Chapter 100: Bubble
He Qingyou asked his grandfather, what happened next?
His grandfather laughed and said, "Later, that person taught me how to achieve the goal by offering dragon bones, and taught me a set of secret spells. He also told me a big secret."
He Qingyou's eyes widened: "What secret?"
His grandfather had a weird expression on his face, and his voice suddenly became very strange, "He said that there is a dragon at the mouth of the river in Jiangbei. Finding it can make you immortal. Hehehe, hahaha..." He let out a series of strange laughs.
"What is the secret spell? Teach it to me." He Qingyou said greedily, his throat gurgling.
At this time, his grandfather coughed violently: "The key to the secret spell... is to sacrifice a young boy or girl..."
I was looking intently outside the window when suddenly a blinding white light flashed in the room.
Yuantong shouted softly, "Not good! Close your eyes! Don't look!"
I reacted quickly and closed my eyes. After a while, the white light disappeared and Yuantong reminded me to open my eyes.
When he looked into the room again, the scene had changed. He Qingyou was the only one there. His grandfather was long gone. The room was in a mess, with a lot of debris thrown on the bed.
"What's going on?" I asked in a low voice.
Yuantong said softly, "It's a different scene. This is his bardo realm, and the scenes that appear here are the most impressive memories of He Qingyou."
He Qingyou in the room was wearing a strange green outfit, which looked like the costume for rural yangko dance. He had a rough crown on his head and his face was smeared with messy paint. He looked like an actor dressed as a woman.
He faced the bedside table, where there was a statue of Bodhisattva. Two red candles were lit, and the flames danced and flickered as if there was an invisible wind.
The room was very dark. He Qingyou climbed onto the bed and kowtowed to the Bodhisattva. In front of the Bodhisattva was a plate with a black dragon bone inside.
I was horrified and thought of many things. When I took the dragon scale to sell, Boss Zhou told me that it was sold to a collector in this city. This collector had an extremely important piece of information, that is, his grandfather was a witness to the dragon falling in Yingkou, Liaoning.
It can now be basically confirmed that this collector is He Qingyou.
The dragon scale I got from the bardo was in his office! The sound of "Jian'er Jian'er" I heard in the office came from the dragon scale, the dragon that Chen Jian's mother transformed into in the bardo.
I stole a glance at Yuantong next to me. He was looking at the scene inside through the glass, his eyes fixed on it. He certainly couldn't imagine that there was such a mysterious connection between He Qingyou and me.
What consequences will the dragon scales stolen in the bardo realm cause in the world of the living? Looking at He Qingyou now, from asking Huang Teng for help to now, he seems to be walking into an extremely strange and mysterious situation step by step.
He Qingyou was kneeling in the room to worship the Buddha. He used his knees as feet to walk to the bedside table and reached out to pick up the dragon bone from the plate. Who would have thought that the dragon bone would wither quickly after touching it, turning into a ball of black sand and slipping through his fingers.
The room was very quiet, the flames flickered, illuminating the image of the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva, who was originally very pure and noble, became extremely gloomy in the dim firelight, and the picture was tinged with a slightly smoky yellow.
Especially the two eyes, which were glowing deep red, as if they were alive, staring at He Qingyou.
He Qingyou murmured, "What should I do? The dragon bones left by my grandfather have reached their expiration date and have turned into ashes."
He spoke to the Bodhisattva, and the yellowed Bodhisattva stared into his eyes amid the flickering flames.
He Qingyou muttered a few words to himself, then suddenly opened his eyes wide and saw an extremely strange scene.
The firelight shone on the image of the Bodhisattva, and a huge black shadow appeared on the wall. The shadow looked like a statue of a god, with unclear eyebrows and eyes, as if it was there and not there.
When I saw this huge shadow, my mind went blank. I, I have seen this statue before... She, she is Meng Po!
I rubbed my eyes and looked carefully, and it was indeed the image of Meng Po.
At this time, under the huge shadow, a line of words appeared, "Meng Shenling appears as boundless as the sea."
Absolutely, it’s Meng Po without a doubt!
"It's Meng Po." I said softly.
Yuantong hummed, "I've noticed something is wrong. How could the Bodhisattva be so evil? He Qingyou and his grandfather have always been worshipping not the Bodhisattva but Meng Po. They want to offer dragon bones or dragon scales to Meng Po in order to obtain the wealth and immortality they want."
My whole body was shaking like a sieve, and I trembled and said, "Meng, is Meng Po so evil?"
Yuantong shook his head solemnly: "When Meng Po reaches this level, her actions are beyond our comprehension. Secular morality cannot judge her. Every action she takes has its own purpose, which is close to the way of heaven. I said she has evil spirits just now, but it is biased. Heaven and earth are not kind and treat all things as straw dogs."
"But, but Meng Po condones this kind of worship, and requires the use of young boys and girls as sacrifices." My throat moved.
Yuantong sighed, "In our eyes, we are sentient beings, but in the eyes of those gods, we have no idea what we are."
In the room, He Qingyou was kneeling in front of the shadowy statue on the wall. His head was covered in blood. Suddenly he raised his head and said, "Buddha, I know. I know how to find the dragon. We must use boys and girls to worship it, right?"
The fire flickered, but no one answered him. The portrait of Meng Po and the shadow on the wall were so eerie that it made one feel suffocated.
He Qingyou jumped off the bed, his eyes became extremely scary, and he stood there as if thinking about something, his eyes bigger than a cow's.
Suddenly, many people outside the yard shouted: "The flood is coming, the flood is coming, run!"
Yuantong turned his head suddenly and shouted, "Not good."
I turned back to look, and was almost shocked. I didn't know when a flood suddenly broke out in the village, with fierce water and surging waves.
The water was very strange. It surged to the gate of the yard and didn't flow inside.
He Qingyou inside heard the sound and hurried out. Yuantong pulled me back to the corner and said softly, "I am the one who held back the illusion of water. I will untie it in a moment and the flood will come in. You have to stay close to me and don't panic. Remember, no matter what happens, it's all a dream!"
The moment He Qingyou ran out of the door, Monk Yuantong closed his eyes slightly and recited scriptures. The water outside the yard rushed in with a "splash" and extremely turbulent force, like a turbid wave clearing away.
At that moment, the huge waves rolled up to almost ten meters high, equivalent to a three-story building, and the air was filled with sharp explosions.
Yuantong stood in front of me, clasped his hands together, and chanted with his eyes downcast. I was completely terrified, and my legs went weak. I had never seen such a terrifying power of nature in my life.
Yuantong chanted softly: "Dreams, dreams, bubbles, shadows, everything is like dew and lightning. With this mind, you can achieve purity. When your mind is purified to the highest level, you will see that the earth and the mountains and rivers in all directions have become Buddha lands, complete with the seven treasures. When the light is full, the countless Buddhas will appear ..." Just as he was chanting, the flood came towards us. The sky and the earth suddenly became colorless and there was darkness all around.
I grabbed Yuantong's monk's robe tightly and closed my eyes in fear. It felt like I was riding the most dangerous roller coaster in an amusement park.
The whole process probably took only a few seconds, and I heard Yuantong whisper in my ear , "Open your eyes."
I slowly opened my eyes and saw that we were sitting on a roof that was flooded. We were surrounded by yellow water, with tree leaves, roof beams, various wardrobes and furniture floating on them. There were also a few black dogs paddling in the water with sadness in their eyes.
The space where Yuantong and I were was barely big enough for us to sit. At this time, a boat came over from a distance, and on it were He Qingyou and a child.
The child was about eight or nine years old, wearing ragged red clothes, which showed that he came from a poor family. But he was very sensible, sitting at the bow and said, "Brother He, where are my parents?"
He Qingyou said, "It's not far. Just go out from here."
Their boat came not far from where Yuantong and I were, but the people on the boat could not see us.
He Qingyou put his hands on the pergola, looked around, and his forehead was covered with sweat.
The child sat there, also looking around, saying, "Brother He, are we going out this way?"
He Qingyou threw down the thick oar and walked step by step behind the child. His face was as pale as paper and his breathing was particularly rapid.
He Qingyou picked up a thick stick from the bottom of the boat, which looked like the back handle of a shovel or a pickaxe. The child continued, "Brother He, my mother said that after this winter, I can go to school. The sheep at home have grown up and can pay for the tuition. But with this flood, everything is ruined. I really want to go to school..."
Before he could finish his words, He Qingyou picked up the stick and hit the child hard on the head.
The child fell on the bow of the boat without making a sound and did not move for a long time.
He Qingyou wanted to go forward to check, but the child suddenly turned around, holding the back of his head. He didn't cry, but looked at him as if he didn't know He Qingyou: "Brother He, why did you hit me? What did I do wrong?"
He Qingyou collapsed first, tears welling up in his eyes, crying: "I, I don't want to hit you, but I have no choice, I want to find the dragon, and I have to sacrifice you."
"Brother He, please don't hit me, okay? I want to study, I want to go back to school. Mom promised me that I can go to school after winter..." The child's hand, which was covering the back of his head, was stained red by the blood.
He Qingyou came closer, closed his eyes and could not bear to watch any longer. He swung the stick desperately, hitting him again and again, muttering: "I am sorry for you, I am sorry..."
The child finally stopped moving, and the bow of the boat was covered in blood.
He Qingyou's hands were shaking so badly that he threw the stick into the water, sat next to the child, and tried to catch his breath, but he couldn't breathe.
Yuantong and I watched the entire killing process quietly from the side.
Yuantong had no expression on his face, no compassion or anger, his eyes were like ancient wells.
I murmured, "It turns out that this child is not He Qingyou's son, but a boy he killed. He was looking for the child's bones in order to find the dragon."
