Su Bai, Seven, Gyatso and Fatty"s emotions had hit the bottom, then with Lam Chin-Ying"s appearance, they were rising with hope. But at last, with Lam Chin-Ying"s sudden death, they were like falling into an abyss.
"F*ck… You must be kidding! You chose a perfect place and perfect time only to say so much nonsense and die before your master stroke? You can"t be serious…"
Fatty was still stuck on the wall. He really wanted to cry.
"That"s…" Gyatso raised his head and leaned against the wall in pain. Lam Chin-Ying"s senses were totally gone, Gyatso knew what that meant. Even though he was suffering from great pain, he wanted to laugh bitterly.
"Amit…" Seven couldn"t finish his pray. He closed his eyes as if he didn"t want to see this world any more since there was nothing left to live for.
Su Bai was pressing his heart while kneeling with his head against the ground. He was close to Lam Chin-Ying. He had died a heroic death with a trace of resolution.
It could be seen on his face: the hatred towards evil.
As well as his dedication to die with the evil.
And the greatness to sacrifice himself for peace and prosperity.
But he was dead.
"What have you done, bro?"
Su Bai murmured while trying to bear the sharp pain in his chest. He began to think that his heart would have come to a stop due to Lam Chin-Ying"s sudden appearance and sudden death even if it wasn"t hurting so much because of the painting.
In the painting, a wooden bowl appeared in the old man"s hand. He threw in onto the ground in front of him.
The bowl was not for food but for souls.
A white light came from the painting and landed on Gyatso.
Gyatso"s boy was broken beyond recover, but his longing for survival was extremely strong. The painting wanted soul puppets, so it wanted to conquer their souls.
Gyatso was enveloped in the white light.
Then…
He stood up.
In front of him, his teacher appeared.
"Kneel, my kid."
His teacher still looked merciful.
"No, I won"t."
Gyatso stood firmly. He knew where he was, and he knew this wasn"t his teacher. But it sounded and felt exactly like his teacher. It was so real that he was a little confused.
His teacher disappeared. Next, an old man showed up with amiable smile. He looked at Gyatso:
"I"m your Living Buddha. Kneel."
"You are not Living Buddha! You are a demon!" Gyatso roared with rage, "You bring nothing to our people excepted for discrimination and disaster!"
The old man vanished.
But…
Next…
With Sanskrit enchanting, a real Buddha showed up, s.h.i.+ning with overwhelming power.
It was the true power of a real Buddhist!
Gyatso"s chest thumped. He had to lower his head.
It was his belief, his spiritual support, his totem since he was a kid!
"Flop…"
He had no choice but to kneel.
His face appeared in the old man"s bowl in that painting.
Then…
… a second ray of white light was sent out from the painting and landed on Fatty.
Fatty stood up in the light murmuring:
"Save it! I"m not kneeling!"
"Even before your beloved grandpa? My good boy?"
An old man in an army uniform was standing in front of Fatty.
"d.a.m.n it! That looks so real, grandpa! If I hadn"t sent you to the crematory and burnt you in person, I would have thought you"d come back to life!"
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Don"t talk to your grandpa like that! I asked you not to burn me again and again! I told you to bury me in the tomb I chose before I died! That was a good place, and our family will be blessed if I was buried there! I kept it even though someone else had offered a fortune!"
Fatty immediately put on a sad face, "I buried you there with my dad! But someone in the village went to inform the authorities! At last, some people in the government came and ordered us to dig you out and burn you! I had no choice!"
"Forget it, maybe our family was not favored by fate anyway. Kneel before me and I"ll forgive you."
Fatty immediately wiped out his tears and joked, "Sure, when it"s festivals! I"ll kneel before your tome! As long as you like!"
The old man vanished with Fatty"s words.
Fatty tutted, "Treating me into kneeling? Ha, you should work harder."
Just then, the surroundings changed. Fatty found himself standing on a concrete bridge. Such a scene had sent a chill up Fatty"s spine. Then he popped out his head and saw a man in the water. He was too exhausted to struggle and was sinking, but his eyes were fixed on Fatty.
"Flop…"
Fatty kneeled on the bridge. At that moment, a shadow of a fat little boy appeared beside him. The little boy was holding an ice-lolly in one hand and some cash in the other, and was looking beneath the bridge in astonishment.
"I"m sorry… I"m so sorry… So sorry…" Fatty kept apologizing, "It was just a joke, I didn"t know you would drown…"
In the painting, another face appeared in the old man"s wooden bowl. It was Fatty"s.
Then the white light came out again and landed on Seven.
Seven stood up in the light. An ancient Buddha appeared in front of him.
"Amitabh," Seven put his palms together to show his respect.
"Kneel." The Buddha said.
Seven shook his head and smiled, "Eventually, I will become a Buddha. There"s no need to kneel before you."
Right after that, the Buddha vanished.
Then, a woman appeared in front of Seven. She was wearing a worn down jacket, and was recycling waste with a trolly.
Seven couldn"t help swallowing.
The trolly was heavy. In order to take care of her sick husband and bring money to her son in a temple, she had to work long hours everyday to collect as much waste as she could.
When going up a slope, she slipped, then the trolly slipped downwards and knocked her down. Her palms and knees were bleeding.
She spitted onto her palms and puffed dust off, then clenched her fists, got up and started pus.h.i.+ng the trolly up the slope again.
Seven saw this and sighed.
"Amitabh."
He had been guilty to no one except for his mother. He had insisted on becoming a monk and left all the burden to his mother. When he succeeded and returned, his father had died and his mother was dying because of an incurable disease. Not long after his return, his mother pa.s.sed away as if she had fulfilled her greatest wish, before Seven could take off his monk gown and put on his normal clothes.
Slowly, Seven kneeled.
His face appeared in the old man"s bowl in that painting.
At this moment, Gyatso was still miserably leaning against the wall in the hall, Fatty was still nailed on the rocky wall, and Seven was still lying in the thatch. Their bodies were still alive, but their souls were already in the painting.
Su Bai blinked. Then the white light landed on him.
Finally…
… it was his turn.
In the white light, Su Bai felt his pain was all gone.
But he felt heavy-hearted. Fatty, Gyatso, and even Seven who had the strongest mind, they were all down.
He wasn"t sure if he could insist on not kneeling, because he knew what he would see.
Before him, Gyatso kneeled before his only belief. He had no choice even though he knew it was not true, even though he knew what would be waiting for him. If he didn"t kneel, he would destroy his own belief and spiritual support.
Fatty saw the man who was drowned because of his naughty joke when he was a kid. It had always been Fatty"s nightmare. Even after he had killed so many people, he would still remember this man"s look. Unlike the others, this man had haunted him for a lifetime. He was guilty for that for decades. So he kneeled.
Seven saw his own mother and had no choice but to kneel because he was so guilty. If he hadn"t be so selfish and insisted on becoming a monk, he would have helped his mother and life would become much easier for her.
All the others were kneeling. Now Su Bai was just waiting for his fate.
He knew he would probably fail to resist, but he really wanted to see his parents for one more time. There was no hope of wining anyway, so…
It would feel good to see his parents and hear their voices before his death.
However, Su Bai waited for a long time but nothing happened.
Huh?
What was going on?
Just when Su Bai was confused, he heard a floppy sound of bare feet hitting the ground in the white light.
He turned to the sound.
A fair tender little guy was crawling towards Su Bai. He was even cuter wearing a red belly wrap[1]. While approaching, he was also waving his tiny arms:
"Hug…"
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Belly wrap: A traditional Chinese form of bodice or waistcoat, originally worn as an unders.h.i.+rt with medicinal properties. With the opening of China, it is sometimes encountered in Western and modern Chinese fas.h.i.+on as a sleeveless and and backless halter-top blouse.