Chapter 19

Without speaking, as soon as the thought arose in his mind, the Light Spell began to resonate in his heart, slowly spreading and echoing throughout his body. Gradually, his entire body began to resonate, making it impossible to distinguish whether it was his mouth reciting the spell or the echo in his heart. Instead, it felt as if he was chanting the spells with his entire being, giving him a sense of great comfort and clarity!

This feeling gradually warmed his entire body, as if every pore was being tickled, causing him to involuntarily let out a low moan, which sounded like a dragon's roar. This sound was not produced by the usual resonance of his lips, teeth, and tongue, but rather by the vibration of the spell throughout his body, as his mind and body gradually dissolved, leaving him unaware of his surroundings.

The ascetic monk was startled by the dragon's roar and quickly found a place to set Lu Zheng down. He saw Lu Zheng sitting upright with his eyes lightly closed, still moaning softly, the sound echoing and lingering around him. The ascetic monk watched him intently, not daring to disturb him, his eyes filled with surprise.

After a while, Lu Zheng finally ended his moaning and slowly opened his eyes, groaning, "So comfortable!" Suddenly, he noticed the monk staring at him and realized that he had been placed on the ground. He asked, "Master, have we arrived at the resting place?"

The ascetic monk did not answer, his face serious, and asked, "Young layman, you must tell me honestly, has your body shown any unusual symptoms recently?"

Hmm, did the monk discover something? Lu Zheng's face turned slightly red, and he scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, recounting the various abnormalities in his eyes and ears over the past few days. He dared not mention his own speculations and asked tentatively, "Master, are the changes in my eyes and ears due to the spells?"

He was full of hope, expecting the ascetic monk to give a positive answer, praise him, and offer to take him as a disciple. However, when the ascetic monk heard the detailed situation, he was greatly surprised, his face becoming more serious than ever. He said, "Young layman, the changes in your eyes and ears are not due to the spells. The Light Spell and the Clear Mind Spell are meant to cultivate the Bodhi heart and do not have such effects. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to take you on a long journey to seek medical help."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng was stunned. Had he been wrong all along? After a while, he came to his senses and said, "Ah, it's not because of the spells? Then I was completely wrong... Master, why did my eyes and ears change, and why are they sometimes good and sometimes bad?"

The ascetic monk hesitated, then lowered his head in thought. He pointed to a large rock on the opposite mountain and asked, "Young layman, answer me one question. What is on that large rock, can you see it?"

They were on a twin peak, with two peaks on the same mountain about a hundred paces apart, which was far beyond the range of normal human vision. But Lu Zheng looked as instructed, his gaze locking onto the large rock, scanning it up and down, and then withdrew his gaze, saying, "Master, there is a group of ants moving, I counted about sixty, but more are still coming in a line."

The ascetic monk frowned and suddenly pulled Lu Zheng, leaping into the air. Before Lu Zheng could cry out, the ascetic monk waved his sleeve, and a powerful force pulled them, landing them steadily on the large rock. As soon as they landed, Lu Zheng looked back at where they came from, amazed and excited by the leap through the air.

"Young layman, look again, can you see the ants?" the ascetic monk asked. It turned out that he had pulled Lu Zheng over the mountain just to see the ants.

Lu Zheng was puzzled and didn't understand the monk's intention, but he still looked around the large rock. Strangely, he couldn't see a single ant that he had seen from the other side.

The ascetic monk said, "What do you see? No ants, right?"

Lu Zheng nodded, confused, "I clearly saw them just now..."

The ascetic monk waved his hand, interrupting, "Let's go back and talk about it." He then pulled Lu Zheng back, landing as light as a feather, making no sound.

Lu Zheng couldn't wait to ask, "Master, I clearly saw many ants just now, why were they gone when we came over? Could the ants fly?"

The ascetic monk sighed, "Because there were no ants there to begin with. Everything you saw was an illusion!"

This frightened Lu Zheng, "An illusion? How is that possible? I clearly..."

He wanted to say that he had seen it with his own eyes, but he remembered that he had clearly seen the ants, and the monk had even brought him over to check, but found no ants. He couldn't say that now.

The ascetic monk looked at Lu Zheng, knowing what he was thinking, and his eyes softened. He said, "The unusual symptoms you described are actually illusions caused by poisoning, not the effects of the spells. Do you often find yourself falling asleep after using your eyes and ears more than usual?"

Lu Zheng nodded.

The ascetic monk said, "That's right. These illusions are the most draining, and you naturally fall asleep when you feel tired." Seeing that Lu Zheng still looked puzzled, he continued, "You must still be skeptical. How can something you see so clearly be an illusion? Let me give you an analogy. It's like a dream. In a dream, you see, hear, and even touch things that seem very real, but when you wake up, you realize it was all fake. You didn't really see, hear, or touch anything; it was all your imagination."

Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask, "Master, are you saying that what I saw and heard were all my own imagination, that I was daydreaming?"

The ascetic monk said, "This analogy isn't entirely accurate. People often imagine things, but they can't imagine things as vividly and realistically as you do, to the point where you can't tell the difference. What you see and hear isn't just a simple imagination; it's your mind's power compensating for the limitations of your senses!"

Lu Zheng didn't understand what it meant to use the mind's power to compensate for the limitations of the senses and asked, "Mind's power? What does that mean?"

The ascetic monk smiled and asked, "Young layman, have you ever dreamed of eating chicken legs?"

"Of course, I and my brother Jiu love chicken legs, but we can't always get them, so we often dream about eating them!" Lu Zheng didn't understand why the monk suddenly asked this.

The ascetic monk said, "This is your mind compensating for the limitations of your senses! You want to eat but can't, so your mind imagines the taste of chicken legs. Similarly, when you want to see something you can't, or hear something you can't, your mind will imagine it for you! This is not real, so it's called an illusion. But it's not entirely separate from reality. For example, if you had never known about chicken legs, you wouldn't imagine them. So, there is a truth in your mind's power. This power can create illusions, which is why it's called mind's power."

Hearing this, Lu Zheng seemed to understand. The ascetic monk meant that what he saw and heard were like the taste of chicken legs in his dreams—things he wanted to see or hear, which his mind created. He remembered that the first time he saw the colorful insect clearly, it was because he wanted to see it clearly, and then he saw it. When he wanted to see the mountain, the entire mountain's scenery flooded into his mind.

At this point, the ascetic monk said, "Actually, proving that what you see and hear are illusions is very simple."

Lu Zheng asked, "How can we prove it?"

The ascetic monk sighed, "People can't imagine things they've never seen! For example, the ants you saw moving, think carefully, have you seen this scene somewhere before?"

As soon as he said this, it was like a bolt of lightning in the dark. Lu Zheng suddenly remembered that the ants moving were exactly what he had seen at the city god temple's wall corner. He had even counted them, about sixty, and was about to count more when Tang Xiaojiu interrupted him with laughter. Not only that, but the veins of the leaves and the patterns on the insects were things he had once examined in the sunlight out of boredom, and Tang Xiaojiu had mocked him for it.

Thinking about this, Lu Zheng finally had to admit, "Master, I remember now, they were all things I had seen before. It really was my illusion. What should I do?"

The ascetic monk nodded and said, "Young layman, every time you enter this illusion, do you feel extremely tired? That's because these illusions drain your vital energy. You must not do this again. In the future, when you encounter such illusions, simply don't look or listen. When the mind is extinguished, the illusions will dissipate. If you get lost in them, it will lead to the depletion of your vital energy, and even the premature breaking of the seal in your meridians, accelerating the onset of the poison, which could be fatal."

Using the mind's power to create illusions consumes energy. As a mortal, Lu Zheng naturally had no magical power, so he was consuming his own vital energy. Over time, this would lead to the depletion of his vital energy and the loss of his life force, causing premature aging and even death from the depletion of his vital energy, not to mention the poison in his body.

Seeing the monk's serious expression, Lu Zheng realized the severity of the situation and nodded dumbly. He had thought everything was going well, but it turned out to be just an illusion. He had even foolishly thought the monk would take him as a disciple. Who would want such a foolish person as a disciple?

Thinking about this, his excitement and surprise vanished, and he felt deeply dejected. Reflecting on it, being able to see far and hear clearly wasn't that special. Could it be used to fight demons? At most, it would allow him to see demons from a distance and run away early. Besides, it was just an illusion, which made him even more disheartened.

The ascetic monk had known something was wrong when he heard Lu Zheng's dragon-like roar. That sound was not a real dragon's roar but an illusion created by Lu Zheng's mind, which the monk perceived through his mind-reading ability. This is how the monk heard the roar and realized that something was wrong with Lu Zheng. When Lu Zheng told the monk about his unusual vision and hearing, the first thought that came to the monk's mind was—minor supernatural ability!