I never expected that although Lu Ling's memorial tablet was still enshrined beneath the lotus throne of the Avalokitesvara, her soul had already been causing trouble everywhere!
I reached into the small niche and took out the mahogany memorial tablet. To my horror, I found a layer of sticky and stinky substance on the back of the tablet. I quickly retracted my hand and saw that my fingers were covered in black blood...
"...... What, what is this?"
This was the Great Avalokitesvara Hall, a truly pure Buddhist land. Every morning and evening, the monks would clean every corner of the hall thoroughly before chanting scriptures and praying. Even the corners of the hall were spotless. How could the sacred statue of the white jade Avalokitesvara be contaminated by such disgusting filth?
"This is a woman's menstrual blood," Si Jiangchen said.
I felt extremely nauseated. As I spoke, I took the wet wipe from Si Jiangchen and wiped my hands vigorously. Finally, I understood how Sheng Shixun had released Lu Ling's evil soul under the solemn statue in the Avalokitesvara Hall.
Whether it was Buddha, immortals, or even local immortals and spirits, they all disliked dirty things.
Dirty blood and filth were things that could make the gods turn away and no longer accept the offerings from the mortal world.
Sheng Shixun was extremely vicious. His plan was not just to release Lu Ling. By contaminating the white jade Avalokitesvara that protected the entire Green City with blood and filth, he had driven away the divine consciousness of the Avalokitesvara. He must have had an even more terrifying conspiracy!
I couldn't help but look up at the huge statue of the Avalokitesvara. The two trails of water on the white jade statue's face actually looked like the compassionate Avalokitesvara was grieving for the impending disaster.
"How could there be such a thing in our pure Buddhist land?"
Master Yongshan's face finally turned deathly pale. He was even more nervous than when he saw the statue of the Avalokitesvara shedding tears of blood.
All the monks and lay Buddhists in the Great Avalokitesvara Temple were firm in their beliefs. They would never do such a thing to insult and defile the Buddha. Thinking about it... only Sheng Shixun, the master of ancient architecture restoration, would have had the opportunity.
Since this statue of the Great Avalokitesvara was a cultural relic from a hundred years ago, Sheng Shixun didn't let his apprentice do the job. Instead, he personally took over the task of cleaning the burnt soot on the statue. I'm afraid it was when he was alone that he smeared the dirty things under the statue of the Avalokitesvara. Even the tears of blood on the face of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva were very likely his doing, to lead Si Jiangchen and me astray and make us lose track of him!
Otherwise, why did the red silk covering the head of the Great Avalokitesvara statue disappear without a trace as soon as we stepped out of the store?
Thinking of this, I quickly turned around and anxiously looked at Si Jiangchen. "Oh no, we seem to have been tricked!"
Si Jiangchen let out a soft snort and looked at a not very large screen stone behind the statue of the Avalokitesvara. "I didn't come here to find Sheng Shixun."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and sacrificed a silver talisman. When the talisman touched the unremarkable blue stone, it suddenly burst into a string of sparks, followed by a shrill scream. A puff of black smoke rose from the blue stone, and Lu Ling's ghost floated up. She stared at us with blood-red eyes and shrieked, "Bitch, don't push me too far!"
Lu Ling was clearly rescued by the Lord of Mount Tai. How could she dare to return to the Great Avalokitesvara Temple where she was sealed?
I quickly realized the reason.
It was all because of that cunning old fox, Sheng Shixun. When he released Lu Ling, he used the dirty filth to seal the divine consciousness of the Buddhas. This Great Avalokitesvara Temple was now like an abandoned temple that had lost its incense for a long time. The carved Buddha statues without the divine consciousness would be occupied by all kinds of spirits, just like the Small Leiyin Temple that Tang Seng and his disciples accidentally entered in Journey to the West. The Yellow-Eyebrow Demon Boy occupied the statue in the temple and actually regarded himself as the Tathagata Buddha, attempting to achieve enlightenment by killing living beings!
Lu Ling had been suppressed under the statue of the Great Avalokitesvara for a long time, so she naturally didn't dare to possess the extremely solemn white jade statue. However, the stone screen behind the statue of the Avalokitesvara...
"It's just a Mount Tai stone," Si Jiangchen said.
His words immediately woke me up.
Right! That screen was originally a partition to block the sight of the pilgrims. Behind it were the memorial tablets enshrined in the temple. The extremely yin tablets naturally needed to be constrained by the stone from Mount Tai, which was full of positive energy!
I'm afraid it was the work of the Lord of Mount Tai to hide Lu Ling in the stone screen of Mount Tai.
"The Lord of Mount Tai is not there!"
Although I didn't know how Si Jiangchen knew that the screen was made of Mount Tai stone, I knew that he thought the divine consciousness of the Lord of Mount Tai was hidden inside the stone. So I gently grabbed Si Jiangchen's hand. "It's Lu Ling!"
As I spoke, Lu Ling had already floated up and was trying to escape from here.
She was afraid of Si Jiangchen's magic power and the highly cultivated monks standing beside us.
"Don't go!"
I raised my hand and sent a Yin Five Thunderbolt towards Lu Ling. Lu Ling let out a wail but could only watch helplessly as a dull and dim qi struck towards her.
Suddenly, the sky above darkened. It was as if a dark cloud had floated over the burned-through hall, just blocking the skylight. Then I felt a huge palm block between Lu Ling and me. The palm was emitting a crystal-clear jade color. With just one block and one grab, it dispelled my Yin Five Thunderbolt spell.
"Ah!"
I couldn't help but let out a low scream. The texture of that palm... I looked up again at the lofty white jade Avalokitesvara!
I saw the statue move! The eyes that had been shedding two trails of blood tears were now wide open like an angry vajra, looking down at me. The original gesture of holding the pure bottle in one hand and making the gesture of fearlessness in the other had changed. The right hand that had been making the gesture of fearlessness was now hanging straight down, blocking between Lu Ling's soul and me and making a gesture of subduing demons.
I was so scared that I took several steps back and bumped into Si Jiangchen. "The... the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva has come to life!!!"
I had never seen such a strange sight before. I was almost scared to death!
Was the world really in chaos? It was not only a rule of Taoism but also of Buddhism that the true gods would not possess the statues. Especially in this era of the decline of the Dharma, it was extremely difficult for the Buddha and Bodhisattvas to show their Dharma images...
"Miss Du, don't talk nonsense," said the disciple of Master Yongshan, who had always disliked me. He looked at me with a look of disdain and bowed to the statue of the Avalokitesvara first. Then he said, "The Bodhisattva can take on thousands of forms and can be anything in the world, but will never possess a statue... I think it's you people who practice evil arts who will see such strange and ghostly sights!"
After being scolded by this young monk, my mood actually calmed down. When I looked at the huge statue again, it was still the same as before, except that the two trails of blood on its face had completely dried up and turned into countless tiny powders floating in the air...