HTCYH Ch 21

Chapter 21: Vajra Pestle

Another wave of dizziness swept over him. Perhaps because he had experienced it once before, Tu Si didn’t feel the heavens spinning this time. Instead, it was only a blur before his eyes, the surroundings wildly whirling, and then, with a blink, the environment around him had completely changed.

Tu Si staggered for a moment, then regained his balance, and his vision cleared once again.

He realized that he was now standing inside an old and shabby living room—or perhaps “living room” wasn’t the right word, for even Jiang Lekui himself couldn’t tell if that was what it was. It was nothing more than a dilapidated, self-built farmhouse in the countryside.

In the middle of the room, a single lightbulb hung down, casting a dim yellow glow. It was one of those outdated bayonet-type glass bulbs that had long since been phased out. In the corner of the room, heaps of red-and-white plastic bags were piled up. Something seemed to be stuffed inside, though what exactly was unclear. Only through the gaps in the covering plastic could one vaguely make out several blackish-brown jars.

The walls were mottled and peeling. Directly opposite him stood two shaky wooden chairs—so rickety that they would creak and tremble if someone sat on them. Between them sat a square cabinet, and on top of the cabinet was a small shrine. Offerings were laid in front of the shrine, but within the alcove itself, there was no statue of any deity.

The living room wasn’t large—ten steps would take him from one end to the other. To his left and right were two doorways, each hung with a curtain of plastic beads. They had clearly been there for a long time; the once-bright beads were faded, and those closest to the window had even warped and melted under the sun’s heat.

Suddenly, a shrill and blood-curdling scream ripped through the air, followed by the heavy thuds of something being struck, the sound coming from behind the plastic-curtained doorway. Tu Si froze. He first scanned the area warily, then turned toward the room behind the curtain where the sound came from.

The sight inside nearly made him cry out.

He saw a figure—two meters tall, with a ferocious blue face and fanged mouth, its expression twisted in ferocity. Upon its head rested a skull crown. It had three heads and six arms, its upper body bare, lower body clad in a short skirt, and across its torso hung a diagonal sash. It was the wrathful form of the Vajra Bodhisattva.

The Vajra Bodhisattva’s right hand dangled downward, the fingers curved into a mudra, and around its wrist coiled a snake as thick as a child’s wrist—black with red markings. The serpent was biting into the ankle of a humanoid figure. Meanwhile, in its left hand, the Bodhisattva held a vajra pestle[1] the size of a water bottle and was mercilessly smashing it down upon the humanoid’s head.

Why call it a humanoid? Because its head had already been pulverized into pulp. The floor was a mess of red and white sticky matter. Yet the Vajra Bodhisattva did not stop—it continued hammering mechanically at the same spot. The smashed flesh had already been beaten into a paste, stringy like hand-pounded meatballs, still clinging together with sticky fibers. The Vajra Bodhisattva seemed oblivious to Tu Si’s presence, wholly absorbed in its grisly labor.

Holding his breath, Tu Si stumbled backward, then suddenly bolted from the house, sprinting as fast as he could. He ran and ran, but soon realized he was lost. Lifting his gaze, he looked to the moon. It was neither round nor bright, while the sky was crowded with stars—beautiful, yes, but the more he stared, the more anxious he felt. The stars were like scrambled codes, offering no direction.

It was the dead of night. Tu Si had essentially stumbled into a murder scene, without even a safehouse to retreat to. All around him were only dark and dilapidated houses, all nearly identical—some slightly newer, some more decrepit, but none different in essence. He circled around yet found no sign of his teammates. Was this really what a six-star difficulty game meant? Truly no simple challenge.

After some thought, Tu Si decided to head toward the sparsely housed back mountain. To outsiders, this might seem like courting death, but to him, the denser the forest, the higher the safety. In the deep woods, whether it was fleeing or hiding, Tu Si’s chances were better.

A few leaps carried him up into a tall tree from which he could overlook the entire village. Amidst the sea of pitch-black rooftops, he spotted one house giving off a faint glimmer of light, flickering like a firefly. Fixing his gaze on that light, Tu Si began to gather his thoughts.

Recalling the Vajra Bodhisattva’s appearance, Tu Si became certain: that was none other than Vajrapani, the wrathful manifestation of the Vajra Wielder Bodhisattva[2].

Vajrapani frequently appears in Buddhist sculpture and iconography. Among the three deities most commonly seen guarding or surrounding the Buddha, he is the most ancient and the most often represented. He embodies the protection and power of all Buddhas and the Five Dhyani Buddhas[3].

And the Vajra Bodhisattva he had just witnessed indeed brimmed with terrifying power. Tu Si had always assumed that the vajra pestle was a spiritual implement, and that its attacks would be mystical or magical in nature. Never had he expected it to be wielded in raw physical brutality. The blunt-force trauma of that pounding alone made Tu Si’s own skull ache in sympathy.

Pulling his thoughts back into order, Tu Si finally remembered to check his own possessions. Reaching into his trouser pocket, he pulled out his phone and his obsidian dagger. For a long moment, he stared blankly, then instantly rated the game’s danger level one star higher. The fewer the restrictions, the higher the danger—not only from the game itself but also from other players.

Opening the Ascension app, a line of text flashed first across the screen:

A mere child, how could she possess such power! Impossible! Impossible! Kill her! Kill her!

The words appeared in blood-red font against a black background, emerging slowly and fading in and out. Then the main interface of the app revealed itself:

Game Title: Kuman Thong[4]

Synopsis: One child! One wish!

Mission One: Return to the house and spend the night.

Tu Si stared at the four characters of the mission, his teeth gritted. He could feel the game’s malice seeping into him. He remembered watching a short video not long ago where someone complained: Why do characters in horror movies always act suicidal? Knowing there’s danger, yet they still go in? Now he understood. Because the plot demands it. A horror movie without horror wouldn’t be a horror movie.

Tu Si stretched out his tendrils, confirming the direction, then dropped from the tree with a sigh and trudged toward the lone lit house.

He prayed silently as he walked, hoping the Bodhisattva had already finished its “work” and gone to rest. But upon entering, the steady thud-thud rhythm still echoed from within. His heart sank.

Yet, after standing outside the plastic curtain for a long while, Tu Si realized the Bodhisattva seemed not to have noticed him at all. It remained wholly immersed in its ceaseless pounding. That meant he was relatively safe—though the mental pollution was severe. The constant thud-thud made his heartbeat erratic; his SAN[5] value was ticking upward.

Tu Si found a wobbly, three-legged stool in the living room. Supporting it with his tendrils to stop it from creaking, he sat down. Beneath his feet, yellow tendrils spread out, weaving into a circular carpet a meter wide. Then countless tendrils rose up like cobras, swaying gently, poised to strike at any moment. Tu Si fixed his eyes on the plastic curtain, his nerves taut, every sense on high alert.

Suddenly, a sweet taste welled in his mouth. Tu Si froze. That was the taste of Wuming’s blood. He instinctively reached for his hand cards—but realized Wuming was right here, in this very house. Yet his eyes could not see him.

Was this… spatial severance?

Tu Si wasn’t sure. He circled the spot where he sensed Wuming, but it was nothing but air—no body, no figure. Meanwhile, the sweetness in his mouth grew stronger. Several times he almost failed to swallow in time, nearly drooling. Wuming’s wound must be severe.

Tu Si was torn—half ecstatic at the delicious taste flooding his senses, half frantic with worry. The constant stream of flavor was like drinking a gourmet nectar; he slurped and savored, yet his heart was wracked with anxiety over Wuming’s injury. But anxiety was useless. All he could do was continue drinking down this delectable “beverage,” tapping his foot impatiently for dawn. All the while, the relentless thud-thud from just beyond the wall only made his agitation worse. More than once, he almost rushed in to fight the Vajrapani head-on.

Footnotes:

[1] Vajra Pestle (金剛杵, vajra) – A ritual weapon in Buddhism, symbolizing indestructibility and spiritual power. Though symbolic, in this narrative it’s depicted as a literal blunt weapon.

[2] Vajrapani (金剛手菩薩) – One of the most ancient and important protective bodhisattvas in Buddhism, embodying the Buddha’s power. Often shown in wrathful form to drive away evil.

[3] Five Dhyani Buddhas (五念如來) – A set of transcendent Buddhas in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, each representing different aspects of enlightened consciousness.

[4] Kuman Thong (古曼童) – A Thai folk spirit, often created from the spirit of a deceased child, believed to grant protection or fulfill wishes. Its inclusion here deepens the eerie folkloric element.

[5] SAN Value – A concept borrowed from tabletop RPGs (like Call of Cthulhu), representing “sanity.” Losing SAN means slipping toward madness.