Chapter 14: Three Trials before Buddha_1

In the great hall, the lighting was dim, casting an eerie and terrifying atmosphere.

The dark Buddha statue was so conspicuous that everyone saw it. A few timid tourists were even considering whether to kneelson the ground and kowtow three times to the statue first.

"Approach!"

"Kneel!"

"Worship!"

The dark Buddha statue, seemingly cast from brass, spoke with succinct clarity, its voice exuding an undeniable dominance.

The tourists were restless and uncertain about what to do.

"Bai Ci, should we go and kowtow first?"

The old lady was afraid, "After all, it's just kowtowing; it's not like we'd lose a piece of flesh!"

"Let's kowtow first!"

Sima Mu also agreed.

"Oppa, the rule contamination must have started, but we don't know what the deadly effect is?"

Kim Myungjin felt that this Buddha's presence was so terrifying, it couldn't possibly be resolved by merely kowtowing.

When there are many people, a herd mentality can take hold.

Over eight hundred tourists were looking at each other.

Kowtowing wasn't the issue; the main fear was that being the first to kowtow might lead to an accident.

The Buddha statue saw that no one moved and huffed coldly.

A spark shot out from its two large nostrils and then scattered, like fireflies in the summertime, drifting to the ground.

[Dodge!]

Lin Baici heard this and quickly moved towards a corner.

"Retreat!"

Lin Baici warned Kim Myungjin and the others. In fact, without his shouting, everyone instinctively dodged the sparks.

The sparks landed and then suddenly sped up, flying towards the heads of the nearest people.

Boom!

A small flame burst into life on their foreheads.

"What's this?"

"It's a bit hot!"

"What do we do now?"

The tourists marked by the sparks were in a panic.

"Don't dawdle, you might die—hurry up and go to the Buddha statue to kowtow and worship!"

A middle-aged man with short hair growled impatiently.

He had no spark on his forehead, and by saying this, he wanted these people to lead the way. If there were traps ahead, these people would trigger them first.

Hearing this, the tourists didn't dare delay any longer and quickly ran to the front of the Buddha statue, knelt down, and started kowtowing.

"Bless us, Bodhisattva!"

"The Buddha is merciful!"

"I'm a good person; I've never done anything wrong, please spare me?"

The tourists kowtowed, prayed, and many promised to offer incense and worship.

The Buddha statue, with its palm supporting its cheek, watched these people with an expressionless face, then suddenly revealed a ferocious smile.

"Those who disrespect Buddha, die!"

As the word 'die' fell, those with a spark on their foreheads faced their doomsday.

The spark suddenly burst into flames, igniting their hair and causing them to burn like candles, the fire spreading rapidly and engulfing their entire bodies in moments.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, there were so many 'torches' in the hall, dispelling much of the darkness. Yet, the surviving tourists felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave, their blood running even colder.

The old lady and Hua Yue Yu clutched Lin Baici's arm,

shaking uncontrollably.

The seventy-five unfortunate ones, as they were ignited, screamed, wailed, and begged for help...

They ran about headlessly, but after just a dozen seconds, they fell to the ground, dead, reduced to charred bodies that emitted a smell of burnt meat into the air.

Bleurgh! Bleurgh!

Many people vomited.

"Approach!"

"Kneel!"

"Worship!"

The dark Buddha spoke again.

This time no one dared to delay; except for two or three who were still standing, everyone else knelt down to kowtow to the Buddha.

"Bai Ci, kneel quickly!"

The old lady, seeing that Lin Baici hadn't knelt, quickly tugged at him.

"Brother Lin, don't worry about pride, staying alive is what's important."

Brother Gu urged him.

Whether it worked or not, it was better to kowtow first and discuss it later.

The tourists bowed down submissively, but the Buddha statue was not satisfied. It huffed again, and a spark shot out from its nostril.

Having witnessed the terror of this thing, everyone frantically dodged with panic, and some even pushed and shoved each other, trying to squeeze into the crowd to use others as human shields.

The sparks were fast, and their trajectory was unpredictable, hard to dodge.

It was purely a matter of luck.

Another sixty or so unlucky ones were marked by a spark on their foreheads.

"Lin... Brother Lin!"

The young photographer cried.

He was unlucky, and a spark burned on his forehead.

"Kowtowing won't work; we have to quickly find the correct way to worship the Buddha!"

Lin Baici analyzed the situation while also asking the Eater God in his heart what to do.

But that mysterious voice did not reply.

"It seems we can only rely on ourselves!"

Lin Baici started to take action to save himself and called out to everyone, "Don't just linger here, let's search the great hall carefully for clues!"

In the Daxiong Treasure Hall, besides the dark Buddha statue enshrined on the main altar in front, there were eighteen smaller altars on each of the left and right sides.

If Lin Baici was not mistaken, these were the positions of the eighteen Arhat monks that had burst out earlier.

Behind these side altars, there were rows of purple-lacquered wooden racks with unlit bronze oil lamps on them.

The hall was paved with blue stone slabs, smooth as mirrors, with scriptures carved upon them, but the dome was too high to see clearly.

The surrounding walls were carved with colorful murals.

There were depictions of the Buddha descending to save sentient beings;

devoted men and women praying and reciting scriptures to Buddha;

and scenes of plentiful incense offering and the Buddha's eternal flame...

Even the most inconspicuous weed in these murals was carved to look lifelike, and the expressions of each believer were portrayed vividly.

"There's nothing in this great hall!"

Many people couldn't find any clues, which led to despair.

Lin Baici looked around and then his gaze returned to the mural on the left wall.

A group of devotees sitting on vanilla padded mats, reciting scriptures, and worshipping the Buddha.

"Do we need to recite sutras?"

Hua Yue Yu also noticed this and her eyes lit up.

"Does anyone know how to recite sutras? Hurry up and chant a few paragraphs!"

The man with short hair shouted.

"I... I can!"

An old man stood out. He was elderly and in poor health with illnesses, hoping to live a few more years, he began to follow Buddhism.

He worshipped a Guanyin statue in his home, reciting sutras daily.

"Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up!"

The man with short hair urged.

The old man knelt down, put his palms together, and began to murmur as he recited sutras.

Everyone didn't dare to breathe heavily, all eyes were on him.

The dark Buddha listened.

"Does it seem to be working?"

The tourists' spirits were lifted.

The old man stole a glance at the dark Buddha, thinking he had passed the test and was about to relax, when the great Buddha spoke.

"A stray dog's idle barking, noisy!"

The Buddha looked impatient, lifted his left hand, and pressed it down through the air!

A black Buddha palm, formed of condensed light, suddenly appeared over ten meters above the old man's head and swiftly slammed down.

Bang!

Dust flew up and blood and flesh splattered.

By the time the black Buddha palm vanished, all that was left was a clump of flesh smeared on the bluestone floor.

The old man was dead, not even his bones remained!

Numerous people felt a tingling on their scalp upon witnessing this. So chanting sutras is also futile?

The dark Buddha swept its gaze around.

Those tourists with sparks on their foreheads were panicked, bowing even more earnestly; two even began to mutilate themselves to demonstrate their devotion to Buddhism.

But it was a pity, it was to no avail.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sparks ignited, setting them aflame.

"Yue Yu..."

The photographer looked at Hua Yue Yu reluctantly, knowing he was about to die, he wanted to confess his feelings but before he could finish, he was ignited.

"Oppa!"

Hua Yue Yu felt distressed. Oppa was conscientious at work, excelled at photography, didn't smoke or drink, was a good man, and a good partner; she never thought he would die in such a place.

"Step forward!"

"Kneel!"

"Worship the Buddha!"

The great Buddha spoke with an indifferent voice.

"You tell us to worship the Buddha, but how exactly are we supposed to do that?"

Someone shouted out loud, indignant.

The Buddha did not respond to him but snorted coldly again, shooting out a spark from its nostrils.

Whoosh!

The tourists retreated hastily, everyone now knew that touching that thing meant certain death.

The sparks scattered, like a meteor shower, falling in front of some people's foreheads.

At this moment, status, wealth, and beauty didn't matter, only luck.

A spark passed by Hua Yue Yu's face and landed in front of Jin Ying Zhen's forehead.

"Oppa..."

Jin Ying Zhen panicked.

"Don't give up!"

Lin Bai Ci encouraged her, glancing over the murals while recalling everything that happened after the bell rang and the great Buddha urged everyone to enter the hall to worship.

"The ways to worship the Buddha—kneeling, copying sutras, offering incense, presenting tributes, chanting sutras... chanting sutras?"

Lin Bai Ci had an epiphany.

Chanting sutras was definitely a way to worship the Buddha, but the great Buddha was not satisfied—could it be because it couldn't understand?

Lin Bai Ci looked down at the scripture on the bluestone floor in a language unknown to any ethnicity, then remembered the chanting that echoed at the beginning in the Daxiong Treasure Hall.

None were in Chinese.

"Ying Zhen, follow me and recite a passage of sutras next!"

Lin Bai Ci quickly opened his backpack, took out the Black Tripod Bowl, muttered 'drink porridge' 'drink porridge' twice, and took out the Vanilla Padded Mat.

Seeing this, Hua Yue Yu was quite surprised. If it were usual times, she would definitely inquire about it, but now that everyone was about to die, she had no curiosity left: "Bai Ci, reciting sutras is useless!"

"Not necessarily!"

Lin Bai Ci walked towards the Buddha, "Hurry up!"

Jin Ying Zhen hurriedly followed.

Lin Bai Ci set up the Vanilla Padded Mat and had Jin Ying Zhen kneel on it, then he began to recite sutras.

Thanks to Guo Er Cheng Song!

He memorized the sutras after hearing them just once.

Jin Ying Zhen repeated each sentence after Lin Bai Ci, and since she was kneeling on the Padded Mat imbued with Guo Er Cheng Song's blessing, her memory was exceptionally good at that moment.

Some tourists walked around the hall looking for clues, not giving up, while a few had resigned themselves to fate and simply lay down.

Watching Jin Ying Zhen reciting sutras, they thought she was wasting her effort.

The old man had already proved with his life that chanting sutras was useless.

"Rather than being squashed into a mess, I'd rather be burned to death!"

An old lady mumbled.

Soon, people noticed something was amiss—the great Buddha wasn't killing anyone and was listening to the girl with the goose egg face recite the sutras, with the murderous look on its face slightly softening.

Five minutes passed.

Jin Ying Zhen finished reciting, looking at the great Buddha with a nervous expression.

"Step back!"

The great Buddha waved its hand, and the spark on Jin Ying Zhen's forehead "pop!" exploded and disappeared.

"I've survived! I've survived!"

Jin Ying Zhen jumped with excitement, hugging Lin Bai Ci like a koala and gave him a big kiss.

"Oppa, you're my superhero!"

Jin Ying Zhen felt incredibly grateful to Lin Bai Ci after this near-death experience.

He saved me again!

"So chanting sutras works?"

"Then why was that old man killed?"

"It seems like the sutras they chanted were different!"

The tourists discussed among themselves, gathering around Lin Bai Ci, hoping to learn more.

It was clear to all.

This girl who resembled a member of a Korean girl group survived all because of this big guy.