My enemies became my companions

Chapter 709 Within the Buddha's Light (Part 2)

It looks like a town; upon closer inspection, it's probably a town in the capital region.

The closer we got to the town entrance, the more crowded it became. Shops along the road had already taken down their doors, and shop assistants were shouting enthusiastically as pilgrims thronged the area.

The strong scent of sandalwood permeated the congestion. Along the stone arch bridge leading to the temple, the flow of people almost came to a standstill. Temporary stalls lined both sides of the bridge. A girl selling embroidered purses, with a sweet voice, showed the lotus pattern on the purses to an elderly lady who had stopped to watch: "Madam, look how exquisitely this lotus is embroidered. It is most suitable to take it to the Buddha for offering."

Adorned with flowers, believers from all directions flocked to this grand Dharma assembly. Even before entering the temple and before the assembly officially began, people could be seen devoutly prostrating themselves on both sides of the river.

Yin Tingxue, the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect, believed herself to be in charge of this Dharma assembly.

She glanced sideways at the banners fluttering in the wind in the distance, embroidered with large golden characters—"The Great Dharma Assembly of Medicine Buddha, the Tathagata of Lapis Lazuli Light, to Relieve Calamities and Disasters."

This is a grand Buddhist ceremony held once every ten years. In my memory, I was brought here once by my mother before I was born. First, we prayed for the longevity of the late emperor who was about to pass away, and then we prayed for the removal of calamities and disasters.

The former is ostensibly for travel, but the latter is...

Yin Tingxue lowered her gaze slightly, shook her head, and said, "Forget it, I won't dwell on these things anymore."

Thinking of this, she looked around. Crowds came and went, shoulder to shoulder, creating a lively scene. Everyone's face was filled with unusual excitement and piety, all for the sake of catching a glimpse of the Buddha statue at the Dharma assembly.

If Sister Weiying were here, she would surely have some complaints about this grand Buddhist event, lamenting that people are misled by worldly prosperity and do not recognize the true Dharma, etc. But who is Sister Weiying?

Yin Tingxue's face

Those memories are getting stronger and stronger...

Yin Tingxue didn't want to think about it any further; if she did, it would only bring back extremely embarrassing memories.

Even without delving into the details, from those fleeting glimpses of memories that flood back, one can tell that many of those memories are obscene and dissolute depictions of romantic love and physical pleasure between men and women.

After all, his words sounded gentle, and he was indeed gentle, but it was all gentleness directed at him. No matter what he said, it was all just a prelude to matters between men and women... Yin Tingxue's brows furrowed as tightly as possible, these thoughts surging forth uncontrollably.

She lowered her head slightly, looked at her hands which were free of calluses, and her gaze was complicated.

Has the hatred... dissolved a lot?

"Playing the good cop one minute and the bad cop the next, and you're already grateful, Yin Tingxue?"

The Holy Maiden of the Demonic Cult muttered to herself, seemingly mocking herself, yet also appearing to be coldly sarcastic towards another version of herself.

"Little fox, what are you standing there for?"

A distant call came, and Yin Tingxue looked up. The person was waving at her. Her eyes narrowed slightly. No matter what, those who deserve to die will die eventually.

Why not take advantage of this Dharma assembly and kill him quickly?

Anyway, she can get out of the world of ignorance on her own.

Yin Tingxue walked quickly and caught up with Chen Yi, who was standing on the bridge. The river was rushing, and the shadows of people coming and going could not hide the fish swimming in the water begging for food. People on the bridge kept throwing broken pieces of steamed buns and noodles to feed them, and the fish squeezed and fought for food.

It was a bright and sunny spring day.

Throwing food to the fish is nothing special, but children always like to watch. When she was little, she would stay by the bridge and not leave. She wasn't an ignorant child, and she wouldn't be as startled as other children when they saw fish swimming by. She just watched quietly and didn't think there was anything interesting about it. However, unlike the pampered koi at home, the fish swimming in the water were all gray or blue, and they fought for them much more fiercely.

So she lingered a little too long, and when she turned around, she had no idea where her mother was. She could only stand there for a while until her mother finally returned. She didn't scold her, but simply said…
"...Don't get lost."

"Mother, I'm still here, aren't I?"

After saying that, Yin Tingxue turned her face and bumped into the man's face. After a slight surprise, he just smiled gently and then took her hand.

After a moment of hesitation, Yin Tingxue suddenly broke free and stared at him warily.

"Little fox, come along."

Chen Yi was not offended and smiled as he spoke.

“…I can follow by myself.” Yin Tingxue paused. “I don’t need you to hold my hand.”

After hearing these two sentences, Chen Yi raised his eyes slightly, glanced at the girl, saw through her trick, and instead of playing along, directly exposed her, saying, "You've regained your memories, little fox?"

Yin Tingxue's pupils contracted slightly, and she suddenly became like a cat with its fur standing on end. The hostility in her eyes was no longer concealed and was even greater than before.

"Sigh, little fox, didn't you agree not to become the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect?"

Chen Yi sighed, his face full of disappointment.

Without needing to listen carefully, Yin Tingxue knew that he was deliberately putting on a distraught act, because if he really was distraught, he must be holding back from telling his family, or only letting out a few clues or revealing the tip of the iceberg.

"What's done is done, how can you change it?" Yin Tingxue sneered a few times, her tone slightly sarcastic and mocking. "Do you really think that by doing a few hypocritical things in this ignorant world, you can make the past go by?"

Chen Yi's lips parted slightly, but before he could respond, Yin Tingxue interrupted him, saying:

"Even if those memories are real, they have nothing to do with me. I'm making this clear: after this is all over, the best outcome will be that you go your way and I'll go mine. Do you understand?"

Surprisingly, the man remained unperturbed, neither enraged nor injured, and nonchalantly replied:
"If that's the case, I'd better walk the single-plank bridge myself."

Yin Tingxue frowned, instinctively feeling that this person was childish and that continuing the conversation would only be a waste of time.

The temple bell rang from the distant mountain.

The crowd resembled a school of fish, swimming towards the mountain temple and vying for food.

As the bell rang, the sandalwood incense flowed like a thin, white river, slowly passing between the shoulders of the crowd.

.....................

All around was darkness, and even my consciousness was hazy.
It's like being submerged at the bottom of deep water, struggling to surface with great difficulty.

Donggong Ruoshu felt completely paralyzed, and her thoughts seemed to have rusted, turning extremely slowly.

In her hazy consciousness, she tried to wake up while desperately trying to remember...

At that moment... it seemed as if a massive flood had engulfed us...

She jolted awake, fully waking up, and upon looking around, a wave of panic washed over her.

Chen Yi! Yin Tingxue! How are they? What about the flood...?

Startled awake, Donggong Ruoshu gasped for breath, her thoughts racing.
No, we have to find them!
In this world of ignorance, what can she, a lonely ghost, do without those two people?
Her first instinct was to rush towards the darkness she perceived ahead, shouting loudly, but...
"boom!"

A muffled thud, accompanied by a sharp pain in her forehead, left her completely stunned.

A sharp pain shot through my forehead.

She covered the spot where she had been hit with her hand. The pain there felt incredibly real. She was utterly astonished. She was clearly a ghost, so how could she... how could she be knocked back like a living person and even feel pain?

Where is she now?
After the initial shock, she looked around, but there was only darkness, as if she were trapped in an extremely small, enclosed space.

Before she could figure it out and feel anxious, she could vaguely hear voices outside. They were muffled, as if they were coming through a thick wall, but the content was clear.

"...Hurry, the auspicious time for the Dharma assembly is almost here!"

"The attendant bodhisattva statue next to the Medicine Buddha must be placed with care and must not be bumped or knocked!"

"Understood, manager. We'll move out now."

A Buddhist ceremony? A statue of a Bodhisattva? Donggong Ruoshu wondered, what kind of Buddhist ceremony was this?
Before she could think it through, the entire space suddenly shook, followed by a feeling of weightlessness as she moved. She could feel herself and the space surrounding her being lifted up and moved cautiously, while outside she could hear the heavy breathing and careful footsteps of the Fireworkers.

After a while, the movement stopped, and she was placed steadily in a certain spot. Several devout kneelings and whispered prayers could be heard outside, as if the person who had settled her was paying their respects.

Donggong Ruoshu was stunned for a long time.
Although there were many things she didn't understand, she figured out one thing...

Is she... inside a Buddha statue now?!

………………

Looking back from above the temple, tens of thousands of devout men and women, just like the countless monks and nuns described in the scriptures, gathered from all directions to Jetavana Monastery to listen to the true words.

A grand Dharma assembly to dispel calamities and eliminate disasters.

Whose calamity can be relieved, and whose disaster can be averted?

Yin Tingxue lowered her gaze slightly, surveying the throngs of believers from top to bottom, her eyes showing no pity whatsoever.

"What happened here?"

Seeing that Yin Tingxue seemed to be recalling something, and was bewitched as before, Chen Yi asked her directly.

"What happened..." Yin Tingxue paused for a moment, then asked almost instinctively, "Didn't I tell you?"

Chen Yi looked puzzled.

Yin Tingxue realized she had spoken out of turn. It seemed that some memories that should have been sealed away had leaked out, causing her thoughts to become somewhat disordered. After pausing for a moment, she slowly said, "Nothing really happened. It's about warding off misfortune and disaster. Only those who are in trouble need to ward off misfortune and disaster."

These words were rather cryptic, and Chen Yi frowned slightly. How did the little fox turn into a riddle-maker? Just as he was about to ask again, a crowd of people gathered in front of the mountain temple gate.

The mountain gate slowly opened, and hundreds of monks chanted Buddhist prayers in unison.

Sunlight pierced through the dust on the eaves, illuminating the Buddha statue.

Light shone from behind the Buddha statue, as if enveloping it in spiritual light. Devotees bowed their heads in unison, chanting "Amitabha" along with the monks. As the light refracted, they slowly raised their heads again.

The sandalwood scent drifted by like clouds of mist.

And so, as if in a dream, they all changed and revealed their forms.

The old man closest to him had a withered face, and countless fine, twisted characters faintly appeared on the skin of his neck and even his bare wrists, like engraved prescriptions and incantations, yet they were blurry and indistinct, as if he himself had become a medical book bearing countless ailments.

The woman beside him, though her arms were empty, held them tightly in an extremely awkward posture, swaying them. Her face was full of love, but her eyes were sunken, as if she were holding a ghost baby that had been dead for a long time.

Further away, a richly dressed, obese man, with a frail body, sunken face, and withered appearance, looked as if his belly was full of clay, no different from a starving ghost in hell; another young scholar had bloodshot eyes, not from anger, but from the wrath of a demon, his desire for success in the imperial examinations remaining unfulfilled.

The chanting of Buddhist scriptures remained solemn, and the sandalwood incense remained fragrant.

During the Dharma assembly, all sentient beings manifested their forms, even if it was only a fleeting glimpse.

Chen Yi frowned, realizing that what he had just seen was no illusion.

"You see it."

"What's going on..."

Recalling the past, Yin Tingxue said calmly, "That Bodhisattva, she asked me... to save these people."

Chen Yi suddenly turned his head and realized that there must be some kind of arrangement or plan by the Medicine Bodhisattva, and the ignorance of the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect that he had seen along the way was all closely related to it.

The Bodhisattva of Medicine wanted her to awaken and become a Buddha on the spot, something Chen Yi had always known.

"She wanted you to realize this, but you refused, so... you remained ignorant in your heart?"

Upon hearing this, the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect, unusually, did not get angry; she simply nodded slightly, tacitly agreeing.

Seeing this, Chen Yi pondered for a moment, but still felt puzzled. After all, the Medicine Bodhisattva had long since died on his side, and many of the Bodhisattva's schemes and arrangements were now unknown.

Yin Tingxue looked up at the mountain temple again and said slowly, "Go in. If you want to leave this world of ignorance, you must enter the temple."

After hearing this, Chen Yi turned to look at the golden Buddhist temple and said, "Speaking of which, you haven't told me yet how we can get out of this world of ignorance, or how you got out of it before."

"To dispel ignorance is all that is needed."

Yin Tingxue's answer was so crisp and decisive that Chen Yi was somewhat taken aback.

He frowned and asked again, "Is it really that simple?"

Yin Tingxue seemed not to hear his words, and took the first step up the steps, following the flow of people into the Buddhist temple.

From the foot of the mountain to the main hall, the long stone steps are crowded with devout men and women, like ants swarming around a carcass, yet they are orderly.

Banners and canopies fluttered in the wind, their silk tassels gleaming.

Inside the temple, golden light shone brightly, and the enormous Buddha statue was solemn and majestic, bathed in Buddha's light. Its lowered eyes seemed to gaze compassionately upon all living beings. The fragrance of sandalwood, like clouds and mist, enveloped the entire temple.

As they strolled into the temple, everyone put away their demonic appearances and bowed their heads in the Buddha's light.

………………

Outside the Bodhisattva statue, a cacophony of voices mingled, and Donggong Ruoshu heard countless prayers.

The monks led the believers to the Buddha, chanting continuously. The deep and melodious sounds of Buddhist chants seemed to come from beyond the heavens, intertwining with the deep and continuous sound of bells and the clear and pleasant sound of chimes.

Hearing this, Donggong Ruoshu was completely bewildered.

She'd had enough, so she just stormed out.

Thinking this, Donggong Ruoshu rammed into the ground with all her might, causing the surrounding space to tremble slightly.

Several gasps of surprise rang out from inside the main hall.

"The Bodhisattva has moved! The Bodhisattva has moved!"

"The Bodhisattva has appeared! Bodhisattva, please protect us, Guanyin Bodhisattva!"

"How foolish! That's not Guanyin! Oh, thank goodness for the Bodhisattva of the Sun! The Bodhisattva of the Sun has appeared!"

...All these sounds rang out one after another as Donggong Ruoshu struck the ground.

Unable to get out...

Several attempts to break through her defenses proved ineffective. Donggong Ruoshu racked her brains for a solution; she wasn't one to give up so easily.

No, we have to find a way out...

After much deliberation, Donggong Ruoshu plopped down, deciding to give up rather reluctantly.

Forget it, I'm not going out.

We'll just wait for Chen Yi to come and rescue us.

(End of this chapter)