Incense Offering

Xin Hui had barely finished speaking when he seemed to realize his slip of the tongue. He hurriedly pressed his palms together, closed his eyes halfway, and bowed toward the west.

"Amitabha, sins, sins. This disciple has violated the Hatred Precept. Afterward, I shall copy the scriptures a hundred times as punishment."

After saying this, Xin Hui raised his head again and looked calmly at Li Huowang. After studying him carefully for a while, he nodded lightly. "This old monk knows why. Benefactor Xuan Yang, come with me."

Faced with that pack of tigers eyeing their prey, Li Huowang had no choice but to follow. He sheathed the longsword in his hand behind his back, then turned and followed them.

Xin Hui did not take them elsewhere, instead leading them back to the place where Buddha Statues had been carved. "Benefactor Xuan Yang, was this where you saw those filthy things?"

Surrounded by monks, Li Huowang stared at the sight before him in stunned silence. The unfinished Stone Statues that had previously turned into a Mountain of Flesh had reappeared before him, as though mocking him. "How could this—"

"Benefactor, continue following me."

With Xin Hui accompanying him, Li Huowang slowly walked onward. Passing the place where the Buddha Statues were carved, he arrived at the place where he had previously seen livestock.

There were likewise no animals here. Only unfinished stone qilin and Stone Lions stood there, large and small stone Auspicious Beasts arranged in neat rows, silently watching ahead.

Just then, Xin Hui abruptly drew the longsword from Li Huowang's back and slashed hard. A lion's head the size of a palm was cut off.

Xin Hui picked up the stone lion head and placed it in Li Huowang's hand.

Li Huowang gently ran his fingers across the stone lion's head. The texture of the stone, the solid weight in his hand—it was clearly real!

"How could this be—" Still unwilling to accept it, the bewildered Li Huowang walked over and touched the sculptures one by one with both hands. They were indeed all real.

In the end, he stood at the entrance to the Great Hall and looked within. There sat a majestic giant stone Buddha, cross-legged upon a Lotus Throne, an Alms Bowl cradled in its left hand and its right hand pointing straight down at the ground.

"That's impossible! I clearly saw it just now, saw it perfectly clearly! How could it have been fake?"

Hearing Li Huowang's words, Abbot Xin Hui sighed softly. "Amitabha. Benefactor, your illness is no light matter."

The confused Li Huowang turned to Xin Hui and said in astonishment, "Was I having an episode? Were all those things hallucinations I saw myself?"

Xin Hui nodded lightly. "Benefactor, surely you know better than us outsiders what illness you suffer from?"

"Could all that Black Tai Sui I ate only sustain me for so long? Have the hallucinations started again?" Li Huowang clutched his head with both hands and muttered in pain.

Upon hearing this, the group of monks beside him, their faces full of rejection, gathered together and began whispering among themselves.

"So after all that, he's a lunatic."

"If there's nothing else, we should hurry and ask him to leave. What if he goes mad one day and cuts someone?"

"Silence!" Xin Hui's single word quieted every monk.

He walked into the hall and lit four incense sticks. Then he turned around and held them out before Li Huowang. "Troubling us Buddhist Disciples is no great matter, but disturbing the Buddha would be inappropriate. Offer the Buddha some incense properly."

"Offer incense?" Li Huowang's muscles instantly tensed as his gaze darted between the giant Buddha, Xin Hui, and the four incense sticks.

"Benefactor, what are you waiting for? You were at fault first in this matter." Xin Hui extended the four incense sticks farther toward him.

In Li Huowang's mind, that writhing monster surfaced once more—the mass of flesh covered all over with monks.

If that thing was real, then going over to offer it incense would be like delivering himself right to its mouth to be eaten.

"Benefactor, what are you hesitating over?"

Li Huowang looked at Xin Hui, who was beginning to show a trace of displeasure on his face.

He touched the genuine stone lion in his hand, then raised his head to look at the glaring sun overhead.

Li Huowang tossed away the lion head, accepted the incense with both hands, stepped over the threshold, and slowly walked toward the Stone Statue.

He walked very, very slowly. His body and mind were stretched taut, cold sweat beginning to bead on his forehead.

Yet no matter how slowly he walked, Li Huowang eventually reached the foot of the giant Buddha. The Buddha was still the Buddha; it had not turned into that nauseating monster.

Holding the incense in both hands, Li Huowang stood before the Incense Burner and looked upward again. From this angle, he could see the giant Buddha gazing down at him with eyes neither joyful nor sorrowful, stirring an involuntary awe in his heart.

As Li Huowang raised the incense above his head, the four sticks trembled lightly. White smoke curled once in the air and drifted toward the ceiling of the hall.

After raising the incense and bowing three times, Li Huowang solemnly inserted it into the Incense Burner, then turned and returned outside the hall.

Seeing the conflict resolved, the monks gradually dispersed. They returned to their places, picked up their tools, and resumed carving, the clanging sounds ringing without end.

Xin Hui and Li Huowang slowly walked outward along the stone-brick path running between the Stone Statues.

"Benefactor Xuan Yang, since your illness is so serious, do not wander about recklessly from now on. Stay at ease and wait for the Great Pudu Fast."

"Your illness may be troublesome, but compared to it, Danyangzi is undoubtedly more dangerous. Rice must be eaten one mouthful at a time, and matters handled one at a time." Xin Hui turned the prayer beads in his hand as he spoke to Li Huowang beside him.

Li Huowang raised his head and looked once more at the bright, sunlit sky above. He lifted both arms and stretched hard. "Abbot, does Zhengde Temple have any way to treat a condition like my delusions?"

"This old monk can have the disciples try, though whether they succeed is another matter. After all, our temple has no inheritance of the Yellow Qi Arts."

"It's fine. I was only asking casually. I've been mad for so long that I'm used to it." Li Huowang looked utterly unconcerned. "By the way, Abbot, how did you do that just now? How did the thing in my arms suddenly end up in your hand?"

"Hehehe, merely a little trick. Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."

"Abbot, there's no need to be modest at a time like this. If you're not worth mentioning, then what does that make someone like me? Not even as good as a bug?"

"Benefactor Xuan Yang, that is not how matters are calculated. Look, although Danyangzi was weaker than I am, outside he could still be considered middle-tier. Yet in the end, was he not removed by you?"

"Someone like Danyangzi was only middle-tier? Then how formidable must the upper tier be? Abbot, among experts like yourselves, is there a ranking of superiority and inferiority?"

"There is, I suppose. Things like Heaven Earth Black Yellow, but those are merely arbitrary rankings concocted by idle people. Those who have left the secular world do not seek hollow fame and do not care for such things."

They spent a long time on that short road and spoke of many things. Li Huowang also gained much useful information about this world from Xin Hui.

After leaving the carving grounds, Li Huowang stopped and bowed to Xin Hui. "Thank you, Abbot, for clearing up my doubts."

"Not at all, not at all. It was merely a lift of the hand. Benefactor Xuan Yang, since you are unwell, return and rest first."

After exchanging a few polite words, Li Huowang looked around. When he did not spot the old monk anywhere, he turned and headed toward his lodging.

He walked very slowly, looking as though his heart was burdened with thoughts and he was contemplating something.

After walking for nearly half a Double Hour, Li Huowang finally arrived at his lodging. The instant he shut the door, his expression twisted savagely. Clenching both fists, he smashed them hard against the wall.

Though he did not know what method those monks had used to deceive his senses, as a patient who had long alternated between hallucinations and reality, Li Huowang might not have been good at anything else, but he was extraordinarily sensitive to such things.

That giant Buddha had clearly felt wrong to him just now. It was the same feeling as the hospital in his hallucinations, carrying an indescribable flavor.

"Those stone carvings were fake! The giant Buddha was fake too! They were all created by a Blinding Method!! What I saw before was not a hallucination at all!"