There are many ways to accumulate rit in Buddhism, but the simplest, by far, is the act of sutra recitation — reading sacred scriptures aloud.
According to the Mahayana tradition, simply vocalizing a scripture and letting the sound fill the air is a way to spread its teaching to others. This act of sharing is said to bring imasurable rit — infinite goodness, in fact.
Sutras are also known as "beacons of wisdom" — guiding lights that lead seekers toward enlightennt. So when you read a scripture aloud, you're doing more than just reciting words. You're reaching for that solitary fla shining through the murky chaos of the mortal world, trying to find your direction in the dark.
And if you read with sincerity and true understanding? Then no rit can compare.
But even without understanding — well, is there anyone who looks at the sun and fails to recognize its brightness?
Just reading the text properly, in accordance with the teachings, is already enough to set you on the path to Nirvana.
In short: it’s the most effortless spiritual training you’ll ever find!
Muak hadn’t actually planned on teaching Qing martial arts.
He already had a disciple, and even if Qing fell short when compared to Wolbong, he didn’t scorn fate — nor did he greedily chase after brilliance.
And besides, forcing a gift onto soone who doesn’t need it is just another form of obsession.
Even so, he hoped that having her morize these luminous verses might help her suppress the celestial killing aura that lingered within her — even if just a little.
So from Muak’s mouth ca a string of utterly bizarre syllables. The breathy way he spoke them made it hard to tell where one word ended and another began — slight differences in pronunciation changed the entire aning. The language was ancient, impossible to grasp at first listen.
It was Sanskrit — the original language of Buddhism, spoken in the land where it was born.
What Muak didn’t know was that Qing happened to be carrying around a built-in universal translator.
The mont she heard the full mnemonic, her Martial Arts Interface °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° sparkled. She checked and — voilà! — a new technique had been automatically saved in “pending registration.”
And not just any technique — it had a purple border.
Illuminated Vajra Lion’s Heart Technique?
Hmm. Purple usually ans it’s good, right?
“That’s the full cycle,” Muak said, smiling. “A bit long, but if you silently recite it during your breathing exercises, sothing good is bound to happen. Now then, I’ll go over it again. Oum-dum—”
“Wait, Master? Are you going to keep repeating it until I morize the whole thing?”
“Of course,” he said without missing a beat. “Reciting sutras is rit in itself. This wisdom was passed directly to by a high monk of India. Just chanting it during breathing practice lets the deep spiritual essence of Buddhism take root. Like I said — you’re still young, so your brain’s soft enough to actually rember it.”
Sanskrit is, by nature, long.
To be more precise, Chinese is absurdly short by comparison. That’s because Chinese is essentially the world’s most primitive and brainless system of drawing-based morization — across past, present, future, and all three thousand realms of the universe.
It has one saving grace: brevity.
But even then, every short phrase requires a comnt, and the comnt needs a sub-comnt, and that needs its own annotation... which turns one task into three. So really, it’s twice the work.
Trying to rember all that with just raw mory?
You could listen all day — again and again and again — and still fall short.
Qing lowered her head, clenched her jaw, shut her eyes tight, and ntally pulled the pending martial art into her active register.
If she were alone, she’d let her body convulse like an idiot, eyes rolling back, mouth frothing while her brain got scrambled. But in front of a monk? Not happening. She had to stay composed — or at least make it look that way.
Since she’d been told to morize it, she figured the least she could do was activate it with a direct brain download.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
“D-‘dyea, I mowized it,” she slurred.
Her tongue tripped — a side effect of her brain getting massaged like dough.
“What? You morized it after hearing it twice? Are you joking? I had to ditate for half a day and get whacked with a bamboo stick just to rember it!”
“I-I’ll recite it once. Please tell if I get anything wrong.”
Then Qing rattled off the entire mnemonic from mory — a perfect, flowing stream.
The Sanskrit words, coming from the lips of a beautiful young woman, created a sound so mysterious and otherworldly it gave you goosebumps.
And shockingly enough... she really had morized it all.
“This can’t be,” Muak muttered. “Again. Do it again.”
“Yes, so...”
“Again.”
“Again.”
“Again.”
He made her go through it ten tis in total. Only then did he finally let out a defeated sigh.
“If you’d pursued scholarly study instead of martial arts, you might’ve beco the greatest sage this world has ever seen. But alas... born in a woman’s body, Heaven’s will couldn’t reach you.”
Had Xin Surin heard that, she would’ve delivered a blanket bombing of skull-thwacking flicks.
Then again, in the uncivilized backwater that was Zhongyuan, no one recognized a woman’s learning anyway — so technically, he wasn’t wrong.
After all, the ruling philosophy of this place could be sumd up in eight words: All glory to the Son of Heaven, all bla to won.
If the nation falls, it’s because so woman ssed up — hence why figures like Daji and Yang Guifei are blad for everything, labeled as fem fatales.
“Yes. You’ve morized it,” Muak said at last. “If you recite it ten tis in the morning, quietly repeat it during breathing practice, and then recite it again ten tis before bed, I guarantee good fortune will co your way. Especially for soone like you, who bears the baleful starlight of the Celestial Killing Star — this training will be priceless.”
“Understood. Wait — wait, you knew?”
Qing flinched in shock.
He really just dropped that out of nowhere.
Muak snorted.
“Anyone worth their salt can tell at a glance. It’ll help you suppress that killing aura, so take this seriously — morning, noon, and night. Got it?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“As you should be.”
“...Huh?”
That’s usually where “Please accept my thanks” cos in, right?
Muak burst into a loud laugh.
“Gratitude is the heart moved by kindness. When you offered to return the divine technique so freely, don’t you think I felt grateful too? We’ve exchanged virtue — this is no small matter. In fact, our mutual gratitude multiplies that virtue. That’s what we call dependent origination.”
Qing stared at him blankly.
What the hell is he talking about? Is he telling to fake gratitude or sothing?
Muak laughed again and rose to his feet.
“Now then. When the secret scroll’s complete, bring it to Wuming Temple. Don’t make an old monk co chase you down. You’re young — you should get out and move around.”
****
That night, Cheon Yuhak held out a pair of shoes.
“Here. Shoes for your training. You’ll be wearing these from now on.”
“Uh... what are these shoes?”
“They’re called Silent Steps.”
Whether you could even call them shoes was questionable.
The soles only covered the balls of the feet. The back part was just a drooping trail of silk that wrapped around the heel.
The arch and heel were completely exposed — if you stood upright, your bare feet would touch the ground.
“So I have to walk on the balls of my feet the whole ti?”
“Exactly.”
“If I don’t lift my heel, this silk flap is going to drag and get all dirty.”
“Then lift your heel.”
“And what’s with these bells? I’m not a kid — am I supposed to jingle around like I’m announcing my presence?”
Qing gave the Silent Steps a little shake.
Fortunately, the bells were heavy, so they didn’t make an obnoxious jingle. Just a soft clinking, like soone shaking a coin pouch.
“When you step, use only your forefoot. Oh, and the soles are double-layered — if you step too hard, they’ll make a knocking sound, like wood clapping. So make sure neither the sole nor the bell makes a sound. Walk gently. Move each step with fluidity and care.”
Once you got used to it, you could walk in total silence.
That was Cheon Yuhak’s secret — why his footsteps made no sound at all.
“Can’t I just... I don’t know, walk like a normal person?”
“Think of it this way. Just wearing those, focusing on making no noise, is training. You’re basically getting free cultivation.”
“Huh?”
Qing blinked.
...Now that he said it like that — huh. That does make sense, doesn’t it?
“That’s just the first stage. Once you’re used to it, you’ll need to switch to a pair with louder soles and lighter bells. If you can move in complete silence even in stage three, you’ll be able to walk over fallen leaves without making a single sound.”
“Ooh.”
And just like that, Qing was sold.
And the result?
“Damn it...”
There’s no such thing as free training in this world.
Training is supposed to be hard. So when soone says you’re ‘training just by walking,’ what they really an is that walking itself is a form of torture.
The forefoot of the Silent Steps was like one of those weird shoes used for tap dancing back in Qing’s hotown — they made a sharp, snappy click! with the slightest step.
The soft clinking sound, like silver coins jingling, ca from bells hidden inside the silk trailing down over the heel.
So with every step, it was:
Click. Clink.
And again:
Click. Clink.
And since the heels had no sole, Qing had to tiptoe constantly. To keep the silk from dragging on the ground, she had to lift her heels way higher than expected — practically marching on her toes like a ballerina on a mission.
Still, Cheon Yuhak’s words were... oddly encouraging.
“Damn. Even a grub knows how to roll, and you’re already smooth from the start. You’ll be onto the next level in no ti.”
Qing’s body was anything but ordinary — walking on tiptoe didn’t hurt or tire her out. It was just annoying.
She walked just fine.
Until — whack!
A surprise nuclear strike hit her from behind, and Qing dropped like a stone, rubbing her head furiously like so caveman trying to start a fire. At this rate, she might’ve actually sparked a fla.
“OW!”
“You little brat! What kind of shaless hussy goes around shaking her ass like that? It’s already the size of a rice bowl — where the hell did you pick up that kind of disgraceful habit?!”
Lifting the heel naturally tilted the hips back, causing her butt to stick out. To keep her balance, her hips swung side to side like a pendulum.
And the result?
A walk that had nothing in common with Xin Surin’s ladylike “elegant beauty stride” and everything in common with a sultry temptress bewitching n with every step.
“It’s not like that! It’s just—AAAGH!!”
THWACK!!
Qing tried to explain, even lifted one shoe to show her defense, but that only triggered the second blast of divine retribution. She couldn’t take it — she rolled across the floor in defeat.
Because, of course, one hit is never enough to get the point across. The second strike is mandatory.
“You shaless girl! Walking around barefoot in broad daylight? Cover them this instant!”
“Oww, Master, seriously, I think my skull’s split in half...”
“Hmph. Maybe a cracked head will knock so sense into you. Enough whining. Get up and cover your feet.”
No sympathy to be found. Qing quickly slipped her shoes back on.
She explained the situation, but Xin Surin still clicked her tongue sharply, clearly displeased.
“Well... I suppose since it’s training, there’s no helping it. Embarrassing as it sounds, it’s apparently an effective thod. Still, you’d better master it quickly and stop walking like that.”
“Yes, Master...”
Qing shrank like a wilted leaf.
But since she had her master here anyway, there was sothing she wanted to ask—
“Oh. Master? Do you know anything about a technique called the Illuminated Vajra Lion’s Heart Technique?”
“Hm? Vajra Lion’s Heart, you an? Isn’t that one of those divine techniques from the Tibetan monks? I’ve heard it ca from the Great Thunder Temple in India. Wait, did you pick up another technique sowhere? This ti you’ve really brought back a treasure.”
Xin Surin didn’t even pretend to be surprised anymore.
“No, it’s not like that. Master Muak taught it to .”
“That bald monk? That can’t be right. His disciple’s already practicing the Waterlike Thought Sutra, so he wouldn’t hand over another technique lightly — not unless he was ignorant of your peculiar constitution.”
“Well, I told him I’d return the Tathagata’s Palm, and then he recited a mnemonic for . It didn’t seem like he ant to teach the actual technique — just told to morize the verse.”
“Tch. If he ant to teach you, he should’ve done it properly. Then again... if that scripture alone helps suppress the Celestial Killing Aura... Wait a minute. That monk — he saw your aura? Did you show him your pulse?”
“He just... looked at and knew.”
That gave Xin Surin a mont of perspective.
In truth, as one’s cultivation deepens, each step forward becos like teetering on the edge of a cliff at the end of the world.
The few steps Muak had taken ahead of her might not seem like much...
But in terms of height — the difference was staggering.
“...Haaah. Your Master has been far too negligent.”
Now, as for the Illuminated Vajra Lion’s Heart Technique — it’s a practice that uses the wisdom of the lion and the elephant to protect both body and spirit.
Here, “Lion’s Heart” doesn’t refer to emotions, but to the actual heart organ. It’s a rare form of internal martial arts that bridges the physical and the spiritual — sothing only found in supre techniques.
In most martial arts, a Heart Seal cultivates internal energy, while a Body Seal strengthens the external form. But only in transcendent-level techniques are the two fused into one.
So what is the wisdom of the lion and the elephant?
It’s about pushing forward in the face of hardship — forging ahead even when trapped or cornered. Protecting your heart with unwavering will.
Still, let’s be honest. That’s all secondary.
The real appeal?
Power. Raw power.
The lion and the elephant are icons of overwhelming strength.
Those who master this art are said to gain the spiritual force of both beasts. At full mastery, one could wield the might of ten lions and ten elephants.
Granted, martial arts mnemonics are always full of poetic exaggeration — but they still get the point across.
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