Asuras Hidden Deep in the Precepts Hall, Fear Comes on the Wind from Billowing Dream

---- Capital Circuit, Central Prefecture, and Original Buddha Sect

The setting sun shines through the golden roots and ginkgo leaves of Vairocana Temple, casting fragmented golden spots on the bluestone slabs inscribed with Sanskrit.

Vairocana Temple, as the oldest temple in the territory of the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty, is said to have been established by the Spirit Transformation master Huashen Jueshi, and is therefore extremely illustrious.

This great temple should have been a sacred place filled with chanting and pilgrims, but today, in the abbot's meditation room, only the intermittent sandalwood incense wafting from the bronze incense burner, mixed with a faint trace of blood, was shrouded in an eerie web in the twilight.

At this moment, Abbot Huihai of the Original Buddha Sect was sitting cross-legged under the Bodhi tree. The patches on his gray monk's robe were tinged with warm colors by the setting sun. His thin fingers were twirling a string of shiny Bodhi seeds, each bead engraved with a tiny swastika.

As the sword-wielder of the Original Buddha Sect 'Exoteric Buddhism ancestral temple of the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty, he outwardly appeared as a high-ranking monk who strictly adhered to the rules and assisted the Immortal Dynasty in protecting the country. However, at this moment, the compassionate expression on his face was not very resolute. His voice trembled slightly when he chanted the sutra, and his white eyebrows twitched slightly, indicating that he had reached a critical point in his cultivation.

At this moment, the room fell silent, and even the cicadas chirping in the courtyard suddenly stopped.

It was unclear how much time had passed, but when the cicadas began to chirp again from the leaves of the Glazed Treasure Tree in the courtyard, the old monk's twitching eyebrows stopped, replaced by a look of melancholy on his face, which then turned into a long sigh:

"Alas, the path to Spirit Transformation is so arduous."

This scene was extremely rare for a highly virtuous monk like him. However, only a few breaths later, the old monk's sorrowful expression deepened rather than faded, and he murmured again:

"So, Gelie of Original Response Temple actually attained the 'Three Bodies United in Illumination Aspect' and mastered the method of Spirit Transformation into the 'Vairocana Illusory Body Vidyadhara Mahasattva Aspect'? Could it be that the virtue and merit of the contemporary Exoteric Buddhism sect are truly weaker than that of the false Buddha of the Great Snow Mountain?"

Huihai sighed again, for the Original Buddha Sect was founded by his own Spirit Transformation master, but the disciples were unworthy, and no new lineage of the enlightened master has appeared since.

However, the Original Response Temple the Snow Mountain Circuit, which has never had Spirit Transformation Ancestral Master, is about to produce one.

Huihai, the current abbot, often thought that he was no less than his predecessor and was the most likely person in the Original Buddha Sect in the past three thousand years to advance to the level of a Nascent Spirit Transformation. However, he was still a step behind those flowery monks of the Great Snow Mountain.

"Fortunately, that Funeng..." As Zen Master Huihai murmured half of the mantra, the oil lamp on his desk flickered slightly, and a Buddhist chant immediately echoed from the outer monastery.

"Amitabha Buddha, Master, the eight Golden Core sent by the Duke of Qin are ready. Please come and take a look."

Zen Master Huihai's eyes flickered for a moment, then he flicked his right fingers together and lightly tapped the low table. After a crisp tapping sound, the Zen door opened without any wind, revealing a tall and handsome monk.

This is Master Liaojue, the chief disciple of Zen Master Huihai, who is also one of the most likely figures in the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty Nascent Soul. Moreover, it seems that Liaojue and Princess Great Wei have some kind of ambiguous relationship.

Such a fine student naturally deserves the respect and appreciation of his teachers.

Therefore, the current Zen masters of the Original Buddha Sect school practice year-round, and all matters, large and small, within the school are usually managed by Liaojue Juejia. Over the past hundred years, there have been no major mistakes or omissions.

Normally, Liaojue wouldn't dare disturb his abbot's secluded cultivation. However, these eight Golden Core cultivators were sent by a special envoy from the newly Duke of Qin, making it a matter of great importance. Therefore, Zen Master Huihai needed to take a look at them.

Just Liaojue Master Liaojue had predicted, when the Zen gate opened and his master's figure was revealed, and he saw the earnest look in Huihai's eyes, Liaojue knew that his invitation had not been a mistake.

Disturbed in his practice, Huihai said little, only Liaojue. The two of them then stepped onto lotus flowers and entered the Discipline Hall.

The Discipline Hall is the most strictly regulated place in Vairocana Temple. As soon as you step through the threshold, you are greeted by a solemn atmosphere.

The floor inside the hall was paved with a single piece of black jade lion-shaped slab, with gold-powdered "precept runes" embedded in the gaps between the slabs, gleaming coldly under the ever-burning lamps in the corridor.

On the high platform directly in front, there is a wooden statue of the founder of the Original Buddha Sect. The statue is wearing a gilded kasaya, holding prayer beads in his left hand and forming the "demon-subduing mudra" with his right hand. His eyes are slightly lowered, yet they seem to be able to see through people's hearts.

In the bronze incense burner in front of the Buddha statue, three half-burnt sandalwood sticks were inserted, the smoke rising straight up without dissipating, clearly restrained by the array formation inside the hall.

Twelve dragon-carved stone pillars stand on either side of the high platform, their surfaces inscribed with the Buddhist Precepts Scripture, from "Do not kill" to "Do not lie," each character clear and the strokes vigorous. Bronze bells hang atop the pillars, silent when the wind blows, only sounding as a warning when a disciple who has broken the precepts enters the hall to be punished.

Two rows of Bodhi wood benches were placed on either side of the hall. The benches were smooth as mirrors, indicating that they had been wiped clean for many years. On the table at the end of the benches, disciplinary Law Artifact such as rulers and prayer beads were neatly arranged, each of which exuded a chilling aura.

The bloodstains on it were left by an unknown disciple, staining the original color of the Law Artifact completely, making it awe-inspiring to behold.

The high-grade incense and the fragrance of precepts blend together in the hall, permeating all directions, complementing the swastika mantras scattered throughout, enough to suppress the evil spirits and make it difficult for them to raise their heads, thus demonstrating the solemnity and uprightness of this Buddhist place of precepts.

Anyone who sees this will gain a deeper understanding of what rules and regulations truly mean.

Zen Master Huihai and Master Liaojue were very familiar with this. The two of them stepped on the black jade lion-shaped wooden planks, and their footsteps echoed clearly in the empty hall.

Walking to the left side of the high platform, after Master Liaojuejia retreated from the guarding disciples, Zen Master Huihai raised his eyebrows slightly, stretched out his hand and touched the inscription with the word "jie" on a dragon stone pillar. Hearing a soft "click" sound, a secret door slowly appeared on the side of the stone pillar. The edge of the secret door was engraved with patterns that were completely different from the commandment runes in the hall.

The twisted and intertwined patterns, with their grayish-black sheen and faintly tinged with a bloody stench, seemed completely out of place in the solemn and dignified atmosphere of the Discipline Hall.

"Master, the formation is ready." Master Liaojue stepped forward and took out a black token from his bosom. The token was engraved with the words "Compassion". He inserted the token into the groove of the hidden door, and a dark green light immediately lit up inside the hidden door. A narrow passage could be vaguely seen behind the door.

Embedded in the walls on both sides of the passage are dark, shadowy beads. The light emitted by the beads is dim and murky, but it illuminates the passage in a hazy, eerie way, adding to the strange atmosphere.

The master and disciple stepped into the passage, and the hidden door slowly closed behind them, shutting out the pure fragrance of the Discipline Hall.

The air inside the passage instantly became chilling and biting, filled with a strong stench of blood and decay, making one's stomach churn.

After walking about a hundred steps, the space suddenly opened up, revealing a huge secret chamber, which was the place where human puppets were made.

Countless chains hung from the ceiling of the secret chamber, each chain ending in a dark golden body.

These were the eight Golden Core puppets mentioned earlier. Their eyes were closed, the "Spirit Control Seal" between their brows glowed red, and their bodies were shrouded in gray-black puppet energy, occasionally emitting a "sizzling" sound.

In the center of the secret chamber stood a massive furnace, within which burned eerie blue flames, within which countless tiny runes could be faintly seen still churning.

On the ground next to the furnace, there were scattered bits of foul-smelling minced meat and blood-stained monks' robes; the stench of blood was emanating from there.

The walls were covered with the text of the "Brahma Sound Deliverance from Calamity Puppet Scripture" scripture, but next to the text were dark red handprints, as if someone had left them here when they were struggling in pain.

What's most chilling is that in the corner of the secret room, there are more than a dozen broken human puppet bodies. Some are missing arms and legs, some have crooked heads and empty eye sockets, exuding an indescribable sinister and terrifying aura, which is completely different from the square and solemn atmosphere of the Discipline Hall.

A narrow array so simply separated a Buddhist holy site from a demonic arena.

Even though Zen Master Huihai, who had cultivated to the Nascent Soul Late Stage and had served as the abbot of the Original Buddha Sect for over seven hundred years, still frowned slightly upon seeing the scene before him.

If it weren't for Duke Kuang Liuting of Duke of Qin sending these three laypeople and five monks with their golden Golden Core, Zen Master Huihai might not have reopened this place after so many years.

After all, the Original Buddha Sect is long past the turbulent period when he first took over, and there is no need to resort to such cruel and unjust methods.

It should be known that the "Brahma Sound Deliverance from Calamity" method of creating human puppets by the Original Buddha Sect is said to be "superior," second only to the "Enlisted Army Talisman" of the Kuang Household clan.

Even the Snow Mountain Circuit Original Response Temple, known for its harshness and eeriness, had to admit defeat in this respect, and even came to seek teachings from the two temples when they were on good terms.

Even with such skill, to refine all eight Golden Core cultivators' remains into human puppets in one go, achieving a level of mastery comparable to seventy percent of their own, one can only imagine how much effort and resources Liaojue Liaojuejia, who accepted this task, had to expend to ensure complete success.

However, at this moment, Zen Master Huihai frowned slightly, his face filled with sorrow, and he clasped his hands together, repeatedly chanting, "Amitabha Buddha."

The monk Liaojue to one side, quickly reassured him, "It's all due to the cruelty and inhumanity of the Wei family; how could it be your fault, Master!"

Upon hearing this, Zen Master Huihai's compassionate expression remained unchanged. He simply chanted a few more Buddhist prayers before turning to Master Liaojue and saying, "Hand over to the envoy from the Office of the Duke of Qin as soon as possible, and leave my place of quiet meditation at Vairocana Temple immediately."

Master Liaojue did not respond hastily, but after a moment of contemplation, he spoke again:

"Master, I wonder if that Duke of Qin will use those eight Calamity-Delivering Vajra Huiyi in the future. They've cost our family countless resources. If they come again, this..."

"The Emperor is merely urging my family to send troops. As Buddhist disciples, how can we lightly commit such atrocities?"

This old monk has no special abilities; it is enough that I can protect the people within my jurisdiction with my staff. As for the matter of universal salvation, that can wait until a more virtuous person emerges in my family.

In front of his own disciple, Zen Master Huihai was not particularly wary. As soon as he finished speaking, the insincerity on his face was no longer concealed.

The situation in the world is still unclear, and it is not yet time for the Original Buddha Sect to enter the fray. For small families like the Ying Prefecture Fei Household, which are beset by internal and external troubles, it is certainly possible to take a desperate gamble.

However, for the Original Buddha Sect, which had survived several dynasties, having one's heart set on the Exoteric Buddhism Immortal Dynasty and relying on the imperial family were not the same thing. Zen Master Huihai needed to be very careful in taking care of his disciples and the continuation of the lineage.

The master and disciple clasped their hands together and recited a passage of Buddhist scripture for salvation from calamity to each of the puppet figures in the room, even though they knew it was useless. Their expressions immediately improved considerably.

Master Liaojue, holding his Law Treasure, gathered the eight Vajra bodies of the Calamity-Delivering Vajra. Liaojue about to bid farewell to his master, Zen Master Huihai, he saw a faint spiritual light appear within the latter's robe.

Zen Master Huihai's face showed a hint of surprise, and he didn't try to hide it from Liaojue, but simply murmured softly, "The Jiuzhen of the Billowing Dream Palace entered Phoenix Cry Prefecture in the Mountain North. Kuang Liuting met with the Jiuzhen, but it seemed that there was discord, and they parted on bad terms."

These ten-odd words, without any embellishment, were enough to make Huihai close his eyes in silence, ponder for a long time, his expression constantly changing.

After a long while, Zen Master Huihai opened his eyes, his gaze now filled with a renewed fervor. When he spoke again, his tone had changed:

"Disciple, give me all these Calamity-Delivering Vajra. After presenting this old monk with the purple talisman at the Mystic Firmament Palace, send someone to visit Grand Eunuch Wei and inquire when His Majesty will have time to pay me a visit in person!"

Master Liaojue also Liaojue to be deep in thought. Even though he was interrupted by his master, he hurriedly and respectfully replied, "Yes, disciple will go and do it immediately."

After the Buddhist monk, at the Golden Core Peak stage, spoke, he swiftly withdrew from the hall in an instant, leaving Huihai Master Huihai alone inside. After a long silence, he spoke again in a low voice:

"If that person from the Billowing Dream Palace truly intends to protect Kuang Liuting, then not only will Bai Canhong be in a Star-Picking Pavilion position, but the neighboring King Yu Circuit on the outer sea will also likely have to take some action."

If the direct and indirect branches of the Kuang Household were to unite because of a single Upper-Grade Golden Core elixir, and the Supreme Unity Temple were unable to unite the various branches, what was the point of even discussing the outcome? Kuang Chexiao, how long can the soul lamp of the founding ancestor suppress you, you Dragon Spawn?"

---- Shannan Circuit, Tengwen Prefecture, Star-Picking Pavilion

The power of intimidation that the Palace Master of Billowing Dream exerted on these Nascent Soul True Person was far greater than that of Emperor of Wei, who sat on his throne.

Don't be fooled by the fact that only a somewhat renowned True Person Jiuzhen and a group of superior cultivators have come from the outer sea; their presence is far more frightening than Immortal Dynasty's king personally leading his imperial guards to provide reinforcements.

As soon as the news spread, not only did the Three Administrations military commands under the jurisdiction of the Star-Picking Pavilion immediately reduce their strength, but even Bai Canhong, the Master of the Star-Picking Pavilion often appeared in Taixu to intimidate and supervise the battle, has rarely shown his face recently.

Ordinary disciples might not know the inside story, but even Fengwen, the Demon Lieutenant in the Cold Crow Mountain Range, seemed to suddenly become much colder.

Bai Canhong couldn't blame the Demon Lieutenant for lacking courage, because people like Kuang Chexiao, who existed in the outer seas, could form their own faction. If they had gone to the Cold Crow Mountain Range back then, they could still have established a demon kingdom in that spiritual land. They might even have won over and befriended ordinary Spirit Transformation demon generals.

Such a figure is not someone a mere early-stage Demon Lieutenant on the fringes can afford to provoke. Even the True Person Jiuzhen are rarely seen, and even Nascent Soul Cultivator are few and far between, let alone those who have fought with him or are familiar with his abilities.

Bai Canhong, having reigned Master of the Star-Picking Pavilion for so many years and dominated various fields, had never before found himself in such a predicament. After fighting with this junior Kuang Liuting, for so long, he was unusually filled with a sense of frustration.

Xiang Tianxing and the Three Administrations managers were both subordinates, and were prominent figures who could intimidate others, but at this moment, none of them dared to speak up.

Pu Honggu, the Grand Elder of the Liangyi Two Instruments Sect, who was lying in the corner and covered in deathly aura, looked even more listless. He didn't even have the slightest intention of asking for credit for the three Golden Core cultivators he had just acquired.

Indeed, the words "gloomy and desolate" weighed heavily on the shoulders of all the cultivators, so much so that they held their breath and the hall became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

The deathly silence in the hall was broken by a very light sound of clothes rustling in the wind. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Golden Core cultivator, who was now only serving as a guest attendant, standing in front of the hall and bowing:

"Grandmaster, a True Person has come to visit from outside."

The Golden Core elixir, holding a mysterious light, flew down to Bai Canhong's front when it opened its palm, revealing a piece of jade engraved with the words "Taiyi".

Please come quickly.

Even Bai Canhong himself felt a hint of urgency in his tone, but the cultivators in the hall didn't seem to care much. They all stared intently at the gate.

Soon, a slender figure came into view. The newcomer wore a moon-white Daoist robe, with a magic sword hanging at his waist. A jade hairpin with the words "Taiyi" was tied in his hair. His face was thin and his eyes were as deep as an ancient well. He was surrounded by a faint Daoist aura.

"Master Bai, how have you been?" The newcomer bowed, his tone cool and aloof. "This humble Daoist is Qingxuan. I have come to pay my respects on the orders of the Abbot."

Bai Canhong suppressed his wariness and feigned nonchalance. "Supreme Unity Temple is indeed well-informed, but I wonder if Qingxuan's visit is for the Billowing Dream Palace matter or for the Kuang Household's clan dispute?"

Master Qingxuan smiled slightly, slowly walked into the hall, his gaze sweeping over the silent cultivators before finally settling on Bai Canhong:

"You flatter me, Master. I have long admired your reputation. My purpose in coming here is neither for the Billowing Dream Palace nor for the Kuang Household, but solely for the future of the Star-Picking Pavilion."

As soon as he finished speaking, he took out a translucent Jade Slip from his sleeve and handed it to Bai Canhong, his tone carrying a hint of respect:

"This was written by the Abbot himself; you'll recognize it at a glance, Master." Xiang Tianxing forward, took the Jade Slip, and carefully examined it before handing it to Bai Canhong. Bai Canhong unfolded the Jade Slip and saw that the handwriting was vigorous and powerful, reading:

"The interference of the Billowing Dream Palace in the inner region and the struggle between the legitimate and illegitimate sons of the Kuang Household are signs of a chaotic world. Your esteemed building is located in the Shannan Circuit, and you, fellow Daoist, are even comparable to a late-stage True Person, dominating the southwest. However, if you are confined to a corner, you may still suffer collateral damage."

Supreme Unity Temple is willing to join hands with the Star-Picking Pavilion to protect the safety of the inner region. After the chaos is quelled and a new emperor is established, the affairs of the southwest will be left to Brother Ziyou to handle."

Bai Canhong read it carefully, his expression unchanged. He only looked up at Qingxuan and said, "Your abbot certainly has a grand plan. But I wonder what Supreme Unity Temple wants from my Star-Picking Pavilion?"

"Don't worry, it's quite simple," Master Qingxuan said, his expression growing even more pleased, his tone calm. "Firstly..."

(It's not that I intentionally wanted to end the chapter, I just really couldn't finish writing it.)