Chapter 96: Secrets

Judging from my expression, Jueyuan probably understood that I really didn’t know about this. He sighed and said, “It seems that your master really protected you very well.”

I showed a little bit of impatience on my face, not directed at Jueyuan, but at this sentence. Because too many people have said that my master protected me too well. Unfortunately, no matter how well he protected me, we still embarked on the same path as him.

Jueyuan did not dwell on this issue. He is my friend, and naturally understands my feelings. He also knows that my impatience is not directed at him, so Jueyuan said very simply, “This is a test for our lineage. It is a test that every monk designated to inherit our lineage must pass.”

“A test in the little hell?” I looked at Jueyuan with some disbelief.

This time, it was not Jueyuan who answered me, but another monk. This monk was the one who rowed the boat for Jueyuan. He looked to be in his 40s or 50s, a little weathered, and taciturn. He wore his robe in a way that was not like an ordinary monk, but more like a Tibetan monk. He was half-naked, with his hanging sleeves tied at his waist, and his exposed body muscles were tangled, but also covered with wounds.

If he wasn’t bald, he looked a bit like an ancient martial artist.

“You are here to test your mettle in the underworld. If you can successfully liberate 108 souls here, you will have passed the test.” The monk answered my question very simply.

I looked at Jueyuan in disbelief. Can you liberate 108 spirits here? Is that possible? Just now, those evil spirits first agreed to help, then Lao Xiao helped, and then a group of us helped, and Jueyuan only managed to liberate three spirits.

Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but ask Jueyuan, “How many souls have you liberated so far? How long have you been here? Why can you survive here?”

In the face of my barrage of questions, Jueyuan was not impatient. He answered seriously: “To be honest, I’ve been here for a year and a half. Today is the day with the most spirits, but I’ve only helped three spirits. I’m afraid I’m being too clever by half. So far, I’ve helped 23 spirits. As for your question about living here, we don’t live here. We come here every three days, and we never cross the boundary stone. We only move around in the wild. Moreover, we have been here for generations, and the ghosts here don’t target us. It has become a rule of custom that we can cross over the ghosts, but we can’t attack them, or else they will attack us. It’s just that now…”

“Master Jueyuan, you’ve said too much.” Just as Jueyuan was about to finish his sentence, the monk next to him interrupted him.

Jueyuan shook his head and said, “Not much, absolutely not much. Don’t you know who their ancestors are? It’s Old Li. Old Li’s grand-grandson is here, so I’m not saying much at all. They should have the right to know the secret, because they must enter the boundary stone.

“What, they want to enter the boundary stone? We are very familiar with this wilderness, including the distribution of ghosts. How can we enter the boundary stone?” The monk was shocked and didn’t understand why Jueyuan was so sure that we would enter the boundary stone.

But Jueyuan did not answer the monk’s question, but looked at me meaningfully and said, “Chengyi, you must have come here because of your master, right? If so, you can only enter the boundary stone, because according to the secrets of our lineage, your master only left clues inside the boundary stone. And it’s the new city inside the boundary stone.”

New City, what is New City? I had no idea what Jueyuan was talking about, but the monk next to him was already losing his temper. He said, “Jueyuan, once you enter New City, who can come out? What do you mean…?”

“Amitabha, I will not stop pursuing the Buddhist path. I will not be able to live up to my master if I don’t get the inheritance. As the saying goes, nothing can be built without being destroyed. I will go to the New City with them.” Jueyuan said seriously, his expression as peaceful as always, but the firmness in his eyes was clear to all. Jueyuan would never change his mind.

“Chengyi, it’s very dangerous. Do you want to go? I don’t know what kind of place it is either. Even the high monk who went in with your master never mentioned what it was like inside.” The monk over there was already urgently trying to stop Jueyuan, but Jueyuan completely ignored him and just looked at me and said, “I don’t care.

I casually took a cigarette out of my mouth and said to Jueyuan, “I’ve experienced a lot of life and death. Every time I thought I was going to die, I was still alive. I will naturally enter the boundary stone. Even if I don’t meet you, I will probably hit it by accident. But you, following us in, may not succeed.”

Jueyuan held a rosary in his hand. There were 23 beads on his rosary, and the light on each of them was different. He suddenly smiled and said to me, “I believe that if I follow you, all 108 beads on this rosary will light up, and I will succeed.”

Afterwards, Jueyuan placed his hand on Huigen’s body and said, “For the time being, Huigen will be my guardian monk, right?”

The monk, whose body was covered in scars, sighed and said, “Jueyuan, I have been your guardian monk since you entered the temple. We have been through life and death countless times, and there have only been a very few actions where you and I have not been together. Now, with such an important test of your heritage, do you really not need me?”

Jueyuan sang a Buddhist chant and said, “Dingyuan, you and I have been here for a year and a half. Although we have never entered the boundary stone, there have been huge changes in the new city. Have we not discussed it and are we not clear in our hearts? I am not leaving you behind, but I am asking you to go back and tell the sect that it is time to go. See how they will handle it, and by the way, go to Huigen’er’s sect as well.”

“Amitabha.” The monk named Dingyuan also chanted a Buddhist mantra after hearing Jueyuan’s order. After that, he stopped talking and performed a Buddhist ritual on all of us. He then turned around and jumped onto the boat they came in, and was about to float away.

“Don’t hurry, wait a moment.” I thought of something in my heart and quickly stopped Dingyuan.

Dingyuan and Jueyuan both looked at me in surprise, not understanding what I meant by suddenly speaking up to stop them.

“I don’t know where you will go back, but I’m afraid it’s not safe to go back. Do you know the Shu Hu sect?” I said loudly.

“Which Shouhu Yimai are you talking about?” Jueyuan looked at me seriously and said.

Are there two Shouhu sects? I didn’t have time to ask more, but I just said to them, “It’s the Shouhu sect presided over by Master Zheng. Four days ago, it was surrounded by a million ghosts, completely cut off from contact with the outside world, and is suffering in isolation! As far as I know, this time, a ghost Rakshasa also went. In addition, this Lake of a Million Ghosts has also undergone huge changes. Leaving here is not necessarily safe.

Jueyuan’s expression suddenly became solemn, saying, “The Lake Guardian sect presided over by Master Zheng is the guardian of your home, and our Buddhist sect has different ideas from your Taoist sect in this small hell, so naturally we also have our own guardians. But I didn’t expect the situation to turn out like this… However, it’s not a problem. Dingyuan and I only came from our side a day ago, and nothing has happened there yet. Dingyuan, you should go quickly, or things will change.”

There is such a secret. Taoists and Buddhists are stationed here to guard the lake? I feel like I’m involved in a big picture again. I think to myself that I’m so ignorant, but it’s always like this. Is it a benefit of being a child?

The news I said undoubtedly made Jueyuan and Dingyuan nervous. After Jueyuan finished speaking, Dingyuan actually set up the boat without looking back and quickly returned. It looked like he was really anxious.

Jueyuan looked at the sky in silence, and suddenly said, “It seems that the balance that has existed for hundreds of years is about to be broken, or else the world will change its appearance and the shocking truth will be revealed to ordinary people. Otherwise, it will be a complete solution to the problem here.”

I was speechless. I didn’t expect that a move to find the Master’s footsteps would become a solution to a huge problem. The Taoist line of keeping the lake was still waiting for my master’s opportunity to break the deadlock. Now, people from all walks of life are trying to contact the outside world. Will it be…

I can’t imagine what kind of chaos it will be, but I said to Jueyuan, “It seems that you Buddhists are luckier than us Taoists. At least you haven’t been surrounded by ghosts, entering this little hell, and there won’t be any ghost attacks.”

Jueyuan smiled wryly and said, “It seems that this is not the case. These ghosts are more cunning than we thought! They clearly just don’t want us to unite.”

“What happened to the new city? Is there another old city?” I suddenly asked.

Jueyuan pointed in a direction and said to us, “Go that way. That’s where the boundary stone is!”