Knife splashing

Chapter 254: The Demon Hidden in the Temple
Li Yan didn't expect that the old Taoist would not cooperate.

But what he said is not wrong. The City God Temple is responsible for the security of various cities, and it is indeed not under the jurisdiction of the Taoist temple in this blessed land.

Gu Hanzi's original intention was to let him pretend to be a pilgrim and sneak into the mountain gate to investigate secretly.

But now that things have come to this, there is no way to retreat.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes and looked at Captain Zheng next to him.

Captain Zheng immediately understood, took a step forward, took out a token from his bosom, and said in a cold voice: "Yichang Guard, I have been ordered to investigate the rebellion of Tiansheng Sect. Taoist priests, do you still want to stop it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the old Taoist's face immediately turned ugly.

The Duwei Sizhi was under the command of Emperor Daxuan. He was in charge of investigating all officials and supervising the martial arts world. Although the Xuanmen was special, it was also within the scope of supervision.

Especially when it comes to the evil people of the Tiansheng Sect.

It would be inappropriate to say anything more to stop him.

The old Taoist Feng Huazi's eyelids trembled slightly, and his face became indifferent, "In that case, please go in."

As he said that, he swung his sleeves and ignored everyone, and went straight into the Taoist temple at the mountain gate. At the same time, he said in a cold voice: "Open all the temple doors and let the adults check carefully to see if they can find any monsters!"

"Yes, Master!"

Many Taixuan Orthodox disciples were also filled with anger.

Although most of the masters in the temple had been transferred away, and they were all newly-initiated disciples, they were respected by all the common people and officials, and had never suffered such injustice.

"Humph!"

Li Yan snorted coldly and strode into the Taoist temple.

He is a soft-hearted person and does not respond to hardship. Besides, this old Taoist must have gotten confused staying in the mountains. Even after such a big incident, he is still pretending to be cool.

This Taoist temple belongs to the Zhenwu Palace. The main hall naturally enshrines Xuantian Zhenwu Emperor, and the front hall enshrines Wang Lingguan.

In addition, there is the Sanfeng Hall dedicated to Sanfeng Zhenren and the Xiaoxian Pavilion dedicated to Ge Xianweng.

Li Yan came into the hall and looked up.

I saw a towering statue of a god, wearing golden armor, with loose hair, standing on a five-colored turtle, holding a sword, and eyes like lightning.

Beside him stood the two generals, the tortoise and the snake, and the golden boy and the jade girl.

It was the Great Emperor Xuantian Zhenwu.

The majesty of the divine power also suppressed him and prevented him from using his magical powers.

Of course, Gou Die had no reaction either.

Li Yan had anticipated that his job as a ghost messenger was to do things for the underworld, and if he met some minor gods or mountain gods, he might be able to communicate with them.

But this kind of great god simply ignores him.

Li Yan didn't care. He lit three incense sticks, raised his hands and said, "Great Emperor, please understand. I am using this place to investigate a case. I hope your divine power will be so great that all evil spirits will be exposed."

"Be bold!"

"How dare you speak so rudely!"

Several Zhenwu Palace disciples immediately scolded angrily.

Li Yan ignored him and carefully inserted three incense sticks into the incense burner. He bowed three times before turning around abruptly and asked in a deep voice, "What? Was I wrong?"

"Dangyang County is plagued by evil spirits. You are not doing your job well in protecting the area. Why are you so guilty of obstructing it?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the disciples' faces turned red.

Of course they knew about what happened in Dangyang County.

And there is no way to respond to this.

If you rush to explain, you will only make yourself look guilty.

One of the older Taoists was relatively calm and said calmly, "Sir, there is something else going on in Dangyang County. Besides, several of our disciples have also died."

"If you want to investigate the case, I will cooperate with you. There is no need to rush to throw mud at you."

"it is good!"

Li Yan directly took out a booklet from his arms, glanced at a few people, and said, "Where is Feng Lingzi?"

Feng Lingzi is Gu Hanzi's good junior fellow apprentice. It was because of Feng Lingzi's secret letter that Gu Hanzi learned that there was a problem with the Taoist temple.

Sure enough, when they heard the name Feng Lingzi, the Taoists in the hall's faces suddenly changed.

It was the same elderly Taoist who spoke in a deep voice, "Layman, what do you want to see Feng Lingzi about?"

Li Yan became more suspicious and asked coldly: "Where are the people?"

Inside the main hall, the Taoists looked at each other, seeming to want to say something but stopping themselves.

Suddenly, an angry voice was heard outside the hall.

"That traitor has already escaped!"

The temple master Feng Huazi came towards me with a gloomy face.

He looked at Li Yan and said in a deep voice: "Your name is Li Yan? The one who found the blood jade cong?"

Just now when he was outside the door, he was only concerned with being angry. It was only just now that he remembered the name Li Yan, which sounded somewhat familiar.

"That's right." Li Yan nodded in reply.

"Oh."

Feng Huazi's expression eased a little, "I only learned about this when a message came from Wudang Mountain the day before yesterday. You and my Zhenwu Palace have a good relationship, so why did you lead troops up the mountain and be so aggressive?"

Li Yan said in a deep voice: "In the face of a great catastrophe, we can only be rude."

"Great catastrophe?"

Feng Huazi's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't rush to ask. Instead, he said, "Feng Lingzi stole the magic weapon in the mountain and fled a long time ago. His whereabouts are unknown. How did you know his name?"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, "This Taoist priest Feng wrote a secret letter to the Yunyang Prefecture City God Temple, saying that people have been dying in the temple one after another, but the newspapers reported that everything was normal."

"He noticed something strange and investigated secretly. How did he suddenly become a traitor? Can you explain it to me, senior?"

Feng Huazi was stunned, "There is such a thing?"

He calmed down at this moment and thought: "Since Mr. Li asked, I don't need to hide it. Since last year, several disciples in the temple have indeed died, but they all died of illness, there is nothing unusual."

"I worship Ge Xianweng, who has some knowledge of the art of Qihuang Dao medicine. If there is any abnormality, how could I not notice it?"

Li Yan pondered for a moment, "What about Feng Lingzi?"

Feng Huazi shook his head and said, "Some time ago, I was in seclusion refining pills, and I only found out about this after I came out."

"In the Xiaoxian Pavilion, there were originally colorful cloud shoes enshrined. They were a precious magical tool left by the immortal. They can be used to climb mountains and cross dangerous places as if walking on flat ground."

"He stole the treasure and went down the mountain. I sent people to search for him at various docks, but couldn't find him."

"That Feng Lingzi is the son of my fellow apprentice. He is quite clever. I wanted to find him in advance and persuade him to change his ways. But now that things have come to this, there is nothing I can do. I am preparing to report him to the Law Enforcement Hall for a wanted notice."

"Oh?"

Li Yan listened, but became more suspicious, "Did anyone see him steal the magic weapon and go down the mountain?"

Feng Huazi turned around and said, "Feng Gangzi, you are in charge of this matter. Tell Mr. Li about the situation."

"Yes, Master."

The one who answered was the elder Taoist priest. He cupped his hands and said in a deep voice, "More than one person saw this. Feng Lingzi even injured several disciples who tried to stop him."

"Yes, we saw it with our own eyes!"

Several young Taoists stood up.

One of them said indignantly: "This Feng Lingzi is usually cunning and weird. He often teases us by relying on his profound kung fu."

"When the war in the southwest broke out, those powerful brothers were just transferred away, and he took advantage of the night to attack. After we found out, he just injured people and fled."

Li Yan was silent for a moment, then he said thoughtfully, "Before this Feng Lingzi left, did he show any abnormality or say anything?"

One of the Taoists said in a hateful voice: "Who would have known? He has always been like that, cunning and mysterious, and has a bad relationship with his fellow disciples. He must have had evil intentions for a long time."

Several other Taoists also spoke in unison:

"Yes, it's not surprising that he did this!" "Maybe he has already gone astray..."

Outside the main hall, a thin little Taoist boy was so angry that he could no longer bear it. He rushed out with gritted teeth and shouted:
"Senior Brother Feng is not that kind of person!"

A Taoist priest immediately yelled angrily: "Jingkong, you have no right to speak here! Go and sweep the floor!"

"Shut up!"

When Feng Huazi saw the mockery in Li Yan's eyes, he immediately became embarrassed and started to scold him, and these Taoists shut up one after another.

He glared at a few people fiercely, then sighed, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Mr. Li."

After that, he looked at the little Taoist boy and said softly, "Your name is Jingkong? Don't worry, just tell me what you have to say."

The little Taoist boy had obviously been holding it in for a long time. He first whimpered a few times, then stared at the Taoists and said angrily, "Senior Brother Feng teased you all because he couldn't stand you bullying others."

"You guys, relying on your early entry, often bully and command us, and you don't teach us martial arts seriously. If it weren't for Senior Brother Feng, we wouldn't even be able to learn the entry-level boxing techniques..."

Hearing the little Taoist boy's accusation, the young Taoists suddenly looked embarrassed and their eyes became uncertain.

Feng Huazi's face became even more gloomy.

He was obsessed with medicine and alchemy, and would often practice in seclusion, leaving all the affairs of the temple to a few disciples.

I didn't expect the trend to become like this.

And I lost face in front of outsiders...

Thinking of this, the old Taoist turned his head and gave a fierce look to the disciples behind him.

Li Yan didn't care about these trivial matters and asked, "Jingkong, was there anything unusual before Taoist Feng Lingzi?"

"Have."

The little Taoist boy nodded quickly and said, "A month before Senior Brother Feng's accident, when he was teaching us boxing, he was a little uneasy, but when we asked him what happened, he wouldn't say anything."

"Later, he didn't even have time to teach us boxing. He often went to the Sutra Library to read books, sometimes even missing the morning and evening classes."

"Another time, I saw him talking to the air, and he seemed very scared..."

"Ok?"

At this point, even the temple master Feng Huazi felt something was wrong. He frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Did he say what he discovered?"

"No."

The little Taoist boy shook his head and said, "Senior Brother Feng didn't say anything. Oh, he said something inexplicably that day."

"What did he say?"

"Senior Brother Feng said that you should never go near Xiaoxian Pavilion at night. If you hear someone calling your name, just pretend you didn't hear it."

After hearing this, Li Yan immediately said in a deep voice: "Senior, I want to go to Xiaoxian Pavilion to take a look."

"That's natural."

Feng Huazi also had a grim look on his face, and he strode ahead to lead the way.

He was just obsessed with alchemy and medicine, but he was not a fool and had already noticed that something was wrong.

Everyone quickly came to the backyard of the Taoist temple.

There was a large hall standing in the middle. Judging from the bricks, stones and wooden beams on the roof, it was very old.

Because of Feng Huazi's order just now, the main door of the hall has been opened, and Ge Xianweng is enshrined inside.

There are three women and one man worshipped next to them, they should be Liu Gang and Mrs. Fan, as well as the two daughters of the Qu family.

The hall is very clean, the bluestone floor tiles are smooth, and the surrounding walls are covered with murals describing the deeds of Ge Xianweng.

A few rays of sunlight shone through the carved windows, and the dust danced slowly in the light. The altar was filled with offerings, and the fragrance was lingering.

Further up, there were wooden boxes and jade bottles of various sizes, which were obviously used to store and bless medicines with the help of Ge Xianweng's magical power.

This hall also has restrictions and one cannot use magical powers.

At least at first glance, there's nothing wrong.

Li Yan didn't waste any words and turned around and asked, "Senior, can you open the ban?"

Feng Huazi naturally knew what he wanted to do. He hesitated for a moment before giving the order, "Go, open the ban."

Doing so is obviously disrespectful, but since something this big has happened, we must get to the bottom of it.

"Yes, Master."

Several disciples left immediately, first returning to the Zhenwu Hall and turning the bronze mirrors on the beams, and then running to other areas of the Taoist temple to pull out the five-colored flags.

In an instant, the rich power of incense mixed with the fragrance of medicine came to their faces. The innate evil spirit was like a mountain, pressing down on everyone and making it difficult for them to breathe.

This kind of restriction is not only for defense against enemies, but also for protection. Otherwise, it would be unbearable for the newly-initiated disciples to be in such a place all the time.

Li Yan pinched the Yang Jue and took a breath, his face suddenly changed.

"Monster, be bold!"

Feng Huazi next to him laughed loudly, even a little furious, and rushed directly into the hall. He stretched out his hand and swung four ancient bamboo talismans whizzed out and hung on the four corners of the hall.

It was obviously some kind of formation.

Not only him, several Taoists also changed their expressions.

Even Li Yan found it a little ridiculous.

All Xuanmen deity statues must be made hollow inside and contain various magical instruments to make them appear more magical.

There were two fishy smells inside the statues of the two daughters of the Qu family, and it seemed that two rat demons had entered.

"This... No wonder the tributes are always lost."

A young Taoist priest looked unhappy and muttered, "I thought it was one of my brothers who was greedy and stole food, so I ignored him. It turned out to be these two beasts."

Others were equally furious.

The rat demon hides inside the statue, not only stealing offerings, but also accepting their incense and offerings every day, which is much better than practicing alone in the mountains.

The statue had been defiled and was obviously no longer usable.

Feng Huazi's eyes were filled with murderous intent. He drew out his sword with a clang and with just a light stroke, the two statues broke in the middle.

The Zhenwu Palace is famous for its martial arts. Although this old Taoist is more obsessed with the art of Qihuang, he has also achieved the level of Hua Jin. Combined with martial arts, he can actually exert a power similar to that of sword energy.

Click!

The statue broke into pieces, and two shiny mice came out, trembling and kowtowing on the ground, obviously possessed of spiritual power.

They were obviously frightened and were squeaking and squeak- ing .

"Death to the evildoer!"

The older Taoist priest, Feng Gangzi, had eyes full of rage, and his feet exerted hidden strength. With a whoosh, he leaped out of the crowd and drew out his sword in mid-air, intending to kill the two rat demons.

At this moment, Li Yan suddenly turned sideways, shook his long arm, passed it under his arm, and with a sword kick, threw the man out.

Li Yan did not kill him. Feng Gangzi twisted in mid-air and landed steadily on the ground, shouting angrily, "What are you doing?"

"What are you in a hurry for?"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, "Although these two rat demons are extremely rebellious, they are hiding in the palace. They must have seen or known something. Let's ask them first."

"Ask the demon?"

Feng Gangzi laughed, "Are you kidding, sir?"

Li Yan ignored him and looked at Lu San next to him, "Brother Lu San, thank you for your help."

Lu San nodded, took a step forward, and made a clattering sound with his mouth as he started communicating with the two mice.

"Shangfang language?"

Several Taoists were immediately surprised.

And Feng Gangzi's eyes also became suspicious...

(End of this chapter)