Chapter 162: Manifesting Efficacy Before the Temple

"How does it feel?" After Xu Jia finished chanting, he felt that this Bodhisattva was actually trying to trick him into entering the Buddhist path. By chanting just this one mantra, he did not know how many of the three thousand manifestations were sensing it simultaneously, intending to help Xu Jia cultivate the Body Wheel, ignite the Clumsy Fire, or even the Heart Wheel, Life Wheel, and Intent Wheel. Fortunately, Xu Jia's stance was firm; he would only "whore" the wisdom for free and would not accept the theoretical brainwashing.

"I think I've learned a little," Xu Mu said. "My wisdom is insufficient; I cannot chant the sutra and listen to the sutra at the same time."

"And you only chanted it once."

"Once is enough. To say more is merely chewing tongues and swallowing saliva; I fear my mouth would go dry."

"I have obtained the Om Mantra!"

"When I heard this mantra, I felt my brain suddenly empty out, as if a boundless space had suddenly appeared and then suddenly vanished."

"Om!"

Xu Jia said: "This is one of the single-character mantras within the Six-Syllable Mantra demonstrated by Guanyin Bodhisattva. It represents the meaning of subduing all things—subduing both the internal and the external. Internally, it subdues all inner demons; externally, it subdues all the Eight Legions of Heavenly Dragon. Because Mother has subdued everything in your heart, what you see is emptiness, devoid of joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, or fear. This is a very high state; it is the state of the Formless Realm beyond the Desire Realm and the Form Realm. It is the state of emptiness and spirit, without sound, form, sensation, perception, or consciousness."

"Then how should I practice next?" Xu Mu asked curiously.

"Remember this feeling, and then hold it in your heart."

"What is meant by 'holding it in your heart'?"

"It means the heart makes the sound, while the mouth does not. Just like today, Mother, while your mouth chants the Guanyin Heart Mantra, the Om Mantra rings out in your heart, emptying everything, entering the state from just now, and perhaps sustaining it even longer."

"What effect will this have?"

"I do not know either; only through actual practice and verification will one know," Xu Jia said. "However, try to have more lamps in the Buddha hall, or even an Ever-Bright Lamp, to entrust your thoughts of light and assist in the practice. Otherwise, if it is slightly gloomy, I fear it will lure in many demons. These demons are formless, substanceless, and colorless; once a thought arises, they enter the body and heart. They only fear light and wisdom."

"Hahaha, isn't it that they fear the light in the heart, which shines so they have nowhere to hide? Why are these lamps and candle flames also useful?"

"People are always afraid of the dark. Once the sky turns dark, there is no sense of security. Only by being in a realm of light is it less easy to let one's imagination run wild."

Xu Mu gave a soft acknowledgement, then continued to try the method Xu Jia had mentioned, while Xu Jia stood guard on the side, practicing and gathering medicine while protecting her.

Days gradually passed, and after several heavy rainstorms, the long-awaited sunny days arrived.

Xu Father's letter also arrived here along with the ships.

The letter said that everything was well. He had spent two taels of silver to rent a small courtyard and hired an old woman to tend the fire and cook. As for washing clothes, there were professional laundry women. Upon arriving there, he did not suffer from the local water and soil; he not only visited a great Confucian scholar but was also invited to attend a literary gathering.

Xu Mu read it several times, and in the end, she still shook her head.

On the other side, Xu Jia's Jin Chan Miao, Fox Immortal Hall, and Yellow Immortal Temple were already thriving.

The Fox Immortal was good at curing illnesses and answering questions. Hu Jinhua ran the business diligently, and those spirit-mediums and witches had all been subdued.

For curing illnesses, there was the Zao Shu; for answering questions, there was the Autumn Wind Divination. Whenever the common people lost something or had a headache or cold, they would go to the spirit-mediums and witches.

Moreover, beside the Qingfeng Pavilion where the Reversed-Feather Chicken Demon had been slain, a fox temple no larger than a doghouse had truly been erected. Inside, it was unknown which stonemason had carved it with such care; it was a sitting fox, and it was quite lifelike.

Some busybodies said the Fox Immortal liked to eat chicken, so they brought chickens to offer sacrifices. If it was a live chicken, Hu Jinhua would tell the spirit-mediums and witches to take it back and raise it themselves; if it was cooked, they would bring it back to the hall, and everyone would share it. It could be considered that they had basically escaped poverty and entered a moderately prosperous life.

The Yellow Immortal Temple was over at Tianliang Shan and had long had Incense Fire. But recently, after Huang Pipo listened to Xu Jia's words, she was not only willing to give out bowls and chopsticks but also actively took on the role of "matchmaker," arranging marriages for surrounding villagers whose Eight Characters matched and whose personalities complemented each other. Even the spirit-mediums and witches over there were one by one subdued; these witches and spirit-mediums were responsible for funeral rites.

They handled both red and white affairs.

The most brilliant part was the "Jin Chan Miao." Previously, Kan Yinwu had performed meritorious service to atone for his crimes, dreaming for beggars, petty thieves, idlers, and gamblers, tricking them into going to Lan Shi Huo to worship the Wealth God.

These people who walked the crooked path had all heard that there used to be a very efficacious Xieshenmiao at Lan Shi Huo, but the later outcomes were all very miserable. However, there were always those who were bold and unafraid of evil, and they went straight up the mountain.

Among them was one named "Hu Yaozu," who had eight older sisters above him. Since birth, he had been one to reach out his hand for clothes and open his mouth for food, having been raised into a complete idler.

Later, as his parents grew old and his sisters married off, he began to act sneakily and drift about, becoming a local rascal and scoundrel of Yushan.

This day, he had just spent a night of pleasure with an old woman and obtained twenty copper coins. Just as he was about to take them to gamble, he suddenly bumped into something and fainted on the spot.

After fainting, he had a dream. In the dream, a tall Wealth God appeared, though this Wealth God was a bit sleazy—of course, there was no need to mind that. This Wealth God told Hu Yaozu: "Because you pray to the God Immortal every day, wanting a chance to get rich and turn your life around, you have moved the Jin Chan Shen Shi under the seat of the Heavenly Wealth God. The Jin Chan Shen Shi has therefore descended to the mortal world, right here in Lan Shi Huo. If you dare to enter and pay your respects, the Jin Chan will be able to grant you three wishes."

When he woke up again, Hu Yaozu was first confused, and then he recalled the dream; the dream was incomparably real.

But this was just a dream, after all; who would take it seriously?

However, when he finished gambling away his money, losing even his underpants, and was thrown out by the gambling den's thugs, he happened to bump into a rock and fainted on the spot again. After fainting, he had the same dream.

Thus, when he was woken up by the rain, he made a decision: to go up to Lan Shi Huo at night.

He grabbed a handful of unburnt incense from in front of the Earth Temple and headed toward Lan Shi Huo.

This was a night without moonlight; Lan Shi Huo was so silent that only the sound of the wind passing through the forest remained.

Hu Yaozu held a dim yellow lantern and stepped onto the winding mountain path. But the further he went inside, the heavier the surrounding air seemed to become. Every footstep carried an echo, as if a second or third person were following him.

Lan Shi Huo stank to the heavens, and the sky was dark; he was already starting to regret it.

Fear made him start cursing: "You dog-fucking things, all get out of this master's way, don't be ungrateful!"

But the more he cursed, the more afraid he became.

A gust of cold wind blew, and immediately, he heard breathing in his ear.

Hu Yaozu was so scared he jumped up and began to flee in a panic.

But before long, he stepped into thin air and tumbled down.

He lost consciousness.

Just when Hu Yaozu woke up again, while he was terrified and limping around looking for a path, he suddenly saw something glowing not far away, bright and sparkling.

He swore that even if he were dead now, turned into a ghost, and his corpse burned to ash, he would still recognize this thing! It was gold! Only gold could emit such a light! Ignoring the pain, he reached out to touch it and saw it was a piece of gold the size of a fingernail. He held it in his palm and looked at it, the more he looked, the more he liked it, and he laughed loudly: "It really is a life of wealth, the Wealth God is looking after me!"

But he didn't enjoy it for long before he saw that lump of gold grow legs and hop away.

"Gold! My gold!"

Hu Yaozu was shocked and wanted to chase it. After running just two steps, he suddenly thought: "How can gold grow legs?"

He wanted to turn back, but unfortunately, he was already caught in a Ghost Beating Wall. Looking back, he could not see the small path at all; it was all bushes and trees... "Evil! This is evil!"

Hu Yaozu wanted to run again, but he saw gold of all sizes jumping out from all directions. They all had legs, and they were all heading toward one place.

"Gold... how can it grow legs and head to one place? Could it be that the Wealth God has truly descended to the mortal world, and these gold pieces hidden in the mountains have all crawled out to pay their respects?"

Hu Yaozu gritted his teeth, limping and enduring the pain, and followed the tracks of these gold pieces sneakily.

Sure enough, before long, he saw these gold pieces surrounding a blue stone. On the blue stone was a pile of stones, and in the pile of stones was a large piece of gold. These small gold pieces were hopping toward the large piece of gold.

Hu Yaozu rubbed his eyes and only then realized that there was no large gold or small gold; they were clearly large golden toads and small golden toads! He immediately understood that this was the Jin Chan the Wealth God had spoken of in his dream.

So he could not care about anything else and kowtowed frantically: "Jin Chan Da Xian is above, this little one Hu Yaozu has always piously worshipped the Wealth God. But my luck with wealth is poor; those donkey-fucking, dog-mother-raising bastards cheated me out of my family business, forced me to sign IOUs, and forced me to take out usurious loans!"

"Now it has ruined my family, my wife was pawned off to bear children for someone else, my daughter was sold to another family as a child bride, and my son has a fever; I cannot come up with the money, so he is just going to burn to death like this!"

"As long as Great Immortal Jin Chan blesses me to make a fortune and pay off my debts, I will definitely turn over a new leaf!"

Just as he finished praying, a gust of eerie wind blew past, and a strange light suddenly lit up inside Jin Chan Miao, pointing directly at an empty plot of land outside the temple.

Hu Yaozu was ecstatic, thinking that the Great Immortal had manifested, and hurriedly followed the light.

He truly discovered a pile of glittering gold, the quantity of which was enough for him to pay off his debts overnight, and he could even transform himself into a wealthy master from outside the courtyard.

Just as he was beside himself with joy and preparing to pack up the gold to take away, the air all around suddenly solidified, and a bone-chilling cold pierced through his body.

Low and miserable wailing sounds echoed all around, and gradually, those sounds converged into blurry human figures; they hovered around the gold, their eyes revealing resentment and despair.

These were the "debt ghosts."

Hu Yaozu touching the gold was the same as touching the debt ghosts.

Hu Yaozu was scared to the point of wetting himself: "Great Immortal Jin Chan! If you give me gold, just give me gold! Why are you still scaring me? I am timid and cannot handle being scared!"

At this moment, the Great Immortal spoke: "You took my gold, so you owe me a debt; it is merely robbing Peter to pay Paul. You came to worship me without bringing incense, candles, or paper money, and you are not sincere. I originally did not want to bother with you."

"But considering you have a sliver of remorse, I have decided to give you a chance. I can grant you three wishes, but these wishes are not realized out of thin air. Just like how you took this gold and must be entangled by these evil ghosts, everything has a price."

"So, do you want to make a wish? As long as you are willing to pay the corresponding price?"

"Ah?" Hu Yaozu became somewhat uneasy: "What is this price? May I ask?"

"There is no specific price, but the greater the wish, the greater the price," the Great Immortal intimidated him: "You must think clearly."

Hu Yaozu gulped, but still struggled and made his first wish: "I want to pay off all my debts—no, I want all my creditors to die!"

The Great Immortal was silent for a moment: "Your first wish is granted. Fifty years from now, your creditors will all die!"

"The price takes effect: you must offer up ten years of your lifespan, and from now on, for ten years, you will be this deity's slave!"

"?" Hu Yaozu felt he had been deceived, but suddenly there was a piercing pain in the center of his forehead, followed by a tightening of his throat. Just as he opened his mouth to catch his breath, a Xiao Jinchan jumped inside and was swallowed directly into his stomach.

"Fifty years? I want them to die immediately!"

"That won't do; one must follow the rules of the Underworld. I am the Wealth God, not an Underworld deity. Hurry up and make your second wish!"

Hu Yaozu already sensed that this Great Immortal was somewhat evil, but Greed still occupied the forefront of his mind. Even if he did nothing, he had already sold himself for ten years; the sunk cost was too great, and he hadn't even paid off his debts yet!

"I want ten thousand taels of gold!" Hu Yaozu had clearly seen a lot of gold just a moment ago.

"If you want gold, you are taking on debt! You must think clearly; once you take on my debt, it is not easy to pay back!"

"Take it on then! I've already sold myself; at worst, I'll just die, but you must let me spend the ten thousand taels of gold first!"

"Fine! The wish is granted!"

A single gold bar fell at Hu Yaozu's feet, with the two characters "Ten Thousand Taels" written on it.

Hu Yaozu was so angry he vomited blood.

"You will carry a debt of ten thousand taels of gold, and you must pay me back in installments within ten years."

"This is ten thousand taels?"

"How is this not ten thousand taels?" the Great Immortal said sinisterly: "What, are you not satisfied?"

Hu Yaozu gulped and suddenly thought of an idea: "I want one hundred mu of fertile land, real land, it cannot be fake, don't play word games with me!"

"Good! The wish is granted!"

A shovel fell out of thin air and landed on Hu Yaozu's head: "On the hillside around here, there is a plot of land that is exactly one hundred mu, and there is a stream running through it. Go clear the wasteland, and you will likely have one hundred mu of fertile land."

"As the price, I want seventy percent of the yield from this one hundred mu of fertile land!"

"Ah?"

Hu Yaozu immediately began to curse: "Evil god! Liar! A complete and utter liar! Evil god! I'm not doing it! I'm going to the government to expose you! I'll call the Dao Record Bureau to destroy you!"

The Great Immortal was furious: "Did I not tell you before? Wishes have a price. Did you not agree to it yourself? You agreed to the price yourself, yet you dare to blaspheme a deity! Simply audacious!"

Immediately, the Xiao Jinchan began jumping around in his stomach, causing him to roll on the ground in pain!

He was not a tough person, so he begged for mercy repeatedly.

The Great Immortal listened for nearly an hour, and fearing he would be pained to death, said: "Enough, considering this is your first offense, I will spare your life. Hurry up and go farm! You must farm for at least four hours a day, otherwise the Xiao Jinchan in your stomach will jump around, just like it is now!"

"I'd rather just die!"

"If you die, you will look just like that pile of debt ghosts you saw earlier! You will still be my slave!"

The Great Immortal intimidated him: "For all eternity. As for the ten thousand taels of gold you owe, I will give you a convenient method: as long as you drag over a piece of human scum like yourself for me to extract their remaining value, I will waive one hundred taels of gold for you. How about that? It's a great deal!"

"Go! Go! Let more people come to worship at my Jin Chan Miao!"

(End of chapter)