Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 232 Barrier
What happened again?
The current abbot of Jubao Temple is Zhang Xiru. Wang Heng and Xiaocai looked at each other in surprise and doubt, and decided to go out and take a look.

After they closed the door and walked out of the courtyard to investigate, they saw a line of lanterns dotted together, winding towards the back mountain.

The two followed at the end of the team and looked forward. There were about ten monks walking forward with lanterns. They thought that the Jubao Temple was really large in number.

The group walked for a long time and gradually heard the sound of rushing water. Wang Heng suddenly realized that they had walked to the pavilion where they had watched the waterfall the day before. Because it had rained, the waterfall was much larger than the day before, and the sound of water was even more deafening.

As night fell, against the indigo background, a person could be vaguely seen lying beside the pavilion, his body curled up.

Everyone stopped here. A monk stepped forward and looked in the dim light. After a while, he said in a hoarse voice, "It's Brother Guangheng."

The monk gently smoothed Guangheng's eyes and said in a trembling voice: "Brother Guangheng has passed away."

Wang Heng and Xiaocai looked at each other in bewilderment, and could not help but recall what Wuming had said: among the disciples of the old abbot Zhihai in Jubao Temple, the monk Guangheng had the highest prestige.

The monks looked back and saw Zhang Xiru and Wuming coming from behind.

Zhang Xiru took two steps forward and asked, "Who was the first to discover it?"

"Reporting to the abbot's temple, it was a pilgrim who came up the mountain in the evening. He was so frightened that he became stupid and incoherent. He has been arranged to stay in the Vimalakirti Courtyard." The one who replied was the receptionist Guangliang.

"Let's carry Guangheng back to the temple first." Zhang Xiru lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his eyes and saw his two servants there. He waved and said, "Qilang, Xiaocai, you are here too. You can help me with the judgment."

Wang Heng took a lantern from the monk beside him. At this hour, it was almost completely dark, which was not a good time to explore the scene.

It was visible to the naked eye that Monk Guangheng had external injuries in his left abdomen. The initial judgment was that Guangheng died from the severe injuries caused by being stabbed in the left abdomen, and it was a homicide.

Xiaocai followed the blood trail and found a dagger in the bushes not far away. It was probably thrown away by the murderer in a panic.

There was no other discovery, so Wang Heng said to Zhang Xiru: "Brother Xiru, let's send Master Guangheng back to the temple first. It's dark now, so it's impossible to find anything else. Xiaocai and I will come back to check the scene tomorrow morning."

Zhang Xiru nodded. He had been prepared when the monks came and carried Guangheng back on the door panel.

Wang Heng was about to catch up, but suddenly he saw Xiaocai give him a look, so he stopped and paused.

When the monks walked several feet away, Xiaocai pointed to a place outside the pavilion and said in a low voice: "There are words on the ground where Guangheng's finger is pressed."

The lantern in his hand was close to the ground, and indeed a deep dot and a horizontal line were scratched in the mud.

The lingering drizzle in the afternoon moistened the soil. Before Guangheng died, he might have wanted to write the murderer's name.

According to this speculation, the murderer is someone Guangheng knows.

"One dot and one horizontal line, are you trying to write the word 'Guang'?" Wang Heng frowned.

Xiaocai was surprised and said, "It could also be a word. Oh, even the word liang begins with a dot and a horizontal line."

In this case, Guangwen and Guangliang are both suspects. How many people with the surname Guang are there in Jubao Temple?
"The monk Guangliang, who is in charge of reception, just went up the mountain with us. Guangwen is not in the team." Wang Heng said.

Xiaocai understood what Wang Heng meant: "You mean Guangliang has no guilty conscience, so he is not a big suspect, but Guangwen did not follow him up the mountain, so he is more suspicious?"

Wang Heng shook his head and said, "Guangwen is the governor of the Sutra Repository. He may not have heard the news. It is also possible that the murderer went to the scene again. The murderer was thinking of filling in the gaps and preparing to quietly destroy the evidence. Therefore, those who went up the mountain or not are all suspects."

"Oh, Master Guangheng, if you keep writing one more stroke, we will be able to make a judgment." Xiaocai sighed.

The mountain wind howled and suddenly swirled in the sky above the pavilion. The evening breeze made the leaves fall one after another, and the water on the leaves flowed down, soaking the headscarves of the two people.

"Master Guangheng, are you appearing in spirit? We have guessed a little bit of the truth, right?" Xiaocai suddenly had an idea and shouted towards the mountains. The mountain wind was so fierce that it made the forest whimper for a long time before it died down.

The team in front was already very far away from them, so Wang Heng and Xiaocai took a few quick steps and followed.

When they reached the release pond in the front mountain, Wang Heng took a few steps forward and said to Zhang Xiru in a clear voice, "Brother Xiru, Monk Guangheng's cicada molt must be guarded by someone at night. No one else is allowed to enter or leave the temple, and no one is allowed to touch his belongings. Xiaocai and I will go to check the evidence tomorrow morning."

Zhang Xiru nodded solemnly in agreement.

After watching Mr. Zhang and his party enter the mountain gate of Jubao Temple, Wang Heng and Xiaocai turned around and stepped into the villa. After the people from Liu's house left, the villa was quiet. It seemed that there was no one else there except the two of them.

Wang Heng remembered that Monk Guangliang said that the pilgrim who discovered the murder would be placed in a separate courtyard. However, the moon was now high above the branches and the pilgrim was frightened again, so it would be better to find him and question him during the day tomorrow.

When they returned to the west wing, it was already late and still too early to go to bed, so they continued to read and write.

Wang Heng took out Hexianglou Yiyu and continued reading.

Reminiscences of Hexianglou by Li Xunzhi
Not long after, Yunke returned from Tiandu Mountain. He made elixirs in Feishan Cave every day and invited my husband and I to go to the alchemy room to watch him.

When I arrived at the cave, I saw that the walls were as smooth as a mirror. I wondered what they were framed with.
The cave is filled with crystal vessels in bottle, spherical, rectangular and square shapes. I wonder what they are used for?

I asked Yunke, but Yunke just smiled and said nothing.

My wife, Fu Niang, had fair skin and a beautiful face, but she had freckles on her cheeks, which was a great regret in her life. Yun Ke obtained something while refining the elixir, and he poured the medicine into a crystal bottle and asked Fu Niang to apply it on her cheeks every day. Soon, her cheeks became as smooth as jade, and the freckles were completely faded without a trace.

I am over thirty years old. I have trampled on locust flowers three times and I have achieved success. I do not wish to stop at the title of scholar. I am usually diligent, and it is common for me to read by lamplight at night, which has greatly damaged my eyesight.

Yunke gave me a crystal lamp, which was embedded with the elixir refined by Yunke. The lamp could illuminate the whole room, which was not comparable to ordinary oil lamps or candles. Moreover, the aperture could be made larger or smaller, which was very exquisite. Yunke said that the elixir could be used for a lifetime.

Yunke also made a cake to cure hunger. It tasted like chewing wax, but was the size of a palm. Eating one cake was equivalent to a day's meal without feeling hungry.

I was startled and asked Yunke to make more cakes, as they could save lives in years of famine. Yunke smiled but did not say anything.

Whenever my wife and I saw new and rare things from Yunke, Yunke was never arrogant and always explained everything to us. He was also generous and would give us anything he found useful.

I have a sincere friendship with him, and he is my best friend.

A few months later, Yunke broke into the villa in Cuihua Village at night. He looked quite depressed. When asked about his purpose, he turned out to be saying goodbye. He said that he was a Taoist priest from Jiaozhi and that he had obtained the magic tools from the ancestral temple in Tiandu Mountain. He had stayed there for more than a year and would have to return to Jiaozhi.

I then felt like I was on a vast ocean, and tears began to flow down my cheeks.

Yunke said that he observed the stars at night and found that Jiangning would be hit by war in the next one or two months, so it would be better for his brother and sister-in-law to stay in another village temporarily, as the danger might be greater in Jiangning County.

Yu and Fu Niang were skeptical. Yunke also advised Fu Niang to store more rice and grain. There were melon and bean racks in front of and behind the house, which could be used for vegetables. There was also a well in the yard, which could be used for drinking, washing, etc.

Yunke took out a jade slip from his arms. In the middle of the jade slip was a crane carved. Yunke pressed the crane for a long time, and suddenly purple light filled the surroundings. A purple light net rose from the bottom and densely covered the four corners of the villa.

Yunke said that he had set up a barrier for the villa. By pressing the fairy crane, the barrier would open, and by pressing the fairy crane again, the barrier would be removed. After the barrier was opened, outsiders would not be able to see that there was a house here. As long as Fu Niang and I did not leave the villa, we would be like invisible and could not be seen by outsiders.

Yunke cried and said, his brother and sister-in-law are both good gentlemen, and I am afraid they cannot protect themselves. If there is any unrest within a few miles, they should open the barrier and stay indoors.

Yunke was reluctant to leave, and took out two large boxes of hunger-curing cakes, saying that these cakes could roughly serve as food for a season, and that his brother and sister-in-law could survive for half a year, and the war would be over.

While Yu and Fu Niang were stunned, Yun Ke suddenly disappeared.