Free Web NovelChapter 2124: Chapter 1985: Marching Ants in the Desert (5)
Master Benwu’s face grew solemn again.
Song Xiaodong noticed that the surrounding Skull Mountains were changing, the color at the base gradually deepening, spreading upward along the skeletons. When it reached the burning areas, the fire gradually diminished and finally extinguished.
When Song Xiaodong and the others came back to their senses, they found that the scripture beneath their feet was completely soaked with blood, and the sand underfoot was also saturated with it.
"This is not the Bone Array! This is the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea Array!" Song Xiaodong suddenly shouted.
The composed Master Benwu listened and exhaled deeply.
At this moment, the flat yellow desert of Lop Nur seemed so lovely and gentle.
A few dozen meters away, however, there were Skull Mountains of various sizes and blood-stained sand.
Under the moonlight, it all appeared so eerie.
Master Benwu walked back to the edge of the excavated pit, which was again filled with fresh blood. Like a fountain, blood spewed from the center of the pit, disturbing the calm surface.
The blood began to spread towards everyone’s feet.
"Amitabha Buddha."
"Enough, you are willing to sacrifice your heart, and as a disciple of Buddhism, should I care about preserving feathers?"
Master Benwu said, then uttered a long "Om——", thrusting the golden Zen staff deeply into the pit with a muffled "thud."
"Ah——"
Everyone heard a chilling scream of a woman, as if she was shrieking right next to them, yet seemingly far away.
Several young warriors were so frightened they fell to their knees, while Song Xiaodong and others, though looking calm, covered their ears from the shock.
But it was useless; the scream was as haunting as a woman being pierced through the heart, directly penetrating into the brain without going through the eardrums.
From afar came the melodious sound of a bone flute, accompanied by a woman’s crying, sometimes near, sometimes far. More staggering corpses crawled out from Skull Mountain, including humans, cows, sheep, rats, snakes, wolves, and bears—as if a fossil museum had come to life, they sprinted towards the group.
Song Xiaodong and Sun Yiyi, Chu Xianling exchanged a glance, their figures flickered, three shadows leaped up and down in the moonlight, and then came the crisp, hollow sound of bones shattering. Before the sound of rolling bones ceased, Song Xiaodong and the others had returned to the original position.
The blood on the sandy land did not continue to rise, nor did blood flow from the pit, but the blood defying gravity adhered to Master Benwu’s golden Zen staff, creeping upward like the red liquid in a barometer, rising far above the surface blood level.
Master Benwu closed his eyes in Spirit Concentration, flipping his Prayer Beads rapidly, and started chanting scripture.
"Greed for lust is sin. When man’s sin is finished, it forms in the wind, known as Drought Demon."
"Greed for delusion is sin. When man’s sin is finished, it forms in beasts, known as Charming Ghost."
"Greed for hatred is sin. When man’s sin is finished, it forms in insects, known as Gu Poison Ghost."
"Greed for memory is sin. When man’s sin is finished, it forms in decay, known as Ghosts of Time."
...
"In the universe of impermanence, twelve kinds of life, the essential awakening, the harmonious mind, the same as the Buddha of ten directions, with no difference."
"By your illusions, misguided logic is the fault, ignorant love arises, pervades the ignorance, thus there is emptiness, transforming and never ceasing, hence the world arises, and the Dust Mote Kingdom is established by deluded obstinacy."
"Know that the void is born within your mind, like a cloud in the faint blue sky. How then are worlds in the void?"
"You who practice Zen, adorn Samadhi, the Bodhisattvas of ten directions, and those of impurity, the Great Arhat, transcend in mind and spirit, tranquil in the moment."
"All Demon Kings and Ghosts and Gods, the worldly heavens, see their palaces inexplicably collapse, earth split, waters and lands fly and surge, leaving none unshaken."
The blood continued to climb up the Zen staff, which rusted rapidly, its yellow light gradually diminished, transforming into bronze, beginning to crack and peel away, and soon disappeared into the blood mist.
More skeletons started awakening, encircling from all directions.
The warriors were down to their last clip.
Master Benwu looked dazed at the Zen staff melting back into the blood pit. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Song Xiaodong and the others had no time to care about Master Benwu, beginning to fight the skeletons hand-to-hand. The warriors used their bayonets for close-quarters combat instead of bullets.
The skeletons were not particularly dangerous but endless, intending to trap Song Xiaodong and others here.
Master Benwu suddenly made up his mind, laughing loudly. After laughing enough, he recited four verses.
"Of delusion and karma, and demonic realms, "
"In the world’s path, one attains liberation, "
"Like a lotus not touching water, "
"Like sun and moon not dwelling in the sky."
"This physical body is not worth cherishing, Sect Leader Song, I’m going first!"
With that, Master Benwu leapt into the Blood Stained Pool.
"Mage!"
Song Xiaodong turned back and shouted.
Master Benwu sat cross-legged in the pit, golden light shot from his bald head, enshrining a Buddha who opened its mouth to speak.
"Om——"
"Amitabha Mantra"
This was Amitabha Buddha’s Heart Mantra, representing the subtle core of Amitabha Buddha. The chant was not loud, yet it resonated very far, causing the neighboring Skull Mountains to tremble and sway.
The dense skeletons surrounding Song Xiaodong and the group suddenly, as if someone flipped a switch on a toy, cracked at the joints with a crash, littering the ground.
Chapter 1989: Bluffing with Skill
"Go!"
Song Xiaodong, with Zhao Ruonan and Sun Yiyi, Chu Xianling leapt three feet away and instantly dashed out of the Skull Mountain region.
Zhao Ruonan’s warriors also followed them out.
"Mage!" Zhao Ruonan looked back and shouted to Master Benwu.
The entire Skull Mountain came completely alive, countless kinds of skeletons surged like a tide towards the seated Master Benwu in the blood pit.
