Chapter 101: The Buddha One Cannot Worship

That sleep was incredibly restorative, and my exhaustion quickly faded. The sound of water reached my ears, followed by a sudden drop of water landing on my face. The icy liquid startled me so much that I sat up instantly.

I wiped my face, only to find it covered in droplets. Water was still dripping from the cave ceiling, likely seeping through from deep within the rock.

Tian Xiaoqi surprisingly hadn’t woken me for my watch. She was lying beside me, her breathing steady, clearly having been asleep for quite some time. The fire at our feet had gone out at some point. I glanced around, pulled a piece of unburnt wood from the ashes, and lit it with my lighter.

The flames quickly spread across the wooden stick, and the surroundings immediately brightened. I was somewhat surprised. According to Tian Xiaoqi, a large portion of the cliff had collapsed and disintegrated. Our current position should have been beneath the cliff, at the bottom of the river, yet the oxygen levels here remained sufficient.

I had to consider the possibility that a ventilation system had been built here.

To avoid wasting oxygen, I quickly threw the fire to the ground and stomped it out. The entire cavity fell silent, as if this was the state it had maintained for thousands of years. I leaned against the stone wall, found a relatively dry spot to sit down, and stared blankly at a nearby puddle that was constantly rippling.

I sat there for an unknown amount of time until my back began to ache. I checked the electronic watch in my bag and discovered that only ten minutes had passed since I woke up.

I finally understood why He Yu hadn’t let me keep watch before. Sitting alone in a pitch-black cave, staring into nothingness for an hour, was more painful than being killed outright.

I suddenly felt the urge to find something to do, so I reached for the flashlight in Tian Xiaoqi’s bag. As I was rummaging through it, my peripheral vision caught something dark about fifty meters away from where we were sleeping.

I didn’t feel afraid because the object was tall and clearly not a living thing. At a glance, it seemed to have sharp angles and was pressed tightly against the stone wall.

We hadn’t noticed such a structure standing there earlier.

My hand finally found the flashlight. I pulled it out and switched it on to investigate. I discovered that the structure was an Ancient Pagoda. It wasn’t very large. Perhaps because the original terrain had shifted, the eaves on the right side of the pagoda were now embedded into the rock wall.

However, the pagoda was so close to us that it was strange neither Tian Xiaoqi nor I had noticed it.

Seeing the pagoda made me feel a bit more at ease. After a moment’s thought, I tried to nudge the sleeping Tian Xiaoqi, but she didn’t wake up even after two attempts. I gave up and sat back down, planning to wait for her to wake up before we explored it together.

I toyed with the flashlight in my hand, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking at the Ancient Pagoda. A long-dormant curiosity suddenly flared up. I stared at the pagoda’s door, desperately wanting to go inside and see what was there.

Suddenly, the door of the Ancient Pagoda gave a sharp creak. I snapped my head up and saw someone opening the door. They were now standing in the doorway, beckoning to me.

I rubbed my eyes and looked closer.

Damn! It was actually Lu A’yao! When did he sneak into the pagoda?

Seeing this, I scrambled to my feet. Lu A’yao waved at me again and then re-entered the interior of the Ancient Pagoda. He seemed to be in a hurry. I wondered what could possibly be in that pagoda to make him so focused.

However, I suppressed my impulse. Tian Xiaoqi was still lying beside me, completely unaware. She was sleeping unusually soundly today, and no matter how I called, she wouldn’t wake. So, I simply ran a line around her, hung two Yellow Bells on it, and secured it with nails to create a protective alarm.

This way, if anything happened, I would hear the bells immediately and could rush back from the Ancient Pagoda to help.

After tying the bells, I stayed cautious. A familiar face suddenly appearing in this bizarre place made me feel uneasy. I pulled a dagger from the bag and tucked it into my waistband, covering it with my jacket so it looked like I wasn’t carrying a weapon.

Once prepared, I ran toward the pagoda’s entrance with my flashlight. The stone slabs on the entrance steps were ancient, many of them collapsed, and they were carved with Sanskrit that I couldn’t quite understand.

I looked up and saw flashlight beams inside the Ancient Pagoda, so I pushed the door open and entered. Instantly, a gust of wind carrying dust hit my face. I couldn’t help but cough as I began to inspect the interior.

The entire Ancient Pagoda had four or five floors. We were on the first floor. The narrow stairs were made of wood and built in the center of the pagoda. On all four sides were small stone niches used to house Buddha statues.

According to common knowledge, ancient pagodas housed ancient Buddhas. I estimated there were hundreds of statues enshrined here, though I didn’t know what they were meant to protect.

Lu A’yao’s flashlight and mine illuminated the entire first floor. He was the only one there; He Yu was nowhere to be seen. Seeing him carefully examining the ancient Buddhas in the niches, I jogged over and asked, “When did you get in here? Isn’t He Yu with you?”

Lu A’yao looked up at me and said, “I only arrived here a short while ago. The layout here is intricate and complex. He and I were separated by the current.”

I swept my flashlight around, glancing at the niches. Noticing his diving suit was still soaking wet, I asked again, “Your clothes are still wet. Why don’t we start a fire to dry off first? The pagoda isn’t going anywhere. It won’t be too late to come back in a bit.”

Lu A’yao gave me a smile and thanked me, but said it wasn’t necessary.

I looked at him silently and stopped talking. I turned back to continue inspecting the pagoda with my flashlight. The walls of the first floor were inscribed with symbols that looked like strange, talisman-like scribbles. Unlike ordinary Sanskrit, these characters looked abnormal.

“With all this Sanskrit, do you know what any of this means?” I asked, touching the wall.

Lu A’yao was already preparing to head to the second floor. He stopped and said, “Much of it should be content from the Diamond Sutra. These niches are basically for warding off evil and praying for peace. There is more content further up. Let’s keep moving.”

I hesitated for a moment, thought it over, and then followed him to the second floor with a smile. As I walked, I said, “I saw earlier that many of the Buddha statues are made of pure gold. It’s truly rare that these things haven’t been looted after all these years.”

Lu A’yao smiled but said nothing.

We reached the second floor, which had the exact same layout as the first. There were three or four windows. I reached out to feel them, and my heart sank. There was no wind here.

By no wind, I mean not even a breeze. It felt as if time didn’t pass here. Everything was deathly silent. I leaned against the wall to look at the Sanskrit bells hanging from the eaves outside. They were also perfectly still. Before I could think more on it, Lu A’yao gestured for me to continue to the third floor.

I quickly wiped the cold sweat from my brow and continued climbing, maintaining a moderate distance from him.

As I stepped onto the stairs, I faintly heard the sound of chanting. It was quite clear, so I immediately stopped.

“Do you hear someone chanting?”

“No,” Lu A’yao replied.

“Then I must be hallucinating.”

I didn’t argue with him, but I had definitely heard the chanting with my own ears. Moreover, this eerie chanting only appeared while I was climbing the stairs. As soon as I slowed my pace, the sound vanished.

I forced myself to keep climbing. During the ascent, I had the misfortune of stepping on a piece of rotted wood. The moment I stepped on it, the board suddenly splintered. In an instant, my entire right leg fell through. My left leg was already unreliable, leaving me hanging in mid-air. Fortunately, I grabbed the railing desperately to keep from falling.

Only after I pulled myself up did Lu A’yao turn around to ask if I was alright.

I told him I was fine.

The higher we climbed the pagoda, the narrower the stairs became. By the time I reached the fourth floor and tried to climb to the fifth, I had to use both hands and feet to crawl up. Otherwise, the steps were so narrow that one slip on those rickety, shaking stairs would send me falling.

My left leg was still fixed in a splint, so I climbed extremely slowly, but I managed to make it up eventually.

Upon reaching the top floor, we finally saw the largest Buddha statue in the pagoda. The head reached the very ceiling, and even at the top of the stairs, we could only see as far as its neck and shoulders.

This was likely the full extent of the pagoda.

I took a look around and was about to turn back downstairs when I felt someone grab me from behind. He said, “Since we’ve made it to this floor, it’s better to worship the Buddha before leaving.”

So after all that effort, he just wanted me to come up here and pray.

A dull ache started in my left leg again, and my gaze instantly turned cold.

“Fuck, I’ll worship your grandmother’s Buddha!” I cursed, shaking off his hand. I pulled the dagger from my waistband and plunged it into Lu A’yao’s neck. Blood from his artery sprayed out instantly, splattering across the Buddha statue.

Seeing his ruse exposed, “Lu A’yao’s” expression suddenly turned hideous. Ignoring the blood spurting from his wound, he lunged to grab me. He was incredibly fast, so fast he didn’t seem human at all.

I tried to dodge, but my legs were weak. I only managed a few steps before he grabbed my collar and slammed me against the wall. A large chunk of stone broke off, and my scalp split open instantly. Dazed and disoriented, I was dragged over to a tattered prayer mat directly facing the Buddha.

“Worship! Worship!” His voice no longer sounded like a normal human’s. One hand squeezed my throat tightly while the other pressed my head down with all his might.

I was on the verge of blacking out from the strangulation. Survival instinct drove me to fight back. My hand reached for the dagger that had fallen nearby. I rolled over, gripped the blade, and stabbed him repeatedly. His grip loosened, air rushed into my windpipe, and I began to cough uncontrollably.