Chapter 44

Chapter 43: Mountains and Seas 21

“Why do you ask that?”

Leaning against the pitch-black, deep, endless spiral staircase, Shizong asked He Zhen.

He Zhen said, “Pure curiosity. After all… because of what happened at the beginning of Longevity Town, I think you don’t trust me.”

“I do not trust you,” Shizong replied bluntly, “but I trust my own judgment.”

Hearing this, He Zhen looked at Shizong for a while, then smiled.

He continued, “Let me tell you something else.”

“Tch, still keeping secrets?” Shizong asked.

“Not a secret,” He Zhen said. “I just think most of the information appearing in the dungeon is useful. That Kunwu of yours, I didn’t see any obvious clue from it. But the King of Hell’s whip might point to Hell.

“This Hell isn’t the hell in the Six Realms, but the place where the Ten Kings of Hell judge.

“In a sense, this place is closely related to the Six Realms, yet beyond them. You could call it the Yellow Springs, or, according to the dungeon’s setup…

“In Buddhist terms, after a being dies, it becomes a bardo body.

“Later, the bardo body is drawn by karma and transforms into some being within the Six Realms. The state of the bardo body is somewhat like what we commonly call the soul.

“So, the place where the castle exists might be where bardo bodies reside. To avoid confusion with the hell concept in the Six Realms, let’s temporarily call this place the Bardo Realm.”

Shizong thought for a moment. “If the director wants to leave the Six Realms, then if he found a way to stay in the Bardo Realm forever, would that count as leaving the Six Realms?”

“That’s one possibility,” He Zhen said. “If the castle really is in the Bardo Realm, under this setup, escaping the castle might mean leaving the Bardo Realm. But I still feel something about this place is strange.”

Shizong pondered for a moment, then told He Zhen about the monk stories he had seen.

After all, having lost his memory, eight months weren’t enough for him to absorb much knowledge, especially Buddhism, which he wasn’t interested in, so he could only ask He Zhen’s opinion: “Do you think these stories have any symbolic meaning?

“I can tell that the monks in these three stories are the same person. He was seeking Buddha. On his path, someone kept trying to influence him, sabotaging his quest.

“That person used beauty, money, and pleasant music to tempt him. But he wasn’t tempted and ultimately should have successfully attained enlightenment.

“Is there a corresponding story in the Buddhist scriptures?”

He Zhen thought for a moment, then said, “Yes.”

“Tell me.”

At this time, Shizong stood a few steps below He Zhen on the stairs, uncomfortable looking up at him, so he walked a few steps forward to his side.

With both hands resting on the black railing behind him, Shizong looked up at He Zhen, quietly waiting for him to speak.

He Zhen turned slightly, avoiding Shizong’s gaze, his Adam’s apple moving, then said, “The story of Shakyamuni and Mara. Mara is also a heavenly being, what the world sees as a demon.

“Buddhism divides the world into the Desire Realm, Form Realm, and Formless Realm. Mara is the lord of the demons in the Desire Realm. He can turn the pleasure of sentient beings in the Desire Realm into his own pleasure. His power is immense.

“Before Shakyamuni attained Buddhahood, when he was still Prince Siddhartha, Mara sent three demonesses to his side to disrupt his path. These three demonesses represented lust, greed, and pleasure.”

The three demonesses tried to prevent Prince Siddhartha from attaining enlightenment through three approaches.

The dungeon story doesn’t match the Buddhist scriptures exactly, but it corresponds.

Shizong thought this, then heard He Zhen continue, “But Mara failed. Prince Siddhartha attained Buddhahood. Afterward, Mara competed with him for followers. In his view, if all beings followed the Buddha and left the Six Realms, there would be none left in the Desire Realm.

“Moreover, if sentient beings cultivated Buddhism without emotions, where would he get his own pleasure?

“After Shakyamuni became Buddha, Mara once said to him—

“‘You have attained the Way. I cannot do anything to you, but after your nirvana, I will send my followers to tempt your disciples, disrupting your teachings, so all sentient beings fall into desire.’

“This made the Buddha even shed tears. Because he knew Mara would do as he said. Later, to help sentient beings resist Mara’s illusions, the Buddha left many scriptures.”

After telling this, He Zhen looked back at Shizong and recited a Buddhist verse: “All forms are illusory; if you see forms as not forms, then you see the Tathagata.”

This teaches one to overcome inner demons.

Inner demons are external appearances; seeing through them is seeing the Buddha’s true body.

Shizong deliberately misinterpreted the verse, eyeing He Zhen with interest. “Hm. All forms are illusory… so what is the true self beneath this façade of yours?”

He Zhen met his gaze. “I am certainly not a Tathagata.”

“Oh.” Shizong nodded, then suddenly asked, “Have you ever been in love?”

He Zhen was almost startled. “…What?”

“I imagine you were quite popular in college, must have received quite a few love letters?”

Shizong said, “Anyway, I don’t really agree with that. A good-looking face should be used for pleasure, not for helping people overcome inner demons and become a Buddha. Otherwise, why come to this world? To enjoy the seven emotions and six desires, right?”

He Zhen glanced at him faintly. “So you want to be in love?”

Shizong shook his head. “Not really. I’m just giving an example. Replace the face in my previous words with money, power, or some kind of achievement, it’s the same principle. For example, I always felt I had done well in IT before.”

At this point, Shizong started walking down the stairs again. “I might have something wrong with my brain; I don’t have strong feelings about love… But you’re different. Young as you are, why are you like an old monk?”

He Zhen: “……”

Shizong continued by himself: “After losing my memory, besides recovering it and winning the game, I temporarily have no life goals… I don’t feel clear emotions, I have no sense of taste. Life is pretty dull. So occasionally enjoying the pleasures brought by a good-looking body isn’t bad?”

Pleasures brought by the body? What does he mean?

Brain problem, can’t feel love emotionally—so does he want purely physical pleasure?

Is that what he means?

He Zhen: “…………”

A long while passed without He Zhen following.

Shizong stopped and looked back, seeing He Zhen standing in place staring at him.

Shizong, slightly impatient, said sharply, “What now?”

In front of others, Shizong’s gentle demeanor was almost flawless.

But He Zhen always felt that in front of him, Shizong often didn’t bother to pretend at all.

Glancing at Shizong again, He Zhen walked to his side, expressionless, and said, “Nothing. Just… you’re telling me the intelligence you got as the winning side?”

“The faction battle ended long ago. Now we need to find the truth together. Besides, the facts show that telling you benefits more than not telling you.”

Shizong said, “Just… why read so many Buddhist scriptures at such a young age? You’re really strange.”

Having said that, he didn’t wait for He Zhen’s reaction, facing forward and continuing down the stairs.

Mountains and seas, Cen Qianshan and Liang Yuyan, Buddha and demon…

The mountain kills the sea, the sea floods the mountain—could this also correspond to the relationship between Buddha and demon?

Shizong mentally reviewed the dungeon elements and thought—

Could this castle symbolize the struggle between Buddha and demon over the faith of beings in the Desire Realm?

Cen Qianshan wants to leave the Six Realms.

How to leave the Six Realms? Attaining enlightenment and becoming Buddha is one path.

But demons don’t want him to do that.

Could the castle’s owner be Mara?

Two minutes later, Shizong and He Zhen arrived on the first floor.

It was even more spacious than they imagined. There were no corridors, just an empty, barren hall.

The hall was divided into two colors. One half—walls, ceiling, and floor—was pitch black, the other half all white.

On the white side, there was an open door, with a path outside leading somewhere unknown. Zuo Sanqiu and the others were not there; they must have left through this path.

On the black side, there was another door.

The door seemed to have a simple mechanism.

It was transparent, revealing an outside nearly pitch-black as well, occasionally showing deeper shadows passing by, like some kind of spirit.

Shizong approached and suddenly

Indra resides here.

Thinking of something, He Zhen said, “There’s a saying that before Shakyamuni attained enlightenment, he was reincarnated over thirty times as Indra. Mount Sumeru is the place all sentient beings in the Three Realms long for.”

Hearing this, Shizong found this castle truly interesting.

It had two doors leading to the outside world. Outside one door were all sorts of man-eating spirits, grotesque and terrifying. Perhaps that place was Hell, feared and unreachable by all beings of the Six Realms.

Outside the other door was Mount Sumeru, the place most desired by all beings in the Six Realms.

In this way, the castle seemed like a magical medium, connecting Hell and Mount Sumeru together.

After staring at the fragrant sea for a while, Shizong asked Zuo Sanqiu and the others, “Have you found any clues?”

Zuo Sanqiu shook his head. “Nothing at all. I’m completely in the dark.”

Shizong couldn’t help but think, if he hadn’t seen the so-called intelligence—the story of the monk being tempted—or hadn’t received the entanglement of demon and Buddha from He Zhen, all of this would indeed appear baffling.

But with these symbolic supports, what he saw didn’t feel so strange and empty.

After a brief conversation with Zhou Lü and Zuo Sanqiu, Shizong looked at Zhang Qijun and Zhu Shuangyun.

These were the two he most suspected.

Now, both looked terrible, neither resembling the murderer.

They both stood quite far from Shizong.

Perhaps because of the faction battle, the distance between them was also wide, as if they were on guard against each other.

Zhang Qijun stared blankly at the sea, as if her soul wasn’t in her body, not yet fully recovered from the blow.

As for Zhu Shuangyun, she could barely stand and collapsed entirely on the rocks by the sea.

“You arrived late, you can check if there’s anything to find.”

Zhou Lü said this to Shizong and He Zhen, then looked at Zhang Qijun and Zhu Shuangyun, and jogged over to them.

“I’ll ask if they found anything. If not, let’s just go back first. Honestly, I’m feeling worse and worse. Let’s hurry back to the fifth floor and check everyone’s rooms again.

“By the way, those two chefs are very strange; their rooms are worth a thorough search.”

Shizong nodded at Zhou Lü. Seeing him walk away, he asked Zuo Sanqiu, “When Zhou Lü forced the two chefs to hand over the keys, where were you?”

“Me? Let me think…”

Zuo Sanqiu scratched his head. “I followed to see. I remember you two went ahead of me, right?”

“And the others? What were they doing, did you notice?”

“The others… hmm… let me think…”

This should have been a simple question.

But Zuo Sanqiu reacted as if he were recalling something extremely difficult.

He nearly scratched his head bald but ultimately couldn’t remember anything.

He only looked at Shizong blankly. “Zhou Lü snatched the keys, I followed you two over. I remember both scenes, but… I find I can’t connect some of the details in between. It’s like I lost some scattered memories…

“No, that’s not accurate. It’s not amnesia, but… it’s like I couldn’t see some scenes, couldn’t hear some sounds.

“For example, Zhu Shuangyun and Zhang Qijun should have been behind me. Normally, hearing such unusual noises, everyone would go check. I do remember, on my way to the kitchen, I looked back, wanting to see what others were doing.

“But now recalling, when I looked back, the scene was blank. At that time, it was as if I lost hearing too; I didn’t hear anything from them.”

Upon hearing this, Shizong and He Zhen exchanged a silent glance, immediately understanding each other’s meaning—

The real culprit must indeed be either Zhang Qijun or Zhu Shuangyun.

But now it seemed the culprit, besides manipulating fingerprints on talismans and controlling the two chefs, could even temporarily affect a person’s sight and hearing.

Such an ability… seemed way too powerful.

After a while, Shizong heard Zhou Lü calling, apparently having found a clue.

Shizong, He Zhen, and Zuo Sanqiu walked along the coastline and saw a stele on the beach.

The stele had a line inscribed—

“One of the divine powers of heavenly beings: summon a transformed body for personal use. Under special restrictions, related powers will be limited.”

In the Six Realms, the heavenly path is also called the path of celestial beings; people on this path are called celestial beings.

Shizong’s gaze lingered on “transformed body” and “restriction,” then exchanged a look with He Zhen.

At this moment, they could both be certain who the culprit was.

However, the focus of this dungeon probably wasn’t just finding the murderer.

The other options in the voting task were the key.

One wrong choice, and all players could die here.

Shizong approached He Zhen, about to say something, when suddenly an accident occurred—

Zhou Lü vomited blood, collapsing and convulsing on the ground.

He Zhen quickly went forward. Not knowing what was happening to Zhou Lü, he temporarily treated him as if controlling an epileptic, first tying a rope between his jaws to prevent him from biting his tongue.

Fortunately, after a while Zhou Lü returned to normal, barely able to stand, but his face was ashen, his walk unsteady, as if he could die at any moment.

“Not good!”

Zuo Sanqiu immediately showed worry. “This must be the debuff worsening! There’s probably no clue here either. Let’s hurry back to the castle.

“We… we should go back to the fifth floor to explore, then immediately start the vote!”

Shizong didn’t respond for now.

He walked to Zhou Lü, making a gesture as if supporting him.

But his real purpose was to quietly ask He Zhen by his ear, “How are you? Did it suddenly worsen?”

He Zhen knew he wasn’t really concerned about him.

Zhou Lü suddenly showing this condition was likely closely related to the culprit.

This fact could help them further confirm the culprit.

He Zhen shook his head at Shizong, indicating his condition was gradually worsening, but not as suddenly severe as Zhou Lü’s.

Receiving He Zhen’s answer, Shizong said to Zuo Sanqiu, “No need to return to the fifth floor for now. I already know who the culprit is.”

He didn’t deliberately lower his voice while saying this.

Thus, as he turned toward the castle, he could feel a gaze fixed tightly on him from behind.

It was the culprit watching him. Perhaps disbelief filled the culprit’s eyes.

Shizong said without turning his head, “I know your ability is strong. You might even be able to kill us all. But I advise you not to. Because I’ve already deciphered the intelligence given to me after winning the faction battle.

“If this culprit is discovered, they only lose some points. But I can lead all of us out, including you.

“Otherwise, even if you escape, not knowing the ultimate answer, you’re very likely to die here.”

“Damn, damn, damn, no wonder you’re my boss.” Zuo Sanqiu quickly caught up to Shizong.

During this, he noticed He Zhen was already walking beside Shizong, one step ahead of him.

When did these two become so close?

Zuo Sanqiu blinked a few times.

But he quickly dropped the thought and ran beside Shizong to ask, “What’s going on? How did you lock onto the culprit? Have you also solved how the secret room formed?”

“Yes. Solved it,” Shizong said. “The secret room stuff will be explained to everyone later. Actually, some details of the crime aren’t fully confirmed, and not all clues have been found. But the culprit can already be locked down.

“Think about it. Zhang Qijun, on our faction, wanted to kill me, and her method was to make me lose the faction battle and get a debuff. That means she isn’t afraid of debuffs herself, right?”

Zuo Sanqiu said, “Right. She isn’t afraid of debuffs because she’s a powerful Asura. She probably got a separate hint that her debuff wouldn’t be severe.

“But you, as an ordinary person, are different. I, from the Beast Path, wouldn’t feel well. The reason I can maintain human form for a long time is that I’m not affected by debuffs. Also…

“Also, the Hell Path and Hungry Ghost Path are different.

“When I saw He Zhen today, I was shocked. Then I saw Zhu Shuangyun, and she wasn’t any better. She’s so hungry she can’t stand, her whole body has no strength.”

At this, Zuo Sanqiu looked back and saw Zhou Lü and Zhu Shuangyun both trailing at the back.

Earlier, when exploring downstairs, Zhou Lü had been supporting the famished Zhu Shuangyun.

But now both were weak, barely moving, only able to

Shizong looked with great interest at Zhu Shuangyun, whose face was somewhat pale but only slightly furrowed, still appearing very calm.

“I think the points the winning side of the faction minigame receives must be far fewer than the points the real culprit would get by escaping. So you gave up winning the faction battle, chose to conceal your strength, hide your skill to the end, and your ultimate goal was to avoid being found out by us. Right?”

Hearing this, Zhang Qijun was stunned.

He looked at Zhu Shuangyun in surprise. “So during the faction battle, you actually weren’t fooled by me at all…”

Before Zhu Shuangyun could answer, Shizong sized her up from head to toe. “In Longevity Town, you were Young Master Li. But I’ve always felt your performance in this dungeon far exceeded that time. Tch, even I was fooled by you for a while.

“To be honest, I’m actually more curious… about the story you carry yourself.”