53 Silk Road 13

"You are the first person who is completely undeceived by illusions," said Kumarajiva.

Zhu Heng was stunned. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone with his back to him, bending down to pick up a bunch of small stones. He didn't know what he was going to do.

His unconcealed gaze must have been caught by Helan Dao. Helan Dao turned sideways to look at him, a quick, emotionless glance, then turned back to his boring task.

"Not the first one..." Zhu Heng coughed lightly and was about to refute when he saw Helan Dao holding the stones and smashing them at the skeleton illusion.

Zhu Heng's words were stuck in his mouth and he didn't want to speak.

Is it childish?

Seeing this, Kumarajiva smiled knowingly and said, "It seems your companions also know this."

Helandao ignored them and continued playing his stone-throwing game.

He didn't smash anything else but the gemstone beads on the skull.

One after another, every hit hits the target.

He dropped the jewels that shone brightly in the sunlight, streaking through the air before landing in the mud. The mud was no ordinary mud; it was like boiling volcanic lava, instantly vaporizing the jewels.

He Landao narrowed his eyes and asked, "In the City of Illusions, is this the only thing that is not an illusion?"

In order to verify his guess, Helan Dao took out a small silver object from his body, raised his hand, and let the small object fly into the mud.

Zhu Heng glanced sideways and discovered that it was a silver mechanical butterfly.

"These are toys I used to play with as a kid, but I don't play with them anymore." He Landao saw Zhu Heng's expression and explained, then changed the subject. "The stones and jewelry are from the city. I'm worried, so I'm trying again with my own things."

As he spoke, he kept an eye on Zhu Heng's reaction.

Zhu Heng folded his arms across his chest, tilted his head expressionlessly, and gestured to Helan, "Continue."

While they were talking, the mechanical butterfly flew above the mud puddle, dived into it, and with two "sizzling" sounds, turned into mist and disappeared.

This quagmire can swallow up things created by illusions, and it can also swallow up things in reality.

It is indeed not an illusion.

Helan Dao immediately rubbed his fingertips together and put it to his nose to smell the smell: "It stinks."

Zhu Heng glanced at him and asked, "What stinks?"

"The silt."

"How do you know?"

"My mechanical butterfly, its five senses are the same as mine."

"Interesting." Zhu Heng said, "But now you are gone."

"It doesn't matter. These are replicas and can be recreated at any time."

"replica?"

"They are all clones of the first one I raised." He Landao nodded, "That one was alive."

"What happened next?"

"Then he disappeared." Helan Dao seemed not to want to continue this topic, and walked straight towards the stinking mud pit.

Zhu Heng tactfully stopped asking questions and followed Helan Dao's footsteps, going over with him.

He was curious about how to get through this level. Was he going down into this stinking quagmire? Zhu Heng frowned in disdain.

When Kumarajiva saw the two men fearlessly approaching the stinking mud pit, his face changed and he took two quick steps to stop them.

Zhu Heng did not stop walking, turned his head to look at him, and asked Kumarajiva as if chatting with him: "Master, why did you break the precepts?"

Kumarajiva was stunned by the question, and his expression gradually froze.

-

Archaeological team data monitoring hall.

"It's bad." Wang Kunshu rarely showed an expression more solemn than Xu Wenjun's. She leaned her arms on the table, her eyes fixed on the screen. "He shouldn't have asked this question. It's one thing for Kumarajiva to ask it himself, but it's another for him to ask it as an outsider. That's what's bothering Kumarajiva."

Xu Wenjun finally put his attention back on the main task. After hearing what Wang Kunshu said, he suddenly remembered that she was from the Wei and Jin group and knew more about historical events related to the Wei and Jin dynasties than any of them.

So Xu Wenjun said to her, "Tell me all the details."

"It's a bit troublesome to explain." Wang Kunshu rubbed his eyebrows and sorted out his thoughts in his mind.

"Kumārajīva was born into an aristocratic family in the Western Region Kingdom of Kucha. Later, Kucha was conquered by a Central Plains general named Lü Guang, who established a new regime in Liang Province and took Kumarājīva captive to Liang Province for seventeen years. It was not until 401 AD that Liang Province was conquered by a monarch named Yao Xing, who welcomed Kumarājīva to Chang'an, allowing him to begin his career of translating Buddhist scriptures and preaching."

"What about breaking the rules?"

"Historical records say that the first time he was forced by Lü Guang to marry the princess of Kucha."

Xu Wenjun nodded: "That must be very painful."

"According to him, this is karma. If it was the real Kumarajiva from history, it would be fine, but the one they encountered is just an NPC simulated by the system. It's hard to guarantee that he won't lose control due to Zhu Heng's problem."

"I understand your concerns." Xu Wenjun said as he wrote down the key points mentioned by Wang Kunshu, and then transferred all these records into the system.

"What are you doing?" Wang Kunshu asked.

"Record these and send them to Helan Dao for reference."

Wang Kunshu leaned back. "Wait, is this... cheating? The system actually allows you to do this?"

Xu Wenjun paused and looked at her. "Why not? Everything is within the rules. As long as history is not changed, the system won't object."

"How can the system destroy fairness?! That's the system, that's the system." Wang Kunshu said it twice, still a little bit unbelievable.

"It's not unfair. If I can do this, you can do it, all of us can do it."

The noise between them attracted the attention of people around them. Xu Wenjun glanced around and felt a little impatient, so she leaned forward, grabbed Wang Kunshu and led him towards her.

She leaned close to Wang Kunshu's ear and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "The system has always been on our side."

Wang Kunshu's eyes flickered. Even a slow-witted person would have understood what was happening.

She lowered her voice and asked Xu Wenjun, "You mean, the system is not our enemy, or even the 'Judge', but... an ally?"

Xu Wenjun chuckled and gave Wang Kunshu an approving look: "That's right, humanity's true enemy exists outside the system."

"Who is that? Aliens? Or intelligent machines?"

Xu Wenjun let go of her and straightened her collar: "Why can't it be us?"

-

When Helan Dao received the information about Kumarajiva from Xu Wenjun through the system, the monk, who was in his fifties, was on the verge of exploding.

As he browsed the contents of the document, the stinking quagmire behind him began to boil and stir, and the stench filled the sky.

Helan Dao was looking at the information when he asked Zhu Heng casually, "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing much, just some questions about breaking the rules."

He Landao hummed calmly and said, "Did you deliberately provoke him?"

Zhu Heng was a little surprised.

This person actually guessed his plan at a glance.

He nodded: "The so-called city of illusion is nothing more than everyone's inner demons and karma. I am just helping him out."

Helan Dao quickly scanned the data, shut down the system, and continued walking towards the stinking mire. "You're right. The illusions in this city are varied, corresponding to everyone's inner demons, some large, some small, and all different. The greatest inner demon is the skeleton in front of us, the inner demon of Kumarajiva.

"According to historical records, Kumarajiva left Liangzhou in 401 and came to Chang'an to translate Buddhist scriptures. Our current timeline is exactly 401, but Kumarajiva is still trapped in Liangzhou. If these illusions cannot be quickly dispelled, I am afraid that this layer of the world will deviate from the true history."

Having said that, Helan Dao turned his head and looked at Kumarajiva. The thin monk finally revealed the same painful expression as the other monks, as if he was placed on boiling oil and enduring inhuman torture.

He Landao glanced at Zhu Heng: "You do this, is there any way to crack it?"

Zhu Heng looked down at the stinking mire and expressed his guess: "Perhaps...fighting poison with poison."

"Break the rules again?" Helan Dao blurted out.

After hearing this, Kumarajiva, who was already in pain, turned even paler.

Zhu Heng: “…”

This is not a good joke. Although in history Kumarajiva did break his vows again after arriving in Chang'an, that was a later event and has nothing to do with the present.

He Landao's expression turned serious. "It seems that this mud is the key to the next level. Do we have anything on us?"

"You want to talk about the token?" Zhu Heng said, "If you trust my intuition, then you may have to accept some bad news, which is - there is no token."

Zhu Heng's intuition told him that there was no token this time.

Helan Dao raised his eyebrows: "Okay, then we can only jump into the mud with empty hands." Yan Shan paused

Just as Kumarajiva regained consciousness, he heard two people discussing jumping into the mud. He was startled and immediately stumbled over to the two people, trying to stop them: "No, no."

Affected by his mood, the silt bubbled up and down, making a muffled hissing sound like boiling water in a pot.

"Thank you, Master, but we have to jump." Helan Dao used the blue silk to tie his left hand to Zhu Heng's right wrist, and then asked Zhu Heng, "Will tying your hand not affect your movements?"

Reuse the tokens you used before. Although I don’t know if they will be useful, tie them up to give me peace of mind.

Zhu Heng raised his other hand: "I'm used to this side."

He Landao raised his eyebrows and muttered softly, "Left-handed?"

Zhu Heng frowned, and a thought flashed through his mind. Unexpectedly, in the moment he was distracted, Kumarajiva had already stood in front of them.

"If this pool of mud must bear the burden of human lives, then let something be the soul beneath it."

He stretched out his hands and pushed towards Zhu Heng and Helan Dao. The two forces counteracted each other, forcing Zhu Heng and the others to move away from the quagmire, and also allowing Kumarajiva's back to slam into the hot mud without any obstruction.

"Great monk!" The sudden change interrupted Zhu Heng's thoughts. Without thinking, he subconsciously went to rescue the person.

However, Kumarajiva's entire body was sunk into the mud, with only half of his face exposed, which had not yet been corroded.

"This whole life is like a lotus growing in stinking mud. Take the lotus, not the stinking mud."

As he finished his last sentence, the stinking mud blocked his seven orifices, and all traces of him left in the world disappeared under the mud.

Zhu Heng opened his mouth and asked, "Should we still go down?"

Helan Dao pulled off the silk binding them, pointed at the mud and said, "Look."

The surface of the mud pit, which had originally returned to calm, suddenly became agitated again, as if something sharp was brewing and was about to break through the mud surface.

The pointed end of the thing poked for two seconds before finally appearing above the mud—it was a lotus.

The pink petals were not stained with mud at all, and they gave off a light fragrance, dispelling the unbearable stench in the mud.

It slowly bloomed on the mud, and then the entire illusion city collapsed.

The illusion was broken.

The surrounding scene changed instantly. The originally peaceful and colorful illusion city turned into a scene with corpses everywhere and dilapidated walls. What lingered in the ears was no longer the melodious string music of the Buddhist kingdom, but the clanging sound of cold weapons, the sound of bows and arrows cutting through the sky, and the wailing of human beings.

The only thing that remained unchanged was the stench that permeated the air. However, the stench in Illusion City came from foul water and mud, while the stench here came from the decaying corpses that could be seen everywhere.

This is a hell on earth with corpses everywhere.

This is the year 401, when Liangzhou was plunged into war.

This is also the real world.

Kumarajiva, who had disappeared in the mud, reappeared in front of Zhu Heng and Helan Dao.

He stood alone on the ruins, his face pale.

The monarch named Yao Xing was currently leading his army outside the city, waiting to welcome the legendary monk to Chang'an to spread the supreme Buddhist teachings.

Kumarajiva looked at the suffering people, his eyes gradually becoming firmer: "The way of the great bodhisattva is to benefit others and forget oneself. If I can spread the Mahayana Dharma and enlighten the ignorant, even if I suffer, I will suffer without hatred."

After saying that, he strode out of the city, towards Chang'an.

Zhu Heng lowered his head and nodded to Kumarajiva.

"Let's go." Helan Dao called him, "Let's go to the sixth floor."

Zhu Heng nodded, but as he was leaving, the thought that had been interrupted by Kumarajiva suddenly popped up in his mind, very clearly, but also confusing him.

Because he clearly remembered that Helan Dao called him "left-handed".

But he obviously isn't, right?