Chapter 153 - 142: Blood Well Law

Chapter 153: Chapter 142: Blood Well LawYun Ziliang found it strange. He went downstairs and entered the shop through the back door. As soon as he opened the door, a strong Buddha energy washed over him. His right hand gripping the door handle seemed blurred, while his entire body felt like it was melting under a scorching sun, not just unbearably hot, but as if his skin was being roasted until it oozed a sticky, oily liquid. "Hmm~" Yun Ziliang decisively closed the door, standing outside with a pounding heart. "It’s a good thing I reacted quickly! Such intense Buddha nature, all coming from this kid’s tattoo!?" He was supposedly half-human, half-ghost, but actually displayed more ghostly characteristics than human ones. Ghostly beings were most afraid of the three deeply rooted sects: Buddhist, Daoist, and Witch. Buddha energy, Daoist talismans, and witchcraft all highly restrained the ghostly. At this moment, the inside of the shop was filled with Buddha energy, and Yun Ziliang did not dare to go in at all; his body couldn’t withstand it. He reached out to knock on the door, intending to remind Zhou Xuan to put away the tattoo, either roll it up or tuck it into a cabinet first. Without concealing a part of the Buddha energy, he found it difficult to safely enter the main hall of the shop. Just as he extended his hand, Yun Ziliang hesitated to knock when he noticed his right hand had changed somewhat; earlier, the skin had appeared somewhat blurred, but now, while he wasn’t sure what had changed inside, the skin visibly became finer and smoother. He thought it was an illusion at first, but when he spread his hands to compare, the difference was apparent... one hand slightly darker and rougher, the other slightly fairer and smoother. *The thick Buddha energy just now, from its effect, seemed to fortify my physical body, bringing it back to life... Is this really Buddha energy?* *Buddha nature and Buddha energy, as Yun Ziliang understood, primarily strengthened the spirit; beyond that, they did have some effect on fortifying the physical body. Yet with more than half of his being ghostly, wasn’t it already fortunate that his body didn’t disintegrate under Buddha energy? How could it now actually nourish him in return?* With this thought, Yun Ziliang opened the back door again. The feeling of a scorching sun melting gold emerged once more with the enduring Buddha energy. Determinedly, he walked into the room. As he passed through the corridor, the sensation of his body melting almost vanished, replaced by a feeling of sunrises and sunsets, the four seasons in cycle— —Spring rains gently soaked the clothes. Summer nights brought torrential rain, loudly striking the windowsill. In autumn, a waning rain slowly cleaned the dirty roads. In winter, a heavy snowfall covered the ground, a stove burned inside, and the heat pasted flower patterns on the glass. Spring and summer with autumn and winter, in cycles over and over. The feeling of cycles made Yun Ziliang’s mood extremely complex, full of both joy and sorrow, pleasure and loss, emotions intertwined, ultimately blending into a sense of Zen, merging with his spirit, inexplicably calming his mind, enlarging his inner world. "The tattoo doesn’t contain Buddha energy, it’s Zen." Yun Ziliang grasped the key point, although his mind, originally soothed by Zen, once again grew restless. "That is Zen." In Jing Country, people chanted sutras and stayed close to Buddha intending to shower in Buddha energy, but that wasn’t the goal. The ultimate hope was to realize Zen meaning and Zen machine through Buddha energy, thereby strengthening the spirit. Every high monk within the Buddhist sect was remarkably strong in spirit and not easily corrupted by madness or frenzy due to countless days and nights of Zen realization and Zen enlightenment which had developed their spirits to such a realm. *Yet, what indeed are Zen meaning and Zen machine?* *Even high monks struggled to explain clearly. If asked in detail, they might just scratch their heads and say, "It can only be comprehended, not explained."* And Zhou Xuan managed to embed the elusive Zen into human skin. "Could it be this profound?" Yun Ziliang, now clear-headed and invigorated, stepped into the main hall, seeing Zhou Xuan in meditation. Yet at this moment, Zhou Xuan wasn’t using the commonly seen closed-eye meditation but open-eye meditation. Closed-eye meditation allowed the mind to be void of distractions or to visualize in darkness. Open-eye meditation involved anchoring one’s gaze on an object, like the wick of a candle or a character; clarity was not sought, but the aim was to contemplate the object while keeping eyes open, constantly gaining new perceptions. At this moment, Zhou Xuan’s gaze was anchored on the entire tattoo. Yun Ziliang, unwilling to disturb Zhou Xuan’s meditation, grabbed a Jingyi Bed, mimicking him in open-eye meditation, anchoring his gaze on the tattoo. The tattoo content was very simple, a skeleton draped in a Kasaya sitting in the mountains and forests, surrounded by withered trees and flowers, gazing at a Bright Moon hanging high in the sky. "This tattoo somewhat resembles High Monk Moon Gaze, but the moonlight and the monk are different. I’m a bit unsure, but it doesn’t seem to have anything special..." At first glance, Yun Ziliang struggled to understand how this tattoo could be imbued with Zen. But as he gradually entered the state of open-eye meditation, the content of the tattoo began to change; flowers and grass came back to life, the skeleton monk gained flesh, progressively becoming dignified and solemn... "Still wrong, it’s not Zen..." Yun Ziliang, with his vast experience, couldn’t pinpoint the essence of the atmosphere emanating from the tattoo; he only knew this atmosphere was exceptionally precious and rare. His meditative state delved deeper, clearing all distractions, silently visualizing. At this moment, any thoughts affecting meditation were tantamount to murdering a rare opportunity... ... Hoo! Zhou Xuan exhaled a breath of turbid air. He had been skeptical about the conclusion that the "tattoo" could cure Blood Well Madness, but now he had no doubts. In the Blood Well Society, Jing Deng had once described the truth behind the frenzy of Blood Well Spirit Communicators. What led to the frenzy was not the Blood Well itself, but the simultaneous awakening of dual consciousness, which made the consciousness excessively strong. Before the consciousness matured, the mental power could control the projection of the dual consciousness without error; even if mistakes happened, they could adjust in time. But the consciousness in Blood Well Spirit Communicators grew like wild grass, far outpacing the growth of mental power. As consciousness became less restrained, the projections of dual consciousness frequently erred until they were eternally irreparable, marking complete madness. The conclusion the Blood Well offered back then was to enhance Buddha nature and strengthen mental power, allowing the spirit’s control to tighten like reins over the wild horse of dual consciousness. After practicing open-eye meditation, visualizing the "High Monk Moon Gaze" tattoo, Zhou Xuan perceptively felt his spirit strengthening considerably. The gap between dual consciousness distinctly narrowed. "This is merely an entry-level tattoo, yet it’s already beneficial to my Blood Well Madness. If I finish burning the second incense and learn more miraculous tattoos, perhaps the Blood Well Madness could indeed be resolved effortlessly..." Zhou Xuan, after a few cycles of steady breathing, stood up, stretching lazily. "Yo, Lao Yun. When did you arrive?" Zhou Xuan glanced aside to find a person meditating beside him. "Hoo! Hoo!" Yun Ziliang took a couple of deep breaths, collecting himself, and said, "Is this the original version of the tattoo?" "No, it’s not!" Zhou Xuan was puzzled why Yun Ziliang would ask this question. "Did you alter the tattoo’s design?" "Yes, originally the tattoo was a Bright Moon. One day, inspired, I changed the Bright Moon to a Blood Moon, and right after that change, the trees withered, and the monk turned into bones." Zhou Xuan rolled up the tattoo, intending to hang it in his room. This tattoo was too important to him... at least until he realized a better tattoo. "The alteration elevated the tattoo’s ambiance to several levels!" Yun Ziliang wanted to maintain his "well-informed" persona, but he hesitated to belittle the tattoo’s marvelous utility, which would essentially mean "telling lies with eyes wide open." "Is it really that good?" "Because I’ve seen the original High Monk Moon Gaze!" Yun Ziliang felt that the tattoo resembled "High Monk Moon Gaze," but the modifications had been so extensive that he couldn’t say for certain. "Does the original High Monk Moon Gaze fare much worse than my version?" Yun Ziliang sighed, saying, "How can a speck of corn compete with the Bright Moon?" "Uh... is the assessment that high?" Zhou Xuan once again unrolled the tattoo, then examined it several times from top to bottom. "Stop looking; at your current Incense Fire Level, it’s not discernible... A higher-level person is required to comprehend its mysteries." Yun Ziliang commented, "My Incense Fire Level has also reduced, but my vision remains sharp. I only perceive something akin to Zen in this tattoo, yet it’s not Zen; it’s better than Zen. If my Incense Fire Level were intact, I might discern the essence of that thing!" He rose from the Jingyi Bed and said to Zhou Xuan, "But even if it’s not fully comprehended, this tattoo significantly benefited my spirit and body." Yun Ziliang pushed open the shop door, feeling the wind outside passing through his body, strangely substantial instead of the usual ethereal. This was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time since he hid in the painting and became half-human, half-ghost. Zhou Xuan was also in high spirits. Apart from finding hope to completely resolve Blood Well Madness, his incense fire had also increased. Upon completing the High Monk Moon Gaze tattoo, he had burned a total of an inch on the second incense! He contemplated creating another tattoo with "Divine People and Ghost Blood" as materials, but Bone Teeth was already completely scarlet—it was exhausted. "Tattoos can tire, and so can Bone Teeth... I’ll try again tomorrow." ... "Master Zhou, what did you comprehend anyway?" Yuan Buyu was anxious, very anxious. Initially, he had merely sat under the Ancestor Tree, listening to the radio, casually chatting with Yu Zhengyuan and enjoying himself. Unexpectedly, he heard Zhou Lingyi say, "My brother created a third tattoo, High Monk Moon Gaze!" At the time, Yuan Buyu dismissed it as another entry-level tattoo until Zhou Lingyi casually remarked, "My brother altered the tattoo, changing the Bright Moon into a Blood Moon!" "What?!" Yuan Buyu knew how the Blood Moon came about—it was Zhou Xuan’s Blood Well projection within the Divine Revelation Secret Realm. The sudden alteration surely had something to do with Blood Well’s power. He wanted desperately to witness that tattoo for himself, but circumstances made it impossible, forcing him to rely on Zhou Lingyi’s "verbal broadcast" merely for aural satisfaction. "In my brother’s tattoo, there is something I’ve never seen before... Day and night alternated, the four seasons cycled, with sunlight and rain, life and death, yet they didn’t conform to normal cyclical rotations." Upon hearing this, Yuan Buyu understood and said, "My apprentice’s tattoo contains time and space." He believed that tattoos resembled realistic paintings, Paintings were static, possessing length and width. Combined with the "perspective rule of size by distance," they could convey the concept of "space" within the artwork. Coupling light and shadow, seasons and weather, could depict stillness within a given moment. In this sense, paintings possessed the concept of time but only as a frozen moment. However, Zhou Xuan’s tattoo displayed continuous temporal change, even engaging in cyclical play and unfolding into a small world with its time and space. "My apprentice mentioned Blood Well’s chaotic time and space, and this tattoo reveals a segment of Blood Well’s spatial-temporal transformation, offering a glimpse into Blood Well’s marvels. I really wish... to witness it with my own eyes." After voicing his simple desire, Yuan Buyu found Zhou Lingyi had entered a state of open-eye meditation...