Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 584: The Gap Between Reality and Illusion

“It’s actually here?”

Holding the pure light of the thousand-petal golden lotus, he followed the connection of cause and effect and came to a deserted temple.

After looking around, Jingguang found a broken plaque in the corner.

This plaque was carved from a whole piece of stone, but the gold characters on the front had long since peeled off, and the surface was covered with moss, indicating that it had obviously been abandoned here for a long time.

Jingguang felt something and went forward to pick it up. He found that there were three cracks of varying depths in the center of the plaque, which almost split it into four parts.
After a simple wipe, Jingguang saw five big words written on the plaque.

"Tzu Chi Goddess Temple"

“Have folk beliefs declined?”

Jingguang sighed, reached out to pick up the plaque, walked through the broken gate, and came to the courtyard behind.

Looking around, whether it is the area it occupies, the architectural style, or even the destroyed statues, one can see the former glory of this abandoned temple.

The buildings similar to wing rooms on the east and west sides collapsed completely, and the remaining eaves and broken walls were covered with vines and weeds.

The lotus pond in the southeast corner is filled with silt, with only a few broken lotus leaves revealing its original purpose.

Having come here, Jingguang couldn't help but be extremely alert.

Because as she walked through the gate, a faint white mist seeped out from every corner. In the blink of an eye, everything around her was white and she couldn't see anything clearly.

Jingguang's face darkened slightly. She flipped her palm and held a incense ball in her hand. She pinched the incense ball with her fingers, and flames rose and green smoke curled up, dancing around her.

As soon as the fragrance came into contact with the white mist, Jingguang knew that something was wrong.

"It's not an evil dharma? It seems to be a Buddhist dharma?"

After noticing the problem, Jinguang immediately prayed to Chutai. Chutai, who had always paid special attention to Jinguang, separated a little spiritual light and appeared beside her after hearing the call. He said with some emotion: "It is indeed between these two worlds, between the virtual and the real."

"Senior, do you know where this place is?"

Facing Jingguang's question, Chu Tai shook his head and said, "I don't know where this place is. I just guessed that she would hide in a place like this."

After that, Chu Tai continued, "She doesn't want me to meet her, and I can't show it to others, so I'll just reach out."

Upon hearing this, Jingguang immediately knew what Chu Tai was thinking and stretched out the thousand-petal golden lotus. The incarnation of Chu Tai's spiritual light twisted its body and turned into a ray of golden light that fell on the lotus.

The lotus petals trembled slightly, and Chu Tai's voice appeared in Jingguang's ears.

"let's go."

Upon hearing this, Jingguang held up a thousand-petal golden lotus in one hand and dropped streams of smoke with the other hand to protect himself, then he walked straight forward.

There was white fog all around, and everything was white wherever you looked. It was impossible to tell up from down, left from right, east from west, or north from south.

Jingguang didn't know how long he had been walking, but there was still no way out.

"Strange, although the principle of light in the universe between reality and illusion has changed, we should have walked out by now. Senior, do you know why?"

Jingguang looked down at the golden lotus and told it in a voice transmission about his doubts. The lotus petals that seemed to be made of gold trembled slightly, and Chu Tai gave his guess.

"I underestimated this guy's perception ability. I will fall into a deeper sleep in a moment. You continue to move forward."

After saying this, the golden light dimmed, and Chu Tai's aura and fate in the golden lotus became silent, as if they did not exist at all.

Upon hearing this, Jingguang took another step forward. This time, she felt as if she had passed through some barrier. The white mist in front of her eyes instantly dissipated, revealing a mass grave with a dark sky and barren land.

"Caw, caw, caw..." Accompanied by shrill cries, dozens of crows flew out from everywhere, flapping their wings, creating whirlwinds that blew away the paper money on the large and small mounds of earth around them.

Jingguang knew at a glance that these crows were not simple. The incense ball in her palm fell, and the moment it touched the ground, it immediately dispersed into wisps of fragrance that flowed everywhere. Orchids broke out of the ground, and the faint fragrance flew everywhere, making the crows that were originally planning to fly away fly back.

The shrill screams that had been heard all around now only had one last sound left.

Looking in the direction where the sound came from, Jingguang saw a short girl standing in the woods imitating the cry of a crow.

She seemed to realize that Jingguang had discovered her, so she turned and ran deep into the woods behind her.

Jingguang hurriedly followed. Within two steps, the fog around them rolled up again. The scene became blurry and clear at the same time. The original mass grave had become a small town.

It was still dark, and only one house in the town had its lights on.

Jingguang clenched the golden lotus in her hand, and the fragrance surrounding her converged inward, condensing into a piece of painted silk surrounding her. At the same time, a faint Buddha light rotated between Jingguang's eyebrows, preventing external forces from further affecting her spirit.

After doing all this, Jingguang slowly approached the house.

As she approached, she heard three old voices speaking one after another.

"Grandma Wang, does it have to be like this?"

A slightly tired old voice sounded, followed by a sharp retort.

"Li Zheng, it's not that I'm cruel, I just can't help it. The queen is getting weaker and weaker, and the protection she can provide us is getting less and less. If we don't find a way to make her recover, we will all die."

"Then the doll shouldn't be sacrificed!"

The head of the village seemed to want to struggle, but Granny Wang pressed on.

"It's okay not to sacrifice, but the next time the evil ghost comes, the Queen Mother may not be able to protect us. If you don't believe it, you can ask Tzu Chi. Do you think I'm right? Master Tzu Chi..."

When Granny Wang said this, she deliberately drew out her voice, and her words were full of sarcasm and ridicule.

The person whom she called Tzu Chi Master also spoke at this time.

"Namo Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Village Chief, although what Granny Wang said lacked compassion, she was not lying."

“Hehe, what compassion? Real compassion should be to be willing to bear the sins, sacrifice a small number of people, and save the vast majority. As long as the majority of people can survive, that is compassion!”

Jinguang outside the window frowned slightly when she heard this, wanting to refute such remarks, but she also knew that everything in front of her was not happening now, and she could not interfere, so she could only continue to listen patiently.

The three people in the room made the final decision after a brief silence.

The head of the village said with some difficulty: "Then Granny Wang, I'll leave Wang girl's matter tomorrow to you."

"Don't worry, I will do it beautifully."

Having achieved her goal, Granny Wang was obviously very happy, and finally she spoke a few words of advice: "Li Zheng, you don't have to be so sad. The world we live in now is not a place for human beings to live. You should be happy that Miss Wang can return to the arms of the queen."

"Yes, it's not a bad thing to stay away from the filthy land and enjoy peace."

The village head seemed to be comforting himself, and the Tzu Chi master, apart from the initial testimony, had been silently reciting a Buddhist scripture.

Jingguang listened attentively and felt something was strange.

"Something is wrong. Why does this scripture sound like the "Golden Light Sutra of Supreme Confession and Elimination of Sins"? But this sutra is not a sutra that preaches self-confession and the elimination of sins. Why would she recite this sutra first?"

Jingguang was a little curious, and the house in front of him turned into nothingness as the mist rose and dissipated again. As a faint fragrance rose, the surrounding scene became solid again.

(End of this chapter)