Chapter 13 Bizarre Events

Jiangcheng was quick-witted, grabbing a paper figure and stuffing it into his pocket. Then, as if nothing had happened, he stood up. As Abbot Huide and his group approached, Huicong surprisingly puffed up his cheeks and swallowed the paper figure in his mouth with a gulp.

Abbot Huide was as always, his swarthy skin stretched over a kind face. "Amitabha, you two benefactors are also here."

"Master Huide, it seems we are truly fated," Jiangcheng said to Abbot Huide with a smile.

"I dare not presume. Benefactor is blessed with good fortune, certainly due to an affinity with Buddha. Coming to this temple must be guided by Buddha," Huide said, pressing his palms together, his demeanor increasingly humble.

Huide then looked at Huicong and turned to Jiangcheng and the fat man. "Has this junior brother of mine caused any trouble for you two benefactors?"

"No, Master Huicong is a very good person," Jiangcheng replied.

"Then... did my junior brother say any crazy things?" Abbot Huide stared into Jiangcheng's eyes.

Jiangcheng feigned curiosity, looking at Abbot Huide. "What crazy things?"

Abbot Huide was taken aback, then smiled somewhat awkwardly. "Benefactor is unaware, this junior brother of mine is good in every way, but unfortunately, he has contracted this hysteria. What I mean to say is, if my junior brother says any crazy things, please don't take it to heart."

At this moment, the monk with a mole on his cheek said to Huicong, "Junior Brother Huicong, we agreed to cultivate merit together later today, why did you sneak off again?"

Huicong hid behind the fat man, not daring to look at him, just shaking his head不停ly. "No, no cultivating merit, no..."

"How can you not cultivate merit? You come with your senior brothers, as long as you cultivate enough merit, your illness will be cured, you must be obedient!" the monk earnestly advised.

"No, no..."

Seeing that it was useless, the monks gradually lost patience. They stepped forward, grabbing Huicong's arm and clothes, pulling him out. The thin Huicong was no match for these strong monks, and he was subdued in a few moments. Then they half-pulled and half-pushed him away. Suddenly, Huicong seemed to have gone mad, biting the hand of the monk who was holding his arm.

"Ah!"

The monk cried out in pain, and then Huicong broke free and tried to run to Jiangcheng and the fat man, but the other monks swarmed up. In the struggle, Huicong's clothes were torn, revealing a thin body covered in bloodstains and bruises from the struggle.

Even stranger, there was a large tattoo on Huicong's back, but because it happened so suddenly, Jiangcheng didn't get a good look at it.

"Quick! Take Junior Brother Huicong back!" The monk who had been bitten clutched his hand, blood seeping between his fingers, indicating that the bite was severe.

Seeing this scene, Abbot Huide's face also looked a little embarrassed. He explained to Jiangcheng and the fat man, "You two benefactors, this junior brother of mine has had another bout of hysteria. I hope he didn't frighten you."

"It's alright, it's just that Master Huicong... how did he get this hysteria?" Jiangcheng found it increasingly strange.

Hearing this, Abbot Huide sighed. "Although this junior brother of mine entered the monastery late, he has extremely high talent. His understanding of Buddhist teachings is improving rapidly, but who knew that he would stray into the wrong path during a night of cultivation. When he was found the next day, he had become like this. The abbot said that he was entangled by a heart demon. Without removing the heart demon, this junior brother of mine will not be able to return."

"The abbot instructed us to take junior brother to cultivate merit every night, hoping that this would help him escape the sea of heart demons and regain his original heart as soon as possible."

Jiangcheng couldn't help but nod. "I see."

Watching Huicong being dragged away by several monks, Abbot Huide bowed to Jiangcheng and the fat man, then turned and left.

After everyone had walked away, Jiangcheng looked at the fat man. "How was it? Did you take the pictures?"

The fat man nodded repeatedly. "I took them. You gave me a signal, and I knew you wanted me to take pictures. Fortunately, these monks don't understand our high technology."

He took out his phone, which showed a slightly blurry photo. In the photo, Huicong was being held to the ground by several monks, his body half-exposed in the struggle.

But what really stunned Jiangcheng and the fat man was that the faces of the monks in the photo were blurred, only Huicong's face was normal.

"What does this mean?"

The fat man was dumbfounded. Could it be that those with blurred faces were humans, and those with normal faces were ghosts?

Huicong... is a ghost?

Admittedly, Huicong's behavior was very strange, and out of sync with the entire temple. He was the only one in the entire temple who was crazy and also especially thin, his ribs protruding one by one.

"Whether he's a ghost or not, I don't know, but he's at least a key figure. We should be able to make a breakthrough through him," Jiangcheng gave his judgment.

...

The west wing, a candle flame flickering不停ly in the room.

If Jiangcheng and the fat man were still here, they would find that the seating arrangement in the room had changed. The central position was occupied only by the woman with the heroic face.

"Uncle Murong, are you sure those two people are a problem?" The woman looked at the kind-faced old man standing beside her. This old man was also the "head of the family" who had spoken with Jiangcheng earlier.

The old man nodded, his voice lowered. "Miss, you saw how badly they were injured before. They were only hanging on by a thread, but how long has it been? Only overnight, and two dying people were able to personally come to express their gratitude. Moreover, I observed that the two of them are full of vigor."

"Not only that, the one who calls himself Wang Fugui seems to be obese, but his footsteps are extremely light. I'm not bragging, but I've been practicing martial arts for more than 20 years, and I've never seen such lightness skill. This person's skill... I'm afraid it's unfathomable." The middle-aged man who had opened the door had a gloomy expression, holding a short blade in his arms, the sharp blade flashing with a faint cold light under the candlelight.

Hearing this, the woman couldn't help but rub her temples. "It seems that I made a mistake in this matter. I didn't expect to have picked up two troubles."

"Old Mr. Song, what do you think?" The woman turned to look at the man dressed as a porter, who was sitting on a chair by the table, also the only person in the room besides the woman who had a seat.

Hearing the woman speak, the porter slowly turned his head. "I'm not thinking about the identities of those two people. I'm thinking about another thing. Do any of you... do any of you remember how we found those two people?"

"We got lost, we strayed into the most dangerous smog forest in Lingnan, and all of us were poisoned and passed out. Fortunately, a gust of wind blew away the poisonous smog at the end, and we were able to save our lives," the middle-aged man with the knife said, still a little scared. "But it was really close, we almost all died in there."

Hearing this, the porter's face became even more ugly. He nodded and said softly, "Yes, we should... we should have all died in there."