Three Trials Before the Buddha

The hall was dimly lit, filled with an eerie, terrifying atmosphere.

The Dark Great Buddha was impossible to miss. Everyone saw it. Some of the more timid tourists were even wondering whether they should kneel and kowtow to it three times first.

"Step forward!"

"Kneel!"

"Worship the Buddha!"

The Dark Great Buddha, which looked as if it had been cast from brass, spoke. Its words were brief, but its voice carried an unquestionable tyranny.

The tourists stirred uneasily, unsure what to do.

"Baici, should we kowtow first?"

Old Aunt was scared. "It's only kowtowing. It won't cost us a piece of flesh!"

"We should probably kowtow first!"

Sima Mu agreed as well.

"Oppa, the Rule Pollution has probably started. We just don't know what its lethal effect is?"

Jin Yingzhen felt that the Great Buddha's presence was so terrifying that a few kowtows certainly would not solve everything.

When there were many people, herd mentality naturally emerged.

More than eight hundred tourists watched one another.

Kowtowing was not the problem. The main concern was that whoever kowtowed first might suffer an accident.

Seeing that no one moved, the Great Buddha gave a cold snort.

A cluster of Sparks erupted from its two thick nostrils, then scattered outward, drifting down like fireflies in midsummer.

[Hide!]

Hearing that, Lin Baici hurried toward a corner.

"Fall back!"

Lin Baici warned Jin Yingzhen and the others. In fact, he did not need to shout; everyone instinctively tried to dodge the Sparks.

The Sparks fell one after another, then suddenly accelerated and flew toward the heads of the nearest people.

Boom!

A small flame ignited before their brows.

"What is this?"

"It's kind of hot!"

"What do we do now?"

The tourists marked by the Sparks panicked.

"Don't drag this out. We might die. Hurry and kowtow before the Great Buddha to worship it!"

Short-haired Middle-aged Man growled anxiously.

There was no Spark on his brow. In other words, he wanted these people to test the waters first. If there were mines, they would be the ones stepping on them.

Hearing that, those tourists did not dare delay. They hurried to the Great Buddha, knelt down, and began kowtowing.

"Bodhisattva, bless me!"

"My Buddha is merciful!"

"I'm a good person. I've never done anything bad in my life. Please spare me!"

The tourists kowtowed and prayed. Many even promised to offer incense and worship.

The Great Buddha rested its cheek on one palm and watched them expressionlessly. Suddenly, it revealed a savage grin.

"Those who disrespect the Buddha shall die!"

As the word "die" fell, the tourists with Sparks before their brows met their doom.

The Sparks flared explosively, igniting their hair and making them burn like candles. The flames spread incredibly fast, engulfing their entire bodies in an instant.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

So many "torches" suddenly appeared in the hall, driving away much of the darkness. Yet the surviving tourists felt as though they had fallen into an ice cellar, colder than ever.

Old Aunt and Hua Yueyu grabbed Lin Baici's arm.

They trembled uncontrollably.

The seventy-five unlucky people who had been set ablaze screamed, wailed, and cried for help...

They ran around like headless flies, but after barely a dozen seconds, they collapsed to the ground and burned to death.

Their corpses had turned to charred black husks, smoke rising from them. The air was filled with the smell of burnt roast meat.

Ugh! Ugh!

Quite a few people vomited.

"Step forward!"

"Kneel!"

"Worship the Buddha!"

The Dark Great Buddha spoke again.

This time, no one dared slack off. Aside from a scant few still standing, everyone else knelt and kowtowed to the Great Buddha.

"Baici, kneel!"

Seeing that Lin Baici had not knelt, Old Aunt hurriedly tugged him.

"Brother Lin, don't worry about your pride. Staying alive is what matters."

Brother Gu urged him.

Whether it worked or not, they should kowtow first.

The tourists had submitted, but the Great Buddha was not satisfied. It snorted again, and another cluster of Sparks erupted from its nostrils.

Having witnessed the horror of those things, everyone scattered in panic. Some shoved one another, trying to squeeze into the crowd and use others as human shields.

The Sparks were fast, and their flight paths were unpredictable, making them hard to dodge.

It was purely a matter of luck.

More than sixty unlucky people were marked by Sparks before their brows.

"Brother... Brother Lin!"

Camera Guy cried.

His luck was terrible. A Spark burned before his brow.

"Kowtowing won't work. We need to quickly find the correct way to worship the Buddha!"

Lin Baici analyzed the situation while asking God of Gluttony in his heart what they should do.

But Mysterious Voice did not reply.

"Looks like we can only rely on ourselves!"

Lin Baici began trying to save himself and called out, "Everyone, stop wasting time here. Search the hall carefully and see if there are any clues!"

Inside the Great Hero Hall, apart from the Dark Great Buddha enshrined on the altar at the front, there were eighteen smaller altars on each side.

If Lin Baici had guessed correctly, they should have been where the eighteen Arhat Monks who had rushed out earlier were positioned.

Behind the altars on both sides stood a row of Purple Lacquered Wood Shelves, each holding a line of unlit Bronze Oil Lamps.

The hall was paved with smooth, mirror-like Cyan Stone Slabs covered in Scripture. The dome was too high to see clearly.

The surrounding walls were carved with brightly colored Murals.

There was the Great Buddha descending into the mortal world to save all living beings;

There were devout men and women praying sincerely, chanting Scripture, and worshipping the Buddha;

There was flourishing incense, with My Buddha eternally radiant...

Even an inconspicuous blade of grass in these Murals was carved vividly. Every believer's expression was lifelike.

"There's nothing in this hall!"

Unable to find any clues, many people despaired.

Lin Baici looked around once before returning his gaze to a Mural on the left wall.

A group of devout men and women sat on cushions, chanting Scripture and worshipping the Buddha.

"Do we need to chant Scripture?"

Hua Yueyu noticed it too, and her eyes lit up.

"Does anyone know how to chant Scripture? Hurry and chant some!"

Short-haired Middle-aged Man shouted.

"I... I do!"

An Old Man stepped forward. He was advanced in years, frail, and sickly. Wanting to live a few more years, he had begun believing in Buddhism.

He had a statue of Guanyin enshrined at home and chanted a passage of Scripture every day.

"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up!"

Short-haired Middle-aged Man urged.

Old Man knelt down, clasped his hands together, and began mumbling Scripture.

No one even dared breathe loudly as they watched him.

The Dark Great Buddha listened.

"Looks like it's working?"

The tourists perked up.

Old Man secretly glanced at the Dark Great Buddha. Thinking he had passed, he was about to sigh in relief when the Great Buddha spoke.

"Wild Dogs Barking. What a nuisance!"

The Great Buddha looked utterly impatient. It raised its left hand and pressed down through the air!

A Black Buddha Palm condensed from light suddenly appeared more than ten meters above Old Man's head, then slammed down at high speed.

Bang!

Dust flew everywhere, while blood and flesh splattered in all directions.

When the Black Buddha Palm vanished, only a smear of bloody flesh remained on the Cyan Stone Slabs.

Old Man was dead, leaving no corpse behind!

The sight made many people's scalps tingle. Even chanting Scripture did not work?

The Dark Great Buddha swept its gaze around.

The tourists with Sparks before their brows were terrified. They kowtowed even harder, and two of them even mutilated themselves to demonstrate their devotion to the Buddha.

But unfortunately, it was useless.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Sparks exploded and set them ablaze.

"Yueyu..."

Camera Guy looked longingly at Hua Yueyu. He knew he was going to die and wanted to confess his feelings, but before he could finish speaking, his entire body was ignited.

"Brother Gu!"

Hua Yueyu felt miserable. Brother Gu was diligent at work, an excellent photographer, and neither smoked nor drank. He had been a good man and a good companion, yet he had died in a place like this.

"Step forward!"

"Kneel!"

"Worship the Buddha!"

The Great Buddha spoke in a cold voice.

"You tell us to worship the Buddha, so why don't you tell us what we're supposed to do?"

Someone shouted indignantly.

The Great Buddha ignored him. Instead, it snorted again and expelled another cluster of Sparks from its nostrils.

Whoosh!

The tourists hurriedly backed away. Everyone now knew that once they were touched by those things, death was certain.

The Sparks burst apart like a meteor shower, falling before some people's brows.

At that moment, there was no distinction between the noble and lowly, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly. It all came down to luck.

A Spark streaked past Hua Yueyu and landed before Jin Yingzhen's brow.

"Oppa..."

Jin Yingzhen panicked.

"Don't give up!"

Lin Baici encouraged her, his gaze roaming across the Murals as he recalled everything that had happened after the bell rang and the Great Buddha ordered everyone into the hall to worship.

"The ways to worship the Buddha: kneeling, copying Scripture, offering incense, presenting tributes, chanting Scripture... chanting Scripture?"

An idea flashed through Lin Baici's mind.

Chanting Scripture

was definitely a way to worship the Buddha, but the Great Buddha had not been satisfied. Could it be because it could not understand?

Lin Baici lowered his head and looked at the Scripture on the Cyan Stone Slabs, written in some unknown language. Then he remembered the chanting that had sounded when the Great Hero Hall first opened.

None of it had been Chinese.

"Yingzhen, chant a passage of Scripture after me!"

Lin Baici quickly opened his backpack, took out the Black Altar Bowl, muttered "drink porridge" twice, and retrieved the Herbal Cushion.

Hua Yueyu looked extremely surprised. Under normal circumstances, she definitely would have asked what it was, but people were about to die, so she had no mind for it at all. "Baici, chanting Scripture is useless!"

"Not necessarily!"

Lin Baici walked toward the Buddha. "Hurry!"

Jin Yingzhen quickly followed.

Lin Baici placed the Herbal Cushion down and had Jin Yingzhen kneel on it. Then he began chanting Scripture.

Thank goodness for Eidetic Memory!

After hearing it once, he had remembered that passage of Scripture.

Jin Yingzhen repeated every line after Lin Baici. Because she was kneeling on the Herbal Cushion and had the boost from Eidetic Memory, her memory was exceptionally sharp at the moment.

Some Tourists paced around the main hall, unwilling to give up searching for clues. A few others had simply given up and lay flat on the ground.

They watched Jin Yingzhen recite the Scripture, thinking she was wasting her effort.

That Old Man had already proved with his life that reciting the Scripture was useless.

"I'd rather be burned to death than be smashed into a puddle of Rotten Meat!"

Old Aunt muttered.

Before long, people realized something was wrong. The Great Buddha did not kill her; it was listening to Egg-shaped Face Girl recite the Scripture, and the murderous expression on its face gradually softened.

Five minutes passed.

Jin Yingzhen finished reciting and looked anxiously at the Great Buddha.

"Withdraw!"

The Great Buddha waved its hand. The Sparks between Jin Yingzhen's brows let out a sharp pop and vanished.

"I survived! I survived!"

Jin Yingzhen jumped up excitedly. Like a Koala, she threw her arms around Lin Baici and fiercely kissed him.

"Oppa, you're my superhero!"

Having survived the Aftermath of a Disaster, Jin Yingzhen was filled with gratitude toward Lin Baici.

He saved me again!

"Does reciting the Scripture work?"

"Then why was that Old Man killed?"

"Seems like the Scripture he recited was different!"

The Tourists buzzed with discussion and gathered around Lin Baici, wanting to ask him about it.

Everyone could see it.

This girl who looked like some kind of Korean Girl Group Member had survived entirely because of this Big Male Student.