Awakening, Damo

Seven days earlier, Pei Chao had seemed to wake from a long, profound dream in this godforsaken world.

More precisely, it was a world without birds.

Forget birds—there were not even any rats here.

According to Pei Chao's original plan, he had wanted to return to his old trade.

Well, there was no ocean here, so being a pirate was probably out of the question.

But if he could not be a pirate, he could switch careers and become a bandit. He had planned to gather some like-minded brothers and pull off a big job!

On those islands in the Caribbean Sea, plenty of people had ideas like his.

But in this world, his plans had fallen through.

More than twenty thousand people had awakened in this world. Ninety percent were Chinese, but few had lived in places as dire as the Caribbean. The overwhelming majority had lived peacefully in the Chinese homeland.

Yes, his very first step—gathering brothers—had failed, and he had nearly been shot dead by a Marine.

Fortunately, his experiences licking blood from the blade in the Caribbean had allowed him to adapt quickly to this unfamiliar and Weird world.

After muddling through several days, Pei Chao had hacked to death around twenty Green-skinned Dwarves. That Marine had run out of bullets, while Pei Chao had grown increasingly skilled with every swing. When he hacked at Monsters, a boiling heat rose in his blood.

During that time, he had also exchanged points at the Crystal Tower in the center of the square for several twenty-five-point feasts, and had even been lucky enough to drink a bottle of Moutai—though only once.

Then yesterday, over matters of rules and responsibility, Pei Chao had caused a huge scene in the team Zhao Gang had formed. They had parted on bad terms, and he had become a lone wolf.

And so, early the next morning, having not slept all night, Pei Chao entered the Mist once more and began wandering around aimlessly. After cutting down several Green-skinned Dwarves in succession, he seemed to sense somewhere that was drawing him in.

In a daze, Pei Chao walked toward that place.

After that, carelessness got him tangled in spider silk. He had even unfortunately dropped his weapon. In the end, the giant spider bound him again and again, then dragged him into this cave.

"Beast, if you have the guts, let me go! See if I don't chop you to death!"

"If you won't let me go and won't eat me either, can't you just give me a quick death, you beast?!"

As he recalled the muddled events of the past few days, Pei Chao grew angrier the more he thought about them and began cursing again.

But there was no response from within the cave. After howling loudly a couple of times, Pei Chao fell silent once more, and the entire cave sank back into those Weird murmurs.

Pei Chao clearly failed to notice that the shadow before him had spoken again.

He only felt that the murmurs were like mosquitoes buzzing around him, making him extremely irritated.

Compared to the others in Initial Town, Pei Chao's resistance to the murmurs was clearly much stronger.

Watching Pei Chao remain full of vigor even after being bound for several hours, the shadow's expression was filled with admiration.

Pei Chao's talent was even greater than he had imagined. He appeared completely unaffected by the murmurs within the Mist.

In other words, Pei Chao had very likely reached the Clear Mind Realm.

Clear Mind saw one's true nature and faced one's own heart directly, which was why one was almost entirely unaffected by the Weird murmurs.

It was a realm that many people found difficult to grasp even after entering the ranks. Otherwise, so many would not have suffered endlessly under the torment of the Weird after entering the ranks.

Yet Pei Chao had entered the Clear Mind Realm before even entering the ranks, before even beginning the Mutation Stage after integrating with the Weird.

Looking at Pei Chao, the shadow let out another sigh.

"With my current body, if I save him, my body will completely collapse and disperse. But if I do not save him, my heart will never be at peace."

After a long while, the shadow sighed. "My existence lost its meaning long ago. Continuing to live only makes me an observer, like a wandering ghost. I should save you instead. I hope you will be more careful from now on and survive..."

The shadow extended a mist-like arm, intending to touch Pei Chao's cheek, but it touched nothing. Instead, it gave Pei Chao a Weird sensation, and he began cursing again.

"I'll do it."

Vaguely, a voice appeared behind the shadow.

The shadow ignored the voice and decided to burn its body, unleashing its final strength.

"I said, I should do it."

The shadow turned around and saw that Feng Buzhi's eyes had opened, seemingly gazing directly at it.

"What do you mean, you'll do it? Kid, weren't you playing dead? How are you alive again?"

Feng Buzhi's two remarks drew Pei Chao's attention.

Pei Chao spoke up with a mocking jab, but Feng Buzhi ignored him completely.

The shadow looked suspiciously at Pei Chao for a moment, then turned to Feng Buzhi. It shifted slightly and discovered that Feng Buzhi really did seem to be looking at it.

The shadow asked in astonishment, "Just now, were you speaking to me? No, I mean, how can you understand my words and see me?"

Feng Buzhi smiled without replying. There was gentleness in his smile, along with a touch of compassion, giving others a sense of peace.

Feng Buzhi said, "Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, while practicing deep Prajna Paramita, perceived that the five aggregates were all empty, and thereby crossed beyond all suffering and calamity. Shariputra, form is no different from emptiness, and emptiness is no different from form. Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is form. So too are feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas bear the mark of emptiness: they neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease. Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, perception, formation, or consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas; no realm of sight, up to no realm of consciousness; no ignorance, nor the ending of ignorance; up to no old age and death, nor the ending of old age and death; no suffering, origin, cessation, or path; no wisdom, and no attainment..."

After reciting the entire Heart Sutra, Feng Buzhi felt his mind broaden and clear, his thoughts flowing without obstruction.

The memories of his reincarnation had successfully awakened, and Feng Buzhi now knew who he had been in his past life.

He was Damo reincarnated. Back on Earth Star, he had widely spread Mahayana Buddhism, traveled the world, and undertaken certain practices concerning longevity, achieving considerable results...

The memories of his reincarnation were fairly clear. Many events remained faintly visible in his mind. The only flaw was that Damo's memories of cultivation were rather vague.

However, many of Damo's cultivation methods had been passed down, such as the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic, One-Finger Zen, and Marrow-Cleansing Classic...

Since childhood, he had read extensively. With his talent for never forgetting anything he had seen, he could reproduce the contents of those books in full from memory. He had noticed nothing when reading them before, but now he possessed a different understanding.

(PS: Based on everyone's feedback, a reminder here: the protagonist is a severely mentally ill patient, and mental illness may involve symptoms of split personality.)

A recitation of the Heart Sutra quieted both the shadow and Pei Chao in the distance. Though neither understood the scripture's meaning, both had been thoroughly stunned.

Mainly because Feng Buzhi's recitation had been too good. Its rhythm and intonation had been just right.

Only a good while after Feng Buzhi finished reciting did the shadow think of something and say, "You seemed to say just now that you would do it. Can you undo his spider silk? How are you going to undo it? Even if you want to undo his spider silk, should you not first undo the spider silk on your own body?

No, that is not what I meant to ask. How exactly did you reach the Subtle Realm?

And not just any Subtle Realm—it must be a high-level Subtle Realm. Otherwise, even if you could see me, you could not possibly converse with me.

But to enter the Subtle Realm, you must be able to control the Weird. You have not entered the ranks at all, and have not even undergone the Mutation Stage. How could you possibly reach such a realm?"

The shadow's words became Weird murmurs that drifted endlessly through the cave.

"Subtle—the name of this realm is fairly appropriate. The Mutation Stage you mentioned, does it refer to this world's method of cultivation?"

Feng Buzhi asked softly. Seeing that the shadow seemed stunned and did not answer, he explained how he would free himself. "Spider silk is tough and elastic. With my current body, breaking free directly is difficult. But there is a simpler way to undo these bindings. All it takes is a blade to cut them apart."

The shadow watched Feng Buzhi in confusion. It could not see anything on Feng Buzhi that had anything to do with a blade...