As soon as Lu Shan Jun left Xiaoliang Mountain, his speed imdiately increased, and he flew rapidly in the direction Ji Yuan had left. He naturally wondered if he could catch up with his master, since Ji Yuan had only stayed a few minutes to exchange a few words, and they had left quickly one after the other.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. You can’t wake soone who is pretending to be asleep, nor can you catch soone who’s deliberately avoiding you, especially if that person is more skilled.
With the Heavenly Jade Talisman that Qiu Feng of Yuhuai Mountain had privately given him, and with Ji Yuan deliberately concealing his aura, few people would be able to find him, and certainly not Lu Shan Jun.
Thus, after chasing for almost half a day, having already covered nearly a prefecture’s worth of territory from his starting point in Xining Prefecture without finding Ji Yuan, Lu Shan Jun finally gave up and rode the wind back. After all, there were still matters to attend to in Xining Prefecture; not his own, but rather the matters of Monk Jueming.
Ji Yuan watched Lu Shan Jun depart from his position in the sky, took out the dried leaf package from his sleeve, looked down, and opened it. Inside were about a handful of dried goji berries.1
He took one and chewed it; it tasted sweet, with a slight sour note. It was quite delicious.
Another half day passed, and the sky began to darken. In the wilderness outside Xining Prefecture, Lu Shan Jun slowly descended from the sky. Seeing that no one was around, he opened his mouth and exhaled, his breath transforming into a ghost in front of him. This was none other than the monk Jueming.
“Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha, is this a ghost body…?”
After chanting the Buddhist mantra, Monk Jueming reached out and inspected himself. He could not feel his own heartbeat, nor was he sensitive to changes in external temperature—at least, he did not feel cold.
Lu Shan Jun looked at the now-ghost monk. Although he could not read the details of the monk’s thoughts, he could clearly feel the changes in his emotions and his attachnts to good and evil.
Therefore, to so extent, Lu Shan Jun actually understood the monk’s Buddhist nature better than Jueming himself, and also understood the monk’s current state of mind. If Lu Shan Jun could be said to have undergone a complete transformation when he had taken on human form, then Monk Jueming, even though he died once and beca a ghost, would have had a similar conclusion.
Compared to the previous evil spirits, Monk Jueming’s aura was currently peaceful, without any hint of sinister energy. Lu Shan Jun could now better understand why the monks of Daming Monastery were so nervous about Jueming. However, if Jueming hadn’t died and had stayed in the temple, this change might not have occurred.
“Master Jueming, a Changgui is still a ghost, and it fears the bright sunlight of day and the strong yang energy of the heavens. It also has the sa weaknesses of any ghost. However, a Changgui is different from an ordinary ghost; it is similar to humans. As for you, this is even more true. We are currently in the desolate wilderness. Xining Prefecture is just ahead. I will let you leave now!”
Lu Shan Jun no longer addressed the monk in front of him as “Zhao Long,” but instead called him “Monk Jueming.” As soon as he finished speaking, he inhaled a wisp of aura from the monk’s ghost body.
“After I release you, will no longer be my servant. Although you are free, you should be careful. My spiritual energy that lingers on you will only last for one year. After that one year, you will have to rely on your own yin lifespan. I am not sure how many years you will have, but you should hurry up if you have anything that you wish to do.”
Monk Jueming bowed deeply in a Buddhist fashion.
“Thank you very much, Benefactor Lu!”
Lu Shan Jun bowed with cupped hands in return.
“Take care, Monk. I hope we will et again soday. By the way, you can go to the places under the jurisdiction of the River Gods, the Land Gods, and the Mountain Gods. But be careful of the ghosts and spirits of the underworld. No matter how kindhearted a ghost may be, if they see a wandering soul, they will not let it go unpunished, as that is their duty.”
“Very well, this humble monk understands!”
Although the monster opposite him had just eaten him, Jueming was genuinely grateful. Seeing that Lu Shan Jun seed to be leaving, he quickly asked about sothing he was concerned about.
“Lord Lu, have you t with all nine of us from back then? What was the outco?”
Lu Shan Jun smiled, sat down on a nearby boulder, and exhaled again, summoning the ghost servant Lan Ningke.
“This is Lan Ningke, even more of a scoundrel than you were before.”
After Lan Ningke appeared, he imdiately looked at Jueming and smiled. Because Jueming’s appearance hadn’t changed much aside from now being bald, he imdiately recognized him.
“Hahahaha… Zhao Long, you got eaten too! Hahahaha, you’re no better than , pretending to be a monk!”
Jueming clasped his hands in a gesture of respect.
“Benefactor Lan is absolutely right. The Buddha’s teachings are compassionate; may you soon be freed from the sea of suffering. Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha.”
“You…”
Lan Ningke was stunned for a mont, feeling as if he had punched cotton. He didn’t know what to say for a mont. Lu Shan Jun, who could sense this change in his emotions, found it particularly amusing.
Lu Shan Jun continued with a smile.
“Luo Ningshuang is married and stays at ho to take care of her husband and raise her children. She still has a chivalrous heart and will be able to raise so good children. Although Lu Chengfeng has not been involved in eliminating evil in the martial arts world, he still upholds the chivalry in his heart and is upright and honest. Wang Ke is the chief constable of Yaqian Prefeecture. He has arrested countless criminals and acts in accordance with the law. Du Heng is even more remarkable. He had initially thought that losing an arm would cut off his path in martial arts, but he turned to his left hand and worked hard. He gathered a group of wandering warriors to travel all over the land and perform valorous acts. He has beco a famous warrior errant. As for the others, they have not yet been found.”
Jueming nodded. He had t Du Heng before, and had even envied him when they had crossed paths at the monastery.
“Thank you for informing , Benefactor Lu. I will take my leave now. Please take care, Benefactor Lan.”
After bowing again, Jueming turned and headed towards Xining Prefecture. Lan Ningke, who was standing to the side, ca to his senses and grew a little agitated.
“Lord Lu, you released him? You gave him his freedom? Why, why him? Why!?”
“Why so many whys? If you understood why, you would have been able to leave too!”
Lu Shan Jun was too lazy to pay him any more attention. After these few words, he swallowed the ghost back into his mouth, returning Lan Ningke to that dark imprisoned state. If Lu Shan Jun did not choose to share any of his senses, Lan Ningke would be unable to see, hear, or feel anything.
This was the tragedy of the changgui: they had no freedom of the body, no privacy of the mind, yet were unable to go mad, even if they wished to.
Lu Shan Jun took off once more, but Ji Yuan did not leave. Instead, he landed in Xining Prefecture’s capital and followed Monk Jueming. He wanted to see what this monk would do.
After navigating the winding streets of the city, Monk Jueming arrived at the Zhao residence, which presumably had been his ho in the secular world. He entered the residence with ease and went to the inner courtyard. In a bedroom, he kowtowed three tis to two elderly people on the bed before leaving the residence.
After following the monk for about fifteen minutes, Ji Yuan suddenly looked up at the sky and couldn’t help but smile.
Birds of a feather flocked together; Lu Shanjun was also watching from a distance. He, however, was keeping a respectful distance, clearly not wanting Jueming to notice him.
The fact that Lu Shan Jun cared about the monk’s perception clearly demonstrated the extent to which Lu Shanjun’s opinion of the monk had changed, or rather that he had co to approve of him.
At this mont, Monk Jueming seed exactly like a living person, walking slowly and steadily until he finally arrived at the Temple Administration Lane in Xining Prefecture.
With his eyes half-open, his expression serene, he chanted Buddhist scriptures as he walked toward the City God Temple.
Two night patroln officers arrived with a chilling wind. After glancing at the monk, they were about to pass by Jueming when they were stopped.
“Are you two spirits or deities from the underworld?”
Jueming was seeing ghosts and spirits for the first ti, but he didn’t feel much novelty or excitent. Instead, the two night patrol officers exchanged a glance and looked at him with great interest.
“This master is quite skilled; he can even see us.”
“Indeed, we are the Night Patrol under the jurisdiction of the City God of the Underworld of Xining Prefecture. I am the Right Official and he is the Left Official. What can we do for you, master?”
Jueming perford a Buddhist bow.
“Praise be to the Great Mingwang Buddha! Night Patrol Officials, this humble monk is a ghost that has committed heinous cris. Please take to the underworld. If possible, this humble monk would also like to see so souls who died unjustly.”
“You?”
“A ghost?”
The two night wanderers exclaid in surprise and carefully examined Jueming.
His aura was calm and balanced, with no malevolent energy, resentnt, or evil karma, and not even a hint of Buddhist Dharma. They had not seen a ghost like this in all their years of service.
“Indeed, this humble monk has only recently died, so perhaps I lack so ghostly aura.”
He lacked so ghostly aura? That sounded absurd.
But seeing that the monk didn’t appear to be a madman, the Right Official used his spiritual energy, squinted his eyes, and suddenly reached out and slapped the monk on the back of the head, causing Jueming to stumble.
“He really is a ghost!”
“Strange… There are ghosts like you?”
The two Night Patrol Officers found it sowhat amusing and, as a courtesy, politely “invited” the monk to the underworld.
‘He really went to the underworld!’
Ji Yuan and Lu Shan Jun had similar thoughts at this mont. They had actually guessed this possibility before, and although they were not surprised to see it, they couldn’t help but feel a little emotional.
Ji Yuan even wondered, would Lu Shan Jun’s trip to Daming Monastery to eat Jueming would be detrintal or beneficial to Buddhism?
…
In early sumr, Lu Shan Jun found Bao Dong in You Province. Bao Dong had not beco a great hero, nor a villain; he was now a manager in his sect.
Lu Shan Jun appeared at Bao Dong’s ho at night after observing him for two days.
Lu Shan Jun’s arrival terrified Bao Dong. He was tense and sweating profusely throughout his interactions with him. Fortunately, he was not eaten, and the monster left afterward.
Ji Yuan appeared after Bao Dong had cald down a bit. They simply chatted about everyday things, discussing the ups and downs of the man’s life over the past twenty years, and the erosion of his ambition.
There were no complaints or reprimands, just quiet listening and chatting until dawn, before Ji Yuan left.
In fact, among ordinary people, Bao Dong and Luo Ningshuang’s circumstances were the most normal, with the only exception being their additional identity as martial artists.
A few days later, when they found Dong Bicheng, the result surprised Lu Shan Jun again. Dong Bicheng’s aura was relatively weak in his perception. He thought there might be so unusual circumstances, but the circumstances were indeed unusual, though not the kind that Lu Shan Jun expected.
At the foot of a mountain in Laoyang Prefecture, Yan Province, Lu Shan Jun stood in front of a tomb, looking at the inscription on the stone tablet with a troubled expression, muttering to himself with a bitter smile.
“Dong Bicheng, Dong Bicheng, why did you have to die so young? Now I have to go to the underworld to find you. How am I supposed to sneak in?”
The agreent bound both the Nine Warriors and Lu Shan Jun, creating a restriction where he had to see either the individual alive, or their ghost if they were dead.
T/n: *humming under my breath* “All I hear are screeeeams…” (Epic the Musical fans, say aye! :D)
Goji, also known as Chinese wolfberry. (There are so interesting politics surrounding their imports to various countries which is a whole other rabbit hole I will not be going into right now)
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