Chapter 116 Xiawei Temple: This master of theirs is no ordinary person...
Yu Naixin slowly opened her eyes, and what she saw was a dark red color.
Knowing the basic tone of the butter flower monk's memories, Yu Naixin's first thought was blood, but she soon discovered that her vision had become clearer, and she could see more details.
For example, this dark red color is not a liquid, but a pure solid.
Yu Naixin recognized it as a piece of dark red fabric. It was similar in color and texture to the robes worn by the monks in "Xiawei Temple," but it was older, with obvious signs of wear, as if it had been worn for a long time and washed and dried many times.
Yu Naixin's gaze swept up and down, and the person in the dark red cloth walked further away. Only then did she see clearly that the person who had spoken earlier was an old man in an old monk's robe.
The old monk was completely wrapped in bulky, dark red cloth, but you could still tell how thin he was from his exposed face and hands.
Yu Naixin's gaze was fixed on the old monk's fingers.
The hands, covered in wrinkles and dark spots, had hardly any flesh on them; they were almost skin and bones, and where the fingers were, there was nothing there.
The old monk's ten fingers, not one missing, were all gone.
At the base of the fingers, you can see bare cylinders formed by the skin healing itself, as well as several layers of chilblains that are almost piled up, and the surrounding gruesome wounds.
Yu Naixin's gaze froze slightly.
These are hands that were frozen from making butter sculptures.
Butter sculptures are made by repeatedly kneading ghee, a fat component extracted from cow's or sheep's milk, by hand.
Because ghee has a very low melting point, it will deform at 15 degrees Celsius and melt directly at 25 degrees Celsius. Therefore, when a normal person comes into contact with ghee, the ghee will not be able to maintain its solid form due to their own body temperature.
Yu Naixin specifically asked the butter monk if her hands would burn his body.
To overcome this difficulty, the maker of butter sculptures must be in a room with a temperature below zero. He must not only immerse the butter in ice water and wash it repeatedly, but also constantly immerse his hands in ice water or hold ice cubes to lower the temperature of the parts of his body that are in contact with the butter.
The process of making butter sculptures is complex and time-consuming, often taking several months to complete. During this process, it is almost impossible for the makers to avoid frostbite.
Even more serious cases are like the old monk's hands, which were completely frostbitten and crippled.
Butter sculptures are truly "cruel art," originating from the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.
In the countries where Buddhism originated, flowers and fruits were used in worshipping gods and Buddhas. After being introduced to the Tibetan Plateau, due to geographical factors such as latitude and altitude, the plateau, which is covered by glaciers year-round, could not obtain fresh flowers and fruits, so butter sculptures were gradually used instead.
The butter sculptures that Yu Naixin had seen in the exhibition area before were all brightly colored, and through coloring and shaping, they were enough to fool people into thinking they were real.
"That's wonderful..." the old monk exclaimed, "May Buddha bless us, may Bodhisattva bless us, may tomorrow's ceremony go smoothly..."
Somewhat strangely, no matter how Yu Naixin adjusted her vision, she could never clearly see the old monk's facial features. She could only see blurry eyes, nose, and mouth on his wrinkled face, as if something had covered them with a mosaic.
Unlike her previous experience of losing all her senses in the gray fog of Xiawei Temple, Yu Naixin is now able to connect with her senses, but she is much slower to respond, almost always taking half a beat to register what she's feeling.
It's as if there's some kind of disconnect between my current body and my soul.
Yu Naixin already had a guess in her mind.
Soon after, Yu Naixin's guess came true—she possessed the body of the butter monk in the form of a soul and entered the scenes in the butter monk's memories.
All her senses depend on the butter monk himself for their existence, and their limits cannot exceed the butter monk's senses.
When the butter sculpture monk was first created, we couldn't see the old monk's features clearly, and now Yu Naixin can only see them vaguely.
Indeed, the background of this memory is that the butter sculpture monk had just been made by the old monk and placed in the warehouse as an offering.
At this moment, the butter flower monk had only a very slight awakening of spiritual power. Yu Naixin estimated that it was about the same amount contained in the cup of Bodhi leaf tea that the butter flower monk had made for her before, or even slightly less.
This amount of spiritual power could only allow the butter flower monk to develop a tiny bit of self-awareness. He was unable to engage in any slightly complex thinking, nor could he move his body. He was just a slightly special object.
In Yu Naixin's words, the headless stone ghost was far more mature than the butter flower monk at this moment.
Judging from the old monk's physique, the butter flower monk is only about the height of an adult's elbow, making him a suitable size for an offering to be placed on the altar.
Before entering, Yu Naixin consulted the priest about the folding fan, wanting to know more about the west wing of the backyard of something similar to Xiawei Temple, as well as the cave entrance on the snow mountain.
“They all belong to special memory illusions,” Priest Folding Fan replied at the time. “In ‘Heartbeat 1000%’, some of the dungeon guests from outside carry too much resentment and have extraordinary willpower, which can create such special illusions in their respective dungeons.”
"These illusions contain over 99% of the resentment of the guests in the corresponding instances, making them extremely dangerous. Even if you manage to escape alive, you won't gain much. The production team will deliberately set strict entry conditions to dissuade the guests from touching them."
After spending this time together, Priest Folding Fan had become quite familiar with Yu Naixin. The moment Yu Naixin's eyes flickered slightly, Priest Folding Fan knew that his master was very interested in the idea that "surviving and breaking through wouldn't bring much benefit."
So it continued to explain: "The scenarios in these illusions are all based on the personal experiences of the guests in the show. The guests can't change anything when they go in; they can only passively watch and experience them."
"If I were to give an analogy, it would be that the show's guests would become 'viewers' in a special memory illusion. Apart from having a clearer and more direct perspective than 'Heartbeat 1000%,' being unable to give tips or send bullet comments, and facing some dangers, they wouldn't be much different from the viewers in the live stream."
"After leaving the special memory illusion, the guests on the show felt like they had just watched a movie, and they gained nothing other than the content of the illusion itself."
"Theoretically speaking, knowing the past of the guest in the instance can increase the guest's favorability. However, some guests may be angered instead, causing the favorability to decrease. Whether it increases or decreases favorability, the specific value is based on the psychological and emotional fluctuations of the corresponding guest in the instance, which is a random event with extremely poor controllability."
"The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. Unless you have a critical clue that you can only find here, it is not recommended to enter these illusions."
At this point, the priestess realized that her master was no ordinary person. Since Yu Naixin had asked, she was determined to go in.
Although the priestess fan couldn't understand why Yu Naixin would do such a thankless task, it knew that its master was always quite shrewd.
All he could do was quickly explain to Yu Naixin what the dangers inside looked like.
"The basic material for the formation of special memory illusions is resentment. Whenever a memory scene in the illusion where the corresponding dungeon guest obtains resentment appears, that resentment will attack both the dungeon guest and the program guests who enter."
"The only coping mechanisms available to the program's guests are the props purchased from the system's special shop, as well as their own spiritual power and skills. Props may also fail in some illusions, so spiritual power and skills are the most reliable."
The priest with the folding fan had nothing to worry about: "With your spiritual power level and skill in using it, Miss Yu, you should have no problem getting out."
"After all, the guest in this illusionary instance only had a spiritual power coefficient of a little over 100, not exceeding 180. He was able to survive all that resentment back then, so you can definitely do it too."
In the real-world instance, the priest with the folding fan has not yet experienced the power of these two special memory illusions, but it is clear about the underlying calculation logic of "Heartbeat 1000%".
Moreover, Yu Naixin has always been adept at using the weak to control the strong, so there's definitely no problem for her.
Yu Naixin's trip should have been uneventful but without major incident.
Now that Yu Naixin has personally experienced the situation in the illusion, she finds that the priest's description of her becoming an "audience member" is indeed very apt.
Yu Naixin quickly conducted an experiment and found that she was like a little ghost with a tail tied to the butter flower monk, unable to break free from the butter flower monk's body and only able to perform some small movements based on the butter flower monk's body shape.
For example, visually, Yu Naixin can observe the surrounding environment from 90 degrees to the left and right in the direction that the butter flower monk is looking directly at. Her hearing is similar to that of a normal person, her sense of smell is also similar, and her sense of touch can only feel that she is stepping on a flat wooden surface.
As for moving her hands or feet, that's simply impossible. Yu Naixin was already doing her best to let her soul take a small step out.
At least for now, Yu Naixin can only rigidly possess the body of the butter flower monk, waiting for others to take the butter flower monk to other places so that they can observe more information.
To be honest, Yu Naixin felt that she looked silly and clueless.
This passive situation made Yu Naixin quite unhappy.
For now, we can only wait and see.
Time flowed normally within the illusion. After the old monk had carefully observed the butter sculpture monk, he left, and the entire warehouse was deserted.
The warehouse was poorly lit to begin with, and it was probably getting dark outside. Yu Naixin could see that the light inside the warehouse was getting dimmer and dimmer.
She surveyed the area within her sight and discovered that it was a small warehouse for storing offerings. Besides the butter sculpture monk, there were several other butter sculptures shaped like lotus flowers, bodhi seeds, fruits, cattle, and sheep.
Small items like flowers and fruits are all in proportion, and the proportions of cattle and sheep are similar to those of butter sculptures.
At the edge of Yu Naixin's view, there were several metal pagodas and incense burners on the table, but they were completely hidden from view on the ground by the edge of the table.
There's almost nothing you can do; you can only be a complete bystander, stuck in place waiting idly. It's really boring.
Not feeling sleepy, Yu Naixin simply turned on her system screen to see what the comments were saying after the dungeon show started.
Yu Naixin originally thought that she would "disconnect from the internet" and temporarily shut down the live stream after entering the illusion, but she did not expect that the live stream would still be open, and the viewers could even see the scenes in the illusion.
[Wow?! This...this...is this a special memory illusion?! My goodness, I'd only ever heard of it before, I never thought I'd actually see it!]
[Wow, this is such a realistic scene! All the illusions I've seen in other dungeon shows have a somewhat unreal quality, but none of them are as real as this one!]
[Holy crap! The two conditions for creating this illusion are incredibly difficult! They'd be hard to even get in the title-level rankings!]
I've watched quite a few live streams from the title-based community, but I've never encountered anything like this before...
[Isn't the special memory illusion supposed to require the guest character to have an incredibly strong mental and willpower?! A guest character with that ability would have a spiritual power coefficient of at least 200, or even 300, right? Does that butter monk have that skill?!]
Following the Great Demon King definitely makes it easy to encounter all sorts of strange and unusual things!
Yu Naixin studied it with great interest for a while. She hadn't had much contact with the headless stone ghost yet. The only perspectives available in the live stream were those of her and the butter flower monk. After she entered the illusion, the butter flower monk's perspective became invalid, and the viewers could only see from her perspective.
In the eyes of these genuine "spectators," they could simultaneously see the butter flower monk she possessed, and her semi-transparent form.
This semi-transparent effect is only displayed in the live stream. Within the illusion, Yu Naixin is completely transparent and ethereal, and even the possessed butter flower monk cannot detect it.
Of course, this illusion is simply a reenactment of past events. Yu Naixin did not exist in these past events and could not have been discovered by anyone.
She was merely the "audience member" closest to this "movie," essentially separated from the space within the illusion, existing in another special dimension.
The resentment that could harm Yu Naixin in the illusion was originally from the west wing of the Xiawei Temple's backyard; it did not travel from the past to attack Yu Naixin.
Because of the rarity of special memory illusions, a group of curious viewers quickly gathered in the live stream.
[I came here because I'd heard so much about it, and now I know what this illusion is like!]
[The little witch's spirit form is so cute! It's like a chibi character!!]
The live stream was a little choppy than usual. Is this a special effect of the special memory illusion?
I feel like it's not just lagging, but also a bit delayed...
[Is the female guest reading the live chat? Take this opportunity to confess: I absolutely love your livestream style, I'll definitely keep following you!!]
Ignoring the meaningless comments, Yu Naixin realized that the illusion needed to be half a beat slower to fully envelop her senses, and then the scene she transmitted to the live stream would be half a beat slower still.
I doubt these viewers will have a very good viewing experience.
After turning off the system screen, Yu Naixin yawned slightly and closed the eyes of her soul form.
Sleeping in this form was not much different from her usual routine. When she woke up, Yu Naixin felt a ray of light shining on her eyelids.
Daylight broke.
The warehouse door opened, and an unassuming young monk walked in, carefully carrying out the tray containing butter sculptures.
It was only then that Yu Naixin realized how low the outdoor temperature was.
As the monk walked, he tried his best to lift the tray forward and high, even though he had to bend over and lower his head, making his walk extremely awkward, so as not to affect the butter sculpture monks with his breathing.
Yu Naixin took the opportunity to quickly observe her surroundings and discovered that it was an ancient and magnificent temple. The sky was a clear blue, the white clouds were leisurely, the snow had melted a little, and colorful prayer flags were fluttering everywhere.
It is wintertime on the plateau.
No wonder they use butter sculptures.
If you're just looking at the scenery, it's quite beautiful.
Soon, Yu Naixin was carried to the main hall of the temple by the butter sculpture monk and placed at the feet of the main Buddha statue.
Yu Naixin's impression of this main hall can be summed up in four words.
—Magnificent and resplendent.
The main part of the entire building seems to be made of gold, shimmering with a dazzling metallic luster. The Buddha statue is even more radiant with gold, and is decorated with large pieces of jade, jasper, ruby, agate and other precious stones.
In terms of sheer opulence, even the former Hohenschwangau Castle would pale in comparison to this magnificent palace, as the high-value materials used in Hohenschwangau Castle were nowhere near as concentrated here.
Wow, is this temple really that rich?
[In my memory, many temples in Tibetan areas are like this. They seem to like piling up treasures inside the Buddha halls, believing it shows their piety? But the sheer amount of treasure they can pile up is truly astonishing...]
[This must be Tibet in the first half of the 20th century, right? The class distinctions are very clear. Those dressed like the old monk from last night are the lower-ranking monks in the temple, while the ones in ornate robes belong to the upper-ranking monks. The former are sallow and thin, while the latter have oily faces; you can tell them apart at a glance.]
As the time for the sacrificial ceremony approached, more and more monks appeared inside the hall. From Yu Naixin's perspective, she could also see the crowds coming and going in the sizable courtyard outside the hall.
These people included not only monks in dark red robes, but also a large number of ragged servants.
In such weather, where even Yu Naixin felt cold through the butter flower monks, with temperatures unknown below zero, the servants' tattered clothes offered no basic protection for their bodies.
And they seemed to have long been used to it, hunching over, heads down, like gray ants, doing one thing after another according to the orders of the better-dressed monks around them.
Almost all the work in this ritual was done by these servants. Monks in poorer clothes would also be mixed in. As for the other monks, they only needed to give orders and wait for these "lower people" to finish their work.
Yu Naixin noticed that a particularly thin servant was unable to withstand the heavy workload in such low temperatures and slowed down. A tall monk next to him immediately grabbed a long whip and slammed it down on him.
"Don't even think about slacking off!" the tall monk scolded. "You lowly monks, if you don't work hard, you won't get a single spoonful of tsampa today!"
The long whip was used specifically to strike the servant's unclothed areas, leaving his skin torn and blood spurting out.
If you look closely at the long whip, you can clearly see layers of blood of varying shades on it; the deeper parts have turned black, while the lighter parts still retain a trace of scarlet.
I wonder how many people's flesh and blood have been brutally beaten like this.
Under the relentless, tempestuous beatings, the frail servant could no longer support his swaying body and collapsed to the ground.
This earned him an even more vicious lash from the tall monk.
"I'll teach you to be lazy! I'll teach you to be lazy!" The tall monk cracked his whip and kicked and punched, "If you dare to be lazy again, I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!"
The thin servant emitted uncontrollable groans and sobs, sounding pitiful and weak.
The servants around him carefully made way for him, not daring to move too much, and kept working non-stop.
They couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy, yet they dared not even cast a look of pity or concern at the thin servant, fearing that Xiao Xin might implicate them and cause them to be brutally beaten by the tall monk's long whip.
Numbness and sorrow were written all over their downcast faces, mingling with deep weariness, forming thin and short bodies.
Throughout the entire process, whether it was the tall monk who was beating people, the thin servant who was being beaten, or the servants who were nearby, everyone was very familiar with what they were doing and what they were being subjected to, and it was clear that this was not the first time.
This is their usual way of life, which has continued for many years.
As the lashes intensified, not only did the new wounds on the thin servant's body worsen, but his old wounds also reopened, oozing pus and blood.
Large patches of blood flowed from beneath his shrunken, thin body, staining the dry, hard winter earth red.
The air was thick with the stench of blood.
Finally, the last faint groan of the thin servant disappeared, and there was no more sound.
The tall monk, still not satisfied, viciously lashed the corpse several more times with his whip.
He spat on the corpse's head, cursed "bad luck," and then put away his whip.
final,
Yu Naixin: "..."
Why can't she move at all?
Even though she knew perfectly well that the scene before her was all an illusion, and that even if she tore that tall monk to pieces, she couldn't change anything that had already happened, Yu Naixin really wanted to take action.
From the old monk last night to this brat now, all the characters in this illusion speak Tibetan.
Yu Naixin herself couldn't understand these things, but probably because she was possessed by the butter flower monk, these languages were automatically translated into Yu Naixin's ears.
Yu Naixin was familiar with the remaining parts that were not translated.
"Tsampa" literally translates to "fried noodles" and is the most common staple food in Tibet, while "Xingchan" means "serf".
Yu Naixin was still trying to control her anger. After all, there was nothing she could do. Letting anger control her might impair her rationality and would not be conducive to observation and information gathering.
Moreover, she will likely see such scenes many, many more times in the foreseeable future.
Suddenly, Yu Naixin sensed something. It seemed that the original body of the butter monk she had possessed was emanating an emotion similar to her own at that moment!
Yu Naixin was taken aback, thinking it was just a misperception caused by her own intense resentment. But after carefully sensing it, she realized that the butter flower monk was indeed experiencing anger and compassion.
These emotions are extremely subtle and disjointed, like a light bulb with a faulty circuit, but they do exist.
Yu Naixin realized what was going on.
The nascent spiritual power of the butter sculpture monk likely grew little by little after witnessing similar events time and time again and being stimulated by them.
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Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the encouragement in the comments! I'm adding an extra chapter today, combining two chapters into one!
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