Chapter 182: White Hat Dharma King

The "zang" (consecration deposit) is the five viscera of a divine statue; generally, it contains scriptures, five grains, medicinal herbs, coins, fabrics, brushes, ink... everything that embodies people's beautiful wishes.

The Earth Deity consecration deposit sent by the City God was soil from the community altar in front of the City God Temple, mixed with incense ash from the City God Temple, sewn into an earth-yellow cloth bag.

The consecration deposit for Jinsha Creek was a crystal.

Xu Jia felt it was not enough, as it only represented the meaning of earth and water and had no other functions, so he instructed Wan the Carpenter: "Tell the villagers to prepare rice, vegetables, beans, and various seeds, and go buy some medicinal herbs."

Originally, an Earth Deity consecration deposit requires five grains, five medicines, five treasures, five metals, five-colored cloth (silk thread also works), a jar of copper coins to be driven into the foundation, a volume of the "Earth Deity Precious Repentance" scripture, a handful of City God Temple incense ash, a "tablet of gold document" inscribed with the divine office and divine position—usually a few bamboo slats—and a small seal, typically a green stone seal...

But the villagers here certainly did not have this concept; the Lightning-Struck Coffin and Wan the Carpenter's master also did not provide the corresponding inheritance for building a house for a "god," only experience for the living and the dead...

However, the beam-raising is the beam-raising, and the completion is the completion; inviting the divine statue into the temple originally requires a different time. Here, the beam-raising and the inviting of the god are done together, with the rationale being to invite the deity to supervise the work together; if satisfied, the work can be completed smoothly, and if not satisfied, errors will occur.

The one who sculpted the statue was a "clay artisan." Xu Jia did not know if he had joined a sect, but he was clearly a practitioner of the Miscellaneous School in this regard.

At this time, the statue had already been sculpted, right inside the temple that had not yet had its beam raised. It had a wooden skeleton, grass tendons, and a mud body; the eyes were two obsidian stones, and the facial features were lifelike. It was life-sized and in the shape of a smiling old gentleman sitting down. Because behind it was the "clan school," this Earth Deity was specifically holding a scroll of books, and under his feet was a pile of vegetables and melons, especially a large pumpkin that was particularly conspicuous.

It quite had the meaning of "farming and reading," showing that the clay sculptor still had a discerning eye.

Behind the divine statue, a small cabinet niche had been reserved in advance during the sculpting; it could be opened and locked, used for placing the consecration deposit.

Carpenter Lei spoke a few words to him, and they spoke a few words to the mason, so a group of craftsmen went to speak to the clan elders and patriarchs. The village elders did not know many rules for sculpting divine statues, so they all went to prepare them one by one.

Then, not long after, another acquaintance appeared; Xiaopangdun Hui Zhuo arrived. He was invited to perform the "ceremony." Of course, the Daoists from Shanju Guan and the temple keeper of the City God Temple were also invited to perform the ceremony.

Xiaopangdun was no longer fat, and the smile on his face was less; he looked not as happy as before. It seemed that losing weight was painful. His two small eyes were extremely shrewd, and only when he saw Xu Jia did he become happy: "Master, why did you come too?"

"This is my family's temple, what do you think?"

Zhang Zhenji said with a solemn face: "True Person, fellow practitioners from Dexing have come to ask for help these past few days. The Longevity Sect there is rampant, wantonly destroying temples and defiling gods, and they have burned several high-ranking Daoists and monks to death with fire, claiming they were transformed by demons. We really need you, True Person!"

Xu Jia waved his hand: "How can I deal with them? What about the imperial court? The government? The Dao Record Bureau?"

"But these Longevity Sect members are still constantly gathering, I fear it is just to deal with you, True Person. If you, True Person, take the lead and issue a hero's invitation, we will rush around the surrounding areas and invite fellow practitioners from Lushan, Longhu Mountain, Hua Gai Shan, Ma Gu Shan, Ming Yue Shan, Gui Shan, and Xi Shan."

Xu Jia became interested upon hearing this; after all, to become a Heavenly Master, besides self-bestowing the Celestial Master Register, one needs the consent of the Daoists of the world.

"Is the imperial court not taking action?" Xu Jia asked curiously.

"I don't know why this year, disasters have occurred frequently in various places. The four northern provinces are suffering from severe drought, the six southern provinces are flooding, and the Huanghe has breached its dikes and changed its course. Our Jiangnan West Circuit is still fine; there are no major disasters or calamities. The imperial court doesn't care about this Longevity Sect matter at all. The Dexing County Magistrate also dares not offend these sect members, fearing they will kill officials and incite the common people to rebel."

"Since Jiangnan West Circuit is still fine, then there is no foundation for rebellion." Xu Jia thought this was true. He then carefully calculated again and discovered that this wave of demons was indeed coming for him.

It turned out that Xu Jia had killed the old nun Jinglian and scared away the White Bone Saintess of the White Bone Hall. Thus, the "Buddhist-Daoist" forces within the Longevity Sect had formed a unity. The Secret Patience sect sent a "White Hat Dharma King" and four attendant Great Lamas, and the White Bone Hall also sent an Elder.

They occupied the temples because the "Chang Sheng Tian Wan Shou Di Jun," who was both the Dao Lord and the Emperor of the Daoist Court established by the Longevity Sect overseas, calculated that a Heavenly Master would appear in the world, just like the original Ancestral Heavenly Master, who would sweep away all the demons in the world and reside in the world for sixty years. Within these sixty years, the Dao would rise and the demons would fade.

Although the Longevity Sect did not consider itself a demon or an Evil Sect, this Longevity and Myriad Years Emperor of the overseas Daoist Court had calculated that this person was his nemesis. Therefore, he ordered the Longevity Sect members to capture or kill this future Demon-Sweeping Heavenly Master.

As for why this Longevity and Myriad Years Emperor did not come to the Central Plains, it was because he was afraid of death. Firstly, he was not invincible in the world, otherwise he would not have shrunk overseas. Secondly, he had previously refined a "Three Sovereigns Banner," dug up the imperial tombs of three dynasties, and used all the corpses to refine his Dharma, establishing an "Underground Dragon Court" and recruiting the ghost people of the three dynasties into the banner. He was already subject to Heavenly Punishment. Furthermore, Taishan Daiyu had said before that he was on the wanted list of the Heavenly Court and the Underworld, and the orthodox land of the Central Plains had always been the territory of the Heavenly Court and the Underworld. The Heavenly Court and the Underworld also had their own set of rules and could not act at will unless the person was on the wanted list.

Xu Jia calculated the heavenly secrets and did not actually obtain such detailed information, but he did calculate the existence of this so-called Dharma King, who was very difficult to provoke.

This tribulation was caused by Xu Jia interfering in the Cause and Effect of the Living Buddha and Xia Laohan.

This guy came looking for the nun Miaoren, but the nun Miaoren had already been handed over by County Commandant Chen, and even County Commandant Chen did not know where she had gone.

The White Hat Dharma King was an Elder of the "Ben" religious sect in the Esoteric region. Later, this sect was destroyed by Esoteric Buddhism, and the White Hat Dharma King fled to the Himalayas, bitterly cultivating demonic Dharma methods. During a ritual to summon Heavenly Demons, he summoned the Longevity and Myriad Years Emperor, who had attached his thoughts to a Heavenly Demon and was traveling in the Dharma Realm.

The Wanshou Emperor used demonic Dharma methods to counter-control him, turning this White Hat Dharma King into his slave, and ordered him to learn Esoteric Buddhism and enter the Central Plains to preach and spread the Dharma. Among all the various Buddhist schools of the Longevity Sect, he was a master who could be ranked in the top ten.

He had previously preached in Nansheng, demonstrating the Dharma with terrifying methods. He had once cut off his own hands and feet and gouged out his own eyes to show his Buddhist devotion, and then used great Dharma Power to restore them, but he deceived many believers into committing suicide and self-mutilation, voluntarily offering their souls and flesh to him for cultivation.

If one speaks of the realm, he had actually only achieved two of the six Achievements: "Clumsy Fire minor achievement" and "Intermediate Body minor achievement," which could be considered dual cultivation of internal and external.

What is Clumsy Fire achievement? It is the "Inner Elixir method" of Esoteric Buddhism, igniting the Clumsy Fire, cultivating the Three Veins Seven Wheels, and visualizing the Diamond and the deity.

Intermediate Body achievement is what Xu Jia mentioned before, being able to gather and disperse the Yin Spirit at will, possess and reincarnate, and constantly use the identity of a "Living Buddha" or "reincarnated Spirit Child," which is basically equivalent to another kind of "residing in the world."

Although Xu Jia had belittled the Intermediate Body achievement as a "Ghost Immortal achievement"—unless all six achievements are attained, one can reach the "Arhat" realm, which is not yet the Bodhisattva realm, let alone the "Buddha"—it was mocking his self-proclaimed "Living Buddha" as being too arrogant. But if one truly attains the Intermediate Body achievement, it is truly very annoying. Unless Heavenly Punishment destroys him, allowing him to be killed completely, any outsider killing him is just "Soldier Dissolution and reincarnation."

As long as he leaves behind "descendants," he can reincarnate and be reborn.

This is like "changing" a person, changing the Eight Characters, changing the fate; even if one uses a curse method to curse him to death, unless one nails and kills the Three Souls and Seven Souls, with this achievement, he can still reincarnate and be reborn.

Fortunately, this kind of reincarnation has limitations; it can only be done nine times. The more times, the harder it is to awaken the memories and wisdom of the previous life. Once awakened, he can find the Sarira of the previous life and inherit the Dharma Power and Divine Ability.

Zhang Zhenji saw Xu Jia frowning and calculating, and asked: "Has the True Person calculated something?"

"A difficult one has come," Xu Jia said. "It is indeed aimed at me, but it doesn't matter. If we really have to deal with it, it's not difficult."

"Yes, those demons of the Longevity Sect have already swept through the Dexing cultivation world. It is said that the Dexing City God is trapped in the City God Temple and cannot get out. The Yin soldiers sent by the Yushan City God, You Min Bo Ye, were detained just after entering the territory. The Xinzhou City God was furious and has already sent an envoy to Longhu Mountain. It is said that Longhu Mountain will also send a high-ranking person to help."

"This high-ranking person is said to be the accompanying Dharma Official of the Thirty-Sixth Generation Heavenly Master. He once followed the Heavenly Master to the capital. When the Heavenly Master returned to Longhu Mountain, this Wang Faguan was kept by the Emperor and specifically built the Qing Xu Guan."

A lecherous old man's face appeared in Xu Jia's mind: Wang Mintong? It couldn't be him, could it! This old man seems to be... whoring fox spirits at Cuichun Pavilion, reporting his own name to write IOUs for prostitution debts. Is this old man reliable? Even if he is reliable, I didn't give him those three thousand taels of silver; I fear I have offended him to death.

Zhang Zhenji looked admiring: "True Person Wang was conferred the title of Qing Xu Xian Miao Zhen Ren by the Emperor and granted the rank of Purple-Green Grand Master. He often enters and exits the imperial palace to discuss the Dao, making the Emperor and the Empress Dowager both believe in Daoism and giving suggestions for governing the country with Huang-Lao, allowing the common people twenty years of time to recuperate."

"It's a pity that after the current Emperor ascended the throne, there were signs of demoting Daoism and elevating Buddhism. To pray for his birth mother, the Empress Dowager, he built a Gan Lu Si, which is huge in scale, bestowed a hundred qing of land, and countless gold and pearls. It is said that it was built in imitation of the Gei Gu Du Yuan where gold paved the ground in Buddhist scriptures, wasting money and manpower."

Xu Jia also smiled: He glossed over the construction of the Qing Xu Guan earlier, but here he severely criticized the construction of the Gan Lu Si.

But this is also normal; after all, emperors are all about balance. I fear that before, the Daoists interfered in politics, making people dissatisfied, so he introduced Buddhism, letting the two families bite each other like dogs.

(End of chapter)