Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 796 The Unexpected "Monk"

Turning on his portable spotlight, Hu Ming was finally able to see the true nature of this underground space.

Just as Hu Ming had "seen" before, this underground space was quite spacious, with gray-black rock layers as far as the eye could see.

Over hundreds or thousands of years of strong acid corrosion, the rock strata here have undergone some peculiar changes, with the surface covered by a transparent substance resembling crystals.

In the crevices of the rock strata, one can still see some trickling streams flowing, nourishing some plants that have clearly mutated long ago.

Directly in front of Hu Ming was an ancient ruin that covered an area roughly the size of a football field.

Judging by appearance, the main stone material of the ruins is probably hard stone such as granite. Hu Ming didn't have much research in this area and could only make a rough guess.

Due to some unknown force, this ruin remains exactly the same as it was back then, even after so many years!
Hu Ming pondered for a moment, then walked into the Buddhist temple, whose style was similar to, yet different from, that of China.

For centuries, this place has been the only auspicious spot in the area unaffected by acid fumes, where many unnamed shrubs and flowers have quietly grown.

Everything seemed vibrant with life, as if it were a hidden paradise deep underground.

However, this idyllic paradise lacked a sense of life.

It was completely silent there; apart from plants, no other life existed there.

In the very center of the temple, the enormous, golden Buddha statue was covered in dust, its divine power diminished.

Hu Ming's gaze did not linger on the striking, dazzling, and enormous golden Buddha. He merely glanced at it twice before turning around and going to the gap between the Buddha statue and the stone wall.

There were also some fresh traces left nearby.

This is what Gu Huaisheng told Hu Ming; it was here that he had previously discovered the entrance to an even more mysterious place.

Even without Gu Huaisheng's reminder, the moment Hu Ming arrived here, his ears and brain had already mapped out the structure of the place.

The space behind the Buddha statue is barely enough for an adult to squeeze through sideways.

Reaching the center behind the Buddha statue, Hu Ming bent his elbow and lifted the wall, touching a rough dent.

I ran two fingers along the subtle lines, found the right spot, and applied a little pressure…

click-

Muffled thuds emanated from the Buddha statue; these were the rumbling sounds of machinery in operation.

The stone slab beneath Hu Ming's feet suddenly disappeared, and under the influence of gravity, he slid down the narrow passage beneath his feet.

Hu Ming was not surprised by this, because this was now the only way to enter a deeper level.

The passage spirals downwards, but fortunately, it widens as you go down, with smooth walls reinforced by some exceptionally fine material. Even if you slide down at high speed, you won't get hurt by friction.

"It's just a little hot..."

Reaching the bottom, Hu Ming slightly curled his lip. Who knows what the monks who built this Buddhist temple back then were thinking, making such a bizarre entrance? Or did they just like this kind of thing?
When Hu Ming came down, he caused airflow, and the slight change in air pressure activated the ingenious mechanism that had been working normally for a hundred years.

Click click click…

The sounds of machinery operating could be heard all around.

Hu Ming's keen senses revealed that the pre-programmed conditions in this enclosed underground space had been met, opening the hidden ventilation shafts and allowing the previously stagnant air to begin circulating again.

"call"

After taking a couple of tentative breaths to make sure the air was alright, Hu Ming finally felt relieved. Frankly, this ingenious design, using a slight change in air pressure as the activation condition, was truly astonishing even to someone like Hu Ming who was an expert in mechanisms.

Moreover, the fact that this was made by people who lived in this wild region hundreds of years ago is particularly astonishing.

Shortly after the air began to circulate again, lights suddenly appeared in the underground space, moving from far to near.

Arriving at the nearest snake-headed Buddha lamp stand, Hu Ming leaned forward and sniffed it lightly.

"It's shark oil, it's an ever-burning lamp."

Hu Ming discerned the material of the lamp oil and sighed softly.

Shark oil is extremely rare; according to ancient records, it was only produced in coastal areas.

This region is located in the heart of the continent, and it is hard to imagine how the monks of that time managed to obtain such precious dyes, let alone know the techniques for making everlasting lamps.

However, Hu Ming's attention was not on this point at the time; he was not interested in the origins of the monks who built the temple here.

Under the lamplight, this small underground chamber, about 100 square meters in size, was densely packed with various shelves.

On the shelves, thousands of fist-sized Buddha statues and pagodas gleamed under the lights, their brilliant golden light almost turning the place into daytime!
Several centimeters of dust had clearly accumulated around the stupa and Buddha statues, but not a single speck of dust had settled on the stupa and Buddha statues themselves.

From the perspective of the Golden Eyes, the pagodas and Buddha statues placed here are different from the huge Buddha statues in the main hall outside. The Buddha statues and pagodas here all contain some kind of mysterious power.

It is worth mentioning that these shelves holding pagodas and Buddha statues are arranged in a strange formation.

It contains elements of ancient Chinese Buddhist scriptures, Taoist classics, and numerology, but more importantly, it contains local cultural concepts that Hu Ming does not understand.

"It seems the arrangement here is using the power of Buddha statues and pagodas to suppress something..."

After carefully examining the parts for a moment and making inferences based on what he could understand, Hu Ming vaguely guessed something.

The concepts of battle formations and tactics, passed down through generations in China, are mostly abstract and mysterious things on paper, making them difficult to explain clearly.

Some say that the so-called battle formations are mostly exaggerated descriptions by the ancients. To put it bluntly, they are similar to modern military formations, only more scientific and rational in terms of the collective power of the command.

Even the legendary Bagua Formation of Zhuge Liang, which is said to be incredibly powerful, is nothing more than a special military formation arrangement.

However, some metaphysicians believe that the formations described in ancient books and unofficial histories, which possess mysterious powers, do exist and have many mysterious powers that cannot be explained by science.

What lies before Hu Ming now is clearly a formidable force, imbued with some of the ideology of the Celestial Empire!
This is a mysterious formation that uses mystical means to integrate, concentrate, and strengthen the power of Buddha statues and pagodas!
Hu Ming observed the mysterious formation he was seeing for the first time with astonishment.

Even with Hu Ming's extensive experience, this was the first time he had ever seen such a thing.

Hu Ming had no knowledge of this kind of thing. After looking at it for a long time, he could only sigh with regret, as he could only grasp some superficial aspects at that time.

Just as feng shui is the ancient people's study of the dead, formations are the ancient people's study of mysterious forces, which are even more mysterious and unfathomable than feng shui.

The difference is that, at least from the current situation, Hu Ming could discern some ideas from the Eight Trigrams and the I Ching, but it would probably be impossible to fully understand them in a short period of time.

The fact that Hu Ming could discern these ideas suggests that he was already well-versed in the I Ching and divination, which enabled him to understand a portion of them.

As soon as he stepped into the area of ​​the pagoda and Buddha statues, Hu Ming keenly sensed that something seemed to have changed, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it; it was more like a change in his mind.

If someone who doesn't understand this, or who firmly believes that superstition is wrong, comes here, they would probably just think it's an illusion caused by the environment and their own mindset.
Fortunately, the pagodas and Buddha statues were originally designed with a specific purpose in mind. At least, the formation here is not entirely without malice towards outsiders, which saves Hu Ming a lot of trouble.

On the contrary, after entering, Hu Ming felt a faint sense of comfort, as if a spring breeze was blowing on his face, washing away the dust, and he felt an inexplicable sense of ease from the bottom of his bones.

"The wisdom of the ancients... I've always believed that most of their wisdom has been lost in the long river of history. Although the social production conditions of the ancients were not good, their intellectual knowledge... far surpassed that of modern people."

Hu Ming sighed from the bottom of his heart.

For example, the book "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu single-handedly elevated war from violence to art, and from crude and simple to a contest of ideas.

At least, as the world has developed to this day, Sun Tzu's Art of War remains an unsurpassable masterpiece in the field of military strategy. This book, single-handedly, elevates war to another level, transcending it without departing from it, interpreting and summarizing war from a higher perspective.

This idea is applicable to war in any era and in any form!
Perhaps, looking at it from another perspective, it's precisely because ancient society lacked resources, especially entertainment resources, that people in ancient times were mostly bored and had nothing else to do, which is why they became so knowledgeable...

……

……

The topic has gone too far.

The underground chamber was not large. Before long, although Hu Ming had subconsciously slowed down and admired the rare formation along the way, he soon arrived at the very center, the place where the power of the pagoda and Buddha statues was harmonized and gathered by the formation.

This area is unremarkable.

The ground was clean and tidy, without a speck of dust, with only a futon woven from an unknown material sitting quietly there.

A faint sandalwood scent could be detected on the cushion.

It's normal for this place to be dust-free; it would be strange if the center of the formation were covered in dust.

After a moment's hesitation, Hu Ming stepped forward and sat cross-legged on the futon.

In fact, monks have very high requirements for their meditation posture. Hu Ming was not a monk, nor had he studied the three major points of attention for monks' meditation. He just casually sat cross-legged on the platform.

Hu Ming gently touched the ground with two fingers, and soon figured it out.

With both fingers held straight, the skill of probing with both fingers is unleashed, all the strength of the body is twisted into a rope and released from the two fingers that are as sharp as knives.

puff~
The hard floor was like a shoddy construction project; Hu Ming's two fingers easily pierced through it.

Of course, Hu Ming had almost figured out how to open the doors to the deeper passages, but
When it comes to formations, things suddenly become complicated. Hu Ming guessed that opening the door through normal procedures would likely take a lot of time and effort.

If that's the case, and there's a more convenient way available, why not use it?
With long, slender fingers reaching through the floor, he disregarded the hard ground, using terrifying force to slice through the solid earth beneath, searching for a crucial point.

A moment later, Hu Ming's eyes lit up: "Found it!"

He squeezed his entire palm in a bit, his two fingers touching a metal disc buried deep underground. He then forcefully turned the disc, using his mental analysis of the underground conditions based on subtle sounds to engage a crucial gear.

Click click click.
A muffled mechanical hum came from the futon, and the ground, about three meters in radius, began to slowly sink, forming a circular ditch about thirty centimeters deep.

汨汨
Within a few breaths, the ditch was filled with a kind of woody, viscous liquid, emitting a strong sandalwood scent. Just smelling the overflowing aroma made one feel a jolt in the head and a sudden clarity of mind.

"This is good stuff..."

Hu Ming sighed softly.

This stuff is even better than the best sandalwood available on the market; its effects of calming the mind and soothing the mind are immediate.

The moment the viscous liquid filled the ditch, the pagodas and Buddha statues placed on the shelves nearby suddenly shone brightly.

A dazzling golden light rose slowly, like one small sun after another, bright yet not glaring, radiating a soft golden glow.

At this moment, the dust accumulated around the Buddha statues and pagodas was pushed aside by some mysterious force and scattered on the ground.

Hu Ming keenly sensed that with these strange phenomena, a mysterious power was awakening here!
Faintly, the sound of chanting could be heard in my ears, as if a high monk was reciting Buddhist teachings in my ear.

All these signs indicate that the location Hu Ming found is extraordinary, and is most likely the most important place in this entire area.

The circular ditch was slowly filled with a viscous liquid, and the fragrance of sandalwood reached its peak.

At this moment, Hu Ming's consciousness suddenly became somewhat dazed, and his tough nerves, honed through countless trials, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Putting aside Hu Ming's astonishing willpower, his extraordinary abilities such as superhuman senses and golden eyes are enough to resist any hallucinogenic tricks in the world.

Before Hu Ming could think any further, he actually heard Buddhist chanting!
It was as if hundreds of enlightened monks had surrounded Hu Ming, chanting in unison some unknown and profound scripture.

What startled Hu Ming even more was that, without him noticing, all the pagodas and Buddha statues arranged around him had come to life!
Yes, they came to life. This isn't some exaggerated description; these sculptures truly came to life!
The palm-sized Buddha statue stood up, picked up the pagoda, and jumped down from the shelf one by one, its heavy body hitting the floor with a dull thud.

All the Buddha statues lifted the pagoda and walked towards Hu Ming, seemingly poised to smash it, their eyes blazing with fury. A grand Buddhist chant seemed to be booming from the shadows.

Demon, cease your heinous acts!
Upon hearing this shout, Hu Ming laughed instead, a very happy laugh.

"Although I still can't understand how something can bypass my intuition, my golden eyes, and my precious blood, directly blinding my senses and my thoughts, it's still fake, after all..."

Ignoring the Buddha statues that quickly surrounded him, Hu Ming closed his eyes, relaxed his grip on the knife, turned his head, and pointed the blade at himself.

puff~
With a sinister smile on his face, Hu Ming cleanly and swiftly plunged the knife into his heart, piercing it. A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth, and a throbbing pain shot through him…

That's the right adjective; it truly is a heart-wrenching pain.

Hu Ming's self-deprecating humor amidst hardship.

The heart being damaged is still some time away from brain death, and from true biological death. Hu Ming was experiencing this rare sensation, accompanied by excruciating pain, his consciousness gradually fading, and his journey towards nothingness.

The strong heartbeat stopped, the color drained from Hu Ming's face, and even when he opened his eyes, all he could see was darkness; his consciousness gradually faded.

Around Hu Ming, faint phantom images of dragons and phoenixes seemed to be circling, crying, weeping blood, and grieving.

The last vestige of clarity told Hu Ming that this was death.

At this moment, the hot blood gushing from Hu Mingxin's chest stained a corner of the gold fragment in his trouser pocket.

Those are fragments of pagodas and Buddha statues.

A miracle occurred when the scalding blood stained the gold fragments.

Like a sun rising in a secret room, a dazzling golden light, bright enough to blind people, shone forth and enveloped Jiangnan's mangled body lying on the ground.

warmth.

Although he could no longer see and his senses had faded, Hu Ming's remaining consciousness still perceived a warmth as warm as springtime.

When the golden light reached its peak, the surrounding space seemed to shatter, as if a mirror hanging on the wall had been broken. Layer by layer, it peeled away, and dark cracks as thick as a baby's arm relentlessly devoured everything.

Just then, a huge crack appeared beside Hu Ming and silently swallowed him up.

“Excellent, excellent. We are Chinese, and we almost accidentally injured our fellow countrymen. You are lucky to have such a terrible destiny. Your courage and decisiveness are even more amazing.”

"As for that demon... well, as a predecessor, this humble monk has done all that he could, and has even sat here in meditation for a thousand years. What will happen to future generations is their fate, and the deceased should peacefully dissipate."

The instant Hu Ming disappeared, all the pagodas and Buddha statues seemed to melt into puddles of viscous golden liquid, like butter being baked in the sun, and coalesced into human shapes.

The monk, whose face was obscured by golden light, chanted a Buddhist prayer, seemingly both pleased and sighing.

Finally, he placed his palms together, uttered a long Buddhist chant, and his body transformed into light and vanished.

Where the monk vanished, an irregular, golden, fingertip-sized unidentified substance lay quietly, emitting a faint glow, with faint sounds of Buddhist chanting and worship emanating from it.

……

……