Chapter 187 - The Fourth Wall

“You shouldn’t say it’s lucky,” Hao Ning looked at Xiao Hong with half a smile. “You should say that no wonder Avalokitesvara hide Mountain Lojia ‒ Don’t ask me why. I guess it. Our Avalokitesvara is really mysterious.”

“This is the first time you praise him sincerely!” Liu Shuai said in surprise: “You should praise him sincerely?”

“Get out!” Hao Ning responded a bit angrily, thinking about what Zhang Chi Hang was doing.

“Stop it.” Xiao Hong took the contract and looked at it. “In this case, the two brother’s contract is certainly a farce. The Dragon Temple naturally doesn’t need this contract. ‒ No, it’s not a usual contract.”

After saying this, Xiao Hong’s expression changed.

“Alas…” That woman shook her head and said remorsefully: “I was deluded by Doctor Xue. I not only made myself look like Shi Ming and bargained with Wang Shi Zhe but also used the soul contract.”

“Soul contract?” Liu Shuai was confused. “What is this contract? What is a soul contract?”

“Hmm… Good method…” Zhou Yuan seriously said with head nodding and eyes squinting. “This is an occult from the Western Region…”

“An occult from the Western Region?” Seeing Zhou Yuan saying so, Liu Shuai quickly asked: “What is it? You even know this?”

“Eh… well, I don’t know.” Zhou Yuan felt a little embarrassed but said stubbornly. “But isn’t it what novel said? Everything you haven’t seen is either an occult from the Western Region, or an ancient relic, or a leftover of alien. I think an occult would be the most suitable…”

“Can you not prove your existence at this time?” Liu Shuai knew that was Zhou Yuan’s nonsense, and he swore: “Can’t you shut up?”

“OK.” Zhou Yuan scratched his head. Seeing Liu Shuai glaring at him, he added quickly: “Come on. I’m the god of friends circle. I’ll feel uncomfortable in it sometimes if I don’t validate my existence. It’s my occupational disease. Sorry.” And then he smiled at Xiao Hong and said: “Please, please.”

“This is an occult from the Western Region…” Xiao Hong whispered but then stunned, for he was influenced by Zhou Yuan. He smiled awkwardly and correct: “No, no. This is a western occult. It was used in a contract that the devil signs with humans with the temptation of achieving human’s wish but at the cost of their soul.”

“How can it exist?” Zhou Yuan seemed to be ignorant of western history. He asked subconsciously: “Why did the devil kill humans with a contract?”

“Is it because of the distortion of reality results from people’s beliefs?” Hao Ning understood. He asked cautiously: “In western history, people valued contract. So, the transaction between the devil and the human was also mainly accomplished by the contract. Right?”

“You truly master in Chinese and Western knowledge…” The woman nodded. “I’m glad that Shi Ming and you are friends.”

“Who said Shi Ming and I are friends?” Hao Ning didn’t like the woman. “We’re still antagonistic not long ago, OK?”

“The soul contract is only superficial.” Xiao Hong didn’t respond to Hao Ning. He looked down at the contract. “The essence of the soul contract is not the content, but the two souls. So, there are two characters: First, they can’t help each other cheat. Second, no one can tear the contract by hurting the other.”

“Sh*t…” Hao Ning understood. He knew why they couldn’t hurt each other. It was because after signing the contract, if one was very strong and killed the other to avoid admitting it, the contract would be void. But why couldn’t they help each other cheat?

Not only Hao Ning, Zhou Yuan and Liu Shuai also asked the same question.

“It seemed that there has been a devil who fell in love with the contractor,” Xiao Hong thought for a while. “trying to help the other to evade the punishment of the contract. Such things were rare, but still existed.”

“Ah!” Liu Shuai immediately understood. “Unexpectedly, West is a place where a devil complies with legal!”

“What do you mean?” Xiao Hong thought it was an irony. “Did you mean that own Huaxia doesn’t comply legal?”

“No, no, no.” Liu Shuai said with an ingratiating smile. “We compel better. We are in a modern rule of the law society, right?”

“So.” Hao Ning didn’t respond to Liu Shuai, but continued to ask: “Why are you so nervous, Xiao Hong?”

“Because he thought that since Doctor Xue was dead,” the woman gasped and said, “the contract was useless. Or he wanted to save Shi Ming and used it as a bargaining chip to exchange my compromise on the contract. But this doesn’t work.”

“Alas…” Xiao Hong looked up at the sky. “Couldn’t imagine that you’re the one who understood me most.”

“We are both dealing with money.” the woman said dejectedly. “How difficult will it be to understand each other?”

“So what?” Hao Ning continued: “Didn’t you say that you can revalue the Dragon Temple? How about valuing it 100 million yuan?”

“The minimum valuation of the Dragon Temple is 200 million yuan, according to the recent market information.” The woman continued. “Even if Sudhana is so powerful, he won’t know where’s the bottom.”

“200 million?” Hao Ning and others screamed. They didn’t suspect her quotation. The price had been doubled, but if there really built a subway and construct business circles, the increasing price would be reasonable. If so, there would still be a 100 million yuan’s gap.

“200 million yuan! Deal! ” Hao Ning gnashed his teeth and said to Xiao Hong: “Fortunately, we prepared more…”

“I’m afraid that’s it.” Xiao Hong looked at the sky and then the woman. “How long do we have?”

“At most,” She closed her eyes and answered: “two weeks.”

“What do you mean?” Liu Shuai asked. Hao Ning said nothing. He probably knew what Xiao Hong meant.

“The time of the news spreading.” Xiao Hong nodded. This time was similar to his estimation. “Two weeks is the limit. After two weeks, the public would know the news, and then the rise of the land price…”

Liu Shuai understood, muttered: “The land price would lose control if the public knew it. Particularly, there’s a temple where people pray. In addition, although in the past, Dragon Temple has a few incenses, Long Fei was responsible, and almost every prayer for a child has been met. It had terrific words of mouth. I am afraid that there will be more and more people knowing the news and coveting the temple. We can’t control it anymore at that time.”

“Prayer for a child?” Xiao Hong’s eyes moved, and suddenly there seemed to be something coming to his mind. He smiled: “Let me think about it.”

“You…” That woman saw these people were still discussing the Dragon Temple, feeling confused: “I’ve seen this temple. There’s nothing valuable. Why are you so concerned?” Then she took a breath. “As you are so powerful, the incense of the Dragon Temple isn’t important at all!”

She meant everyone, but only looked at Hao Ning and Xiao Hong. It wasn’t difficult to understand. Just now, everyone had seen their powerful arts.

“Besides arts, there are people’s hearts…” Hao Ning felt this sentence seemed familiar and said it involuntarily. He rescuing Long Fei wasn’t for incense or reward, but just follow his heart. Long Fei and Zhou Yuan were both his friends. He didn’t think much.

“You have two choices now.” Xiao Hong didn’t answer the woman’s question. “One is to give up this affair. I’ll help you to enjoy incense in Mountain Lojia. So that your power and cultivation would be immortal, and five hundred years later, you are still an Auspicious Beast. The other is ‒” Xiao Hong took out a Jade Goddess of Mercy. “I build a spell boundary depending on your present cultivation, and retain your affairs in the kalasa of Jade Goddess of Mercy, but you will have no cultivation.”

“This master said well.” The woman smiled wanly but happily. She pointed to Hao Ning, saying: “Besides arts, there are people’s hearts. I practice my art just for knowing people’s hearts. Now I got my telesthesia with a man, hard to forget. In that case, why should I care about my arts? ”

“Bravo!” Zhou Yuan couldn’t help praising: “You’ve become a Buddha!”

“What does he mean?” Zhe asked unbearably.

“…” Zhou Yuan didn’t want to explain to Zhe. Hao Ning thought and said: “It means that if you’ve already accomplished communism, who cares about the matters at its primary stage?”

“The master has great wisdom!” The woman’s eyes lit up, “I admired!”

“Eh…” Hao Ning thought he hadn’t great wisdom at all, embarrassingly scratching his head. “Just accidentally.”

“In this case,” Xiao Hong reached out and pointed, and then the woman suddenly sparkled and was gradually wrapped by lights. “Come in.” As soon as he said, the woman wrapped by lights went into the kalasa of Jade Goddess of Mercy.

“I know you will choose this way.” Xiao Hong dejected, seemingly saying to himself, seemingly to that woman as well. “Just still hold a wish in the heart, so I asked again. Well, well. The waterside flower pines for love, while the heartless brook babbles on.”

After that, Xiao Hong hung the Jade Goddess of Mercy on the neck of Wang Shi Ming, who was still playing games excitedly. However, the moment when the Jade Goddess of Mercy hung in his neck, Wang Shi Ming shed tears in his excited and smiling face. Tears ran down his cheeks, dripping on the Jade Goddess of Mercy constantly. Suddenly the Jade Goddess of Mercy shone, and four characters appeared: You know me.

“Well!” Hao Ning saw Xiao Hong’s expression and knew his thought. Definitely, Xiao Hong fell in love with the Pixiu. Easy to understand, they work in a familiar direction and must have a lot in common. One was a thousand-years lad, and the other was an Auspicious Beast. Nothing strange.

But in Pixiu’s eye, there was Wang Shi Ming only, who always played games. Xiao Hong had shown explicitly and implicitly, but she didn’t respond still. Anything else he could do?

Seeing Xiao Hong silent, Hao Ning had to hold him with arm and comfort: “Don’t be upset. I’ll find you a better one.”

“Promise?” Xiao Hong wiped his nose and looked at Hao Ning.

“I promise. I promise,” said Hao Ning. “It’s over. Let’s go!”

“Just go?” Zhe suddenly asked.

Hao Ning planned to ask those three guys coming and helping their childe to go back. Hearing Zhe, he looked back to him: “What else?”

“Fight finished,” Zhe asked seriously. “Don’t we pick up the equipment?”

“Uh-huh?” Zhou Yuan stunned and immediately laughed. “You’re really the model of self-made rich men, and can’t bear throw anything—Hao Ning, Zhe means why you don’t take away the Manjusri’s body?”

“It’s unworthy.” Even Hao Ning said so, in fact, he was extremely disgusted with the innumerable bugs flying from Manjusri’s fake body. He didn’t want to see it at all.

“You can’t say that.” Liu Shuai seriously said. “A robot knew so many spells and kung fu skills—” Zhe’s eyes shone on hearing kung fu. Liu Shuai also knew why Zhe mentioned Manjusri’s fake body. —If a robot could be so strong in some way, what about Zhe?

Liu Shuai pretended not seeing Zhe’s expression, saying alone: “It can’t be achieved with today’s technology. Why don’t we study it well, knowing each other better?”

“Uh, it makes sense.” Hao Ning lowered his head and thought. Suddenly, he saw Liu Shuai and Zhe winked at each other, asked: “Is that your real thought? Did you take bribes? ”

“Bribe? I’m a programmer. I can neither go up to the sky nor go down to the ground.” Liu Shuai hurriedly said, frowning. “Who would bribe me? Of the presence, I’m the guy who has the lowest power, has no money, no status, and flowers are more fragrant than me, trees are higher than me…”

“Well, well, well. I see.” Hao Ning didn’t want to watch Liu Shuai’s acting. “Your acting skill is bad enough to be a star. —But maybe you’re right. It’s very strange. Who knows if there’s anything lousy?”

“Easy.” Xiao Hong said with a smile. “It’s all derived from mortal affairs! Clear off would ok.”

“It makes sense!” Hao Ning understood Xiao Hong. His Soul Cutter combining Yin and Yang could just clear it off. If it was used in flesh, there would be some worry hurting human. But using in the soul was no problem. Hao Ning was going to use it but hesitated. “But those desks and tables became ashes meeting this dirk. You say whether the fake Manjusri would be ash in a flash?”

“Ah! Those are ordinary things. This’s different.” Xiao Hong shook his head and denied Haoning’s worry. “To take a step back, if the Manjusri’s body is so vulnerable, we couldn’t be so curious.”

On hearing this, Liu Shuai worried, if the Manjusri body was really broken by the Soul Cutter, Zhe must kill him. He added at once: “It should be like this, but just in case, you don’t use too much inner strength. Let’s test it first.”

Just a sough. Everyone saw or heard nothing, but the Soul Cutter had already flown out. Because the body of the fake Manjusri was a little big, Hao Ning let the Soul Cutter fly more than a few times for the sake of insurance.

“Zhou Yuan, I’m very curious about a question.” Hao Ning asked while the Soul Cutter flying. “When you talked about Vimalaki, how did you think of the word? which is ‘Go!’ the word.”

“It wasn’t I thought of.” Zhou Yuan took out a handful of melon seeds and shared them with everyone. He ate and said. “It was the gossip from Mr. Zhang while cultivating with him.”

“Why didn’t he talk to me?” Xiao Hong was a bit curious. “So many years have passed, he hasn’t mentioned it.”

“Maybe he thought you are not gossip enough…” Zhou Yuan also handed Xiao Hong some seeds. “And you don’t like to read ancient Buddhist scriptures or the like?”

“Well…” Xiao Hong, flushing, gladly said. “I didn’t study often when I was a child. I used to play with those little demons. And my parents prepared to divorce at that time. Even I followed Bodhisattva later, I didn’t like reading Sutra. Every time he went to Mountain Lingshan to listen to Sutra, I would try to escape. Naturally, the…”

“So, children’s education is very important. We can’t lose education however poor and can’t lose in the starting line whatever.” Zhou Yuan joked. “But Mr. Zhang certainly didn’t mind your business. God creates the world. Does he care about the formality? —I didn’t say that. It was he said to me.”

Hao Ning felt a little uncomfortable about Zhou Yuan speak in this style suddenly, but he had to admit that those words were right.

“As for the word ‘go’, it wasn’t what he said as well.” Zhou Yuan found he took away attention, continued: “According to what he said to me, it was Manjusri Bodhisattva that once secretly told him. Manjusri Bodhisattva only wanted to say the word at the time.”

“You mean Manjusri Bodhisattva wanted to say the word ‘go’ alone?” Hao Ning was confused and couldn’t help asking: “So why did he say so much?”

“You made a conceptional mistake. First, Manjushri didn’t say so much.” Zhou Yuan waved his hand and said seriously. “It was the sutra that people wrote said he said so much. Can you understand the difference?”

Of course, Hao Ning was embarrassed to say no. He nodded.

“Second, even if Manjusri Bodhisattva had said it, he knew clearly that he wasn’t simply talking to Buddha.” Zhou Yuan continued. “Their words would become sutras to edify the common. If he didn’t say so much, how could we know the Vimalaki was so wise? And how smart he was? In writing techniques, this was called Fu, Bi, and Xing. In other words, even if Manjusri Bodhisattva wanted to say ‘go’, when he realized that his conversation with the Buddha was to become sutra that the world knew their wisdom, he couldn’t just say “go”. He had to make a long speech. Understand?”

“Manjusri Bodhisattva discovered the fourth wall?” Hao Ning immediately understood. “He discovered the fourth wall of the sutra, wasn’t it?”

“The fourth wall?” Everyone else looked at Hao Ning curiously. “What’s the fourth wall?”

“Bravo! You should exemplify it this way!” Zhou Yuan smiled and nodded. After thumbing up, he continued to eat melon seeds. “The fourth wall was a non-existent wall between the actor who performed the drama and the audience. For example, if life was a drama, there would be many words of the characters needless to say. But in real drama, there’s a fourth wall. The characters must say something to make the audience understood—Hao Ning meant that Manjusri Bodhisattva actually had realized that if he didn’t say so much, the sutras reader couldn’t understand his wisdom.”

After that Zhou Yuan looked at Hao Ning and praised: “After all, not everyone is like Kassapa, who would smile when looking at Buddha picking up flowers. The majority are mortals, who couldn’t know its mystery if Buddha doesn’t carefully explain sutras.”

“It makes sense!” Hao Ning, smiling, knew that Zhou Yuan referred to the Flower-picking Finger that he had ever used.

“But Mr. Zhang asked Manjusri Bodhisattva a question, too.” Zhou Yuan smiled and clapped his hands and looked at the body of the Manjusri behind him. “Are you ok?” Let’s see it if you’ve finished! ”

“It’s almost done. Don’t say half of it.” Hao Ning said quickly. “What question did he ask?”

“You are so gossip. Mr. Zhang must like you very much.” Zhou Yuan laughed. “He asked the Manjusri: If life is equal, the form is emptiness, and women are skeletons. Why only Devis flew in the sky of the Pure Land, Tropaeolum majus throve from the soil, Duabanga Grandiflora filled with forest, merits were everywhere in the pool, but not in the Mountain Lingshan, under the Buddha, there’s no evil skeleton? So, whether life is equal, the form emptiness, and women skeletons or not?”

“Well..” Zhou Yuan’s question stunned everyone. He was right. If Form is Emptiness and Emptiness if Form, why in all the legends, Pure Land filled with happy, but with ugly like sly, evil spirits and so on? Could it be called Form is Emptiness?

“How did Manjusri Bodhisattva say?” Xiao Hong couldn’t resist and blushingly asked first.

“Mr. Zhang didn’t tell me the final answer, just let me answer.” Zhou Yuan found he could show off himself finally, too glad to control his mouth. “But he was very satisfied with my answer.”

“What did you say?” Hao Ning asked as well.

Zhou Yuan smiled and stood up, cleared his clothes and turned to the body of the fake Manjusri: “Go!”

“Hey!” Xiao Hong asked anxiously. “Don’t go. You haven’t answered yet!”

“He has already answered.” Hao Ning nodded. If talking about fighting, Zhou Yuan was definitely not as good as Hao Ning. But talking about the ancient books, Hao Ning was far worse than Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan lifted his legs and was ready to go. As a sound of sough there was an inconspicuous dirk flew out of the fake Manjusri’s body. It stopped after flying to the top of Zhou Yuan’s head and shone much golden light around Zhou Yuan.

“Zhou Yuan!” Hao Ning didn’t expect it at all and used the Soul Cutter at once to hit that dirk, but he was stopped by Xiao Hong.

“Amitabha!” Then Xiao Hong immediately made a zen gesture and bowed on the ground. “Welcome Bodhisattva’s trump! Plead for kindness! Plead for mercy!”

Then the gray dirk cracked at once. It shook and turned into a golden sword with great flames. Hao Ning squinted that there was a golden flame on the sword. Lotus flame was used as a cover, and its hilt ended with five unknown pestles. At that time, there was filled with holy light. Needless to say, it was definitely a treasured sword. It spun in the air and flew into Zhou Yuan’s eyebrows.

Zhou Yuan stunned and touched his eyebrows. Then he quickly turned back and asked: “What happened? What happened just now?”

Xiao Hong stood up with zen gesture and bow to Zhou Yuan: “That’s the wisdom sword of Manjusri Bodhisattva, a true wisdom sword. The reason why fake Manjusri could have authentic Dharma is probably this sword.”

“Why did it look for me?” Zhou Yuan doesn’t understand.

“Perhaps because Hao Ning has just broken the link of the wisdom sword and the fake body.” Xiao Hong has already expressed his respect for the Bodhisattva so not salute. He thought and said. “Then you said those. The wisdom sword may regard you as real Manjusri, so it chose you.”

“But that’s a fake Manjusri.” Zhou Yuan scrawled at his eyebrows at once. “I’m not the real as well! My mouth is cheap. If one day I say something wrong, won’t this sword kill me?”

“Uh. Your evaluation of yourself is really accurate…” Hao Ning smiled and said. No wonder Zhou Yuan was so nervous. He also knew he often spoke carelessly and liked to ridicule the Bodhisattvas. His former words didn’t matter. Even if God was over his head three feet high, there still had three feet apart. But now the god was in his mind. Isn’t it an inhibition?

“Amitabha.” Suddenly there came a voice. “No dry or no boom. No fake or no empty. Fake is empty. None is empty.”

“Got it!” Zhou Yuan listened to it and made a snap. “Thank you!”

Seeing the clown was so witty, everyone was stunned and speechless.

At that time, as a sought, the Manjusri’s body suddenly became small. The dirk followed by the Soul Cutter should fly into the ring on Hao Ning’s hand. As soon as the ring enters, everyone never saw again.

“What the hell is going on?” Hao Ning looked crazy as well.

As another sound of sough, a piece of thin paper in the air made by unknown material flew into Liu Shuai’s eyebrows.

Look at the ground, the Manjusri’s fake body had gone.

Tips:

In this chapter, Mu Yu on purpose wrote why Zhou Yuan answered “Go” about the woman skeleton.

Zhou Yuan had explained that the Manjusri and Avalokitesvara knew the sutra was not aimed to record how the Bodhisattvas conversed but to “translate” their words to the mortals (even if they did not truly say it). It was for purifying the mortal, so they should say the details and make each other understood—This was the way to speak when Bodhisattva had realized the fourth wall—Even if the fourth wall didn’t exist, which meant the Bodhisattvas normal conversations, they naturally communicated spiritually. They needn’t say too much, a word “Go” meant a lot.

As for Zhou Yuan’s answer to the question of the woman skeleton, they were the same. The so-called Tropaeolum majus thrived from the soil, the lotus flower bloomed in the tongue, the merit pool, the diffusing and so on in western Pure Land are actually written in order to help the mortal understand the Pure Land, but they were not true. But if it wrote skulls and skeletons, in Bodhisattva’s eyes they were the same as merits, but the mortal would think much (because of lack of wisdom). So they couldn’t be written like this—In other words, these descriptions were depictions of the surrealism in the case that Bodhisattva was aware of the fourth wall—Zhou Yuan used the word “go”, which just happened to echo the title and explain the fourth wall exist, and indicated Zhou Yuan had discovered this difference why Zhang Chi Hang praised him.

Of course, this was just Mu Yu’s personal understanding of that problem. But as a novel, you could just casually read it and hadn’t to check it out. If there’s any offense, please point out. Mu Yu would amend.