Xinhui had just finished speaking when he seemed to immediately realize his lapse, hurriedly bringing his hands together in prayer and slightly closing his eyes to worship towards the west.
"Amitabha, my transgressions, my transgressions, this disciple has violated the precept against anger. I must copy the scriptures a hundred times afterwards as a form of punishment."
After he said this, Xinhui raised his head again, looking at Li Huowang with a calm and composed gaze. After scrutinizing him carefully for a moment, he gently nodded. "The old monk understands what this is about, Xuan Yang Patron, please follow me."
Seeing that group of monks staring at him hungrily, Li Huowang had no choice but to follow. He inserted the longsword into its sheath on his back and turned to follow along.
Xinhui didn't take them somewhere else but led everyone back to the site of the sculpture of the Buddha that they had visited before. "Xuan Yang Patron, is it the filth here that you saw just now?"
Surrounded by monks, Li Huowang looked at everything in front of him and suddenly froze. The once-flesh-like mountain of unfinished stone statues, as if to mock him, reappeared before him. "How is this—"
"Patron, please continue to follow me."
Accompanied by Xinhui, Li Huowang walked forward slowly, past the site of the Buddha sculptures and arrived at the place where he had seen the animals before.
Here too, there were no animals, only those yet-to-be-completed stone qilins and lions, large and small stone auspicious beasts neatly lined up, silently watching ahead.
Just then, Xinhui suddenly drew Li Huowang's longsword from behind his back and with a strong slash, a lion head the size of a palm was cut off.
Xinhui picked up the stone lion's head and placed it in Li Huowang's hands.
Li Huowang gently touched the lion's head with his fingers, feeling the texture of the stone and its substantial weight—it was unmistakably real!
"How could this be—" Caught in confusion, Li Huowang was not yet ready to give up. He walked over and touched each one of the sculptures with his hands, finding that they were indeed all real.
Eventually, he stood at the entrance of the great hall and looked inside. There he saw a majestic giant stone Buddha, seated cross-legged on a lotus, holding an alms bowl in the left hand and with the right hand pointing down to the ground, towering before Li Huowang.
"This can't be possible! I clearly saw it just now, saw it clearly! How could it be fake?"
Hearing Li Huowang's words, Abbot Xinhui sighed gently, "Amitabha, Patron, you are seriously ill."
The bewildered Li Huowang turned to face Xinhui, and with astonishment, said, "Could it be that I am sick? Were all those things I saw just hallucinations?"
Xinhui gently nodded, "Patron, you yourself know better than us outsiders what illness you have, don't you?"
"Could it be that the many Black Taishuis I have taken can only sustain me for so long? Am I starting to have hallucinations again?" Li Huowang held his head with both hands, mumbling in agony.
Hearing Li Huowang say this, the monks standing nearby, all wearing expressions of aversion, crowded together and began whispering among themselves.
"Turns out he's a madman after all this fuss."
"If there's nothing wrong, we should ask him to leave soon. If he goes mad one day and hurts someone, that won't end well."
"Quiet!" The word from Xinhui silenced all the monks.
He walked into the hall and lit four incense sticks, then turned back, offering them to Li Huowang, "It doesn't matter if you disturb us, disciples of Buddhism, but if you trouble the Buddha, that's a problem. Offer the incense to the Buddha properly."
"Offer incense?" Li Huowang's muscles tensed instantly as his gaze shifted restlessly among the great Buddha, Xinhui, and the four incense sticks.
"Patron, what are you waiting for? You are the one at fault in this matter," Xinhui extended the four incense sticks towards him.
In Li Huowang's mind, the memory of that wriggling monster, that mass covered with monks, surfaced again.
If that thing were real, by going there to offer incense, wouldn't he be putting himself into its mouth to be eaten?
"Patron, why are you hesitating?"
Li Huowang turned his gaze toward Xinhui, who had spoken those words, and a trace of displeasure began to trickle across his face.
He touched the genuinely solid stone lion in his hand and then raised his head to glimpse the dazzling sun overhead.
Li Huowang tossed the lion's head aside, took the incense with both hands, stepped across the threshold, and slowly walked toward the stone statue.
His pace was very sluggish, his body and mind tense, cold sweat starting to form on his forehead.
But no matter how slowly Li Huowang walked, he eventually found himself beneath the great Buddha. The statue remained unchanged, not turning into the revolting creature he had feared.
Holding the incense in his hands, Li Huowang stood in front of the incense burner and once again looked up. From this angle, he could perfectly see the giant Buddha watching him with eyes neither joyful nor sad, instilling an involuntary sense of awe in his heart.
As Li Huowang lifted the incense above his head, the four sticks quivered slightly, and white smoke twirled in the air before drifting toward the temple's ceiling.
After bowing three times with the incense held high, Li Huowang solemnly inserted it into the incense burner and then turned to re-enter the exterior of the temple.
Seeing the conflict resolved, the monks gradually dispersed and returned to their seats, resuming their carving with a persistent "clang clang" echoing in their ears.
Xinhui and Li Huowang slowly made their way along the stone brick path between the statues, heading toward the outside.
"Benefactor Xuan Yang, since your illness is so severe, you shouldn't wander off anymore. Just wait peacefully for the Mass Salvation Festival," Xinhui said.
"Although your illness is troublesome, compared to your condition, Master Danyang is undoubtedly more dangerous. You have to eat your meals one bite at a time, things should be done one by one," Xinhui said while twirling Buddha beads in his hand and speaking to Li Huowang beside him.
Li Huowang raised his head to look at the bright sun once more, lifted his hands high, and stretched with great vigor. "Abbot, is there any way to cure this hysteria within Zhengde Temple?"
"Hmm... this monk can let his disciples give it a try, but whether it'll be successful is uncertain, after all, the techniques of Huang Qi are not passed down in this temple," Xinhui said.
"It's fine, I was just asking. I've been mad for so long that I've gotten used to it," Li Huowang said with an air of indifference. "By the way, Abbot, how did you do it just now? How did the stuff in my arms suddenly end up in your hands?"
"Hehehe, just a small trick, hardly worth mentioning," Xinhui said with a chuckle.
"Abbot, this isn't the time to be modest. If you consider your trick hardly worth mentioning, then what does that make someone like me, worse than a bug, right?" Li Huowang said.
"Benefactor Xuan Yang, it's not calculated like that. Look, although Master Danyang's strength is inferior to mine, he's considered average outside, but in the end, wasn't he eliminated by you?" Xinhui said.
"Master Danyang is considered average? How formidable are the ones above then? Abbot, among high-level experts like you, is there a hierarchy?" Li Huowang asked.
"There is, with all that talk of the Heavenly and Earthly mysteries, but those are just fabrications by idle folks. People who leave home life do not seek fame and do not care about such matters," Xinhui said.
On this short path, it took them a long time to walk and many things were said. Li Huowang also learned much useful information about this world from Xinhui.
After leaving the carving area, Li Huowang stopped and respectfully said to Xinhui, "Thank you, Abbot, for enlightening me."
"Not at all, just a simple effort. Since Benefactor Xuan Yang is unwell, you should return and rest," Xinhui said.
After exchanging pleasantries, Li Huowang looked around and, not finding any trace of the old monk, turned and headed toward his dwelling.
He walked very slowly, appearing to be lost in thought and seemingly preoccupied with something.
After about half an hour, Li Huowang finally arrived at his quarters and just as he closed the door, his expression instantly twisted into ferocity. He clenched his fists and pounded the wall forcefully.
Even though he didn't know how those monks managed to deceive his senses, as a patient who had spent a long time oscillating between illusions and reality, Li Huowang had become particularly sensitive to these things.
The feeling he got from the great Buddha just now was definitely off—similar to the illusion of the hospital, exuding an indescribable essence.
"Those stone carvings are fake! The great Buddha is fake too! All conjured by trickery!! What I saw before was not an illusion at all!"