When Shi Chan arrived outside the cave, he saw that Liuli looked as if she wanted to fly away, so he quickly called out, "Miss, are you leaving?"
Liuli didn't want to answer him at first, but her body stopped involuntarily. After a moment of silence, she replied calmly, "Yes."
Shi Chan opened his mouth as if to speak, but then stopped. He wanted to keep her here, but couldn't find a reason to do so.
Liuli waited for a while but he didn't speak. She frowned and was about to leave, but just then, her gaze turned and she suddenly saw a stone house built on an open space in the distance.
She paused for a long while, and then, as if possessed, she turned around and slowly walked towards the stone house.
The stone house is small, only a few feet long and wide. It is built of polished and smooth boulders. The stone surfaces show mottled marks caused by long-term wind erosion, indicating that the stone house has been built for some years.
Liuli arrived at a wooden door of the stone house. The door was ajar, and a faint golden light shone from it. Perhaps it was because of that golden light that the wooden door had not been eroded by the wind over the long years, or blown away by the gale like yesterday.
Shi Chan looked at the stone house with curiosity, and his doubts grew as he sensed the strong Buddhist power emanating from it. Seeing Liuli walk past, he followed her. As he walked, he casually draped his monk's robe over his shoulders, and a pleasant fragrance instantly filled his nostrils—it was her scent.
Shi Chan paused for a moment, but did not take off his monk's robe, and slowly walked towards the stone house.
Liuli had a vague, unsettling premonition, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. This feeling made her extremely uncomfortable. She instinctively wanted to leave and escape from the stone house shrouded in dense Buddhist light, but her steps were incredibly heavy and wouldn't obey her commands at all.
Her hand trembled as she reached for the wooden door, pausing for a long time about an inch away before pushing it open and entering the stone house.
Upon entering the stone house, the first thing that catches the eye is a stone bed, and there is no other furniture in the room. Sitting cross-legged on the stone bed is a gray-robed monk. The monk looks old, with white eyebrows and beard, and his face is full of wrinkles. Only the gentle smile on his lips is the same as Liuli remembers.
Upon seeing the old monk, Liuli suddenly burst into tears.
His face looked very vibrant, but he had no life in him. Perhaps it was because the rich Buddhist light enveloped his body that his physical body had not decayed over the long years. Even the expression on his face was not stiff at all; his eyes were half-closed and his lips were smiling.
Shi Chanwan Liuli stepped into the stone house. He looked at the old monk on the stone bed with a puzzled expression, frowning as he muttered to himself, "Is this... a golden statue?"
He looked at the Buddhist power filling the stone house and said with increasing doubt, "This Buddhist light seems to be... the light of guidance? If this patriarch has already attained enlightenment and survived the tribulation of the heavenly demons, why would he leave behind this golden body instead of ascending to heaven? And why would he leave behind the light of guidance to protect the golden body from decay?"
The scene inside this stone house is indeed full of suspicious points.
Shi Chan frowned, utterly unable to understand these things. He walked to Liu Li's side and stood beside her. Turning his head, he saw that she was in tears. Shi Chan was startled and asked, "Miss, what's wrong?"
Liuli ignored Shichan; in her eyes, there was only the old monk's smiling face.
Even though he had been reborn and had aged, she recognized him at a glance as the monk Jiawu.
Liuli didn't know why she was crying, but she just couldn't control her tears. She didn't know why she was so sad and wanted to kneel down in front of him and tell him everything she was carrying in her heart, to tell him that she was living a very tiring and difficult life.
She didn't know why, but when she saw him, it was as if she had seen the only remaining family member in the world. She was filled with grievances and wanted to tell him, but for a moment she didn't know where to begin.
Her feet moved uncontrollably toward the stone bed, where she knelt down and buried her face in the old monk's lap, sobbing uncontrollably.
Full of doubt, Shi Chan approached Liu Li and asked in a low voice, "Miss, what's wrong? Can you tell me?"
Liuli seemed not to hear what Shichan was saying at all. She cried for a long time, and through her blurry, tearful eyes, she suddenly saw an envelope on the lap of the monk Jiawu. She paused for a moment, then sat up straight and picked up the envelope.
The envelope was blank. Liuli opened it and took out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, she saw lines of small, elegant handwriting that read:
"When this humble monk attained enlightenment, he witnessed a calamity befalling Buddhism. Only then did he realize that this calamity was caused by this humble monk. This humble monk feels ashamed before his Buddhist disciples, but he does not regret saving your life out of momentary pity, fox."
"I have prayed to Buddha and all Buddhas, and finally I can leave you this few words, just to ask for a little peace of mind."
“Fox, hatred is the root of all suffering in all beings, a sea of suffering in the heart. Know that the sea of suffering is boundless, but turning back is the shore.”
"Holding hatred in one's heart is bitter, forgetting hatred is difficult, bitterness is difficult, difficulty is bitter, but the greatest bitterness is the suffering of one's own heart. All things in the world are inherently empty, all things are understood through the mind, not understanding is bitter, understanding is difficult, but the greatest difficulty is letting go."
"However, only by letting go can one find liberation."
"Fox, forget your hatred, give yourself and Buddhism a release."
Liuli quickly finished reading the lines. A surge of anger welled up in her tearful eyes, an anger that made her seem betrayed by the person she trusted most. She looked up at Jiawu's smiling face, then suddenly threw the letter at him, shouting, "Even you, even you… you're only devoted to Buddhism! You advise me to abandon my hatred, but how do you know my entire clan was slaughtered innocently?! Buddhism wiped out my clan first, and now you're trying to persuade me to give up my hatred? Isn't that incredibly unfair?!"
"You want to use the favor of saving me to make me give up my revenge against Buddhism? Let me tell you, absolutely not!"
After speaking with a hateful voice, Liuli stood up with a cold expression and turned to walk out of the stone house. There were still tear stains on her face, but her brows were icy and her eyes were full of anger.
Soon, she reached the wooden door, but suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Shi Chan was still standing beside the stone bed, looking at Liu Li's angry back with a puzzled expression. When he saw her stop, he called out, "Miss?"
Liuli didn't turn around, her voice still full of anger, and said, "Hatred is the only reason I live. I will never forget hatred, never!"
It's unclear whether these words were meant for Shi Chan or Jia Wu. After speaking, Liu Li didn't linger. She opened the wooden house, walked out, and flew away in the blink of an eye.
Shi Chan wanted to chase after her, but he was also very curious about the contents of the note. He hesitated for a moment, then went over and picked up the note. But before he could even look at the words on the note, the note in his hand suddenly scattered and turned into specks of golden light. Then, the entire stone house, including the golden body of the monk Jiawu on the stone bed, all turned into specks of golden light and scattered around Shi Chan like fireflies.
Shi Chan turned his head to look at the specks of golden light around him, then looked through the golden light at a black beam of light in the sky that was gradually moving away, his gaze filled with a sense of loss.
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