The little boy, Xiang Tianyu, was sowhat bewildered. This person was clearly older than him, so why was he calling him 'brother'?
Chen Shi's heart surged with emotion.
Granny Sha had been searching for her son, nearly driven mad by it.
She had once had a happy family, a blissful life. It was only because of a mont of greed that she had asked her son, Xiang Tianyu, to enter the underworld to find the Three Lives Stone for her.
Once Xiang Tianyu went, he never returned.
Granny Sha was divorced by her husband, Xiang Yunfei. Left alone and destitute, she spent her entire life tornted by the pain of having caused her son's death and the agony of searching for him.
She searched for a lifeti, from her thirties to her sixties, until her hair turned white, until her once proud figure beca a stooped old woman's.
To find her son, she created countless soul-related spells, offended countless ghost gods, and beca a major fugitive with a heavy bounty on her head in the underworld.
She was called the Soul-Searching Rakshasa, beca one of the Six Big Villains of the Five Lakes, yet remained obsessed with searching for Xiang Tianyu's whereabouts.
Chen Shi held Xiang Tianyu's hand, worried he would be blown away by the underworld's wind like other wandering ghosts, or eaten by the underworld's oxen, horses, and livestock, or killed by those maddened arhats and gandharvas.
He carefully inquired about the details of Xiang Tianyu's entry into the Buddhist hell.
He asked particularly ticulously about that ghost god who had sent Xiang Tianyu in.
"He was a young man, dressed in white robes, like a noble young master, very handso. Behind him was a massive ghost god, not wearing clothes, only a pair of tattered shorts. He had red skin, red hair, and four fangs in his mouth, longer than mine. Oh, and the red-haired ghost's eyes were especially round and large, as if they were about to pop out."
Xiang Tianyu said, "The red-haired ghost called that young ghost god 'young master.' The young master said the Three Lives Stone was here and that he could send in."
Chen Shi's heart stirred slightly. Zhang You's voice ca from beside him, saying, "This young master harbors ill intentions."
Chen Shi looked at him. Zhang You said, "An ordinary child, with their soul separated from their body, can last at most seven days. After seven days, if they cannot return to their body, the physical body will inevitably die. The young master knew the Buddhist hell was so dangerous, and Young Brother Xiang was just an ordinary person, just beginning his studies. Yet he sent him into the Buddhist hell. It could be said that he killed Young Brother Xiang."
Chen Shi nodded gently. Originally, as long as Granny Sha perford a soul-summoning ritual within seven days, Xiang Tianyu could have returned to his body, perfectly fine.
At that ti, Granny Sha had made ample preparations. The underworld's winds and yin energy could not harm Xiang Tianyu's soul. He could have returned alive and kicking.
But after Xiang Tianyu was sent into the Buddhist hell by the young master, Granny Sha lost her connection to her son and could no longer summon his soul back.
Once the seven days were up, Xiang Tianyu's body died, his heartbeat and breathing stopped.
Therefore, it could indeed be said that this young master killed Xiang Tianyu!
Chen Shi glanced at him and inquired, "Brother Zhang, what do you think the young master's goal was?"
Zhang You's eyes flickered as he looked at those glowing stones shimring with various colors. "Definitely these Three Lives Stones. He wanted to obtain the Three Lives Stones but was worried that if he entered the Buddhist hell himself, he would be trapped there like the Buddhists and never be able to leave. So, he needed soone to fetch the stones for him. He happened to encounter Xiang Tianyu and took the opportunity to send him into the Buddhist hell."
Chen Shi nodded gently. "So, when we leave the Buddhist hell, we will probably encounter him."
He invited Xiang Tianyu into his small temple, collected these Three Lives Stones, and also piled them into the small temple.
He carefully observed this Lei Yin Temple.
The Buddhist hell was extrely dangerous. Besides traditional ghost gods and monsters, there were also strange half-Buddha, half-demon creatures. The reason Xiang Tianyu had survived until now without being eaten was precisely this Lei Yin Temple.
There must be sothing peculiar about this Lei Yin Temple that prevented those half-Buddha, half-demon creatures from approaching.
These miniature shrines, each niche contained a Buddha statue. From the three walls to the do, all were Buddha statues, forming the Western Pure Land.
However, the Buddha statues in the niches had all been smashed to pieces.
Although the statues were destroyed, the extraordinary power ford by the energy of incense offerings still lingered, swirling and not dissipating.
What kind of power destroyed this place, smashed all the Buddha statues?
And what kind of power forced these semi-Buddhas to enter Nirvana, their physical bodies transforming into Buddha mountains, sprouting nurous strange eyes?
And those wandering asuras, gandharvas, and arhats, what power drove them mad, turning them into neither human nor ghost?
If hell is not empty, the Buddhas will not return.
The Buddhas have also fallen.
After more than ten days of recuperation, Wuchen the monk's injuries had improved significantly. Limping, he examined the niches of these Buddhas, his expression somber.
Earlier, seeing these semi-Buddhas, rumored to have entered the Pure Land, transford into Buddha mountains, and their follower monks turned into ghost monks, his will nearly collapsed, and he almost went mad.
On the road, having Hu Guanghan, Tian Yue'e, and other poor scholar-provincial graduates to talk to him had helped him recover sowhat.
"If one has Buddha in their heart, why need Buddha statues sitting in niches?" Just as he was feeling lancholy, Chen Shi's voice ca.
Wuchen was slightly startled. Pondering the aning of these words, he felt much more comfortable inside.
"The wondrous Dharma Body of Profound Mystery, all things and self are complete. Within a speck of dust, worlds are dismantled; vastness contains heaven and earth. Great and small, billions of differences, share the sa root origin. Just as in the vast ocean, scales and shells all share its benefits."
He clasped his hands together, bowed his head, and said, "All forms of the Buddha are rely the Dharma Body. My heart is already without dust, why cling to manifestations?"
Hu Guanghan leaned closer and asked, "Monk, what do those few sentences an?"
Wuchen gave him a sidelong glance. "You, a poor wretch who doesn't even have incense money, want to hear my Buddhist secret thods for free?"
"Just explain a bit," Hu Guanghan laughed.
Wuchen had no choice but to explain. "This is the wondrous secret of the Dharma Body from my Great Bao Guo Temple. It ans within a speck of dust lies a great world, billions of living beings, all sharing the sa root origin, which is the Dharma Body. Don't practice it recklessly; it requires secret transmission."
Chen Shi took several sticks of incense from the small temple behind his head, lit them, and placed them before the central Buddha niche. He silently recited in his heart, "This disciple, fallen to this place, knows not the Buddha's na, knows not why this place fell into silence and extinction. Holding only a heart of sincerity, I offer incense before the niche. I pay respects. Now, I presumptuously act on behalf of heaven to confer divine status. I hereby confer upon all the heroic spirits who entered extinction here, all the Buddhas who entered Nirvana, the lordship of the twenty layers of the Buddhist hell: the Living Hell, the Black Rope Hell, the Assembly Hell, the Crying Hell, the Duobona Hell, the Bodobona Hell, the Avici Hell, the Jiujiu Luo Hell, the Corpse Hell, the Knife Forest Hell, the Sword Forest Hell, the Rending Hell, the Anfutu Hell, the Apopa Hell, the Azhazha Hell, the Utpala Hell, the Juwutou Hell, the Incense Hell, the Fentuo Li Hell, the Botoumo Hell. May they receive incense offerings, gather rit, and aid the divine spirits in the shadows."
The ritual completed.
Chen Shi took a step back.
At that mont, a commotion arose outside. Chen Shi's heart stirred. He walked out of the main hall to look and saw everyone had gathered at the temple gate to watch.
In front of them, a Buddha mountain for so reason suddenly erupted with brilliant light. The massive Buddha mountain stood towering between heaven and earth. Its flesh and blood had turned to mud, its Golden Body had beco filthy and covered in strange eyes.
Now, the filth on this Buddha mountain was completely gone. The strange eyes trembled violently, rapidly withering and falling off.
Gradually, a brilliant golden color erged from within that Buddha mountain. Golden light blood, growing brighter and brighter!
Just as everyone was astonished, they saw behind that Buddha mountain, Buddha Light erupted, forming a massive circular halo. Majestic Buddhist chants, deafening to the ears, ca from the mountains.
Then, another great mountain underwent the sa change. Soon, its filth was completely gone, like a Golden Body Buddha sitting on the wasteland of hell.
More Buddha mountains washed away their own filth, becoming solemn and dignified.
Accompanied by the eruption of Buddha Light, those Deva who had fallen into madness, such as asuras, gandharvas, garudas, and mahoragas, now regained clarity. They floated within the halos behind the various Buddhas, their appearances dignified and solemn, chanting Buddhist scriptures.
The Buddha Light spread boundlessly, illuminating the surrounding darkness. Wherever the Buddha Light passed, it was as if withered wood t spring, deriving infinite vitality from death!
It seed as if it would transform this Buddhist hell into a boundless pure land, the Western Pure Land!
The area covered by Buddha Light grew wider and wider, gradually illuminating the hell they were in completely. Standing outside Lei Yin Temple, everyone saw that the underworld creatures illuminated by the Buddha Light all beca gentle, peaceful, compassionate, and rciful, devoid of any violent or sinister aura!
Under the illumination of Buddha Light, vengeful ghosts dispersed their resentnt, fierce ghosts lost their ferocity, wandering souls grew physical bodies, wild ghosts developed forms. So beings in hell transford into nagas, others into yakshas.
They turned into various Deva, becoming converts to Buddhism.
The Buddha Light seed to pierce through space-ti, shining onto the next layer of hell, then the third, fourth, fifth!
Layer after layer of the Buddhist hell gradually beca clear under the illumination of Buddha Light, revealing themselves layer by layer before everyone's eyes, magnificent beyond belief, truly inconceivable!
The place they were in was rely the first layer of the twenty layers of the Buddhist hell.
Its vastness already surpassed the Western Ox New Continent several tis over!
The sheer expanse of the twenty layers of hell was truly unimaginable!
Chen Shi also stood before the temple, watching this spectacular scene, unable to calm down for a long ti.
The scene before him, he didn't know why it happened, but it allowed him to witness the might of Buddhism during the True King's Era!
From this, one could also see how powerful and magnificent the True King's Era was!
Back then, perhaps immortals truly existed, rather than being stuck at the Great Ascension Realm with no possibility of further advancent!
But why did the cultivation realms of practitioners degenerate with the end of that era?
He pondered this endlessly.
The Buddha Light continuously extended downward, seemingly intending to envelop all twenty layers of hell within its radiance. One great Buddha after another bathed in the Buddha Light, as if they had truly completed Nirvana, awakening from slumber to return to the world.
Suddenly, rumbling thunder ca from the sky, followed by a grand voice from beyond the heavens, as if chanting scriptures, or reciting incantations. The language was mysterious, containing inconceivable power.
The voice started slow and heavy, gradually becoming urgent, faster and faster.
Under the pressure of that voice, the Buddha Light of the various Buddhas continuously contracted. All the beings who had transford into Deva revealed their original forms, reverting to their originally ugly and ferocious appearances.
Soon, the Buddha Light disintegrated one after another, ceasing to exist. One Deva after another fell from the sky. The various Buddhas turned back into mountains and rivers, their filth as before. Everything returned to calm.
Before Lei Yin Temple, everyone stared blankly at this scene, unable to calm down for a long ti.
After a long while, they entered the temple, still recalling what had just happened.
"What exactly happened just now?"
Just as Guo Daoist asked this, suddenly, in the empty niches of the main hall, it seed as if Buddha statues of various sizes stood, likely illusions, but they emitted light. From the niches, Buddha Light overflowed, instantly enveloping the entire Lei Yin Temple, wrapping everyone within the Buddha Light!
Within Lei Yin Temple, a thick beam of light shot up from the ground, charging toward the sky.
Thunder rumbled beyond the heavens. An enormous, gigantic hand reached over, tearing through the sky like a black curtain, but grasped empty air.
The giant hand withdrew. The black curtain fluctuated, then returned to calm.
All Buddha Light vanished. Lei Yin Temple returned to peace.
After the Buddha Light surrounding Chen Shi, Guo Daoist, and the others dispersed, they found they had already left the Buddhist hell and arrived in the underworld. In the distance, several little green-skinned ghosts were standing on tiptoe, peering in their direction. Seeing them look over, the little green-skinned ghosts hurriedly transford into wisps of black smoke and scattered, disappearing to who knows where.
The place they were in was a ruin. Two great mountains ford a gateway, with a mountain ridge as the beam in between.
Behind the mountain gate should be the ruins of an ancient city, emitting an ancient and unfamiliar aura, likely prehistoric remnants.
Chen Shi signaled everyone to set up the Ten Extremities Array and quietly waited for that young master and the red-haired ghost. However, they waited for a long ti, but no one ca.
"Tianyu entered the Buddhist hell at least thirty years ago."
Chen Shi was sowhat disappointed. He led everyone away, silently thinking to himself, "That young master has probably long since left this place."
Several more days passed. Granny Sha and Chen Tang's temporary shelters entered the Buddhist hell, found Lei Yin Temple, and saw the traces left by Chen Shi and the others.
Granny Sha and Chen Tang each retrieved their Primordial Spirits and returned to their own bodies.
Granny Sha sensed the souls of Chen Shi and the others and said, "They have already left the underworld and returned to the mortal world."
Chen Tang let out a long sigh of relief and repeatedly thanked Granny Sha.
But Granny Sha seed sowhat unhappy. On the return journey, she was depressed and gloomy. It seed seeing that Three Lives Stone had struck a chord deep within her.
After walking like this for over ten days, they returned to the Red Mountain Hall in Gaoshan County. There, she fell ill, lying in bed with a high fever, talking nonsense. Seeing this, Chen Tang hurried to fetch a doctor.
The doctor examined her and said, "Her spirit is injured, and she's been invaded by yin evil. So dicine to calm the spirit and support yang should cure her."
The doctor prescribed the dicine. Chen Tang hurried to the pharmacy to fill the prescription. At that mont, a commotion arose outside, voices boiling over.
Chen Tang looked outside. A sea of people crowded outside, packed tightly. He didn't know what had happened.
He got the dicine, paid, and asked the pharmacy assistant. The assistant smiled and said, "Many provincial graduates have co from outside, three or four hundred people! I heard they're all those provincial graduates who died in the tropolitan examination a month ago. Who would have thought they all ca back alive! Many people have gone to see!"
Chen Tang was stunned, unable to conceal his excitent. He rushed out of the pharmacy. He saw the crowd ahead heading toward Red Mountain Hall.
At Red Mountain Hall, Granny Sha lay on the sickbed, feverish and muddled, still talking nonsense.
"Tianyu, Mother is sorry..."
"Tianyu, Mother doesn't want the Three Lives Stone anymore. Co back, okay?"
"I saw that stone and thought of you. Mother doesn't want anything anymore. This ti, Mother will go down to be with you."
...
The door opened. Granny Sha, in her daze, saw a figure walk in.
"Granny, Granny, wake up."
It sounded like Chen Shi's voice. "Look, who did I bring back?"
Granny Sha struggled to open her eyes. She saw a child beside the figure, vaguely familiar.
She struggled to see clearly, but tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision.
She tried hard to open her eyes wider. More tears flowed out. She still couldn't see clearly.
These tears kept flowing uncontrollably.
"Mother."
She heard that voice that haunted her dreams and waking thoughts. The mories she desperately tried to forget surged over like a tidal wave, drowning her heart.
"Mother, I'm back." Xiang Tianyu threw himself into her arms.
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