Chapter 47 — A Third Guest Appears Unexpectedly in the Midst

But now the rings are ringing like beans rattling in a copper sieve, clanging on and on without stopping—do I really have that many stray and evil thoughts?

" Shen Mu looked down and found himself almost laughing despite the situation.

It turned out that Snow Fox was trembling like chaff, clinging desperately to his leg, her tail draped over the Ximiluo. Shen Mu's heart had not been disturbed; it was the little fox's heart that was in chaos. "Ling'er, move your tail aside a little," Shen Mu said.

Snow Fox shifted her tail away and kept trembling. Shen Mu frowned.

Even after Snow Fox's tail was moved, the golden rings of the Brahma-Silence Twelve-Ring Staff continued to shake and clang.

"Could there be a third person here besides me and Snow Fox?

A third person seething with evil thoughts?

Could it be the woman who is singing? " The rings of the Brahma-Silence Twelve-Ring Staff rang more and more urgently.

This clearly meant a third person was present, someone with so many stray and evil thoughts that the Ximiluo could sense them and would not stop ringing! The song in the air drifted to and fro, growing ever more plaintive.

Shen Mu lowered his gaze and suddenly shuddered.

There in the mist, a hand with knotted, protruding bones was reaching toward the Brahma-Silence Twelve-Ring Staff. Before it could touch the staff, it trembled as if struck by lightning and silently withdrew. Bracing himself on the staff, Shen Mu looked around, and the corners of his eyes twitched involuntarily.

From the mist all around him, withered hands kept reaching out toward him, but whenever they encountered the Ximiluo they shrank back involuntarily. And the soft song in the mist gradually grew clearer, as if it were singing right by his ear. "What in the world is in this mist?

" His scalp went numb.

Snow Fox had already climbed up his trouser leg, over his back, and into his chest, hiding inside his clothes, with only her small fuzzy head poking out, furtively peering around and shivering.

The scene was truly dreadful, and Shen Mu could not help feeling a little unsettled. But the vibration of the golden rings had a calming effect, and his heart soon steadied. He collected himself.

With so many hands, these clearly were not all from the same person. "Whatever you are, scatter, all of you!

" Shen Mu's vital energy surged, pouring down his arm into the Brahma-Silence Twelve-Ring Staff.

He raised the staff and brought it down with a single great clang.

At once, fine rays of light burst from the staff and shot in every direction, and at the same time an apparition of a Buddha appeared behind him, seated cross-legged in midair, as a great Sanskrit chant arose. "Thus have I heard! " The voice from the Buddha apparition resounded: "All sentient beings, from beginningless time, continue in birth and death because they do not know the ever-abiding true mind, pure and clear in substance, and instead rely on all manner of false thoughts. Such thoughts are not true; therefore there is turning—turning—turning—turn—"