Esoteric Buddhism: To live as king in America

Chapter 4 Knight

As the saying goes, those who fight lions are brave, those who fight dragons are admirable, but those who fight dump trucks are simply considered foolish. After all, lions are distant, dragons are ethereal, while dump trucks are a tangible reality, and their power far surpasses that of ordinary people.

Mian didn't want to be a fool, but the problem was that the alley he was in was just big enough for a dump truck to crash into him, leaving him no room to escape.

Faced with the out-of-control dump truck hurtling towards them, Mian gripped the mop handle and unleashed a sword-like aura at the tires in an attempt to stop the behemoth.

The dazzling sword energy easily shattered the tire, yet the momentum still propelled the behemoth forward relentlessly.

"It's over, there's no way I can outrun them. The only possible way to save myself now is to grab onto the pipe and climb up."

Mian thought so, and he did so, and as a result, when he was knocked away, he flew exceptionally high, completing a perfect three and a half rotations in the air before landing heavily on the ground.

"Shit..."

The sacred armor could withstand bullets and direct impact damage, but the force of that impact seemed to be absent. After only managing to utter that one genuine curse from the Ocean Federation, Mian's vision went black, and he fainted.

…………

"Let us remember Mr. Mian, who embarked on a journey to help others but died on the way. Nevertheless, he remains our good soldier and our good comrade."

Funerals in materialistic families are always simple, without many rituals or procedures. A room rented from a crematorium, a body that was half burned in an accident, and a dozen or so relatives and friends are all that's needed for the funeral.

Mian's always busy parents had taken leave and arrived dressed in white mourning clothes. Mian's mother, whom she remembered as never having cried, leaned on her father's shoulder, sobbing. Her father, as hard as iron, stared silently ahead, only his eyes revealing deep weariness.

They neither spoke nor expressed their feelings, but simply stood there quietly, their presence amplifying the sorrow of every friend and relative who caught a glimpse of them. Only after the host's final words did the grieving couple join the others in rushing to the coffin to send their son to the crematorium.

The flames roared, and the corpse burned in the fire. A young man who once had great ambitions was burned to several kilograms of ashes in just a few minutes and placed in a box and handed to his parents.

"Before the burial, let me say a few words to everyone while holding the ashes. This is my final farewell to my child."

The host patted Mi'an's father's stiff shoulder, and the extremely gentle tone and speed finally brought the tough man's soul back to his body.

Only then did he realize that everyone present, including his wife, was staring at him, at the urn in his hand, and at the last things that the strong-willed young man had left behind in this world.

He then remembered that he did indeed have something to say. The words had been brewing in his throat for so long that even his parched throat muscles could not stop them from gushing out.

He said this:

"My son Mian is dead, he died halfway through his journey. As a father who was powerless to save him, I am not qualified to make too many comments about his life. I can only offer him my last blessing on behalf of my wife and me."

His eyes drifted to the sky, towards the direction where the soul of his child might not exist, or perhaps even be present.

"If there is an afterlife, if there is reincarnation, you will not be broken halfway, you will surely succeed in burning yourself to the fullest."

…………

Mian suddenly woke up from her deep sleep, but when she looked up, it was as if she had knocked something off her.

"Gah!"

The thing that was hit seemed to let out a strange cry, but Mian couldn't care less. He only remembered that he seemed to have seen his own funeral and heard his parents' last blessings to him.

Tears welled up in his eyes involuntarily. Only now did Mian truly grasp the reality of having died once. He was dead, and therefore he lost everything from the past; all he had left was the present.

Now... now, where am I?

Mian looked around blankly. The dusty debris and the dilapidated but still standing roof revealed that this was not the alley where he had been knocked unconscious, but more like an abandoned warehouse.

But why did I end up here after being hit by a dump truck?

Just as the question arose, a voice rang in his ear.

"Waaaah! My lord, you're awake! Eh? Why are you crying? Is your wound still hurting?"

The voice was both flustered and lighthearted, clearly coming from a young girl. But the strange title "Lord" instantly reminded Mian of that erratic cheat ability.

What's going on? Did this thing really assign me a maid as per the original plan?

Mian's eyes lit up, and she looked in the direction of the sound with great anticipation. However, what she saw was not a plump maid, but a thin, bony girl.

She wore a stained hospital gown, her silver hair drooping listlessly over her shoulders. Her deep red eyes were bright, but against her thin, almost fleshless face, they only added to her inhuman, eerie appearance.

Seeing that Mian had stopped crying, a golden light flashed in the girl's eyes. She immediately straightened her back, clenched her right fist in front of her chest, and bowed deeply to Mian.

"My esteemed lord, I am your loyal servant—Silver Knight Ain Shihuat!"

"No, you're just a simple mental patient."

Mian looked at the prominent mental hospital sign on her hospital gown and uttered a disappointed complaint.

The girl didn't care at all; instead, she straightened her chest, which was barely rising and falling, and spoke with a firm and confident tone.

"Those are merely worldly views that blind people, but you, my lord, are different! You survived such a terrifying attack unscathed; you should be able to see through my true nature, shouldn't you?"

The certainty in Ayn's words made a trace of doubt flash through Mian's mind again.

Could it be... that she really comes from the Kingdom of Heris described by the cheat system? Just as others cannot see the "Holy Sword" and "Armor," is her current appearance also not real?

He tentatively asked:

"In that case, you must know what the monster that attacked me was, right?"

A radiant smile bloomed on Ain's face:

"Of course, Your Excellency!"

She patted her chest forcefully and declared in a resolute tone:

"That monster had a body as large as a mountain..."

Mian raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Possessing power unmatched by ordinary weapons..."

Mian nodded gently.

"Its skin is as hard as steel forged..."

A look of anticipation flashed in Mian's eyes.

"It possesses a legendary name that resonates throughout the world, and that is—"