NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: Them
Chapter 8: Them
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Even after facing the eerie bridal chamber of the Weaver Girl,
this scene still sent chills down Lin Yao’s spine.
They wore smiles, their gazes fixed on him without a trace of malice.
All he sensed was kindness—
an overwhelming, boundless kindness!
Their smiles seemed frozen on their faces, never wavering.
Lin Yao couldn’t help but take a step back.
They slowly approached him, still smiling.
“Why aren’t you smiling? This world is so beautiful. Why won’t you smile?”
A gentle voice whispered in his ear, soft and intoxicating, like a lullaby meant to drown him in bliss.
Lin Yao swallowed hard. For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt powerless.
After obtaining Weaving Fate, he no longer felt fatigue.
But all along the way, he had been struggling for survival in one deadly trap after another.
Even with a mind far beyond ordinary people’s, he was still no immortal.
He could grow weary. He could feel fear. What others mistook for calmness was, in truth, numbness—
numbness to terror.
And now, Lin Yao wanted to let go. He wanted to loosen the taut string in his mind and rest.
What did celestial robes matter? What did survival matter? This beautiful world was too much like the utopia described in the books of his past life.
“Perhaps… staying here is my best choice.”
The thought surfaced in his mind, and his lips began to curl into a smile.
The calm in his eyes was gradually replaced by warmth.
He was smiling.
“That’s it. Come, join us in this paradise.”
They surrounded Lin Yao as if welcoming a new family member.
Thud.
Lin Yao’s benevolent smile stiffened slightly. His heart ached.
Clarity rushed back like a tidal wave. He kept smiling, but cold sweat beaded on his forehead beneath the mask.
“That was close.”
The pain had come from the curse the Weaver Girl had planted in him.
When the domain’s laws had dissipated, Lin Yao had noticed the curse still lingered in his chest.
But he hadn’t asked the Weaver Girl to remove it. Their relationship was one of mutual exploitation, after all.
Even if he had asked, given her unpredictable nature, she likely would have left the curse in place.
Such a companion was exactly the kind he could trust.
“Who knew this thing that nearly killed me would end up saving me instead?”
Lin Yao discreetly glanced around. They had closed in around him.
Smiling faces—kind, yet unbearably eerie.
“Are all these people… followers of the Buddha?”
They ushered him forward, their unblinking eyes locked onto him.
“New family.”
Their lips moved, and the low murmur exploded like thunder in Lin Yao’s mind.
“What a headache.”
Beneath the mask, Lin Yao bit his lip until blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Their words were too seductive. The slightest lapse in focus, and he might drown in their collective delusion.
As Lin Yao walked forward, every person he passed gently touched him.
Truth be told, in both his lives, the kindness he received today might have surpassed all he had ever known.
He reached the front of the banquet hall, where two seats stood empty.
The crowd behind him stopped at the edge of the seating area.
Everyone was watching him.
Smiling at him.
Lin Yao approached the seats. The food on the table was ordinary fare.
The ox hide remained silent.
The moment he sat down, the noise behind him abruptly resumed.
When Lin Yao stole a glance, their expressions had returned to normal—no more smiles.
Shuffling footsteps approached from the side.
Lin Yao turned to see Not-Seeing and Not-Speaking walking toward him.
Their resplendent kasayas shimmered, clearly blessed by the Buddha.
But when Lin Yao got a closer look, he nearly retched.
They weren’t kasayas—they were patchwork robes.
Patchwork robes woven from smiling faces.
Like the others, the two monks smiled and bowed to Lin Yao.
“Thank you for your guidance, Holy One. The Buddha says we will soon attain golden bodies and the fruit of arhatship.”
Holy One?
Lin Yao was puzzled. What kind of game was this unseen Buddha playing?
He had only pretended to be a guest.
Yet from their words, the Buddha clearly knew of his existence.
So why acknowledge him as a holy one?
“You two have keen insight. I merely offered a small nudge.”
Not-Seeing and Not-Speaking chanted a Buddhist invocation, then took their seats at the front, closing their eyes in meditation.
Lin Yao glanced at the empty seat beside him. Was it reserved for the Buddha?
Clang!
A deep bell tolled, and the noise faded into silence once more.
Lin Yao looked back to see the crowd standing, their gazes devoutly fixed ahead.
He rose as well. The Buddha must be arriving.
Golden steps materialized in midair.
Lin Yao looked up—and saw the Weaver Girl descending.
Why her?
She, too, wore a smile.
The marriage contract’s bond confirmed this was no imposter.
Even the disguise from the human skin had vanished.
This was the Weaver Girl as she had been in the bridal chamber.
Her wedding dress was gone, replaced by plain white robes.
Is she pretending?
Lin Yao refused to believe a celestial maiden could be so easily bewitched.
If she were, he might as well give up now and join the smiling masses in this “paradise.”
But what happened next made his heart skip a beat.
The Weaver Girl descended the steps and stood beside the empty seat.
Not once did her eyes flicker toward him. Her indifference was that of a stranger.
Lin Yao’s mind raced.
“The Weaver Girl, Not-Seeing, Not-Speaking—all changed after meeting the Buddha. And the Buddha acknowledged me as a holy one.”
“If the Weaver Girl could meet the Buddha directly, why go through all this trouble? From the looks of it, a celestial robe would be nothing more than a fancy trinket to him.”
Then it hit him.
Bringing him here had been a deal—a transaction between the Weaver Girl and the Buddha.
But what did he have that the Buddha would want?
Just being one of the few remaining mortals?
The crowd behind him was full of mortals too.
As he pondered, the Weaver Girl’s voice suddenly rang out.
“All hail the Buddha.”
Like water splashed into boiling oil, her words ignited the crowd.
The devotees began chanting prayers, Buddhist invocations swirling around Lin Yao.
In an instant, his mind felt like it was being split apart.
The chants reverberated endlessly.
Lin Yao collapsed, his hands clawing uncontrollably at the human skin covering him.
Pieces of the mask peeled away, revealing his true face.
Bloodshot veins crawled across his eyes.
“Stop… Stop chanting!”
Not-Seeing and Not-Speaking joined in, reciting scriptures.
The world spun before Lin Yao’s eyes.
The faces on the patchwork robes began to twitch.
They were smiling.
Laughter and chanting flooded his mind.
Lin Yao clamped his hands over his ears, but the sounds clung like parasites.
“I said STOP!”
His roar tore through the hall. Disheveled hair, a twisted snarl, crimson eyes—
clad in tattered wedding robes,
he looked like a demon.
Above, the slender hands that had brought him here reappeared,
their fingers forming mudras that bloomed like lotus petals.
A lotus of Buddha’s hands!
A monk stepped out from the void, his feet sullied as they trod upon the sacred lotus.
The chanting ceased.
Gasping for breath, Lin Yao looked up at the monk.
Clad in blue robes, holding a pure vase and lotus,
his golden halo shone blindingly bright.
The man gazed at Lin Yao and spoke softly.
“Holy One, you have come.”
(End of Chapter)