Chapter 37: Responding
Qiandeng walked out of the Thousand Buddha Cave and it was almost dusk outside.
The crimson sunset shone into her eyes, and the whole world was dyed blood red.
She raised her eyes silently, standing under the red desert cliffs, looking at the scenery that her grandfather had seen thousands of times when she was young.
The scorching wind carried the sound of Buddhist chanting; the monks were already performing evening prayers. The chanting, accompanied by the sound of bells and chimes, echoed across the crimson earth, stirring in her ears and cleansing the long-pressed depression in her heart.
From tonight on, the nightmare that has haunted her for so long will be driven out of her life.
Bai Qiandeng, she will have a new life and start a new journey.
She slowly walked to the Buddhist temple next to her and looked at the monks inside.
The Buddhist ceremonies in Kucha are grand, with the sounds of monks chanting in the hall, accompanied by the bronze chimes and wooden fish in the hall, which is solemn and dignified.
Only an old monk was standing by the bell pavilion outside the hall, holding the bell pestle and waiting to strike it.
Qian Deng looked at the big bell and naturally thought of the death knell rung by the invisible murderer on the day when the Kucha Palace suddenly changed.
She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, knowing that there were countless unsolved mysteries before her.
Although she had a rough guess about the murderer behind the tragedy of the Kucha royal family because of the contents of the secret letter revealed by the prince, she had not yet learned the details of how the other party stole the three sacred artifacts under her nose, nor how the besieged bell-ringing murderer disappeared.
Seeing her standing beside him with a gloomy expression, the old monk put his hand next to his ear and asked, "What did you say?"
Qiandeng was slightly surprised: "Master, what's the matter?"
The old monk couldn't help but laugh when she heard him say that. "I've been ringing the bell for years, and my ears are damaged. I can't hear clearly anymore. I thought I had overlooked something the lady had said."
She shook her head, thought for a moment, and then asked, "If that's the case, then how does the master know when their chanting is almost over and when to ring the closing bell?"
After all, hundreds of people were chanting at the same time, making a lot of noise. Even someone with sensitive ears like her would find it difficult to tell which part they were chanting.
The old monk smiled and pointed to a small piece of glass hanging in the corner of the pavilion: "It all depends on this."
Seeing that it was a piece of broken light blue glass, Qiandeng was a little puzzled and looked at him with a questioning look.
"This was originally a pure vase given by believers and offered before the Buddha. Unexpectedly, the glass was thin and brittle, and one day the bronze chime on the table suddenly fell to the ground. With a loud bang, the glass was shaken and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. When we picked up the bronze chime, we suddenly realized that when it sounded, among the glass fragments that had not been cleared nearby, this piece of glass responded to the sound and jumped along with the chime, even more obedient than a trained bird. At the time, I was worried that I couldn't hear the chanting clearly, so I took it out, tied it with a thin string, and hung it here. That way, when the chanting is about to end, the person inside will strike the bronze chime..."
Before he finished speaking, as if to verify his words, a soft and long sound of a chime was heard amid the gradually fading sounds of chanting.
Then, the broken glass hanging beside the bell tower trembled and swayed without wind, reflecting the fragmented sunset glow, making her squint her eyes and look thoughtful.
The old monk smiled slightly, grabbed the bell pestle, and signaled Qiandeng to cover his ears. With a loud "clang", the long and loud bell sound echoed in the vast twilight, solemn and majestic.
Qian Deng took a few steps back, lowered his hands from covering his ears, and subconsciously murmured as the bell gradually faded away: "Moving in response to the sound, is there such a strange thing in the world..."
"This is not surprising. There are records of it in ancient times." A warm and soothing voice came from behind him. It was Cui Fufeng.
He must have been waiting outside for her, having overheard her conversation with the old monk. He was well-informed and had a strong memory, so he casually said, "Zhuangzi said in 'Xu Wugui': 'Lu Ju tuned the qin, leaving one in the hall and one in the room. The gong and jiao notes moved, and the rhythm was the same. This shows that if the tones match, the music will naturally resonate."
Qian Deng pondered for a moment and asked, "If two zithers can respond to each other, what if they are different instruments?"
He pondered for a moment and said, "Of course it's possible. There was a chime in a Luoyang temple that rang every day without anyone playing it, and it frightened the monks into falling ill. Later, when the musician Cao Shaokui heard about it, he helped him chip a few notches on the chime, and sure enough, the chime stopped ringing. When people asked him why, he explained that the chime and the temple's bronze bell were in perfect tune, so when they struck the bell, they would resonate with each other, causing the sound to echo."
"So that's how it is..." The last rays of the setting sun seemed to shine into Qiandeng's eyes. She felt that the world was transparent and bright. The mysterious fog that had been entangled her for a long time was finally dispelled by a pair of invisible hands at this moment, making her stand there for a long time, holding her breath and staring to analyze the path to the truth hidden behind the fog.
On the night of the festival, all the people inside and outside the temple sang the song praising their grandfather;
After everyone left, the three sacred vessels left on the high incense table mysteriously disappeared beside her in the sanctuary where absolutely no one entered or left.
The glazed blue lotus disappeared from the intact golden cage and reappeared on the Northern King's chest;
The large and heavy glazed Dharma wheel, which was too big to hide and even more difficult to carry, disappeared and reappeared out of thin air, smashing the skull of the Kucha prince.
The red glazed vajra that evaporated without a trace reappeared with the sound of a death knell and pierced into Bai Zhaosu's lower abdomen;
The palace bell tower was surrounded even as the death knell was ringing, but the crowd that surged up like a tide could find no trace of the bell ringer...
It turns out that what caused all these bizarre disappearances was not an optical illusion or disguised tracks, but the use of sound.
Just like the evening breeze blowing past her ears at this moment, carrying the sounds of thousands of mountains and valleys, they responded and harmonized with each other, forming an illusory, elusive, invisible world.
It cannot be seen or touched, but it exists around everyone, affecting their sorrows and joys without them realizing it, and even controlling their fate and taking away their lives.
When she came out of her thoughts, the afterglow of the setting sun had completely disappeared, and the deep purple twilight enveloped the world before her.
Cui Fufeng did not disturb her. He just borrowed a lamp from the temple, held it in his hand and waited for her quietly.
The orange firelight gave him a warm golden edge and also shone into his eyes, making a certain brilliance in him appear brighter than before.
"What has the county lady figured out?"
Qian Deng didn't say anything, only nodded slightly at him and walked forward slowly: "It's nothing, I just solved the most difficult thing in my heart. I feel a little complicated now... I don't know if it's the relief of letting go of everything, or the heaviness of having glimpsed the truth."
Cui Fufeng accompanied her all the way, and the lamp in his hand illuminated the dim road ahead for her.
Looking back at the prince who was being helped out of the Buddhist cave by Wei Fengyang and his men, he thought Qian Deng was talking about her mother, so he asked, "How is it, has the county lady gotten the truth out of him?"
"Well, the incense you gave me is indeed very effective. Fortunately, I took the awakening pill beforehand."
"After all, although we have grasped the thread of his crime, we haven't obtained any definitive evidence. I think he is so cruel and unsympathetic, so this may be the only way to force him to reveal the truth."
Qian Deng nodded silently, then whispered, "But this move is still very risky. Although his temperament has indeed changed drastically, if Xiao Fuyu hadn't planted the little red fish in him, if he wasn't so desperate, perhaps we still wouldn't be able to force him to lose control and reveal the truth."
"No. I won't take any risky moves without any assurance, especially if they involve you." Cui Fufeng said calmly, "Since I have to take this step, this outcome is inevitable."
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