In the northern part of Zhongzhou, the Ningyuan Mountain Range.
The military swiftly cleared the surrounding forests of the magic cave, cutting through thickets of decayed bushes, unearthing a long, dark “serrated mouth”—the shape of the crack in the magic cave.
Helicopters flew high above, their propellers slicing through the strong wind. Along the edge of the “serrated mouth,” they flew from one end to the other. High-tech devices laid a dense network, carefully transmitting the changes inside the magic cave to the ground.
Inside a military green work shelter, a team of personnel typed on computers, comparing today’s data with yesterday’s. Silence spread across the room, and someone’s forehead began to sweat. Before long, a stack of reports piled up and was delivered to the military desk.
“Has the crack in the magic cave widened again?” An elderly man with medals stroked his beard, his tiger-like eyes widening beneath drooping eyelids. “Yesterday, Old Man Huo gave me a message that the portal in the Eastern Ridge has expanded too. He said that after the ‘Green-Blooded Monster’ appeared, it grew by… 0.03% in size?”
“Luckily, we can hold it.” A middle-aged man traced a finger along a map, his tone filled with melancholy. “If only one monster crosses, the Eastern Ridge can hold, but we can’t. The crack in the magic cave has widened by fifty centimeters. If there are larger rats below, based on the terrain, we won’t be able to defend.”
“Have the people in the mountain evacuated?”
“They’ve all been evacuated, Elder Jin.”
Elder Jin tapped his fingers on the table, narrowing his eyes. “Since it’s a no-man’s land now, we don’t need to hold back. Let’s cordon it off and build a fortress. Us old folks are good at ‘defending,’ and the young ones can handle the attack. Now that the magic cave crack has expanded, can we send a robot down there?”
“Yes!”
“Send it down. We need to know what’s inside the magic cave.”
At noon, a rat-shaped exploration robot entered the magic cave. It extended four legs and adhered to the walls, crawling like a spider into the darkness. Compared to the metal ball sent down previously, it was larger, more functional, with a sturdier shell, and its appearance was more lifelike.
If the bottom of the magic cave was inhabited by rats, it might blend in and not be destroyed so quickly.
The electronic rat crawled deeper, the video feed remained steady. People could predict its next movements based on its path, like watching a documentary, and they felt their nerves slowly easing with each passing second.
Then, suddenly, the electronic rat seemed to be hit by something and suddenly flipped over onto its side.
“What happened? Did it slip? Or did the stone under its foot fall off?”
“The most advanced technology doesn’t experience ‘slips,’” someone retorted, then added, “It was hit, very quickly. Let me slow down the footage and take a closer look.”
They switched to the previous moment’s footage, and as the frames played out, everyone saw a rat’s face covered in black fur. Compared to the size of the robot, it was larger and more robust than the first batch of “monstrous rats” that had surfaced.
Like a toy being played with, it collided with the robot and pushed it to the other side. Then, the robot was struck again, and the electronic rat lost its balance, falling heavily onto a platform with a loud “pop.”
Soon, the “pop” stretched into an endless echo, reverberating in the abyss.
Those watching the computer screens held their breath, and an overwhelming sense of danger swept over them, a strong instinct that sent a chill through every cell in their bodies. Then, through the eyes of the electronic rat, they saw pairs of blood-red eyes emerging from the dark depths.
It was… the eyes of the monstrous rats.
“Oh my god…” Someone covered their mouth. “There are so many rats 1537 meters deep?”
“So, the metal ball from earlier didn’t get stuck in a crevice. It was actually pushed down by a swarm of rats playing with it?”
They stared at the screen, watching the electronic rat being knocked down further by a group of monstrous rats. The surveillance screen cracked and was smeared with the rats’ saliva, and a deep sense of revulsion washed over them.
“The rats are still inside the mountain at 1537 meters. They could easily gnaw through the soil. Digging holes is instinct for rats. Why are they being so obedient?”
“There are two possibilities—” someone said, “One, the Ningyuan magic cave, like the portal in the Eastern Ridge, has an invisible boundary that’s keeping them contained. Two, this isn’t an ordinary rat swarm; it’s a terrifying army.”
“An army?”
“Yeah, a disciplined and intelligent rat army.”
Creak, the broken electronic rat, at the same depth as the metal ball, was chewed to pieces.
……
The next morning, Qi Xinli saw Ji Si again, just as “Língdōng Green-Blooded Monster” and “High Priest JS” were trending together on the hot search.
The elegant young man sat on a small sofa by the window, gently sipping from his coffee cup. His gaze toward him was warm. “We meet again.”
Qi Xinli smiled. “I’m Qi Xinli.”
“Ji Si,” he smiled in return. “Standing firm in justice, for all eternity.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xinli fell into a brief moment of silence, thinking like a science student. After a moment, he smiled. “My name is a wish from the older generation. After all the struggles, they hoped to witness the dawn of Zhongzhou.”
“It’s a good name, and a good omen.”
“Thank you.”
Spending time with Ji Si was a comfortable experience. Qi Xinli felt that just standing beside him made his emotions settle, and his mindset inexplicably felt a bit more open. It was like… the feeling of being at peace in a Buddhist temple.
Laki clearly considered Qi Xinli one of their own, and seeing how well Ji Si and he got along, he couldn’t help but ask with a smile, “Do you two know each other?”
Ji Si: “We’ve met once. But I remember his aura.”
Qi Xinli caught the key word and asked nonchalantly, “Aura? That’s an interesting term. When I remember someone, I either focus on their face or smell, or observe how they walk and their small details. But I’ve never heard of recognizing people by their ‘aura.’”
Seeing their confusion, Ji Si explained, “Aura refers to a person’s energy field. As long as you’re alive, you have energy. People are different, souls are different, and everyone’s aura is unique. But in general, it can be distinguished by color.”
“Color?”
“Yes, for example, place your five fingers on a pure white wall and focus on it.” Ji Si showed the simplest method. “If you look long enough, you’ll see a very faint color around your hand. That’s your aura.”
At Ji Si’s suggestion, Laki and Jiang Qining immediately tried it, their execution flawless.
Only Qi Xinli frowned slightly. “Scientifically speaking, if you place your hand on a white wall, you’ll see a halo because of the visual sensory effect in your brain…”
“Go try it.” Ji Si took another sip of his coffee. “You’ll see blue. That’s your aura.”
It sounded like a particularly unscientific and unreliable method, yet Ji Si was so confident that Qi Xinli couldn’t really refuse to try. He wasn’t averse to Buddhist teachings, but deep down, he was a science enthusiast. If not for his worldview having shattered recently, he probably wouldn’t have obediently placed his hand on the wall and stared at it for a full minute to see if any color appeared… Huh, it really is blue?
Qi Xinli: …
He stiffly turned his head toward Ji Si, only to find that Ji Si had set down his coffee and was now gazing directly at him. “Blue is the color of the sea, a color of spirituality. Did you ever work in fields related to Buddhism or Taoism?”
Qi Xinli: “…I chanted scriptures when I was feeling upset for a few years, but I stopped when I started my doctorate.”
Ji Si sighed lightly. “If you hadn’t given it up, perhaps you would have been the first to awaken.” Blue is the aura of a spiritual genius, similar to the mysterious purple aura.
“Awakened?” Qi Xinli felt his brain wasn’t keeping up. “What does that mean?”
At that moment, Laki caught the key point. “‘You would have been the first’—this is interesting. This means he’s the second one to awaken. So, who’s the first?”
Jiang Qining snapped back to reality and noticed something was missing. “Wait, where’s City Brother?”
“Hold on, don’t tell me…”
Ji Si gracefully stood up, looking toward the closed door on the side. “Follow me, I’ll take you to meet him. Let’s meet the world’s first awakened person.”
The most luxurious suite at the Qingding Grand Hotel was structured exactly like a multi-million-dollar penthouse in the Magic City. It had a foyer, a living room, an office, a bedroom, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom… This suite, costing tens of thousands per night, certainly lived up to the comfort it offered.
Since Ji Si led Si Nuocheng into the “Awakening” door, Si Nuocheng had locked himself inside the master bedroom, breaking his usual disciplined habits, and had slept through from last night to now.
Except for Ji Si, no one knew what was going on inside.
“Remember to stand behind me,” Ji Si reminded faintly. “Si Nuocheng has a light gold energy field, very rare and extremely domineering. It changes according to the owner’s consciousness, and when he’s unaware, it instinctively erects spikes that will kill any creature approaching him.”
“It’s a color naturally suited for warriors,” Ji Si muttered. “The strongest of the reincarnated ones are rarely… Didn’t expect this…”
His voice trailed off as Ji Si reached for the door handle, twisting it open as if unlocking a stubborn space. In an instant, everyone felt as though a “film” was breaking and fading, as though they were transitioning from a warm spring into a hot summer. Even though the room temperature was fixed at 22 degrees, they felt as though the temperature was shifting from “warm to hot.”
As the door opened, the once light-blocking interior was now dazzling with gold.
Golden threads crisscrossed the entire room, filling it like a massive net. It gently wove into armor, draping over Si Nuocheng like the most loyal guardian.
The golden light points fluttered in the air, flickering like fireflies on a summer night. But when they sensed danger, the golden threads suddenly condensed into a form, breaking apart and reassembling at a dizzying speed. Eventually, they formed the shape of a giant golden serpent, coiling around Si Nuocheng’s body. Its head was vigilant, watching the intruders with a menacing threat!
“Snake…” Jiang Qining trembled, his PTSD flaring up.
Ji Si remained calm. “It seems that the giant serpent from Jing Du left the deepest impression on him, while the ghostly beings posed the greatest threat. Therefore, subconsciously, his defense and attack mechanisms manifest in relation to these two creatures.”
The number of people who didn’t understand this increased to three, but Ji Si wasn’t in the mood to explain further.
Si Nuocheng couldn’t break through the giant serpent’s defense, so the defense state in his subconscious took on the form of a “serpent.” He had been threatened by the shadow of death from the ghostly beings twice, so his subconscious offensive state started to align with the ghosts.
And the “stellar” soul energy field perfectly supported all the forms he needed, creating countless possibilities for him.
But so far, achieving the “manifestation of energy” was enough. If he slept any longer, Si Nuocheng’s physical body, with its three-dimensional structure, wouldn’t be able to hold up.
It was time to wake up.
Ji Si passed by Qi Xinli, whose mind was still blank, and reached out his hand. The gentle energy of the High Priest, which merged with all things, blended with Si Nuocheng’s magnetic field, resonating with his frequency as though transmitting something.
Soon, everyone saw the massive golden serpent lower its head and gently touch Ji Si’s palm, before nuzzling his cheek softly. Its beastly vertical pupils suddenly seemed to gain a touch of humanity, or perhaps—its pure instinct made it revere a higher-dimensional being.
In the next moment, the golden serpent transformed into a complex geometric shape and quickly merged into Si Nuocheng’s heart.
The sleeping man slowly opened his eyes…
“Ji Si?”
“How do you feel?”
“I had a very long, long dream.” Si Nuocheng didn’t care about the people around him, his head pounding fiercely. “In the dream, I was called ‘017’, and I was in a place that looked like a… laboratory.”
“Containers, amniotic sacs, and the pillars in the corridor were filled with ‘sacrifices.’”
“The sacrifices were living humans, both male and female. There was a hole in the middle of their foreheads, where their third eye had been gouged out.”
Clearly, it wasn’t a pleasant dream. Si Nuocheng’s face darkened with anger. “People were treated like livestock, kept in cages together. Whoever grew a third eye was taken away to be ‘the mother body’ for breeding.”
“They were fed special food at regular intervals to grow a third eye, which was then gouged out. When it grew back, it was gouged out again.”
“The third eye is a rare delicacy, and humans are raised as living sacrifices to nurture it.” Si Nuocheng couldn’t help but express his frustration. “I dreamt that I became a living sacrifice, and then I destroyed that place.”
He rubbed his forehead. “…It’s an indescribable feeling.”
The dream felt so real that it almost trapped him. If he hadn’t remembered his name was Si Nuocheng, and if he hadn’t felt the sensation of attacking within the dimensions, he might never have been able to destroy that place.
“Forget it, just remember who you are.”
Ji Si smiled. “Your task now is to make your body a part of the dimension, to draw power from the dimension. I believe in your comprehension.”
Si Nuocheng nodded, his emotions gradually stabilizing. Once his thoughts cleared, he realized his “teammates” were staring at him with blank expressions.
“What’s with those looks?”
Jiang Qining: “‘The Records of the Year 2222: Chronicles of City Brother’ says: Si Nuocheng, the world’s first awakened person, planted a snake in his mind in December, and in January, it grew on his body. He is now known as the ‘Snake Hero.’”
A pillow flew toward him, and he screamed as it hit him.
Laki, with lingering fear, asked: “What should I do? I’m kind of afraid that a bear will grow on me. My mom beats bears so hard.”
Qi Xinli: “I… Namo Amitabha.”
Before the team decided to leave Hulu Port, Qi Xinli threw away his shattered worldview into the trash, then tidied his mood and gave Team Leader Chen a call. “Team Leader Chen, I’ve got a new lead for you.”
“If you say ‘What I’m about to tell you, please don’t be scared,’ do you believe I’ll come to the hotel and fight you, you little rascal!”
“No, the next thing I’m about to tell you, I’m scared too.”
“…”
“Do you remember Si Nuocheng? I went into his room today and saw a giant snake coiled around him. He…”
Team Leader Chen: “If the target enjoys sleeping with snakes, you don’t need to tell me. Comrade Qi, calm down, stop looking at things you shouldn’t be looking at, and get some real work done.”
Qi Xinli rubbed his temples. When Team Leader Chen first approached him, he was so mature and composed, breaking everything down for him clearly. But every time he told the truth, their thoughts just didn’t align.
“Team Leader Chen, let me start by explaining the human energy field…”
“Old Liu, eh? Oh, are we catching the leader of a qigong pyramid scheme this afternoon? Okay, sure, wait! Hey, Comrade Qi, what were you about to say?”
“…Nothing, just wait until I learn it and show you in person.”
Qi Xinli hung up the phone, recalling Laki’s description of the “Dream and Dimension” training method, and fell into deep thought.
Everyone has an aura. The aura is the energy of the human body. Light gold is the natural color of a warrior, but what about blue?
[If you hadn’t given it up, perhaps you would have been the first to awaken.] In a daze, he recalled Ji Si’s words.
Give it up… this “it” refers to the deep study of Buddhist teachings.
So—does the development of the blue aura lead to “chanting scriptures for transcendence”?
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
PS:
Qi Xinli: To be honest, chanting scriptures for transcendence is like reading a status bar, and the time it takes is ridiculously long!
What if I don’t finish before I kick the bucket?
Si Nuocheng: The proper way to use it is to transcend yourself, become a ghostly Buddha, and then fight them.
Qi Xinli: … You’re really a little smarty, aren’t you? ==
PS:
Qi Xinli: Great compassionate Newton Bodhisattva, hold the gravitational force of the Earth and make that floating ghost descend!
Namo Amitabha!
Ghost: ???
