Chapter 1 The Beginning

"Have you forgotten what happened last night? Junior Brother Xuan Cong suddenly went mad and injured several people, even a few pilgrims. If more are injured, how am I supposed to explain it to our master?" Xuan De's face was full of righteousness, displaying the majesty of a senior disciple. The other Taoists dared not speak upon seeing this.

Xuan De turned to Jiang Cheng, first giving a Taoist salute, then said in an unquestionable tone, "The three of you pilgrims, this is not a place for you to be. Please leave at once."

Ye Qiutang wanted to insist. Now that they were here, she took out the silver needles from her pocket and showed them to Xuan De. "Reverend Xuan De, I am a doctor. I can treat this Taoist's illness..."

"Xuan Yi, escort the guests out!"

Without giving Ye Qiutang a chance to explain, Xuan De issued the order to leave with a stern face. Taoist Xuan Yi had no choice but to lead the three away dejectedly.

Jiang Cheng was lost in thought along the way, then gave Fatty a look. Fatty understood, and the next second, he suddenly started shouting, "What is this? What's going on? We came to help treat the illness with good intentions, but you don't appreciate it. Look at Xuan De's old face, so long, one would think I owe him money? Is this the Qingfeng Temple's way of treating guests? A real eye-opener."

Listening to Fatty's complaints, Xuan Yi, who was leading the way, looked embarrassed and kept apologizing. "This fat pilgrim, please calm down, calm down. It's all my fault. Don't think Senior Brother Xuan De is fierce, he's actually a very good person. When we do something wrong, and the master punishes us to transcribe scriptures, Senior Brother Xuan De always speaks up for us."

As they walked and talked, Jiang Cheng occasionally interjected in the conversation between Fatty and Xuan Yi, and Xuan Yi answered fluently. Everything was so natural.

"Reverend Xuan Yi, what is that place over there? The scenery looks really nice." Ye Qiutang stopped and looked in one direction with interest.

Xuan Yi glanced over and replied, "Oh, that's the side courtyard of our temple. Sometimes when the west wing rooms are full, late-arriving pilgrims will be arranged in the rooms in the side courtyard."

Jiang Cheng immediately understood Ye Qiutang's plan. That so-called side courtyard was exactly where they had been last night. The bodies of Song Tianming and the others were still in the courtyard. Since these Taoists explained that the injured were all caused by the suddenly insane Xuan Cong, then let's see how they explain these corpses.

"We are not familiar with the roads in the temple. Is it convenient for Reverend Xuan Yi to take us for a walk?" Ye Qiutang looked at Xuan Yi expectantly.

"This..." Xuan Yi was a little embarrassed for a moment.

"Oh well, forget it, forget it. Xuan De is already like that, I'm completely disappointed in this Qingfeng Temple. When I go down the mountain, I'll find a few big girls and young wives from the nearby villages to talk about this. I guarantee that in the time it takes to smoke a bag of tobacco, everyone in the nearby villages will know how Qingfeng Temple treats pilgrims."

Fatty chattered on and on, occasionally making sarcastic remarks. As the saying goes, "One takes on the color of one's company." He hadn't learned anything else in the time he had known Doctor, but he had learned seven or eight skills in arranging and slandering.

"Hey? Reverend Xuan Yi, don't take it to heart, I'm not talking about you, I'm not targeting anyone." Fatty added.

Hearing this, Xuan Yi, who was already in the wrong, couldn't argue and just waved his hand with a wry smile, "Forget it, forget it. Since the three pilgrims are so interested, then I will take you for a walk. The scenery of our Qingfeng Temple is absolutely unique."

"That's great." Fatty followed along casually.

They had walked less than halfway, and just as Jiang Cheng was wondering how Xuan Yi would explain when he saw the corpses, a procession walked out from the corner ahead. Jiang Cheng and Ye Qiutang's expressions immediately became subtle upon seeing the procession.

Because this was a funeral procession. Leading the way were several Taoists, headed by a middle-aged Taoist who was constantly shaking a bell in his hand.

The middle-aged Taoist was burly, with a thick waist. He kept chanting scriptures as he walked. None of this was the most important thing. The most important thing was that there was a scar left by a burn on the corner of the middle-aged Taoist's mouth.

Jiang Cheng and Fatty immediately recognized that they had seen this Taoist before, and even the scene was familiar.

It was the second day they arrived here. They also encountered a funeral procession on their way to the west wing where Ye Qiutang and others were. However, at that time, this person was dressed as a bald-headed monk and was chanting the Buddhist Sutra of Rebirth.

"Make way, make way!"

The youngest Taoist in the funeral procession ran forward and waved his hand at Jiang Cheng and the others, signaling them to make way. The little Taoist was carrying a bamboo basket filled with incense, candles, paper money, and the like.

The others in the procession completely ignored Jiang Cheng and the others and carried the corpses past. There were a total of four corpses, all covered in white cloth.

Ye Qiutang restrained herself several times to keep from lifting the white cloth as the corpses passed by. However, judging from the blood stains on the white cloth and the bulging shapes underneath, they were undoubtedly the corpses of Song Tianming and the other three.

After the corpse procession had gone far, Xuan Yi slowly exhaled, shaking his head with a heavy face, "Too tragic, this world... alas!"

"This... what's going on?" Fatty was shocked. This caught him a little off guard.

"Who are these four people? How did they die here?" Jiang Cheng looked at Xuan Yi.

"You misunderstood. They are not pilgrims who came to our temple, nor did they die within our temple." Xuan Yi explained, "We don't even know who they are. The thing is, yesterday, several of my fellow disciples were returning to the mountain on a small path when they accidentally stumbled upon these four corpses."

"Alas! The scene was unbearable to witness. The heads of the corpses had been cut off, and blood was all over the ground. Judging from the scene, they must have been camping in the wilderness and were attacked by bandits. Our temple disciples couldn't bear to see them being gnawed on by wild animals, so they brought the corpses back, intending to perform a ritual for them today, as a small act of kindness."

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath. He had been observing Xuan Yi's micro-expressions when he spoke, but he didn't find any flaws. Whether he was being asked questions or encountering the funeral procession, he appeared very calm.

Now he understood that there was an inexplicable, strange connection between this Qingfeng Temple and the Abstinence Temple. Everything that happened in the Abstinence Temple could be found corresponding events in Qingfeng Temple, and they could even form a strange logical self-consistency with each other.

Now they already knew that the Abstinence Temple and the so-called Abbot Fuji were fake. What they needed to confirm now was whether this Qingfeng Temple was real or fake.

And to prove this, they had to find as many illogical points as possible within Qingfeng Temple, in other words, to seek a breakthrough point to break this strange logical self-consistency.

"The Sutra Depository..."