novellhall Chapter 244 Magic is Not Medicine [5000]
Chapter 244 Magic is Not Medicine [5000]
Chapter 244 Magic Is Not Medicine (Ancient One Dungeon) [5000]
"The Ancient One: The Shadow of Vishanti".
Rob lowered his voice, even though they were the only two in the room: "It's about the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme. The timeline is from 1890 to 1943, before Doctor Strange was born. It's completely independent of the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's also a canonical prequel."
"They want me to play the Ancient One?"
Chen Xun looked up.
"right!"
Robert nodded.
Chen Xun continued scrolling down.
The script is highly literary, imbued with Eastern philosophy and mysticism; the action choreography incorporates Tibetan Buddhist hand gestures and Tai Chi; and the visual style demands Tibetan religious aesthetics.
"Why are you looking for me?"
Chen Xun was somewhat curious.
Rob laughed: "I can guess a few reasons."
1
"You're now a box office guarantee. The 1.4 billion yuan success of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' has given the board of directors complete confidence in you."
"You have a natural connection to the mysterious East, are Chinese, and have succeeded in Hollywood. This cultural bridge identity is a perfect fit for the role of the Ancient One —"
Chen Xun continued reading the script.
He saw those key scenes.
The prelude to the twins in the snowy land, the philosophical confrontation of the mirror war, and the final choice between sacrifice and inheritance.
The last page of the script is the epilogue: a rainy night in New York in 1963, at the scene of Doctor Strange's car accident, a paper crane lands in his palm.
Voiceover: "Pain is the starting point of awakening, Doctor Strange—I'm waiting for you."
Chen Xun closed the folder and remained silent for a long time.
He had seen Doctor Strange in his previous life, and he also knew about the Ancient One.
But he doesn’t recall any movies featuring the Ancient One alone.
"If you succeed in your performance—"
Rob looked at Chen Xun with anticipation: "Chen, this will be a performance that goes down in film history, and Marvel has promised that as long as this project is successful, the Ancient One can appear in any Marvel movie, including the Doctor Strange series."
"You'll have a long-term meal ticket, and the highest tier of it!"
My phone vibrated.
It was a message from director Gunn: "Chen, I heard about the Ancient One project. If I were you, I would take it. This is a role that actors wait for their whole lives, and it can change the trajectory of your career."
Chen Xun stood up and walked to the window.
The swimming pool downstairs shimmered with blue light.
When I first came to Hollywood, my biggest dream was to one day play a role with lines.
Later, his dream became starring in a movie, then winning an Oscar, and finally grossing over 100 million at the box office.
Now, a role that could potentially make him a legend in film history is sitting on the coffee table in front of him.
"How much time will Marvel give me to consider?"
"One week!"
"But they want it as soon as possible. This project is highly confidential, and a leak would disrupt their entire release plan."
Chen Xun walked back to the coffee table, reopened the folder, and flipped to the section on the second act, the Mirror Battle.
There is a monologue from the Ancient One: "Magic is not about ruling, but about serving."
"When I protect the world, am I also imprisoning it?"
"When I prolong my life, am I also running away from death?"
"Karuru, my old friend, you are a mirror to me, reflecting my obsession with control."
These lines touched him deeply.
Late at night.
The hustle and bustle of Los Angeles was kept out by the hotel's thick glass windows, leaving only the low hum of the air conditioner in the room.
Chen Xun took a shower, dried his hair, and came out of the bathroom. He glanced at the script on the bedside table.
The physical copy of "The Ancient One: Shadow of Vishanti" is still open, sitting on the page he marked that afternoon.
He lay down on the bed, turned off the light, and closed his eyes.
The effect of increasing mental strength by 15% is quite noticeable.
He's not sleepy at all!
The translucent panel emerges in the darkness, the dim light not obstructing vision.
The icon for the "Dream Experience Space" was faintly glowing in the corner.
His gaze fell on the bottom of the copy library, where there was an inconspicuous import.
Chen Xun directly selected to import the script.
【The Ancient One: The Shadow of Vishanti (Special Custom Edition)】
[Dungeon Difficulty: High]
[Immersive experience cost: $300 million]
[Expected Outcomes: Fundamentals of Vishanti magic, understanding of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, a sense of space and time gained from five hundred years of life experience, and the ultimate realization of sacrifice and letting go]
[WARNING: This story spans an extremely long period of time and has a very strong emotional impact. It may cause profound side effects such as identity confusion, disorientation of time, and alienation from modern life.]
[Special Note: This copy is generated based on a specific script concept you recently encountered; the experience may differ in detail from the final shooting script.]
Chen Xun stared at the icon, his heart racing.
Three million dollars!
More expensive than ever before!
Is it because it consumes more energy?
He did not choose [Immersive Sweep].
Sweeping is safe, convenient, and you can even do good deeds.
But what he wants now is not to safely acquire the attribute orbs; he wants to experience magic.
"Entry confirmed!"
He silently recited it in his heart.
[The donation process has been initiated: The funds will be donated in full to the UNESCO Global Fund for the Conservation of Endangered Cultural Heritage through encrypted channels, focusing on the protection of Tibetan Buddhist temples and documents in the Himalayas. The donation record will be publicly accessible after 72 hours.]
[Loading the instance —]
[Consciousness projection begins————]
【5————4————3————2——1————】
There was no dizziness, no darkness descended.
Chen Xun blinked and found himself standing in a snowy field.
He could feel the body.
It was filled with an energy he couldn't comprehend.
He looked down at his hands.
The fingers are long and strong, and the nails are neatly trimmed.
He was wearing a heavy, dark red monk's robe, the rough texture of the wool rubbing against his skin.
The cold wind lashed across my face like a knife, carrying snowflakes and the smell of burning pine and cypress.
Chen Xun took a deep breath, the cold air piercing his lungs, and he couldn't help but cough.
"Yao, you're spacing out again."
A clear, crisp female voice came from the side.
Chen Xun turned his head and saw a young woman sitting cross-legged on a rock next to him.
She was probably in her early twenties, with a Tibetan face, sharp eyebrows and eyes, a high nose, and her hair was braided into intricate plaits, adorned with turquoise and silver ornaments.
She was wearing a dark blue Tibetan robe with strange runes embroidered on the cuffs.
Those runes actually glowed faintly in Chen Xun's eyes.
Karuru.
The villain in the script is currently just his fellow disciple.
"I'm listening to the sound of the wind."
Chen Xun heard his own voice, calm yet carrying an unknown power.
"What's so nice about the wind?"
Karuru leaped off the rock, moving with the agility of an antelope: "Master said he'd teach us the Vishanti hand seal today, the kind that summons light. I secretly tried it last night and almost burned the woodshed down."
She leaned closer, her eyes sparkling: "Yao, do you think if we really learned magic, we could cure Mom's cough?"
"She's been coughing all winter, and the herbs haven't helped!"
Looking at his junior sister, Chen Xun felt a complex mix of emotions welling up inside him.
He knew her future, knew she would fall into darkness, knew she would become his lifelong enemy.
But now, she's just a young girl who wants to cure her mother's cough.
"Magic is not medicine!"
These words came out of his mouth naturally: "Magic is another way of understanding the world. Vishanti gives us power to protect, not to change."
"It's the same old set again!"
Karuru pouted, "Master says that, and you say that too, but what's the point of protecting the world if we can't even protect our own families?"
She turned and ran towards the temple halfway up the mountain, her red and blue figure standing out against the snow.
Chen Xun stood still, raised his hand, and looked at the lines on his palm.
He could sense a certain energy flowing in the air.
Like water, like wind, like light, formless and colorless, yet truly existent.
Is this magic?
Over the next few days, Chen Xun, posing as "Yao," began his actual magic training.
On the first day, an old monk with snow-white eyebrows and eyes as clear as a child's taught them to sense the breath of Vishanti.
The old monk was their master.
I must say, this old man is really well-preserved!
Chen Xun muttered to himself.
"Close your eyes!"
The master sat cross-legged in the center of the scripture hall, and he seemed to sense that Chen Xun was daydreaming.
His voice was deep and resonant, startling Chen Xun awake: "Don't use your eyes to see, don't use your ears to hear, use this!"
-
He gently touched Chen Xun's brow with his finger.
Chen Xun did as instructed.
At first, it was all darkness, with only the sound of my own heartbeat.
But gradually, he saw it.
It's not with the eyes, but with some kind of more intrinsic perception.
Countless golden specks of light floated in the air, like dust particles or fireflies, slowly flowing and rotating.
When he focused his attention on his master, the points of light converged into a warm ball of light, radiating an aura of peace, wisdom, and compassion.
"This is the grace of Vishanti."
"It is everywhere, but only those who are prepared can see it. Now, try to guide it."
His master's voice rang in his ears.
Chen Xun took a deep breath and imagined his palm as a container.
Something amazing happened!
The golden specks of light began to converge in his palm, growing larger and larger until they formed a ball of light the size of an egg, radiating a gentle warmth.
"very good!"
The master nodded: "Remember this feeling. White magic is not about creating, it's about guiding. You are not the creator, you are the conduit."
The ball of light slowly rotated in his palm, and Chen Xun could feel the energy contained within it.
Gentle yet powerful, like the spring sunshine, capable of melting ice and snow and nourishing life.
这就是魔法！
Real, tangible magic!
A month later, Chen Xun learned his first real spell: "Vishanti Shield".
The process of forming hand seals is extremely complicated.
The hands must complete twelve different hand gestures within three seconds, with strict requirements for the angle, pressure, and breathing rhythm of each gesture.
If you make even one mistake, the energy will become disordered.
He's practically the Kato Taka of the magic world!
Chen Xun practiced in the scripture hall for seven days straight, eight hours a day.
In the first few attempts, the energy either dissipated prematurely or exploded out of control, leaving him covered in dust and dirt.
Karuru, standing nearby, laughed so hard he almost fell over: "Yao, the way you're forming hand seals looks like you're swatting flies!"
But Chen Xun did not give up.
He practices hand seals during the day and reviews them in his mind at night, repeatedly deducing the flow of energy.
On the morning of the eighth day, as the first rays of sunlight shone into the prayer hall, he took a deep breath and quickly formed a mudra with his hands!
hum!
A pale golden, transparent shield unfolded before him, hexagonal in shape, with ancient Sanskrit characters flowing along its edges.
The shield wasn't large, only enough to protect the upper body, but it was solid, stable, and exuded a reassuring aura.
The master opened his eyes, looked at the shield for a few seconds, and slowly nodded: "It's ready!"
Karuru stopped laughing and stared at the shield with a complicated expression.
That night, Chen Xun sat on the roof of the temple, looking at the starry sky over the Himalayas.
The lingering energy of the shield spell still flowed through my body, warm and fulfilling.
"Yao".
Karuru's voice came from below.
She climbed onto the roof and sat down beside him.
"What's wrong?"
"Today—I secretly tried some dark magic."
Her voice was very low.
Chen Xun's body stiffened.
"Don't tell Master!"
Karuru pulled a black talisman from his pocket, on which twisted runes were drawn in blood: "I stole this from the forbidden library. This spell can absorb life force and transfer it to another person."
She looked up, her eyes shining brightly in the starlight: "If I learn this, will I be able to cure my mother?"
"There's no need to wait for preparations to be complete, no need to wait for the right conditions to ripen. Just do it, with my life force or something else."
Chen Xun looked at the black talisman in her hand and could feel the ominous aura emanating from it.
Cold, greedy, and full of demanding desires.
It's completely different from the warm guidance of white magic.
"You'll ruin yourself!"
"So what?"
Karuru gritted her teeth: "What's the point of learning all this magic if I can't even save my family?"
"Vishanti's grace?"
"mercy?"
"Will those grand principles stop Grandma from coughing?"
She stood up and carefully put the black talisman into her bosom: "Yao, you're just like your master, too clean."
"But this world is dirty, and sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to get things done!"
She jumped off the roof and disappeared into the night.
Chen Xun sat there, motionless for a long time.
He can understand Karuru.
When loved ones suffer, even the noblest principles and long-term considerations become pale and powerless.
This understanding comes from the body's past memories, from the genuine feelings it had when faced with similar choices time and time again.
This is the significance of dungeons.
It's not about learning a few hand gestures or memorizing a few mantras.
Rather, it's about truly living the life of that character and understanding the weight behind every choice he makes.
Chen Xun looked up at the starry sky.
When Karuru transforms into a Voidwalker and stands atop the Shambhala Sanctuary, how will he face his junior sister who once tried to save her mother using dark magic?
he does not know.
Time continues to flow forward in the instance.
He has plenty of time to find the answer.
As night deepened, Chen Xun stood up from the rooftop and landed lightly on the ground.
It's some kind of levitation magic.
He hasn't learned to fly yet, but he can already briefly reduce his own weight.
He walked toward the prayer hall, ready to begin his meditation for the evening.
Chen Xun lives and cultivates under the identity of "Yao".
In the first few years, everything was new and exciting.
Learn new hand gestures, understand new mantras, and perceive increasingly complex energy flows.
He can summon fist-sized orbs of light for illumination, brush away the dust from the prayer hall with a gentle breeze, and even briefly revive a withered Gesang flower.
But the novelty quickly wore off, replaced by tedious repetition.
Practice the same hand gesture five hundred times a day.
The same mantra is recited a thousand times every day.
Guided by the same energy, perceive, release, and perceive again every day.
Karuru had long since reached her breaking point.
"Yao, let's learn something powerful!"
She always said, "I secretly glanced at those forbidden books in Master's library."
1
"Some can control shadows, some can make people tell the truth, and some can even stop time!"
Chen Xun sat cross-legged on the futon, his eyes still closed: "Those are dark magic, the price is too high."
"cost?"
Karuru sneered, "White magic comes without a price? We practice these basics every day until our hair turns white, and do you think that will save Mother?"
Her mother's cough got worse.
I coughed up blood a few days ago.
Chen Xun remained silent.
He tried Vishanti's healing methods, but they could only alleviate the symptoms, not cure tuberculosis.
The master said that this is karma, cause and effect, and magic cannot forcibly reverse it.
"I don't believe it!"
Karuru slammed the door and left.
That night, Chen Xun saw something he shouldn't have seen during his meditation.
In Karuru's room, a faint black light flickered.
She was secretly practicing some kind of dark magic that drained life force, and the object of her practice was an old pine tree outside her window.
The pine tree withered at a visible rate, while the sickly flush on Karuru's face faded somewhat.
The price was a glint of red light in her eyes in the darkness.
Fifty years have passed.
Chen Xun's appearance hasn't changed much, except for a few fine lines around his eyes.
But Karuru has changed.
She looks ten years younger than her actual age, but her eyes look twenty years older.
The light in their eyes was replaced.
Her mother passed away three years ago.
Before her death, Karuru used some forbidden technique to forcibly prolong her mother's life for seven days.
During those seven days, the old man was in high spirits and was even able to get out of bed and walk.
But on the seventh night, she suddenly turned into black ashes in her sleep, leaving no trace of her body.
Karuru locked himself in his room for a month.
As she came out, she said to Chen Xun, "I was wrong!"
Chen Xun thought she had come to her senses.
"My mistake was using the wrong method."
Karuru's eyes gleamed with a kind of fanaticism: "We shouldn't use dark magic to forcibly prolong it; we should convert it directly."
"To transform life forms from humans into a higher form of existence, free from illness, aging, and death."
.
Chen Xun looked at her and suddenly felt a chill.
She is no longer the junior sister who wanted to save her mother.
a hundred years.
My master passed away on a snowy night.
Before his death, he gave Chen Xun the "Eye of Agamotto," which symbolized his status as the Supreme Master.
"Karmar-Taj—it's up to you."
His master held his hand, his breathing weak: "Karuru—she has gone too far, but if possible—bring her back."
Chen Xun accepted the magical artifact.
It was a bronze pendant; when opened, it revealed a constantly rotating miniature magic circle inside.
The moment he touched it, a vast amount of knowledge flooded into his consciousness.
The complete system of Vishanti magic, the locations of the three great sanctuaries on Earth, and the records of the Sorcerers Supreme throughout history fighting against dimensional invasions —
There are also secrets of the Dark Dimension.
He saw Dormammu, the evil god who devoured galaxies.
I saw Sithon, the source of dark magic.
Countless once-powerful mages fell into darkness because of their greed for power, and ultimately became puppets of evil gods.
"I will protect this place!"
Chen Xun made a promise in a low voice.
The master closed his eyes, and his body turned into dust and vanished.
This is the most perfect way for Vishanti to depart from this world, returning to the source of energy.
The funeral was simple.
Karuru didn't come.
Chen Xun found her in the forbidden library.
A hundred years have passed, and her appearance remains that of someone around thirty years old, but her hair has turned completely white—not the white of old age, but a lifeless, silvery-white.