The tiny, burning wick is getting closer and closer...
Jianchou actually immersed himself in the light, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
None of the six figures from before were left.
The entire pagoda hall suddenly became empty.
The gray-haired mouse pulled at the piece of silk paper, chirped, and then jumped into the incense burner and disappeared.
***
There was no more flames, no more pagodas, and no more big Buddha.
The world in front of Jianchou was pitch black, so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of him.
She stood in this space, her whole body tense, looking around.
However, the darkness was like thick ink that could not be dissolved. Even if the spiritual consciousness was extended, it could only extend to three feet in front of the body at most, and it would be difficult to move forward any further.
It was as if something was blocking the vision and spiritual awareness.
An extremely indescribable sense of danger suddenly arose in her heart.
But after a moment, it disappeared completely.
A light laugh came from the deepest part of the darkness, followed by a long sigh: "Little friend Jianchou, don't be alarmed. This is just the necessary place to obtain the Master's notes."
This sound
Jianchou's guard suddenly relaxed, and she felt that the voice sounded familiar.
Surprisingly, it's like the red butterfly I encountered while wandering around
"Red Butterfly Fairy?"
The person in the darkness was stunned for a moment upon hearing the voice, and then he started to chuckle, as if he finally couldn't help laughing.
"I told you not to call me fairy... I'm a demon."
Along with the enchanting laughter, a slender waist suddenly appeared in the darkness in the distance.
It was like a beam of light that suddenly illuminated people.
Her innocent eyes and eyebrows are adorned with brightly colored makeup, she has a red mouth, a beautiful nose, enchanting pupils and painted eyebrows, and she is wearing a scarlet dress embroidered with silver patterns, which looks delicate and gorgeous.
In Hongdie's white palm, there was a little mouse, slowly walking towards them from a distance.
With every step she took, the area around her became brighter.
There were green lamps one after another, but none of them were lit. There was still some lamp oil in the lamps that had not yet dried up, and the wicks were old and curled.
Thus, the entire dark world suddenly became clear.
This turned out to be a high mountain with a long mountain path made of stone slabs. You couldn't see the end at a glance, but there were rows of lights on the left.
The end of the mountain path was shrouded in golden clouds and mist, making it difficult to see clearly.
Jianchou was greatly surprised: "Is this an illusion?"
"If you say it is an illusion, then it is an illusion. If you say it really exists, then it is true. In the Buddha's mind, there are three thousand worlds like grains of sand. This is just one of the grains of sand."
Buddha
In other words, she is actually still in that Buddhist temple, but she doesn't know exactly where it is.
She looked at the gray-haired mouse in Hongdie's hand. It looked exactly like the mouse on the incense burner in the hall before, and its claws were still holding the tattered silk paper.
After a little thought, Jianchou understood.
"I think Fairy Red Butterfly brought Chou to this place, but I don't know what her purpose is. Where is my companion?"
"There is a green lamp in front of the Buddha, illuminating the three thousand feet of the mortal world. Your companion is naturally one of the three thousand worlds." Hongdie swayed her waist like a willow branch. "Although Li Jun promised you that he would take you to read the Master's notes, we think that not everyone can read the Master's notes."
When the word "Li Jun" was mentioned, there was obvious sadness in Hongdie's voice.
She already knew what Lijun's current situation was.
She curled the corners of her lips slightly, feeling a little desolate in her heart. She raised her eyes and saw Jianchou looking at her. The eyes of this cultivator from the Nineteenth Continent were really beautiful, and his look was also very beautiful.
"This road is called the Red Dust Thousand-foot Lamp."
There are many lights along the way.
Hongdie extended her slender finger and pointed, sighing softly, "If you want to read the Master's notes, just go forward and light this first lamp. Each lamp is a calamity in the mortal world. I don't know what you will encounter after lighting it, so I'm afraid I can't help you."
I see.
Red Dust Tribulation...
This name reminded Jianchou that when Buddhist disciples reached a certain stage in their practice, they would always have to go down the mountain to gain experience, which was called "going through the calamities of the world."
She was on an isolated island at the time and didn't think this was a big deal.
But I didn’t expect that today, when I arrived at the Nineteenth Continent, I realized that Buddha is real, Zen is real, and all these calamities in this world are real.
Taking a step forward, Jianchou looked towards the blurry golden shadow at the end of the mountain path, and suddenly asked with a smile, "It seems that if we get there, we can get Master Buyu's "Eighteen Records of Qingfeng Temple", right?"
"good."
Hongdie smiled slightly, and there was a hint of thoughtfulness in her eyes as she looked at her.
She sighed softly and said faintly: "But you'd better not light the lamp."
"don't want?"
Jianchou had already reached the side of the mountain path. There were lush trees on both sides and a lamp standing beside the path in front of him.
The lamp was made entirely of bluestone and looked as if it had been exposed to wind and rain for who knows how many years, with many mottled marks on it. The lotus-shaped lamp contained a small amount of lamp oil and a curled wick.
She was just about to light the lamp, but she didn't expect Hongdie to suddenly say this.
Jianchou stopped, turned around and looked at her.
Hongdie's fingertips gently slid across the mouse's fur, and her charming eyes flickered with pity: "You are a person with an incomplete soul, and you will die if you leave your body. Why bother practicing that Taoism?"
"… "
His body suddenly stiffened for a moment.
Jianchou's sharp gaze was like a flash of a knife, piercing Hongdie's face, as if she was facing a formidable enemy!
***
"Light a lamp?"
Xie Buchen looked at the red butterfly that appeared in front of him with slight surprise.
The place where he was was a long corridor covered with wind and rain.
The drizzle of rain fell from the sky and landed in the lake on both sides of the corridor.
This corridor is very long, and the end is shrouded in mist and rain, making it hazy and unclear.
There are rows of green lanterns on the left side of the corridor.
Xie Buchen's gaze slowly moved from Hongdie to the mouse in Hongdie's palm, and finally to the long row of green lanterns.
Finally, he let out a leisurely breath, listening to the sound of rain around him: "The last time I came to the Hidden Realm, I passed by a square, and by chance I learned that under a pagoda in the Hidden Realm, there was a red butterfly. I realized that there are three thousand worlds in the Buddha's heart, and there are three thousand butterfly dreams. When it flaps its wings, it is the three thousand red dusts."
"… "
Hongdie was stunned for a moment, then started giggling.
She walked to the corridor, staring at the drizzling rain outside, and said charmingly: "You are a very smart person. You have entered the hidden world for the second time, and you know more than your companions. Logically, I should like you more and let you go to get the master's notes smoothly. It's a pity that I like your sweetheart more in my heart..."
Heart...
people
At that moment, Xie Buchen's indifferent and gentle gaze suddenly froze, and his body instantly tensed up like a drawn bow.
"Oh, it seems that even the most rational people will be a little bit at a loss when being exposed..."
The laughter of the red butterfly passed through the heavy mist and rain and reached a very far place, but no one could hear it.
"I thought you were a heartless soul, able to stay out of trouble until the end... Hahaha, I never expected it, fate plays tricks on us! You and her are really the most interesting people I have ever met in the hidden world..."
She said, smiling, and twirled seductively.
She turned around and faced Xie Buchen again, and saw the murderous intent leaking out of his eyes bit by bit, as if it had become real, but he still stood there motionless, just looking at her.
As if…
If she continued to say another word, a sword would be placed on his neck in the next moment.
But who is Hongdie
The more Xie Buchen did this, the more she felt a sense of joy in playing a mischievous trick on him.
“Pah.”
With a light pinch of her fingers, there was a snap of her fingers, and suddenly out of thin air appeared a butterfly with bright red wings.
The butterfly wings dissipated into dust in the blink of an eye, but one picture after another appeared, like memories smudged by ink, blurred in the fading.
"I have seen too many ruthless people in the world, but this is the first time I have seen someone as ruthless and decisive as you... When you were in the Red Dust Thousand-foot Lamp, I couldn't help but take a look at you to see what you were thinking..."
Hongdie's voice sounded very innocent.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at Xie Buchen. Seeing his expression becoming uglier little by little, she couldn't help laughing out loud.
Countless images flashed by rapidly in the void.
Xie Buchen listened to Hongdie's mocking voice, raised his almost wooden eyes and looked over.
He was nailed to the stone pillar by five black-feathered arrows from Wu'e, unable to move. However, Jianchou was in a state of enlightenment and was unaware of the danger...
The Xie Buchen in the picture seemed to be the embarrassed Xie Buchen of the past.
He endured the heart-wrenching pain, hesitating and wavering between saving and not saving...
In the end, it was just a snap of the fingers...
The immovable bell flew out, and the picture shattered instantly.
"Tsk tsk... You once killed your wife with your own sword, and now you see her in trouble and you rescue her."
An extremely sarcastic voice came out of Hongdie's mouth.
"Do you really have to have the four seals in her hand? You have the seal of the Ming Dynasty in your hand, you can use it to threaten Li Jun and open the door for you. There is more than one way in the world... But you still chose her..."
That voice is so beautiful.
Xie Buchen stood there, not moving a muscle.
Hongdie gently stroked the gray-haired mouse, as if stroking a lazy kitten: "You humans are really complicated..."
She forced a gorgeous smile and then cast her gaze into the void.
The picture is still flashing rapidly.
This time, it was the most dangerous moment—
The Great Ming Seal collapsed, and the hidden world began to shatter.
Horrible cracks appeared in the ground, the stone pillars collapsed, and his world turned upside down.
The fallen Xie Buchen seemed to have a very complicated expression on his face, one so complicated that it was hard to understand.
Jianchou in mid-air only glanced at him—
Disgust, hatred, pleasure, pity, indifference, and regret.
The regret of not being able to kill him myself.
Then he suddenly smiled, seemingly calm and composed, but in fact he was full of calculations.
He opened his palms to her.
At that moment, she rushed towards her recklessly and stretched out her hand towards her with force.
Pop.
The moment when the two palms are clasped.
He originally thought that he should feel a twisted sense of pleasure in his heart, but when he raised his eyes and saw her clenched teeth and persistence, and felt the warm blood flowing down, that kind of pleasure disappeared like ice and snow melting.
There are so many things that crawled out from the grave of memory.
There are so many that even Xie Buchen himself finds it difficult to catch them all.
When they were at Xie Hou's mansion, on the Tingyu Ge Pavilion, she was drawn by his persistent, clean and fair hand through four hundred and eighty temples, and through the west wind shining on the setting sun;
It was a moment of collapse, a time of imminent disaster, when she held his hand as they ran through the darkness, the wind was cold but her hand was warm, sweaty but holding it tightly;
It was a passenger boat on the river, the night rain was drizzling, they stood at the bow, watching the ferry approaching, the hand he held solemnly...
Those two hands stretched out, those two hands clasped together, how many times in the past days have we held each other in tacit understanding, knowing that you and I both knew it
There were many times when she reached out to him without hesitation in times of danger.
That hand was still the same one in his memory.
And just like that, they slowly overlapped.
Something buried in the grave, at this moment, accompanied by the sound of the hands clenching, accompanied by the flowing warm blood, accompanied by the sound of the world around him collapsing...
Breaking out of the ground completely, completely...
resurrection.
"How pitiful..."
Hongdie stretched out her voice, and the pity in her eyes became more real.
"You fell in love with her again..."
Just a few words were like thunder rolling across the sky, instantly burying the world in pale light!
What was once extinguished was rekindled.
"… "
The picture in the void has gradually dissipated.
Xie Buchen stood there for a long time, still looking at her in silence.
Hongdie couldn't see his expression, but she knew that no one would feel good if someone saw into their heart.
With a smile on her face, she opened her lips slightly, looked at the motionless figure, and wanted to say the next sentence -
Xie Buchen, who was standing under the corridor like a withered statue, suddenly moved.
Just like that, Hongdie's heart stopped beating!
He slowly turned towards her, his face showing the pain of being lost in memories and a trance, but the next moment, his thin, bloodless lips gently curled up...
A smile that is extremely gentle and also extremely bloody!
Hongdie couldn't help but take a step back.
In that indifferent body stained by the mist and rain, under that calm and elegant face, there seems to be a crazy and cruel monster hidden!
The tip of the tongue rolled gently, and it was that almost tender sentence -
"The more I love, the more I kill!"