Into Hell
"I don't know what happened ten thousand years ago, but I do know we're in trouble..."
"Mahā~Maudgalyāyana, Mahā~Kauṣṭhila..."
Buddhist chanting drifted through the pagoda forest. Xu Chunliang drew a small brass knife and spread his legs slightly, settling into the most comfortable stance for an attack as he watched the dark mass of pagodas ahead.
In the hazy moonlight, some of the stone pagodas silently split apart, opening like enormous mouths that reached straight for the sky.
The chanting grew louder. Xu Chunliang's eyes shone with curiosity as he quietly watched the stone pagodas split open.
The stone pagodas around the two men silently split open as well. Li Baiyi glanced at one and shuddered involuntarily, his scalp prickling.
A buddha leaped out of a crack in one of the stone pagodas. Its body was rotten, and the mottled gold paint on its face was cracked and peeling. It wore a decaying kasaya. Nine rusty coffin nails were driven into the top of its bald, gold-painted head.
The iron nails were a full three inches long, but only half of each had been driven in, leaving an inch and a half protruding from its skull, reflecting the reddish gleam of rust.
This buddha had actually driven coffin nails into its head as ordination marks?
What kind of buddha was this?
There was more than one such buddha. Behind it were seventeen more split-open stone pagodas.
"Are these... the eighteen bronze men?" Xu Chunliang muttered, slowly backing away with Li Baiyi.
"Mahā~Maudgalyāyana, Mahā~Kauṣṭhila..."
Another chant rang out as the buddhas emerged from the stone pagodas, staggering and swaying from side to side, neither quite human nor quite buddha.
A ball of green flame burned in each buddha's eyes, like will-o'-the-wisps over lonely graves in the dead of night.
"No one may enter the Buddhist Sect's pagoda forest without permission. Those who trespass shall enter the eighteen levels of hell."
"No one may enter the Buddhist Sect's pagoda forest without permission. Those who trespass shall enter the eighteen levels of hell."
The eighteen buddhas spoke at once, their voices neither yin nor yang, neither human nor ghostly, and utterly terrifying beneath the pitch-black night sky.
Xu Chunliang, who had been about to retreat, burst out laughing.
"So no one may enter without permission, and trespassers shall enter the eighteen levels of hell!"
"You buddhas speak no words of compassion and do no compassionate deeds, yet you're overbearing enough."
"I'll stand right here today and see which of you can send me to hell!"
Li Baiyi, who had been running down the slope at speed, saw Xu Chunliang stop where he was. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and he gritted his teeth.
"Li Baiyi, he might not care about his own life, but you can't follow his example!"
With that, he kept running downhill, but after only two steps he abruptly stopped. He stared fixedly at Xu Chunliang's back, torn by an inner struggle.
"Damn it, Xu Chunliang, you've gotten me killed!"
"Oh, forget it! If I die, I die. A man only comes into this world once, and he ought to have Xu Chunliang's attitude of treating life and death as toys!"
He pushed off, scattering bits of dirt, and shot toward Xu Chunliang like a bullet from a gun, not forgetting to laugh as he called out:
"Hahahaha! Life and death are toys for me to play with, and you terrifying creatures are nothing but blossoms in my life! Xu Chunliang, since I, Li Baiyi, plan to use those two lines of yours to show off when I get back, today I have to use them to see what these terrifying creatures are made of!"
"Today I'll go crazy with you. If you die first, don't blame me for turning tail and running without collecting your corpse!"
Xu Chunliang couldn't help laughing too. "Li Baiyi, you've said it now. I, Xu Chunliang, promise to get you out of this eerie Ruin Realm alive."
"Even Tathāgata can't take your life. I said so!"
He turned to the eighteen buddhas and said disdainfully, "Come on up and fight me barehanded! I'll personally strip the gold skin off your faces and see whether the flesh beneath it is black or red!"
The buddha nearest them brought its two rotting arms together at its side, pressing its palms together with a smack. Then it bent its legs and sprang high into the air, landing behind Xu Chunliang and Li Baiyi.
The other seventeen buddhas likewise leaped high and landed in a circle, surrounding Xu Chunliang and Li Baiyi.
"This won't be easy, Brother Xu," Li Baiyi whispered, tightening his grip on his sword.
"Then we'll take our time!" The qi within Xu Chunliang circulated, and he slashed down with his knife.
Awoo!
A deep sound wave instantly spread out like a fan, engulfing the three buddhas before him and making their rotten kasayas flap violently.
Xu Chunliang pulled his right foot back and stamped down hard, leaving a footprint half an inch deep in the thick grass. Using the force, he bent forward and charged at the buddhas.
The brass knife changed course, and he unleashed Eerie Tiger Descends the Mountain, the same move with which he had killed a Moon Glow Grade black-shadow great demon in a single slash that day. A three-chi eerie tiger more than a zhang tall sprang from the tip of the blade, charging straight at the buddha before him.
The buddha didn't so much as lift an eyelid. Its golden face remained as calm as still water as it slowly separated its rotting palms.
Palm met blade, tiger met buddha.
Hum!
The palm shattered, and the blade broke. Xu Chunliang retreated at top speed.
Though one of its palms had been shattered, the buddha paid it no mind. It merely lifted its golden eyelids slightly and glanced at Xu Chunliang.
Beside him, Li Baiyi, who had charged forward as well, also retreated swiftly. Back-to-back with Xu Chunliang, he raised his sword and watched the buddha whose palm he had cut off.
The two men had attacked at the same time, each taking out one of their opponent's palms.
But Xu Chunliang's small brass knife had shattered, leaving him rather helpless. Once again, he felt he needed to get a good blade when he returned.
"Brother Xu, your knife isn't up to the task. If we really make it out alive, I'll give you a good one."
Xu Chunliang didn't make a show of refusing. He said calmly, "We'll definitely get out."
With that, he charged forward again. Though he had no blade in his hand, he still had the hilt.
With the hilt in hand, he still had a blade!
He strained to recall the taste of [death], then slashed fiercely!
A pure black appeared, but it was extremely tiny, like a little fart with neither sound nor smell,
and it burst with a "pop" in front of the hilt. Xu Chunliang was terribly embarrassed. Fortunately, it was dark, and Li Baiyi, who was beside him, hadn't noticed.
Five buddhas in front of him reached out their arms at him at the same time.
Their arms were also covered in gold paint. They extended several meters in an instant, like a dancer's flying sleeves,
and struck Xu Chunliang all at once.
The dead are crossing the bridge, the living must make way...
The dead are crossing the bridge, the living must make way...
The dead are crossing the bridge, the living must make way...
The muffled cry reached Xu Chunliang's ears, rousing him from his daze. He slowly opened his eyes.
He looked around in confusion and found himself surrounded by an expanse of white, with seemingly nothing in it.
Looking down, he was surprised to find himself walking on a black stone bridge. Beneath it rolled the black waters of a river, and countless wronged souls seemed to be wailing endlessly within them. At some unknown point, a mass of cold, heavy chains had been bound around his arm.
The end of the chains dragged along the ground into the white mist, making a forlorn scraping sound.
He frowned, unable for the moment to remember why he was in such a place.
"Where is this...?"