Chapter 166 - River
TL-Checked by Zaki & Sassystrawberry; Edited by Animeart
The City Lord of Elysium, was one man.
Then why did the Abbot say that it was all sentient beings?
Xiao Shao’s gaze was thoughtful, saying, “Thank you, Abbot.”
The old Abbot bowed and said, “Benefactor, you are too polite.”
Xiao Shao asked, “Abbot, why does the shrine worship the two-faced Buddha?”
The Abbot did not speak, but his expression remained kind.
Lin Shu realized that this question was outside the scope of what the Abbot was able to answer.
Earlier, they had stopped an old man by the road and asked the identity of the Elysium City Lord. The old man was unable to provide a meaningful answer, unlike the Abbot, indicating that the Abbot’s consciousness was clearer and he did possess some understanding of the world.
However when asked “why was the shrine dedicated to the double-faced Buddha”, the Abbot was unable to give an answer.
Why was the reason for worshipping the double-faced Buddha, a more difficult question to answer than “who is the Elysium City Lord”?
The Abbot’s lack of response, caused the matter to again be at a deadlock. Xiao Shao used his spiritual power to cause the Buddha statue to rotate slowly.
The past Buddha and the future Buddha alternately appeared during the rotation, the solemn and silent expression, the palm pushed forward, and the eye in the centre of the face, all seem to reveal clues about an unspeakable mystery.
During this process, Xiao Shao suddenly spoke.
“Abbot.” he asked, “Where is the present Buddha currently located?”
The past Buddha, the present Buddha, and the future Buddha were the “three Buddhas” of the Buddhist school. They often appeared together in Buddhist scriptures, but this temple only enshrined the past and the future Buddha. Since this temple only worshipped the double-faced Buddha, there might be some issue there.
The Abbot’s tone was still kind and peaceful, “The present Buddha is present amongst all sentient beings, there is no need for worship.”
Xiao Shao frowned, as if thinking about the mysterious truth within these words.
He paused.
The Buddha statue had just turned to the side of the past Buddha, and the statue’s eyes looked down, as if looking directly at the three people in the hall.
Xiao Shao stared back at it.
A curious and strange silence flowed throughout the hall.
A trembling ‘miao’ broke the quiet atmosphere.
Lin Shu and Xiao Shao looked at the cat who was cowering in a corner and refused to come out.
Obviously, the cat feared the Buddha statue.
Therefore, it could be corroborated that the Buddha statue is the core of this world.
“Predecessor.” Xiao Shao said in a coaxing tone, “If we can’t leave this world, you won’t be able to eat the food from the outside ever again.”
The cat tilted its head.
Xiao Shao continued, “Not only this, but you would not be able to ascend.”
The cat’s ears twitched.
Although its body was still obediently curled up in the corner, the slightly flickering green pupils had revealed the wavering of its heart.
Xiao Shao’s voice slowed down, “Be good. When we get out, (I) will roast bamboo rats for you.”
The cat’s ears twitched again.
Lin Shu felt that honeyed words and promises were indeed very effective.
The cat stood up.
The cat moved its front paws.
The cat shivered as it walked towards the Buddha statue, reaching the base of the statue.
However it did not stop there, but lightly leapt up, landing on the lotus dais that the Buddha Statue sat upon.
Sitting in the nine-petaled golden lotus, the cat again trembled.
Later it started to climb upwards, hauling itself onto the knees of the future Buddha, then continued to jump onto the Buddha Statue’s arms.
The arm stretched straight ahead, the palm facing outwards in a pushing motion.
Then, a black, fluffy cat’s paw was placed against the pushed out palm of the Buddha statue.
This movement seemed to form a mystical Buddhist seal, by watching the cat’s movements, it seemed to hint at the mystery within the palm.
Xiao Shao stepped forward, closely observing the palm of the Buddha statue, from his eyes it could be seen that he was deep in thought.
Lin Shu also looked at the centre of the Buddha statue’s palm.
There was a faint marking in the centre of the palm, vaguely resembling an eye looking downwards.
Eyes were actually a very strange manner of thing, it was only when they appeared in pairs on a person’s face, that they were not frightening.
Under any other situation, the shape of a single eye could be somewhat mysterious or even be considered inauspicious.
Xiao Shao lightly touched the eye on the palm.
He frowned slightly as he put down his hand.
Lin Shu, “What’s the matter?”
Xiao Shao said, “There is a...very unusual feeling.”
After those words, he slowly spread out the fingers on his right hand and placed his palm against the Buddha statue’s palm!
Lin Shu opened his eyes wide.
At that instant, he felt a trace of an indescribable something rippling through the air!
It was a very, very peculiar feeling.
It was as if a thread of change had appeared in the core of the world, akin to a massive piece of machinery’s gears starting to rotate in different directions.
Xiao Shao closed his eyes, and Lin Shu called him several times but did not receive any response.
The cat sprawled upon the Buddha statue’s arm, paying close attention to Xiao Shao. Since Lin Shu had met it(cat), this was the first time that this lazy animal had bared its sharp little crescent moon shaped claws, as if ready to scratch Xiao Shao awake.
Lin Shu looked at the slim stick of incense stuck in the incense burner.
When the incense had burned out, Xiao Shao suddenly opened his eyes!
His pupils were black and deep at this time, as if within them was contained the endless state of chaos. After a while, this feeling gradually dissipated and everything returned to normal.
Lin Shu, “What was there?”
Xiao Shao, “I saw a...scene.”
Having said this, he seemed to be putting his thoughts into order, searching for the right words to express the situation, but to no avail. He spoke to Lin Shu, “You come over too.”
Lin Shu stepped forward and, like Xiao Shao just now, placed his palm against the palm of the Buddha statue.
A vast but intangible suction force arose from the palm (of the statue), it felt as if his soul was being sucked out of his physical body, falling into an endless abyss.
(The feeling was) unbearable, and after the dizziness that flooded his brain passed, Lin Shu found that he could again see.
Grey.
(Everything) was just an endless grey.
Looking upwards, downwards, it was all the same.
Whilst in the dizzy state, he could not see his own physical form, and did not know where he was. The vast grey world was desolate and silent.
After a while, he seemed to have adapted to the environment here. He didn’t feel as dizzy anymore, and at the same time, the boundless grey void was suddenly filled with numerous dense, vaguely visible yet indistinct golden threads.
At first glance, (they were) innumerable and mutually tangled, entangled in an indescribable manner, with a faint glow pulsing through the threads.
Even if it was hopelessly entangled, however, upon careful observation, there seemed to be a general trend, where they all seemed to be flowing.
It was like a river of light flowing forwards, breaking in front of Lin Shu.
Further in front (of them) was a void, so Lin Shu chose to go against the current, upstream.
He didn’t know how long this meandering journey would take, he only knew that the unending entangled gold fine threads were decreasing, the connections between the fine threads becoming simpler, no longer so complicated as to make people feel uncomfortable.
This golden glowing river narrowed in the void, now only about half of its original width, before stopping abruptly.
It accumulated at one point.
What exactly was this?
Lin Shu paced indecisively at the point in the void where the golden glowing light met the void.
As a person educated with modern physics, many professional and scientific terms flashed across his mind.
For example, the simple concept of mass and origin, and of singularity.
His observation bore no fruit, so he followed the direction of the river flow again, descending, continuously moving forward, continuously moving forward.
It felt like an entire lifetime had passed, until he finally reached the extreme end of the river. The river ended abruptly, and those golden silk threads that were entwined within the void, seemed to have had their ends suddenly chopped off!
Lin Shu wandered around at the cross-section of threads, trying to ascertain the entire picture.
Wandering aimlessly.
He determinedly and continuously adjusted the angle (that he was looking at the threads from).
Immediately whilst in a special position, he suddenly shuddered with shock!
From this position, he could view the true cross-section. Due to the limited angle of view, the beginnings and the ends of the golden silk thread were all hidden behind, he could now see an array of gold glowing lights that was vast enough to blot out the sky and cover up the earth.
The golden glowing lights flickered faintly, against the background of an endless void. The whole scene was akin to looking up into a starry skin on a midsummer’s night.
In the next month, the earth and sky started spinning, and by the time he was able to gather himself, he had already returned to the Buddist temple.
Xiao Shao held on to him, stabilizing his body. “Did you see (it)?”
Lin Shu, “I saw (it).”
Later, he pulled himself out from the dizzy state, and took a few breaths. “A river, with numerous threads, flowing... but I do not understand what this portends.”
Xiao Shao, “I haven’t figured it out either.”
Lin Shu was relieved.
Big Brother Shao himself hadn’t figured it out, so his(Lin Shu)’s lack of understanding was not something to be embarrassed about.
Xiao Shao turned the Buddha statue to face the aspect of the Future Buddha, and said, “Try again?”
Lin Shu nodded.
The Buddha statue was very large, hence its hands were also very big. They could both put their palms on it together.
After the same feeling of dizziness, what appeared in front of them was a starry sky.
However Lin Shu had already learned from experience, he floated towards the side and the scene immediately changed, again changing back to the hopelessly entangled and entwined flowing river composed of golden threads of light.
At this time, yet another golden glowing point light floated in front of him.
There are only threads and no points in this world, hence Lin Shu guessed that this was Xiao Shao.
And his current form should also be a glowing point.
He saw that the glowing spot moved in a circle towards himself.
So he also flew in a circle.
The glowing spot flew to his side in a very affectionate manner.
Together they flew along the direction of the river.
Flying.
(Do) not stop flying.
In the previous space, the fine threads had lessened, the river flow had also narrowed. But now, as they flew forward, some of the entangled golden fine threads had been cut, but there were also constantly emerging new threads, the river flow had slowed and the riverbank was getting wider, the manner in which the threads were entangled also got more complex.
The entire world was flooded with the imperceptibly endless golden river.
The entire river seemed to be eternally, eternally endless.
Xiao Shao stopped in his tracks.
Lin Shu also stopped.
Xiao Shao seemed to have given up on the idea of moving forwards and began to circle around him.
Lin Shu also circled around Xiao Shao.
As they circled one another, he found that the glowing spot that represented Xiao Shao, seemed to be leaving behind a faint golden trail as it moved.
He looked behind him, and discovered that he also left a trail while flying.
These two trails entangled with one another, before quickly dissipating.
He suddenly froze, and thunder exploded within his mind!
There was a buzzing in his head, as if he had caught wind of a shocking secret.
If he had a physical form, he would be slightly trembling at this time.
He remembered a sentence.
A moving dot will form a line.
A moving dot will form a line!
This was not modern physics, this was mathematics.
He looked at the golden threads.
People, individual people, within this space would be a golden glowing dot.
When this glowing dot slowly moved, going forward, it would form a line.
When two light spots meet, attract or repel each other, their lines get entangled with one another and are no longer parallel.
And many, many, uncountable points of light moving forward together, would become a golden flowing river.
Suppose, let’s say, each light spot is a person, or an animal, or a grass, or a tree.
All the light spots together, are a projection of the entire world within the void.
And as time flows forward, the light spots keep advancing, and the river of light rushes forward endlessly.
The names of Buddha statues, the past Buddha, the present Buddha, and the future Buddha, are in relation to time.
Hence at every cross-section of the river, the starry sky composed of vast light spots, is what the world looks like at that specific snapshot of time.
For example, when they came here, the cross-section in front of them symbolized the present.
The river of lights flows from the past, flowing towards the future. The structure of the entangled and entwined threads reflects how the world that they currently live in changes with time.
Therefore this river of light was... the river of time.
The author has something to say:
Maybe a bit abstract?
Probably similar to four-dimensional space.
When a point moves on one plane, it can only see itself as a point.
But looking down from a higher dimension, it actually drew a line.
People are similar with the passing of time.
I am a materialistic yet immortal cultivator, sand sculpture [TN: Means that this person is funny and others may laugh at their silliness] but hardcore!
Leaving (you) with a preview topic.
Two-sided Buddha and Lin Shu’s mirror.
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