Chapter 044 Concrete
"What does it mean to become a demon?" I asked.
Ma Danlong looked unhappy. He stood up from the mat, walked in front of Liu Yang, and looked him up and down carefully.
I also wanted to think about the past, and Qingyue beside me pulled me back and shook her head gently.
After a while, Ma Danlong sat back, thought for a while and said, "Lin Cong, I don't know about the phenomena you mentioned, the time reversal and the illusions seen in the darkness. These are not the effects that the formation can produce . So there is only one possibility, that Liu Yang's physical body has a problem, which affects the environment here. I don't know exactly what happened."
"Master, could it be that the method he practices is too evil?" Qingyue said.
Ma Danlong concentrated and thought for a while: "It is possible. The Five Elements of Emptiness Meditation is so profound that it is hard to say what will happen. Now there are all kinds of strange phenomena, which are definitely not a good sign. It is very likely that something happened to Liu Yang in the empty realm. If something unexpected happens, it will be troublesome."
"Is he going to die?" I asked fearfully.
"His condition has already surpassed the life and death that you and I understand." Ma Danlong said word by word, and then shook his head heavily: "It would be best if someone could find him in the Sky Realm."
I asked cautiously, Master Ma, can't you do it?
Ma Danlong smiled bitterly: "I can enter the bardo realm, but how to go from the bardo realm to the void realm, I don't know either."
To decipher all the secrets of the bardo realm, Liu Yang must be woken up. However, the space he is in now is an empty space which is even more complicated than the bardo realm... He feels that the future is bleak.
Ma Danlong looked at me and said, "This requires opportunity. Whether it is a difficult task or an easy task, it depends on human effort. Lin Cong, do you know why I have told you so much?"
I shook my head.
Ma Danlong called me to Liu Yang's body. He reached out to unbutton Liu Yang's clothes, revealing the front, and then pointed it out to me.
I squinted my eyes and looked carefully. There were actually four small red dots on Liu Yang's forehead, which looked like they were pierced with a needle. Ma Danlong said, "Look carefully again."
I got closer and smelled a light fragrance on Liu Yang, not greasy, similar to a thin stick of incense, very comfortable. I tried to adjust my attention and look carefully at the four small red dots, and then I recognized that they were four words.
I tried hard to identify it and finally made out what it said: Blooms wherever there are trees.
My head suddenly buzzed and my brain went blank.
I encountered difficult tests in the bardo realm. There was an extremely complicated puzzle and the clue was "open when you encounter a forest." Facts also proved that I was the only one who could open that mechanism.
"What, what does this mean?" I asked stutteringly.
Ma Danlong said: "When I was taking care of Liu Yang's body, these four words were there. The person who entrusted me with the task said that this was a divine secret. All these years have passed, and I have been trying to comprehend these four words. When I saw you today, all of a sudden all my doubts were resolved. Lin Cong, this matter should be on you."
"But, but I don't know how to wake Liu Yang up." I stammered, "Meeting the Lins... Could there be another meaning, or someone else with the last name Lin?"
Ma Danlong said: "Your last name Lin is only the first opportunity; you have the bracelet of Yincha Wang Yue, which is the second opportunity; you can find this place alone, and then talk to me and see Liu Yang's body, which is the third opportunity; before you came here, you accidentally encountered the demon sign created by Liu Yang, which is another opportunity. The secret of heaven falls on you!"
"If I were sure, I would go and wake up Liu Yang. But the problem is, I'm also confused and don't know where to start," I said.
Ma Danlong said: "I will teach you a set of magic. It has no other use, but is specifically targeted at your bracelet. With this set of magic, you can use this bracelet. Do you know the origin of this bracelet?"
I shook my head blankly.
Ma Danlong said: "Legend has it that there are seven great artifacts in the world, known as the 'Seven Wonders'. There are many theories about their origins, and there are currently two mainstream theories. In our Taoist cosmology, there are a total of thirty-three heavens, and each heaven is a realm. From a current scientific perspective, it is actually thirty-three parallel worlds."
I was particularly surprised that someone like Ma Danlong could actually use the buzzword "parallel world".
"The world we live in is just one of the thirty-three realms. Prophets from other worlds have long explored the secrets of our world. They gathered these secrets and abilities into seven items and scattered them in our world." Ma Danlong paused and said, "Among these seven items, there is the bracelet you are wearing on your hand right now. It is called the Psychic Bracelet."
My heart was pounding as I heard this: "Master Ma, didn't you say there were two versions? What about the other version?"
"There is another theory that is similar to the first one." Ma Danlong said, "It's still the same seven items, but they didn't come from the thirty-three parallel worlds, but were created in the underworld. They are treasures that flowed from the underworld to the world of the living! But this theory is also very interesting if you look into it in detail. Maybe the underworld is a parallel world. Who knows."
I was shocked by this theory. I had never thought in my life that the bardo, including the underworld, is actually just a parallel world.
"I won't say anything else." Ma Danlong said, "The mental method I taught you can help you use the spiritual bracelet to enter the bardo of others. Of course, this is nothing. The most important thing is that you can use this bracelet to avoid your own karma in the bardo."
I seemed to understand what he meant, and my heart was pounding.
"Everyone who enters the bardo realm has to face his own difficulties and tests . But with this bracelet, when you enter again, you don't have to go through any difficulties and tests. You can come and go freely." said Ma Danlong.
I almost jumped up with joy: "Then Master Ma, can you say that I don't have to go through my own seven levels?"
Ma Danlong nodded.
"Then can I enter the bardo realm to find my mother?" I said excitedly.
Ma Danlong smiled bitterly: "It's possible, but I can tell you for sure that you won't find it."
"Why?" I asked.
Ma Danlong said: "Entering the bardo realm to avoid your own difficulties is just the beginning. If you compare the bardo realm to a world, you can imagine how complicated and vast it is. When you enter that world, you must first ensure your survival, which is only the most basic thing. How to find the person you want to find in it is a more advanced thing."
I listened carefully.
"Now there is a technique to observe the Yin state." Ma Danlong said, "You can find the location of a specific person through a spell. But your mother's situation is very special. She is sealed in the bardo realm. Even if you find her, you can't save her. There are still Yin characters sealed on her body, which still need to be unlocked. In the end, you still have to go find Liu Yang."
I was immediately deflated, but I can't say that I gained nothing from this trip. At least I learned how to use the psychic bracelet.
Now I have to adjust my strategy. To rescue my mother, I have to find Liu Yang in the bardo and wake him up. I have a hunch that Liu Yang is definitely a great god with many secrets. He will definitely help me rescue my mother. I can even rescue Wang Yue and her father at the same time.
"Master Ma, you said that Liu Yang is cultivating the state of emptiness in the bardo realm. Then how can I find him when I enter the bardo realm?" I asked.
"I'll tell you later." Ma Danlong ordered Qingyue to take Li Daming and the other two who broke in and release them.
After the instructions, Ma Danlong took me behind the curtain. There was a quiet room in the corner of the back hall. After opening the door, there was nothing inside, the whole room was empty. There were two cushions on the ground, and a big word "quiet" was written on the wall.
Ma Danlong said: "I will now teach you the mental method of using the spiritual bracelet. This bracelet is a divine tool. It is not about the formula but about the intention. If the mind and the heart are connected, you can do whatever you want. If you want to learn how to use it, you must be in touch with it, and it will react naturally as soon as you think of it."
My heart was filled with emotion as I listened, but I didn't dare interrupt and just listened quietly.
Ma Danlong said: "It will take a difficult process for this item to combine with your mind. You only have one hour now. I will guide you to communicate with the spiritual bracelet. Whether it will succeed or not will be decided in this hour. If you can pass this test, it will naturally belong to you."
Before I asked how to test him, Ma Danlong told me to close my eyes first.
I had no choice but to obey and close my eyes. Ma Danlong spoke very quickly, as if he was chanting some spell, and suddenly shouted: "Focus all your attention on the bracelet , and use your mind to communicate with the bracelet!"
I quickly put away all my complicated thoughts and only thought about the bracelet.
After closing my eyes, my attention was on my eyelids and my mind was in a highly trance and wandering state.
At some point, a piece of clothing seemed to appear on my eyelids. It was a white dress with blue floral patterns, and it looked very clear. Someone should be wearing it, but I couldn't see the person, only the dress was moving.
The feeling at this moment was very strange. I couldn't tell whether it was what I saw on my eyelids or what my brain imagined and projected onto my eyelids.
I could actually feel that this dress had feelings, it was sad, and it was sitting there crying.
My heart was pounding. Could this dress be the embodiment of the psychic bracelet?
