I attained immortality in the real world.

Chapter 71 Ullambana Festival
July 15th.

It is commonly known in folk tradition as the Ghost Festival, the Festival for the Hungry Ghosts, or the Festival for the Dead.

Taoists call this day the Zhongyuan Festival, while Buddhists call it the Ullambana Festival.

The day before, the craftsmen at the foot of Baima Temple had finished setting up the site. The air was filled with a faint sandalwood fragrance, and there were seven-colored flowers on the ground. There were solemn Buddha statues on all four sides, and there were reliefs on the walls depicting scenes such as the Buddha converting five hundred thieves and the Buddha cutting off his own flesh to feed an eagle. The scene was unprecedentedly grand.

It's just dawn.

Half of the residents of Bianjing City came to the scene.

The influence of Buddhism among the people is evident.

The Ullambana Festival lasts for three days. The first day is dedicated to religious ceremonies, offerings to deities and Buddhas, and alms to hungry ghosts.

The ceremony consists of six sessions, each lasting one hour, from dawn until night.

"Boom!"

A bell tolled.

Monks ascended the Dharma platform in an orderly fashion. Faji, Jinchi, and Qianye from Jinshan Temple were all on the Dharma platform, sitting cross-legged on futons covered with incense and flowers, chanting sutras in a low voice. In temples participating in the Ullambana Festival, whether they were preaching monks or debating monks, they would all ascend the Dharma platform.

The first ritual to establish the protective barrier was missing only five monks.

What's missing is the monk to preside over the last five religious ceremonies, and he's currently conserving his energy and making preparations.

Around the Dharma platform, there were also some lay Buddhists who were not ordained but were well-versed in the scriptures and could chant sutras and pray together with the monks.

The bill also includes a list of names and birth dates, all ancestors of pilgrims who donated more than one hundred taels of silver to the Hungry Ghost Festival.

The White Horse Temple can not only recoup the money spent on organizing this Dharma assembly, but also have enough to cover the expenses of the monks for the next four years.

"We respectfully invite all Buddhas to descend and protect this sacred site..."

The first Buddhist ceremony was presided over by an old monk from the Nine Lions Temple. His main task was to set up the ceremony site, distribute talismans, and hang banners to announce the start of the Buddhist service.

In the cultivation world, there exists a rule distortion—the Daoist temple. Within the Daoist temple, the rules can be distorted, increased, decreased, or altered, making it a high-risk area for player brain death.

However, the ritual venue set up for the Ullambana Festival was not the same as that venue. Chen Jing did not feel any changes in the rules while he was there, nor did he receive any prompts from the main deity.

"Boom!"

The bell rang again, marking the end of the first ritual. After a short rest, the second ritual, the offering ceremony, began.

The ceremony was presided over by the Venerable Master Xuanming of Daci Temple. Accompanied by the chanting of the monks, which sounded like mantras, the ceremony began with the respectful invitation of all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and patriarchs of past generations to descend upon the Dharma assembly. Offerings of vegetarian feasts, incense, flowers, lamps, food, clothing, and precious jewels were prepared.

The moment when we respectfully invite the patriarchs of all generations to descend upon the Dharma assembly.

Chen Jing's expression suddenly changed, as if he had the illusion of being targeted by a ghost: "Illusion? I'm not at my peak right now, so my perception isn't real. My protective prayer beads aren't reacting at all, and it's broad daylight now. The ghost probably wouldn't last even a second."

[A divine manifestation!]

Chen Jing activated his divine manifestation state, chanting scriptures while closely sensing the changes around him.

The visual and auditory sensations come from the character of Chiba, but the feeling of being targeted by a spirit originates from within oneself.

The third ritual was a prayer of pardon, expressing compassion for the six realms of existence, requesting the release of the imprisoned and suffering spirits of the six realms, and inviting the pardoned spirits to the assembly.

The fourth ceremony is the ordination ceremony, in which all suffering beings in the six realms are given the precepts, and all the evil karma created in the past is purified through repentance, so that they can quickly go to the Pure Land of the Buddha of Immeasurable Light.

The fifth ritual included incense offerings and vegetarian meals for twenty-four guests, both holy and ordinary. The spiritual energy nourished the spirits, and all beings in the six realms rejoiced. This served to announce the imminent completion of the grand assembly, wishing that all sentient beings in the six realms could take this opportunity to escape the sea of ​​suffering and never sink again.
The sixth ritual was the sending off of the spirits. After all the spirits who participated in the Water and Land Dharma Assembly received sermons, blessings, and offerings, they were reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, thus concluding the Water and Land Dharma Assembly. Since no one felt the presence of evil spirits again after all six rituals were completed, it could only be considered an illusion.

"........."

It was completely dark, and a full moon hung high in the sky.

The area around the Dharma assembly was brightly lit, and there were even more believers attending than in the early morning.

The abbot of Kongming Temple, who presided over the sending-off ceremony, distributed the offerings for the Ullambana Festival, officially concluding the first day of the festival.

The monks then returned to the monasteries where they were staying to rest and prepare for the Dharma assembly the next day. This time, only the monks who were to give the Dharma talk needed to take the stage.

It's quiet at night.

On the wall of the Ullambana Festival, there is a mural depicting Xuanzang's journey to the West. Xuanzang's image has come to life, and his stiff body seems to slowly emerge from the mural.

Everywhere you go, every scene and every sound seems to be flowing backwards, and in the blink of an eye, you are back to the lively daytime of the Ullambana Festival.

Xuanzang's gaze fell on Qianye, who was chanting sutras on the Dharma platform. He gently touched the illusory Qianye's brow with his finger: "Found you!"

In the blink of an eye, an invisible ripple spread out.

The bustling daytime scenes of the Ullambana Festival vanished like a bubble, and Chiba's life began to unfold in reverse.

When he returned to the pagoda to preach to Li Zhi, he chanted Buddhist mantras, boasted of the true scriptures, and displayed an air of self-importance.

When he returned to the White Horse Temple and picked up his brush to write on the blank paper, he jumped outside the rules and regulations, using their own spear to attack their own shield.

When he returned to Xiaoguankou and converted the fifty-five bandits of Black Wind Village, he said, "Since I have already become a Buddha, why should I avoid karma? Since I have already planted the seeds, why not reap the full fruit?"
Returning to Jinshan Temple, in the lecture hall and Qingdeng's debate on the Dharma, all sentient beings, like ants, are like lamps covered by gauze, looking down with the Buddha's eyes to understand compassion.

When he returned to the time when he was discussing the theory of reviving the sect and destroying Buddhism with the monk Faji, he said things that were not to be outrageous and did not stop until he was dead. He deviated from the classics and shouted that Confucianism and Taoism were far away and that the three teachings should not exist. He said that when the great revival of Buddhism ended, the sect would rise again.

"A thousand words cannot express the truth, but who can understand the true scripture without words?"

Xuanzang stared blankly at the phantom of the past for a moment, then seemed to have found a solution. He walked back to the wall and turned into a portrait again.

At the altar, a craftsman was striking the cloud ladder with a hammer, making a 'bang bang' sound, completely unaware of the scene unfolding around him, as if he were in two separate timelines.

"........."

The next day, early in the morning.

After bathing and changing clothes at the Golden Pool, he donned a seven-jeweled robe and went to the Ullambana Festival.

The Dharma assembly site was still bustling with people. There was nothing unusual last night. Not a single blade of grass or tree had changed, and the Xuanzang Journey to the West painting had been restored to its original state, with even the artist's brushstrokes unchanged.

A ten-meter-high preaching platform stands there, where monks from various temples will take turns preaching. There are over a hundred seats near the preaching platform. Distinguished guests can listen to the sutras below the platform, while ordinary people have no seats and can only listen to the sutras from a distance away from the platform.

Fortunately, the platform for preaching is high enough that there is no need to worry about having one's view blocked by the people in front of one.

"This is a monk preaching at the White Horse Temple. This robe is said to be woven from brocade by mermaids and can ward off water and fire..."

"The abbot of Putuo Temple has three inches of long white eyebrows; he's clearly a highly accomplished monk..."

People rely on clothes, and Buddhas rely on gold. Those who understand the Dharma are a minority, and since the Dharma is taught without ranking people, the requirements for appearance are much higher.

Jin Chi's seven-jeweled kasaya was bright and beautiful, radiating precious light, but it was not the most eye-catching kasaya in the entire room.

(End of this chapter)