I saw that all the monks in the square were staring at me, their mouths stretched to their ears, and they were breathing rapidly.
Their smiles were exactly the same as those of the monks I saw at the ghost temple.
These monks, who had been frozen into ice sculptures, suddenly came to life, striking the wooden fish in front of them.
Another monk stood up and walked towards me with a smile: "Benefactor, I told you long ago that you must come and pay your respects when you arrive at the temple!"
When I saw his face, I was so nervous that I forgot to breathe.
This monk was the very one I stabbed into a mangled mess in front of the Ghost Temple.
He saw my appearance and floated closer: "Since you're already inside the temple, come with me to pay your respects! This place is the Buddhist kingdom of India, the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss! Only those with great destiny can enter."
"Don't you fucking come any closer!"
When I saw the other person approaching, I tried to run away in terror, but because my body was bound by iron chains, I fell to the ground.
The pain from falling to the ground brought me back to my senses.
Hallucination!
I closed my eyes and kept telling myself that it was all a fucking hallucination!
The moment I closed my eyes, a cold hand suddenly gripped my wrist.
The texture felt incredibly realistic, just like the feeling I had when someone grabbed me at the haunted temple that day.
Immediately afterwards, I felt myself being slapped, followed by the monkey's shout: "Be careful! Wake up!"
"monkey?"
I tentatively opened my eyes and found that the monk had disappeared. Only Song Laosan and the monkey were squatting in front of me, looking at me with concern.
Although I kept brainwashing myself, telling myself that everything in front of me was an illusion, when I looked back through the gap between the two of us, I could see that the monks had indeed come to life, facing the direction of the temple, devoutly striking the wooden fish and chanting scriptures that I couldn't understand.
Seeing my dazed expression, Song Laosan blocked my view of what was behind me with his body: "Xiao Duan, what did you see?"
I calmed myself down and said to them, "Those monks are all alive! They are all striking wooden fish drums and chanting sutras!"
“Something is definitely not right with you. From now on, Monkey and I will support your arms as you walk. Remember, no matter what you see, don't panic or get agitated. We're here for you!”
As Song Laosan spoke, he tore strips of cloth from his clothes and plugged my ears, then handed two more to the monkey: "Xiao Duan said before that the wooden fish here is activated by mechanical magic, and I suspect there's something wrong with the sound!"
I hadn't covered my ears yet, and I heard Song Laosan say, "You mean, hypnosis?"
“When I was little, my dad told me a strange story. When he was young, a wealthy merchant’s mother was a Buddhist. The merchant approached my dad and wanted to buy a set of antique Buddhist implements at a high price. The merchant asked for a very high price. After my dad took on the job, he carefully helped him find a set of Buddhist implements from the Yuan Dynasty. One of them was a wooden fish made of a human skull, which was said to be made from the skull of a high monk.”
Old Song paused for a moment: "But after the old lady used that set of Buddhist implements, she was so frightened that she fell ill and couldn't get out of bed after only a few days. The wealthy businessman consulted many extraordinary people but couldn't solve the problem. Finally, he invited an American research team. After their research, the scholars discovered that the problem lay with the wooden fish. It is said that the sound of its striking affects the frequency of a person's brain waves. Compared to complex and varied hypnotic words, this specific sound wave is more direct and effective."
The monkey objected: "That argument doesn't hold water, does it? If there really is something wrong with the sound of the wooden fish, then shouldn't only Young Master Duan be affected?"
“I was just taking precautions. My dad said that the sound of the wooden fish seemed to be related to something called ‘Schumann waves.’ Schumann waves are known as the brainwaves of the earth. The sounds emitted by many top religious artifacts are close to the frequency of Schumann waves. Therefore, some people believe that listening to Schumann waves can help people achieve a state of harmony with the universe. The greater the difference between the frequency and the Schumann wave, the greater the impact on people.”
Song Laosan licked his lips: "We still haven't figured out why Xiao Duan was hallucinating, but when he was up there, he didn't see the monks below come back to life. The strange thing happened after he heard the sound of the wooden fish. It would be safer if we plugged our ears."
The eerie environment made us feel very uncomfortable. After exchanging a few words, the three of us headed towards the cliff ahead.
I don't know what this place looks like in their eyes, but to me, the monks chanting sutras while striking wooden fish in the square, and the grotesque statues around it, are simply too terrifying.
Once I was certain that the monks were only chanting sutras and wouldn't harm me, I simply closed my eyes and let Monkey and Song Laosan help me walk forward, without looking at anything else.
As I walked, I suddenly heard the sound of a rushing river. Although I covered my ears, the sound of the flowing water could still reach me.
Opening our eyes, we found ourselves at the edge of the cliff, before us stood the arched bridge built of ice.
This bridge has no bridge; it is entirely constructed of ice blocks, and beneath it flows a long, rushing river.
I know this river must be fake, otherwise we would have heard such a commotion when we were on the altar.
The monkey shone its flashlight on the ice bridge in front of it: "This bridge is just a block of ice. Won't it be dangerous if we walk on it rashly?"
Looking at the brightly lit temple across the way, I tried to remain calm: "If this bridge is solid, it can definitely support the weight of three people. I'm just afraid there might be some kind of trap on it. If they put a few hollow ice blocks on it, we'll all fall in and drown."
The monkey's perspective was indeed different from mine: "There's a cliff below; if you fall, you should die from the fall, not drown."
Old Song knew I was probably hallucinating again, so he didn't dwell on it: "Xiao Duan, do you have any way to cross this bridge safely?"
"have!"
I swallowed hard. "Go to the back and bring over two frozen corpses. Like curling stones, push them onto the bridge to scout ahead. These corpses will weigh a little less than us because they've been frozen, but the difference won't be too great."
"Great idea! Monkey, you stay with him, I'll go drag the corpse away!"
Song Laosan quickly dragged a corpse back to the bridgehead. I couldn't help but look over there, and what I saw was clearly him dragging a living monk, who was still struggling violently: "What are you doing! This is a sacred Buddhist site! Don't be disrespectful!"
Song Laosan ignored this, pushed the monk forward, and kicked him away.
The monk staggered a few steps on the bridge, then the ice beneath his feet shattered, and he screamed as he fell into the long river, disappearing into the swift current.
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