All of a sudden!
The sound of Sanskrit reverberated through the valley, possessing a mysterious noble might that was shuddering!
“Om… Ma… Ni… Pa… Mi… Hom!”
Every single Sanskrit word that was spoken caused a tremendous vibration to reverberate through the voids.
The corpses and bloodied figures that were initially in front of Su Zimo vanished entirely.
There was no mountain or corpses nor was there any river of blood.
Everything was just an illusion!
The only thing that was real was the creepy white skeleton palm hovering above Su Zimo’s head!
Not far away, a little monk strode over slowly. Although he was at a young age, he was dignified in his Dharmic ways as he stared behind Su Zimo with two divine lights beaming from his eyes!
He held a string of Buddha Beads in his right hand and chanted Sanskrit endlessly.
There was a lotus seat on his left palm that emanated with a mysterious glow.
As the little monk walked over, the illusions that were initially in Su Zimo’s line of dispersed and the meandering ravine reappeared.
He was standing at the bend in the valley and the battered old temple was not far away!
When the white-bloused woman caught sight of the little monk, her expression suddenly turned uneasy.
The bloody sockets on her face stared at the lotus seat on the little monk’s hand hesitantly, seemingly cautious.
“Evil being, what are you waiting for? Leave!”
The little monk hollered lightly with a stern expression.
He raised his left hand and pushed the lotus seat gently in the direction of the white-bloused woman.
The lotus seat floated over through the air.
One after another, pure white lotus petals opened up from inside out, layer by layer.
As the lotus blossomed, the lotus seat let out an extremely terrifying aura!
“Ah!”
The white-bloused woman shrieked and turned into smoke, escaping far away and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
The little monk hurried forward and put away the lotus seat before tugging Su Zimo’s sleeves, whispering, “Patron, hurry, let’s go!”
As he said that, the little monk turned and sprinted back towards the old temple.
Su Zimo’s heart skipped a beat and followed him.
Thankfully, they were not too far away from the old temple and the both of them returned to it within tens of breaths.
The little monk only heaved a sigh of relief after turning around to close the main doors.
“Thank you for your lifesaving grace, fellow Daoist,” Su Zimo bowed and expressed his thanks.
The little monk waved it off, smiling. “No matter, patron. It’s only right of me.”
“What is your name, fellow Daoist?” Su Zimo asked.
The little monk replied, “I’m Ming Zhen.”
“Ming Zhen, Ming Zhen…”
Su Zimo muttered twice softly.
Purity, honesty and sincerity.
Those were the impressions that the little monk gave Su Zimo.
Everything was truly embodied by the ‘Zhen[1]’ character in his name.
“The evil entities outside are extremely vicious and possess supreme Dharmic powers. I’m not their match either,”
Ming Zhen explained, “The malevolent ghost earlier only turned to flee because she was wary about this lotus seat, thinking that my master had appeared. If we had waited for her to realize what was happening, we would have been doomed.”
Feeling somewhat guilty, Su Zimo said, “I was careless just now and nearly implicated you.”
Eight years worth of cultivation was destroyed overnight and he had turned into a mortal from the number one monster incarnate of history. Anyone else would also have a hard time accepting such a defeat and downfall.
Earlier on, when he left the old temple, part of it was out of curiosity to check out what was outside.
Another part of it was truly because he was brooding internally.
He had truly suffered immensely mentally!
Ming Zhen seemed to be able to sense the troubles Su Zimo was facing. “Actually, there won’t be any danger as long as you don’t head out of this place. Although this courtyard is not large, you can move around freely within it, patron. The sutras in the Sutra Chamber are also free for you to read.”
“At that time, we might be able to share our understanding and explore the depths of Buddhism together.”
Pausing for a moment, as though he recalled something, Ming Zhen reminded hurriedly, “Right, also, don’t ever head to the backyard of the grand hall!”
After saying that, Ming Zhen shirked his neck with a frightened expression, as though he had just thought of something terrifying.
Su Zimo was greatly curious.
Against that menacing malevolent ghost with torrential Dharmic powers earlier on, Ming Zhen was stern without any fear.
Yet, why was he revealing such an expression at the mention of the backyard?
Just what was in the backyard that caused Ming Zhen such cautiousness?
Furthermore, Su Zimo noticed something.
Earlier on when he wanted to head out, Ming Zhen merely reminded him that it was dangerous outside and he should not head far away.
But now, Ming Zhen was warning Su Zimo with extreme conviction not to head to the backyard of the grand hall!
Su Zimo nodded.
He truly did not wish to give Ming Zhen any troubles.
After Ming Zhen gave the reminder, he returned to his praying mat and took out the thick ancient book from before, flipping it open carefully to continue reading.
The little fox gradually stirred awake during this period of time.
However, due to the shock that she received, she insisted on staying in Su Zimo’s embrace and refused to go anywhere.
After taking a look, Ming Zhen seemed to recall something and handed Su Zimo the ancient book in his hands with sincerity. “Patron, if you don’t know what sutra to start with, how about this? You will definitely benefit immensely.”
“This sutra possesses the secrets of the universe and you will gain a different realization with every new reading of it. It’s truly amazing.”
Su Zimo laughed bitterly internally.
Right now, he did not have any mood at all.
Even if his cultivation was still present, he wouldn’t be able to endure sitting through to comprehend these difficult sutras.
Su Zimo declined. “My injuries have not healed yet so I can’t exhaust myself mentally. You can read them first.”
Ming Zhen did not believe it entirely and asked somewhat confusedly, “Reading sutras, prostrating yourself to Buddha and comprehending the Dao is the most enjoyable thing in the world. How would it be exhausting mentally?”
Shaking his head, Ming Zhen did not seem to understand Su Zimo’s words.
When he saw Ming Zhen’s passion, Su Zimo felt embarrassed and asked, “What’s the name of that ancient book? I’ll go take a look at it after you’re done reading it.”
Of course, he had only mentioned that casually and wasn’t truly curious about it.
“Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra”
“Oh,”
Su Zimo replied distractedly. The moment he turned around, his expression changed!
“Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra?”
He looked at Ming Zhen with disbelief and asked again.
“That’s right.”
Ming Zhen nodded in a natural manner.
Su Zimo’s mouth dropped agape and he froze for a moment before revealing a bitter smile.
The Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra was known as the number one secret skill for the Golden Core.
In that alarming catastrophe 10,000 years ago, Fahua Monastery was destroyed and the Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra was lost at that time.
After all this time, nobody discovered any trace of the Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra.
Therefore, a saying began to spread through the cultivation world.
Everyone claimed that the Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra was buried within the Great Qian Ruins.
Su Zimo’s trip towards the Great Qian Ruins this time round was not entirely due to the Vermilion Fruit. A great part of the reason was because he wanted to find the Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra!
Unfortunately, fate loved to tease.
Now that he was truly able to see the Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra, he was already unable to cultivate.
The legends were right – the Mystic Dharmic Lotus Sutra was truly buried within the Great Qian Ruins.
However, who would have thought that this was buried at the bottom of the Dragon Burial Valley!
Su Zimo finally realized why there was such an old, ancient and battered temple at the bottom of the Dragon Burial Valley.
There was a high probability that this temple was built by a surviving monk of either Fahua or Daming Monastery in the past!
However, what was the purpose of building a temple as such at the bottom of the valley?
[1] As a single character, it means real. The meanings above have Zhen in their words
