Stranger Danger

Chapter 965: Kitigarbha Buddha

“My lord...”

The North Duke Consort turned a little pale and trembled at the unholy sight before her.

It wasn’t just her. Lu Daoweng and the others were reacting more or less the same.

It wasn’t because they were cowardly or inexperienced. The ghosts were just too numerous and powerful. A good number of them were Ghost Generals or Ghost Kings on the same power level as them.

If the ghosts were to discover them, they had no doubt that only a handful of them would be walking out of Lu Tai Yuan alive.

In fact, it was no secret that Lu Tai Yuan became extremely dangerous every eighth of August. Everyone in the Northern Sea was aware that ghosts would fill up the entire Lu Tai Yuan during nighttime and transform it into a forbidden zone where death was around every corner. It only got more dangerous the closer one got to the center, which was why the jianghu warriors participating in the Ghost Liberation Festival usually did their thing at the outskirts.

There were of course self-styled elites who ventured to the center of Lu Tai Yuan thinking they were strong enough to face whatever danger was inside. None of them had ever returned.

Although the North Duke Office was a longtime resident of the Northern Sea, they weren’t experts in the way of the ghost. That was why they rarely came to Lu Tai Yuan or ventured deep into the icy plains during the nighttime of the eighth of August. All the information they gathered about the place came from word-of-mouth, and the large majority of them believed that the jianghu people were exaggerating its dangers.

But now, they realized they were gravely mistaken. The jianghu people hadn’t exaggerated its dangers, they had vastly, vastly underestimated the terrors of the inner region of Lu Tai Yuan and the Kṣitigarbha Stupa.

The North Duke grabbed his consort’s hand and patted it consolingly. “There is no need to be afraid... the Ghost Children are concealing our presence. These evil ghosts would not be able to discover us.”

Although they had vastly underestimated the dangers of the inner region of Lu Tai Yuan, they weren’t completely unprepared. The Ghost Children were their strategy to evade the ghosts’ notice, and they were the invisible, child-like silhouettes currently lying on the heads of every North Duke Office member.

The North Duke had paid a hefty price to buy these Ghost Children from Nine Sons Ghost Mother of the Yellow Spring of the Sky, one of the thirty-six unorthodox sects.

Nine Sons Ghost Mother was a Half-Sage and an adept in the art of ghost cultivation and controlling. The Ghost Children he bought was bred from the Ghost Mother’s own ghost qi. Although it wasn’t as powerful as the nine sons Nine Sons Ghost Mother had birthed with her own flesh and blood, they were still infinitely useful. Not only could they be deployed in combat or used to intimidate weaker ghosts, they could conceal the presence of the living as well. They could trick another ghost into thinking that the person they were protecting was a fellow ghost, thus shielding them from harm.

Of course, the Ghost Children weren’t the only trump card he had prepared for this venture. He had a stock of ghostbane items and the Viewing Mound Heaven Locking Array as well. That was why he wasn’t too worried despite his own astonishment.

His consort and his men let out a sigh of relief after hearing their lord’s assurance. However, that assurance was quickly shattered in the next moment. Countless people were covering their mouths in shock, and some had nearly cried out loud. It was because a gigantic, eerie ball that seemed to be made of countless eyeballs had appeared above their heads before they knew it. What really scared them was the fact that every single eyeball was staring straight at them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The North Duke and his men all felt a powerful, evil energy wrapping around their person. The Ghost Children lying on top of their heads visibly shivered under its presence.

A few breaths later, the eyeballs slowly closed, and the evil energies wrapped around their person vanished like they never were.

For a moment, everyone let out a sigh of relief thinking that the Ghost Children had managed to fool the massive ball after all. Then, the eyeballs on the ball opened at once, and a terrible power unlike anything they had ever felt washed across the area.

Disaster struck instantly. The Ghost Children sitting on their heads let out a bloodcurdling scream and scattered in every direction, ignoring any and all orders to stay. The North Duke and his men blanched at this because the departure of the Ghost Children meant that they were exposed.

As expected, the evil ghosts seemingly sensed their vitality and fresh meat and began charging in from all sides.

“Don’t attack!”

Lu Daoweng and the others were about to attack when the North Duke raised a hand and stopped them.

“Do not attack. Not yet.”

The North Duke stressed just in case one of his men didn’t catch his words. At the same time, he squinted a little and stared at the evil ghosts rushing toward them with a severe expression.

Neither Lu Daoweng nor everyone else understood why the duke was stopping them from taking defensive measures, but they trusted him enough to obey his command. They did not move a muscle even as the evil ghosts came closer and closer.

Right as the evil ghosts came within three meters of the group, they suddenly came to a dead stop as if blocked by some sort of invisible wall. It wasn’t long before the throng of ghosts piled up into a ghastly tide that was over a kilometer tall from all sides. But no matter how hard they pushed, they just could not get within three meters of the group no matter what.

It almost felt as if they existed in separate spaces.

“My lord... what is going on here?”

The group relaxed slightly after confirming that the evil ghosts could not get close to them, though that begged the question: Why? How?

“It’s because of the fragments of the Ten Directions Stupa.”

The North Duke explained while producing an old, tattered Buddhist sutra on his hand. Right now, the sutra was glowing slightly with Buddha light.

As soon as the evil ghosts saw the Buddhist sutra, they instantly backed off as if they saw the bane of their existence. However, they weren’t willing to leave just like that, eyes overflowing with hatred, fear, and respect.

It was at this moment Buddha light shone from the mural on the cliffside. The Kṣitigarbha Stupa’s light was gentle and soothing like the sunlight of spring. Slowly but surely, the violent, brutal evil ghosts calmed down and became peaceful as if every negative emotion that was possessing their bodies was purified.

A moment later, a man riding a strange beast stepped out of the Kṣitigarbha Stupa.

The strange beast had a tiger’s head, a dog’s ears, a dragon’s body, a lion’s tail, a qilin’s feet, and a single horn on its forehead. It looked like a dragon, but it wasn’t a dragon. It looked like a tiger, a lion, a dog, or a qilin, but it was none of them. It gave off a fair and dignified bearing.

The strange beast was none other than the Kṣitigarbha Buddha’s mount, Diting[1].

Diting possessed the ability to hear the voice of the world and the all of creation. It could repel evil, eliminate disaster, bestow blessings, guard a person and more. It was an auspicious beast.

As for the man riding on the Diting’s back, he appeared to be a Bhikkhu[2] wearing a jeweled crown and a kasaya of merit. He was holding Kṣitigarbha beads on his left hand and the Daśacakra Kṣitigarbha Sūtra on his right. A halo of ten colors was shining behind his head and illuminating every direction.

It did not take a genius to recognize that the man riding on the Diting was none other than the ancient Buddha, Kṣitigarbha Buddha.

Kṣitigarbha Buddha was semi-transparent and incorporeal, however. It almost looked as if he was just an illusion.

Even so, he felt magnificent and awe-inspiring in an indescribable fashion.

“You have come, destined ones.”

After the Diting stopped in front of the group, Kṣitigarbha Buddha greeted them all with a smile.

“We greet you, Kṣitigarbha Buddha.”

“We greet you, Kṣitigarbha Buddha.”

It was only now the North Duke and his people jolted back to reality and tried to kneel. Some sort of invisible power was stopping them though.

Kṣitigarbha Buddha said slowly, “All lives are equal, and my Buddha is merciful. You don’t need to kneel before me.”

“You are most merciful, Kṣitigarbha Buddha...”

The North Duke saluted him respectfully before producing six items from his Nature’s Shell. They were a headless Buddha statue, a Buddha’s head, a kasaya, a jeweled crown, jeweled beads and a roll of Buddhist sutra. “These are the fragments the Ten Directions Stupa is missing, Buddha. This junior has purposely come to return them to you.”

“Excellent,” Kṣitigarbha Buddha chanted with his hands clasped together. The next moment, the six items slowly floated into the air.

1. You’ve heard of this beast before, way back when MC first met Greenlake Bai ☜

2. A bhikkhu is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. ☜