Free Web NovelChapter 115: Chapter 33: Wind Attendant Buddha Investigates the Temple
To be honest, the thing Gao Tian wanted to find most right now were those detestable Monks, the source of the buzzing murmurs that were blocking his ghost abilities.
But Longshu Temple only covered so much ground; you could take in most of it with a single glance. Neither the main hall up ahead nor the dilapidated huts on either side could possibly hide that many Monks.
With every step, the murmuring clung to Gao Tian like maggots on bone, impossible to shake off, whether he was waiting outside the temple or investigating inside.
It was as if the entire temple had become the bloated corpse of a Monk, chanting sutras.
Gao Tian repeatedly warned himself to remain calm and cautious. He maneuvered the Wind Attendant Buddha, step by step, closer to the main hall.
When it was less than fifty meters from the main hall, the angle and distance were finally right for the Wind Attendant Buddha to spot it: a Transparent Coffin, lying flat on the steps below the hall. It was empty, just resting there.
The coffin’s material was bizarre. It was definitely not glass, nor did it seem to be crystal, yet it was completely transparent. If not for a peculiar refraction of light that betrayed its shadow on the ground, the Wind Attendant Buddha would have likely missed it completely and kicked it by accident.
’My mission is to get the Transparent Coffin out of Longshu Temple.’
’Does that mean if I just have the Wind Attendant Buddha drag the coffin out, take it to the nearby station, or maybe find that mysterious old man at McDonald’s to help... my mission for today will be over?’
’It can’t possibly be that simple.’
Gao Tian wasn’t a three-year-old, and this wasn’t his first green-text mission.
There was likely some lethal rule hidden near the Transparent Coffin. In short, something wouldn’t let him take it away easily.
Gao Tian wasn’t in a hurry. The mission required him to survive in Longshu Temple for seven days, which meant this would be a long engagement. There would be plenty of time for games later.
’Patience. I’ll put the Transparent Coffin aside for now.’
’The most crucial thing right now... aside from those annoying, ever-present murmurs...’
’...is whether Yu Sheng is in the temple.’
The Wind Attendant Buddha scanned its surroundings but found no sign of any living person.
’If Yu Sheng were here, he would have come out to investigate after hearing the intruder’s footsteps.’
Yu Sheng’s failure to appear suggested four possibilities:
1. He is physically restrained and cannot appear.
2. He is not in Longshu Temple and has already left.
3. He is already dead.
4. Yu Sheng is unwilling to appear voluntarily, because his presence would make the situation worse.
...
’Number three can be ruled out first. This is only day one of the mission. If Yu Sheng is already dead, then the Living Human Apartment must have a grudge against Jiang Yang to have deliberately assigned him an impossible objective.’
’Next, number two can also be mostly ruled out.’
’He has a black card. If he were physically capable of leaving Longshu Temple, why wouldn’t he just use the black card to return directly to the apartment?’
’As things stand, one and four are the most likely possibilities.’
’Instinctively, Gao Tian leaned more toward number four.’
’Besides the murmuring, this haunted place definitely concealed a more terrifying lethal rule, or perhaps a malevolent ghost.’
’Until the obstacles were cleared, Yu Sheng likely wouldn’t show himself.’
The Wind Attendant Buddha moved cautiously, bypassing the Transparent Coffin and entering the main hall.
The gilded Great Buddha sitting in the main hall had lost most of its gold paint, revealing a dark red surface underneath that resembled human skin. There was a large, black hole in the Great Buddha’s back. Judging by its visible depth, the statue’s interior had likely been hollowed out long ago.
Gao Tian directed the Wind Attendant Buddha, intending to have it climb up to the hole and inspect the inside. After all, while it might not hold a dozen people, the interior of the Great Buddha was more than spacious enough to hide Yu Sheng.
But the Great Buddha’s back was too high and slick, with no obvious footholds. The Wind Attendant Buddha was already less agile than a real person to begin with. Gao Tian, controlling it from outside the temple, made several attempts. Each time, it managed to climb two steps before immediately slipping and falling, face-planting on the ground.
Forget climbing high enough to peek into the black hole; it couldn’t even get close to reaching the edge.
A few more falls, and the currents of wind that composed the Wind Attendant Buddha would dissipate. Resigned, Gao Tian had no choice but to temporarily abandon the idea of inspecting the Great Buddha’s black hole.
The proxy found a few small stones on the ground and, aiming at the hole, tossed them forcefully inside.
After falling through the black hole into the Great Buddha’s interior, the stones landed with a THUD. This proved the statue’s interior was empty, containing no living person or corpse.
With that lead exhausted, the Wind Attendant Buddha settled for the next best option. It circled the entire main hall before returning to the foot of the Great Buddha. A meditation cushion lay before the statue, covered in dust. On its surface were two distinct knee-shaped outlines where the dust was thinner, proof that someone had knelt there some time ago.
’It must have been Yu Sheng.’
The Wind Attendant Buddha stared at the traces Yu Sheng had left, remaining silent.
The search of the main hall was complete. Aside from the black hole in the Great Buddha’s back, every other spot had been checked. Nothing was found.
The Wind Attendant Buddha headed toward the area behind the main hall.
Between the main hall and the rear wall was a small vegetable patch, which the Monks had once used to grow their own food. The soil hadn’t been tilled in years and had compacted into a single, solid mass. Its surface was reddish and as hard as stone.
The Wind Attendant Buddha poked the ground with a finger, but it didn’t give. The soil was completely ruined.
The Wind Attendant Buddha swayed unsteadily as it returned to the stone plaza outside. It proceeded to check the small shrines on either side, one by one, but again found nothing—and no one—of value.
Half an hour wasted. Apart from the Transparent Coffin, it had found absolutely nothing. All evidence pointed to this being nothing more than an empty, long-abandoned temple.
Two rows of large trees stood there, and a few scattered crows lingered. One opened its beak and let out a strange CAW, as if mocking the foolish human below.
’Huh? There are words carved into this bark.’
As the Wind Attendant Buddha passed a large tree, it caught a glimpse of pitted markings on the bark out of the corner of its eye. They seemed to follow a pattern. The proxy stopped instinctively and discovered the tree’s secret.
"Thus I have heard: At one time, the Buddha was in the city of Sravasti at the Qihuan Meditation Hall, together with a great assembly of twelve hundred fifty Bhikkhus. All were great Arhats without outflows..."
Although he wasn’t an expert on Buddhism, he recognized it as a passage from the Lengyan Scripture.
The Lengyan Scripture is known as a powerful Buddhist text whose wisdom is said to suppress stubborn demons and evil spirits.
However, in a temple filled with this constant buzzing, the righteous scripture had no apparent effect in suppressing the defilement. Its presence here seemed almost ironic.
Carving on tree bark is difficult enough, yet every single character here was exceptionally clear, as crisp and clean as a calligrapher’s work. One could only imagine the strength and steadiness of the hand that carved them.
Besides, this temple had been abandoned for ages, so the carvings must have been made a very long time ago.
Logically, as the tree grew over the years, the words should have become warped and distorted, no matter how deeply they were carved.
’So why are they still so clear...?’
’Either Yu Sheng carved them after he arrived...’
’Or... these Blood Leaf Trees, the ones carved with the Lengyan Scripture, stopped growing from that day forward!’
’What on earth happened to those Monks at Longshu Temple back in the day? Why did they pull all these strange stunts?’
In pursuit of the truth, the Wind Attendant Buddha examined the trees one by one.
It reached a conclusion: There were a total of 27 large trees in Longshu Temple. Of those, 10 were carved with righteous, demon-exorcising texts like the Lengyan Scripture, the Diamond Sutra, and the Great Brightness Scripture.
The bark of the other 17 trees was normal, with no markings.
That was about it. The Wind Attendant Buddha prepared to leave the area.
Finally, of course, it walked over to the Transparent Coffin to try and drag it away, to see if the mission could be completed ahead of schedule.
’Of course, he knew it was probably impossible. But failure didn’t matter. Even if the Wind Attendant Buddha was destroyed here, so be it.’
The Wind Attendant Buddha placed its hands on both ends of the coffin and began to pull with all its might, trying to drag it out of the temple.
Surprisingly, this didn’t trigger any lethal rule or attract any vengeful spirits.
He had assumed that since the coffin was empty, it couldn’t be that heavy. But after pulling it just a few steps, the Wind Attendant Buddha was already struggling. The currents of wind that formed its body fell into disarray; it had overexerted itself, and its form was becoming unstable.
’This coffin is that heavy?’
It had used up half of the Wind Attendant Buddha’s strength just to move it half an inch.
At this rate, dragging the Transparent Coffin out of Longshu Temple was utterly impossible. After another ten meters, the Wind Attendant Buddha itself would likely collapse.
Watching this from the outside, Gao Tian wasn’t ready to give up. He figured it might be an issue of leverage, so he directed the Wind Attendant Buddha to circle around to the back of the Transparent Coffin. He switched from pulling to pushing, hoping this method would prove more effective.
The new position was indeed much easier than before. The Transparent Coffin bumped and scraped along the uneven stone path, advancing several dozen meters toward the main gate. But ultimately, the Wind Attendant Buddha’s stamina was depleted. With a great WHOOSH, amidst the incessant, mind-drilling drone, it collapsed into countless streams of air that swirled away in every direction.
In that instant, countless low, malicious laughs seemed to echo from all around the empty temple. The leaves of the Blood Leaf Trees RUSTLED. A crow flapped its wings, flew to a neighboring branch, and let out a mournful caw.
Outside the temple, Gao Tian explained to the others what the Wind Attendant Buddha had seen.
The good news: there were no vengeful spirits or lethal rules inside the temple.
The bad news: there was nothing inside. As for Jiang Yang’s and Wang Wenbo’s missions, it was like a dog trying to bite a watermelon—they had no idea where to even begin.
"Looks like a real person has to go in after all," Jiang Yang said, raising his twin pistols and walking toward Longshu Temple. He was the second to push open the gate and do a lap inside.
Eight minutes later, he came back out and signaled to the three others waiting that it was safe to enter. For now, the temple seemed normal; he hadn’t encountered any danger.
"The mission requires us to survive here for seven days. Could it be that the temple changes over time?
"For example, maybe these invisible, chanting Monks only appear at night."
Jiang Yang mused, standing under one of the trees.
Lan Chu darted about, touching one thing and peering at another, completely unafraid of triggering some hidden taboo.
Wang Wenbo, meanwhile, was completely absorbed in adjusting the electronic device in his hands.
As he followed the others into the temple, his eyes flickered to the side, catching sight of the Transparent Coffin. Wang Wenbo slowly raised his head, his interest apparently piqued.
