Told You I Can Turn Back Time
Chapter 240 - 178: Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood

Chapter 240: Chapter 178: Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood

In the video, Lin Xing appeared incredibly eerie beneath the blood-red glow, with the six flying swords by his side trembling slightly with each breath he took, as if they were alive.

When Zhao Wanxi tried to drag the progress bar of the video to see if the content that followed had changed,

she quickly realized that the crazed, agonized dry corpses were becoming more and more like Lin Xing in facial features as time passed.

Zhao Wanxi still remembered that when she was there in person, what she had seen was the Buddha statue gradually taking on Lin Xing’s appearance.

But now, as the Buddha statue turned into dry corpses, everything seemed incredibly bizarre and grotesque.

As she continued to drag the video forward, Lin Xing’s breathing became more and more forceful, and its impact on the surroundings grew stronger.

However, the scenarios displayed were increasingly deviating from Zhao Wanxi’s memories.

The Buddha statue grew enormous, and the sacred scene of Buddha Light emerging from behind the statue’s head was gone.

In its place were the corpses swelling, mutating, with limbs reminiscent of both wild beasts and insects sprouting from their backs.

The beautiful scenes of birdsong and blooming flowers, with countless plants, fresh flowers, and vines growing from the walls and beams were no more.

Instead, Zhao Wanxi saw from the video that blood seeped continually from the walls and beams, the crimson light gradually transforming into a crown atop Lin Xing’s head.

As the camera moved, the Buddha Light Elder also occasionally appeared.

But the Buddha Light Elder in the video was no longer a kind-eyed old man; rather, he was a gaunt middle-aged man with bulging eyes riddled with blood vessels, his body covered with various scars and burn marks.

And behind the man’s head, there was no Buddha Light, only a blood-red glow, shining behind him like a blood moon.

All that was in the video appeared so sinister, dark, and it clashed violently with her memories, filling Zhao Wanxi with an intense sense of disbelief.

"What on earth is going on? Was everything I saw an illusion? Is what’s recorded in this video the real situation?"

"All the Buddha statues are dry corpses?"

"That Buddha Light Elder looks completely different."

"Why is this happening?"

"What about the main temple?"

Recalling the scenes she had just passed filled with Zen and Buddhist aura.

The images filled with Buddha statues, Buddha Light, and compassionate monks seemed to still be before her eyes.

Zhao Wanxi immediately opened another video, which she had secretly filmed while advancing through the main temple.

The Buddha Light that stretched from earth to sky in that moment turned into a blood light that pierced the heavens.

The originally resplendent Buddhist Temple turned into a hellish scene replete with corpses, skeletons, and blood.

All the Buddha statues around had morphed into numerous ghastly dry corpses of various sizes, male and female, including hair-thinning elderly and infants the size of a forearm.

Some corpses lay on the ground, others hung on the walls, some squatted on roofs, entangled in scriptures or crammed together like a densely packed mass grave.

And the peaceful Buddhist chants Zhao Wanxi remembered were now replaced by the continuous agonized wails of the dry corpses.

Watching the mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the video, Zhao Wanxi looked up and saw the Buddha Light was still Buddha Light, and the chant from the distant temple still carried over.

The images captured by the camera were entirely different from what she was seeing with her own eyes.

The stark contradiction made her wonder, "Could I still be in a dream? Is that why I’m having these illusions?"

In the midst of Zhao Wanxi’s confusion, Dong’er beside her spoke slowly, "Hu Tao, what you are seeing now is the real Da Guangming Temple, and all that was presented before you was merely a mind veil laid by the Great Bright Buddha."

It seemed Dong’er’s call brought Zhao Wanxi back to reality and allowed her to calm down again.

Zhao Wanxi turned her head, feeling that something was very off about Dong’er: "Are you... still Dong’er?"

"Hehe." Dong’er took a few steps forward and stepped into the woodshed, her eyes carrying a chill, "Of course I am..."

Thud! Watching Dong’er trip over the threshold of the woodshed, Zhao Wanxi said somewhat awkwardly, "Are you okay?"

Lying on the ground, Dong’er said with a puzzled expression, "That’s strange, how could I have fallen by accident? There must be something wrong."

Zhao Wanxi said with a hint of helplessness, "Let’s not worry about that for now, what were you trying to say just now?"

Dong’er frowned slightly and then continued, "I am, of course, Dong’er, only the one you initially met wasn’t the real me."

She turned to Zhao Wanxi and said seriously, "From the moment you set foot in Da Guangming Temple’s territory, you encountered me leading the way. Don’t you think this is all too coincidental?"

"Coincidental?" Zhao Wanxi scratched her head awkwardly, "Maybe I’ve encountered too many coincidences from an early age, so I didn’t pay much attention..."

Dong’er sighed, "You were too careless."

"In fact, the moment you stepped into Da Guangming Temple, the Bright Buddha discovered you, and that’s how you met me so quickly."

Suddenly, she shook her head and muttered, "No... Tang Si was the Great Bright Buddha all along. You weren’t discovered but were brought back here by the Great Bright Buddha."

Zhao Wanxi held up the camera and asked, "You just said what we see inside this is the real Da Guangming Temple..."

Dong’er seemed to notice the confusion in Zhao Wanxi’s eyes and explained, "Video, camera, I know all about these. I also know that you must be people from the Secret Realm, right?"

Zhao Wanxi looked at Dong’er with a surprised face, not expecting the other person to know so much.

Dong’er continued, "The Great Bright Buddha’s Zen sounds can change people’s thoughts, and his heart cloak can cover the truth, distorting people’s cognition."

Dong’er looked at the camera in Zhao Wanxi’s hand and said, "Fortunately, the Great Bright Buddha has not studied the camera for the time being, so his heart cloak could not cover your camera, thus giving you the opportunity to see through it."

"Otherwise, even if you looked at the video in the camera, you would only see what he wanted you to see."

Hearing this, Zhao Wanxi became worried, "Then have my senior brothers also fallen for this? I need to warn them."

Dong’er hummed, her mouth seemingly revealing a hint of a sneer, "Your senior brother?"

"He might have been your senior brother before, but once he returned to Da Guangming Temple and gradually awakened his past life’s memories, he would only be the Great Bright Buddha."

Dong’er shook her head with a sigh, "And the Great Bright Buddha, though he may possess endless wisdom and power, definitely lacks emotions. To him now, you will only be a useful tool."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wanxi, however, frowned, "My senior brother is still very powerful, he shouldn’t be easily changed by the Great Bright Buddha."

Dong’er sighed helplessly, "No matter how powerful, it’s useless. This is not a matter of strength at all."

"You and your senior brother may have had a good relationship, but the sooner you abandon your illusions and accept reality, the more advantageous it will be for our next actions."

Zhao Wanxi asked, "What actions?"

Dong’er said, "Naturally, to pass the true information about Da Guangming Temple back to the Secret Realm."

"Du Kong and those official disciples of Da Guangming Temple have already arrived in the Secret Realm, haven’t they?"

She heaved a slight sigh, her eyes growing increasingly grim, "At least we must let the people in the Secret Realm know what the Great Bright Buddha really is, lest they repeat the same mistakes and countless people from the Secret Realm become followers of Da Guangming Temple."

"Otherwise, countless tragedies will be born in this world again, and the power of the Great Bright Buddha will become more and more terrifying, I fear that no one will be able to stop him in the future."

Zhao Wanxi looked at Dong’er with respect. She had yet to meet someone in Mirror World who considered others to this extent, someone with such a strong sense of justice.

Zhao Wanxi thought to herself, "Could the so-called dissolution of karma by the Great Bright Buddha actually be useful? The citizens here indeed seem more peaceful than other places in Mirror World, and there’s even someone like Dong’er."

She immediately moved towards the large gate, "Then let’s now use the Secret Technique of the Immortal Gate to send the video back."

Just as Zhao Wanxi began to act, Dong’er beside her said, "Under the rule of the Great Bright Buddha, the spread of the Secret Technique of the Immortal Gate is strictly forbidden, nor is it allowed for any followers to open the gates of the Immortal Gate, because this could shake the foundation of the Great Bright Buddha and cause his followers to leave."

"And the Great Bright Buddha can sense the opening of the Immortal Gate, so as soon as the Immortal Gate opens, people will inevitably come to investigate..."

At the same time, a figure was gradually approaching them.

"The two of you, are you opening the Immortal Gate?"

...

Chuanfu City.

In the back hall of the branch monastery.

Spirits of enlightenment streamed from above Lin Xing’s head, passing behind his brain, through his spine, perineum, navel, and at last, arrived at the position of his chest’s Anahata, continuously striking the obstructions there.

Under Lin Xing’s control, the fierce spiritual energy became incredibly submissive once it entered his body, as if every wisp of movement was within the realm of his thoughts.

At this moment, after ten consecutive days of inhalation and exhalation, driven by the swarming spirits of enlightenment, Lin Xing made significant breakthroughs in both his breathing techniques and the spiritual thoughts within his sea of consciousness.

Breathing Technique (Level 3 0%) → Breathing Technique (Level 5 99%)

Spiritual Thoughts: 4.8 → 7.0

Meanwhile, the Buddha Light enveloping Lin Xing grew denser.

And in the bath of this Buddha Light, a sensation of complete comfort welled up in Lin Xing’s heart, as if he was inherently one with this Buddha Light, feeling an intense familiarity.

In fact, ever since he began the breathing exercises in this back hall, Lin Xing had always experienced bursts of familiarity in his heart.

Sometimes it was toward a Buddha statue in front of him, sometimes towards the great hall itself, and sometimes towards the Buddha Light that enveloped him...

But even as he felt overwhelmingly familiar with these, he could never recall any relevant memories, which caused him to feel a psychological contradiction.

Yet under the circumstances where the Buddha Light became more intense, countless lights and shadows seemed to emerge before his eyes.