A knife in love

Chapter 724

Changsun Guangming said: "So it was Monk Niankong's idea to build the Skull King Temple. I thought it was Li Longji who had other plans."

When he said this, he turned his head to look at Monk Xuanji, and said, "Master Xuanji is placing orders at the White Horse Temple, haven't you heard of the name of Master Niankong?"

Monk Xuanji clasped his hands together and said: "The poor monk is just placing orders at the White Horse Temple, and he doesn't know much about the senior monks who were born in the White Horse Temple."

Sun Guangming frowned, and said, "The Marquis Wu Formation in Wu Zetian's hand came from Monk Huaiyi, and Monk Huaiyi also obtained this formation in the White Horse Temple. Master Gao Lishi said that it was in the hands of Monk Niankong. There is also a map, which was entrusted to the White Horse Temple by the Emperor Taizong back then. This matter is even more strange. Why do all kinds of clues point to the White Horse Temple? Could it be that there are some unknown secrets hidden in this temple? "

As he spoke, he scanned the crowd.Everyone was stunned.Li Qiufeng thought to himself, Changsun Guangming and Situ Qiao knew the most details about the array, like the Yang family father and son, and monk Xuanji, who had never heard of it at all.Isn't it ridiculous that Changsun Guangming wants to ask everyone at this time?

Yang Yansi listened to Gao Lishi's narration of the past, and he was getting excited. At this moment, he was interrupted by his eldest grandson Guangming, and he was very upset.Taking advantage of the moment when the eldest grandson Guangming stopped talking, he hurriedly said to Gao Lishi: "What happened after that?"

Gao Lishi said: "After I followed the prince to Gaoping, the monk Niankong had already drawn the drawing, and after giving it to the prince to see, the prince sent his cronies, under the command of the monk Niankong, to build the Skeleton King Temple in Tanikou Village. Gaoping All the officials in the county respected the prince very much. They heard that the prince wanted to build a temple here to worship the souls of the dead, so naturally they would not stop him. The county magistrate personally selected competent officials to assist him, and hired craftsmen everywhere. In less than three months, Then the Skeleton King Temple was built.

"When the temple was being built, the prince went back to the Luzhou yamen on business, and left me here to assist Monk Niankong. However, when he left, the prince secretly told me to pay attention to Monk Niankong's movements, in case this person has other plans. Therefore Every day, I walk around this monk intentionally or unintentionally, but this monk is busy on the construction site all day, so there is nothing unusual.

"While building the great temple, Monk Niankong asked the magistrate of Gaoping County to issue a notice to call the people inside and outside the county to go to the ancient battlefield of Changping to collect the bones of the soldiers who died in the battle of the Qin and Zhao armies and bury them all behind the great temple. On the mountain. Before burying the bones, Monk Niankong had drawn a figure, and asked the people to dig a trench on the ground according to the figure, put the bones in the trench in a standing position, and then buried them with soil. I watched from the side and found that the people dug The trenches are well arranged, and it really looks like a large-scale military formation. It's just that I'm so ignorant that I don't know what kind of formation Monk Niankong is arranging.

"When Monk Niankong sent people to collect the remains on the ancient battlefield, he was looking for a skeleton. He said that there were three protrusions on the top of the skull of this skeleton. The middle protrusion was the highest and the two sides were slightly lower. If you find this The skeleton will be rewarded with a thousand gold. At that time, I was skeptical, so I asked the monk Niankong why he was looking for such a skeleton. The Skeleton King Temple is just a cover. The real purpose is to collect thousands of skeletons from this ancient battlefield and set up an army formation. In order to make this army formation available to the prince, there must be a soul acting as the courage. The entire Changping Ancient Battlefield has such a powerful ghost, which is naturally Zhao Kuo, the commander of the Zhao army during the Changping War. Nian Kong The monk learned from other sources that Zhao Kuo had a strange image, with a triangle on the top of his head, high in the middle and low on both sides. At that time, Zhao Kuo's 40 troops were trapped in a tight siege, and finally the food was exhausted, so that people could eat each other. Zhao Kuo had no choice but to He personally led the soldiers of the Zhao army to charge, trying to kill a bloody road, but died under the random arrows of the Qin army. However, the battlefield was in chaos at that time, and the Qin people did not find Zhao Kuo's body. Otherwise, his head would have been cut off , Sending back to Qin State to claim credit. Because of Zhao Kuo’s skeleton, nine out of ten are still on this ancient battlefield. Zhao Kuo’s remains must be found before the success can be accomplished.

"At that time, I only thought that Monk Niankong was a quack sorcerer, and he found the prince just to cheat gold and silver. Hearing what he said about the matter so illusory, I didn't believe that there would be such a strange thing in the world. When the temple was about to be built, At that time, the skeleton was still not found. Monk Niankong had no choice, so he picked out the tallest skeleton from thousands of skeletons, pardoned him as the Skeleton King, and enshrined it in the temple hall. Therefore, this temple is also known as the Skeleton King Temple.

"I stayed by Monk Niankong's side and kept watching with cold eyes, wanting to see what kind of tricks this monk was playing. On the day the temple was built, the prince personally went to Taniguchi Village to write a plaque for the Skeleton King Temple and light the first pillar. Incense. That night, the monk Niankong took the prince and me to the place where thousands of skeletons were buried in the back mountain of the Skull King Temple, and then burned incense. I saw countless soldiers in armor crawling out of the ground, all over the mountains and plains Arranged into an army formation, the momentum is extremely terrifying.

"My lord and I were stunned. We couldn't believe our eyes for a while. But we saw the big skeleton enshrined in the Skeleton King Temple come out, waving the command flag, thousands of skeleton soldiers followed the command Advance and retreat in the direction pointed by the flag, it is very strict. I remember that night was on June [-]th, when the moon was in the sky, and the sky was full of silver light. But after those skeletons climbed out of the ground, black mist immediately rose around. When he walked out of the temple, the sky and the earth were covered with gloomy clouds and mist, and the bright moon in the sky disappeared in an instant. The skeleton king was wearing a helmet and armor, which was described as terrifying.

"I originally thought that Monk Niankong was a charlatan. It wasn't until the skeleton soldiers appeared in front of me that I realized that he was really a very capable stranger. The prince was a little scared at first, but later he saw the skeleton soldiers in front of him. The formation was so mighty, and I was immediately happy. Later, Monk Niankong received the spell, and the surrounding clouds dissipated instantly. The Skeleton King and thousands of skeleton soldiers turned into a puff of black smoke before our eyes, and disappeared with the clouds. Mingyue Under the light, there is still a silent mountain in front of me, where is the shadow of the skeleton army?

"My lord was fascinated by the sight, and that night he had a long secret discussion with Monk Niankong in the Skeleton King's Temple, and returned to Luzhou early the next morning. At this time, he no longer doubted Monk Niankong, so he no longer sent I stayed in Taniguchi Village, but took me back to the north together. The prince was very excited along the way, and said to me, now that there is an army of skeletons to help, I finally don’t have to be afraid of Wu Sansi, Queen Wei, and Princess Anle. Just wait for the right time , so as to wipe out these people in one fell swoop.

"My lord also told me that Monk Niankong has practiced the skeleton formation. There is only one thing that I regret, that is, Zhao Kuo's body has not been found, so the formation is not yet perfect. Fortunately, there is no need for the formation yet. , Monk Niankong stayed in Tanikou Village and continued to search for Zhao Kuo's bones."

When Gao Lishi said this, he sighed slightly, and then continued: "It's just that shortly after we returned to Luzhou, Princess Taiping sent an envoy, claiming that Wu Sansi and Empress Wei couldn't wait any longer, and they were going to meet each other soon. King Xiang took action. Princess Taiping has secretly joined hands with ministers loyal to Li Tang in the court, intending to get rid of Wu Sansi and Empress Wei in one fell swoop. King Xiang Li Dan has agreed to participate in this matter, so Princess Taiping specially sent envoys to invite the prince Return to Beijing in secret to join in the charitable deeds.

"After the prince heard this, because the matter was urgent, he didn't have time to discuss it with Monk Niankong, so he took me and a few cronies, and followed the messenger to the capital. Soon after arriving in the capital, Wu Sansi and Empress Wei were poisoned to death. After Emperor Zhongzong was killed, he was about to attack King Xiang and Princess Taiping. Prince Xiang's mansion and Princess Taiping jointly launched a mutiny, killed Wu Sansi, Empress Wei, Princess Anle, Shangguan Wan'er and others, and promoted King Xiang to the throne The chaotic court has finally stabilized since Emperor Zetian came to power.

"After King Xiang ascended the throne again, he made up his mind to make the prince the prince. At that time, the prince thought that the world had been settled, and the skeleton army formed by monk Niankong on the ancient battlefield in Changping was useless. If monk Niankong had a different heart, This army formation will surely become a great disaster. The prince secretly summoned me and his other two confidantes Wang Maozhong and Li Shoude, and ordered the three of us to go to Gaoping and wait for an opportunity to kill Monk Niankong..."

When Gao Lishi said this, Su Yan said "ah", and then covered his mouth with his hand.

Gao Lishi went on to say: "Wang Maozhong and Li Shoude are the confidants of the lord. After listening to the order of the lord, they naturally have nothing to say. It's just that the lord knows that Monk Niankong is a really capable person. If he can't kill this person, he will turn around." , I am afraid that the means of revenge are extremely vicious. Therefore, in addition to the three of us, the prince summoned Han Li, the most powerful magician in Chang'an and Luoyang, into the palace, and asked him to assist us to go to Gaoping on business.

"Mr. Han Li possesses different skills. He has been familiar with Jingfang Yijing since he was a child. He is the most powerful magician after Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng. Back then, Han Li competed with Taoist Feng Daoli and Chushi Liu Chengzu in Luoyang. He defeated Feng and Liu and fled, very fiercely. The prince asked him for help because he wanted to use Taoism to deal with Monk Niankong's strange magic.

"We obeyed the order of the prince, so naturally we dare not neglect. The prince spent a lot of money and invited thirty or forty martial arts masters from the rivers and lakes to accompany us to the Skeleton King Temple in Gukou Village, Gaoping County. After arriving at the Skeleton King Temple, I saw Monk Niankong having a seat in the side hall. Wang Maozhong, Li Shoude, and Monk Niankong were familiar with each other. He was neither surprised nor pleased when he saw the three of us arrived. Sit down. Before I could speak, Monk Niankong said, the three of you are here, do you want to take my head back, or leave a whole body for the poor monk?

When Gao Lishi said this, everyone's hearts were terrified, and they thought to themselves that this monk was so powerful that they saw the intention of Gao Lishi and others.

Yang Yansi said gruffly: "No matter whether this monk is good or bad, Li Longji is really despicable and shameless when he crosses the river and demolishes the bridge."

(End of this chapter)