Vol. 1 Chapter 5: The Headless Buddha
**Chapter 5: The Headless Buddha**
The marionette spoke sorrowfully, "I have ruined his life, so I must save him no matter what!"
Lu Li was silent for a moment before replying, "Why go to such lengths?"
Red snowflakes, heavy with despair, fell around them. Each one hissed as it landed on the fire, dimming the flames further. Steadying herself, the marionette moved to the spot where the ghoul had perished. Without hesitation, she scooped up the soil saturated with the ghoul's remains and tossed it into the fire. The flames roared up as if fueled by oil.
"Fire represents life here," the marionette explained, stepping back and continuing to gather the tainted soil. "In this dreamscape, everything has symbolic meaning. This fire represents the life of the living. As long as it burns, the demons cannot approach."
"These monsters are the best fuel, and what I ask of you, young master, is to burn them after I defeat them," she said, casting a forlorn look into the seemingly endless darkness. "I will act as bait to lure them out. All you need to do is burn the ones I bring down. They always leave behind something flammable."
"That's not a problem," Lu Li agreed, pulling a burning log from the fire. He tore off a piece of his pant leg, wrapped it around the log to create a makeshift torch, and followed the marionette. The torchlight flickered across Lu Li's face, reflecting his excitement.
Leaving the fire's protective glow, visibility decreased sharply. The marionette's figure became a shadow in the darkness, reminiscent of playing a survival game where something sinister lurked just beyond sight, eager to devour you whole.
An unusual panic crept into Lu Li's heart. This fear wasn't his own, as his accident a year ago had stripped him of such emotions. The only explanation was an external force.
Suddenly, Lu Li's vision blurred, and a sense of dread washed over him. When he looked again, the marionette was gone. Darkness surrounded him, pressing in. The external fear and a feeling of abandonment surged, trying to disrupt his rationality.
Instead of panicking, Lu Li felt a strange sense of joy. It had been a year since he last experienced negative emotions like fear or anxiety. Now, as they flooded back, he relished them.
"What a genuine feeling," Lu Li mused, savoring the flood of emotions—fear of the dark, anger at being abandoned, regret over his decisions, even a lust for the marionette's beauty.
"But these feelings are fleeting," he said coldly, sweeping them away. His exceptional control over his body also extended to his mind. These external emotions couldn't truly affect him.
As the negative emotions dissipated, his vision cleared, and the sound of battle reached his ears. He saw the marionette fighting a massive headless Buddha statue. Another prompt appeared in his vision:
**[Monster Detected, Updating Data...]**
**[Headless Buddha]**
**[Physical Assessment: 2.58; Life Energy Derivation: 0.0 (A massive stone body provides great strength but lacks agility?)]**
**[Soul Assessment: 1.88; Spiritual Energy Derivation: 1.1 (Faith is a mysterious thing!)]**
**[Category: Spiritual Parasite]**
**[Origin: A spirit formed within the statue from the accumulated faith of countless devotees.]**
**[Special Abilities: (1) Buddha's Heart Chaos: The Buddha's head, the most intricate part, was stolen, causing chaos within. Anyone within ten meters is attacked by negative emotions converted from faith, with added illusion effects!
(2) Diamond Blessing: This body is as strong as a diamond, unbreakable and fearless! Consumes spiritual energy to enhance strength and defense significantly!]**
**[Weakness: Its massive body lacks agility, and without its head, it has limited intelligence. Like other monsters, it is vulnerable to your torch!]**
**[Monster Evaluation: Honestly, if it still had its head, it could defeat ten of you!]**
The headless Buddha's immense power shook the ground with each movement. The marionette deftly dodged around it, her strings tangling the statue. Although the strings snapped under the Buddha's strength, they hindered its already clumsy movements.
The marionette's small wooden fists chipped away at the statue, but these strikes were insignificant. One hit from the Buddha, however, could dismantle her entirely.
Seeing this, Lu Li advanced with his torch. The Buddha seemed agitated by the approaching flame, emitting a low, eerie sound. Golden Sanskrit script flowed over its body, enhancing its might. The strings snapped completely, but Lu Li sprinted forward, releasing his muscle restrictions. The torchlight revealed cracks in the Buddha's stone body, blackened by the heat.
The marionette unleashed more strings, binding the Buddha tightly. The strain caused her wooden joints to creak and crack, but she held firm. Under the torch's light, the Buddha's stone form darkened and crumbled.
End of the chapter.