Chapter 15: The Three Western Saints

  We gave up discussing that mysterious person, because we knew he would definitely appear at the end of the story, no matter what role he played, and it shouldn't be a bad guy who brought us all the way here.

  Below, we begin to observe everything here, it seems like a Buddhist hall. Right in front of the door that came out to us are three Buddha statues, with Amitabha Buddha in the middle, Guanyin Bodhisattva on the left and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva on the right, which is the traditional "Western Three Saints". These three Buddhas are standing on the altar according to the proportion of real people's size, although each has its own characteristics, but the only thing that is the same is their eyes. Usually, the Buddhas we worship are benevolent and kind-eyed, smiling with joy. But now what I see is like a fierce Vajra, staring wide-eyed, frowning, and in this dark environment, being illuminated by flashlight, it looks even more ominous. I feel a chill down my spine, why should the Buddha, who is supposed to bring people peace and tranquility, be so ferocious?

  We decided to look for a downward path because every road we've taken so far has led us down and there are no horizontal roads ahead, so I feel that the road is still under our feet.

  Everything else here is normal except for the Buddha statue, I gave up searching and returned to the front of the Buddha statue. At this time, I saw Pongpung standing still, it turned out that he had never moved. He was always staring at these three Buddha statues.

  Peng Peng studied Buddhism extensively when he was in Beijing. For some reason, he liked it and could recite the Great Compassion Mantra fluently. His home had various Buddhist books, which might be his wisdom root; otherwise, he wouldn't have loved that kasaya so much.

  "What's wrong?" I reckon he saw something.

  "I don't know, I just feel that something is off. Their eyes and facial features are completely asymmetrical." As she said this, Pengpeng had already climbed up.

  I don't dare to get close, I don't know why, but looking at them makes me feel uneasy in my heart. I remember when I was a kid and went out with my parents to play, we came to a temple, at first I didn't react much to the Maitreya Buddha, but when I saw the Four Heavenly Kings next to it, I burst into tears and refused to go any further. An old fortune teller at the temple entrance shook his head and said "This child has heavy yin energy, likes ghosts and monsters, fears Buddhas and gods." Then he asked my parents for my birth date, but they thought he was trying to scam them so they ignored him and left. From then on I had a phobia, seeing those tall Buddha statues makes me feel anxious.

  Peng Peng was feeling around the faces of the three Buddhas, while Coffin fell to his knees and started chanting "Amitabha Buddha", asking for forgiveness from the Buddha. I thought he was a believer too, but then Coffin said that it's better to believe in something than nothing, and anyone would chant a few lines in this situation. I thought to myself, you're just pretending to be pious, is it even useful?

  "You see, there really is a trick." Pengpeng seemed to have discovered something.

  As expected, the face and eyes of this Buddha statue were not integrated. Peng used the dagger he found in the pile of dead bodies to scrape off the surface of the Buddha's face. The dagger was indeed sharp, and those "outer wrappings" fell off as it moved across the surface. When the entire face appeared before us, we were shocked. Peng, who was closest, shone his flashlight over and was startled to the point of almost dropping the censer.

  This evil-looking face and the golden Buddha body below perfectly match the phrase "angelic physique, devilish face". I really admire the craftsmanship of the ancients, how could they merge these two opposing things together?

  "Did you see that? His eyes look different from just now!" said Pongpung, who was closest.

  "Yes, the evil energy is getting heavier and heavier, it's as if it can see through people in an instant. Is it that the Buddha statue's face was suppressing this evil energy, and now you've completely released it?" said the coffin.

  "Look closely, there are also circles and circles of texture in this eye, just like the target of an arrow." Pengpeng stared at this eye.

  I suddenly thought of a very famous comic, and immediately told PongPong not to look, but he seemed to have stopped listening. He stood motionless in front of the Buddha statue. I stared at the coffin for a moment before rushing over to grab his pant leg and pulling him backwards. His entire body fell straight back down, as if a giant statue had pinned us both under its weight.

  "What? Reincarnation eye?" The coffin looked at me with some disbelief.

  "That's right, our Chinese culture is profound and extensive, and that X-Men Ninja just borrowed a bit of our superficial skin."

  "Seems reasonable, but before discussing this, can you first move Pengpeng away from our backs? It's suffocating!"