"It was said that after that fierce battle, Heishicheng Monastery had only one monk left, while the five-larry Buddhist temple had only one abbot alive. As for the other abbots, for some reason, they no longer reincarnated."
Lao Gong scanned the body as well, muttering to himself in a low voice, "Is this really an abbot? Let me take a closer look and figure out what's going on."
"The heavens, the imperial court, the Grand Master of Works, the middle director, the seal, the mountain root, the year above, the longevity above, and the point of accuracy……People's face, Mercury, Chenchuan, and Dige……There are thirteen items on one's face all locked in place. These are lock life art; they lock life force; they lock souls; they lock one's present and past lives."
Lao Gong began in a murmur, and it soon escalated into an unparalleled shock!
"The bones are locked in all the key positions, these aren't iron chains, they're copper chains. This guy is relentless, what's called 'cannot be reborn'? This is 'cannot be reborn'!"
"But why are they locking up the abbot? They say the abbot no longer reincarnates. Isn't that stopping people from being reborn?" Lao Gong shook his head.
I am equally puzzled.
"It can't be completely confirmed yet, maybe we made a mistake with this one?" Lao Gong spoke with a hint of uncertainty.
He drifted back slightly and began to search for something inside the stone chamber outside the tower.
I did not disturb the body to avoid causing any other variables.
I still believe him to be an abbot. The match of the corpse details, as well as the echo of intuition, are definitely reliable.
The only question is, why is it that when it was said that the lock was on the Buddha, Argon Lama claimed that the living Buddha no longer appeared?
"Grandfather, over here! Over here!" Lao Gong shouted.
After following me, Lao Gong pointed to a hidden doorway in a corner of the opposite wall. It would have been easily overlooked in the dim light.
The tunnel was still short, and only a person could crawl through the stairs. However, this time it didn't take long to reach the next stone chamber.
The same tower-shaped structure, the same wood material, the same hanging wind chimes.
And……the same corpse, the various parts of the face passing through delicate copper chains, and the various parts of the body passing through copper chains, like a complicated network. The corpse is like a prisoner in the net.
Lao Gong didn't say anything, his mouth moved up and down, and he continued searching.
We passed through two more stone chambers, each one identical in layout without exception.
It is worth noting that the corpse passed through by the fourth abbot was a woman. Unlike the other skeletons, she was not as thin and dry. Lao Gong carefully examined it for a long time, cursed at the Abbot Argon Lama, and only then found the entrance to the fifth stone chamber.
It was in the fifth stone chamber that I saw the body of the 13th Chanren.
He was naked, and his body had been pierced by copper chains in the traditional manner.
"Isn't this contradictory? Let us go see the hardships and find Chanren reincarnated. Damn it, Chanren is locked here!" Lao Gong cursed continuously.
I also do not understand.
Finding Chanren should have brought joy, but there was none of that feeling now.
Speculating on Abbot Argon Lama for so long, making so many assumptions……
But I never expected that the initial assumption was wrong. From the beginning, he was lying to us?
What exactly is he trying to do?
"Either the living Buddha cannot be reincarnated after all, and he is just delaying time so that you cannot find the master, nor can you enter Heishicheng Monastery, making you look for a person who does not exist."
"But this is not right. He is a highly praised sky burial master. If he doesn't go to chop up the bodies and feed the vultures, he must be the abbot or head monk here. Why would he want so many people to die?"
"Is he crazy?"
Lao Gong may have become somewhat different in his views after interacting with Wei Youming for a long time.
This is not a swear word; it's a judgment made in a helpless situation.
"Good heavens..." Lao Gong was still muttering to himself.
I took out the high heaven sword and didn't hesitate, directly cutting towards a piece of iron chain!
As for the other abbot corpses, I am unaware of their situation and did not dare to touch them.
I am clear about the 13th Chanren. He sat and passed away peacefully in the temple for so long, and there could never be any problems with him!
"No matter what he does, if I find Chanren and unlock his chains, I'll try and see him!"
A light click echoed, signifying a copper chain being severed.
I quickly cut through all the copper chains, and they fell to the ground.
I then pulled out the copper chains from the corpse of the 13th Chanren, freeing the corpse from its binds. However, the corpse was filled with blood holes, making it look incredibly terrifying.
The bizarre happened.
The skin of the body actually quickly weathered away and disappeared.
Soon, the head and face became skeletal skulls, and the flesh on the body was disappearing rapidly, revealing the bones.
I did not see any soul appear, only emptiness.
The 13th Chanren was a real existence, but now, looking at the skeleton, it seemed like a pile of scrap, without any substance, as if watching someone dissipate into thin air right in front of me!
"I've made a mistake..." Lao Gong said nervously, "How did it disappear like that? It feels like nothing is left, just like when one's soul dissipates and disappears."
"This place is not suitable for long-term stay, your plan will not work, Grandpa. What Abbot Argon Lama is planning is also unworkable. The exit... Let's see if there's any way out. If not, we'll have to dig a smuggling tunnel."
Muttering to himself, Lao Gong continued to search within the stone chamber.
In the end, nothing was found.
He calculated a direction, and I used the high heaven sword to pry open a piece of stone brick about one palm thick. Only then did he start to dig a hole in the compacted earth layer.
Luckily, on my way here, I bought a lot of easily portable food supplies, such as dried meat and jerky, and that hard-to-eat barley flour cake, all packed into the backpack that was previously used for Lao Gong's night pot.
During the digging process, I was very cautious because I was afraid that Abbot Argon Lama might suddenly appear.
The others dare not enter here, but Abbot Argon Lama must dare. I am prepared for the worst.
To my surprise, Abbot Argon Lama didn't appear at all.
He should have been trapped by the people I brought here.
Of course, it couldn't be true confinement. It was probably due to the closure of Five-Larry Buddha Temple that caused a series of consequences. He needed to go and deal with it.
The locals might not trust others, after all, they were guided by me. They would keep pestering Abbot Argon Lama.
Abbot Argon Lama's appearance seems good, but he needs to maintain it and cannot leave.
I don't know how long it has been, but the phone has run out of battery.
Finally, the smuggling tunnel was opened, and a ray of sunlight shone on my face.
Having been in the dark for a long time, only Lao Gong's words beside me could relieve the dull silence and make me feel better. After seeing sunlight again, my eyes temporarily went blind.
It took me a while to calm down, then I pushed away the soil at the edge of the hole and crawled out.
A few pairs of eyes were staring at me, still alert.
They were not people but several groundhogs. The place I emerged from was a small mound, with four holes nearby, and a pile of soil at the mouths of the holes.
A sharp sound, and the several groundhogs scurried into their own holes.
I swept around the surroundings and turned to look back. The Five-Larry Buddha Temple mountain was behind me, and I could see numerous overlapping red houses.
I didn't want to be discovered, so I hurried away in the distance.
I hadn't gone very far when I felt a sense of being watched.
My heart slightly froze, and I turned my head around abruptly. What I saw was a person standing by the hole I had just emerged from, hidden under the mound nearby.
He was dressed in heavy clothing, and the sunlight fell on his face, making him look even thicker-skinned and more striking with his dark red complexion.
Abbot Argon Lama!?
My face suddenly changed, how could he have discovered me? And why did he come so quickly!?
However, I had no intention of fighting with him. I had a rough idea of Abbot Argon Lama's level, and I was very clear about my own weight.
Without hesitation, I unleashed all the techniques related to my body movement, and I ran as fast as I could towards the front!
When I stopped to catch my breath and looked back, Abbot Argon Lama had not followed me.
He didn't chase after me because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to.
I realized his problem, that I had disrupted everything he had arranged. Shouldn't he have trapped me, or even killed me? This is equivalent to letting me go. What does this mean?
Not daring to stay, I continued to walk quickly forward.
When noon arrived, Lao Gong emerged for a moment. He also didn't understand Abbot Argon Lama's actions and methods. He just told me that Abbot Argon Lama was too cunning and capricious. Although Mao San can deduce some behaviors, this old Deng does things without any laws or methods, so I'm afraid only heaven knows what he is calculating.
I must stay away, and keep away!
