Chapter Six: The Buddha's Teachings Are Boundless

  Originally, seeing those wandering black shadows in front of me made me feel a chill run down my spine. Now the sound behind me is faintly echoing, and the voice is weak and powerless, it's clear that this isn't Old Zhao. I clench the wooden stick in my hand, hold the rosary beads firmly, and shout: "You are a demon from where, daring to be so presumptuous in front of the Buddha? Quickly show yourself, and I will spare your lives. Otherwise, I will condemn your souls to the nine hells, making you forever unable to attain rebirth."

  I'm shouting like this just to boost my courage, don't those powerful Taoist priests on TV do the same? According to Master's book, incantations are a means of communicating with the heavens and expressing one's mind, not just simple language, but also need to be accompanied by mental movements to exert their power, and even casual words can become incantations if one's mind is focused.

  That trembling voice said: "Don't, don't, don't kill me, I'll come out right away, I'll come out right away." It was a pale face, illuminated by the light of the torches, looking like a dead person. His two eyes were filled with bloodshot, and his thick black eye circles made him look just like a panda bear. But what I saw was that his lips still had some color to them, which means this was a living person, and it's possible he was also trapped on the mountain.

  Lao Zhao was also woken up by my voice, and this man who was no different from a ghost was standing beside him. He took one look, let out an "aiya" sound, and sat back, scaring Lao Zhao half to death in the process.

  That man hastily waved his hand and said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it's great that someone has come. Are you still good at magic? Please, please save me, no matter how much money I'll give when we get back, just don't let that female ghost catch me, please! He spoke until he cried and knelt on the ground to kowtow to us.

  Lao Zhao quickly got up and asked: "Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you the owner of that Range Rover? Did you just arrive today too?"

  "No, I've been here for too many days, I don't dare to go down the mountain." The man sat down and sighed: "Originally, I was the boss of a small factory. Recently, my wife and I divorced, and after drinking, I had thoughts of taking my own life. I wanted to jump into the river, but I didn't succeed. Instead, I saw a murder case, and when I sobered up, I ran upwards. I didn't expect the murderer to come back, so I kept running until I reached this place to hide. Originally, I wanted to go down the mountain to report to the police, but unexpectedly, not only did the murderer want to kill me, but also a female ghost appeared. During the day, there are people chasing me, and at night, there's a ghost killing me. I can only hide here, and I haven't eaten anything for several days." The man finished speaking with a sorrowful face.

  I can fully understand his entangled mood, sit down and pat his back: "We are in a hurry, we didn't bring much to eat, just brought some water, you drink first, tomorrow when it's light, we'll go down the mountain to report to the police, we still have two friends missing, three big men, that murderer won't be stupid enough to dare to mess with us, and when it's light, we're not afraid of that female ghost either."

  He took the water bottle, no time to talk, and gulped it down like a whale, ah, what a relief! After drinking, he wiped his sleeve: "With two brothers' words, I'm at ease. As long as you can take me away, whatever happens in the future, just look for me, I'll definitely help. Brothers have nothing else, but the connections are not bad, absolutely useful in times of need."

  The man who was shivering with fear earlier seems to have calmed down a bit now. I reckon he's not afraid of the murderer, but rather that female ghost. Of course, the murderer is also afraid, after all, this guy has in his possession the only evidence of the crime. If I were the murderer, I would spare no expense to get rid of this man.

  The fog outside seemed to be getting thicker, and as time passed, the approaching ugly hour seemed to make the crying and shouting sounds from outside even more frightening. The black figures were also very intimidating. The man pulled my sleeve and said: "They came last night too, I hid under the altar table below the Buddha statue, they all came in, maybe they were afraid of the Buddha statue and didn't come to catch me. We'd better retreat a bit, it's too dangerous otherwise. Of course, if you have a way to deal with them, just pretend I didn't say anything." After finishing speaking, he shamelessly crawled back under the altar table.

  What can I do? I patted Old Zhao on the back: "Why don't we just go into hiding too, or do you have a plan?"

  "No, I'm not confident, I'll try to block it for a bit, you go hide first, the space is limited, just the two of you hiding will do, I'll recite the Lotus Sutra over there, which can drive away evil spirits and calm my mind."

  He pushed me and stood up, then used the wooden stick to draw something on every window sill and door frame while muttering some words. Finally, he made a seal with his rosary beads, like adding a stamp. After setting everything up in front of each window and door, he sat cross-legged on the stone slab in front of the Buddha statue, holding the rosary beads in one hand and placing the wooden stick in front of him. He also made another seal that I couldn't understand with his other hand, then began to loudly recite the Shurangama Mantra.

  As for the Lengyan Mantra, I still know a bit about it because this mantra is very famous. It's said that along with the Great Compassion Mantra, the Six-Syllable Bright Mantra, and the Zhunti Shenzhou Mantra, these four mantras are the most renowned and effective. The Lengyan Mantra is specifically used to ward off heavenly demons and external evil spirits. Legend has it that as long as there's someone reciting the Lengyan Mantra, Buddhism will not decline.

  The legend of the Lengyan Mantra is that the Buddha's disciple, Ananda, was tempted by a female demon and nearly broke his precepts. The Buddha asked Manjushri Bodhisattva to hold this mantra to rescue him, displaying the supreme power of the Lengyan Mantra, which subdued the female demon.

  At this time, I don't know if it's really effective, but compared to me, a half-baked cultivator of the Mystic Sect, I'd rather believe in Old Zhao's Buddhist cultivation. It seems that when we were walking through the white mist earlier, Old Zhao kept his mental state very well, and he should probably be able to withstand it; we need to have faith in him.

  The little factory director next to me seems to be worried too, silently reciting various divine names, Buddha's names, immortal names, even Jesus Christ has come out. This person is really scared to the extreme, but still comes out to make jokes? Most importantly, didn't you come out to commit suicide? Now nothing's wrong? Don't want to die anymore?

  Lao Zhao's chanting speed was neither fast nor slow, I couldn't understand it either and didn't dare to disturb him. The fog outside grew thicker and thicker, but the mournful cries seemed less piercing in Lao Zhao's chanting voice, which meant that this matter had a way out. According to reason, if we could hold on until the hour of xu, we would be safe.

  It wasn't long before the temple was shrouded in white mist, both inside and out, no longer showing its previous clear appearance. Those black ghostly shadows wandered around outside the temple in the white mist, drifting aimlessly, and from time to time, there would be mournful wails, as if they were whispering to each other, their shrill voices echoing continuously. Fortunately, all of this was suppressed by the Buddhist mantras. Yes, my feeling is a bit unreal, but I feel that the loud mantras brought extremely strong pressure to those resentful creatures, just like a giant stone that made them unable to lift their heads.

  It seemed that we had the upper hand, but at this moment, a very clear laughter suddenly came from outside, the kind of laughter was like a crisp bell, continuous and unrelenting, only in this gloomy smile mixed with strong temptation and ominousness, it felt like scratching white paper with fingernails, giving people goosebumps.

  In this laughter, Old Zhao seemed to be somewhat off, his clothes were all drenched in sweat, and his body was no longer as straight as it was at the beginning, starting to tilt a bit. I knew we were in trouble, after all, Old Zhao was still a beginner, with little experience and not enough practice, so it was inevitable that he would lack stability. The problem was that his lack of stability might bring us a disaster at this moment.

  It was probably around 2 o'clock in the middle of the night, and Old Zhao's voice started to tremble. The laughter grew louder and louder. At the temple gate, a red shadow appeared, its color like bloodstained crimson. It was a woman's figure, but I couldn't tell if it was a woman anymore. Her face was twisted, her limbs contorted at strange angles, presenting herself before us in this grotesque form. This face, this body still writhed about before our eyes, emitting that terrifying ghostly laughter.

  The little factory director next to me seemed to be scared stiff, constantly kowtowing on the ground, with a loud thud, his forehead turned red. The torches we lit also changed color at this time, and the originally orange-red flames seemed to be about to go out at any moment, but instead, they presented a greenish glow, which might be the legendary ghost lantern.

  The appearance of that female ghost made Old Zhao even more unbearable, but it seemed that those ghosts were not dare to come in, only dared to linger at the door, because of the misty effect, I was not even clear whether what I saw in front of me was real or fake, logically speaking, my naked eye should not be able to see ghosts.

  According to the book, there's also a possibility that the three lanterns on my body have weakened, causing my yang energy to be blocked and my yin energy to be excessive, which is why I can see these ghostly things. I'm shocked! Excessive yin energy can be fatal! I remembered a method I heard about, spitting saliva into my palm three times, then wiping it on the top of my head, repeating this motion three times.

  But the female ghost in front of me was still clear, I shouted loudly "Amitabha, Amitabha." It's not that I didn't want to recite some spells or something, mainly because I really don't know how, I only knew a few like Taishang Laojun, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Amitabha which were all from Journey to the West.

  The guy next to me saw it, maybe thinking I was going to show off or something, and hurriedly followed along with me, perhaps our power helped Old Zhao a bit. Old Zhao seemed to finally regain his spirit, then like the fury of a diamond, with an unprecedented momentum, he let out a loud roar: "Om, Burlin."

  As Old Zhao let out this roar, the string of beads in his hand suddenly burst open. To say that they broke apart would not be accurate enough - they exploded into four or five pieces, with each bead scattering in all directions. Some flew out the door, some out the window, and others landed in other parts of the temple.

  It was just one movement, and the world suddenly became quiet, as if all the female ghosts and dark shadows had disappeared. It seemed like a big dream, but the look of relief on the female ghost's face before she disappeared seemed to remind me of the reality of things at all times.

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