Chapter 46: News That My Mother Was Trapped

Chapter 46: News That My Mother Was Trapped

This was my first time attempting to help someone with depression this way, and I had no idea what the effect would be.

I simply wanted to use my mental will to reinforce her and give her some measure of psychological comfort.

The method was something like brainwave stimulation. In the back of my mind, I was quietly drawing on the concept of electrotherapy as a reference.

I hoped it could help her synthesize more serotonin — or at the very least, reawaken her desire to live. I hadn’t expected it to work so astonishingly well.

About half an hour later, the woman’s state had essentially returned to normal. An inexplicable sense of happiness surfaced on her face. It was clear that, at least in the near term, she would not try to take her own life again.

The abbot had been watching me the entire time, his expression full of bewilderment. Everything I had just done was beyond him. He had raised Shiqing himself — Shiqing had no business knowing this kind of skill, let alone practicing anything like medicine.

But in that moment, saving the woman was all I could think about. There was no room for caution.

Seeing that the woman had improved, I kept my words brief. I simply told the three of them, “What I did just now will only have some short-term effect. For a lasting cure, the female benefactor should go to a professional hospital and work with professional medication. I wish the female benefactor an early recovery.”

When the man saw that the woman had genuinely improved, he reached for his wallet. I waved him off.

“Saving a life earns more merit than building a seven-story pagoda. I already have merit upon me. Benefactor, there is no need for this.”

The young woman, by now, had begun to realize just how close she had come to dying at the foot of that cliff, and fear settled over her quietly. Since I wouldn’t take money, she pulled the older woman by the arm and insisted on going into the temple to make a donation — for her child’s sake, she said, to accumulate some merit.

That was incense money for the temple. I couldn’t very well refuse.

After seeing off the three of them, who thanked us over and over, my master and I walked back inside.

The abbot praised everything I had done that day. Yet beneath his words, his confusion ran deep, and he could not put it to rest.

I had no choice but to offer an explanation: while wandering through Shuzhong, I had encountered a remarkable person, and that person had taught me.

My master actually followed up by asking what kind of extraordinary person he was.

I said his Dharma name was Xuanchen, from Mumen Temple in Shuzhong. I didn’t dare fabricate freely — I was afraid my master might one day actually encounter Master Shouye from Mumen Temple. Xuanchen was, after all, Master Shouye’s direct disciple, and a real person.

Back inside the temple, I kept quiet. Whoever I met, I said nothing about the rescue. Even when my master mentioned it to others, Shiqing only smiled mildly and said he had offered a little casual encouragement, nothing more.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back home, a thousand li away.

That consciousness journey to Yunding Temple had given me far more from Shiqing than I’d bargained for — most of all, news of my mother. This time, something had been confirmed.

She was still alive.

I had always thought of Shiqing as little more than a puppet — not an empty shell, perhaps, but nothing elaborate. I hadn’t imagined there would be so much depth in his design.

It brought Xuanhong to mind. He had also told me, once, that he was my backup — and I had never understood what he meant. Now I did.

Perhaps if I had parasitized him, and the two of us had formed a consciousness link, he might not have died.

It struck me then that leaving Shiqing at Yunding Temple might actually be the better arrangement — better than bringing him here to Pingdu City.

If I ever faced a danger I truly could not escape, Shiqing, a thousand li away, might still be the thing that saved me.

The thought that consciousness could teleport a thousand li in an instant left me both thrilled and unsettled. It was far beyond anything I had previously understood.

It was like dreaming. In a dream, a person is bound by nothing — no space, no time. You can rise to Heaven or sink beneath the earth. The mind goes where it will, crossing a thousand li without a step. Could dreams, then, be one expression of the independence of human consciousness?

In everything I knew, quantum entanglement had this quality — existing beyond the constraints of space, particles interacting across cosmic distances. Could consciousness be related to quantum entanglement?

I couldn’t work it out.

So I would follow the current and do what worked.

The world we lived in was clearly far more complicated than any of us imagined — not simple physics, but a complex field that included quantum physics, and perhaps was even constrained by multidimensional space.

I was at home, sitting quietly, drifting in thought, when three knocks came at the door.

Through the door monitor, I was startled to see Lu Qingyue standing outside.

A Soul Hunter had come to my door?

Alone.

I went immediately on guard.

“Who is it?” I called out, deliberately.

“Me. Lu Qingyue. Open the door,” Lu Qingyue said, bold as you please.

I opened the door, already braced for a fight.

Even alone, she was dangerous. She had used Zhu Zhaojie’s hands against me once before.

Lu Qingyue stepped inside, glanced around the room, and said, “No need to be so tense. If I wanted to deal with you, you couldn’t stop me. Those little thoughts of yours — we can see right through them.”

I said nothing. I stayed ready.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in to sit?” she said.

I stepped aside. She walked straight to the sofa and settled in. “I came to negotiate.”

I kept my distance and sat across from her. “Negotiate? About what?”

“We know you’re not a member of the resistance,” she said. “But you have ties to them. I’m not here to make things difficult for you. I only need you to help us reach one person.”

“Who?”

“Whether you admit it or not, I have reason to believe you can find him. Wang Rongliang.”

“Don’t know him,” I said immediately. “Why would you come to me?”

“Yes, you do. Not long ago, you pulled him right out of our hands. Do you really take us for fools?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “And even if you were right — if I already rescued him from you, why would I help you find him? Do you think I’m the fool?”

“We have terms, of course,” Lu Qingyue said. “Your mother’s life, in exchange for a little girl’s life.”

That landed like a blow. “You’ve taken my mother?” I said, my voice rising.

“She is our leverage,” Lu Qingyue said. “But my daughter, Ou Xiaoli, was also caught inside a spacetime boundary because of all this, and has entered a different space. Only Wang Rongliang can bring her out — he designed that boundary. He is the expert. Your mother’s life for Ou Xiaoli’s life. A fair trade for both sides. During the rescue, I give you my word — the Soul Hunters will take no action. What do you say?”

I laughed. “I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about. My mother died nineteen years ago. I don’t know anyone called Wang Rongliang. And why in the world would I trust you?”

Lu Qingyue reached into her pocket, set a photograph on the tea table, and tapped it. “Stop performing. Take this and look at it. When you’ve thought it over, come find me.”

She gave a wickedly charming smile and walked out.

I picked up the photograph.

The image showed an old woman trapped in the void of a boundary.

The old woman was my Grandma.

Whatever the photograph was made of, it moved. Not a still image — something closer to a short video, playing several minutes of moving footage.

Heat rushed to my head. I wanted to go after Lu Qingyue and hit her.

Of course, I might not win.

I needed to talk to my uncle. Fortunately, I had learned how to make parasitic contact with him — no need to go anywhere. The greatest advantage of a parasitic consciousness link was that it avoided the Sweepers’ and Soul Hunters’ reconnaissance and tracking.

I checked the surroundings of my home. Lu Qingyue was already gone, and I sensed no one suspicious nearby.

Only then did I sit down on the sofa, open the chakra controller in my mind, and send a connection request to Old Uncle’s consciousness body.

“What is it? Are you calling to tell me about your mother?” came Uncle’s reply.

“You already know something happened?” I said.

“I only just received word myself. A base in the eastern suburbs was raided — Sweepers and Soul Hunters both. Your mother stayed behind to cover everyone’s withdrawal and got caught inside a spacetime boundary the Soul Hunters had laid. But how did you find out?”

I told him everything — Lu Qingyue’s visit, every word of it. I also showed him the moving photograph she had left behind.

When he finished looking, his manner had shifted. He was grave now. “Kid, stay out of this for the moment. Let me handle what comes next.”

“I can’t do that, Uncle,” I said. “First — that’s my mother. I’m not standing aside. Second, Lu Qingyue will come back to negotiate again. I need a plan.”

Uncle considered this. “Fair enough. Wait while I get the full picture. I’ll reach out to you after.”

He cut the consciousness link.

About a day passed before Uncle sent word.

He wanted to meet me at Big Bell Temple.

Big Bell Temple?

Why would he choose the place where the Soul Hunters had operated before?

Dharma Master Zisheng, the abbot there, had been disturbed by me the last time I’d gone to someone’s aid. I had also helped him resolve some difficulties in the temple along the way.

I didn’t know why Uncle had chosen this place, but I suspected Big Bell Temple held something special that drew elite people. Both the Soul Hunters and my uncle were elite people living in the mundane world. If both were drawn to that place, there was a reason.

So I arrived at Big Bell Temple early and went to see Dharma Master Zisheng.

Because of the help I had given him in unraveling the mystery of the Great Bell Tower, he had always felt warmly toward me. The moment I arrived, he led me to his inner room himself and received me privately.

This, too, was a mark of his discernment.

He had surely guessed that I was no ordinary visitor. He simply never said so.

We sat facing each other by candlelight, drinking tea, talking about nothing in particular.

At some point during our conversation, my eye caught the broken electronic spacetime-boundary generator the Soul Hunters had left behind the last time. It was still there in his inner room.

I couldn’t help picking it up and turning it over in my hands. “Senior Brother Zisheng, you’re interested in this too?”

Dharma Master Zisheng smiled. “More than interested. You’ve even made me curious about science altogether.”

“How so?”

“Last time, you told me this object was called an electronic spacetime-boundary generator. That name alone kept me thinking for a long time. Spacetime. Boundary. Electronic generator. Great Dharma Master Xuanhong said it so easily, but every point of knowledge in that name requires deep understanding. You are clearly a professional. What has confounded this temple was extremely difficult for us to comprehend, but for Master Xuan, it seemed as simple as lifting a hand. How could I not be filled with admiration?”

I smiled. “Dharma Master Zisheng, you give me too much credit. I came up as an engineer, so I have some familiarity with science. But when it comes to the depth of Buddhist teaching, I still have a great deal to learn from you.”

“Master Xuan, you’re too modest,” Dharma Master Zisheng said quickly. “Who in Pingdu City doesn’t know your name?”

We went back and forth like that for a while, easy and unhurried. Then Uncle’s message came through — he needed me to borrow the Great Bell Tower.

I turned the conversation there naturally and asked Dharma Master Zisheng whether I might use the tower alone today.

He agreed without a moment’s hesitation. “Master Xuan, no need to stand on ceremony. That bell tower opens only once a year. The rest of the time it sits sealed and idle. Use it as you please. I’ll post monks at the entrance to keep it undisturbed.”

“Then I’m most grateful,” I said.