Immortal I Speedrun Supernatural Game

Although the young novice was not very tall, his steps were steady and quick.

Perhaps because he lives alone and has to work in the vegetable garden, his physical strength and fitness seem to be much better than his peers.

So much so that everyone didn't feel that he was slow when they followed his pace.

Before long, the players arrived in front of a building.

The hanging plaque bears three powerful characters—

【My Palace】

It sounds like a rather awkward name.

But a strange look flashed in both Wu Wang's and Bao Tou's eyes.

The term "self-attachment" is also a Buddhist term.

The concept of clinging to the idea of ​​a "self" entity is considered the root of afflictions and cognitive impairments.

Why would there be a building in Cibei Temple named after this?

But considering that even their dorm rooms use the number 10 as the room number, the players didn't find it strange at all.

What normal temple would do such a thing?

The group stepped into the [Hall of Self-Determination] to observe the interior.

Upon entering the interior of the hall, it appears to be a large hall, with Buddha statues and prayer cushions, seemingly no different from the main hall where morning prayers are held.

The only difference is that this hall has many wooden doors that lead to unknown places.

The young novice monk quickly approached a monk who appeared tall but was slightly thin, standing next to the Buddha statue.

He spoke to the other person while simultaneously glancing at the player standing at the entrance of the palace.

Before long, the tall, thin monk and the young novice came over together.

With his hands clasped together and a nod, he said, "Greetings, esteemed benefactors. I am Huiming, and I wonder what brings you to this meditation hall?"

Huiming!?
Is this the young novice monk's master?

A look of surprise flashed across everyone's faces.

Because the other person also looked quite young, seemingly having just come of age.

It's just like... a widow.

This is also what other players find strange about the widow, besides her high level.

He looked handsome and quite young, much younger than most players in the public beta.

They estimated that the widow had used some kind of skill or tool to alter her appearance.

After all, most players don't like to reveal too much about themselves, and they didn't ask too many questions.

Of course, only Wu Xiaoyou knows that Wu Wang's appearance is just as young even without using a mask to change it.

His appearance was forever frozen in time at the age of 18 when the plane crashed.

Besides that, there's another surprising thing...

"Noon?" Passion Fruit subconsciously peeked out at the sky outside the hall.

The sight of the blazing sun made her pause in surprise.

It was now noon.

But that shouldn't be happening!

When the people heard the temple bell ringing and went outside, it was no later than six or seven o'clock when the sun was just beginning to rise.

How could attending an early morning class and eating a vegetarian meal take four or five hours?

Based on everyone's perception, no more than three hours should have passed.

Time seems to have sped up again.

“Coming to the meditation hall is naturally for meditation and cultivation.” Wu Wang didn’t leave Monk Huiming waiting and stepped forward to reply, “I wonder if Venerable Monk Huiming could explain to us the origin of this [Hall of Self-Attachment], and how to meditate and cultivate here?”

The other players didn't find anything wrong with his response.

Although they knew that Monk Huiming must have some secrets, they couldn't just grab him by the collar and interrogate him right away, could they?

Let's make some tentative contact first.

Upon hearing this, the monk Huiming smiled slightly and said:

"This is merely one of the goals of our temple's spiritual practice."

"It is hoped that those who come to this hall will be able to leave their ego forever within the hall during meditation and practice, eliminate their ego, and become people of great wisdom, which is to become a Buddha."

"As for meditation, you only need to go to the meditation hall behind the door."

"It's just the right time for Wusheng to meditate as well. If any of you are interested, you may join him."

After saying that, he turned around and led the young novice monk toward one of the wooden doors.

The players followed immediately without hesitation.

Upon entering through the wooden door, I discovered that this was indeed a room used for meditation and spiritual practice.

There was nothing there except for the futon on the ground.

It seems that most of the other rooms are the same.

The young novice monk casually found a prayer mat and sat cross-legged.

While gesturing for everyone to sit down, Abbot Huiming added:

"For those of you who are meditating for the first time, please listen to my explanation."

"First, sit cross-legged with your legs crossed, and form the Dharmadhatu mudra with your hands, right hand below and left hand above, thumbs lightly touching, placed above your ankles, below your navel."

"Keep your back naturally straight, shoulders relaxed and level, chin slightly tucked in, and neck close to your collar."

"Close your eyes slightly, leaving a slit, and let your gaze naturally fall on a spot about three feet in front of you."

"You can refer to Wusheng's sitting posture as a reference."

As they sat down on the meditation cushions as instructed by the monk Huiming, Passion Fruit subtly poked each player's hand.

The next second, her voice echoed in everyone's minds.

"Everyone, I've used my skills to create a temporary communication channel. You don't need to speak; you can simply think what you want to say and have it heard by each other."

"To avoid the situation that occurs during morning classes, we use this to communicate during meditation."

Yes, it's impossible to communicate verbally while meditating.

If someone discovers any clues, there's no way to tell their companions.

Having the passion fruit skill makes things much easier.

The proverb "A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit" applies here.

I won't repeat the mistake I made during the morning class.

Before they could even sit down completely, Wu Wang's voice transmitted to their minds: "There will definitely be problems meditating in this meditation hall. Be prepared."

"Huh? How did you know?" the mug asked.

Before Wu Wang could explain, Fortress, who was also knowledgeable about Buddhist culture, said: "There are two problems. First, the hand gesture is wrong. The Dharmadhatu mudra should be with the right hand on top and the left hand on the bottom. Second, the swastika on our prayer mat is wrong. Its direction is exactly the opposite."

Only then did everyone notice a huge swastika symbol on the floor of the meditation hall, though it was covered by a futon and not very clear.

If you're not someone who knows or is even slightly familiar with the situation, you probably wouldn't even notice this problem.

"Since we're already here, let's take it one step at a time," Ruoshui comforted her. "If anyone notices anything unusual, remember to send a message immediately."

The group calmed themselves down a bit.

They began what is known as meditation practice.

However, the eerily quiet meditation session that I had imagined did not take place as expected.

After they were all seated, they were surprised to hear faint chanting in the otherwise empty meditation hall.

hum-

There were no speakers or anything like that, and no one spoke.

The voice appeared out of nowhere, as if gods and Buddhas were truly conversing with everyone in the dark.

The text was quite vague and had overlapping echoes, so at most it could only be determined that it was definitely not the Heart Sutra recited during morning prayers.

Suddenly, the voice of the monk Huiming mingled with the chanting of sutras.

"Everyone, when you sit in meditation in the meditation room, you must answer questions and not remain silent, and you must not speak falsely."

Holy crap! What is this? It's just a question and answer session?

Everyone was filled with confusion, yet dared not directly interrupt their meditation.

We're forced to react to whatever comes our way.

"Something's wrong with our mental strength; it's steadily declining." Ruoshui was the first to notice the anomaly.

Because she frequently uses the [Heart Cocoon] to defend against mental intrusions, she is extremely sensitive to fluctuations in mental energy. Before anyone could find the source of the decline in mental energy...

Amidst the chanting in the meditation hall, Abbot Huiming's voice continued to ask:
“Cultivation emphasizes understanding one’s mind and seeing one’s true nature. Today, I will ask you seven questions. If you can answer ‘understand your mind’, you can ‘see your true nature’.”

"Starting with this female benefactor, the first question is—who is Buddha?"

Upon hearing this, Ruoshui exclaimed inwardly, "He's asking me!"

It was obvious that she had a different feeling than the others.

Fortunately, thanks to the existence of the internal communication channel, everyone can hear each other's responses.

After pondering for a moment, Ruoshui said, "Buddha is the enlightened one, who is self-enlightened, enlightens others, and whose enlightenment and practice are perfect."

This was all the knowledge she had about Buddhism.

Before I became a player of the Spirit Disaster, I heard this from a conversation among the monks at a temple when I was a child, when I went to the temple with my parents to burn incense and pray to Buddha.

She wasn't even clear on the exact meaning of these three senses.

I only vaguely remember that there are three levels of enlightenment: Arhats only reach the state of self-awareness, Bodhisattvas possess both self-awareness and the ability to awaken others, and Buddhas achieve the perfection of all three levels of enlightenment.

I can't think of a better answer right now, so I can only say this as it comes.

However, as soon as she finished speaking, the air in front of Ruoshui distorted.

It coalesced into a faint golden phantom, which was clearly the image of some kind of Buddha.

The next second, the Buddha's face blurred rapidly and then reformed into Ruoshui's face.

Then the face began to age and wither, eventually turning into a horrifying skeleton.

"Even enlightened beings grow old and die?" Huiming's voice began to sound somewhat mocking: "This is not perfection, this is not Buddhahood."

call--

The skeletal phantom lunged at Ruoshui in an instant.

His ferocious appearance made him forget his meditation posture, and he quickly opened his hands and took out a crystal ball from his backpack.

Place it in front of you and rub it rapidly with your hands.

In an instant, the skeletal phantom was sucked into the crystal ball.

Before Ruoshui could even catch her breath, she noticed that golden scriptures began to appear on the surface of the crystal ball, and her palms were also stained with the golden scriptures.

Seeing her smooth, porcelain-like hands begin to wrinkle, she immediately released the crystal ball, her expression turning extremely unpleasant.

There seems to be some kind of power within these golden scriptures that is changing one's physical body.

Although it is possible to eliminate it little by little with mental power, it is obviously not something that can be done in a short period of time.

It will probably take at least two or three days to return to normal.

This is only the palm; if it were the whole body... the consequences would be unimaginable.

He thought to himself, “The part of my body that touched the scripture seems to be assimilated by that Buddha. The Buddha was old and dead just now, and my palms have become as withered as an eighty or ninety-year-old woman.”

Although everyone remained seated in meditation, they had all witnessed what had just happened.

If Ruoshui hadn't reacted quickly enough to use her items to defend herself, she probably would have been on the verge of death from old age after being hit by that skeletal Buddha shadow.

"The second question—what is the Dharma?"

Passion fruit's expression immediately froze.

She felt that the question was being asked of her.

However, she had virtually no knowledge of Buddhist culture.

He could only stammer, "The law... the law is a boat to ferry people across."

call--

This time, what appeared in front of her was the phantom of a small boat.

But the ship quickly decayed, and countless arms appeared on the ship, scratching and clawing, and then rapidly swimming toward her.

“No,” said the monk Huiming regretfully. “The law is not the law, and the boat is not the boat.”

Passion fruit was startled.

Quickly take a talisman from your backpack and throw it over.

The talisman transformed into a barrier the moment it touched the rotting ship.

However, the rotten ship only faded slightly before the spell barrier shattered.

Clearly, her prop wasn't as powerful as Ruoshui's crystal ball.

Seeing this, Ruoshui, who was standing nearby, summoned [Heart Cocoon] to help defend against it.

She could sense that this was still an influence on a psychological level.

However, being affected will also cause changes to the physical body.

As expected, when the illusory image of the decaying ship collided with the [Heart Cocoon], the ship's hull became increasingly blurry.

At the same time, her face turned even paler.

After all, she had just used up a lot of mental energy during the morning class, so the influence of this thing was no weaker than when she helped all the players resist the changes of the Heart Sutra at the same time.

This caused Ruoshui's mental energy to be rapidly depleted.

She... can't hold on much longer.

"Break!" A loud shout came from the side.

Jinxin held a simple, unadorned hammer in his hand.

It slammed heavily onto the illusory image of the rotting ship. Under the resistance of the [Heart Cocoon] and the impact of this heavy hammer, the rotting ship gradually dissipated into the air.

Ruoshui could no longer maintain her meditation posture. She sat leaning against the wall, drenched in sweat. She and Baixiangguo both cast grateful glances at Jinxin.

“The law is the rule!” Jinxin said, frowning.

He could sense that the problem that Passion Fruit had just encountered seemed to have fallen on him because of his interference.

Immediately afterwards, a giant hammer phantom materialized in front of Jinxin.

The hammer looked similar to the one in his hand, except that the handle was wrapped with chains.

The other end of the chain was attached to Jinxin's neck.

Seeing the heavy hammer hurtling towards him, Jinxin immediately raised his hammer to block.

The two hammers collided with a loud bang.

Jin Xin let out a muffled groan as blood slowly flowed from his seven orifices, clearly indicating that he had suffered some degree of internal injury.

“My benefactor, you have become attached to appearances and have become a slave to ‘rules’.”

"The third question—the sutra says: 'Form is emptiness.' What does this mean?"

The mug froze; it was his turn.

Faced with this question, he could only bite the bullet and try to explain according to his own understanding: "Form and emptiness are a dialectical unity; form is the phenomenon, and emptiness is the essence..."

call--

As soon as he finished speaking, a huge, illusory frame trapped him firmly inside.

And this framework is shrinking at a rate visible to the naked eye.

If left unchecked, the mug will probably be squeezed into a meat patty very soon.

Seeing this, he gritted his teeth and took out a strange wooden stick.

Throw it out through the gap in the frame.

Then, just as he was about to be squeezed by the shrinking frame, a thick fog burst out from his body.

The smoke quickly dissipated, and he appeared where the wooden stick had been, while the stick remained inside the frame, crushed and broken in his place.

This is making the mug bleed!
This [Substitution Technique Stick] is a very valuable escape tool, and he only has one!
With time running out and no other way to resist, we can only exhaust it.

boom--

The frame, which had shrunk to its limit, suddenly shattered.

Countless shards grazed the mug, instantly creating countless tiny cuts, causing him to break out in a cold sweat, kneel on one knee, and tremble all over.

"Logic cannot resolve to null."

The monk Huiming sighed.

A tremendous pressure loomed over the players.

This is only the third question! And the impact of each question is so severe.

Are we going to suffer casualties here?

We haven't found any more clues from Monk Huiming yet, but just touching him would trigger such serious rules in this meditation hall.

Why does he seem so hostile towards the players? (End of Chapter)