Buddha and the Evil Ghost
Less than two minutes later, Yingshi felt a strong urge to take back her earlier remark about not thinking it was a big deal.
Because sounds began to stir outside her door.
It was the sound of someone's footsteps, heavy and dragging, seemingly walking slowly through the courtyard.
Was it the sweeping monk coming over, or had someone failed to return to their room before the evening bell tolled?
Or perhaps... something else entirely?
Yingshi involuntarily squeezed Shuangjian's fingers, her entire body curling into a half-crouch as she stared vigilantly at her door.
By the time she noticed that Shuangjian's fingertips had gone stiff and were no longer responding to her subtle movements, it was already a bit too late.
Smack—
Her room door was forced open by an invisible entity, swinging wide open as if something unseen to the naked eye had barged in ruthlessly.
Yingshi almost screamed out loud. She bit her lip to hold it in, her heart pounding wildly. She hurriedly covered her face with one hand while clutching Shuangjian's hand tightly with the other.
It was only then that she sluggishly realized Shuangjian next door had not moved for a long time—this bizarre invasion was targeting her and her alone!
Just like a plot from a horror movie, Shuangjian was right beside her, yet separated by a barrier that transcended physical bounds. She had become the sole, unlucky chosen one!
Help!
Please no ghosts, no ghosts, no ghosts!
Yingshi screamed silently in her mind, muttering endless prayers that she wouldn't be frightened like this!
But heaven did not grant her wish. In a completely windless environment, a piece of paper gently slapped onto her forehead.
She kept her eyes shut, and the paper remained stuck there, growing heavier and tighter. If she didn't deal with it, it might just rip her face off... It was so terrifying that Yingshi suddenly mustered a sliver of courage and fiercely tore the paper away.
Her hands trembled non stop, but she didn't close her eyes again. Since things had already reached this point, she might as well look!
What on earth was playing tricks on her!
If it was a giant piece of joss paper, she swore she would faint on the spot!
Fortunately, the paper in her hand was actually a letter written in neat, small characters.
The letter read:
You are in truth wandering souls who have possessed the bodies of artisans, waiting quietly here. More than half of you share this path.
The karmic retribution you bear is not a debt of this life. Do not imitate the foolish artisans, vainly trying to mend the heavens.
Know that if the golden body is completed, the universe will be eternally solidified, and you will inevitably fall into the Avici Hell forever.
Fortunately, an evil ghost lies dormant beneath the golden body. Only by offering flesh and blood to nourish it night after night and helping it break free, can the order of this realm be restored, and you too shall see the light of day once more!
Yingshi read it word by word. Just as she wanted to read it again, the paper abruptly burst into flames, turning to ash in an instant. The ashes then quickly dissolved, vanishing into thin air in milliseconds—an incredibly smooth sequence, as if terrified of leaving any evidence behind.
...
Yingshi stood there in a daze. She had understood the letter's meaning: it claimed she was not a real stonemason but a little ghost, and that she shouldn't actually help build the giant Buddha, but instead must nourish the evil ghost suppressed beneath the statue.
The problem was, was this statement truly a rule?
Had she genuinely drawn an evil faction identity card, like in the game of Avalon, or was the current situation merely some kind of trap and temptation waiting for her to fall for it?
The inquiry in her heart overpowered her fear. Yingshi couldn't help but let go of Shuangjian's seemingly frozen hand, stood up, and tiptoed toward the wide-open door.
She wanted to find some evidence to support her judgment, or see if any nearby disciples in a similar situation were also sneaking a peek... After all, the letter had said that half of them were wandering souls!
If fifty disciples were all part of the evil ghost faction, then this trial was purely a faction war.
With this look, she actually did see someone.
It was the sweeping monk who had announced the rules earlier!
Their eyes met, and to her surprise, he walked toward her carrying a lantern.
Yes, this was the sound. The dragging, slow footsteps were indeed made by this old monk!
Yingshi stood astonished by the door, while the old monk stopped five steps away, his aged face illuminated half in light and half in shadow by the lantern's halo.
Little benefactor, you do not sleep after nightfall. Is there confusion in your heart? he asked with a curved smile.
...
Yingshi didn't know if she should answer.
It wasn't uncommon for a guiding NPC to suddenly turn into a hostile boss, so she had to be extra cautious around this mysteriously appearing old monk.
She cautiously remained silent. The old monk merely gave a faint smile in response and continued, The day belongs to the seven days of the artisans, and the night belongs to the seven nights of the wandering souls. The two coexist but never intersect. This poor monk asks you: if mending the Buddha statue is righteous and nourishing the evil ghost is wicked, can righteousness and wickedness coexist in this Avici Temple? Is there a boundary between good and evil?
Yingshi's head spun listening to this, but she accurately caught his mention of wandering souls and evil ghosts.
It seemed this rule truly existed...
But the Tiangang Martial Gathering was, after all, a joint examination among the righteous sects. Would they really arrange a faction like evil ghosts that sounded like total villains?
Evil not prevailing over good should be the normal progression, right?
If she had already been assigned to the evil ghost faction, didn't that mean she had a one hundred percent chance of losing?
Yingshi's mind was in a tangled mess. She was truly on the verge of losing control and questioning the old monk, just as he took another step closer to her. The lantern's firelight flickered across her face, bringing a wave of hallucinatory warmth.
In her daze, Yingshi parted her lips, just about to say something, when she heard a loud bang—
Dust flew as the grey bricks collapsed.
Yingshi turned her head in shock, only to see that the wall between her room and Shuangjian's had been completely destroyed!
Centered around the hole where a square brick had previously been removed, an entire section of the wall caved inward. The grey bricks, maintaining a relatively intact shape, clattered down and even flowed to her feet, kicking up a spreading cloud of dust.
The greyish-white dust obscured the figure behind the ruins, but Yingshi still met Shuangjian's eyes. He stared at her intently, an urgent earnestness in his gaze. His breathing was slightly heavy, and his moon-white robes were already stained with quite a bit of wall dust.
...
Yingshi was completely stunned with fright.
She instinctively looked out the door, terrified that the old monk, being an NPC, would suddenly attack Shuangjian for seemingly violating the nighttime rules. Yet, there was absolutely no one outside the door anymore. And what was most unbelievable was that it was already dawn!
How could that be?!
The duration of the night was probably less than two hours!
But the dark night had indeed retreated silently, and that bizarre dim yellow light was once again dominating the sky and the earth.
Yingshi's legs went completely weak. By this time, Shuangjian had already stepped through the gap in the collapsed wall, treading over the scattered bricks, and arrived by her side in two strides to support her.
Are you hurt? he asked in a low voice.
How could Shuangjian appear so calm?
Hearing that he had already spoken, Yingshi couldn't care about anything else. If they were going to be eliminated, they would be eliminated together!
She anxiously grabbed Shuangjian's arm with both hands and asked excitedly, What's going on with the collapsed wall? Will it affect you?
No, it's already dawn, Shuangjian answered hoarsely.
But he hadn't broken the wall after dawn.
More accurately, it was precisely because he made an out-of-line move that the sky had brightened.
This place was very bizarre.
In his two previous reincarnations, he had never experienced this round of trials.
He had always craved change, craved deviation, craved any choice that differed from the past.
But at this moment, he truly felt the unease of losing control.
...He was not certain.
He had no certainty of guaranteeing Yingshi's safety.
With the blood pact between them, he could completely feel Yingshi's intense panic and helplessness.
It would have been fine if he could feel it the whole time, but from a certain moment, it was as if the connection between them had been severed, and Yingshi had been taken into some independent alternate space.
Compared to her safety, whether or not he passed the second test was completely insignificant.
He only knew that he had to find her.
"What exactly did you encounter just now?" Shuangjian asked.
"Last night I..." Yingshi opened her mouth, intending to mention the letter she received from the evil ghost faction, but her throat seemed to have lost its voice. She unexpectedly couldn't utter those words, her face turning red with anxiety. "Help, I can't say it..."
—Eh? That sentence came out completely unimpeded.
What else was there to not understand now? The events she experienced last night weren't a trap, but a genuine rule!
Only a rule could restrict her physical body, while bewitchment could only bring harm on a mental level...
So, was she a wandering spirit now?!
And Shuangjian clearly didn't have a similar encounter to hers. Could it be that they were no longer in the same faction?
As Yingshi opened her eyes wide in a daze, Shuangjian had already understood implicitly.
He nodded thoughtfully, then looked at the mess in the room and the dust surrounding them. Feeling a hint of embarrassment, he pursed his lips and said, "Apologies, I acted impulsively. We can leave here first. After last night, there should probably be some vacant rooms in the temple."
Yingshi was feeling so suffocated that she didn't even notice Shuangjian's phrase "there should be vacant rooms," which implied that some disciples had already been eliminated last night.
Her mind was full of ways to exploit the loopholes in the rules to communicate with Shuangjian, and within a few seconds, she actually thought of one!
Yingshi suddenly squatted down, picked a blue brick covered in wall dust, and started drawing on it with her finger.
She first drew a cartoon ghost, and then drew a bald stick figure with hands clasped together over the ghost. This brick was completely filled up.
Moving on to the next brick, this time it was a letter signed by a ghost, and she added an arrow pointing towards herself next to it.
Recalling the profound and mysterious words the old monk had said at the time, she wrote two Arabic numeral sevens on the third brick, and drew a scale, with a ghost on the left and a bald head on the right...
After drawing, Yingshi wanted to supplement it with a sentence or two of verbal explanation, but that restrictive feeling of being silenced appeared once again.
The reason those drawings could escape the penalty was probably because the drawing style was too modern, making it completely impossible for the dungeon's will to detect.
Left with no choice, she could only stop drawing, look up, and stare eagerly at Shuangjian, hoping, "Shuangjian, this is how things are. Did you understand?"
"..."
Shuangjian squatted down next to Yingshi and quietly stared at those three abstract blue bricks.
Having been "influenced" by Yingshi's drawing skills a few times, he actually had some understanding of the things she drew.
For example, the bald stick figure with clasped hands represented either the old monk or the giant Buddha. Since its eyes were represented merely by a single concave line to indicate a closed state, he could basically lock it down to the Buddha statue in the courtyard.
Yingshi wanted to tell him that beneath the Buddha statue, something existed.
That thing was depicted using a rather irregular square, and it also had a pair of eyes, but the eye shape was like upward-slanting ink dots. The last time he saw this kind of eyes was in the "Mi Ruotian Suffering Picture" that Yingshi had drawn. He guessed that Yingshi was accustomed to using this eye shape to express a character's evilness.
An evil, non-humanoid thing that opposed the Buddha and was suppressed by the Buddha statue was... an evil ghost?
"You received..." A letter from the evil ghost?
The words she was unable to speak made Shuangjian even more clear on the matter.
His long eyelashes drooped, his expression not changing much. He no longer tried to say anything, but instead used the inside of his sleeve to gently wipe away the mud and dust on Yingshi's fingers.
Yingshi watched Shuangjian's reaction the entire time. Seeing that he also showed the reaction of his words being abruptly cut off, she guessed that Shuangjian had guessed correctly, and was so happy she almost jumped up!
The feeling of being understood by someone was already very good, and in extreme situations, it was only doubly so!
She nodded vigorously, even feeling a bit moved, so moved that her eyes grew hot.
"That's exactly it! Shuangjian, you are so smart!"
She needed to be understood so badly right now, because the Infernal Temple and the Tianshan Snow Plains gave off a completely different feeling. It was like accidentally wandering onto the set of a Chinese horror movie, making her almost forget that she was in a competition. Moreover, the unknown brought about by the fact that this wasn't written in the plot only exacerbated her panic.
It was only at this moment that Yingshi began to feel a lingering fear.
Now that she detached herself and re-examined last night's experience, she realized that her intense desire to converse with the old monk at the end was very unusual.
If Shuangjian hadn't broken through the wall and interrupted in time, who knows what would have happened...
Ahhh, Shuangjian not only woke her up but also understood her. Why was he so good?
A warmth traveled to her chest. Yingshi suddenly really wanted to shout out the window a couple of times, otherwise her heart would keep trembling inexplicably!
Even her fingers were gently wiped clean by Shuangjian using his clothing material, which made her even more dazed. But when she discovered that there were mottled bloodstains remaining on the back of Shuangjian's hand, she instantly sobered up, as if a basin of cold water had been poured over her head.
—On the back of Shuangjian's hand, from the knuckles to the wrist bone, it was covered in dense abrasions and bruises. The most severe were at the base of his middle and ring fingers, where the flesh was split open, deep enough to see the bone.
Without spiritual power accompanying him, trying to break through a wall was no easy task...
Just looking at those injuries was enough to make one ache, but Shuangjian seemed completely oblivious, letting the wounds remain exposed. Only at the moment Yingshi's gaze touched them did his fingers curl almost imperceptibly, as if wanting to hide his entire hand back into his sleeve.
"Does it hurt a lot? I was too careless, I only just noticed you were injured..." Yingshi blamed herself guiltily. She hurriedly grabbed Shuangjian's forearm, her throat tightening as soon as she opened her mouth. "Shall I find some water to wipe it for you? Then we can bandage it..."
"No need. It's just a flesh wound, it doesn't hurt."
"How could it not hurt? You're not made of iron. Such a deep cut would require several shots of anesthesia to be stitched up at the hospital..." Yingshi stopped halfway through her sorrowful words, recalling that not long ago, Shuangjian had pierced his own palm with a hairpin, but it had healed in a few days. The efficacy of the spiritual medicine was one aspect, but the male lead's inherent "cockroach" resilience was another.
Thinking of this made her feel even more uncomfortable.
Why did he have a "cockroach" resilience?
Because the plot required him to constantly take beatings and constantly get injured, but never truly die.
Han Shuangjian in the original text was exactly like this. Whether it was before the seal loosened or after he became stronger, he was always hovering between life and death, adding new injuries to old ones.
The book wouldn't dwell on the agonizing pain of his near-death injuries; it would only highlight his triumphant comebacks against the villains, avoiding anything that might ruin the readers' mood or make for a frustrating read.
Jing Fengliu certainly knew how to balance detail and brevity in writing, but how could one simply edit the details of real life?
Could the achievements gained at certain stages truly make up for all the hardships endured along the way?
Thinking about it carefully, having an unkillable cockroach constitution was actually quite a tragic thing.
Yingshi really hoped that Shuangjian, as a transmigrator, wouldn't inherit the original male lead's constitution, but right now, he seemed to be trending in exactly that direction.
...Shuangjian, he didn't seem to care much about his own body.
You could even say he viewed himself lightly, treating his life as a disposable tool with a self-destructive sort of worthlessness.
Was it because enduring a prolonged environment of pain would wear away the weight of a person's soul?
Yingshi's heart suddenly filled with a bitter sorrow.
No, it couldn't be like this. He couldn't just get used to pain simply because it struck so frequently...
She absolutely refused to let him continue suffering!
"Even if it doesn't hurt you, it hurts me! You only got injured because you were worried about my safety. If you refuse to bandage your injuries, the wounds will scab over in my heart!"
Yingshi threw herself forward and hugged Shuangjian tightly, leaving two comical tear stains on his clothes. Her voice was muffled as she fought to suppress the complex emotions surging within her. Choking back sobs, she pleaded, "Shuangjian, you are such a good person. You have to treat yourself well too, okay?"
