reading the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation handwritten by Ronakasantī, he cast out the old and brought forth the new in his own cultivation arts, defeating twenty-seven great Buddhist divine transformation arts in succession."

"The abbot of Vajrasana Monastery was distraught and at his wits' end. A disciple offered a suggestion, so he brought out the Correct Explanation of the Four Marks. The fourth Dao Master read it for seven days, then suddenly burst out laughing and strode away, returning to the Central Lands. Thus, the Fundamental Scripture for Cultivating the Thirty-Two Marks of Divine Transformation also came into Xuanhuang Dao's possession."

Wang Chong's heart surged as he imagined the imposing prowess of this fourth Dao Master. That old fellow really had something to him!

Chu Qiuzi said, "After that, Buddhism repeatedly sent eminent monks eastward, bringing Buddhist scriptures and cultivation arts to the Central Lands one after another. Now, several hundred years later, complete versions of the Four Great Buddhist Divine Arts still circulate in the Central Lands, while the Western Buddhist Sect no longer has them all intact. Instead, it is now the west that often sends disciples to the Central Lands to study Buddhist teachings, hoping to bring the Buddhist scriptures and divine arts back to the west."

Wang Chong said, "So this scripture is that precious. I certainly won't show it to anyone else lightly. Fortunately, you and I aren't outsiders to one another, Chu Fairy."

This time, however, Chu Qiuzi ignored his teasing and said evenly, "That is not what I meant. The fourth Dao Master brought the Correct Explanation of the Four Marks back to the Central Lands as well and told his disciples, 'This is a Supreme Demon Scripture.' He also warned the disciples under him that they must never read it under any circumstances."

...Moon-Hidden Auspicious Wisdom: "I am the Buddha-demon, I am the enemy of the Buddha, I am the destroyer of the Dharma, I am the destroyer of the Buddha, I am a heavenly demon the likes of which the world has never seen..."