A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Torches burned on the stone walls inside a dimly lit cave.

It was a bright morning, but the depths of the cave remained pitch black.

Only at the entrance of the cave was there a bright patch of skylight. There stood an old monk, with a tuft of snow-white beard, wearing tattered robes, sitting cross-legged on a futon at the cave entrance, motionless as if in deep meditation.

This old monk was the guardian of Cave No. 3. Duan Rong had secretly penetrated his dantian with his divine sense, and found that this man was actually at the early stage of the Cave of Clarity Realm.

Duan Rong was standing next to a painted statue of Fudo Myoo, which was over three zhang tall, on the east side of the cave. He was standing there, and his height only reached the calves of the statue.

The statue's head, chest, and waist were suspended in mid-air by ropes.

The statues inside the cave are painted, and the paint is easy to peel off, so they need to be repaired every now and then. Therefore, deep iron rings are embedded in the stone wall behind the statues to hang people.

By using ropes of different lengths, threading them through iron rings, and tying them around the waist, the statues could be suspended in different positions. This made the work much easier, since none of these craftsmen were martial artists.

Since Duan Rong had only recently arrived, he did not have him hang from the ropes. Instead, he was left at the bottom to deal with the fallen paint on the statue's legs and shoes.

The craftsmen hanging there were working while muttering complaints under their breath.

Repairing a painted statue of a deity that is over three zhang tall is no easy task. It takes a month to complete, and you have to hang there every day. When you finally get off work, you feel lightheaded and dizzy as soon as your feet touch the ground.

Tang Xiong paced back and forth in front of the four statues, passing by Duan Rong without saying a word.

After fiddling with it for a while and seeing that no one was paying attention, Duan Rong placed his hand on the calf of the statue in front of him, scanned his surroundings, and thought to himself, "Reading the spirit of the artifact."

The next moment, a data panel shimmering with a faint glow appeared before his eyes.

Artifact: Painted statue of Acala (Fudō Myō-ō)

Spirit Rank: 18
Absorption Requirements: Host's mental strength level 18 (met)

Devouring effect: 19th layer of the Great Vajra Realm Mandala (incomplete), 20th layer of the Great Vajra Realm Mandala (incomplete), 21st layer of the Great Vajra Realm Mandala (incomplete)

Duan Rong stared at the floating words before him, his heart churning with emotion.

He first looked at the devouring effect.

It's not surprising that the word "incomplete" appears in the Devour effect description.

After all, there are statues of the Four Great Vidyarajas inside the cave, and the one in front of us is only one of them. Only by combining the spirits of all four statues can we obtain the complete technique.

The Great Vajra Mandala technique has three levels, from the nineteenth to the twenty-first. These three levels of technique immediately puzzled Duan Rong.

Based on this, it can be seen that the spiritual cultivation method of the "Great Vajra Realm Mandala" and the "Garbhadhatu Sutra" have shown considerable differences in the number of related layers and the size of the deities.

The nineteenth to twenty-first levels of the "Womb Treasury Sutra" are almost the last three levels of cultivation, which are practiced at the mountain deity statue.

However, the current three levels of the "Great Vajra Realm Mandala" technique are practiced inside this stone cave containing a statue over three zhang tall. The same level of technique exists, yet the size of the statue varies so greatly.

This suggests that there may be some core differences between these two spiritual cultivation techniques.

Duan Rong needed to figure this out. He looked at the data panel in front of him, his eyes narrowed, and he thought to himself, "Devour!"

The glowing data panel then collapsed and disappeared. Duan Rong lifted his hand from the statue's calf and continued to repair the peeling paint.

He wasn't in a hurry to devour the spirits of the other three statues, since he had already dealt with the calves and shoes of all four statues. His current hurried and chaotic running around would only seem strange.

As dusk fell, the old monk who had been sitting cross-legged at the cave entrance suddenly stood up and roared into the cave in a booming voice, "It's getting late, I need to rest, you may all go."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xiong immediately stood there, clasped his hands in a fist and smiled, and said, "Master Yueyun, we will leave now."

This wasn't Tang Xiong's first time repairing the statues here, so he naturally knew the temperaments of the guards in each area.

Upon hearing this, the craftsmen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. They had been hanging things all day and their hands were already aching from exhaustion.

The people were lowered from the ropes, and their feet touched the ground. They swayed unsteadily for a while before they were able to stand up.

They didn't need to take any of their tools with them; they could simply leave them inside the cave. The cave was shrouded in a runic array, preventing any unauthorized personnel from entering.

After everyone had finished getting ready, they gathered at the cave entrance.

Outside the cave entrance, it was indeed dusk, and the sky was filled with fiery clouds, a truly magnificent sight.

At the entrance of the cave, the sunlight and the view are not affected, but there is actually a light barrier of a talisman array separating the entrance. Without the array ruler, it is impossible to get out.

Seeing that everyone had gathered, Tang Xiong walked up to the old monk who was sitting cross-legged, bowed, and said with a smile, "Master Yueyun, please open the talisman array so that we can leave."

Upon hearing this, the old monk raised his eyelids slightly, flicked his sleeve, and a beam of yellow light shot out, striking the center of the skylight at the cave entrance. Immediately, a light screen appeared, on which a rusty array ruler floated, vibrating and humming incessantly.

The next moment, the light screen opened up with a large opening, and the array ruler spun around on top of the opening.

Tang Xiong said, "Hurry up! Don't dawdle."

The group jostled their way out of the cave. Duan Rong was the last to leave. He turned his head and saw that the array ruler above the large opening of the light screen suddenly turned into a beam of yellow light and flew toward the old monk sitting there. Then the light screen flickered and disappeared.

At this moment, the old monk put away the array ruler, stood up, and walked into the depths of the dimly lit cave.

"Shicheng, let's go. You've had a long day, go back and get some rest." Tang Xiong took a few steps, then turned back and said when he caught sight of Duan Rong still standing there out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes, Captain Tang," Duan Rong said with a smile as he turned around.

The two were the last to emerge from the cave, and they walked together, distancing themselves from the other craftsmen.

Those caves are inside the mountains buried by yellow sand.

After the yellow sand was cleared away, jagged rocks were revealed. These rocks are actually parts of the mountain peaks.

In other words, what they were walking on were actually the peaks of a massive mountain, hidden by the yellow sand. After walking for a while, Duan Rong suddenly heard the faint sound of Buddhist chanting from another patch of rugged rocks.

His eyes flickered as he looked at Tang Xiong and asked, "This is...?"

Tang Xiong said, "This is Cave No. 1. The entrance to the cave is over there."

Duan Rong said, "It sounds like Buddhist chanting?"

Tang Xiong said, "That's not surprising. Cave No. 1 is the busiest of the three large caves. Whenever a monk goes in to practice, you can hear chanting, which means that a ritual is being performed inside."

Duan Rong walked slowly, listening quietly to the chanting. The chanting contained a mixture of various musical instruments, which alone showed the complexity of the ritual.

It seems that the difference between the Vajradhatu Mandala and the Garbhadhatu Sutra is not simply a matter of painting deity images. At least when Duan Rong practiced the Garbhadhatu Sutra, he definitely did not have these complicated rituals.

Just then, Duan Rong suddenly saw wisps of smoke rising from the jagged rocks on the other side, drifting away in the dim light with the breeze.

"It's a smoke offering!?" Duan Rong's eyes flickered.

Tang Xiong saw that Duan Rong was still walking slowly among the jagged rocks, so he stood there and waited for Duan Rong for a while. Tang Xiong knew that he seemed to be very curious about those grottoes.

Seeing Tang Xiong standing not far away, clearly waiting for him, Duan Rong quickly left. Although he really wanted to see what ritual the monks practicing their soul cultivation techniques inside the cave were performing, the cave was protected by talisman arrays, making it impossible for divine sense to penetrate.

How could the cultivation of such a secret method be left to be watched by bystanders?

Duan Rong walked to Tang Xiong's side and said, "Captain Tang, let's go."

Tang Xiong looked at Duan Rong and said, "The statues in Cave 1 are a bit smaller. They should be repaired around the beginning of next year."

Duan Rong smiled slightly but did not reply. He knew what Tang Xiong meant; Tang Xiong had seen him standing there for a long time and assumed that he also wanted to enter Cave No. 1.

In fact, the spirits of the statues in Cave 1 were of little use to him.

The two walked for a while longer, until dusk had fallen.

In the dim twilight, Tang Xiong suddenly stood there, looking at a patch of rugged rocks in the distance to their side, and said, "That patch of rocks is the entrance to the cave in the mountain."

"The mountain looks like a cave!?" Duan Rong's expression froze upon hearing this. In the twilight, the rocky outcrops seemed exceptionally steep and precipitous, resembling a pile of upside-down swords when viewed from afar in the dim light.

Duan Rong couldn't help but take a few more glances, after all, the mountain's shape was his real target.

Seeing that no one was around, Duan Rong suddenly looked at Tang Xiong and asked, "That mountain looks like a cave. How many people are guarding it?"

Tang Xiong said, "Each cave is guarded by one person because there are talisman arrays and there is only one entrance."

Duan Rong asked again, "What level of spiritual attainment did the monks who guarded the caves that resembled giant mountains possess?"

In the dim twilight, Tang Xiong couldn't help but turn and glance at Duan Rong before answering, "I've heard someone mention this before, I think it's something like the Cave of Clarity Realm?"

Duan Rong secretly memorized it. It was at the same level as Yueyun in Cave No. 3.

Tang Xiong's expression turned somewhat grave. He felt that Duan Rong would never ask about the guard's cultivation level for no reason. Asking about cultivation level implied a willingness to fight, or at least a probing intent.

Tang Xiong seemed to want to say a few words of advice to Duan Rong, but after thinking for a long time, he didn't know how to start. Before they knew it, the two had already walked back to the Craftsmen's Building.

Tang Xiong went to the cafeteria for lunch, while Duan Rong went straight back to his room.

More than half a month later, Duan Rong had devoured the spirits of all four statues in Cave No. 3.

After digesting and absorbing the entirety of the 19th to 21st levels of the Great Vajra Mandala, the techniques were all in his mind.

That night, Duan Rong sat cross-legged in his dark room, the information about the cultivation techniques flowing slowly through his mind like water. Duan Rong carefully comprehended it and compared it in detail with the cultivation techniques of the Fetal Treasury Scripture.

He had already thoroughly mastered the techniques of the Garbhadhatu Mantra, but the techniques of the Great Vajra Mandala were quite unfamiliar to him at first glance.

However, the two techniques are related, and can even be said to have the same origin.

Gradually, Duan Rong realized that these two techniques were like two leaves. Although they grew in different directions, their roots overlapped significantly.

The ritual of the Great Vajra Mandala is extremely complex. Duan Rong looked at the ritual in his mind and really didn't know whether it was cultivation or a religious ceremony.
However, according to the manual, this is called Tantric practice, which means that there are countless incredible connections between these three: complex rituals, Buddhist practices, and spiritual practices.

Oh, right. In order to cultivate the Great Vajra Mandala, in addition to the complicated rituals, it is also necessary to combine it with Buddhist techniques. For example, the nineteenth level of the technique requires the cultivation of a Buddhist technique called the Great Nirvana Hand.

Although the rituals are complex, the techniques are detailed in the manuals. He can replicate them by following the example when he returns to the Taiyi Sect. However, he must master the corresponding Buddhist techniques within the Faxiang Sect.

However, he shouldn't rush into Buddhist techniques. He needs to fully master the "Great Vajra Realm Mandala" first before he can determine which Buddhist techniques he needs to absorb.

For example, the Great Annihilation Hand sounds quite extraordinary from its name. But it's useless to Duan Rong. Because he doesn't need to cultivate the nineteenth level, the Great Vajra Mandala.

Through repeated comparisons, Duan Rong confirmed that the nineteenth level of the "Great Vajra Realm Mandala" was the same as the nineteenth level of the "Womb Treasury Sutra." However, since the Taiyi Sect did not possess the Buddhist technique of the Great Nirvana Hand, they had to find another way to cultivate the nineteenth level. The sect's founder was a genius, and he eventually solved this thorny problem.

However, it only makes the Garbhadhatu Sutra barely achievable. Compared to the Vajradhatu Mandala, it is somewhat useless because the cultivation speed is too slow.

Regardless, Duan Rong has already mastered the twenty-first level of the Womb Treasury Sutra. In other words, if he wants to continue to improve his spiritual power, he must obtain the techniques beyond the twenty-first level of the Great Vajra Realm Mandala.

Cave No. 3 already contains the nineteenth to twenty-first levels of cultivation techniques. The subsequent cultivation techniques are obviously located in the cave containing the giant statue in the mountain.

Since the mountain looks like a cave, we have to go there.

Duan Rong had been thinking about this carefully for some time.

It would be too agonizing for him to wait six or seven years.

Besides, he already knows the location, so how can he wait any longer?

As the saying goes, there's no time like the present, and besides, he had already figured out that there were no monks cultivating inside the giant mountain statue cave during this period; it was a time of silence. (End of Chapter)