บท 21: I Have Experienced Enlightenment Three Times Today
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
Baishi Shū only wanted to say a single line to Headmaster Takai—"You've really got a lot of nerve!"
Generally, very few people would want to step into a haunted building even after they were told that the evil spirit had been contained. Oftentimes, they would observe it for several days to ascertain that there was no more paranormal occurrence anymore before returning to their home. There were also some extreme cases whereby some of them refused to lay foot in their house. Instead, they would lease the property out or sell it and then find a new place to stay.
Baishi Shū found it understandable since he knew that almost all human beings were afraid of the unknown, especially evil spirits.
It was an instinctive behavior, and this kind of post-paranormal trauma was quite common amongst humans. The only way to quench them of the fear in their heart was through the blessing of the great shinto priests or monks from well-known shrines or temples.
That was the reason Headmaster Takai earned so much respect from Baishi Shū.
After all, not everyone had the guts like him to move into a haunted student dormitory to make sure that everything was fine when the outcome was still uncertain. Apparently, Headmaster Takai's doubts of Baishi Shū were already resolved after his jade Buddha amulet hauled his daughter, Mayuko, out of the depths of her nightmares.
Full of faith in Baishi Shū, he believed that he had completely dissipated the evil spirit, which was why he was willing to take a further leap of faith by moving into the dormitory and airing a live broadcast at midnight to assuage the fear in the students' hearts.
It was a tactical gambit. By staying in the dormitory and airing a live broadcast every midnight, he could shift the focus of the students from the fact that the dormitory was haunted. Furthermore, if nothing happened throughout the entire process, he could also dispel the fear of the students as well as receive positive comments and unanimous praise from the parents, students, and even school administrators for being a responsible headmaster.
"It seems like it isn't entirely unfounded for him to become the headmaster of a school after all. He is both brave and astute, and is willing to go the extra mile to turn a seemingly bad situation to his advantage."
Baishi Shū was certain the Hare-no-yurei was no longer there in the girls' dormitory, so he was not worried about Headmaster Takai's safety.
While he praised Headmaster Takai for his boldness, he did not watch the live broadcast. After all, why else would he watch something that he already knew the outcome of? To listen to Headmaster Takai talking? No, he was not going to waste his time like that. Unless the headmaster was going to give a lecture during the live broadcast, Baishi Shū felt it was better for him to invest the time in something more meaningful such as studying and reading scriptures.
...
Baishi Shū was very satisfied when he knew that Mayuko had finally stepped out of the gloom of depression and returned to how she used to be—a sunny and cheerful girl who loved her parents and was passionate about her life.
He felt that the reason he was reborn in this world was to save people and spread positivity. It had nothing to do with religion and was just a simple act of kindness.
There was a saying which went "good deeds will be rewarded with good".
Perhaps because his mind and his soul had reached a certain tacit understanding and decided to work together, it was a fruitful day for Baishi Shū. He was able to grasp some of the knowledge that his teacher taught easily, and he had made several breakthroughs after combining what he learned with his understanding of scriptures and spiritual power.
The time for studying was always so short and delightful.
By the time he came to his senses, it was already evening and his class was over. Baishi Shū recounted the day, and he realized he had experienced three enlightenments today.
Some of the enlightenments were short while the others were longer. All of them lasted until the recess bell rang or before the class started. After the three enlightenments, his spiritual power soared by 280 points. At the same time, it also brought him new knowledge and helped him improve a skill he had invented some time ago based on the "Ākāśagarbha Mantra". It was one of the ancient Buddhist mantras that were known for enhancing one's memory, improving one's learning abilities, and increasing efficiency, to name a few.
He had no idea about other people, but after his research, his memory and learning ability did improve when he chanted the mantra.
The effect was excellent. He only needed to chant the mantra once and the effect would last for a day. Furthermore, his memory would be permanently enhanced after the effect wore off. This was also the reason nobody in the school could steal his reputation of being a curve wrecker. At the end of the day, nobody had a cheating ability like he did.
Today, Baishi Shū found out that when he chanted the mantra, it would emit a special frequency across the section of his brain that was responsible for memories—the hippocampus—augmenting hippocampal cell activity and giving him extraordinary retentive memory. This way, he was able to easily memorize something that would usually take him hours to remember.
When Baishi Shū realized this, he fell in silence and thought inwardly, 'The one who invented this mantra is either a lunatic or the true Buddha.'
The human brain was the most complicated and the least understood organ in the human body, and even with the slightest amount of damage, the impact on the brain was catastrophic and often irreversible. He could not imagine that the ancients dared to put their brains on the stake to test the special frequency. However, that was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying thing was that they had actually succeeded and managed to create the mantra.
He was very grateful that he did not become stupid or have the memory of a fish since he had been using the Ākāśagarbha Mantra for the last two years. The silver lining was that he hit the pause button before it was too late. About a year ago, after his memory had become strong enough, he stopped using the mantra too often. Otherwise, if he kept applying spiritual power on the most mysterious part of the human body, sooner or later, he would get himself into trouble.
Be that as it may, it did not mean that the mantra was completely useless even if he had cast it away. He had found a way to put it into good use.
'If the brain is an organ that's too delicate to mess with, why don't I just use the mantra and work on other organs that are less dangerous? I could use the special frequency that the mantra emits to activate my cell activity, strengthen my cells, or even enhance my bodily functions!'
Baishi Shū's eyes shone when the idea popped up in his mind. He felt that it was a really brilliant idea. So long as he could match the frequency that could fortify human cells, it was possible for him to strengthen his body or improve his defense. It went without saying that he was not aiming to become a bald hunk. At the minimum, he could make himself healthier and less prone to illness.
There was something that had been bugging him. Spiritual power was a kind of power that could be improved through scripture reading. It could be used to ward off evil influences and grant the wielder some supernatural powers like the Divine Eye, but it could not enhance one's body. It was totally different from the internal energy in those martial arts novels, and this led him to become exceptionally weak in sports.
As a teenager whose only outdoor activity was cycling, it was inevitable that he would be physically weaker than his peers.
Every time during physical education class, he would always lag far behind his peers who were physically fitter than him. By the time he finished an 800-meter run, he would need to take a rest and gasp like a beached fish waiting to be slaughtered.
He figured that he could not keep being like this anymore. Other than evil spirits, there were also demons in this world. Even though demons usually resided deep in the forest or mountains and rarely appeared in the living world due to the divine protection of shrines and temples, there ought to be some that lingered. Those that lingered would slip into the living world and look for prey.
Demons were strong. Some of them could fly up into the sky or whip out a strong cyclone in defense while others could go underground. There was no way that they would stand still and wait for him to activate his skill. If he could not handle some lesser demons, what about the demon kings?
No matter how formidable his skills were, they were nothing if he could not hit his target.
Therefore, Baishi Shū had been thinking about how to make himself physically stronger like the Eighteen Arhats. He even considered the possibility of going to the country on the other side of the sea to learn martial arts from some ancient temples in the depths of the forest.
It was then that the Ākāśagarbha Mantra appeared and gave him hope.
According to the nature of the mantra, he could use his spiritual power to invigorate his body cells to achieve effects such as strengthening his physical body and cleansing his blood. In this way, he would no longer be a weak monk who could only fight with his spiritual power and not use martial arts.
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