Buddha's Sarira

Li Weiyi gripped the Yellow Dragon Sword tightly and looked outside through the cabin window riddled with cracks.

The boundary between sky and snow had blurred beyond recognition.

Only the occasional bolts of lightning could tear rents through the wind, snow, and clouds, briefly illuminating this chaos.

Thunder roared, and the wind howled.

Blade-like snowflakes battered the ship like a barrage of gunfire.

That Bear-like creature had vanished without a trace.

"College student, there's no need to be so tense! No matter how strong that Bear-like creature is, it's as fragile as we are before such terrible weather. Faced with this savage blizzard, it must have hidden back in its lair."

Xie Jin was the cousin of Second Mate Xie Tianshu. Though he was half a nepotism hire himself, he had at least been selected through proper channels and naturally believed it was all due to his own ability. Thus, he had never considered himself the same kind of person as Li Weiyi, and held himself in very high regard.

Of course, no matter how much he looked down on this green college student, he would not have targeted him at every turn and made himself seem so lacking in grace. The main reason was that Xie Tianshu had long since instructed him to do so, and it involved the open and covert struggle between the First Mate and the Second Mate.

Li Weiyi held the opposite view, but he had no wish to argue with Xie Jin and responded with silence.

He continued vigilantly scanning the scene beyond the window.

"Tap! Tap! Tap..."

A cool female voice came from the direction of the stairs. "That Bear-like creature stopped being a normal life-form of Earth long ago. Even bullets can't pierce its bones. What could a mere blizzard possibly do to it?"

Cai Yutong descended the stairs and appeared before the Security Team Members.

She was a female PhD from the Department of Chemistry at Capital University, the nation's foremost institution of higher learning, who had unexpectedly become famous online for her stunning looks.

The Security Team Members all knew that this great beauty was aboard the Research Vessel, but she was too much of a homebody and spent most of her time in the laboratory. For many of them, this was their first time seeing her in person.

She looked exactly like she did in the online videos, without excessive beauty filters.

In fact, she had even more poise in person.

"Dr. Cai, let me carry that for you. What are these?"

Xie Jin strode over. His manner was gentlemanly, but his eager, ingratiating expression diminished the effect.

He extended both hands, intending to take the box Cai Yutong held tightly in her arms.

Cai Yutong did not let him touch it. In a tone that kept people a thousand miles away, she said, "Some strong acid capable of dissolving corpses, and some explosives I just made. You'd better not touch them."

Xie Jin withdrew his outstretched hands with both apprehension and embarrassment. With a stiff smile, he said, "Excellent. As expected of a PhD from the Department of Chemistry. Knowledge is power."

Carrying the box, Cai Yutong walked to the window where Li Weiyi stood. "I know you. The freshman basketball recruit from Capital University. What should you call me?"

"Li Weiyi."

Li Weiyi had not expected her to recognize him.

"I'm asking what you should call me." Cai Yutong's expression and tone were both aloof. She was tall as well, over 1.7 meters, and her exquisite features looked beautiful from every angle.

Li Weiyi gave an awkward smile. "Senior Sister."

"Give me a hand. Be gentle, and keep it steady," Cai Yutong said.

Li Weiyi hurriedly leaned the Yellow Dragon Sword against the wall. Carefully using both hands, he and Cai Yutong supported the box together and steadily set it on the floor.

Even if schoolmates had never known each other before, meeting away from home always brought a special sense of connection and trust.

Li Weiyi had practiced martial arts since childhood. His physical fitness and reaction speed far surpassed those of ordinary people, and his basketball recruitment had merely been a way to earn extra credit. If he wished, he could cultivate another specialty within a few months.

Xie Jin returned to the Security Team Members, maintaining the smile on his face.

When he saw the Security Team Members who had once fawned over him exchanging knowing looks and making strange expressions, Xie Jin naturally felt a measure of shame and irritation. The fake smile on his face could no longer stay in place. Then he looked at how familiar and close Li Weiyi and Cai Yutong seemed, and another kind of bitterness rose in his heart.

If his previous targeting of Li Weiyi had been Xie Tianshu's instruction.

Then at this moment, he truly began to hate him.

Over there.

Cai Yutong opened the box and explained how to use its contents and what precautions to take. Her eyes often met Li Weiyi's at close range, while her hair brushed against his face in the cold wind, carrying wisps of fragrance.

"Senior Sister, are you giving this entire box to me?" Li Weiyi asked.

Cai Yutong was not skilled at dealing with people. She asked in return, "I'm a researcher. Do you want me to fight that Bear-like creature?"

"That's not what I meant... I mean, the Security Team Members could all learn how to use these things," Li Weiyi said.

Cai Yutong looked toward Xie Jin and the others.

Xie Jin smiled. "Dr. Cai, this junior of yours is a martial arts master. See that sword? In his heart, that sword is probably more useful than all these things of yours. He looks down on them."

A Security Team Member close to Xie Jin chimed in, "I heard that practicing traditional martial arts can cultivate internal force and true qi. Little Li is the First Mate's Junior Brother. Since he was specially recruited into the Security Team, he must be one of those people."

Anyone could hear the provocation in their words.

By deliberately emphasizing that Li Weiyi was Zhao Meng's Junior Brother, they were telling Cai Yutong that the college student before her was unreliable, just another nepotism hire.

Li Weiyi remained calm. "What internal force and true qi? Traditional martial arts only strengthen the body. They aren't that mystical. Everyone should believe in science."

Li Weiyi had begun training in martial arts at the age of five, practicing through the bitterest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. Naturally, his attainments in martial arts were extremely high.

But he was only stronger and faster than ordinary people, with more refined moves and techniques. There was no such thing as internal force or true qi.

When the old sect master spoke of the decline of martial arts, Li Weiyi had once asked him about it.

The old sect master merely sighed, saying Li Weiyi had been born at the wrong time. His body and physique had already neared the limit; had he been born in ancient times, he would surely have cultivated something Transcendent.

Li Weiyi then pressed him on why Transcendent achievements could be cultivated in ancient times but not in this era. And how far back were these so-called ancient times?

The old sect master had been deeply guarded, saying only, "Myths have fallen, and endless confinement remains."

Though Li Weiyi did not understand, at that moment he firmly planted the martial ideal of pursuing the Transcendent in his heart. He would delve deep into martial arts and break through the mortal body, even if he had to walk against the tide of the era.

Young people always had a stubborn drive that refused to admit defeat.

The more the elders said it would be difficult and bitter, the more they said he could not do it, the more he had to prove that he could.

Xie Jin said, "Little Li, don't be modest! We're all one of our own, so there's no need to hide it. Show us a thing or two. I don't believe a man as upright and impartial as the First Mate would specially recruit some useless fraud. We're very curious about internal force and true qi. Let us see them, will you?"

The most fundamental purpose behind Xie Tianshu ordering Xie Jin to target Li Weiyi was actually to undermine Zhao Meng's authority.

If Li Weiyi proved unable to withstand a single blow and turned out to be a fraud, then Zhao Meng, who had specially recruited him into the Security Team, would suffer a complete collapse in the crew's estimation.

This was not the first time Li Weiyi had been deliberately made things difficult for. He was not made of mud, and he possessed the youthful spirit of if others do not offend me, I will not offend them; but if they do, they should not blame me. He said, "Since Brother Jin insists again and again, we can spar a little."

A wave of cheers rose through the boarding hall.

Even Cai Yutong, who had always been indifferent to everything, showed a trace of interest.

Xie Jin had waited more than a month for this opportunity, and it was happening before the great beauty Cai Yutong. Naturally, he was in excellent spirits. Smiling with apparent grace, he said, "All right, then. But let's agree in advance that we stop at the right point and must not hurt the harmony between us."

Yet another thought filled his mind.

Once they started fighting, how could there be any stopping at the right point?

Before a great beauty, neither man could possibly admit defeat.

Only one side could knock the other down and beat him into submission.

The two faced off briefly.

After Xie Jin closed the distance, he gave a low shout and launched a preemptive attack.

His hands formed claws.

As he sidestepped left, his right knee snapped upward.

A Security Team Member cried out, "Eighteen Styles of the Black Dragon."

This was a type of boxing banned by the military because it was too vicious.

Xie Jin's opening move was Azure Dragon Grasping Claw from the Eighteen Styles of the Black Dragon, and he had mastered it thoroughly, clearly having trained it for years. This was no attempt to stop at the right point. He plainly intended to cripple at least one of Li Weiyi's arms.

A muffled bang rang out.

Before the people present could see what had happened amid the flashing movements, Xie Jin had already toppled stiffly onto his side.

Only Li Weiyi's right hand remained, slashing diagonally through the air like a blade.

Li Weiyi did not understand the Eighteen Styles of the Black Dragon. He only knew that if one was fast enough and strong enough, any move from the opponent was merely flashy trickery.

Moreover, no one knew when the Bear-like creature might attack the Research Vessel again. He had to end this quickly and did not want Xie Jin's nonsense to delay a matter of life and death.

The Security Team Members all rose to their feet, looking at one another in astonishment. Their hearts were greatly shaken.

Even if Xie Jin had suffered such a crushing defeat because he underestimated his opponent, his physical ability was there for all to see. Being unable to rise after Li Weiyi struck him down with one diagonal palm slash, the speed and force of that blow truly shocked them.

Cai Yutong stood several meters behind Li Weiyi by the window. When Xie Jin attacked, even she had felt a wave of danger and pressure rushing toward her.

But how had he gone down in an instant?

"Looks impressive but useless?"

The thought had merely surfaced in her mind, but before she realized it, the words slipped from her lips as if she were talking to herself.

Xie Jin's neck hurt as though it were cramping. His head spun and his ears rang. When his hearing finally returned, he heard Cai Yutong's words and was so furious he nearly died on the spot.

"Thud! Thud! Thud..."

Running footsteps came from the stairs.

The Short Student who liked reciting poetry and telling mythological tales was beside himself with excitement. He rushed into the boarding hall and said, "I know, I know! That Bear-like creature is the legendary Ghost Bear Emperor. They say it was formed when the Arctic Bear King absorbed auroras and vast quantities of rotting corpses, mutating until it gained a spiritual intelligence like that of ghosts and gods."

Silence.

A long, long silence.

The Short Student gave an embarrassed smile. Looking at Xie Jin being helped into a corner, he exclaimed, "What are you doing? Have you already been attacked?"

Another stretch of silence.

"I'll leave this to you. I'm going back to the laboratory first."

Boom!

Just as Cai Yutong reached the stairway, a familiar heavy impact sounded from the Deck outside the cabin door. The floor of the boarding hall shook violently.

Everyone's expressions changed drastically, and they grabbed their weapons.

It had come!

The leadership of the Dragon Extreme took the elevator down to the lowest deck.

As Director Yang walked, he explained, "The Ganlu Temple Sarira Pagoda Underground Palace remained sealed from the Song Dynasty until it was opened in 1960, a thousand years later. The archaeological team packaged the excavated rectangular stone casket whole and transported it back to the laboratory."

"Inside the stone casket was a small Silver Coffin. Once the Silver Coffin was opened, there was an even smaller Gold Coffin."

"Only after the Gold Coffin was opened did the Buddha's Sarira preserved in a crystal container reveal itself. Everyone, please come in!"

Why had Buddha's Sarira suddenly been brought up?

The doors of Laboratory 705 opened, and the group filed inside with even deeper doubts.

All kinds of precision instruments filled the laboratory. At the center of the workbench stood the crystal container holding the Buddha's Sarira.

Inside the container, the Buddha's Sarira was about the size of a soybean and pale red in color.

Standing beside the sarira, Director Yang asked with a smile, "You are all deeply learned. What do you think of the Microscopic World?"

Seeing the confused looks in their eyes, Director Yang first offered an introductory remark. "At microscopic scales, many classical laws of physics no longer apply. They are replaced by the laws of quantum mechanics, such as quantum entanglement, quantum superposition, tunneling effects, and so on."

"There is a theory that for humanity to leave Earth and leave the Solar System, we absolutely cannot do so through conventional interstellar space. Instead, we need to explore the Microscopic World. Just as we can use a mobile phone to transmit sound thousands of miles away, not by shouting louder, but through the transmission of information at the microscopic level."

"The spatial wormholes we have never been able to find may not be rare in the Microscopic World."

"In short, the strangeness and profundity of the Microscopic World will surely challenge our traditional understanding."

"Some say humanity understands only five percent of the ocean. Then how much does humanity understand of the Microscopic World? One hundred-millionth? I'd say not even one billionth of one hundred-millionth."

Everyone present stared at him coldly as though he were an academic heretic.

Director Yang understood that further explanations would be useless, so he pointed to the high-powered scanning tunneling microscope aimed at the Buddha's Sarira. "Seeing is believing!"

"I would like to see exactly what superstitious nonsense you are spouting."

Professor Xu had endured him for a long time. He was the first to step forward and peer at the Buddha's Sarira beneath the microscope.

A moment later.

The old professor, nearly sixty but still physically robust, had his legs begin to tremble. His body slid down as he collapsed onto the floor, his eyes full of shock and confusion. Then he muttered things no one could understand.

Zhao Meng was immensely curious. How could Professor Xu, who had calmly faced monsters like the Bear-like creature and Nine-Infant, be frightened into such a state?

It was only a sarira!

What had he seen?

After helping Professor Xu up, Zhao Meng became the second to approach the microscope.

Inside the crystal container, the Buddha's Sarira was only bean-sized, but under the microscope.

It resembled an enormous pale-red planet, with soaring, precipitous mountain ranges, dry ancient River Channels, and a bleak, boundless wilderness. It was magnificent beyond words, shaking the heart.

It was like standing in space and looking down upon the endless desolation of Mars.

A tiny sarira actually concealed another world.

This was too unbelievable!

No...

Something so small should have revealed the crystal structure of the sarira beneath the microscope.

Why did it look like this?

Suddenly.

Zhao Meng felt suffocated as he saw an even more inconceivable sight upon the Buddha's Sarira.

At the ends of ancient River Channels lay a vast, dark-red dried sea, its vivid seabed seeming to have been soaked in blood.

A Bronze Ship of ancient design and bizarre appearance lay quietly at the shore of that dry sea. No one knew where it had come from or where it was going.

It had lain silent for far too many years. Even its hull had become mottled with rust, while only the sailcloth on its mast remained clearly discernible.

Standing beside him, Director Yang increased the microscope's magnification.

Zhao Meng immediately saw more clearly, and his scalp began to tingle without his realizing it.

Within his field of vision, the Bronze Ship became incomparably enormous. The Deck was littered with corpses: armored Bone Humans, Phoenix Corpse and Python Remains, and an endless Sea of Tombs and Forest of Steles.

The phoenix corpse and python remains were especially immense.

A single feather of the phoenix corpse was dozens of times larger than the armored Bone Humans. It had fallen near the Ship Tower on the Deck, one wing covering the Stele Forest and the other resting atop the nine-story Ship Tower.

Zhao Meng did not know whether his eyes were deceiving him, but he clearly saw a faint radiance emanating from the feathers of the phoenix corpse.

The microscope's magnification was limited, and too many things could not be seen clearly.

Yet one could imagine that if they had the chance to board that magnificent and mysterious giant ship, the sights they saw would only be more shocking. Perhaps it could open the gate to a fantastical and uncanny world.

A giant ship...

No.

It was clearly only 460 nanometers long, like a speck of dust that had landed on the Buddha's Sarira.

Without a microscope, it was like the countless billions of particles of dust on Earth, unnoticed by anyone.

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