Not much better than Fatty, Jiang Cheng's head also buzzed upon hearing the other party's identity. He had been wondering why Huide and Huiming preferred to guard outside rather than come in to investigate, even though they were only separated by a wooden door. So... so this building was actually the abbot's residence!

The eeriness of Chijie Temple was chilling, and yet they had rashly broken into the abbot's territory. Jiang Cheng couldn't imagine what would happen next.

At that moment, he had only one thought: this was a trap, and he had to escape, as far as possible!

But unfortunately, he still couldn't open his eyes, so he could only pull Fatty, groping and retreating little by little, trying to stay away from the direction of the voice.

But the next second, a scene that chilled Jiang Cheng to the bone appeared, "Esteemed benefactor, please stay."

The voice instantly froze Jiang Cheng's body in place; it was behind him!

The surrounding hazy darkness seemed to squeeze towards him like a tide, completely swallowing the last bit of security in his heart.

How could it be?

A moment ago, the abbot's voice was still in front of him, how could he suddenly be behind him? He just couldn't see, his ears were fine, and he hadn't heard any movement.

Fatty, who was being pulled by him, was also trembling, his breathing becoming more rapid, obviously aware of the strangeness of this abbot.

Moreover... moreover, since the abbot lived here, why didn't he light a lamp? Considering the other anomalies, Jiang Cheng could almost conclude that the abbot of Chijie Temple was not a person either, but a ghost!

The reason why Chijie Temple was divided into day and night like this must also be inseparable from this abbot!

"Amitabha, esteemed benefactor, please don't overthink. This poor monk doesn't light a lamp because this poor monk is blind."

The abbot's words, revealing what he was thinking, made Jiang Cheng feel a chill all over his body. He didn't answer immediately, worried about revealing more weaknesses, but the abbot obviously didn't have such concerns. After chanting the Buddha's name again, he slowly said, "Esteemed benefactor, have you come for my disciple?"

His eyes wouldn't be better any time soon, and he couldn't escape anyway, so Jiang Cheng simply opened the skylight and spoke frankly, "Answering master's question, we came to rescue Master Huicong. We followed all the way from the Hall of Merit and Virtue to here, but in the blink of an eye, Master Huicong disappeared."

After Jiang Cheng finished speaking, he immediately quieted down. He was listening carefully, not to the abbot's reply, but to searching for the abbot's breathing. It was very quiet here, but he heard nothing.

"Rescue..." The abbot seemed to care about these two words.

Gradually, Jiang Cheng's courage grew. If it was a blessing, it wasn't a curse; if it was a curse, he couldn't avoid it. "Master, I'll be frank. Your disciples, Masters Huide and Huiming, privately set up a wine banquet in the Hall of Merit and Virtue, and even forcibly abducted women to stay in the temple for lewd pleasures, under the beautiful name of accumulating merit. Most importantly, they even used your name, saying that these were all you had tacitly approved of."

"There are at least dozens of monks participating, but only Master Huicong refused, and he has to suffer their insults and abuse. I hope the abbot will investigate!"

Jiang Cheng's words were righteous and stern, but he still left plenty of leeway. Once these words were spoken, it was equivalent to admitting that these were all the deeds of the evil monks such as Huide and Huiming, and had nothing to do with the abbot.

As long as the abbot took the opportunity to say something like, "Those daring and inferior disciples actually dared to take advantage of this abbot's ill health and inconvenience to do such evil things. I will severely punish them to maintain the century-old reputation of my temple," Jiang Cheng would follow the slope and look for an opportunity to escape, but the script was developing in the direction that Jiang Cheng least wanted to see.

"Esteemed benefactor is talking about the affairs of the Hall of Merit and Virtue? This poor monk knows about it." Hearing this, Jiang Cheng broke out in a cold sweat. Was he not even planning to pretend, and planning to reveal his hand directly?

But who would have thought that the abbot's next sentence would leave him stunned, "Alas, my disciple's delusional disorder is getting worse and worse. It's bad enough that it's implicated the monks of my temple, but to actually involve esteemed benefactor as well, what a sin, truly... truly a sin."

This time it was Jiang Cheng's turn to be puzzled, "Delusional disorder?"

"That's right. Everything esteemed benefactor saw tonight was caused by my disciple's delusional disorder. Esteemed benefactor must clear your mind, otherwise, once you fall into it, the consequences will be unimaginable."

The abbot's words sounded very convincing, but Jiang Cheng immediately realized that something was wrong, and became more vigilant in his heart, "Abbot means that everything I saw tonight is an illusion, is fake, and that such ridiculous things never happened in the Hall of Merit and Virtue?"

"Amitabha, not only is the Hall of Merit and Virtue a delusion, but everything esteemed benefactor has seen, heard, and felt this night is the same, all are reflections in a mirror or flowers in the water."

"What, the whole night's experience is fake, then what about you, master? Could it be that you are also fake?" Jiang Cheng immediately seized the loophole in the other party's words.

But unexpectedly, the abbot was not flustered, and slowly said, "Esteemed benefactor is wise, that is indeed the case."

"Okay, let's take a step back and say, even if master is also fake, what about the people who died? The people who died in this night, are also dead in the daytime!" In Jiang Cheng's mind, this night world represented the true face of Chijie Temple, at least to some extent, while the quiet and peaceful temple seen during the day was the fake one.

Hearing this, the abbot sighed softly, "Amitabha, although all of this was caused by my disciple, the death of esteemed benefactor's friend is this poor monk's fault. It was me and a few fellow disciples... alas, a sin, a sin!"

The more Jiang Cheng listened, the more confused he became, but one thing he was very clear about: all of this was related to the monk Huicong, and he was the key to this world.

Jiang Cheng pondered for a moment, retreated to advance, and his tone became sincere, "Master, do you have any unspeakable secrets?"

After a long silence, this time, the abbot's voice carried a hint of sadness, "Esteemed benefactor, let's not ask about other things for now. I will only ask you, what you saw in the Hall of Merit and Virtue tonight, is it right or wrong?"

"Of course it's wrong. Buddhist disciples should take it as their duty to diligently cultivate the Buddha's Dharma and promote good thoughts, uphold the five precepts, not kill, not steal, not commit adultery, not lie, not drink alcohol. Tonight, the Hall of Merit and Virtue is filled with the smell of wine, and the lewdness is beyond words. Women like Huiqing and others are even wearing monks' robes, hiding among the monks!"

After a moment, the abbot's old voice came, "So that's how esteemed benefactor sees it."

The abbot's peaceful tone made Jiang Cheng even more confused. He opened his mouth to continue saying something, but stopped. He wanted to see, with ironclad evidence, what the abbot could possibly argue.

"Does esteemed benefactor know the origins of the female benefactors such as Huiqing?" After a while, the abbot slowly opened his mouth.

"I don't know."

"They are all barren women from the villages at the foot of the mountain. The so-called barren women are women who have been married for many years but cannot have children." The abbot sighed softly, as if he was caught in a painful memory, "There are three unfilial acts, and having no offspring is the greatest. Without children, the villagers cannot tolerate them, so the village chief comes forward and sends these barren women to my Chijie Temple in the name of meditation, asking them to accumulate merit and good fortune, and only allowing them to return to the village and regain the status they deserve when they have cultivated to the point where they can have children."

"It's really absurd! My temple has a century-old reputation, how can a pure Buddhist place tolerate such insolence? Naturally, I don't allow it, and I strictly order the monks of this temple to close the temple gates tightly, and not allow anyone to enter. But when the temple gate opened the next morning—" The abbot's voice suddenly paused.

"The door was hung full of female corpses, they... they all hanged themselves."