Lion-Faced Dakini

"When Sangsang went to the monastery, he was immediately identified by Zongcha Gompa as the incarnation of the guardian deity Yangchen Lhamo."

"The great lamas of Zongcha Gompa practiced tantric meditation with Sangsang day and night."

"After seven days and nights, she was taken by the lama to the monastery's Zhacang (monastic college) to be used by the monks for studying the Dharma."

"Seven more days and nights passed, and legend has it that Sangsang's body was completely washed by the nectar of compassion, becoming transparent inside and out. Her soul was now tightly connected with Yangchen Lhamo, to the point that her physical body also appeared as a void."

The monks then carved scriptures all over her skin and painted a thangka on her back.

"She was immobilized and frozen into the frozen Sangsang River, which served as the coloring medium for the scriptures and Thangkas on her body."

"After that, all I heard was that Sangsang would occasionally sing by the Sangsang River and look after the sheep for the shepherd; I never heard of anything else about him."

As Zhou Yang listened to Zeweng recount Sangsang's past, he used ropes to tie up the female corpse wrapped in a robe on the ground.

He carried it on his back; the stench of the corpse filled his nostrils, then transformed into the fragrance of blooming wildflowers.

How did the monks in the temple practice tantric meditation with Sangsang?

Zhou Yang walked along the path towards the Narong Mountain, asking Zeweng as he went.

When he asked the question, he already had the answer in his heart.

"Zeweng paused for a moment before stammering, "It's a method of practice for lamas; we laymen don't understand it."

Seeing that Zeweng had taken the initiative to speak, Jiekan Kan did not hesitate and followed up, saying, "It's what men and women do."

"Women who go to the temple are all forced to do things that men and women do with the lamas!"

They say this is a form of spiritual practice!

Although Zhou Yang had a vague idea of the answer, hearing Jiekan say such a thing in person made him feel both absurd and disgusted!

Zeweng smiled blankly and repeated his previous words, "Yes."

"These are the practices of the high lamas; we laypeople cannot understand them."

Looking at Zeweng and Zhima's matter-of-fact expressions, Zhou Yang felt inexplicably sad again.

Arguing with them is completely pointless.

Zhou Yang fell silent, carrying the female corpse that resembled Sangsang on his back, and walked forward with his head down.

Zeweng and Zhima noticed Zhou Yang's unusual silence. Zeweng opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he could only sigh and follow Zhou Yang to the Narong Mountain.

When they reached the settlement of sky burial practitioners at the foot of Narong Mountain, Zhou Yang finally spoke, "Please bring all the sky burial tools."

"We're about to head up the mountain."

"I'll go get it!" Zhima quickly agreed and hurriedly went to her own house.

A short while later, she hurriedly came out again, carrying a bag.

Tools such as knives and axes were all in that bag.

Zhou Yang tugged at Sangsang on his back; Sangsang, wrapped in a robe, seemed to weigh much less.

Only when Zhou Yang actually touched her could he feel her weight.

The fragrance of wildflowers still lingered around Zhou Yang's nose.

He asked him to confirm that Sangsang was still behind him and had not left.

Having gathered the necessary tools, the group followed the mountain path towards the Narong Mountain.

The silence of the crowd added a touch of solemnity to the sky burial.

As they approached the sky burial platform at the summit, Zeweng spoke up, "Let me give her the sky burial then."

"Aji, you haven't personally seen the deceased off yet, just watch from the sidelines for now."

"So that your technique isn't too good and you don't anger her."

As he spoke, Zeweng looked up at the sky.

In my dream, the sky was dark and gloomy, and I couldn't see a single Dakini hovering in the sky.

He wasn't sure if his Shaozi would have the same effect in his dream, summoning the Dakini.

Zhou Yang shook his head upon hearing this. "This sky burial will definitely be different from the past."

"You've already given her a sky burial once, but she feels you haven't truly sent her off and allowed her to depart in peace."

"So, let me give her a sky burial this time."

As he spoke, he climbed onto the sky burial platform, untied the rope around his waist, and unloaded the female corpse from his back.

He then squatted down and opened the robe that was covering the woman's body.

As the robe opened completely, revealing the female corpse beneath, a sudden clap of thunder echoed in the sky, "Boom!"

The thunderclap startled everyone present, making them tremble.

After the thunder, raindrops the size of soybeans began to pelt down from the sky.

This arid region, which receives little rainfall, was suddenly hit by a torrential downpour!

The heavy rain blurred everything in sight.

Zeweng looked around in astonishment and fear at the sudden downpour, at a loss for what to do. "With such heavy rain, the sound of the Shaozi won't carry!"

"The Dakini can't come!"

"Just blow the Shaozi later!"

Zhou Yang turned his head and called out to Zeweng.

He turned back again, and the female corpse on the ground underwent a new change under the washing of the rain; her skin gradually became transparent.

Beneath the transparent skin, the bones and flesh supporting this body become clearly visible in every detail.

Lines and columns of scripture spread outwards from the woman's chest to her limbs and bones.

Every scripture painted with gold lacquer exudes a foul stench.

The most pungent stench emanated from the colorful thangka on the female corpse's back.

No matter how much the rain washed over her, it could not clean the scriptures covering the woman's body, making the thangka she carried even more vibrant, and the "Yoga Mother Yangchen Lhamo" on the thangka even more charming and moving.

The foul stench completely masked the natural fragrance emanating from the woman's corpse.

At this moment, Zhou Yang's gaze was completely focused on the female corpse's chest and abdomen. The female corpse's chest and abdomen were translucent, and her heart, liver, and other internal organs were nowhere to be found.

Instead, her chest and abdomen were filled with fist-sized human heads!

The thick hair of those heads was intertwined, and the faces of women, revealing sadness, fear, and resentment, were partially obscured by the hair, appearing and disappearing indistinctly!

Zhou Yang remembers these women's faces!

They appeared as bruises and scars on the swollen female corpse's skin.

Where did these shrunken, fist-sized women's heads come from?!

"That's really Sangsang!"

"His body was truly covered with scriptures and thangkas!"

Jiekan walked up behind Zhou Yang and saw the woman's body on the ground. His eyes widened in disbelief. "What happened inside her?! So many heads?!"

Zeweng and Zhima, who had been standing frozen in the rain, rushed over upon hearing the noise. They were also horrified to see Sangsang lying in Zhou Yang's outer robe!

They deciphered the scriptures on the transparent female corpse and identified the individual female heads inside her chest and abdominal cavity.

After a long while, Zhima suddenly spoke up, "There is Yangla's head inside her belly!"

A month ago, Yangla floated down the Sangsang River.

"Even earlier, her family searched everywhere for her, saying she had disappeared and her body was missing. We were the ones who gave her a sky burial!"

"How did her head end up here?"

"I saw Dawa too—" Zeweng said hoarsely, "Dawa also drifted down from the upper reaches of the Sangsang River— "

"Her body was horrific; I still remember it a year later—"

"I cleaned her up and sent her away, so how come her head is still inside Sangsang's belly?"

Zongcha Gompa Temple is located upstream of the Sangsang River.

"Because you only sent away their bodies, but you didn't truly send away their souls that remained in this world."

Zhou Yang replied, "Their deaths were all related to Zongcha Gompa, weren't they?"

"After they died, they were all thrown into the Sangsang River next to Zongcha Gompa."

"The Sangsang we see now is not just Sangsang, but also the Sangsang River."

"Isn't it normal that those dead who were trapped inside her body are now appearing inside her stomach?"

"Is this a river transformed into Tsen Demon?!" Upon hearing this, Zeweng looked at the female corpse covered in scriptures on the ground, his eyes filled with horror!

"It is Tsen Demon formed from all the women who were murdered in a river."

Zhou Yang gently corrected him.

Zeweng and Zhima's minds went completely blank!

Zhou Yang remained silent. He held Sangsang's cold, translucent hands in his own, and inscribed golden scriptures on the back and palms of her hands, making her translucent palms look as if they were crawling with flies.

"Buzz----"

Zhou Yang was merely shifting his thoughts.

The Fat Mirror Lamp emitted a strange fluctuation.

A serene and harmonious white light emanated from his palm, flowing like milk across Sangsang's skin and filling the cracks in the scriptures carved by the knife and chisel.

In a daze, Zhou Yang also heard a grand and solemn chanting of scriptures.

The Fat Mirror Lamp the scriptures, was now tinged with strands of gold.

Sangsang, who was lying quietly on the ground, suddenly trembled again. In an instant, she transformed into the shape of a swollen female corpse, and then returned to her slender and graceful figure. She was resisting with all her might, and the golden threads once again clung to her body!

"Whoosh!"

Zhou Yang immediately gathered the ripples, causing the Fat Mirror Lamp to swirl like a vortex!

The strands of gold mixed in were swept away as the vortex spun.

The white light then enveloped Sangsang's body.

Sangsang was quiet and still, and her body stopped trembling.

How much time had passed, Zhou Yang felt his mindfulness Mindfulness his brows was about to crumble, when Sangsang, covered in scriptures and wearing a Tang-style robe on her back...

The card was finally completely removed.

The rain gradually stopped.

The sky, washed clean by the heavy rain, was clear and transparent.

"Bring me the knife."

Zhou Yang reached behind him, and Zeweng immediately took out a knife from his pocket and handed it to him.

Zeweng looked at the female corpse on the ground, his eyes filled with worry.

Inside the woman's stomach, the human heads were still making all sorts of horrifying expressions.

They did not disappear just because the scriptures on Sangsang's skin were erased.

"Sound the Shaozi and summon the Dakini."

Zhou Yang picked up the knife, observed Sangsang on the ground, and said without turning his head.

"Alright, alright—" Zeweng had no objections, but after agreeing, he took out the Shaozi and still couldn't help asking, "What about those heads inside Sangsang's belly?"

"She is incomplete because she doesn't have a heart and lungs."

How can we leave cleanly like this?

Sangsang's internal organs are already corrupted.

Even if she could stay, it would be a burden for her.

"Why not build her a new set of organs?"

Zhou Yang said so.

"Make another one?" Looking at Sangsang's pregnant belly full of women's heads, Zeweng finally resisted the urge to ask again.

He watched as the translucent skin was gently sliced open by the knife in Zhou Yang's hand.

The line ran from his chest down to below his navel.

One by one, women's heads, reeking of a foul stench, gushed out from Sangsang's belly!

They screamed pitifully in mid-air, struggling desperately.

However, their hair was tangled and stuck to Sangsang's chest and abdomen, so no matter how much they struggled, they could not escape very far!

The women's heads collided with each other, making a terrifying thud!

Each woman's head touched Zhou Yang's Mindfulness.

Each woman's head is a manifestation of a Tsen Demon!

Zhou Yang lifted up a human head, Fat Mirror Lamp swept across it.

The woman's piercing screams sounded to him like pleas, "Duobudan, they've taken my heart."

"Please repair my heart, so that I may return home whole."

Zhou Yang softly replied, "Okay."

His gaze swept around, and he dug out a clump of mud from the meadow. He picked out the withered grass and pebbles from the mud and kneaded it into the shape of a peach heart.

When the Fat Mirror Lamp swept across the clay heart, it transformed into a bright red heart.

In Zhou Yang's other hand, the woman's head held the heart, and Zhou Yang gently Yangla him, saying, "I am deeply grateful for your kindness—"

The woman's head floated away from Zhou Yang's palm in an instant, falling back into Sangsang's empty chest and abdomen, where it transformed into a heart.

Then, Zhou Yang lifted up the second woman's head.

" In Duobudan, they took my intestines—"

Zhou Yang responds to the wishes of every human head.

After their wishes were fulfilled, they fell back into Sangsang's chest and abdominal cavity, transforming into Sangsang's internal organs and the flesh and ribs that supported Sangsang's chest and abdomen.

Sangsang's originally translucent skin tone has now returned to a healthy wheat color.

She bared her chest to Zhou Yang, and the faint smile line at the corner of her mouth had now turned into a hearty laugh.

She was finally whole again.

Zeweng then blew his Shaozi.

A flock of eagles flew in from the clear blue sky.

Another shower of feathers began to fall from the sky!

From the flock of vultures that appeared in his dream, Zhou Yang sensed the presence of Zhuoma.

The eagles landed on all four sides of the platform, still looking dazed and confused.

On a Shitou on the east side of the platform, Zhuoma lowered her head and preened her feathers a few times. Noticing Zhou Yang 'Zhou Yang gaze, she raised her head and looked at him, "Caw----caw----"

Zhou Yang smiled, lowered his head, and the knife in his hand fell.

A large chunk of flesh was thrown towards the flock of vultures.

The four Dakini enthusiastically enjoyed the offerings.

A melodious song drifted from the horizon. "Om da le, du da le, du lie suo ha----"

The singing was ethereal and distant, as if it came from the depths of the snow-capped mountains.

Having received the offering, the eagles once again spread their wings and soared into the sky.

However, unlike Zhuoma, they did not have any connection with Zhou Yang.

Sangsang on the platform had been completely given away; only Zhou Yang's robe, which had been used to wrap the woman's body, remained.

The flock of eagles and vultures flew away in an instant.

In the mountains and fields, it seemed that only Zhou Yang and a few others remained.

It's all empty and clean.

But that ethereal, distant song continued to echo, gradually seeping into Zhou Yang's heart. "Om da lie, du da lie, du lie suo ha----"

Zhou Yang immediately realized that something else had attached itself to his soul.

Just like Little Zhuoma back then.

However, before he could even open the "Knife Credit Ledger" to check it, he heard another person's voice in addition to the singing.

This voice was not Aji's. "Badin Dorje Ramni, Zamo Senge Dongba Jian;"

"Ye Xi Mi Yi O Se Du, Seng Ge Dong Jin La Mo Ni----"

The voice chanted the secret mantra over and over again.

At the same time, Aji's voice rang out, interpreting the mantra. "Vajra Dakini, with the appearance of a wrathful lion;

"The flames of wisdom shone brightly, and the Lion-Faced Dakini in reverence to Aji. He had only interpreted half of the secret mantra when he suddenly burst into tears: 'Save me, save me, save me!'"

"Don't let it eat it! Don't let it eat it!"