Chapter 316: Jiuling Yuansheng Descends to the Lower Realm in Person

"Raise the banner!"

"Ascend the altar!"

"Chant the scripture rhythm!"

On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, at the foot of Sanqing Mountain, the Lingbao Dushi Dharma Assembly officially began.

Xu Jia held the Xian Gong Banner, waving it upon the altar, and chanted: "High above, clear and spiritual, sad songs ring through the vast void. The suffering spirits of the ten directions, all shall head to Fengdu. The nine-curved path to immortality ascends, riding blue clouds to the Heavenly Palace. Lingbao's immeasurable grace, salvation reaches this place... Those wandering souls of the ten directions without masters, the karmic obstacles of past lives, the inescapable bonds of fate, those with grievances, those with hatreds, those who cannot let go, those who cannot escape, those separated in life, those parted by death... Come quickly to this place, receive the Lingbao. I only wish for the Dao of Immortals to be achieved, not for humanity to be destitute. You must know that the Ghost Dao values the end..."

As the banner shook, the people below also began to chant one after another; the sound was ethereal and magnificent, reaching the three heavens and straight into the Dharma Realm.

The surrounding commoners dared not attend, for it was said to be a deliverance for ghosts; they feared offending the dead, or that their children might be frightened, or that the ghosts might claim a life. Even if their conscience was clear, they were still three parts afraid.

Within the Dharma Realm, Xu Jia's image shifted, transforming into Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun. The Green Lion, Yellow Lion, Red Lion, Mysterious Lion, White Lion, Purple Lion, Gold Lion, Silver Lion, and Jade Lion—the nine-headed, five-colored lions—descended one after another, prostrating before the seat.

The Green Lion held blue lotus roots and green lotuses in its mouth, the Mysterious Lion carried a Gourd of immortal water, the Yellow Lion kneaded earth into shapes, the White Lion held a brush to draw features, the Red Lion refined fire to bake pottery, the Gold Lion formed the bones, the Silver Lion filled in the flesh, the Purple Lion breathed Qi, and the Jade Lion performed the final consecration.

The nine-headed, multicolored lions each performed their duties, assisting at the altar.

The Shunji Little Dragon King was dumbfounded to see "Jiuling Yuansheng" descend to the lower realm in person.

Jiuling Yuansheng was not the mount of Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun, but rather "one body with two aspects" with Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun.

These nine lions represented nine kinds of innate Great Dao, hence the name "Nine Spirits" (Jiuling); the two characters "Yuan Sheng" (Primordial Saint) represented that it was the highest sacred product of innate primordial Qi.

"In the Azure Brilliance Palace, it is said there are eight hundred spirit lions; even a lion-grandson has more accumulated merit than I do. The four Heavenly Gates: the South Heavenly Gate leads to the Heavenly Court, the West Heavenly Gate leads to Lingshan, the North Heavenly Gate reaches the North Pole True Martial Demon-Sweeping Patriarch, the Middle Heavenly Gate stands at the Purple Tenuity Three Enclosures, and the East Heavenly Gate is in the Azure Brilliance World." The Shunji Little Dragon King had obtained part of Ao Jia's memories; the immortal ponds in heaven were interconnected, where fish swam joyfully, so he had seen the world.

The Azure Brilliance World had the Plain-Colored Green Lotus Treasure Pool, in which green lotuses grew in clusters. If someone was guided by the Savior Tianzun, they would be reborn within the lotus flowers of the Plain-Colored Green Lotus Treasure Pool, beginning the most basic cultivation from the Azure Brilliance World, and ascending in order to the Nanchang Prefecture Zhuling Palace—abbreviated as the South Palace—to become one of the List of Immortals. Ascending through the palaces in this manner was the cultivation of the "Nine Palace Immortals," and after completing this, one was basically a mid-level Immortal.

He had once listened to a lecture in the Green Lotus Pool, and it was at that time that he began to cultivate Water Virtue and successfully transformed into a dragon.

Recalling the past, he could not help but sigh, and together with the others, he used the power of Water Virtue to recite the Purifying Water Incantation. In the Dharma Realm, the Curse Power transformed into purifying water and a purifying pool, washing away everything.

Thus, while the surface appeared solemn, the interior was perilous.

After Xu Jia shook the banner, more than a million wandering souls arrived, as if a switch had been flipped. Deep within the Dharma Realm, even deeper, history was like layers of soil, hiding them where no one could see, only to be occasionally unearthed. But now, the movement of the Lingbao Banner stirred their decayed, old, and numb hearts to move as well.

"Woo-woo."

The sound of the wind was like a xun flute.

"Yan-yan."

The wind blowing through the forest was like a complaint.

Mournful weeping, layer upon layer, wave upon wave, so intense that even the sound of the scriptures could not suppress it.

A child's breathy voice: "Mother, I'm hungry."

"Be good, sleep. Once you're asleep, you won't be hungry."

An old woman's voice: "Child, I'm hungry."

An old man's voice: "Child, I am old, my meat is tough. When I die, cut the meat from my thighs, boil it well, and stew it until it's soft so it's good to eat."

Then the sound of golden weapons and iron horses: "General, the city has run out of food and arrows."

"Then carve up the corpses for rations."

Then the sound of an infant crying was heard, and after the crying, there was only silence.

"Cold, I'm cold, my hands are stiff." "Rub them with snow and you won't be cold."

"Are we going to freeze to death?"

"No, press against me, I'm warm."

"Am I going to die? Mother, when I die, don't eat me, okay?"

Hungry ghosts!

They were all hungry ghosts.

They were gaunt and skeletal, their appearances severely distorted; their limbs were like withered branches and thin firewood, yet their bellies were as large as drums. They could not digest the Guanyin clay they had eaten, nor could they excrete it, so it accumulated and weighed them down until they were crushed to death.

Dense crowds of hungry ghosts, their eyes ghostly green, their mouths spitting fire, only saying over and over: "Hungry~"

Those thousands and tens of thousands of cries of hunger, those gazes—filled with malice, with appraisal, with expectation—looked at everyone as if they were pieces of moving meat to be eaten. Their bones, blood, and vital essence were what would best fill them.

The nine-colored lions let out a low roar, and the hungry ghosts revealed expressions of fear.

Three thousand six hundred Mianran Guiwang around the Mandala began to summon the "refugees."

Iron cans were lit one by one, just like the furnaces in the mouths of the hungry ghosts.

"Iron Can almsgiving for the lonely!"

"Scatter nectar to extinguish the fire, chant the Opening Mouth Incantation."

"Respectfully inviting Dong Wanggong and Xi Wangmu, Taiyi Tianzun to descend with nectar. The immeasurable food of the three heavens, filling the Dharma Realm, saves those of you who are hungry and thirsty, purifying your immeasurable bodies. May the empty and hungry be filled, and the feverish heat find coolness..."

Xu Jia took the water vessel, took a sharp gulp, mobilized his Inner Qi, and sprayed out the Xun water. Instantly, in the Dharma Realm, nectar descended everywhere, the flames in their throats vanished, and they were fully satisfied with clear food.

The various steamed buns and rice cakes offered in the sacrifice also transformed into an immeasurable banquet.

The hungry ghosts rushed into it like mad dogs, grabbing and swallowing, eating more the hungrier they got, and getting hungrier the more they ate, yet their bellies grew larger and larger.

Their throats were opened, but their lower passages were not; the tree bark and Guanyin clay in their bellies remained stuck, so they would eat until their bellies exploded. Eating was all in vain.

These things could not be compensated for; if one starved to death in life, how could it be compensated for after death? Inside the iron cans, the Daoist repeatedly scattered grains into the flames, the smoke rushing into the Dharma Realm, attracting even more hungry ghosts.

As Xu Jia was chanting the incantation, the Ghost Gate suddenly swung open, and some Spirit Generals and ghost messengers from the underworld crawled out. They were also very nervous; the hungry ghosts Xu Jia was summoning were, in part, hungry ghosts from the "Hungry Ghost Path."

Whether it was the Buddhist Dizang Wang Pusa or the Taoist Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun, both had clearly stated that if anyone performed almsgiving for the lonely, all hungry ghosts were to go and receive food to purify the altar, and no one was to obstruct them.

But hungry ghosts were among the most difficult to deal with in the underworld, not to mention their massive numbers.

If ordinary people were asked which ghost was the fiercest, they would say the red-clad hanging female ghost, or even worse, the pregnant red-clad female ghost.

But the resentment of these female ghosts before death did not even amount to one ten-thousandth of a starving ghost.

If a starving ghost possessed a human body, it was the most troublesome, leading to death by overeating until the internal organs ruptured.

Elders often told people to eat slowly, saying, "You look like a starving ghost reincarnated," but starving ghosts had no right to reincarnation. Their resentment and obsessions were hard to dissipate, and they could not reincarnate unless they were scattered into nothingness, returning their true spirits.

But for a starving ghost to be so miserable and then be forced to scatter into nothingness was somewhat "contrary to the Ghost Dao."

(End of this chapter)