Chapter 1 They Want to Trick You into Gouging Out Your Own Eyes?

"They want to trick you into gouging out your own eyes?" Fatty stared at Jiang Cheng, a hint of despair in his voice.

Jiang Cheng lowered his hand, his tightly furrowed brows relaxing slightly, though he seemed more focused on offering comfort. "Don't be so nervous. It's just a guess. I don't have enough evidence yet. The abbot said the night is fake, and the day is real. We can start from there and see if we can find any flaws."

For Fatty, as for Jiang Cheng, there were still many unsolved mysteries, and the actions of the monk Huicong were also incomprehensible. However, due to the lack of clues, it was futile to think further. After confirming that the doors and windows were closed, the two fell into a deep sleep.

When they opened their eyes again, the sky outside was already bright. Jiang Cheng sat up and looked around. Sure enough, the place they woke up in was not where they had last lain down the night before.

Awakened with a start, Fatty looked around the room nervously. The dilapidated wooden table was standing there perfectly, but he clearly remembered that the doctor had moved the table to prop it against the door.

Everything seemed to have changed overnight, and what was even more unsettling was that this change had occurred silently.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Someone was knocking on the door.

When the door opened, a familiar figure stood outside. "Benefactor, Senior Brother Huide asked me to inform you that another benefactor has passed away in the west wing." Huijing put his hands together, his slightly rapid speech making his delicate face look even more nervous.

Jiang Cheng pretended to be stunned, then his voice trembled, "Another person died? How could this happen?"

Soon, guided by Huijing, Jiang Cheng and Fatty arrived at the west wing. Before they even got close to the courtyard gate, they saw a body covered with a white cloth being carried out by several monks.

The monks surrounded the corpse, chanting sutras, twirling prayer beads, their slightly lowered faces pious. But in Fatty's eyes, this piety was nothing but eerie, after all, the head monk walking at the front of the funeral procession looked familiar to Fatty, and he was definitely in the merit hall last night.

After Huijing left, Ye Qiutang and Song Tianyang walked out with gloomy faces. Stepping on the paper money scattered on the ground, the four of them sat down at a stone table in the courtyard.

"The dead person is Luzhu, the maidservant who was taken away by those evil monks last night." Ye Qiutang said, her face becoming even more unsightly, perhaps because she was thinking about the experiences of those women last night.

"I examined Luzhu's body. The situation is the same as with Aqi Ma before. There are no wounds on her body." Song Tianyang looked towards the courtyard gate. The chanting of the monks was gradually fading away.

After a moment, Song Tianyang shifted his gaze back, looking at Jiang Cheng rather formally, and then cupped his fist. "Thanks to Little Friend Jiang's guidance last night, we have confirmed that Luzhu is a spy placed by the Southern Barbarians, and besides Luzhu, there is at least one other spy hiding among us." Song Tianyang deliberately lowered his voice in the second half of his sentence, leaving the rest of the people in the room.

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng's eyes paused. "Does the old gentleman have any clues?"

"I already have some clues. This old man is sure that this person will reveal his true colors soon. This old man and Miss will also be observing in secret. Whoever attacks Little Friend Jiang must be a spy from the Southern Barbarians."

Seeing that he couldn't determine the identity of the second generation Crimson, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel disappointed. "Senior Song, please tell me what happened after we separated last night."

Listening to what Song Tianyang said, coupled with his own experience, Jiang Cheng roughly pieced together the whole story. Last night, Song Tianyang and Ye Qiutang's group were responsible for leading away the monks, as well as Guan Yu's ghost who was chasing after them, but as they ran, they found that there were fewer monks behind them, and the leaders Huide and Huiming were gone.

They didn't see the maidservant either, but they could be sure that the maidservant wasn't killed by Guan Yu's ghost, because Guan Yu's ghost had been chasing after them.

"It wasn't Guan Yu who did it, it was those evil monks."

Jiang Cheng told his own experience last night after some consideration. When he heard that Fatty beside Jiang Cheng had suddenly turned into the dead Luzhu, Ye Qiutang's breathing became rapid.

"Abbot..." Song Tianyang turned his head to look in the direction of the courtyard wall, his face gradually becoming strange.

Knowing that Song Tianyang was an expert in the arts of the Fangshi, Jiang Cheng said this in order to ask Song Tianyang for confirmation. "What's wrong, Senior Song, do you think there's something wrong with the abbot?"

Song Tianyang couldn't help but frown, muttering to himself, "Why would he say that?"

Fatty was so anxious that he couldn't help but say, "I said old ba... Senior! If you have something to say, please say it, don't make us brothers guess!"

Song Tianyang came back to his senses, and instead of answering Fatty's words immediately, he looked at Jiang Cheng and asked in a confirming tone, "Little Friend Jiang, did the abbot say that Lord Guan is the Buddhist Sangharama Bodhisattva?"

"That's right."

"That's not right. The appearance of Lord Guan doesn't look like a Buddhist bodhisattva, but rather like the Majestic Distant Town Heavenly Lord Guan Sheng Dijun, one of the Four Marshals of the Daoist Dharma Protectors." Song Tianyang paused, "There's also another name, the Demon-Subduing Great Emperor of the Three Realms."

For some reason, as soon as the words "Demon-Subduing" came out, Jiang Cheng and Fatty suddenly felt a gust of cold wind on their faces, "Demon-Subduing Great Emperor..."

After a moment, Jiang Cheng was the first to react. Huicong had a picture tattooed on his back, which according to the abbot, was a Buddhist Sangharama secret scripture demon-suppressing diagram, but to him, it looked like a constellation diagram. When he told Song Tianyang about his discovery, the other party also nodded, "That's right. Looking at the seventy-four sects of our dynasty, no one is better at studying the essence of constellations than the Daoist sect. They have the Sun, Moon, Shen, Chen, Northern and Southern Dipper, Yinghuo, Taibai, Sui Xing, Tian Xing, Twenty-eight Mansions... Stars are the essence of all things, each has its own god, and each has its own master. Daoist disciples are best at using the power of the stars to pray for blessings, ward off evil, eliminate sins, and eliminate disasters."

"Little Friend Jiang, this old man would like to see this picture with his own eyes. Would it be convenient?" Song Tianyang cupped his fist at Jiang Cheng.

"What? Senior Song, haven't you looked for the monk Huicong?" With Song Tianyang's ability, he should have realized that there was a big problem with this monk Huicong. Jiang Cheng couldn't understand this point.

Song Tianyang's face showed bitterness. "To be honest with Little Friend Jiang, this old man and Miss also know that there is something wrong with this monk, but this monk is very wary of us. When he sees us coming from a distance, he runs away in a puff of smoke. You also know that it is not convenient to use force in this temple."

These words served as a warning to Jiang Cheng. There might be a problem with Huicong avoiding Song Tianyang and others. Moreover, he only had initial trust in Song Tianyang and Ye Qiutang now.

It would be impolite to refuse directly, so Jiang Cheng pretended to be embarrassed and said, "It would be too conspicuous for both of our groups to appear together. How about this? We will find an opportunity to contact the monk Huicong, find a way to record the tattoo on his back, and then give it to you for identification."