Legend of Zhan Zhao

Chapter 14 Motive
Why haven't our people entered the temple yet?

"This is a sacred Buddhist site and a royal temple. It's not so easy to enter. We need to ask the palace for permission and obtain an imperial decree..."

Even if people die?

Even if people die!

Pang Wen, the constable who once disguised himself as a scholar to try to enter the temple to arrest Zhan Zhao but was scared away by a sword aura, has now changed his clothes and is talking quietly with someone through the wall.

On the other side of the wall lies Samadhi.

However, this monk who usually preached the Dharma had thin eyebrows and slightly drooping eyes, showing signs of long-term meditation.

At this moment, the preaching monk's eyes were sharp, filled with a fierce aura: "If things continue like this, when will I be able to avenge my family?"

"what?"

Constable Pang Wen blinked, only then realizing that the spy sent by Xuanji Hall actually had a personal grudge against Daxiangguo Temple. He quickly reassured him, "Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive! Don't worry, the day won't be far off!"

"Is it?"

Dingjue coldly said, "My enemy is the monk who bears karma. He is a figure who travels the world on behalf of the Great Xiangguo Temple and supervises Buddhist temples in all directions. All factions in the martial arts world respect and honor him and dare not disobey him. Do you really think that day is not far off?"

Pang Wen quickly shut up.

Dingjue clenched his fists and hissed in a low voice, "A monk burdened with sins... a monk burdened with sins... how can someone lay down his butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot when his sins are hard to erase!"

Pang Wen could only remain silent and wait for the other party to finish venting.

However, immediately afterward, a bombshell statement rang out: "Tell the people inside that they must enter the temple to search as soon as possible. I poisoned them!"

"Don't worry, I'll definitely tell them quickly, after all, you're the one who poisoned them~"

Pang Wen was so focused on comforting him that he almost didn't realize what he had just heard. It wasn't until he finished repeating what Pang Wen had said that he snapped out of his daze: "Wait! What did you just say?"

Dingjue said sternly, "The orders from Xuanji Hall are too conservative and too weak! I created this opportunity for you to enter the temple and take all those criminals into my Six Doors prison!"

Pang Wen suddenly looked up at the wall and stammered, "Don't...don't joke around!"

"Who's joking with you?"

Dingjue gritted his teeth: "Every time I think about those teas made with a variety of rare herbs that can replenish vital energy, being drunk by a group of sinners who commit evil deeds outside, but can be wiped clean once they put on monks' robes in the temple, I feel like vomiting!"

“Every time I give a sermon, seeing their faces, which seem to go in one ear and out the other as they listen to my Buddhist teachings without taking it to heart, and their inattentive and unrepentant expressions, I am filled with uncontrollable rage!”

"I hate them! I wish I could kill all these sinners! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Hearing the long-accumulated distortion in his words, Pang Wen turned pale with horror: "The novice monk who died from poisoning, was it really you who killed him?"

Dingjue ignored this nonsense and urged, "Hurry up! That newcomer Zhan Zhao is very capable! He has seen through my clever scheme to poison me. Fortunately, they only suspect the novice monks under his command. No one expected to cast their suspicions on me, who is sitting on the high platform giving the sermon!"

At this point, Dingjue suddenly raised an eyebrow: "You said before that Zhan Zhao at Yunqi Manor believed that someone from my Six Doors was the murderer?"

Pang Wen's heart sank even higher, and he said in a bitter voice, "You don't think Zhan Zhao is right now, do you?"

He used to scoff at it, but now he couldn't help but waver.

However, Dingjue thought about it for a moment and then shook his head fiercely: "How could that be? How could the people of the Six Doors commit such heinous acts and kill innocent people? It must be Zhan Zhao who is slandering him. This man really deserves to die! It's a pity he was lucky that he didn't drink the poisoned tea and even saved a sinner!"

Pang Wen's heart sank to the ground. He couldn't listen anymore and turned to leave.

It's over! It's all over!

It was he who initially suggested that the Xuanji Hall's undercover agents take action!
I've really messed up a huge mess!
"Humph!"

Dingjue sneered, took a step, and returned to the Dizang Temple.

They saw Dinghai walking towards them with a grim expression.

Upon further inquiry, it was confirmed that the investigation into the six suspects yielded no results.

The case has reached another stalemate.

"Investigate all the novice monks, but you'll never suspect it was me who poisoned them!"

Dingjue participated throughout, keeping his head down and eyes downcast, observing coldly with a sneer in his heart.

I have been in the temple for seven years and have never felt so light and carefree.

My mission is complete!

However, when Dingjue walked toward his somewhat secluded monk's quarters, he stopped outside the courtyard.

Because there was a noise coming from inside.

He channeled his inner strength and listened intently.

A familiar voice came.

"Brother, we haven't found the bottle of poison..." "Hurry, we need to find evidence to determine if this is the murderer!"

Those two young novice monks, Zhan Zhao and Chen Xiuhan!
Dingjue instinctively took a step back, his brows furrowed with shock and anger: 'Zhan Zhao! You actually suspect me?'

The search continued inside, and soon a sigh came again: "Words are no proof; the monks won't believe us. We must catch them red-handed and find concrete evidence..."

'Ah! ’

Dingjue breathed a sigh of relief: 'A mere novice monk who's only been at the temple for ten days wants to falsely accuse me, a monk who has been in the temple for seven years, preaching for three, and working diligently? Dream on!'

That being said, since Zhan Zhao has already targeted himself and his methods have been revealed, the possibility of him being exposed has greatly increased.

Action must be taken.

Dingjue's eyes darted around, and he made up his mind.

He had been pondering this poisoning case for several months, but the moment he decided to take action was when someone from the Six Doors contacted him, who was acting as an undercover agent, and provided him with information about Zhan Zhao's entry into the temple.

Those inside the temple were wary of this greenhorn who had just entered the martial world, and hoped that he could find a way to cooperate with the constables outside, preferably to lure him out of the temple so that they could capture him from the inside and outside.

Of course, the role of hidden agents is very important. If you are worried about danger, you can also remain still and do nothing.

Ke Dingjue moved.

Not only did they take action, but they also followed their hearts and did something big!
Now, he wants to do as he pleases and make an exception to complete the task entrusted to him by Xuanji Hall!

"Now that the monks of the Puxian Temple are inspecting the dining hall, and the monks of the Guanyin Temple and the Dizang Temple are keeping an eye on the novices, their attention is all on the cases. This is truly a golden opportunity!"

The action of meditative concentration is very simple.

This is his yard. Two outsiders coming here to search for evidence are practically asking for trouble!

He sneaked in silently.

As Chen Xiuhan groaned and suddenly collapsed, a hand reached out from the darkness, its five fingers swiftly seizing Zhan Zhao's pulse point.

Zhan Zhao tensed up: "Who?"

"Get out! If you dare resist, I'll crush your bones!"

Dingjue's voice drifted out softly: "I know your martial arts are not bad, but I practice the 'Dragon Claw Hand'. If you don't want to be paralyzed in bed and unable to move in your next life, then give it a try!"

"Dingjue! Is it really you?!"

Zhan Zhao was shocked and did as he was told, obediently walking outside while saying, "Why did you kill the monks from the same temple?"

Dingjue sneered: "Are you monks?"

Zhan Zhao raised his voice: "Just because we are novices?"

No! Because you are sinners!

Dingjue didn't want to say much, but the long-term pretense and his deep resentment made him unable to bear it any longer: "Hu Xiba killed people in his hometown, bullied men and women, and committed all kinds of evil. Don't tell me you're secretly happy that such a scumbag died. Isn't it good that he died?"

Zhan Zhao countered, "What crime has Cheng Ruoshui committed?"

Ding Jue said coldly, "Cheng Ruoshui's father is now the seventh most notorious villain in 'Valley of Villains,' Cheng Mohan, the 'Blood-Locked Butcher.' He has slaughtered countless gangs and sects, and his hands are filled with countless lives. Before he fled into 'Valley of Villains,' he entrusted his only son to the Daxiangguo Temple for shelter, and the Daxiangguo Temple actually kept him! Hmph! It is only right that the son should pay for the father's sins. Why shouldn't he die!"

Zhan Zhao said, "According to you, among the novice monks who attend morning prayers, not one is innocent?"

"Of course!"

Dingjue said without hesitation, "But if they die from poison, they should resent the sinners who listened to the lectures with them, and resent the Great Xiangguo Temple that gathered the sinners! After death, they should go to the Western Paradise to ask the Buddha—those who enter the Buddhist gate, are they avoiding the karmic obstacles in their hearts, or the net of human law?"

"That last question is good."

Zhan Zhao said, "If you were to bring Hu Xiba and his ilk to justice, I would admire you as a hero. But to kill people blindly like this and still call yourself righteous is just ridiculous and extreme! Putting aside other things, Cheng Ruoshui's father may have been wronged, but if Cheng Ruoshui, a six or seven-year-old child, were really poisoned to death by you, how innocent would she be?"

"You say Cheng Ruoshui's father was wronged, but what evidence do you have?"

Dingjue coldly said, "The Six Doors should be allowed in to thoroughly investigate every monk, so that we can know how many are evil and how many are truly ordained monks!"

"Oh?"

Zhan Zhao asked with great interest and anticipation, "So, the Six Doors are about to come in and search us?"

Dingjue's neck veins bulged: "The Great Xiangguo Temple is under the protection of the Empress Dowager; the Six Doors are temporarily barred from entering..."

"They won't even go to the temple after all this?"

Zhan Zhao couldn't help but shake his head.

"enough!!"

This shake of the head enraged Dingjue, causing him to completely break down: "Go! Get out! I'm going to hand you over myself and make the Great Xiangguo Temple lose all its reputation!!"

(End of this chapter)