Lanke Chess Edge

Chapter 360: As Expected, There Was a Backup Plan

Lu Shan Jun’s demonic form, compared to Jueming’s silhouette at this moment, was like comparing the size of a cricket standing next to a large cat’s paw. His golden eyes brought an immense sense of pressure to Jueming and the three old monks.As their eyes met, a peculiar terror spread. Even the three old monks could vaguely hear their own heartbeats growing louder. This was a very abnormal state; their minds had been affected without them even realizing it. Although they knew it was the work of a monster, they were powerless to resist it.

The leading old monk, being of higher spiritual cultivation, suppressed the influence on his state of mind and clasped his hands together, chanting Buddhist mantras.

“Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha! Benefactor Lu, Jueming is extremely important to our Buddhist sect. Our sect is willing to take on all the karmic consequences on his behalf…”

Before he could finish speaking, the old monk’s heart skipped a beat. He felt as if his soul had left his body and then returned in an instant.

The old monk fell into a dazed state as his muscles stiffened and he could not open or close his mouth. He was able to breathe with some difficulty, but aside from that was unable to move. The other two old monks were in the same state, as if they had become wooden puppets.

Lu Shan Jun gently blew out a soft breath, creating a whirlwind that swept the three old monks aside. Only Jueming remained in place, though his eyes squinted from the wind as he swayed from side to side.

Throughout this process, Lu Shan Jun kept his eyes on Jueming, as if nothing else mattered.

“Fine, since you wish for liberation, do it yourself.”

Lu Shan Jun waved his hand, and the khakkhara that was originally embedded in the ruins of one of the buildings in the distance flew back and stopped in front of Zhao Long.

“Perhaps it is because of these monks that you have been unable to free yourself. Don’t worry, now there is not a single monk in the entire Daming Monastery who can stop you. Take action yourself, use the staff, and both your body and soul shall be completely annihilated.”

Lu Shan Jun lowered his head and leaned closer, his golden eyes no more than a foot away from Jueming.

“Go ahead. Do it. Back then, you were drunk and someone overheard your secret. You didn’t have the courage to face the consequences of your disgrace. Now, shouldn’t you have the courage to end your own life?”

In both sentences, the statement that the staff could completely destroy Zhao Long’s body and soul was entirely fabricated by Lu Shan Jun. He had no knowledge of Buddhist artifacts, but he had is own reasons for claiming such.

A wisp of monstrous flame swirled around Monk Jueming. The monster’s golden wheel-like eyes resembled enormous pale gold mirrors, reflecting the figure in monk’s robes and the ever-expanding emotions within him—good and evil, right and wrong.

As Monk Jueming gazed at the floating staff before him, Lu Shanjun’s enormous golden eyes served as a backdrop, further highlighting the sanctity of the staff.

Although Ji Yuan was currently in the clouds, his supernatural eyes were wide open. Coupled with the presence of both monstrous and Buddhist energy emanating from the entire Daming Monastery, Zhao Long’s extremely unique constitution, Ji Yuan was able to see everything clearly.

In Ji Yuan’s eyes, Lu Shan Jun was using a unique supernatural technique at this moment.

‘To capture the soul through its reflection; to establish an object as sacred, where form and shadow mirror each other!’

It was unclear whether this method was something Lu Shan Jun came up with on the spur of the moment, or whether it was simply an intuitive application of technique, like brightening a dimly lit room to make the stains on the floor more noticeable to both the guests and the homeowner.1

Under these circumstances, perhaps only Lu Shan Jun would be able to see some of the more deeply hidden corners of people’s hearts. However, Ji Yuan’s supernatural eye could see other aspects, such as the the faint golden film enveloping Zhao Long’s body, upon which flowed characters of Buddhist scripture in hidden light. He wasn’t sure whether Lu Shan Jun could also see it.

Jueming trembled as he raised his hand and slowly reached for the staff. He paused slightly the moment he touched it, and then grasped it firmly.

“That’s fine… I wasn’t really a true monk to begin with…”

Jueming murmured. He gripped the staff tightly and swung it outwards, the muscles in his arms bulging slightly. Then he closed his eyes, gathered his inner energy, and struck the crown of his own head with great force.

The staff struck, but instead of hitting Jueming’s head, it instead struck one of Lu Shanjun’s outstretched claws, producing a metallic clang.

As Jueming opened his eyes to look at Lu Shanjun in surprise, the latter had already begun speaking.

“Death is easy, but you made that grand vow of immeasurable life and immeasurable fruit,2 and these monks are so concerned about you, you must be Buddhist disciple with high potential. Are you really planning to end it all?”

Jueming looked at Lu Shan Jun. In the moment when the staff was about to strike, his emotions had reached their peak, but now, after such a dramatic rise and fall of tension, his mind had become surprisingly calm. He asked:

“What do you think, Lord Lu? Should be sent down the mountain to atone for my sins before I die?”

Lu Shan Jun grinned, revealing sharp teeth, and shook his head.

“Even if I could trust you, I wouldn’t trust these monks not to confine you. Since you’ve already begged for death, there’s another way. Although it will not allow me to understand your thoughts, it can allow me to truly understand the changes in your mind, your good and evil, and to discern whether you are sincere. This will fulfill the promise we made. After that, you can practice meditation and fulfill your vows without any problems.”

“What is that method?”

“Hehehe, it’s very simple. Let me eat you and turn you into a ghost monk. Then, I will be able to discern your good and your evil, and understand whether or not you heart is sincere. As long as I don’t interfere, you will be able to practice your meditation, fulfill your karmic debts, and even save yourself the trouble of begging for alms.”

Jueming gave a somewhat absurd laugh.

“Why are you telling me so much? You can devour me at any time, whether I resist or not is irrelevant. The abbot and the entire Daming Monastery cannot stop you, so what good is my opinion?”

“No, no, no. If I hadn’t known you were truly seeking death, I really wouldn’t have been able to devour you.”

Lu Shan Jun raised his head and looked at the seated statue of the Mingwang Buddha in the distant main hall. At this moment, the statue of the Wisdom King, with its face covered in gold leaf, appeared solemn and majestic, and the ever-burning lamp illuminated its visage with a faint golden light.

“You are covered in immeasurable Buddhist Dharma. been immeasurably blessed with Buddhist teachings. The incarnation of the Mingwang Buddha at the Daming Monastery has never manifested, so I thought this temple was all show and no substance. But just now, I used my spiritual powers to examine you and realized that most of the immeasurable Dharma of the Mingwang Buddha’s incarnation lay upon you!”

Lu Shan Jun lowered his head to look at Jueming again.

“Zhao Long, since you seek liberation, then disperse the Buddhist Dharma on your body. I know you don’t understand these things, but the Dharma moves with the mind. You only need to recite the scriptures devoutly, and firmly concentrate on the fact that the Dharma belongs to the Mingwang Buddha. The Dharma characters on your body will gradually fade away. At that time, I will be able to devour you!”

Ji Yuan looked at what was happening below and couldn’t help but nod slightly to Lu Shan Jun. As expected, Lu Shan Jun knew that Zhao Long had another trick up his sleeve.

The Buddhist Dharma within the incarnation of the Mingwang Buddha were flowing directly into a mere mortal who wasn’t even a Buddhist cultivator. If this were to succeed, it would be like creating a living incarnation of the Mingwang Buddha.

Ji Yuan suspected that the power of the Mingwang Buddha’s Dharma within Zhao Long flowed gradually, slowly drawing the power of the Mingwang Buddha as he sat beneath his statue. This process was slow and imperceptible, and Zhao Long himself was very likely unaware of it. Perhaps this talent was the reason why Daming Monastery was so concerned about Zhao Long.

If they could further enlighten Zhao Long’s Buddhist nature, truly turning his heart towards Buddhism, his future would be limitless, and Daming Monastery could rise to prominence as well.

Lu Shan Jun probably only saw the profound Buddhist Dharma hidden within Zhao Long, but Ji Yuan could guess this possibility through Lu Shan Jun’s words.

If Lu Shan Jun hadn’t noticed this and had recklessly devoured Zhao Long, he would have suffered serious consequences. Even if he had directly killed Zhao Long, he might have activated the power of the Mingwang Buddha, making Zhao Long a Mingwang Buddha incarnation with a physical body.

‘Truly brilliant!’

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but admire Zhao Long’s plan, and was even more curious about which master could have discovered this and provided guidance. It could at most only have been guidance, not the techniques of a high-ranking monk, because perhaps not even the Mingwang Buddha himself would be able to successfully achieve this.

This master even shared the same Dharma name as Huitong, whom Ji Yuan had met before. However, Ji Yuan did not believe that this Huitong was the same as the one he knew.

‘But my disciple is no less capable!’

Zhao Long himself had the great aspiration of immeasurable life and immeasurable fruit; coupled with the unique nature of his body, he could be considered to have a perfect foundation for accepting the power of the Mingwang Buddha. Lu Shan Jun made Zhao Long actively reject his Buddhist Dharma and disperse the power of the Mingwang Buddha, which would sever his foundation. Only Zhao Long himself could do such a thing. Even Ji Yuan himself lacked the means to do so.

Of course, it would be easy to kill him with a sword or burn him to death with a flame, but would this end truly satisfy the covenant?

“Alright, what should I do?”

As soon as Jueming spoke, the three old monks beside him, whose bodies were no longer under their control due to the corruption of monstrous energy, became extremely agitated. They continuously grunted in desperate protest.

Lu Shan Jun ignored them completely and just smiled.

“It’s not complicated. Just recite whatever mantras you know. Even if you don’t know any, you can recite ‘Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha.’ As long as you believe in your heart that you are purifying yourself, do not wish to rely on external power, and wish for the Dharma to distance itself from you, that would be enough.”

Now that things had come to this, Jueming didn’t say much more. He sat down cross-legged on the spot and began to recite sutras. Just two breaths later, streams of golden Buddhist Dharma began to float out of his body. Onlookers could even see the golden characters within the streams. A knowledgeable monk would recognize the characters as the “Sutra of the Seated Mingwang Buddha.”

At that moment, Zhao Long’s entire body turned golden in an instant, far surpassing the state he had been in after being blessed by the three old monks. He exuded an aura of Vajra-like toughness.3

“I sit on the ground before the Buddha, for we are of the same breath; enlightened King and heavenly family, from the time I made my vow in the very beginning…”

As the monk Jueming devoutly chanted sutras, the Buddhist aura emanating from his body gradually spread, forming a golden river of Dharma that flowed back towards the statue of the Mingwang Buddha in the main hall behind him.

Lu Shan Jun simply watched the scene indifferently. At this moment, he was willing to believe that Zhao Long was indeed sincere. However, he was determined to turn Zhao Long into a ghost. Perhaps only those of Daming Monastery would object to his actions.

But Lu Shan Jun didn’t care about them. If Zhao Long stayed at Daming Monastery, he probably wouldn’t be able to leave the mountain for decades.

Although there are many virtuous eminent Buddhist monks, many monks also had their own selfish desires. Lu Shan Jun believed such was the case here at Daming Monastery. He would not meddle in the affairs of the Buddhist cultivation world, but interfering with Zhao Long was perfectly reasonable.

Moreover, as he had mentioned earlier, devouring Zhao Long only meant that he would settle the Covenant of the Nine Warriors, and becoming a ghost did not preclude one from becoming a high monk.

The Buddhist community had always said that one could become a Buddha even in the underworld, so becoming one as a ghost was certainly possible. At least, Lu Shan Jun would never interfere with Zhao Long fulfilling his vows or reaping the rewards; it simply meant that he would no longer be able to contain the power of the incarnation of the Daming Monastery’s seated Mingwang Buddha statue. But in the end, what did that have to do with Lu Shan Jun, or with Zhao Long?

As time passed, Jueming chanted scriptures again and again, and the golden aura on his body gradually faded.

However, Ji Yuan, watching from high above in the sky, shifted his gaze from Daming Monastery’s courtyard to the main hall of the temple. The golden light on Zhao Long’s body was growing fainter, while the golden light emanating from the main hall grew stronger.

Although everything was quiet aside from Zhao Long’s chanting, Ji Yuan could feel a vibration that intensified rapidly. This time, even Lu Shan Jun was unaware.

‘So he couldn’t resist after all!’

The moment Ji Yuan’s thought flashed through his mind…

A golden light rose from the main hall of Daming Monastery.

“The Buddha’s… Dharma… is… boundless…”

A solemn and majestic voice echoed from the main hall, and golden rays of light formed halos that appeared in that direction. Buddhist mantras swept through the entire Daming Monastery, and all the monks who had been suppressed by Lu Shan Jun’s power suddenly awakened.

The main gate and courtyard wall were blown open, and a huge golden Buddha’s palm flew out from the smoke and dust in the blink of an eye, headed straight for Lu Shan Jun.

In the hasty collision, the enormous monstrous body slid dozens of zhang across the ground before before coming to a stop.

The three old monks were so excited that they clasped their hands together and kowtowed towards the main hall.

“We welcome the Lord of Dharma, the Mingwang Buddha!”

T/n: so, uh, they seem to be using “Dharma” as some kind of magical energy source, which is very much what that concept is. But I guess it’s a Chinese fantasy, and it’s kind of like how Western fantasy uses the concept of “mana” for magic spells? It’s also entirely possible that I haven’t been translating this right. This magic system seems to be only loosely inspired by Buddhism, and uses the terms more as familiar reference points (kind of like scifi technobabble) than anything concrete. But then when it actually means something profound, it gets lost in the mix. Plus, all this stuff has so many interpretations even in the original language to begin with, and translation just makes the vast array of options even bigger. It’s all incredibly tricky. Let me know if you have any opinions on the magic system, feel free to chime in with your thoughts!

Layman’s summary of the lore dump in this chapter: Mingwang Buddhas can have incarnations, and this one just happened to choose Jueming (by sheer exposure? The man literally slept underneath the statue). The monks of Daming Monastery were ecstatic about this because it would elevate the monastery’s status in the cultivation world, like how having a major celebrity from a small town makes people love it and want to move there. This is a Problem for LSH because being an incarnation has a nifty side effect of an auto-defense system in the form of a literal Buddha that will come down and rain vengeance, so he got Jueming to accept that he’s done some bad stuff in the past and disperse the accumulating incarnation energy in penance. The monks are really not happy about this but tough for them. The accumulated incarnation energy goes back to the statue, which instead of dissipating like a good little energy cloud, it coalesced because the buddha of the statue was pissed LSH broke its chance at incarnating.

Hope that helps!

For those (like me) who are a little lost about what is going on, it seems like LSH is reflecting his view of the world — his “truth” — through the “mirror” of his eyes and forcing Jueming to reveal his own hidden truth to him Concepts in Buddhism related to the afterlife in the Pure Land of the Amitabha Buddha. Essentially referencing his Buddhist monk vows A Vajra literally translates to “thunderbolt” or “diamond” and is a Buddhist ritual object that resembles a squat double-tipped scepter.