It seemed to be scriptures, or perhaps some minor language, being continuously uttered from the mouth of the shaman.
He crossed his hands diagonally to the side, interlocking his fingers to form a lotus-shaped hand gesture, and then raised them high behind the tomb.
In a daze, a figure appeared in the gusts of cold wind, causing the surrounding temperature to drop sharply.
"It's so cold, Uncle Jiu, what is he going to do?" The villagers shivered.
Seeing the sudden turn of events, Lin Jiu's gaze turned cold, but he was powerless to stop the sorcerer. He hurriedly summoned his disciple and shouted to the approaching villagers, "Back off! Everyone, back off..."
Just then, Lin Jiu spotted two people at the back of the crowd.
Mao Xiaofang? The One-Eyebrow Taoist?
Before he could get close, Mao Xiaofang and Yi Mei had already prepared their magical artifacts and stared at a person not far away, Chen Ren!
Damn it... Chen Ren immediately felt the gazes on him. Seeing that all three of them were looking at him, he looked helpless. He had no intention of getting involved at all; he truly had no intention of getting involved from the very beginning.
At this moment, the figure in front of the sorcerer suddenly became real, and Old Master Ren's face gradually emerged from the gloomy wind, radiating a different kind of glow.
"Bardo"
"Oh?" Si Zang looked from afar and vaguely noticed three illusory figures hidden in the yin wind.
The Three Demons of the Bardo
“This dark-skinned kid really knows how to get things done…” Si Zang scratched his chin and said to Lin Feng, who was about to leave, “This is Tantric Buddhism, also a term in Buddhism. The period between a person’s death and rebirth is called the Bardo. If there is the right guidance during this period, the soul can be liberated and escape the cycle of rebirth. Once successful, one can attain the Dharmakaya state of non-birth and non-death, or attain the Sambhogakaya Buddhahood.”
"These three demons are the three demonic forms the soul encounters during this period..."
Si Zang reached out and grabbed Lin Feng: "Don't rush, don't rush. Once you know, it will be easier to deal with. Let's take a look first."
At this moment, the shadows of the three demons became real, emerging from the gloomy wind and stepping onto the ground.
"The Demon of True Nature, the Demon of Reality, and the Demon of the Fetal Form"
"To be honest, Buddhist scriptures and Taoist texts are interpreted differently by everyone. The concept of the Three Demons is one of the more common interpretations. We call them the Three Souls and Seven Spirits, while they call them the Intermediate State."
"Don't underestimate them. Who knows what abilities these guys have? But..." Shizo seemed to remember something, and casually asked, facing the impending battle, "What are your thoughts on this?"
"What?" Lin Feng withdrew his gaze from observation.
"To put it simply, once a person dies, as long as someone is beside you chanting sutras for you, you can become a Buddha and avoid reincarnation. Isn't that incredibly simple? You can escape the suffering of reincarnation in an instant."
“Think about it,” Si Zang said with a smile. “The intermediate state of being is a way to escape the cycle of reincarnation. Doesn’t it sound like some of the tricks that foreign faiths use to manipulate local faiths with simpler methods? It’s like the way Buddhism and Taoism started.” Si Zang smiled and leaned closer. “My master once said that these are all fabricated scriptures, lies to deceive believers. If you were to describe them in terms of psychology, they would be utterly disgusting.”
"Is your master a PhD in psychology?" Lin Feng asked with interest.
"It's not that bad. I just read and learned a little, but I didn't take any of those damn certificates." Si Zang raised his hand and waved it in front of him with disdain: "Hehe, actually, I've said that to him before. If there were no Nightmare Space, wouldn't all of this be just a fantasy of the human heart? It's just that you live in the realm of reincarnation, while he lives in the realm of the intermediate state."
"Besides, they've been hearing about the intermediate state of bardo since they were little, while we've been hearing about the cycle of reincarnation in the underworld. Apart from some unrealistic bad habits left over from the old era and strong personal biases, the evolution of the stories is actually quite similar."
Lin Feng raised his head with a strange expression. So, was someone explaining some kind of idea to him?
"Haha, it's alright, it's alright. Just take it easy later, do what you need to do, and leave the rest to me." Si Zang said amicably after giving his instructions, and then released Lin Feng.
After ending the conversation, Lin Feng took out the life tablet that was emitting a halo and stuffed it into his clothes, wedging it between the tattered hEV nano combat suit. The look in Si Zang's eyes just now flashed through his mind.
In a brief moment, he seemed to sense something, but the next instant he had already rushed out.
"Spiritual Essence Technique (Kui Ke): Gain the blessing of the Flood Dragon Soul, share soul attributes, and gain the special ability: Flood Dragon's Might."
Suddenly his vision broadened, and he could see everything around him, including the three demons of the intermediate state who had appeared.
The Demon of True Form: Old Master Ren, with an appearance of greed and anger; the Demon of Reality: Old Master Ren, who exudes authority without anger; the Demon of the Fetus: A young Old Master Ren with his eyes closed, evoking an image of peace and happiness.
At the same moment, Bian Er sensed a dangerous aura. As he turned around, his pupils involuntarily dilated, and he saw Lin Feng appearing on the hillside: "How could he be here?!"
Chen Ren, who was standing nearby, also saw Lin Feng. His initial reluctance to get involved vanished, and the anger hidden in his heart surged up. But in the blink of an eye, his gaze calmed down.
Something was wrong; these people were coming towards them with preparation.
It was this slight delay that allowed him to avoid danger; a laser beam shot past him and gradually dissipated into the air.
Looking up in the direction the laser beam came from, Chen Ren saw Si Zang's smile in the distance, and immediately suppressed the anger that was about to surge again.
At this moment, Mao Xiaofang and Lin Jiu met the sorcerer. Amidst flashes of light, a howling wind obscured the color of the sky and earth, plunging them all into a cold, gloomy darkness.
"Chen Ren, save me!" Bian Er roared in the thick fog. The curses flying in his hands did not make a splash on Lin Feng until those eyes with yellow light grabbed his neck and plunged a knife into his heart.
"Blood Curse!"
Lin Feng spat out a mouthful of blood, but he neither dodged nor avoided it, letting the blood, which resembled centipedes, crawl all over his face without finding any opening to penetrate.
"Ghost curse!"
"Corpse Curse!"
"A ghost has descended!"
"Insect Curse!"
"Color drop!"
One after another, eerie curses fell upon him, and countless illusory ghostly figures transformed into countless temptations and fears, each attempting to invade his mind.
"Human skin lantern!"
A lantern suddenly appeared in the cold wind and landed on his head.
But Lin Feng's body remained motionless, ignoring all the strange curses. Amidst the constant trembling of the demonic shadow, he tore open the human skin lantern, disrupting all of the opponent's attacks, and ripped off his cheek with a single claw.
"You!!!" Bian Er was terrified. How could this be? His curse hadn't even entered the other person's body!
The next moment, his half-intact mouth clenched his teeth tightly, and he fiercely raised his hands to tear open the chest that had been ripped open by the blade, grabbing out his own heart and squeezing it down hard.
"Blood transmigration to soul!"
A stream of foul, black blood flowed from Bian Er's heart, and countless resentful thoughts emerged from his body, transforming into countless crawling, abandoned infant spirits that climbed onto Lin Feng's body.
A cold glint flashed in Lin Feng's eyes as those shrill cries awakened a trace of memory within him.
He remembered a temple in Southeast Asia where thousands of abandoned infant corpses were found... Even in modern times, when superstition has disappeared, ancient things are still happening.
A surge of rage arose from his killing intent. The dragon's might on his body deliberately avoided the crawling abandoned infants and rushed into Bian Er's mind like the sky collapsing and the earth sinking.
"I'll do it."
Gui Ke's voice flashed through his mind, and transparent hands appeared from behind him, waving in the air several times and grabbing all the abandoned babies in their palms.
"No, no, no... Demonic fetus, yin and yang in one body, break!" Bian Er's body cracked open again, revealing a woman's face beneath his skin. The demonic fetus that had somehow escaped last time burst through his body and opened its mouth.
Before he could even open his mouth, Lin Feng had already grabbed him.
He forcefully suppressed the eerie and sinister crying with his palm, pressing it back down firmly.
Corpse oil, stench, maggots... countless disgusting things crawled out of Bian Er's body, and the grass beneath their feet was corrupted by the spreading curse, creating a large black area.
In an instant, Bian Er's body seemed to shed a human skin, becoming withered, and with the demonic seed, it wrapped around half of Lin Feng's body.
"He's trying to escape!"
Lin Feng's eyes flashed, and Bian Er's soul, like a skinny, withered ghost, emerged from the body in the thick fog and scrambled into the endless gray depths.
"Mission Seven: The One-Eyebrowed Taoist's Request. Accepting this mission will activate hostile mode, where both teams will fight to the death, and escape items cannot be used. (Accepted)"
"Hostile mode activated"
Thump thump thump... Lin Feng failed to break free of the dry skin. Bian Er, who was about to escape, became excited and was about to take out his escape item when the hostile mode activation prompt that appeared in his eyes made his heart sink.
Just then, Hong Linggui appeared behind him without warning, severed his soul with a single strike, and then opened the Black Magic Book, swallowing Bian Er's remnant soul.
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