New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 39 Red Helmet

After quickly leaving the rock wall area, the team, under the guidance of Monk Kucao, found a small path leading to the Naye Buddhist Kingdom, which greatly increased their travel speed.

Not long after, they followed the path and saw a dilapidated and abandoned village in the distance.

As we approached, judging by the age of the houses and the signs of life, the village had been abandoned for no more than a month. Traces of vandalism and wild animal bites were everywhere, and the buildings were now completely deserted.

Here, Yuan Zhu finally saw the ghost in the underworld he had been thinking about. It wasn't completely dead yet? It couldn't be described as "dead", but rather that it hadn't been completely destroyed.

Instead, he was deliberately nailed to the ground with a hardwood spear engraved with Buddhist mantras.

Green plants took root and sprouted within the wound, crawling around the ghost's body and growing wildly, pinning it to the ground. No matter how weakly it struggled, it could not break free from the blockade of the Mantra Spear and the plant vines. It remained pinned there, and the more it struggled, the weaker it became.

To be honest, after seeing this ghost, Yuan Zhu was a little disappointed. It was far less challenging than the green version of the filthy bone monster, looking crazy and terrifying. Perhaps it was because it had been handled by someone?

This Yellow Springs ghost was a corporeal corpse, its skin dry and wrinkled, its eyes cloudy, like a dehydrated corpse. Its clothing was tattered and emanated a faint stench of decay, which was masked and suppressed by the refreshing scent of the strange plant.

If there was one thing that was strange about it, it was probably that it had three arms. Besides the two normal human hands, a massive tumor bulged from its back near its left shoulder blade, resembling a Buddha's head, but with a ferocious, sinister expression, more like the face of an Asura.

A long left arm emerged from the Buddha's mouth. This arm was about one and a half times the length of the corpse's arms. Even dehydrated and shrunken, it was stronger and more powerful than the corpse's own. The fingers were slender, with sharp nails, like a ghost's claw.

Even though it was pinned to the ground by the wooden spear, this flexible third hand could still bend in a way that defied human instincts, gripping the wooden spear tightly. A sizzling sound emanated from the palm of his hand as he exerted all his strength, trying to pull the spear out of his body. However, no matter how hard he tried, the wooden spear remained motionless.

Zhou Chu observed the crime scene: "The ghosts here have been cleared out by someone. They should be monks from Ye Foguo."

Yuan Zhu: "This victim also has a Buddha head tumor on his back, which means he is also a monk?"

The young monk Kucao clasped his hands together, bowed to the corpse ghost, and then said, "This is a warrior monk from the Vajra Temple. The arm on his back is the Vajra Temple's Buddha Palm. Every successful warrior monk possesses a Buddha Palm, but the position of the palm is different. The more Buddha Palms one has, the higher the level of Buddhist Dharma. It is said that among the Bodhisattvas in Lingshan, there is a Thousand-Armed Guanyin."

Is this how the Thousand-Armed Guanyin is interpreted?
Yuan Zhu recalled the cocoon on the withered grass, which was only the size of a pigeon egg. But the cocoon on the dehydrated corpse before him was half the size of a leather ball, a circle larger than an adult's shoulder.

"Hey, little monk. Why are your cocoons so different? Is it because you lack wisdom? Is it because the Dharma is shallow?"

Upon hearing this, Kucao's face flushed red and he was too embarrassed to answer.

The captain intervened, "Buddhism has two main paths of practice: one cultivates the physical body, achieving indestructibility and eternal existence, thus becoming a Buddha in this very body. The other cultivates the soul, achieving immortality through reincarnation and attaining Buddhahood. This Huangquan ghost cultivator's physical body is indestructible, so the Buddha cocoon will also transform, giving rise to limbs and other flesh organs. As for the young monk, he's a recent initiate and isn't yet qualified to choose a path of practice. His Buddha cocoon is still in its most primitive state, yet to develop into a seed and brew magical power."

Ku Cao nodded repeatedly and replied to Yuan Zhu, "That's right! I'm not qualified to claim to be a Buddhist, but the Buddha cocoon is the root of wisdom."

"Keep checking and see if you can find any other useful information."

Not long after, they discovered seven more ghouls in the village. Three of them had been completely destroyed, and the remaining three were still struggling weakly.

The wooden spear, which contained special powers, was both a seal and a means of torture, used to vent anger and take revenge.

In addition to the sporadic wooden spears blessed by Buddhism, the team also found another kind of ghost suspected to be an invisible soul and vengeful spirit. It was also dealt with and sealed in a very common black jar, half buried in the soil and the other half exposed on the surface.

The same thorny plants cling and grow on the surface of the jar, interweaving into a cage that traps the jar to the ground.

Due to the continuous high-intensity exposure to various pollution sources in the past two days, especially after joining the "Happy Home", I received explanations and guidance from Meng Xiyue, and asked Zhou Chu for a set of pollution test strips as a souvenir (to add records).

The [Immortal Scripture] was no longer completely blind to Duling Star, as it had been when it first arrived, labeling every harmful substance it saw as [pollution]. Now, it could vaguely identify and roughly distinguish the types of pollution sources. It had also smelled enough odors to be able to assess them.

[Immortal Scripture] From the plants and wooden spears enveloping the black altar, a unique fluctuation resembling "holy light" was detected. The elf speculated that it must be some kind of "light attribute," consistent with Yuan Zhu's expectations of Buddhism. After all, the Buddha's light is immense. Could these plants possibly be endowed with the "evil-destroying Buddha's light"?

"These plants contain special energies that can imprison and dispel the resentful spirits within the altar. As long as they are not broken, they can absorb energy from the outside world over time, continuously suppressing and dispelling the resentful spirits, ultimately eliminating them. Similar to those crucified corpse ghosts, this is likely a local Buddhist method of subduing demons."

Meng Xiyue lifted her chin and asked doubtfully, "Little monk, have you ever seen this kind of demon-slaying method before? This doesn't seem like the Buddhist style I'm used to. I've heard that lingering traces of Buddhist magic can give people the illusion of peace, just like smelling sandalwood or listening to Zen sounds. Your Buddha cocoon has that effect, but these wooden spears and vines don't." Kucao shook his head. "I recognize these jars; they're used to hold food or preserve alcohol in the marketplace. But this kind of demon-slaying method, with its wooden spears and plants, is new to me."

Mengxi continued, "Could it be the new power that the new abbot has found to suppress and eliminate the Buddha demons, as mentioned in the letter?"

Zhou Chu: "You'll know once you get to Yecheng. Speed up!"

...

The crowd set off again, heading straight for the Ye Fo Kingdom along the road.

Along the way, they came across several villages, all of which were almost deserted, with remains of nailed corpses, vengeful spirits sealed in altars, and the remains of foul-skeletal monsters that had been cut into pieces and burned with fire.

Under the captain's instructions, Yuan Zhu and others pulled out several wooden spears that had been used to torture the dead ghosts and used them as self-defense weapons.

The captain also commented that the third limbs of those dead ghouls (Buddha's Palms) could also be exchanged for a few coins in the Gods' Dimension. If you don't mind the dirt or the smell, you can collect a batch, but don't let the uniform absorb them.

On the journey thereafter, sporadic escapees (ghosts) occasionally posed no threat. Their clothing also resistant to the [Yellow Springs Aura], so the captain arranged for the team members to take turns fighting the enemies, beating up the ghouls and tempering their courage.

With the wooden spear, a powerful weapon to restrain the zombies, Yuan Zhu easily shot the heads of ordinary zombies one by one, but he still failed to kill them unless he chose to leave the wooden spear behind and nail the opponent to death.

In desperation, he pulled out his copy of "13 Rites of Exorcism," hoping to find a new method. However, he didn't have the ingredients for the sealed environment, chlorine fumigation, high-concentration holy salt solution, scientific holy light, and ultraviolet light described in the book.

In the end, Yuan Zhu summarized a set of the most primitive exorcism methods for everyone: burning. First, use a wooden spear to blow the head off, then break a leg, and finally insert a burning torch into the stomach to ignite the methane and quickly burn the corpse.

Purify all impurities with the primordial fire.

As for the other invisible vengeful spirit? Its first attack, an invisible mental attack that invaded the mind, was then deflected by the uniforms on the people. It was forced to change its target, attacking and successfully possessing the goat.

Then, he was killed by Zhou Chu.

This was the first time she demonstrated the power of the law. Yuan Zhu saw a fingerless red glove appear out of thin air on her right hand. With a wave of her arm, a chain flew out from the palm of her hand and tightly wrapped around the goat.

Then the sheep twitched violently and screamed as if it was being continuously electrocuted, which was quite similar to the exorcism of a believer being possessed by a demon and tortured by the clergy. A large area of black pearls was scattered on the ground.

Finally, the last vestiges of the invisible spirit's power vanished from the goat's body. The rescued goat, now half-dead, limped as it walked, desperately trying to avoid Zhou Chu. It was silent, not even interested in eating the weeds by the roadside.

Yuan Zhu didn't understand the whole thing, he just saw the young lady abusing animals and winning the old lady's gratitude.

...

Finally, as the bubble world was about to turn dusk, the team arrived at the outskirts of Naye City. From afar, they could see the vague outline of the city walls and the towering pagoda in the city.

As Yuan Zhu and his group approached, a group of people appeared at the city gate, riding their horses and approaching quickly.

The two teams raced in opposite directions, the distance between them growing closer and closer, and the scene gradually became clearer. From a distance, Yuan Zhu saw a group of red helmets approaching through the mouse he had sent out to explore the way.

Why don't they wear armor, but instead wear bright red helmets? Aren't they afraid of attracting attention?

But as he got closer, he realized it wasn't a helmet at all, but...

"Head?"

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(End of this chapter)