The Great Seminary

Chapter 354 A Terrifying Premonition

Zhen Shijing chewed on the fruit like a squirrel.

The sweet juice entered his stomach and heart, and the look of shock on his face gradually subsided.

He said, panting, "Brother Gui, you're right."

Now that I have left the 'human world,' I no longer want to think about the affairs of the Ming and Song dynasties.

Now, the underground world is the new home of our 'Zhen clan'.

"That's the right way to think about it," Zhang Gui said, turning around and sitting down again.

"By the way, Shijing, what brought you here?"

"That's quite a coincidence."

I was among the last group to leave Jinling, and apart from a few elders, the rest of my companions were young people who hadn't yet started working.

They weren't in a hurry, so they walked very slowly, resting in every town they encountered.

When I arrived at the city government of 'Three Holy Swords Northern Sect' for a rest, I strolled around the market.

At the teahouse, I overheard someone mention a shop called "Da Gui Grocery Store" that had become very famous, and we decided to go together to buy a pack of something called "Zong Xin Yuan" (a type of spicy snack).

The name of this shop immediately reminded me of your aunt's grocery store.

So I specifically asked those people, and feeling it must be you, I came looking for you.

"I see." Zhang Gui nodded and said, "You're quite clever."

"So, your entire Zhen family has come to the Underground Realm with the intention of settling down on 'Ling Mountain,' converting to Buddhism, and becoming monks and bhikkhus?"

“You wouldn’t understand,” Zhen Shijing said, shaking her head.

"Heretical, heretical. If the whole family are Buddhists, how can they be called 'heretical'?"

The so-called "protectors of the Dharma" are those who do not respect the precepts and are solely dedicated to "defending the Way".

Furthermore, they shall act solely in accordance with the decrees of the abbot of the Great Thunderclap Temple on Mount Ling, and the Dharma King Tathagata.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Gui opened his mouth and blurted out:
"I can detect a lot of 'conspiracy' in your words."

"Without a 'conspiracy,' how could a group of 'outsiders' like us have risen to power?"

I've heard that the original Buddhist monastic community has been stirring up trouble in recent years, trying to revive the ancient Buddha!

Even in a large port city called 'Sweet Lake City' in the Kingdom of Xiangfan, the bodies of millions of living people were burned in a ritualistic ceremony.

The ancient Buddha was reborn from Nirvana, having removed the homophone of the last character "fish" from the title "Eternal Joy, Whale".

My father said that those who attain such a 'position' are truly comparable to ancient gods and demons!

"You must never say your full Dharma name, lest you cause trouble for yourself, understand?"

Upon hearing the words "Sweet Lake City, Chang Le Xi Jing (Jing) Old Buddha," Zhang Gui felt a jolt in his heart. Suddenly, an inspiration struck him, and a chill ran down his spine as he had a vague premonition.

The so-called "era of great contention" may very well be not limited to the "human realm"!
Seeing him inexplicably lost in thought, Zhen Shijing coughed lightly and raised her voice.
“Brother Gui, what I mean is that there seems to be a major change in Buddhism. In the future, when you mention the Buddha’s name, please be careful not to say it in full.”

"Understood, understood." Zhang Gui came to his senses, recalling the unobstructed Nirvana image of the 'Eternal Joy and Purity Buddha'. He sighed and said:

"When the great power returns to its own extraordinary world, and gods, demons, immortals, and Buddhas hide from the world, the ants below gather in groups."

The leader even thought he was so awesome.

Actually, haha, it's possible that a single spit from a 'superior being' would be enough to drown it.

Life exists in different 'dimensions'.

Such a precipitous difference, tsk tsk tsk, what else can they do besides 'play dead'! "You're saying these weird things again."

"Really? It's all because what you said was so shocking that I couldn't help but ramble on."

By the way, has your sister arrived at the 'Putuo Mountain Gate Sect' yet?

"My elder sister has been back in the clan for some time now," Zhen Shijing nodded.

"The Guanyin Bodhisattva worshipped at Mount Putuo is a powerful being who was the first in ancient Buddhism to take refuge in the 'present Buddha' Shakyamuni, and together with him they are known as the 'Five Elders of the Five Directions'."

Since ancient times, the 'Putuoshan Sect' has been one of the 'Four Sects' of Lingshan.

The two dojos are adjacent to each other and not far from the 'Three Saints Sword Sect'.

"If you ride the Flower Dragon Beast day and night along the 'Boundary Path,' you can make a round trip in about ten days."

"It's not exactly close," Zhang Gui said dryly. "But I'll go see her when I have some free time in a few days."

"It is said that before the New Year, my elder sister will go down into the underground cave and, with the help of 'observing' the various images of the world of demons and monsters, activate the 'Thousand Eyes' secret technique of the <White-Robed Guanyin Bodhisattva's Observation of the Great Thousand Nirvana Sutra>."

"If you want to see her, the earliest you can do so is around the 20th of the first lunar month."

Zhen Shijing thought for a moment and said softly.

Zhang Gui was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.
"Has Ci Yun already descended into the Earth Cave and ventured deep into the world of the Hundred Races of Earth Demons?!"
Sure enough, it was only by joining a major sect properly and being instructed by her master that things wouldn't be delayed.

Unlike me, who spent so long preparing, rambling on and on.

They said they would set off immediately, but they still haven't even seen what a 'subterranean vein' looks like.

Miss Chonghe, aren't you also going to enter the underground cave to start your secret cultivation by slaughtering the hundred races of demons? Are you still going to do it or not?

If the delay continues, I'll go check out the Demon World first.

"Of course we'll do it!" Sun Chonghe's spirits lifted, and he explained loudly:
"I put aside the matter of going down to the underground cave because I wanted to focus all my efforts on becoming an inner sect disciple."

Now that he had successfully become an inner sect disciple, the most important thing next was to cultivate the technique of "man and sword as one".

There won't be any more delays.

"Then let's set a date to avoid this dragging on indefinitely."

“Okay.” Sun Chonghe nodded without hesitation.
"How about we set off the day after we finish celebrating Senior Sister Wuque and my advancement to 'Inner Sect'?"

"Very good." Zhang Gui smiled with satisfaction, stood up and walked to Sun Chonghe's side, extending his hand. "It's settled then."

Seeing this, Sun Chonghe clapped his hands and said, "It's settled!"

The sparrow standing to the side stared in disbelief.
"Junior Sister Chonghe, are you really the only one who can be paired up with Master Zhang? No one else can be found to go down to the Great Earth Cave?"

"If we don't go far, it's fine, right?"

Sun Chonghe said casually, "There are plenty of small hunting groups in the countryside, three or five 'Category C' cultivators in a group, and they go down into the underground cave."

Besides, what about Brother Longhu and me?

"That's true, but what's the point of going down into the underground cavern if it's just a waste of time?"

When Wu Quezi pressed him for an answer, Zhang Gui answered on behalf of Sun Chonghe:

"We plan to go underground first to taste the saltiness before making any decisions."

Alright, now that we've finished the important stuff, it's getting late. What would you all like for dinner?

"We've already finished talking about the important matters. You still haven't told us where the two kinds of 'releasing the mind' and 'releasing the will' pills came from?"
Many people thought, "Did you bring a 'secret realm' to this underground cavern?"

(End of this chapter)