Mani Kingdom, the central land.
The majestic and solemn Mani Temple is located here, covering an area of hundreds of miles, just like a large city.
Hundreds of thousands of monks and novices chant Buddhist scriptures in the morning and evening with bells and drums; tens of thousands of Buddhist monks come and go in the light, creating a scene of a Buddhist holy land.
The source of Buddhism in the forty-eight thousand temples, the origin of the name of the Buddhist kingdom on earth, and the well-deserved ancestral land of ten thousand monks.
"Om mani padme hum..."
The dull sound of chanting mantras and sutras resounded throughout the fields, causing the sky to tremble, and the pale golden light shot straight into the midst of the bullfights, reflecting patches of golden auspicious clouds.
Among the golden auspicious clouds, there are countless Buddhist secret mantras floating up and down, flying up and down, spreading a misty luster like a thin gauze, and dipping down like spring rain.
No matter ordinary people or monks with powerful magical powers, when they come under the golden auspicious clouds and enter the Mani Temple, they can suddenly feel much calmer in their hearts, and seem to have gained eternal joy and stability.
And deep in the Mani Temple:
A majestic and magnificent palace, located in a quiet and deserted courtyard.
Inside the palace is a broad jade wall covering an area of several tens of feet. On it is a map of the entire Mani Kingdom. Mountains, rivers and rivers are clearly visible, and cities, Buddhist temples are dotted here and there.
The entire map is visibly filled with golden light and black energy. The two are entangled with each other and fluctuate. Sometimes the golden light is high and the black energy is dim. Sometimes the black energy is surging and the golden light is low.
Looking around:
Throughout the Mani Kingdom, which spans hundreds of thousands of miles, the golden light and black energy are changing all the time, seemingly always maintaining a state of opposition and balance.
"Hoo, hoo..."
The long breathing sound like a dragon's roar echoed in the empty hall, like a dry old tree sighing in its twilight years.
An old monk with a white face and no beard but long white eyebrows sat cross-legged in front of a huge jade, looking at the entanglement of golden light and black energy, his eyes were like deep pools.
"...Master."
The sound of footsteps came from far and near. Zhenhui knelt down at the door of the palace and whispered:
"Taoist Tianshuang, who is guarding the Mingze Demon Cave, has just sent a message through the Shenyou Formation, saying that he will be away temporarily for a few years and asked the temple to send someone to replace him."
"I see."
The old monk spoke slowly, his voice hoarse and dry:
"According to my decree, go to your senior brother Zhenliang and ask him to replace Taoist Tianshuang and temporarily guard the Mingze Demon Cave."
"yes."
After Zhenhui bowed respectfully, she stood up and left the palace quickly.
The Hall of Dajue, ranked first among the twelve halls of the Mani Temple, is responsible for monitoring the world's demonic caves and the turbid energy of the earth. Its power and status are so great that it is even higher than the abbot of the Mani Temple.
The golden-bodied Arhats who have been able to take charge of the Great Enlightenment Hall in past generations are often the most valued successors of those great Arhats, and this generation is no exception.
But times have changed:
Tongxing Arhat has been in charge of the Great Enlightenment Hall for three decades, but has yet to achieve the realm of a great Arhat. Seeing that his life span has passed 500, it is inevitable that there will be a lot of criticism in the Mani Temple.
Tongxing Arhat, who was in the center of the whirlpool, knew all this clearly, but he didn't care. He just looked at the vast jade map and often sighed silently.
"Da da da……"
Not long after Zhenhui left, there was another steady and powerful footsteps.
Tong Xing seemed to have judged the identity of the person from the footsteps. He frowned slightly and suddenly said:
"Junior Brother Tongyuan, you are here."
"Are they those master uncles and grand master uncles? Do you have any explanations?"
"right."
The current abbot of Mani Temple and Tongyuan Arhat, who was dressed in a brocade red and black gold cassock, sighed, clasped his hands together, and whispered:
"Uncle Guangming Taishi, let me tell you something, senior brother."
"He said that if you are still unwilling to become enlightened and let go of your worries, then you can only give up the Great Enlightenment Palace and step down from the post of Arhat holding the palace, so as to clear the way for future generations to make progress."
"He will only give you another twenty years at most."
"..."
Tongxing Arhat lowered his eyelids and was silent for a while before slowly saying:
"Do you really think...this is a way to make progress?"
"I have no idea."
Abbot Tongyuan said calmly:
"I have long since given up the hope of becoming a great Arhat. I have been assigned to take charge of all the miscellaneous things in Mani Temple. I have been working hard for many years and have lost my ambition to make progress."
"But almost all the great Arhats in the past achieved enlightenment in this position. Nowadays, there are far more than just one or two senior brothers who are eyeing this position..."
Tongxing Arhat smiled lightly and said slowly:
"Since they want it so much, I'll just give it up."
As he spoke, he stood up and left the futon without any hesitation, as if he had been waiting for this day to come.
"Wait!"
Abbot Tongyuan stopped him, shook his head and said:
"Senior brother, why do you have to be so impatient?"
"Since Grand Master's uncle has spoken, twenty years will be twenty years."
"If the twenty-year period has not expired, then you can't give it up; even if you give it up, no one will dare to take it."
Hearing this, Tongxing Arhat was silent for a long time, then shook his head and said:
"They shouldn't have any hope in me anymore."
"why not?"
Abbot Tongyuan’s voice was deep:
"Senior brother, you were qualified to become an Arhat three decades ago, but you have been delaying until now."
"I have never understood why you insist on worrying about these insignificant things and are still unwilling to become enlightened and make progress..."
"Little things?!"
Hearing this, Tongxing Arhat interrupted him abruptly and raised his tone a bit:
“How can the welfare of all living beings be a small matter?”
Abbot Tongyuan looked at him expressionlessly:
"First there is Buddha, then there are living beings."
"If you don't become a Buddha first, how will you be qualified to save all sentient beings? Senior brother, don't you understand?"
"..."
Tongxing Arhat's face twitched, he took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly, and said in a hoarse voice:
"You go."
Abbot Tongyuan turned around and left. The black gold cassock on his body was particularly dazzling in the sun. His voice came from far away, revealing a hint of indifference:
"Senior brother, please remember, you still have twenty years."
…………
In the blink of an eye, three months passed.
On this day, Zhang Yao was sitting in the Demon Sealing Hall of Changle Palace, crossing his legs and closing his eyes, concentrating on three things:
A ray of spiritual thought controls the magic power and continuously consumes the devilish energy; a ray of divine thought is thrown into the wandering magic circle, chatting and communicating with the golden elixir monks and golden body arhats from all over the place.
Most of the mind and energy are used to understand and practice the magical power of 'Tianfeng Invisible Body', striving to push the progress to perfection as soon as possible.
"Um?"
Suddenly, Zhang Yao seemed to notice something and opened his eyes.
"Which fellow Taoist is visiting?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a heroic laughter came from outside:
"Hahaha... Fellow Taoist Qingxu, it's me."
Hearing this, Zhang Yao immediately recognized the identity of the person from the voice and showed a smile:
"It turns out to be Fellow Taoist He Ze, please come in quickly."
As he spoke, he stood up and left the futon to greet her outside Changle Palace.
Outside Changle Palace:
A middle-aged Taoist in a black robe with long sleeves and a tall crown stood in front of the palace gate, the hem of his robe rustling in the mountain breeze.
His face was slightly dark, and he had three long beards under his chin. The aura around him was as deep as the sea and like an invisible whirlpool, constantly stirring.
"Fellow Daoist Heze, you and I finally meet."
Zhang Yao stepped forward to greet him, looked at the figure of the middle-aged Taoist, and couldn't help but marveled:
"Fellow Taoist He Ze's skills are truly ingenious and exquisite!"
"With my spiritual thoughts and insight, I can't even see any flaws in this puppet body of fellow Taoist. It's perfect!"
Yes, the golden elixir monk 'He Ze Patriarch' in front of him is actually a puppet.
Among the many foreign golden elixir monks in the Mani Kingdom, most are in the early or middle stages of the golden elixir. There are only two in the late golden elixir period, namely 'He Ze Patriarch' and 'White Jade Empress'.
Ancestor He Ze, who is based in Panlong Mountain, is said to be from Donglong Mansion, one of the nine mansions in Tianzhou, and is proficient in the extremely rare puppetry technique. The puppets sold to the outside world can be used as clones, and can almost be fake.
And it’s worth mentioning:
This Patriarch Heze is the one who has stayed in the Mani Kingdom the longest among many foreign monks. It is said that he has stayed for nearly 150 years.
Every outside Jindan monk will basically order an incarnation puppet from Ancestor Heze to support his daily travel needs. The holding of rituals among many Jindan monks also relies on the puppet incarnation.
"Hahaha... Fellow Taoist Qingxu is so complimentary."
Ancestor Heze stroked his beard and smiled, then said:
"I spent three months refining the puppet incarnation you ordered from me before, and I finally succeeded in refining it. I'm here to deliver it to your door today."
"How about you check it out first and make sure there are no problems before we talk about other things?"
"Something else?"
Zhang Yao's expression moved slightly, and he suddenly understood in his heart——
This Patriarch He Ze came to visit today. It seemed that he was not only sending a puppet, but also had other things to ask him for.
"Okay, then do as fellow Taoist wishes."
Zhang Yao nodded in agreement, turned sideways and stretched out his hand:
"Fellow Taoist, please, let's go in and talk."
Soon, after the two entered the front hall, the guests and hosts took their seats, and Patriarch Heze released the puppet incarnation he had brought.
He waved his sleeves, and a lifelike figure suddenly appeared in the hall. The appearance and physical characteristics of Zhang Yao were almost identical, and they were completely indistinguishable to the naked eye.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, it's really incredible..."
Zhang Yao was amazed. After using his spiritual power to investigate carefully, he found many differences in details, which proved that this was a puppet and not a real person.
However, this is an unrefined state. If it is refined with mana and divine thoughts, it will be difficult to detect pure divine thoughts. Unless there are special verification methods or direct action, it can be distinguished.
Zhang Yao detected a ray of spiritual thought, penetrated into the core of the incarnation puppet, and refined the central source.
"Buzz!"
In an instant, the puppet incarnation suddenly moved, opened its eyes, and met Zhang Yao's eyes.
Zhang Yao suddenly had an idea and tried to control the puppet body. He found that it was almost as smooth and convenient as the real body, and he felt no hindrance at all.
The most amazing thing is that although it is a body made of metal, its various senses are basically the same as those of a flesh and blood body. If it were a mortal, it would be impossible to tell the subtle differences.
The only difference is:
Zhang Yao's body is extremely powerful and his magic power is unparalleled. However, the strength of this body is very poor and is similar to ordinary spiritual weapons. It is roughly equivalent to a body-refining monk in the early and middle stages of foundation building.
Moreover, the amount of magic power that this body can carry is also limited, and its combat effectiveness is not strong. It can only be destroyed by a Jindan monk with a finger.
Of course, this is only used for travel and communication, and it is not a combat puppet.
A series of complex formations are also engraved on the inside of this kind of puppet. As long as it is not too far away and exceeds the range of 100,000 miles, it can always maintain the control of spiritual thoughts.
"how?"
Ancestor He Ze stroked his beard and showed a trace of contentment:
"Are you satisfied with this incarnation of a puppet? Fellow Taoist Qingxu?"
(End of chapter)
