During the routine free time in the afternoon, everyone went out and Yun Xian was copying scriptures.
She originally thought that the Smiling Buddha was just talking, and at worst she could go back home that night and ask others for help. However, the Buddha said a classic line that made her despair:
"Just copy it in the hall. When you're done, you can leave!"
“…”
Now she sat in the hall, feeling hopeless, with a new face sitting next to her, seemingly intent on staring at her. This time, it wasn't an elderly man or woman, but a young girl around her own age, intact and quite lively.
The others couldn't stay. Knowing that Buddha would not kill people, it might be safer to stay in the temple. Before leaving, everyone gave her a look that said "I wish you good luck", which made Yun Xian even sadder.
She would rather grow sweet potatoes!
Yun Xian hummed and chuckled as he copied two lines before he began to feel something was wrong. His hands were sore, his arms were itchy, his legs were aching, and his muscles and bones were uncomfortable. In short, he couldn't sit still. He even tried to talk to the girl next to him: "Hello! Can I ask your name? My name is Yun Sanya."
"No," the girl said sternly, "The Buddha told me to watch you closely. A good memory is no match for a bad pen, so just write quickly."
"A bad pen is useless. I can't remember it even if I copy it. It's true, I'm not lying to you." Yun Xian said firmly, "I'm not stupid, I just focus on applying what I know instead of memorizing it by rote, which is very inefficient. But I've already told you my name, but you refuse to tell me. Isn't that too unkind?"
The girl's expression changed, but she still asked, "Why should I tell you?"
"You have to tell me before I can call you that. Otherwise, I always call you 'girl' or 'donor', which is very strange and alien." Yun Xian's hands were weak, and he kept talking: "What do you do? How many years have you known the Buddha? What other local specialties does the lotus seat have besides wind flowers? Is the master Jide a woman or a man? What is the relationship between the old lady and the grandfather? Oh, by the way, will you be angry if I take something from you, girl?"
The girl broke down and said, "Buddha-sama!! She's so noisy!!!"
The moment she turned her head, Yun Xian saw a mark on the girl's neck where a hemp rope had been used to tie her neck. The mark was bluish and black, and it almost cut her slender neck in half.
Yun Xian's heart trembled.
All the people under the control of the Smiling Buddha have some disabilities. If this is not a coincidence, then why?
This is the world constructed by her consciousness. Why can these three people have such a profound impact on her?
But don’t think about this for now, the Buddha is coming. Yun Xian quickly grabbed the pen and wrote a few more words, holding his breath and waiting for a moment.
Hey, no one is coming.
"Buddha is merciful. I won't really let you copy until the evening. But you've been sneaky and cunning in front of her, which is a violation of the precepts and must be punished." The girl said helplessly, "For the first volume, you only need to copy page 50. With a little effort, you would have finished it long ago. Do you still want to compete with me in wits and courage?"
"You talk a lot." Yun Xian sighed sincerely, without a trace of disparagement. "That old lady doesn't even like to talk to me."
"I don't want to bother with you either!" the girl muttered as she walked away. "I've already told you that Buddha is very kind to people... If you don't finish copying by tonight, something bad might happen. Hurry up."
Page 50 sounded okay. Yun Xian felt a little better and started copying. However, the words looked like ghostly scribbles. As she was copying, she heard breathing sounds behind her. Without even turning her head, she said, "Saint Lady, you are here too."
Jimo Shu stood behind her with her arms folded, sneering, "You're so brave."
"How bold the man, how fertile the land." Yun Xian turned around, his fingers and cuffs stained with ink, looking very dirty. Seeing this, Jimo Shu's eyes twitched. She suddenly understood Xue Lingxiu's mood of chasing after him all day to clean up. "That sword on you is almost crying, why don't you ask it?"
Oh, right, Taiping!
Everyone is now used to a sword being able to talk. After all, it is normal for strange things to happen around Yun Xian.
Yun Xian thought it was still playing house with the Nascent Soul man, but when he sank into the Spirit Palace, he saw the little blue man in the Nascent Soul cultivating in a corner as quietly as a chicken, not daring to make a sound. He was really a coward. Taiping said weakly, "I'm scared to death."
"Aren't you the Demon Sword?" Yun Xian said, "Stand up! I was hoping you could help me when the fight breaks out."
"What the hell! Hit her on the head!" Taiping yelled shrilly, "Who isn't a demon?! Do you think she looks like a Buddha at all?!"
Yun Xian was stunned and said, "...She doesn't look like a demon to me."
Regardless, the Smiling Buddha currently looks like a kind grandmother, no, maybe in her forties or fifties, or even auntie. Judging from her appearance alone, no one would think she's a demon.
After a moment of silence, Taiping said, "What I see is different."
Yun Xian: "What does she look like in your eyes?"
"It's hard to describe. It's a mess, a blood-red monster that wriggles as it speaks, lotus flowers, long branches, a human face... two faces. One smiling, one angry, a mouth full of white fangs." Taiping said dejectedly, "I can't describe it. I can't see clearly. Even if Qi Zhiye doesn't tell me, I won't let you tell her your name. I saw it. As soon as you say the name, the branches will pierce her ears."
Yun Xian: “…”
Although Taiping has been suppressed for so long, it is knowledgeable after all. Is this what the Smiling Buddha looks like in its eyes?
Chaos, too much chaos. If she was really Akihito-senpai, no one knew why she had become like this.
Jimo Shu said again: "Let me see your sword."
Taiping snorted coldly: "Who are you? I am the treasure of Jiange, the leader of the heavenly rank. How dare you, a mere saint of the demon sect, shout in front of me..."
Yun Xian: “Yes.”
"?" Taiping screamed, "Damn Yunxian!!! How dare you!!!"
Jimo Shu looked at Taiping, who rolled his eyes at her in defiance. She said coldly, "Shut up! If you scream again, I'll throw you into the compost pile."
Taiping: “.”
The fertilizer piles in the lotus seat are all taken from the people without any processing, and are very close to nature.
"Next time you see the Buddha, it's best not to bring this sword." Jimo Shu started to say, then swallowed the words back and said, "Forget it. It's almost the same anyway. It's the same whether you bring it or not."
Yun Xian: "What will happen?"
Jimo Shu: "She will be disarmed and you won't be able to touch her."
From afar, Buddhist chants could be heard. Jimo Shu threw Taiping back to Yun Xian and said hurriedly, "I'll be outside tonight. If I can come back, I'll see you next door. Don't sleep too deeply."
Yun Xian frowned, and then she said, "Don't worry, I have a way to save my life."
Jimo Shu finished her words and fled the hall like the wind. Yun Xian, before she could even speak, quickly tapped a few of the sword talismans Su Chi had given her and shoved them into Jimo Shu's hands. The next moment, she felt a powerful presence coming from behind her. She quickly hid Taiping and, with a steely gaze, lowered her head to write.
Inside the hall, the smiling Buddha came slowly again and said kindly, "Yun Sanya, how much have you copied?"
Yun Xian said gloomily, "A lot."
"A lot?" The Smiling Buddha took a breath when he saw the chicken claw-shaped characters on the white rice paper, which no one could recognize. He smiled and said, "So, what new feelings have you had now?"
Yun Xian: "My hands are sore."
Buddha: “?”
"But, it's right to have sore hands." Yun Xian added the second half of the sentence, "Only through repeated tempering can one maintain the Buddha's heart. If you are too comfortable, it will become an obstacle."
The Smiling Buddha looked at her for a long moment before saying with a half-smile, "San Ya, you're obviously a smart child, but you're just not serious and don't work hard enough. If you're willing to put in a little effort, you'll definitely be better at reading the sutras than anyone else, don't you think?"
It was the first time someone praised Yun Xian for being smart. Yun Xian was almost in tears and said, "But..."
"No child is inferior to another. Talent is not a problem. As long as you are willing to work hard, Buddha will accept you."
It was already late, and the Buddha was about to say something when the old woman suddenly appeared in the corner, looking timid, but she still said, "Buddha, it's time for her to rest."
The Smiling Buddha looked at her and said nothing.
The old woman had white hair and hollow eyes, but her expression could be considered pleading: "Let me take her away! It's almost dark, I'm afraid it's too late..."
"Okay." The Smiling Buddha interrupted her and said gently, "San Ya, go back with Du Niang and rest. By the way, you've been here all afternoon. Are you hungry?"
It turned out that the old lady's name was Du Niang. Yun Xian stood up and said absentmindedly, "I'm not hungry."
"No." The Smiling Buddha said directly, "You are hungry."
It turns out that the "terrible thing" that the girl was talking about was that you are obviously not hungry, but the Smiling Buddha thinks you are hungry.
Yun Xian was forced to stuff his stomach with vegetables, tofu and cucumber. He felt like his whole body was turning into some kind of green vegetable. With a green glow on his face, he followed the old lady back to the bungalow.
She was locked up for the entire afternoon, not knowing what the others were doing. On the way, the old lady walked very fast and even urged her for the first time: "Hurry up!"
It was dusk in a flash and the sky darkened very quickly. The group of children in the village were playing hopscotch again. While they were dancing, a girl fell down. She got up swiftly and saw that her knee was bleeding. She didn't cry, but was stunned.
The other kids stopped immediately: "It's bleeding! It's bleeding!!"
"Oh! How did it happen?" Someone heard the sound and was shocked. They quickly picked up the girl and said, "Does it hurt? Oh, my heart aches. Let's go into the house and apply medicine on you..."
The girl had no intention of crying and wanted to continue fighting. When the adults came out, she glanced at them and immediately burst into tears: "Wa ...
Yun Xian: “…” Sometimes children’s little thoughts are quite cute.
The girl fell to the ground, and the hydrangea rolled a long way, right next to the two people's feet. From being tossed around, the delicate hydrangea was scratched, revealing the yellowed cotton inside. A lot of tassels also fell off, and it was shaky.
The old lady's hurried pace stopped, she bent down subconsciously, picked up the hydrangea, turned it over a few times, and murmured, "I have to mend it quickly."
She felt for a needle in her sleeve, but found nothing. Then, as if remembering something, she said silently, "...Alas."
She has long ceased to be an embroiderer.
Yun Xian could see clearly from behind her and asked, "Grandma, can I have this hydrangea? My friend knows a little needlework and can help mend it. It's Feng... Fengzi."
"You can't mend it." The old lady refused without a second thought: "How can you understand the Faxi acupuncture method?"
“…”
After being hurried back to the house, the old lady closed the door and before leaving, she emphasized as usual: "Don't open the door casually after hearing the Buddha bell. No one will appear at the Lotus Seat at night."
Everyone said, "I understand."
As soon as the door closed, Yun Xian stood up and said, "Tell me what you have seen and heard today."
Qiao Lingshan sat down below and interrupted, "You tell me your story first. Are you tired of copying? Did the Buddha give you any trouble?"
"No." In fact, Yun Xian didn't finish copying it in the end, but she managed to get away with it by saying, "Every few lines I write, I get inspired and become so absorbed in it that I can't finish it." She pondered, "At least the Smiling Buddha seems easy to talk to."
Xue Lingxiu said, "You know it's just an appearance. Master Mingguang said she wouldn't kill you in person."
However, whether one person has murderous intentions towards another is not something that can be controlled subjectively. If this were possible, there would be no one left in the government.
Ji Rongxue took out a hydrangea from her arms and said, "I got this back."
"...Miss, you really don't learn good things and only learn bad things. I only robbed villagers, why did you even rob children?" No wonder she felt that the hydrangea was spoiled too quickly. It turned out that the new one was taken away, and they could only use the old one to play with. Yun Xian said miserably: "The old lady seems very familiar with this hydrangea. She said that it was embroidered with the Faxi needlework. Faxi, what style is this?"
Qi Zhiye in the corner suddenly said, "That's what I wanted to say."
He always felt that the pattern was somewhat familiar, but he could not think of where he had seen it. Only now did he finally remember it.
"Eighty years ago, there were two countries in the Western Realm, called Hongyuan and Faxi." Qi Zhiye said, "...or rather, they were originally one country, but later split into two."
Someone once exaggeratedly said that there was a Buddhist temple every ten steps in the western border, but in fact, it was during that period that temples began to flourish.
This country was originally called Galan, but whether it was due to a power struggle among the royal heirs or simply bad luck, more than a dozen princes and princesses were fighting each other fiercely. When the battle was evenly matched, the old emperor suddenly choked to death on a steamed bun.
No one expected the emperor to die like this. Even if he was going to die, it was because he was poisoned by his own prince. How could he die so quickly and suddenly without even having time to write a will? So what should be done now? Who will succeed him?
No one was willing to give up, and no one was willing to suffer any loss. After more than a year of chaotic fighting, they finally reached a conclusion.
The north and south sides were each occupied by two royal heirs, and Galan was thus divided into two different countries. A line was drawn in the middle, which was the national border. Anyone who crossed it would be treated as a foreign invader.
To consolidate their power and prevent their citizens from defecting to the other side, the two rulers went all out to brainwash their people, saying the other side disregarded human life and treated people as non-human, and how horrible and terrifying it was. They even falsified history books, fabricating stories about how the other side had wronged them and how unscrupulous they were.
In the first year, people watched and thought it was funny. Who would believe such a story? It was a complete lie, a complete fabrication!
In the tenth year, some people began to believe it, but they were few and half-believing and half-doubting, and the truth was still circulating.
In the twentieth year, the absurd lies in history books became facts, and the truth became a lie.
In the 30th year, a five or six-year-old child, not long after learning to speak, would shake his arms and shout:
"You bastard Hongyuan Faxi! You all deserve to die!"
Both of them wanted the half of the land opposite them, and both sincerely felt that it should belong to them.
The war began over a trivial matter. The border had already blurred, and two nearby families were arguing, neither willing to retreat an inch. It's impossible to verify whether it was Hongyuan's side that advanced an inch, or Faxi's side? But it doesn't matter, because over this trivial incident, the Faxi people, infuriated, took up a hoe and struck Hongyuan on the head, leaving him bleeding profusely. The next day, he died in his bed at home.
This incident caused a huge uproar, and finally, someone unknown rushed into the other country's territory and killed the first person.
From then on, the war got out of control.
There was no point in arguing who was right or wrong. This bloody war lasted for who knows how long, and countless lives were lost. Initially, Buddhism offered refuge to the refugees, but later remained neutral, refusing to intervene.
Galan is a Buddhist, and both countries are Buddhists. Logically, Buddhism should protect both sides, but in this situation, each side is so bloodthirsty that they can't even protect themselves, let alone protection?
In these turbulent times, Buddhist temples were built one after another. The longer the war raged, the more ordinary people hoped for a quick end. They prayed, burned incense, and lit candles. The Buddha statues grew taller and more luxurious, but reality became increasingly cruel and bloody.
"...In the end, the two countries merged into one, reverting to their original name, Galan." Qi Zhiye said stiffly, "I'm afraid they themselves feel ashamed of this part of their history, so they rarely write about it, and if they do write about it, they just skip it."
Yun Xian seemed to have thought of something, and raised his eyes and said, "So, Senior Mingren..."
Qi Zhiye nodded and said, "In the fourth month of the war, Senior Mingren injured thirty-three Buddhist disciples and defected."
In the silent room, everyone was silent, with only the sound of breathing echoing.
If you were still unsure before, now you can almost be sure that the Smiling Buddha is Akihito.
What happened back then to make a person become what he is now?
It was a dark and windy night. Outside the house, there were bursts of howling sounds, more rapid than in the past few days, as if someone was screaming softly. Ji Rongxue's expression changed, and he said, "The days are getting shorter."
This is not a good sign.
The six of them lay down silently, each thinking about their own things.
Yun Xian said: "I always feel that the old lady doesn't let us go out in the middle of the night because she wants to protect us."
"Yes," Qiao Lingshan said in confusion, "Strictly speaking, aren't Grandma and Grandpa both consciousnesses created by Senior Mingren himself?... These two don't have much cultivation. If they were truly from Faxi, they would have died long ago and wouldn't be spirits."
"Yeah." Yun Xian rested his head on his head and looked at the hazy full moon outside the window: "You're protecting us while trying to harm us?"
Someone was knocking on the door outside, saying, "Are you asleep? Are you asleep? Don't come out! Don't come out! There's no one outside! No one, no one..."
The voice became stranger and stranger, more and more inhuman, like the howling of a monster.
At this moment, Jimo Shu was hiding outside the hall, looking at the scene in front of her, and swallowed deeply.
My throat was dry and no matter how much I swallowed, it couldn't moisten it, and a slight smell of blood came out.
…Outside the most solemn hall during the day, in the spotless courtyard, the pristine Bodhi tree was dyed red, and beneath its canopy, the smiling Buddha blocked out the sun—
If you can still tell it's her.
If it can still be seen that it is a person.
There was no smile on Mingren's face anymore, it was as cold as ice, from her head down it was covered with trembling blood-red branches, each one connected to the heads of the people singing and dancing below. In her temples, ears, and chest, spiritual energy poured into her body like a tide, the branches stretched out, and the barrier that was on the verge of collapse was once again strengthened.
The people who were singing and dancing before were as tiny as ants, having long been dead. Their faces were pale and stiff, like puppets, surrounding the smiling Buddha and saying frantically, "The Three Realms are like a burning house!"
Jimo Shu: "The Three Realms are like a burning house..."
"The Buddha of Purgatory appears!"
"Purgatory… No!"
Jimo Shu snapped back to her senses, breaking out in a cold sweat. Looking up again, she felt as if everyone was looking at her. No matter the angle, no matter if their backs were facing them or not, every face was pale, the flesh at the corners of their lips pulled up, fixed in a smile, as they shouted frantically, "Heavenly punishment! Heavenly punishment! Heavenly punishment! Heavenly punishment!!"
One of them was wearing clothes of the same style as Liu Jian, and his neck was half broken.
Jimo Shu's pupils shrank slightly. The next moment, she saw that none of them had faces. The next, she saw her own face, densely packed, layered, with all sorts of deaths. Strangulation, drowning, stabbing... Her vision swirled like a kaleidoscope. She couldn't help but take a step forward, then woke up again. The skull of the Spiritual Distraction Stage demon cultivator in her arms was trembling wildly.
Run away! Run away!!
After just a few glances, she couldn't bear to look any further.
The moment before the Smiling Buddha noticed her, Jimo Shu gritted her teeth, crushed some talisman, and the entire demon disappeared instantly.
The next moment, the talisman followed the breath and found Yun Xian.
Yun Xian was just pretending to sleep with her eyes closed when a big, warm witch suddenly appeared between her and Ji Rongxue, almost frightening her to death. She stammered, "Holy, holy, holy, holy, what's going on outside...?"
It's so noisy, and I can't hear what's going on. If you don't know, you might think it's a limited-time half-price sale at the vegetable market.
Jimo Shu rested her head on the furry... Hmm? When did this guy get so scared again? After a long while, her breathing finally stabilized, and her first words were: "Keep an eye on that bald Qi."
Qi Zhiye was furious: "Did I provoke you again??"
"Buddha and the devil are one. I wonder what new tricks she can come up with." Jimo Shu was still terrified. "I've been a demon for twenty years, and I've never seen anything like this. This must be a Buddhist technique."
"How can absorbing flesh and blood be considered a Buddhist technique?"
"The evil cult still uses brainwashing, just kill them and be done with it!"
"Don't be so quick to argue. If you want to argue, go out... No, let's argue later." Yun Xian stopped the man and the demon from blaming each other and asked, "What exactly happened out there? Is the Smiling Buddha out there? Is it really like Taiping said?"
"Here." Jimo Shu couldn't describe her appearance. The Demon Cult obviously didn't teach literature, so their vocabulary was very limited: "Taller than a tree, with many branches, moving..."
Before she could finish her words, the door was slammed again from the outside. The manic old lady came back, and everyone lay down peacefully in an instant.
Jimo Shu lay there, always feeling that something was wrong.
Um?
Ji Rongxue hadn't spoken since just now.
She touched it silently.
While everyone was talking, the eldest lady seemed to be frightened.
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