The Six Lotus Offering

"Brother!"

Zhuoma's eyes were filled with tears that trembled like dancing light as her eyelashes fluttered. Her face was full of joy as she hugged Aji's head tightly. Then she turned to look at the body dismantler who had reached the bottom of the stairs and said repeatedly, "Uncle Gonpo, my brother is awake!"

"Aji is awake!"

Upon hearing the sound, the dismantler Gonpo, turned around. His dark, yellow face, covered with deep wrinkles, still carried a heavy expression.

He quickly turned back and ran to Aji in a few steps.

Sure enough, Aji opened his eyes.

"I'm really awake, that's great!"

May the Bodhisattva protect me, may the Guru protect me!

"Aji, you--"

A smile appeared on Gonpo's face. He looked at Aji and began to ask him a question, but before he could finish speaking, he had already asked the question.

He suddenly frowned and paused, taken aback.

Aji noticed a strange unfamiliarity in the way he and Zhuoma looked at each other. This was very wrong.

Zhou Yang glanced at Gonpo, then turned his gaze to the woman who was holding "himself".

Zhuoma's jet-black hair was braided into several plaits and hung down her back.

The large, dark red robe she wore still managed to fill out thanks to her figure.

She wore only the left sleeve of her robe; the right sleeve drooped down to her waist, revealing a plain cloth shirt underneath.

Zhuoma has very deep facial features and is as tall as a man.

"Who... who are you?" Zhou Yang asked Zhuoma. "And who am I?"

Where am I?

As he spoke, he struggled to break free from Zhuoma's embrace.

He didn't know what kind of personality Aji had, let alone the personality of his family members in the past. Under such circumstances, if he were asked to rashly impersonate Aji, he would only make mistakes at every turn.

It would be better to just pretend to be someone with amnesia, which would reduce a lot of questioning and probing.

"You are Aji, I am Zhuoma, I am Ajia..." Zhuoma hadn't expected that her younger brother, whom she had painstakingly rescued, wouldn't recognize her. She instinctively responded to Zhou Yang's words, "You and your father go to the Nengsheng Liberation Grand Temple in the ' Esoteric Treasury Domain ' to build a golden pagoda for the temple..."

"Only when you came back did I hear the knocking on the door, Gate of Opening, I saw you collapsed outside."

"Aji, I know everything. Dad was killed by Maji's family!"

"That Eba who killed him is bragging about it Linzang. Has he cursed you too? Don't you remember Ajia?"

"What Eba? What temple? What golden pagoda?"

Zhou Yang shook his head repeatedly. "I don't remember, I don't remember..."

In fact, he knew very well that what Zhuoma was saying corresponded to the story on page three of "The Knife Credit Ledger".

The Maji family had men lying in ambush on Queji and his son. In order to save his son Aji's life, Queji stayed behind to fight the sorcerer hired by the Maji family, letting Aji choose his own way to escape.

The term "Eba" means "secret master".

On his escape, Aji saw the sun in the sky, which transformed into the golden pagoda they had cast at the Nengsheng Liberation Temple.

He subsequently fell into a coma.

Unexpectedly, I found myself unconscious at my own doorstep. "Therefore, the Aji is now connected to my consciousness and often talks in his sleep is most likely still infected by the 'Golden Pagoda'."

"He was therefore in a daze, unable to respond effectively to the outside world, and unable to control his own body."

"But I can hear his sleep-talking, I can control his body..."

In a few breaths, Zhou Yang understood the entire situation.

As he pondered this, Aji murmured, as if responding to his surging thoughts. "Yes, yes..."

Ignoring Aji's murmurs, Zhou Yang quickly scanned his surroundings and roughly determined the location of the room. It seemed to be an attic-like space with a wool blanket covering the wooden planks and several copper bowls and lamps placed around it.

One of the items inside a copper bowl immediately caught Zhou Yang's attention.

Inside the copper bowl were some prayer beads made of tree seeds, with several strands of beads stacked to form the shape of blooming lotus petals.

As Zhou Yang's gaze fell upon the contents of the bronze bowl, Aji's murmur rang out again, "Six Lotus Offering... a common offering."

"The rosary beads that are constantly held by the six types of lamas and used for counting recitations can ward off evil spirits that disturb the six senses, clear the mind, and bring peace to the soul, reducing the disturbances Ghost Rhyme..."

"This ' Six Lotus Offering ' is made with rosaries that are just ordinary people's rosaries."

"Useless, useless..." Aji was actually "explaining" the purpose of the Six Lotus Offering in the bronze bowl to Zhou Yang!

He had previously given an explanation when he heard the corpse-dismantling men of Gonpo chanting the "Soul-Summoning and Life-Delivering Mantra"!

The secret mantra that Gonpo learned from Eba has been recited silently in his heart for many years, never revealed outwardly. Aji probably didn't know about the existence of this secret mantra before, but after listening to it a few times, he understood its secret power!

They even knew that this secret incantation would take the rescued person to suffer at the hands of the "blood-drinking demon riding a mule skin"!

--Does Gonpo know about these things?

Even Gonpo might not understand.

Where did Aji learn all this?

It was that golden tower that caused some kind of change in his consciousness.

How can we bring his soul closer to these "secret rituals" and enable him to understand their secrets?

We need to find a way to verify whether "Aji's delirium" is true or false!

Zhou Yang pondered silently, his face still full of confusion. Seeing the stairs a few steps away, he lifted his foot to walk down to the attic.

"Brother, don't go!" Zhuoma finally snapped out of her grief. She hurriedly got up from the ground, not even bothering to wipe away her tears, and rushed to Zhou Yang, grabbing him as he was about to go down the stairs. "The situation down there isn't good..."

My brother doesn't want to see this.

"Let's go back, little brother, go with Ajia."

She grabbed his sleeve, just like when she was a child and she used to run wildly with Aji on the meadow.

But now that her younger brother has gone mad, how could he possibly listen to her?

Despite being grabbed by the sleeve, Zhou Yang ignored her and stepped down the stairs. "Don't worry about me, I'm going to go see!"

"I want to go down and take a look!"

The sounds of heavy objects being moved and people shouting could be heard from the attic from time to time.

Zhou Yang was unaware of what was happening downstairs, but he had a gut feeling that it couldn't be anything good for Zhuoma and her brother.

He was very strong, and Zhuoma could barely hold him back.

Gonpo, who had been silently observing Aji, finally spoke up, "Let him go see, Zhuoma."

"He has no memory; he doesn't even recognize you anymore. What happens below is just someone else's spectacle to him."

"It has nothing to do with him..."

Zhuoma was stunned by the sound, and then felt as if her heart was being torn apart!

Yes!

Now, his younger brother doesn't even remember who she is.

He didn't even know that "Aji" was his name.

What does what happened to Aji's family have to do with him?

In that moment of distraction, Zhuoma loosened her grip on Aji's sleeve, and Zhou Yang broke free from her pull, stomping down the stairs to a stone house below, where several butter lamps were lit.

The house had tan wooden floors covered with felt.

Tables, chairs, and cabinets were scattered haphazardly on the floor.

Several men dressed in robes similar to Zhuoma's were rummaging through the house.

Every now and then, they would pull out one or two gleaming silver or bronze objects from hidden compartments in the corners of the walls or cracks in the floorboards. They would gather around, examine them for a while, laugh, and then wrap them up in strips of cloth of various colors before continuing their search of the room. The men paid no attention to Zhou Yang, who had run downstairs.

"Is this... a house raid?"

"Is it still the Maji family who are looting the Queji family's property?"

The current situation inevitably made Zhou Yang wonder.

The men inside the house piled all the valuables they had found on a large table by the door, where a man with a thick beard stood, counting and cataloging the various valuables he had discovered.

Zhou Yang approached the large table. The bearded man looked up at him and warned, "Don't touch it!"

These things are no longer yours.

"Whichever hand you touched these things with, that hand has to be cut off!"

After the warning, the man lowered his head and continued to register the various looted items in the register. He was not worried at all that Zhou Yang would take anything from the table in front of him, as if he was certain that his warning had the power to be enforced and was enough to intimidate Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang had not yet figured out his current situation, so he naturally remained cautious in everything he did.

He stood by the large table, his gaze sweeping over the various Buddha statues, bronze plaques, oil lamps, and utensils on it.

In his mind, Aji would occasionally react to certain objects, muttering a few words: "The Lima bronze Garuda, the clasp is cracked, I wrapped the clasp with silver, this is something ' Rinchen Lama' ordered us to repair."

"The bronze nine-square grid pattern was worn, so my father had it re-engraved," Langxiong commissioned the repair.

"Iron armor plates..."

When something about the objects on the large table moves Aji, he will offer his explanation.

However, unlike hearing the secret mantra recited by Gonpo, or seeing the "Six Lotus Offering," one cannot immediately discern the "secret" within it.

Perhaps the things on the table didn't hold any "secrets" at all, which is why Aji didn't say anything more about them?

"Aji, come here."

Come to Ajia.

Behind him, Zhuoma's voice, deliberately soft and somewhat timid, rang out again. Seeing that there was nothing unusual about the things on the large table, Zhou Yang obeyed Zhuoma's call and walked to her side.

"Are you Ajia?"

Zhou Yang looked at Zhuoma, who was almost as tall as him, and asked. Upon hearing his question and seeing his serious expression, Zhuoma almost thought that her younger brother had come to his senses and recognized her.

But after looking closely into Aji's eyes, she suddenly realized that he was just asking questions to echo her words, and she felt even more disappointed.

She forced a smile, squeezed Zhou Yang's hand, and nodded gently. "I am Ajia, and I will always be Aji's Ajia."

"I am Aji..."

Zhou Yang turned back and began repeating the name "Aji".

The real Aji, it's unknown when he will fully awaken.

He had to use the identity of Aji to live in this world in the other person's place.

The men in the house searched every inch of the house.

They finally came up empty-handed, greeted the bearded man guarding the door, and went outside.

Holding the last item found by his men—a piece of banded agate—the man walked with a smile toward Zhuoma and Aji, who were standing at the top of the stairs. Gonpo, hiding in the attic, did not show himself.

Sky burial masters like Gonpo were originally of lowly and ominous status. If a noble person saw them, the noble person would feel that they had been tainted by the ominous corpse aura emanating from them.

Although those nobles would most likely not punish Gonpo directly, they would certainly punish Zhuoma and her brother.

To avoid such a thing, Gonpo stayed in the attic.

Looking at the bearded man's warm smile, Zhuoma pulled Aji back a few steps timidly.

They almost retreated to the base of the wall.

The bearded man wrapped the cord holding the spindle-shaped banded agate in his hand around his finger several times.

He casually swung the rope, causing the rather inexpensive banded agate beads strung on it to spin around and around.

Zhuoma's fearful attitude towards him actually made him feel comfortable.

"Zhuoma." He twirled the banded agate in his hand, his smile widening. "Congratulations on your brother waking up, Tashi Delek."

"Oh my... Tashi... Tashi Delek..."

Zhuoma responded fearfully.

"This street is all the storehouses of the ' Master of Zhandui.' Your family was also allowed to make silverware in this house on this street before. Be grateful to Master of Zhandui for giving us a good life," the bearded man said slowly.

Zhuoma kept bowing and clasping her hands together, saying, "Thank you, Master of Zhandui, thank you, Master of Zhandui Zhan Master of Zhandui, Auspiciousness and peace for ten thousand years..." "But your family is really too useless."

"The host has instructed you to take on the task of building a golden stupa for the masters at that magnificent ' Nengsheng Liberation Grand Temple '."

"Isn't this the perfect opportunity to put your excellent cooking skills to good use?"

The smile on the bearded man's face suddenly vanished, and he asked Zhuoma with a stern expression.