Chapter 597
I think I have quite a bit of wisdom
The Jingxin Hall is clearly much larger than the Jingkou Hall in front.
An offering table was placed in front of a huge lotus platform.
The offering table was piled high with incense sticks, and on each side was a brazier with candles flickering in the flames.
Then there were more than twenty prayer cushions on the ground.
The five players who had entered earlier were now kneeling on futons, each holding three sticks of incense above their heads, trembling with sweat pouring down their faces.
Judging from their expressions, they seemed to be going through something quite difficult; their breathing became rapid, and they were completely unaware of Wu Wang and the others approaching.
"Hey, why do you look so constipated? I told you the government should take better care of the border troops' food. Look how much these two are holding it in."
Wu Wang walked up to Jinxin and Baobao with a smile, bent down and made some trivial jokes at them.
At this, Fortress wore an embarrassed expression and gritted his teeth as he reminded him, "Boss Wei, please be careful... there's something wrong with this incense..."
His gritted teeth weren't directed at Wu Wang, but rather at the fact that speaking seemed absolutely impossible in his current state.
Jin Xin, standing beside him, was speechless, only keeping his head down and letting large beads of sweat drip down his face and onto the ground.
The white-browed old monk slowly walked to the offering table, took six sticks of incense, divided them into two portions, and handed them to Wu Wang and Wu Xiaoyou.
He said calmly, “Please light the incense, and then sit quietly on the prayer mat to observe your true mind and eliminate delusions.”
Wu Wang took the incense stick and looked it over, but couldn't see anything amiss.
Besides the five players, there were also a few monks kneeling and praying on the surrounding prayer mats.
Their faces showed no signs of fatigue or hardship; instead, they appeared relaxed and even somewhat at ease.
Something is clearly wrong.
Besides, even disregarding the physical condition of players in the Ultimatum, the military backgrounds of Emberheart and Bastion shouldn't have made them sweat profusely after holding incense for a while.
Wu Xiaoyou asked directly, "What posture is required for this [Purification of Mind], and for how long should one kneel?"
The white-browed old monk smiled and replied, "Raise it high above your head until the incense sticks burn out completely."
Just as he finished speaking and was about to turn and leave, Wu Wang blocked his way.
He asked in confusion, "Since it's a temple, why is the lotus platform in the Jingxin Hall empty? Where is the Buddha you worship?"
Wu Wang immediately recognized that the lotus platform should have been the base of the Buddha statue, but now the base was still there while the main body on it was gone.
Isn't that strange?
In response, the white-browed old monk pointed to the incense sticks in his hand and said, "How can you see the Buddha if your mind is filled with delusions? Once you purify your mind, you will be able to see the Buddha."
After saying that, he walked to the offering table and silently looked at the group of players and monks kneeling and burning incense to purify their minds, a gratified smile on his face.
Seeing that the guy had no further response, Wu Wang and Wu Xiaoyou could only calm themselves down for the time being.
The siblings walked to the brazier and lit the incense sticks in their hands with the flames of the candles.
Strangely, although he did not feel anything unusual on his body, the incense sticks he had lit in his hand did not shorten at all, and not even a wisp of white smoke appeared.
Until they each came to their respective prayer mats.
Before kneeling on the prayer mat, Wu Xiaoyou first tried to raise the incense sticks above her head.
In an instant, a wisp of incense ash floated down from her head, clearly indicating that the incense sticks must have been higher than her head to burn downwards and shorten.
However, as the wisps of incense smoke rose, the scene before Wu Xiaoyou's eyes was no longer the Jingxin Hall, but rather a slightly swaying airplane.
A familiar voice came from behind:
"Sis, do you know why the person who's slow to draw their gun during a cowboy duel dies?"
That's my brother's voice!
When Wu Xiaoyou heard the other person call her name, she subconsciously turned around to look.
But he found that his younger brother's familiar face was not facing him, but rather facing another short-haired girl next to him.
This scene made her instinctively cover her mouth.
That's my eldest sister, Wu Qing!
"Of course someone who's slow to draw their gun will die from a bullet! American-style Iaijutsu is still very authoritative." Wu Qing rolled his eyes as he chatted with his younger brother.
Wu Wang, standing next to him, said in a serious tone, "Wrong, because slow pull is OUT!"
These words prompted Wu Qing to reach out and pinch Wu Wang's face, saying behind him, "Mom, look at this guy, he tells hellish jokes every day. Satan should get his portrait tattooed on his back."
Mother!
Wu Xiaoyou looked back.
She discovered that behind Wu Wang and Wu Qing's seats were her parents, whom she had been longing for day and night.
My mother is always so gentle and elegant. With the sunlight shining on her face by the window, she looks like Lin Daiyu reincarnated.
Holding a book in her hand and reading, she slowly looked up and smiled, "It was just a joke. Don't be too strict, right, honey?"
Her father, who was next to her, was editing something on his tablet. Hearing this, he looked up and thought for a moment and said, "Actually, being shot doesn't necessarily mean you'll die. I remember there are cases where people survived even if they were shot in the head. Of course, you'll definitely lose your mobility. Hmm... this gives me a new idea."
Wu Qing: "..."
Is this the key point?
Is it any wonder Dad is a mystery novelist? How can he find inspiration even in a hellish joke?
This somewhat helpless family interaction brought tears to Wu Xiaoyou's eyes.
She instinctively went to her parents and wanted to hug them.
But he found that his hand passed right through them like a phantom.
She was never there; she was merely a witness.
As for what needs to be witnessed...
A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in Wu Xiaoyou's mind.
boom--
A dull, loud explosion came from somewhere on the fuselage.
It wasn't metal twisting; it was more like something exploding inside.
The overhead luggage compartment covers seemed to explode and sprang up, with bags, clothes, and miscellaneous personal belongings converging into a cold, violent rain of metal and fabric, crashing down on them along with the oxygen masks.
The eldest sister, Wu Qing, seemed to sense something and immediately stood up, putting one arm around Wu Wang and reaching out to her parents behind her with the other.
The seatbelt around her waist was as flimsy as paper and didn't need to be unbuckled at all; it snapped with terrifying force as she stood up.
After all, Wu Qing was already a seasoned player of the Spirit Disaster skill at that time.
hum-
The next second, the entire plane disintegrated in the sky in a bizarre manner.
The shock of decompression and lack of oxygen caused Wu Wang and his parents to faint instantly, their ears ringing. At this moment, only Wu Qing remained conscious and tried to save them.
However, just as her hand was about to touch her parents, she inexplicably vanished from the spot with an expression of extreme anger.
Wu Xiaoyou knew that her eldest sister had been dragged into the instance world and besieged by that group of Venerable Ones' descendants in some way.
She too will perish physically and have her soul shattered in this siege.
Knowing the inevitable outcome, Wu Xiaoyou seemed to have forgotten that she should be sitting in the Jingxin Hall burning incense and kneeling in prayer. She instinctively screamed, "No!"
call--
As Wu Xiaoyou sat up in shock, as if she had just woken from a nightmare, her face covered in cold sweat that dripped onto the ground.
She finally came to her senses, panting heavily.
I found myself kneeling on the prayer mat without even realizing it, with incense sticks above my head...
It's only about half a centimeter shorter!
In other words, only about a minute actually passed. And this incense stick would need to burn for at least an hour!
Before she could even come to her senses, she found herself lying on an altar, with a gaunt old man beside her, his smile eerily sinister, holding a sharp blade and staring at her.
He seemed to be gesturing to his chest, as if he was about to be disemboweled for some kind of ritual.
At that moment, Wu Xiaoyou understood why the other players were sweating so much.
They were not physically exhausted, but mentally worn out from repeated torment.
When this incense stick is held above the head, it evokes a deep sense of immersion, allowing one to recall their most painful memories, even if the person in those memories was not even present.
It's like when a plane crashes; you weren't even on the plane, but you still vividly recall the scene.
The most terrifying thing is that during the recollection, one seems to be drawn in by some strange force and quickly become immersed in it, thus briefly forgetting that one is burning incense to purify the mind, and is unable to keep oneself clear-headed in an objective state.
Just as she was thinking about this, Wu Xiaoyou began to feel dazed again.
Because she was about to have her heart ripped out and offered as a sacrifice to the Yin Yuan God.
call--
Just then, a burning sensation came from the top of his head.
Wu Xiaoyou, who was in a daze, instantly came to her senses. She looked up and found that the incense sticks had been completely burned away, and a lot of incense ash had piled up on her body, making her look so dirty.
She subconsciously looked in her brother's direction.
Sure enough, the incense sticks on the boy's head had also burned out.
Yes, it's absolutely clean.
Because he had a wild, unrestrained laugh on his face, and the [Elemental Gun] in his hand kept firing fire element bullets, covering the incense sticks above the heads of the players.
"Benefactor! You..."
The white-browed old monk, who had been watching everyone with a satisfied smile beside the offering table, suddenly changed his expression.
He instinctively opened his mouth to rebuke Wu Wang.
But faced with this unspoken question, Wu Wang merely blew on the hot gun barrel, raised an eyebrow, and said:
"Didn't you say that we just need to burn it all away?"
"You didn't say I couldn't burn it, so just tell me if it's finished burning?"
"What wrong have I done? I actually think I have quite a bit of wisdom."
These words made the white-browed old monk stop in his tracks.
In a sense, what this kid said is indeed correct. There are only two requirements for burning incense to purify the mind: hold it high above your head and let it burn completely.
Even so, no worshipper has ever dared to behave so rudely!
Putting aside whether this practice would anger the Buddha, even under normal circumstances, who would carry a fire-breathing device around shooting at things in a room full of flammable materials?
As he thought of this, the white-browed old monk suddenly felt a burning sensation under his feet.
Looking down, he was shocked to find that Wu Wang's fire element bullet had passed through the incense sticks above the other players' heads and hit the fabric around the Jingxin Hall.
Every shot hit its mark.
There were enough sources of fire to set the entire Jingxin Hall ablaze in no time.
The white-browed old monk immediately rebuked, "Benefactor! You recklessly create karmic fire, yet you remain unmoved!"
Wu Wang put the [Elemental Gun] back into his backpack and said with a grin, "I came here to purify my mind, not to put out fires."
This shameless behavior infuriated the old monk with white eyebrows, who glared and puffed out his beard.
But all he could say to the other monks kneeling on their prayer mats was, "Quickly fetch water to put out the fire!"
Soon, the noise of the monks running with buckets of water and the crackling of the flames also slowly woke up the other players who had been suffering from the torment of the purification incense.
When he discovered that the incense sticks that had been keeping him in a daze had burned out completely.
They also noticed something else amiss.
"Hmm? Something else is burning? It smells strange." Passion Fruit said, puzzled.
She glanced at the raging fire that was being extinguished not far away.
But the strange smell didn't seem to be coming from that direction.
Wu Wang's voice sounded behind her, saying in a serious tone, "Don't worry, it's just me being provocative."
These words made everyone turn around instinctively.
They discovered that he was dancing energetically on the flames at his feet.
The twisting of her waist was so exaggerated, the movements so alluring...
The sight of dancing in the fire made other players feel as if their eyes were being burned by pollution.
Wu Xiaoyou sighed and walked over to the passion fruit.
He raised his hand and patted the top of her head, saying:
"Your hair is on fire... that's the smell of burning keratin."
Startled, Passion Fruit jumped up and touched the top of her head, whereupon she found a tuft of burnt hair.
She was heartbroken and desperately wanted to find the culprit.
But I would like to thank Wu Xiaoyou first for coming up to help put it out.
"Thank you so much. You know so much, you even know that the main component of hair is keratin."
In response, Wu Xiaoyou's lips twitched and she muttered, "Because I often burn my own hair in the kitchen..."
Others: "?"
What do you mean by burning your hair in the kitchen? Is that something really funny?
By this time, everyone was fully awake.
Looking at the chaotic scene around them, they also noticed a strange place.
“Buddha statue! There’s a Buddha statue on the lotus platform!” Ruoshui said, pointing behind the offering table.
Looking over, everyone indeed saw a majestic golden statue of Buddha seated on a lotus pedestal.
The Buddha statue has slightly lowered eyes and a compassionate and serene face. It is surrounded by a soft halo, and its right arm is naturally extended forward with the palm facing upward.
In the palm of his hand lay ten exquisite brocade pouches, each as delicate as a lotus seed.
Each pouch is embroidered with a different material and color, and each has a single character embroidered on it in a subtle, flowing pattern. They are—
Greed, as vibrant as congealed blood; anger, as dark as a fire; ignorance, as gray as mist; pride, as flowing as gold; doubt, as bluish-gray as a net; self-view, as pale as a cicada's molt; extreme views, as black and white as the Tai Chi symbol; wrong views, as dark purple as a snake's slither; views of attachment to views, as complex as fireworks; and views of attachment to precepts, as withered and yellow as rotten wood.
While everyone was still examining these brocade pouches.
The white-browed old monk walked past.
Glancing at Wu Wang, who showed no remorse whatsoever, he said coldly to the crowd, "The brocade pouch contains the keys to the rooms where each of you has stayed at our temple. Please take one for yourself."
"What if you take too much?" Wu Wang asked with a smile.
The white-browed old monk remained silent at first.
He then smiled and squinted, "Then you'd better have a way to ensure that the rooms whose keys were taken are occupied."
"Otherwise, I cannot guarantee whether you will be able to sleep peacefully tonight..." (End of Chapter)