The Lord of Void and Real
Chapter 663 – 663 659 The Grand Sea

Chapter 663: Chapter 659: The Grand SeLand Assembly Chapter 663: Chapter 659: The Grand SeLand Assembly The next day.

The entire Chang'an City, from the Imperial Palace to the government offices, from the mansions of the high officials to the dwellings of the common people, all streets and alleys were hung with white lanterns, presenting an atmosphere of serene melancholy.

Throughout the daylight hours, all forms of fire were prohibited for an entire day. Every household observed the Cold Food Festival by preparing meals without the use of fire.

By evening, the ringing of the evening bells resounded throughout the city. All markets closed early, entering the period of curfew where the common people could only move about within their respective neighborhoods, not allowed to step onto the main roads of the city.

In the square before the Imperial City, hundreds of monks from the Xiangguo Temple sat on the ground. In front of each one was a lotus-shaped oil lamp, and in their hands were wooden fish, which they struck while chanting the Rebirth Mantra.

In the center of the square, on the altar, stood a wooden Dharma Platform towering three zhang (approx. 10 meters) high. Standing on it were six high ranking monks from Baoxiang Temple, Huasheng Temple, and Jinshan Temple. In their hands were Buddhist beads, and they too recited scriptures.

Among them was the youthful Chan'er, who was wearing a brocade kasaya. Because he was still young, he stood out among the group.

This recitation lasted a full hour.

By the time of Hai (9-11pm), the Dharma ceremonies finally ended. The monks then began to process along every main road in the city with their lotus-shaped lamp holders, calling out to the souls of the citizens who had died tragically throughout the city.

As each light began to shine throughout the city, one by one the terrifying figures of resentful souls began to appear. Some were already mentally dissipated, floating aimlessly behind the monks, while others were still crying and wailing, their voices indistinguishable from murmuring humans, converging into a dense crowd.

Additionally, some of the vengeful spirits had become fierce ghosts, attempting to attack the monks, only to be repelled by the radiating light of the lotus lanterns.

All of these lotus lanterns were from the Baoxiang Temple and were known as enduring lamps. They were fueled with oil given by countless believers. After repeated efforts to harm the monks, the evil spirits not only failed to cause them harm but were sanctified by the gleaming fire from the lamps. The black qi of evil gradually fell away and they slowly revealed their original forms.

However, in the places where the evil energy was extremely potent, such as near wells and ice cellars, some hostile ghosts that the enduring lamps couldn't purify appeared. In the end, these were all exterminated by monks appointed by the government.

Nearing midnight, Shen Luo and Bai Xiaotian, along with some court officials, stood on the city wall at the North Gate, looking at the city in the distance.

Although the citizens were not allowed to leave their respective neighborhoods, the neighborhoods themselves still had occasional lights flickering, as the people were holding their own memorials for their neighbors who perished in this calamity.

From one of the neighborhoods, the first paper-made sky lantern slowly rose into the sky. Following that, one by one, sky lanterns filled with sorrow and loss from the bereaved, started to float up from every neighborhood.

Lantern by lantern, these white lights soared into the sky, some high some low, echoing the stars above. They seemed to form a bridge between heaven and earth, slowly drifting towards the north of the city.

Shen Luo's gaze slowly dropped, only to see the monks, who had been marching, standing on either side of the road near the city gate. In the middle of the main road was a solitary figure, dressed in kasaya, holding Buddhist beads in his hand, and reciting scriptures with his head bowed low.

Following closely behind him were hundreds of thousands of ghostly apparitions; they followed his steps, moving towards outside of the city.

When hundreds of thousands of souls gathered in one place, even if they were normal souls without any evil intentions, the concentrated qi of yin and sha was already at a horrifying level; ordinary people could not withstand it.

However, at this moment, there was a hazy white glow emitted from Chan'er. It was mild like moonlight, but filled with warmth. It served as a candle in the cold night, illuminating the way forward for these souls.

Chan'er slowly walked through the city gate. The moment he stepped out of the gate, there was a surge of light at his feet, projecting the shadow of a golden lotus. Following that, with every step he took, golden lotus shadows would appear on the ground.

At this moment, he was indeed like the Golden Cicada, the disciple of Buddha reincarnated, carrying Buddha's Light, offering salvation to all beings.

On seeing this, everyone on the city wall felt as if divine beings were manifesting, and they all paid their respects in reverence.

They saw Chan'er leading a multitude of ghosts out of the city gate. One hundred feet outside the city, thick fog suddenly rose on both sides of the road. Flowers with no leaves were faintly blooming in the fog, swaying strangely.

With one glance, Shen Luo recognized that these flowers were the Other Shore Flowers that could only be found in the Yinning Land.

Chan'er walked to the place where at the boundary of the fog a hundred feet away, and then stopped, no longer moving. He just put his hands together, and the light on his body became increasingly bright.

The ghosts who had followed him all the way floated forward one after another. Like a river dividing its tributaries, they bypassed him and walked into the fog, disappearing one by one.

However, at this moment, on the Buddhist beads worn on Chan'er's chest, a strange light suddenly flashed, and a raging, bloody mist surged out, spreading in all directions, engulfing Chan'er and hundreds of ghosts.

“Not good, something has happened.” Seeing this, Shen Luo's expression changed drastically, and he leaped off the city wall directly.

He rushed down along the city wall, stepping hard on the city wall, and his body leaped like a falcon going straight into the swarm of ghosts. He flew towards where Chan'er was.

The surrounding ghosts were affected by the blood mist. The originally orderly ghosts reversed their positions in an instant, and a large number of ghosts, which were originally green, turned blood-red and transformed from ghosts to evil ones.

Sensing the abundant vitality within the city, these transformed spirits, like starving beasts, rushed back towards the city gate.

Everywhere they passed, it was like a plague spreading, a large number of ghosts underwent an instantaneous transformation into evil spirits. In an instant, the entire gate was completely out of control.

The monks of Baoxiang Temple in the city immediately rushed out with their magical instruments. Elder Zhe Shi and others also flew to the forefront, chanting Rebirth Mantras and Heart-calming Mantras, trying to pacify these ghosts.

However, the ghosts infected by the blood fog seemed unable to hear these Buddhist scriptures. They continued to charge back, causing more and more ghosts to turn into evil spirits.

“Baoxiang Temple disciples, form a defense.” Master Lu De shouted aloud seeing the situation.

All the monks of Baoxiang temple leapt out and aligned into a row, forming a human wall. They cut off the entire army of ghosts, on the one hand preventing the subsequent ghosts from leaving the city, and on the other hand blocking the evil spirits in the front from counterattacking.

These monks began to rhythmically strike their wooden fish and other magical instruments on hand, and the chants from their mouths changed from Rebirth Mantras to exorcising mantras. All sounds mixed together, forming a series of solemn Sanskrit sounds.

The sound of Sanskrit was gradually amplified, one wave stronger than the other, eventually forming a tidal wave, turning into a wave of translucent sound waves crashing into the oncoming evil spirits.

The moment these evil spirits entered the range of the sound waves, they all hit an invisible gas wall and their forward rush came to an abrupt halt.

However, the evil spirits were ferocious and under the blockade, their ferocity flared up even more. They continued to charge fearlessly, and the force gathered was greater every time.

Every time they charged, the invisible gas wall trembled violently. The monks operating this sound word array suffered a shock each time. After a few times, some monks, with a lack of cultivation level, had already started groaning and blood started seeping from the corners of their mouths.