Chapter 22: Khsitigarbha And Mara
Jia Hao took a breath of cold air as he lay on the bed. He wasn’t lying earlier at all. After wandering around all day in Nanhai City, Jia Hao felt extremely tired.
He found it strange at first. After all, even if he isn’t an athlete. His body wasn’t that weak.
But then, thinking about that he is in a new and mysterious world like the Yunlan continent. Not only the world is vaster than the Tianshu Continent, but the presence of heaven and earth qi, gravity, the sun, and moon…everything was different.
Perhaps the environment was the thing that made Jia Hao weaker than an average mortal.
” Crimson Vigor Pill, Huh?” Jia Hao took out a pill from the box. The spiciness of the pill made his nose twitch and make his senses sharper.
Just from the scent, he could feel the richness of the medicinal pills.
‘ Alchemy methods were long lost in the world. In the netherworld, I only saw three masters of alchemy.’ Jia Hao thought inwardly as he used his Sage’s Divine Eyes of the Crimson Vigor Pill.
Crimson Vigor Pill: Filled with a dense amount of medicinal energy. Upon eating, it will squeeze out all the potential of the body and use it to break through. However, upon using this pill, the chances of reaching the Profound Awakening Stage would decrease significantly.
” Well? According to the rules of this world, I can no longer reach the Profound Awakening Realm as my age has crossed the threshold. So, I don’t care about the side effects.”
Jia Hao shrugged as he ate the pill. Suddenly, he felt a burst of flaming energy in his body, spreading across his flesh and meridians.
Jia Hao felt he was sweating too much. So, he took off his clothes and only remained seated on the bed with an undergarment.
” Fuck! Why it’s so hot?”
Jia Hao panted as he sat cross legged and tried to enter a meditative state.
The medicinal energy started to get less chaotic as it gathered in his lower abdomen first. After that, it slowly grew upwards, reaching straight into his brain.
It was like a tree like structure, rooting in his dantian and spread all across his body like branches. Jia Hao felt a strange mix of pain and relief through his body.
It was similar to when you apply a strong tiger balm. You can feel the powerful heat and itchiness on your skin as if it were burning, yet you can also feel your muscles relaxing under the effect of the medicine.
Jia Hao closed his eyes as he tried his best to concentrate the energy to improve his body.
Suddenly, he could feel the Pot of Miracles inside his body buzzing lightly as it stabilized the overflowing energy.
Feeling a strange, ethereal state, Jia Hao was lost in his memories.
Although he had undergone eight reincarnations, his memories of each reincarnation were short and blurry due to the power of Granny Meng’s Tea.
However, He could only recall all the memories when he was in the netherworld. If he descends to the mortal world, the memories become fuzzy once again.
Thanks to this, Jia Hao couldn’t become the protagonist with the power of eight lifetimes.
However, this was different.
After eating the Crimson Vigor Pill, Jia Hao could recall everything and with his Sage’s Divine Eyes, everything stored in his mind like a photographic memory.
He recalled of his past reincarnations, along with his few years of stay in the netherworld.
‘ Whooo! Damned King Yanluo! You always erased the memories of powerful stuff to not affect the karmic flow of the world.’
Jia Hao cursed inwardly.
After all, any person with a random mystical art from a place like the Netherworld can make a big ruckus in the mortal world!
Although Jia Hao spent his time there, he also learned many things about the Netherworld which is beyond the capabilities of a normal deceased soul.
Closing his eyes, he savored the memories of the Netherworld, trying to find anything useful.
” Amitabha, I can understand that your karmic fate is too turbid. Alas, even I can’t do anything at all. I seek your forgiveness, My child.”
” Hah, So even even the Great Khsitigarbha can’t do anything?” Jia hao raged as he looked at a frail old man before him, who was sweeping the floor.
” I know it! You are just bullshitting with me, Imposter! Where is the real Great Khsitigarbha?”
” Where is the imposing golden figure, whose head is covered with clouds and arms carries the netherworld?”
” Child, How can I lie?” The old man spoke lazily.
” It’s just that maintaining that figure really aches my body. Look at my frail body. Do you want to strain my old bones more?”
” Then at least teach me something.”
Jia Hao pointed at the building behind the old man. ” Isn’t that the pavilion where all sorts of powerful techniques are stored? Give me something.”
” I can’t, Child.”
Khsitigarbha spoke in a mild voice. ” Even if you learn the techniques, you will forget them when you reincarnate. So, unless you really break free from the strange karma you have, these techniques are useless for you.”
” I don’t care!”
Jia Hao fell on his knees before Khsitigarbha. ” Oh great one with infinite compassion, please help me from my miseries. Just one technique, give me your most powerful technique.”
” Haaah, Amitabha, This is so hard.” Khistigarbha sighed. ” You helped me so many years here. Consider it as fate…”
” Here, Take this. This is called the Golden Arhat Vajra Body Technique.” Khsitigarbha passed him a golden scroll. ” Don’t tell anyone about this though.”
” Hehe, Don’t worry, the great one.” Jia Hao grinned. ” I won’t tell anyone about this. Also, I will pray to you every month after I reincarnated once again.”
However, the happiness didn’t last long at all.
The first line of the first page of the technique states,
Requires a physical body.
Jia Hao almost threw it in a fit of rage. After all, this means he can’t practice it here, as he was in his soul form here.
However, after reading the technique thoroughly, he couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment.
Even if he gets the means to remember the technique and try to cultivate it in the real world, it will take god knows how many years to cultivate it.
And who knows, he might die within a year of reincarnation? So, this technique was like a piece of gold which turned into scrap metal.
However, that was not the end.
Jia Hao managed to meet another person or say, its consciousness.
” I see… You are the child who rang the Bell of Grieverence so many times within a century.”
” Who-Who are you?” Jia Hao trembled as he looked around.
The voice was so eerie, as it was an amalgamation of countless voices. Just hearing the voice, Jia Hao felt a mix of greed, anger, sorrow, and lust erupting in his consciousness.
” Me? What should I say? I am the representation of the Netherworld’s punishment, the power which fuels the Six Paths of Reincarnations.”
” You might have heard my name, Hehe. My true name is… Mara.”
