Chapter 98: Eight-Armed Vajra
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The pale face disappeared in a flash.
Lin Yan’s heart almost skipped a beat as he took three steps back.
The burning sleeve landed on the ground outside the crack. It was actually paved with stone bricks. The dim light vaguely illuminated a small artificial stone room that looked like a quiet room.
The pale face from before was already hidden in the shadow of the fire and could not be seen.
In its place, a tall and thin black shadow that was unknown if it was a human or a ghost stood by the burning hempen sleeve.
Lin Yan paused for a moment and stared fixedly at the black shadow. Even when the sleeve burned out, the black shadow remained motionless, as if it was dead.
He had already gone too far to give up…
…..
He tore the other sleeve and lit it up again. He threw it into the stone room and slowly walked forward.
Even when Lin Yan stepped into the stone room, the black shadow remained motionless. Lin Yan slowly raised the candle and swept it in front of the black shadow.
The light was dim, and a pale face filled with pity and despair suddenly appeared from the darkness.
His two eye sockets had been dug out. They were pitch-black and reflected a terrifying light under the light of the fire. It was as if he was staring at someone. It was the face Lin Yan had seen just now.
Lin Yan’s breathing instantly quickened. He suppressed his instinctive fear and looked carefully under the candlelight before slowly relaxing.
The face and the black shadow were not living people at all. Instead, they were wooden carvings of a tall and thin bald old monk.
It was made of grayish-white dead wood. Its face was lifelike. Other than the parts of its eyeballs that seemed to have been dug out, the other facial features were bearded and wrinkled. It was lifelike. There were no traces of being cut by knives or axes.
Lin Yan leaned closer to the wooden statue and observed it carefully.
Its body was shriveled like a dead tree, but it was two meters tall and did not look human.
It was clearly a wooden statue, but like a human, it was wearing a tattered and rotten gray monk robe.
Its body was incomplete, and a large arc was missing from its waist. The edge was jagged, as if it had been bitten by teeth.
There were also three to four rusty bronze chains tied to its body. They were held in front of its chest by its two withered hands. Its body leaned forward, as if it was dragging something forward in the darkness.
Hence, Lin Yan raised the fire and swept his gaze behind the old monk’s statue. His expression immediately turned cold.
A huge blood-colored stone coffin that was ten feet long was flipped to the side behind the old monk. The heavy coffin lid was slanted and half of it had been opened, revealing the black interior of the coffin.
Under the coffin were circles of bronze chains.
It was obvious that this stone coffin was originally carried on the old monk’s back and bound tightly with bronze chains. Now, it fell to the ground because of the vibration or something. Even the coffin lid was opened.
Wasn’t the coffin a container for the dead? He was already dead. Why did they tie him up with chains?
A chill ran down Lin Yan’s spine.
He carefully squatted down and placed the candle in front of the coffin. The coffin was made of blood-colored ore. There were mysterious golden complicated patterns drawn on the four corners and both ends. A faint sandalwood smell emitted from the coffin.
“Empty?
There were some scattered things inside the stone coffin, but there were clearly no corpses.
Such an imposing and tightly bound stone coffin was actually empty?
Lin Yan stood up straight and scanned his surroundings.
Was the stone coffin empty to begin with, or…
He walked carefully and used the faint light of the candle to carefully search and observe the stone room.
This was clearly a man-made stone room, like a quiet room for chanting and worshipping.
To the right, there seemed to be a passageway, but it was all buried by huge rocks.
There were square stone bricks on the ground, engraved with an exquisite and ancient lotus pattern.
The left and right areas were not big. There was almost no place to hide.
Lin Yan had just heaved a sigh of relief when he suddenly realized that there was another direction…
He suddenly raised his head and his eyes narrowed. He almost retreated to the entrance.
On the top of the quiet room, there was actually a statue of the Eight-Armed Vajra that looked benevolent but was not benevolent. It looked angry but was not!
This Vajra statue was about two meters tall. Its entire body was black jade, and its chest was bare. It was impossible to tell if it was male or female.
The muscles on its exposed chest were clearly visible. The muscles and bones of its eight arms were lifelike. Its eight arms stretched out like a spider’s and were embedded in the dome. It looked down from above.
Its appearance was also very strange. Not only did it have eight arms, but it also had four eyes on its head.
Other than the original eyes, there was also an eye on the left and right of the forehead. The statue even deliberately chiseled out round eyeballs for these two additional eyes to highlight their characteristics.
It was both strange and creepy.
Lin Yan stared at it for a long time. After confirming that it did not have any characteristics of a living creature, he lowered his head.
He had never heard of a similar belief in Ding’an City. It was obvious that this ancient ruin had been built a long time ago. The religious style was completely different from today’s.
He continued to check and walked around.
“This is…”
Lin Yan’s gaze focused slightly. In the corner of the wall on the left side of the quiet room, he found a pile of snow-white bone fragments.
His expression was solemn as he stretched out his leg and kicked. There were many gray fur mixed in. It was clearly the corpse of the gray wolf from yesterday.
The bone was snow-white and had been bitten cleanly. Other than a few large bite marks, there were also many dense, jagged, and tiny bite marks.
Two different bite marks.
It was as if…
“Feeding? The parent caught the prey to feed the children.”
Lin Yan’s heart sank. Could that thing be reproducing?
The flames swept past, and soon, he found a place in the corner. It was similar to the cave entrance he had seen on the mountain wall previously. It led to an unknown depth.
It was the same hole, the same narrow size, and the same sharp scratches around it.
Could it be that this mysterious creature was locked in the coffin?
He reached out and knocked. This time, it was solid. It was obvious that he could not get through.
Lin Yan looked at the hole and thought for a moment before walking back to the toppled coffin.
Then, he reached out and grabbed the bronze chain. Strength passed through his arm and pulled with force. A huge force passed through the chain, and the stone coffin immediately flipped and fell to the ground, emitting a muffled sound.
Then, he reached out and grabbed the coffin lid. He lifted it forcefully and dragged the heavy coffin lid out with one hand.
The entire coffin opened, and an even more refreshing sandalwood smell spread out.
Lin Yan dragged the heavy coffin lid with one hand and dragged it out, leaving an obvious scratch on the ground. When he arrived in front of the narrow hole, he stretched out his leg and kicked, blocking the coffin lid outside the hole.
In that case, even if the monster came out, it was impossible for it to be quiet.
After blocking the cave entrance, Lin Yan circled around again and didn’t find anything. He returned to the open stone coffin.
The candle approached the coffin. Lin Yan searched briefly. The stone coffin was covered in a layer of half-withered spices, and the fragrance assaulted his nose.
There were also a few rotten prayer beads and two rusty incense burners.
Surprisingly, he found a few black and heavy finger-sized metal pieces. Lin Yan had read tomb raiding novels in his previous life and knew that they were formed by oxidation of gold. He kept them in his arms.
He reached out and stroked the spice.
“Hmm? This thing…”
He took it out and saw that it was a grayish-yellow beast skin the size of a belly. It was actually still intact.
On it was a language that he did not recognize at all. They were filled with small words.
He tugged at the beast skin and realized that it was quite tough. It had not rotted for so many years, so it must be a precious item.
Gold and beast skin could not be said to be useless, but it was useless for Xiaozhi’s illness.
Lin Yan was indignant. He looked around again, but there was nothing.
Helpless, he could only prepare to leave.
Before leaving, he unintentionally glanced at the statue on the dome. It was still looking down, as if it was staring at Lin Yan.
“Huh? That’s not right!”
…..
Lin Yan’s pupils constricted.
Just now, he was standing in another position, and the statue was looking down at him.
Now that he had changed his position, why was the statue still looking down at him?!
A chill suddenly surged to his scalp.
He immediately retreated to the entrance of the crack and held the rock wall with one hand. He raised his head and stared at the Eight-Armed Vajra.
In the silent underground world, only his uneasy heartbeat was left. Lin Yan couldn’t take his eyes off it.
After about half an hour, he suddenly clenched his fists and forcefully dug out a stone from the rock wall.
The Eight-Armed Vajra really moved!
This time, not only its head, but even its eight arms shrank inward, causing its entire statue’s body to sink a little. Although the movement was small, it did move!
What the hell was that!
Lin Yan leaned against the crack and felt confident. The cold light in his eyes increased as he shouted, “Stop pretending!”
He suddenly swung his arm, and the large rock he had just dug out immediately shot towards the statue’s head from the bottom like a cannonball.
However, the scene of the statue tilting its head to dodge that he expected did not appear.
The stone smashed into the statue’s head. The huge force directly tilted its head, and a layer of fine cracks slowly expanded.
The next moment, the statue began to shake left and right. The eight arms that were clinging to the top seemed to have independent joints. They loosened one by one and fell. Then, the entire statue seemed to have lost the support of the ceiling and fell down.
BOOM!
The heavy sculpture fell straight down and smashed into the blood-red sarcophagus below. The sarcophagus was firm, and the stone sculpture actually shattered into pieces. Other than a few scattered arms, the rest of it actually landed into the sarcophagus.
Lin Yan’s breathing tightened. Could it be that this stone coffin was originally filled with this statue?!
He raised his head and looked at the top. Eight medium-sized holes were scattered around the top. They corresponded to the palms of the eight arms of the Eight-Armed Vajra!
A terrifying guess appeared. Could it be that this eight-armed Vajra had jumped out of the stone coffin and embedded itself on the top with its eight arms?
It wasn’t dead, but alive?
However, that was not right. If it was not dead, why did it not dodge and fall to the ground, shattering into pieces?
Was it possible that this statue was an inanimate object? The reason why its head moved just now was because it could not hang on the top and sank bit by bit, causing the head to deviate.
Lin Yan hesitated for a moment and walked forward step by step.
In the stone coffin, the Eight-Armed Vajra’s entire body had already completely shattered. Its head fell from its body and rolled in the corner of the stone coffin.
The crack on its body was also made of a black jade-like material. There were also golden veins on the cross section, as if they were the patterns of stone itself.
No matter how he looked at it, it did not look like a living creature.
Did the Eight-Armed Vajra jump out of the stone coffin and climb to the top?
Or was it originally an inanimate object that was embedded at the top and fell down bit by bit because of the earthquake?
Lin Yan couldn’t judge.
When he walked past the side of the stone coffin and the head of the statue…
Suddenly.
In his mind, the Golden Bodhi Scripture trembled slightly, reminding him that there was an external spiritual substance nearby!