3 Chapter 2

"Such powerful [will of the dead]…..How many man needs to be sacrificed, to create such horrific aura? And what were those hordes of man attacking and pillaging the land of the rising sun?"

The monk looked at the past for answers, but what he got were more questions. He walked aligned to the pavement, pondering over the projection that was displayed through Dharmic magic.

"The horde, resembled no man that I know, not even the barbarians from the west, their ferocious blood red eyes looked similar to a hungry packs of wolves chasing a spotted dear. The savagery that I saw couldn't even be compared to samurais who were possessed by bakemono spirits…"

Still contemplating over the incident, he didn't notice the sign which said,

?Cemetery: 100 meters ahead?

The [will of the dead] was a sentient that was closest being to the Buddhist energy. Which allowed them to evolve easier than most of the living beings on Earth. While [will of the dead] is one of the more powerful and largest in number, any animals and insects could in fact evolve.

The animals that evolve will usually have low intellectual level, however, some will come out more intelligent than the other. Due to the sheer number of the animals on the planet, during ancient times many animals evolved into greater beings.

Even with the meagre amount of Buddhist energy, on earth during ancient times, billions of bakemono or the monsters that absorbed the energy came to light.

Monks and the religions were first founded upon by those that successfully reached first evolution of human. They were the main vanguard that fought against these monstrous creatures. By gaining the faith of such cultivators, people could burrow some of their power and helped the extermination of the monsters.

However, the amount of people being able to cross the first evolution numbered less then 10 each era. This meant that some civilizations were enslaved, or be under control of the intellectual monsters. Egypt is one of the famous civilization that were placed under control of the cat type monster that succeeded first evolution itself.

There are many famous historical figures that reached enlightenment in their respective power, crossing the very threshold that made them mortals.

Such figures included, Buddha, who gained six fundamental powers that allowed him to create miraculous scriptures for the generations to come. One of which was ability to see the past lives of the people. Due to evolution of time, the power to see past lives inspired great monks to create powers that controlled the flow of time and see the karma left behind by the people of the past.

The monk, received the part of the scripture that allowed him to control the flow of time and see the karma of any individual man.

"Hmm, I guess I will know the answer to it all when I reach a town with people in it. Now that I think about it, where am I?"

With a sudden realization the monk looked around. What he saw was, a plain filled with millions of stake. All had something written on it.

Kon Taiki – for forever rememberence

Ten Tennma – rest in peace

Fujiwara kazui – may your soul reincarnate in peace

Inukai Naho – rest in peace

….

"This….this place must be a cemetery….For me to intrude in such a sacred place, how clumsy of me"

He was about to turn around to get back on track but, decided otherwise.

"I should give them proper blessing and let them pass away in peace"

Saying so, the monk started reciting the mantra in Dharmic Scripture, used to bless the dead.

?Listen Sariputra, all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness; their true nature is the nature of no Birth no Death, no Being no Non-being, no Defilement no Purity, no Increasing no Decreasing...…?

The monk with sincerity hoped for the best for the deceased but, it seems the holy aura that became the mantle for the death, incited a change.

The death seems to have revived again as their skeletal bodies started resurrecting from the graves.

Skeletal bodies started their invasion to the land, as they crawled outside. Hundreds of skeletons climbed from their chamber.

Clink Clank

The monk who was immersing himself in the mantra noticed the sudden change, flinched and jumped backward.

"I should've known…this grave seemed to be way too desolate. Without the protection of the monk, did they not know that the dead would be possessed by the [Will of the Dead]? Some of them are already strong enough to face multiple Shike by itself"

"Hello Human"

"Hello"

......

The biggest skeleton said its hello, and soon all the other followed after.

"Hello, ?"

"Fuhaa, why did you wake us up?"

"why?"

...…..

Like a classroom in an elementary school, smaller skeletons repeated after the biggest skeleton.

"I came here in peace and I do not wish to engage in battle with your people. I was wishing for peace for the dead and meant no harm in waking your esteemed self. I apologize for waking you and your people up."

The monk showed humility deserving of Shike, and took a step back as he apologized for disturbing their rest. He bowed deeply to show his respect and prepared to leave.

*Sigh*, even in their death the bodies wont be able to rest in peace, all I wish for them is a better life in their reincarnation. May Dharma, bring them prosperity…..

The monk knew that when the skeleton of a man is possessed by the [will of the dead], they form into a species of living organism. As a follower of Zen Buddhism he could not carelessly take the lives of the living as it will be recounted during his reincarnation to the after life.

However, all this will change when they start bearing fangs against the humans. Many monsters that successfully cultivated will stay peaceful toward the humans, but some will have a grudge and will occasionally cause great disturbance among the human society.

"Human, seeing your humility and willingness to bow you head to us, we shall forgive you for your intrusion"

"Human"

Smaller skeleton imitated the biggest skeleton

"Shush, let our guest speak"

The biggest skeleton waved its large hand and hushed the little skeletons.

"Thank you, sir Skeleton"

"You can call me Chiba, however, I didn't say I forgave you for you disturbing our sleep"

"Do not push too far, sir Chiba, I do not wish to meaninglessly kill a living organism"

"Hoh, living organism you say? Do you consider us the skeletal race a living organism?"

"Yes, its all according to Dharmic teachings. We do not discriminate any organism with a soul. However, this will change if humans become threatened by such organism."

"Recently, our numbers have been rapidly increasing due to some phenomenon, and it has caused some friction among our own race. If you help us resolve this issue I might forgive you, little monk"

The monk scrunched his eyebrows, feeling dissatisfied by the commanding tone of the biggest skeleton

Why does he look so familiar...Wait isn't he the famous, skeletal monster Gashadokuro?

"I didn't think I would meet one of the famous skeletal species, Gashadokuro in such a remote place"

The monk said so while observing the large skeleton

"You….You know our race?"

"Of course, who wouldn't? Such a famous race…hmm...wait…perhaps are you a new born?"

"Yes, you are indeed correct, I've only been recently born for 50 years in human year. For a race that's nearly extinct to know this…who are you?"

"What? Race that's nearly extinct? What are you on about? With the protection of several immortals our human race should be prospering, even against those primitive creatures!"

"Do you perhaps not know about the complete destruction of earth?"

"Destruction of the Earth?"

"Hehehe, if you help us resolve our problem than maybe, I will give you the answer you seek"

"Cunning, skeleton," with a slight pause "Even then, you are right, I wish to know what happened while I was away, now tell me what I have to do to resolve your race's problem"

"The information wont be cheap hehe, but for your esteemed self I'm sure it will be piece of cake. All I ask for is " with a pause, to make it seem suspenseful "the fruit of the dead."

"The fruit of the dead you say"

Tch, what a greedy skelly. But as a shike that represents the very Zen….I should accept the quest and improve our already deteriorating relationship between the skeletal race.

"All right I accept the request….but, if you fail to follow on your promise, I have no remorse for taking your little head as a gift to some daimyo."

The monk didn't want his work to be all for nought, as he threatened Chiba. A manner unbefitting of shike, but unfortunately during his time, many unforgiving rumors of Gashadokuro spread among the island, which made for an unpleasant war between the monks and the Gashadokuro.

Causing hundreds of talented monks to their death while hundreds of already scarce Gashadokuro to die.

This war was still engraved upon the monk's head while understanding that this war was but an another misunderstanding between the two sides. He couldn't help but lament the death of his fellow sect brothers due to such foolish war.

"Human, I in my short life have never broken any promise that I have made, this is the pride of our race, don't sully our pride by questioning me of my conscience!"

Chiba roared in anger as his voice created a large sound wave enough to kill any ordinal human being. It directly hit the monk.

Monk's clothes fluttered, Even then, the monk stood erect unmoving like a stone.

"I understand, I apologizing for questioning your moral standard." The monk bowed.

"Tell me the place with the strongest death aura around here"

"Harrumph, its over there, that's where the humans bravery fought those damnable creatures, hehehe, more than a million died like a dog fighting a helpless war"

The vein popped up on top of the monk's head but with great position that he was in and the representation of his sect, monk kept quiet and walked to the direction pointed by the monk.

*Gasp*

After walking for 10 minutes or so, he reached an area with such thick death aura, it caused even the experienced veteran monk to take in a deep breath.

Looking around he saw, thousands of skulls many broken, lying around. Even with his vast experience he couldn't help but shiver at the sight. There weren't any people of skeletal race, due to the fact that most of the bones were either incomplete or completely broken.

"Should….Should I use the Dharmic time scripture in here?" While he thought so at first, remembering what happened to him before, he shook off the foolish idea.

"May, Dharma bring those died suffering for an eternal peace"

The monk cupped his hands as he prayed for their well being.

Right if I remembered correctly the fruit of the dead will usually take a year to create, but that is factoring the contributions of other disciples helping. Even so, with me so close to achieving immortality, it won't be so hard....It should take only a month or so.

With his thought organized, the monk sat on a lotus position in middle of the battlefield. The monk, started chanting, a well known mantra for creating the fruit of the dead.

?The darkness, shall lead the world into prosperity, through their death Buddha allowed for....?

As the monk chanted, a swirling black gale started forming a tornado opposing the monk. The tornado then started to carve into a round circle. Within another second, a perfect sphere could be seen right in front of the monk. The transparent spherical black gale was losing its transparency by bit by bit, as it continued to absorb the surrounding black smoke.

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