Chapter 47
Chapter 47: Salvation through Repentance
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“These details are truly exquisite!” Ling PingAn raised his head and looked at the monster that had just come out of the ground.
He couldn’t help but express his admiration for this game’s developers.
“If every game developer in the Federal Empire were this good, they wouldn’t need to worry about taking money out of my pocket anymore,” he exclaimed.
Unfortunately, the Legend of Nightmare didn’t seem to have an in-game purchase option.
That was quite a pity.
“Intruder!” The Hydra lowered one of its giant heads. A man hiding in the shadows said, “Get out of this place! Otherwise…I won’t mind having another subject in my laboratory.”
“A nonplayer character can speak?” Ling PingAn was stunned. “Could this be a cut scene? It doesn’t look like it.”
He hurried to contact the game’s official support and received an answer: The Legend of Nightmare used the newest artificial intelligence algorithms and achieved the personification of each character in the game. The characters could interact with the players, and the players’ choices and behavior could also affect the nonplayer characters.
“Wow!” Ling PingAn thought to himself, “How can it be so advanced?”
However, after giving it some more thought, Ling PingAn realized that the Federal Empire might actually have the capacity to create a game like this.
Education and scientific research had been the priorities of every administration of the central federal government.
Both education and scientific research were known as the programs that couldn’t be cut under any circumstances in the annual budget.
Even during an economic recession, the central federal government would rather cut back expenditures on the military and the royal family than take away one cent from the education and scientific research programs.
Anyone who dared to move that money would be dismissed immediately.
Thinking about this, Ling PingAn was able to dispel all the doubts in his mind.
“Even a junior boss has the nerve to talk such nonsense.” Ling PingAn sneered.
But he remained calm and composed on the outside in order to fit in with the culture and style of the game.
He prostrated himself, saying, “Amitabha, you’re clinging to a false notion of your ego.”
While speaking, he secretly spent 20,000 Point Certificates of Nightmare to activate the new skill in the skill bar.
The Point Certificates of Nightmare that he had earned through hard work instantly dropped to single digits.
“I will offer sacrifices.” Thinking of that, Ling PingAn kept walking forward.
With a stately bearing, he looked exceptionally solemn and benevolent.
Golden lotuses bloomed underneath his feet as he stepped forward.
The flattened and crushed corpses and skeletons on the ground were all covered by sacred Buddhist lotuses.
Countless flowers that were made of Buddhist light fell from the sky.
Ling PingAn chanted in a soft voice, “Amitabha, you shall attain salvation through repentance! Excellent! Excellent!”
Following that, a succession of black shadows, contorting in agony, floated out of the corpses and skeletons.
They were roaring and struggling in excruciating pain.
Eventually, the black smudges on their bodies were washed off little by little.
The pain and resentment slowly dissipated.
And their contorted bodies gradually returned to normal.
All of a sudden, these spirits seemed to understand something. They all looked at Ling PingAn and prostrated themselves on the ground and chanted, “Moved by compassion, Bodhisattvas take the vow to liberate all living beings. Attain salvation through repentance.”
At first, only the spirits were intoning.
However, the stones on the ground began to jump up one after the other during the chanting.
The stones started to grow mouths and joined the spirits, “Attain salvation through repentance!”
They were followed by the grasses and flowers.
Their stems, leaves, and buds also opened the mouths and chanted solemnly and sincerely, “Attain salvation through repentance!”
In the end, even the clouds in the sky seemed to be muttering, “Attain salvation through repentance!”
…
Eyes widening, Chu Weiwei stared at the senior monk. Tall and burly, he walked forward like a Wisdom King.
The golden lotuses bloomed under his feet.
“This is…,” Chu Weiwei was left open-mouthed, “…this is an eminent monk who has reached the level of arhat at least!”
Chu Weiwei had heard from her senior relatives that Master Jinguang from Mount Emei used to convene meetings of his followers and disciples to teach them Buddhist doctrine when he was alive 50 years ago.
Master Jinguang had a majestic bearing and could make golden lotuses grow in the ground when he was walking. Flowers with a pleasant fragrance fell from the sky when he gave lessons on Buddhist doctrine. It was such an enchanting and delightful experience that even the maladies of his audience could be cured.
Unfortunately, even a venerable monk like he was was subject to a limited life span.
Master Jinguang had unexpectedly summoned his disciples and made arrangements for his funeral on his 108th birthday. Then he passed away peacefully.
No one else had reached the level of arhat since Master Jinguang had died.
Yet now, she’d just met another living monk at the level of arhat with her own eyes.
It made Chu Weiwei’s heart pound hard in her chest.
Nevertheless, she soon realized that she was wrong.
Because the senior monk before her was far beyond the level of arhat.
She heard him chant, “Amitabha, you shall attain salvation through repentance! Excellent! Excellent!”
Golden lotuses bloomed.
Flowers fell from the sky.
The twisted spirits of the dead were freed from their corpses and skeletons.
Then, their pain and resentment were washed away by the Buddhist light.
It also washed off the demonic magic that had been controlling them.
Therefore, these spirits all put their palms together and chanted the phrase, “Attain salvation through repentance!”
Along with their chanting, all the stones and plants on the ground, as well as the clouds in the sky, all seemed to become intelligent. “Attain salvation through repentance!”
The Buddhist hymn was steady and ceaseless.
It came from all directions and reverberated in the air, chanted by a human, by spirits, by flowers, and by trees.
As if the entire world had joined in the grand and blessed chorus.
“Attain salvation through repentance!”
Chu Weiwei felt as if her body and soul had been purified by this sacred hymn.
Her physical fatigue and psychological fear of this strange world of Nightmare evaporated bit by bit.
“Establish the doctrine of the whole world with one phrase!”
“Only a reincarnated lama can have such ability!” Chu Weiwei was astonished.
Nonetheless, the man hiding in the shadow of the nine-headed serpent Hydra had a completely different feeling.
“Attain salvation through repentance!”
The incessant beat of the hymn felt like maggots digging into his body.
Not only was it burned in his mind, but it also haunted his soul.
It shook his confidence, weakened his resolve, and even completely changed the thoughts in his mind.
It buried him in reminiscences of the past.
It immersed him in the memory of his early days when he was still weak and puny.
In a trance, he suddenly developed a thought that he was guilty of the most heinous crimes and should beg for the Buddha’s mercy immediately.
Fortunately, he was able to maintain a firm will.
He bit his tongue the moment he became aware of the thoughts in his head.
And he woke up at once to the pain.
He broke free from the Buddhist hymn.
However…
Even though he’d escaped himself.
His mount, the nine-headed serpent bestowed on him by his master, apparently didn’t have the same level of willpower and self-control.
Crack! Crack!
The gigantic monster lowered its nine heads.
Its hulking body dropped and kneeled down.
Surprisingly, tears poured out of its eyes on its nine decaying, maggot-covered heads. It was crying like a human.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The nine-headed serpent banged its heads frantically.
Nine giant heads were all rhythmically knocking on the ground.
Its loud noise seemed to be saying, “Please, show me some mercy. Please, show me some mercy. Please, redeem my lost soul! Please, redeem my lost soul!”
The Wizard of Death hiding behind the nine-headed serpent finally gave in upon seeing the scene.
He didn’t dare to face the bizarre and powerful monk anymore.
He turned around and beat a hasty retreat, running toward the castle on the cliff far away.