Chapter 036 The Laws of the Bardo
"You think too much." Wang Yue said, "I'm so tired. I need to sleep for a while."
She closed her eyes and fell asleep. Not long after, she began to snore softly. I looked at her, as delicate as a kitten, and it seemed that I had touched the softest part of her heart. I wanted to touch her hair, but I reached out my hand and gave up. Looking at Wang Yue and thinking about her miserable childhood, I felt mixed emotions.
I leaned against the Bodhi tree, looking up at the dim sky, feeling infinitely peaceful and carefree. I don't know when I dozed off. I was actually quite well rested, but this state was so comfortable and relaxing that I couldn't find any other way to relax except to close my eyes and take a nap.
I don't know how long it took, but I slowly opened my eyes and looked at Wang Yue beside me. I was immediately startled when I saw her. I turned over and sat up, with cold sweat on my head.
Wang Yue is missing!
I quickly got up, stood under the Bodhi tree, and looked around. The yard was so small, just the size of a palm, and there was no trace of Wang Yue in front, behind, left, or right. She was really missing.
I told myself to stay calm, but my heart was beating wildly. I looked at the wooden door I had come from. Would Wang Yue go back? I walked quickly to the door and pushed hard. The old wooden door creaked open, revealing the inside.
There was actually a wall inside the door, and the way in was gone. The wall was tall and huge, blue-gray in color, blocking the door, and the way back was completely blocked.
My head was buzzing. How could this happen?
I mustered up the courage to step over the threshold, came to the wall, and pushed it hard with my hands, but it didn't budge. I couldn't tell whether the wall reappeared after Wang Yue entered, or whether it had been there for a long time and Wang Yue had never entered here.
I returned to the yard. Everything was so peaceful, without any wind or waves, and the leaves of the Bodhi tree were motionless. The whole scene was like a colorful oil painting.
I shouted Wang Yue's name loudly, but no one responded. She was indeed gone.
I took a few deep breaths, closed my eyes and tried to calm my tension. I had already made a judgment that Wang Yue must have found a way to leave here, so she left first.
But why didn't she ask me to go with her? What was the compelling reason?
I came to the tree and prepared to walk around it to see if I could find anything. Just as I was about to turn right, I suddenly remembered what Wang Yue said, that we should not walk around the tree counterclockwise. As soon as this thought came to my mind, I seemed to have thought of something.
I stood there frowning and thinking, my hand touching my chin, the more I thought about it, the clearer the idea became. I felt a chill on my back, and I thought of a possibility, could Wang Yue have walked counterclockwise around the tree and then left from here?
I looked to the right side of the big tree, my heart pounding. Should I give it a try?
Just as he was about to raise his foot, he retracted it because he couldn't tell whether this idea was correct. If it was wrong, it might lead to other unpredictable consequences, which would then be troublesome.
I thought about it and decided to walk around the left side of the tree in a clockwise direction. After walking around for a circle and almost returning to the starting point, I suddenly found that there were some textures on the trunk of the tree, as if they were made intentionally by someone.
This texture definitely didn't exist at first. I walked quickly forward and was stunned when I saw it.
The texture pattern turned out to be words that someone had . It read: Lin Cong, I'm very sorry, I'm leaving first.
I immediately realized that it was left by Wang Yue. I definitely couldn't find the location of this passage when I just woke up, and I had to go around it to see it.
I touched the words with my hand, feeling a little annoyed. What on earth was Wang Yue doing?
There is another message below: Lin Cong, after walking here, I actually already know what the next level is. This Bodhi tree and I have a deep connection. The next level is about my difficulties. It is very difficult. I can't drag you down. I'm leaving first. Lin Cong, you are very smart, but it is not suitable for you to pass the level in the bardo now. It is very dangerous. You turn right along the Bodhi tree and you will leave the bardo. After you leave, remember my words. Come back after you have learned it and save your mother. Goodbye.
It can be seen that when Wang Yue carved each character, he put a lot of force into it. Although the characters are crooked, each stroke seems to penetrate the back of the paper.
For some reason, my eyes felt wet and I felt like crying.
I took a long breath and my nose moved. I memorized every word she wrote and walked firmly around the right side of the Bodhi tree...
As if I had had a long dream, I slowly woke up, opened my eyes, and returned to the bedroom.
Opposite was Wang Yue’s physical body. The girl had her eyes closed and had a half-smile on her face. It was obvious that she had not come back from that state.
I stood up slowly. Li Daming came in from outside. He was not surprised but said calmly, "You're back."
I gestured to go outside and talk.
We went to the living room outside. I looked at the clock and saw that only four hours had passed. It was almost dawn. I rubbed my temples and realized that the time in the bardo was not equal to the real time.
Li Daming made two cups of coffee, handed me one, and we sat facing each other.
While drinking strong coffee, I recounted the situation in the bardo.
Li Daming listened very carefully to the whole process. When he heard the key points, he took notes with a pen and paper, writing and drawing. When I finished speaking, it was already bright outside, and the sun was shining through the window.
Li Daming picked up the paper, looked at it, and said, "So Wang Yue has already reached her fourth level."
I nodded.
"Then can we still contact her?" Li Daming asked.
I thought about it and said, "There should be a way. If she wants to contact me, there is a way." I shook my wrist, on which the bracelet was buckled: "Wang Yue told me that this bracelet can lead directly to the bardo realm and has psychic power. Maybe she can contact me through this in the future."
Li Daming said, "After listening to what you said just now, I summarized a few rules of the bardo realm. Please listen to them."
I motioned to him.
“First, everyone seems to have seven levels to pass after reaching the bardo realm.” Li Daming said, “Only after passing these seven levels can one have a chance to fulfill one’s wish.”
I nodded: "That's what I mean."
"The seven levels also fit in with the folk belief that the bardo body lasts for seven days during the first seven days." Li Daming said, realizing that "perhaps the bardo body's duration is not the seven days we thought, but is determined by the seven levels."
I thought about it and said, "That makes sense. The time for each level is limited to 24 hours in the bardo time, but the bardo time does not match the real time. It seems that there is another time system, so it cannot be said with certainty that it is seven days."
Li Daming wrote a few words on the paper, and then said: "The time issue is too complicated. I can't figure it out for the time being. I can only draw this conclusion temporarily. The second rule is that the difficulty of these seven levels gradually increases."
I nodded, that's true.
Li Daming sighed, " I can't imagine what kind of test it will be when we reach the seventh level, the last level, and whether anyone can pass such a test."
"I'm afraid that's the final judgment," I said.
Li Daming seemed to be thinking: "From your first level and Wang Yue's first three levels, each level is not aimless, but is related to your experience and state of mind. In other words , people still need to do good deeds. If the sins they have committed are too many and too heavy, then the test of entering the bardo realm will be extremely difficult and heartbreaking."
I agree with this point.
"Another point is that if two or more people enter the bardo together," he said, "then the checkpoints and the mechanisms inside will also change. One more person will add another variable."
"I have my doubts about this." I said, "Based on my and Wang Yue's experience, if we enter a level scene, then this level will only be based on the test of one person and has little to do with the other person. But if you pass this level, you can't say what the next level will be."
Li Daming thought about it and shook his head slightly, indicating that he did not agree.
He didn't dwell on this pattern any more and said, "By the way, Wang Yue said she has a second volume of Yinwen. Did she tell you where it is? I think it may contain more secrets and information that can help us more."
I slapped my thigh and thought, yes, how could I have forgotten this.
"But Wang Yue said she couldn't crack it either." I said, "It's useless even if we get this kind of heavenly book."
Li Daming thought for a while and said, "As long as there are words, there are always some rules. She can't decipher it, but it doesn't mean we can't decipher it either. Lao Lin, I think we really can't rush this matter. I feel very sympathetic about your mother's situation, but we can't panic. I think we should do as Wang Yue said and find the Yinwen classic first and take a look. Once we decipher it, we can win every battle only if we know ourselves and the enemy. Right now we know too little about that world."
“Okay, I agree with that,” I said.
Li Daming didn't sleep all night, but he was very energetic. He took me to search Wang Yue's room, but we didn't find the secret book. We took out all the books in the study and read every one of them, but we really didn't find anything, not even a suspicious one.
After we searched everywhere, it was already past noon. We were tired, sleepy and hungry. We ordered two takeouts. After eating, we went to rest.
I slept until dark, and he and I came to Wang Yue's bedroom. Wang Yue's body was still sitting there motionless. There was no sign of her coming back to life, and I didn't receive any special message.
"She wouldn't have failed this test, would she?" Li Daming said worriedly.
