Chapter 41 Living Buddha

Jiang Chen had been traveling for three days straight. Although he was sightseeing while traveling, with his pace, he easily covered several hundred li a day.

By now, he had reached Hedong Circuit, nearing Chang'an City.

At this moment, even outside the city walls, it felt livelier than other places.

When Jiang Chen arrived outside Jingzhao Prefecture, he happened to see a grand procession lined up outside, with parasols, prayer flags, and colorful banners stretching out for a hundred zhang.

Many lamas dressed in red and yellow clothing guarded a palanquin shaded by a parasol.

Through the transparent curtains of the parasol on the palanquin, one could see a burly figure sitting cross-legged inside.

Outside the city gate, countless commoners were shouting fervently.

Although it was the sweltering heat of summer, it could not dampen the fervent spirits of the commoners.

"Living Buddha!"

"Vajrabodhi!"

"Living Buddha, please deliver me!"

Jiang Chen followed the crowd, moving closer to the location of the palanquin.

He was also curious about what kind of Living Buddha could incite such adoration from the commoners.

As the lama procession entered the city, the congested crowd outside also gradually shifted inside the city.

Jiang Chen, dressed in a Daoist robe, also attracted the attention of quite a few people, but these people only glanced at Jiang Chen before turning their gazes back to the lama procession.

Although Jiang Chen was also a Daoist, there were so many Daoist temples everywhere, yet there was only one Living Buddha.

"Vajrabodhi, I beg you, save me, save me!"

Just then, a man in tattered clothes, covered from head to toe in bumps and pustules, rolled like a donkey and sprawled in front of the procession, kowtowing incessantly toward the palanquin.

Some of the pustules on this man's body had already ruptured, constantly oozing thick, yellowish-white pus, looking hideous and accompanied by a rotting stench.

"Supreme Living Buddha, Vajrabodhi, I am truly in too much pain, I beg you to save me!"

"Audacious! How dare you block the Venerable's carriage!" Two lamas immediately stepped forward, intending to drive this man blocking the path away.

The two lamas showed no aversion to the pustules and the smell on the man's body as they prepared to hoist him up and throw him away.

"Wait."

Just then, a deep, resonant voice came from within the palanquin. The voice was not loud, but it overwhelmed the entire crowd, causing all the clamor to be suppressed in an instant.

As this voice rang out, the previously noisy crowd instantly fell silent.

Everyone stared at the palanquin with eyes full of hope and fervor, as if only by doing so could they manifest their fanatical faith.

When Jiang Chen heard this "Wait," his pupils suddenly constricted.

He could not discern much else, but the cultivation of this Living Buddha lama who had come from the Secret Treasury Region was exceptionally high.

With just a single shout, he was able to suppress the clamor of tens of thousands of commoners in the area.

Moreover, Jiang Chen was a full several dozen zhang away, yet when it reached his ears, it sounded as if the speaker were right in front of him.

Jiang Chen felt that he should be no less than his Second Senior Brother Ye Fashan—of course, that was before his Second Senior Brother reached the Primordial Spirit Realm.

That's right, after Jiang Chen mastered the Shangqing Image-Aspect Sword, his Second Senior Brother Ye Fashan also successfully broke through, building a heavenly bridge over the Sea of Bitterness, just one step away from the Primordial Spirit Realm.

"Could this lama be one of the three Buddhist experts who are supposed to compete with Second Senior Brother?"

Jiang Chen felt that such a coincidence should not exist in this world, and Buddhist experts were not cabbages.

One could not just have a major expert standing in the Sea of Bitterness appear so casually.

Presumably, this must be one of the three major experts the Buddhists sent from the Secret Treasury Region.

He just did not know which one it was among Vajra Tripitaka, Subhakarasimha, and Amoghavajra.

Jiang Chen continued to watch in the direction of the palanquin.

A middle-aged man draped in a red cassock stepped down from the palanquin. This person had a gaunt face and dark yellow skin, completely unlike the burly figure seen through the curtains just moments ago.

He held a monk's staff, inlaid with a glistening white skull that had several holes at the top.

"The human body has eight consciousnesses, hidden within the faculty of mind, which are eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness, manas consciousness, and alaya consciousness. These eight consciousnesses hide powers that contain the Universe, which is that all phenomena are consciousness-only, and the Three Realms are mind-only."

"You have not felt the power hidden within the faculty of mind, but instead, because the first six consciousnesses have confused your form, the nature of the imagined form is empty, born from your superficial appearances. Benefactor, you have become attached to appearances."

The man did not understand the meaning of the great lama's words, but the great lama's words were pearls of wisdom, falling one by one into the man's heart, calming his fearful, anxious heart and his tormented, painful body.

Subsequently, he prostrated himself, kneeling devoutly on the ground.

"Thank you, Master, for your teachings, delivering me from the Sea of Bitterness."

The great lama nodded, then gestured with his hand, and a lama brought a golden alms bowl placed on a tray before the great lama.

The great lama lightly tapped the golden bowl with his fingertip; the bowl had been completely empty, without a trace of water or debris.

But after the great lama tapped it, one could see specks of rootless water gathering from the heavens and earth, finally falling into the golden bowl.

The great lama gently picked up a few drops of clear water, then held his hand over the man's head.

Immediately, a spiritual light surrounded the man, allowing his body to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The surrounding people saw the filth on the man's body being gradually dispelled, and one by one, the pustules faded away, finally gradually returning to normal.

Looking at him now, the man was actually somewhat handsome.

"Ah!" The man also gradually felt his body return to an unprecedented lightness and comfort, making him unable to help but moan aloud for a moment.

After this moan, he realized belatedly what had happened and immediately checked and felt his own body.

Upon discovering that his original ailments had vanished without a trace, he finally became somewhat frantic with joy.

"I, I am healed, I am really healed!"

"I am finally healed, my illness is cured! Hahaha! I am healed!"

"Thank you, Master, for performing the empowerment on me! Thank you, Venerable, thank you, Living Buddha, thank you, my Lord!"

After the frantic joy, he knelt down again, crazily thanking the great lama.

And the other commoners outside the venue, upon seeing this scene, could not help but become frantic as well.

"I beg the Master to bestow the holy water!"

"Master, my daughter-in-law has not conceived in three years, despite visiting three temples to no avail; I beg the Master to help take a look!"

"Venerable, I beg the Venerable to take me as a disciple!"

The great lama ignored the clamor outside, instead lifting his hand slightly, and the man could no longer kneel down.

He said softly, "All living beings are equal. The Buddha is not anyone's Lord; the Buddha is in everyone's heart."

His voice was calm, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears.

Jiang Chen saw it clearly from the back; he guessed that the so-called holy water was likely some Buddhist Cultivation Technique combined with spiritual energy.

The man must have contracted some venereal disease from promiscuity. If it were him, he would also have a way to make this man recover; the Golden Light Incantation could be called an omnipotent Divine Ability, and dispelling evil was a trivial matter.

Hmm, lewd evil is also evil.

However, to do it as effortlessly as this great lama, I am afraid, is not that simple.

Jiang Chen thought of the Mid-Autumn Grand Banquet hosted by the old Emperor; presumably, this great lama must be going to attend as well, and perhaps they might meet again by then.