Chapter 113: Goddess Sculpture in the Buddhist Temple
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
This was already in the depths of the crack, and the humidity had increased greatly. Green water droplets hung on the surrounding rock walls. When he raised his head and looked through the clouds, the sky was high and mighty, shrinking into a narrow crack that was tightly blocked by layers of green fog.
The surrounding cliffs were tens of thousands of feet high, and the sky was high and wide. The wand whistled. Lin Yan hung on the high rock wall like an ant, making him look incomparably small.
Lin Yan let go of his hand and removed the wet moss on his fingers.
He aimed at a protruding gray rock thirty to forty feet below diagonally. His body swayed gently and he leaped dozens of feet into the air, landing on the rock.
Looking up, half of the dome was like a lid, casting a huge shadow. It was actually hanging in the air like a huge umbrella that covered most of the sky.
Looking down, he saw the tip of the iceberg of a hall. Outside the rock wall was a three-edged corner. It was probably caused by the uneven force between the hall and the dome when it was embedded in the rock wall.
Lin Yan bent his legs slightly and jumped high into the air, landing at the corner of the wall.
…..
He reached into the moss-covered rock wall and hung himself firmly. In front of him, the corner of the hall leaned out of the rock wall. It was about twenty feet tall and connected to the wall. They had almost grown into one.
Lin Yan climbed up the rock wall like a gecko and circled the protruding wall. He realized that the wall below was mottled and bricks had fallen. There were several fist-sized black holes.
His feet were like knives as he also kicked into the rock wall to stabilize himself. He exerted strength in his back and abdomen to prop his body up horizontally. His face was pressed against one of the fist-sized holes. He widened his eyes and looked inside.
However, the cave was too small. Coupled with the dome, the light was very dim.
Lin Yan changed two holes in a row, but he couldn’t see the inside clearly. He could only tell that the space inside seemed to be wide and wasn’t completely buried by mud.
He simply reached out and inserted his hand into one of the fist holes, bending it forcefully.
The wall shook and cracked. A fist-sized hole was forcefully broken off by him, turning into a long horizontal crack in the wall.
The gravel fell into the abyss. Lin Yan was about to take out a candle from his bag when he suddenly heard a faint vibration in the wall.
In the next moment, a huge pale eye suddenly came up from the crack in the long wall!
Lin Yan’s breathing suddenly stopped, and his body suddenly drooped back. His feet almost let go of the rock wall and he almost fell.
The eye was extremely huge, as long as an arm. It was hidden in the dark shadows, and the whites of the eye emitted a pale cold light. The pitch-black iris in the middle was the size of an ordinary person, and the ratio was very strange. It stared straight at Lin Yan without blinking!
Lin Yan turned around and locked himself against the wall. He suddenly tightened his grip. If there was any abnormal movement in the eye, he would immediately pull the wall and climb up quickly!
However, after waiting for a long time, the eye did not move, and the iris in the middle was completely still, as if it was dead.
“No, it doesn’t look like an eyeball…”
Lin Yan suppressed his shock and took a closer look. He realized that he had misunderstood.
This was not an eye at all. It was just that the crack in the wall that he had pried open happened to show the curvature of the upper and lower eyelids of an eye, so at first glance, it looked like an eye.
“Did a white stone fall inside the wall? Or something. It’s just that there happens to be a black spot in the middle, so it looks like an eye.”
Lin Yan took a few deep breaths. Could it be that the stone was shocked by his action of breaking the wall just now and fell down?
He transformed into a gecko again and climbed up until he reached the top of the palace wall.
This place was originally the intersection of two walls. It presented a vertical intersection and was embedded in the wall. Then, two walls extended down.
Lin Yan clasped his hands deeply on the rock wall and circulated his strength. He suddenly exerted strength in his feet and kicked the wall!
BANG!
With a crisp sound, the wall cracked. Huge wall pieces weighing more than 50 kilograms flew out. Lin Yan specially controlled the angle of the force. The wall spun in the air and flew out, throwing a smooth parabola and landing in the abyss of the crack.
After an unknown period of time, a faint echo came from the crack in the ground.
“How deep is this crack in the ground…”
Lin Yan’s heart turned cold. He didn’t know if throwing such a huge thing would cause other problems.
He looked down and saw a huge hole two to three meters wide in the wall. Gray smoke and dust blew out from it.
Then, a weak beam of light shone in. It was obvious that a small portion of the space inside was buried by soil, but it was generally empty.
Lin Yan lit a candle and threw it into the hole in the wall where he had seen the huge eye.
The firelight dispelled the darkness and illuminated an ancient, open palace covered in dust. All kinds of wooden and stone items were lying down, messy and dilapidated.
Lin Yan looked at the bottom and his eyes narrowed slightly. In the corner of the bottom, a humanoid statue that looked like white jade fell to the ground. Beside it was a rusty bronze lotus platform.
According to the location, its back was facing the crack in the wall that he had seen just now.
“So, it’s actually the back of this sculpture that’s blocking the crack in the wall and looks like an eye?”
Lin Yan didn’t dare to step on the floating wall. After waiting for a while and confirming that there were no changes, he carefully climbed into the large hole.
The palace wall was tilted upside down. He had to lean back and grab the top wall to prevent himself from falling.
“Hmm? This is made of green bricks. It’s not a wall. It should be the ground…”
The fire was dim. The last time he entered the underground ruins, he had to tear off his sleeves as burning materials. This time, he specially brought enough cloth soaked in kerosene.
He first climbed up the wall and broke two broken rafters. He wrapped them in oilcloth and lit them up. Then, he smashed them hard and embedded them into the cracks of the green bricks on the wall, creating two simple ceiling lights.
He turned around and looked down.
The fire finally illuminated the entire palace that had been sealed for a long time. This was indeed an incomparably majestic palace. The space was extremely wide. However, at this moment, its entire body was overturned and rotated at more than 40 to 50 degrees. It was upside down and embedded deep in the rock wall. Half of the space was filled with soil, forming a small slope.
In the place that was still empty, the tiles, oil lamps, bell drums, incense platforms, and beams were overturned and broken. They were everywhere, piled up in a messy layer and covered in thick dust. It was a ruin.
The strange thing was that there was not even a huge Buddha statue in such a huge and magnificent palace.
Lin Yan aimed at the slope formed by the soil. He jumped deep and finally stepped on solid ground.
The surrounding palace was in a mess, giving people the illusion that the entire world had turned upside down.
Lin Yan carefully walked out. He stepped through the gaps in the ruins and walked to the white jade statue first. He reached out and grabbed the white jade statue’s ankle, pulling it into the rock wall.
The sculpture weighed hundreds of kilograms. After standing it up, Lin Yan could tell that it was a lifelike female sculpture!
She was completely naked and emitted a jade-like luster. Her hands were placed on her chest, and her appearance was beautiful and poignant. Her entire body was carved from a special material that was neither jade nor stone. The details were extremely realistic. When touched, it felt like human skin, but it was cold.
He turned to her back and moved up along the curve of her waist.
In the middle of her back, there was a round black spot the size of a fingernail. It was the pupil Lin Yan had seen just now. He touched it and there seemed to be a small needle mark in the middle of the black spot.
Lin Yan looked around. The surrounding oil lamps, bell drums, and the remains of the incense platform, as well as some Buddha statue carvings on the pillars, all indicated that this was a temple. Why would a naked woman’s sculpture appear?
Or could it be that the atmosphere of the ancient Buddhist temples was different from now?
Unable to tell why, Lin Yan placed the white jade sculpture aside and specially turned her position so that her back was facing the wall, preparing to bring her out later.
Then, he turned around and walked to the ruins. He reached out to search them.
Oil lamps, incense platforms, bell drums, pillars…
He moved them all away. If anyone who knew ancient history saw this, they would probably be able to deduce some information. However, in Lin Yan’s eyes, these could only be considered junk and could only be thrown aside.
Suddenly, a white light flashed under the layers of fallen wood debris.
Lin Yan’s eyes lit up. He quickly lifted the debris and reached out to touch it.
“Another sculpture?!”
He quickly moved away all the miscellaneous items, pulled it up, and swept away the dust. It was actually another naked female sculpture!
Its material was exactly the same as the previous one, except that it was missing an arm. The other arm was folded in front of its chest, and its body was half-kneeling and bending. Its surface was covered in cracks. Its appearance was different from the statue just now, but it was still beautiful.
Lin Yan lifted the debris on the ground and quickly found an arm covered in dust. He put it back to this sculpture and was completely compatible. It was obvious that it had broken.
Lin Yan looked around and fell into deep thought. This temple palace was so magnificent that it was comparable to the Forbidden City’s main hall in his previous life. Logically speaking, there should be a few huge Buddha statues as offerings.
However, after searching for so long, he did not see any remains of the Buddha statue. There were only two female sculptures of the same size as ordinary people.
Could it be that this Buddhist temple worshiped these two women’s sculptures?
Unable to figure it out, he placed this woman’s sculpture beside the previous sculpture and turned her back to the outside.
Then, he continued to rummage through the junk.
“Hmm? This is…
ii
Lin Yan forcefully lifted a beam that weighed hundreds of kilograms. Underneath it was a copper plaque that was mottled with rust. It was deep in the ruins.
He threw the pillar aside and reached out to brush the dust on the bronze plaque. There were three ancient words on it, like dancing dragons and snakes.
Lin Yan took a few careful glances, took out the pen and paper he carried with him, and drew the three words accurately.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the bottom of the copper plaque. His gaze immediately froze.
…..
He grabbed the copper plaque and lifted it forcefully. When he looked down, Lin Yan’s eyes lit up.
Underneath the copper plaque was an incomparably huge engraving!
Lin Yan supported the bronze plaque with one hand and waved his palm with the other. A violent airflow blew away all the dust on the painting.
The carving was clear and did not collapse after a long time. Its engraving was simple, but it was very skillful. Many monks and buildings were engraved. They were all filled with Buddhist charm.
This place should have been a wall. This engraving was originally a mural carved on the wall.
Lin Yan was in high spirits. He first raised the bronze plaque and threw it out. Then, he carefully cleaned up the miscellaneous items on the carving and threw them to the small slope at the side.
“More?!”
This carving extended inwards and was buried by debris. There was actually more than one.
After cleaning up all the miscellaneous items, Lin Yan looked at the ground in excitement and shock. A total of six and a half carvings were displayed in front of him.
The half was because the remaining half was buried by the soil that poured down. Perhaps there were more carvings under the soil, but Lin Yan didn’t have time to excavate them.
He pulled out another half-rotted wooden beam, wrapped it in an oilcloth, and lit it up. Then, he carefully shone it at the carving on the ground..