fantasy novels Chapter 51 Little Western Paradise
Chapter 51 Little Western Paradise
"Option 1, Black Myth: Journey to the West (based on the truth of Chapter 65 of Journey to the West), ID: CN-1-65, exclusive job change dungeon."
"The thunderous sound of worship by all beings is a stage carefully constructed by those from the future. The eternal Arhats in the Forest of Merit, the frozen cries in the grotto, and the undigested dragon remains in the human race bag all point to the same terrifying truth."
"Option 2, Black Myth: Subduing Demons (based on the truth of the folk legend of Zhong Kui marrying off his sister), ID: CN-29."
"My sister's bridal sedan chair never made it to the mortal world; the deafening gongs and drums were meant to cover up another kind of chewing sound. When you see that painting of the Three Friends of Winter, never answer the questions of the people in the painting, unless you want to stay in that cold, silent, prosperous age."
There are only two dungeons this time, and either one will increase Buddhism's favorability. The first one is even a job change dungeon.
Chen Fu entered the instance to maximize his strength, as only in this way could he deal with the Ghost Bride, so naturally he had to choose the better option.
He immediately chose the first instance and then began to think about what kind of plot he would encounter next.
Chapter 65 of Journey to the West is about the Little Thunder Temple, where Yellow Eyebrows is the biggest boss. Defeating him should allow you to clear the chapter.
I wonder what kind of truth will be uncovered this time.
"You have selected your exclusive job advancement instance."
"You have lost the guidance of the gods."
"Replica generation in progress... Please wait until generation complete."
"Copy: Black Myth: Journey to the West (based on the truth of Chapter 65 of Journey to the West), ID: CN-1-65."
Background: This place is called Xiaoleiyin Temple. A monk is stationed here on the orders of his master. On the surface, he wants to build a new Buddhist kingdom, but his true purpose is shrouded in mystery.
Mission: To uncover the cruelest truth!
"Completion Reward: Successful Job Change"
"Failure penalty: Level reduced, experience points reset to zero."
Huh, this time it wasn't death... Chen Fu was somewhat surprised, and his psychological pressure was greatly reduced.
"You open your eyes and find yourself at the foot of a majestic mountain. Ahead of you is a winding mountain path, as twisted as a spasmodic duck intestine. In the distance, a dense forest blocks your way."
"You walk along the mountain path, climb up the irregular steps, and arrive at the edge of the forest. Only then do you realize that this is not a forest at all, but hundreds of golden Arhats."
"They were densely rooted in the scorched earth, in the most standard meditation or standing postures. Incense and gold lacquer covered every inch of their skin, which shimmered with an oily sheen, making the whole place a suffocating forest."
"You are a chosen one, and you are very lucky. Thanks to the letter of recommendation from the Buddha of the Western Paradise, the golden-bodied Arhats regard you as a fellow disciple and have not harbored any ill intentions. Otherwise, if you looked at them, something bad would have happened."
Chen Fu looked at the text and wondered, "Just how tall is this golden Arhat? He's practically a tree! Luckily, I don't have megalophobia, or I'd be scared to death!" He was relieved that the letter of recommendation had come in handy; otherwise, he might have been attacked right from the start. This time, the advantage was on his side.
"You raise your head and carefully observe the golden Arhats. You find that the expressions of each golden statue are as if they were imprinted, maintaining a high degree of uniformity. The air is filled with a strong fragrance of merit. In this sweet and rich fragrance, you detect a very faint fishy smell. It seems to be covering something up."
"Do you wish to explore and uncover the secrets hidden within the Golden Arhat Forest, or will you remain oblivious, cautiously traversing this area to proceed to the next destination?"
This time, only two options were given, which is different from when we were in the Wedding City.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Fu decided to investigate the secret.
The mission is to investigate the truth, and no suspicious detail can be overlooked. Otherwise, it would be bad if the mission failed due to a mistake.
"You walk slowly among the golden statues, your gaze sweeping over the flawless gold-painted surfaces, finally settling on a slightly 'small' golden statue at the edge."
"This golden statue is no different from the others, but there is an unnatural crack on its shoulder. A palm-sized piece of gold paint has peeled off along with the skin underneath, revealing what is underneath."
"You climb onto the golden statue's shoulders and observe it with the naked eye. You will find that inside the golden statue are veins like tree roots. These veins extend downwards, and you don't know where they go."
"Chosen One, what do you plan to do? Will you dissect the seven golden statues before you, or take a look and move on, or perhaps look for other similar ones?"
Chen Fu chose the first option.
This definitely needs to be dissected; gaining skills is secondary, the main purpose is to obtain clues.
"You took out the seven dissected bodies and deftly cut open the skin of this golden statue with scissors, wanting to see it more clearly."
"The scissors of severing evil, on the coroner's table, cut through the knots of the dead, separating the filth from the pure with a single snip. The blade has been dipped in the ashes of a hundred coffins, able to cleanly and swiftly sever entanglements that should not exist."
"As you were dissecting, the surrounding environment was also changing. All the pupils of the golden statues simultaneously and stiffly rotated, focusing on your body."
"They seemed to want to stop you, but they just watched silently, and no one made the first move."
"Chosen One, do you wish to continue your obstinate dissection, or will you decisively abandon it to avoid facing an insurmountable danger?"
Do you think a few glances will make me run away? Impossible, absolutely impossible. Forget about being watched, even if you came back to life and appeared in front of me in person, I would not give up.
Chen Fu huddled under the covers, holding his phone and clicking on "Going His Own Way".
As the saying goes, even if there are ghosts, as long as they hide under the covers, there's nothing you can do about them.
I have the strongest protection, so I'm not afraid at all.
"You discovered that the veins hidden beneath the golden surface are actually roots. The very bottom connects to the black earth, continuously supplying it with energy."
"Your mind flashes through fragmented images of the golden Arhats being planted as trees."
"A dark shadow lured them here, seemingly to accumulate merit, but in reality, it was to have their life force drained by a core. Once they were completely exhausted, they would be wrapped in gold paint, becoming a false symbol of perfect merit."
"Merit is not the result, but rather the blade that steals from my time, cutting an inch each day, taking away a full twelve years each year. The day my golden body is completed will be the day I die."
Were these golden Arhats actually tricked into coming here?
Chen Fu was somewhat surprised by the information he received.
What kind of deception is this? It uses the guise of merit to drain people of their life force. Hmm, this seems rather evil.
Who does that dark figure represent? Yellow Eyebrows, or someone else?
Chen Fu couldn't see it yet, but after the autopsy, he already knew that Gongdelin was very problematic.
"Chosen One, your stubborn actions have indeed allowed you to obtain some information here, but they have also attracted the attention of a certain being."
"The letter of introduction from the Buddha of the Western Paradise has worked again; that being has taken a liking to you. Do you want to go into the Little Thunderclap Temple to talk to him, or bypass the temple and go to the back mountain to check the situation first?"
You're not trying to trick me into becoming a golden Arhat, are you?
Chen Fu wouldn't fall for it.
It's best not to go into Xiaoleiyin Temple for now, lest you be fooled into becoming a tree. Let's go check out the back mountain first.
"Chosen One, your choice has caused you to miss a rare opportunity, but who knows if it will turn out to be a disaster?"
"You left Gongdelin and walked along a rugged path deliberately covered with fallen leaves and pebbles, heading deep into the back mountain of Xiaoleiyin Temple."
"The deeper you go, the thinner the sweet, cloying fragrance of incense becomes, replaced by a cool, crisp air. Life is rapidly fading away, and even the mountain breeze feels sluggish and weak."
"At the end of the path is an inconspicuous natural cave. The entrance is covered by a rough wooden plaque inscribed with 'Silent Zen Gate, all dharmas are empty.'"
"You push aside the wooden sign, bend down to enter, and suddenly feel a wave of physiological dizziness; your energy has been depleted by an hour."
In reality, Chen Fu quickly took out the Spiritual Essence Cicada and touched it. He immediately felt his head cool and his spirits refreshed.
He wondered if he had made the wrong choice, as he had already been affected as soon as he entered the room, and whether there were even bigger pitfalls waiting for him later.
According to the analysis, there shouldn't be any problem. Could it be that what's inside the grotto is even more terrifying than what's inside the Little Thunder Temple?
Chen Fu suppressed his thoughts and waited quietly for the game text to update.
"The interior of the grotto was extremely simple: a bare stone bed, a stone table with tiny scratches on its surface, a chipped ceramic brush washer, and a cracked penholder."
"There are no Buddha statues, no prayer flags, no luxurious decorations for spiritual practice here, only traces of asceticism that are almost self-torture."
"You discover that among the stone table covered with tiny scratches, there are repeated distorted characters, and in an inconspicuous place on the corner of the table, there is an extremely fine but deeply engraved mark."
It reads: "The future is predetermined, the past is meaningless, now..."
"Upon reaching this point, you suddenly hear a sound. Listening closely, you discover that the noise is coming from the stone bed."
"On the stone bed, a monk's skeleton remained in a lotus position. His body was a deep brown, almost black, color of ancient wood. His skin clung tightly to his bones, and every rib was clearly visible. His head was bowed, and his hands were placed in mudra in front of his abdomen, his posture serene."
"You've confirmed the sound came from the monk's remains, but how could a corpse do that? What do you plan to do next? Dissect the remains to find the source of the sound, or continue examining the stone table to see the writing behind the carvings?"
Seeing this, Chen Fu calmed down and began to think.
He felt that both the monk's remains and the carvings on the stone table pointed to a huge conspiracy. And this was inextricably linked to the golden Arhat statues in Gongdelin.
Perhaps both are the result of this conspiracy that has led to their current state.
In that case, both dissecting the monk's remains and observing the stone table can yield certain clues.
Chen Fu preferred to dissect the monk's remains so that he could continue to acquire skills.
Without hesitation, Chen Fu confirmed the option.
"When you approach and examine the monk's remains, you will find a stark contrast between the degree of decay and the apparent age. The skeletal structure and dental features indicate that he died in his prime, but the dryness and aging of his skin and soft tissues are comparable to those of a hundred-year-old mummy."
"You brush aside the sparse white hair on the top of the monk's head and see a mandala pattern formed by forty-nine tiny, charred holes. There are also concentric circles of healing marks around the edge of the pattern."
"The sound you just heard was the rustling of the breeze as it passed through this mandala pattern."
Before entering the instance, Chen Fu read a lot of forensic books. When he saw the words "healing scar", he immediately judged that this was not a one-time injury, but a wound caused by repeated punctures in the same location with the same tool or method over a long period of time.
This suggests that the monk's remains mentioned in the game text were subjected to some kind of extraction or infusion during his lifetime.
So what exactly is it?
Chen Fu was a little confused, so he continued reading the game text.
"Besides the anomaly on the top of the monk's head, you also found an unfinished palm-leaf manuscript under his right leg."
"The first half of the scroll is extremely neat, with the Diamond Sutra copied in beautiful handwriting. But from a certain point onward, the handwriting began to tremble and tilt, the ink became uneven, and in the end, it was almost cursive, and the content was completely distorted."
"Do you wish to consult the scriptures to investigate the cause of the monk's death?"
"You begin to peruse the palm-leaf manuscript."
The Buddha said: "The past mind is unattainable, the present mind is unattainable, the future mind is unattainable—this is a lie! His path is precisely to obtain the future in the present!"
"Time is not a river, but a pond! The future of all beings is like raindrops falling into a pond, which could have become a vast ocean, but... the pond becomes shallower day by day, and the silt becomes more and more apparent."
"I am like a stone at the bottom of a pond, the first to feel the depletion, yet they call it a state of profound meditation, ha ha ha!"
"Those who come after, do not trust promises made in the future..."
Although some of the text in the game was deliberately obscured, Chen Fu felt he was getting closer and closer to the truth.
The golden Arhat statues at Gongdelin Temple and the remains of monks in the grottoes all suggest that Buddhism seems to be in trouble.
The most likely explanation is that there's internal strife.
According to the storyline of the Little Thunder Temple in Journey to the West, this person is Huang Mei.
He impersonated the Buddha, attempting to use his magic weapon to intercept the pilgrimage team and go to the Western Paradise to become a Buddha himself.
However, Chen Fu felt that something was not quite right.
The word "future" is mentioned in the palm-leaf manuscripts.
In Buddhism, the future refers to Maitreya.
Could it be that he's up to something?
Furthermore, since the monk noticed the problem, why didn't he speak out, instead of dying in the cave?
Is it because they can't talk about it, or were they murdered?
Thinking about it this way, it feels like there are more and more problems.
Chen Fu kept his guesses to himself.
We've only got two clues so far, which is still too few. We need to keep searching.
He was once again grateful that he had the letter of introduction from the Buddha of the Western Paradise, which allowed him to gain the favor of Buddhism. Otherwise, if someone else had come, they probably would not have known so much.
"That being has sensed that you have finished exploring the cave and is becoming increasingly interested in you."
"He invited you to come to Xiaoleiyin Temple again for a chat."
"This time, you cannot refuse; you have been teleported to the entrance of Little Thunderclap Temple."
"You were drawn by the chanting in the temple and unconsciously pushed open the gate, which was over ten feet high and inlaid with jewels."
"You have entered the Little Thunder Temple."
"Buddha's light shines on the nine-tiered lotus platform, golden lotuses sway in the Eight Treasures Merit Pool, and five hundred Arhats, four great Bodhisattvas, and eight classes of heavenly dragons are vividly arranged on both sides. The air is filled with the rich fragrance of sandalwood, and the phantoms of celestial maidens can be vaguely seen floating between the beams, scattering a rain of flowers."
"At the place where the Buddha's light was most intense, on the lotus platform, sat a plump monk with a round face and a charming appearance, wearing a magnificent golden Buddha robe."
He slowly opened his eyes, his voice booming like a bell.
"Since we can see the future, why not worship?"