"My father never let me go to the temple.""Then you said you would take me to the Thousand Buddha Temple?" Ren Qi stopped and looked at A Ke with suspicion. They had just started on the journey and there was still time for them to return to their original house. "I just said I've never been in there, I didn't say I don't know how to get out." A Ke smiled and said, "I promised my father that I would not enter the Thousand Buddha Temple, but I didn't say that I wouldn't take a look at it from a distance." "According to you, he is already in the temple, so why doesn't he let you go?" Ren Qi asked. "My father said that it's not convenient for girls to enter Buddhist temples." "Your father is right." Ren Qi sneered, "As soon as a woman enters the temple, chaos will break out. It will be extremely chaotic." "You know again?"

A Ke was unconvinced and said, "The masters of the Thousand Buddha Temple are all devoted to Buddhism. They are not as dirty as you think. And you just heard it from others, right?" "hearsay?" Ren Qi snorted coldly, "I've seen this in a temple in Jiangnan. An abbot kept seven or eight beautiful women, and they had a bunch of sons." "Oh, this is too abominable. He has committed a sin and God will punish him." A Ke said angrily. "No need for God to help." Ren Qi said calmly: "I hung him on the city wall. It was summer at that time, and the weather was so hot that you could kill a dog just by walking on the street. The monk had a lot of fat and could endure it. He screamed for several nights and died after being exposed to the sun for three days. When a person dies, they dry up and the skin droops down, making it look as if the whole person has melted.” A Ke nodded in agreement and said, "This is a lewd Buddhist temple. You deserve to be killed. You are doing this to eliminate harm for the people." "People from harm?" Ren Qi laughed out loud as if he heard a huge joke, startling the birds on the branches so much that they flapped their wings and flew away. In the face of A Ke's puzzled look, he explained: "At that time, I was supervising the case of the White Lotus Sect, killing a group and arresting another group. There was a Taoist priest in the area who was at odds with the abbot and had always wanted to take over the temple, so he gave me a box of yellow paper, and I conveniently labeled the monk as an accomplice of the White Lotus Sect and killed him together." "what?" A Ke frowned and said, "That Taoist priest has such a vicious heart. The monk was not prepared for this move." "Who said he didn't have it? He came to me and gave me two boxes of yellow slips." "Then shouldn't you turn around and deal with that Taoist priest?" "Why should I turn against that Taoist priest?" Ren Qi broke off a branch from a nearby tree and squeezed it in his hand. "Because he gave you more money than the Taoist priest, shouldn't you help whoever pays more?"

"wrong!" Ren Qi corrected A Ke's thoughts. "If I kill him, the money won't be mine? The Taoist priest was only willing to pay a box of gold for such a thing as killing people and seizing land, which means his family background is not as rich as the monk's. The monk can easily carry out two boxes of gold. If I squeeze a little more, can't I get more?" "Is this why you killed the monk and ransacked his house?" "That's about right. Anyway, when I hung him on the city wall, he even told me where his concubine's bellyband was." "Eh... this monk is really a piece of shit. It would be better to give all my wealth to the Taoist priest." "It's still wrong!" Ren Qi said coldly. "What went wrong again?" A Ke felt dizzy. "That Taoist priest was also killed by me." "what??" Ren Qi threw the branch aside. "Because I thought it was just a deposit, but I didn't expect it was all the Taoist's property. He didn't respect me, so I killed him." "Don't you need to give an explanation to others? Killing people like this?" "I am a master of the inner court. Who should I report to?" "An expert from the inner court?" A Ke's eyes widened, showing unprecedented tension. "My father told me to be careful of those imperial guards. They, they..." "That's right, the masters of the Imperial Palace are all a bunch of beasts and evil spirits, but this has nothing to do with me because I am no longer a master of the Imperial Palace." "Oh, I see." A Ke breathed a sigh of relief, "I was saying that you don't look like him." "Not like?" Ren Qi glanced at her and said, "So, what kind of person do I look like?" "You seem like a nice person." "Good guy?" Ren Qi laughed out loud. "Why are you laughing again? In the past ten days, you have never laughed once, but today, you have laughed twice." "Because anyone who hears two really great jokes in one day will laugh like I do." A'ke had been looking puzzled at first, but now she started laughing. "What's so funny about this?"

Putting away his smile, Ren Qi gestured with his hand, "Let's go. If you have anything you want to say or laugh about, we can talk about it when we get to the Thousand Buddha Temple." "But then, I will have to stay outside." A Ke said. "Because your father wouldn't let you enter the Thousand Buddhas Temple?" A Ke nodded, inevitably feeling aggrieved: "He often goes in and out of the Thousand Buddha Temple, but he never lets me go with him, and never allows me to ask what he does." Ren Qi did not respond, but recalled that in the more than ten days in the house, he had never seen the father that A Ke mentioned. A Ke would just go out for a while when it was time for dinner, and when she came back she would always bring back some wild vegetables and fruits. As for rice and pickled meat, they were hung high on the beams, as if they were enough to stockpile for half a year at a time. "What does your father do at the Thousand Buddhas Temple?" "I am not sure as well." A Ke rested her chin on her hand. "Dad never told me, you know, and he didn't allow me to ask. But I often smell the scent of herbs on him. Maybe he helps the monks of Qianfo Temple to take care of the herb garden." “Is there a medicinal garden in the Thousand Buddha Temple?” "I've never been to the Thousand Buddha Temple, how would I know?" A Ke blinked her eyes and said, "Anyway, my medical skills were passed down to me by my father. He himself said that he was already a very famous doctor when he was in the village. It’s just that I’ve never been back to the village. I’ve been here since I was born, so I don’t know what the specific situation is like in the village.” "The stockade?" Ren Qi squinted his eyes and looked at her, "So, you are Miao people?" "how?" A Ke shook her shoulders playfully and said in a deliberately southwestern accent, "I just changed into clothes that are convenient for walking in the mountains. Brother, can't you tell that I'm a Miao?" …… Although he was mentally prepared, when Yin Xiu pushed open the door, he was hit by a foul stench and a horrifying visual impact. In this small room, with the help of the light, he saw a piece of rotten flesh that was almost unrecognizable as a human lying on the bed. He was naked, with only a thin blanket covering his body. The hand exposed from the blanket was almost boneless, with distinct joints and bones showing under the ulcerated skin. One of his hands was hung up, and this was the hand that Yin Xiu saw through the window paper. This arm is covered with pinholes, especially at the elbow, which are so densely packed that it looks like a bug's nest. This was the great monk Fain, with his mouth mechanically wide open. The only part of his body that could move was his eyes, which were cloudy and lifeless, dotted with black spots. At this point, his breathing sound like a broken blower became more obvious, and it sounded like a death sentence to Yin Xiu's ears. Yin Xiu walked closer slowly and smelled the stench on Monk Fain mixed with the smell of herbs, which was extremely strange and pungent. Monk Fain's eyes turned and shone, and the sound of phlegm in his throat became more and more obvious. He seemed to have something to say to Yoon Soo.

Yin Xiu moved closer and saw Buddhist scriptures and rosary beads next to him, but these two things were useless to him at the moment. Neither Buddha nor good doctors could save him. In other words, it was because someone used herbs and acupuncture to keep him alive that he was able to live in this state. "I understand." Yin Xiu flipped through the scriptures while organizing his thoughts. "Among the monks in the Thousand Buddha Temple, there are some who don't want you to die, right? Just like the monk just now. They want you to live longer so that you can become the signboard of the Thousand Buddha Temple and promote the profoundness of Buddhism. It's no wonder. Now is the Dharma Ending Age. Taoists and monks are not doing well, so they have to perform some miracles to maintain the faith of others. Only in this way can we spread the Dharma and protect our disciples. Abbot Fayin, even if you don’t want to be, you are this miracle.” Fain's eyes rolled and there was a sound in his throat, as if he wanted to tell Yin Xiu something, but all that came out was a turbid and strange sound, like bubbles in a swamp. "It's a pity that you can't telepathically transmit messages, and I don't have the medical skills to make you speak." Yin Xiu sighed, "Although your body can't move, your mind is still clear. You must have a lot to say. I also have something to ask you, but unfortunately..." He suddenly saw the Buddhist scriptures at hand and came up with an idea. "so……" Yin Xiu handed the Buddhist scripture to Fa Yin and raised the wick a little higher. “If there is something you want to say on this page, just roll your eyes up, if not, I will skip it. If there is, I will point out the words to you one by one. When I see the word you want to say, you just roll your eyes up again. Can you do it, Abbot?" Monk Fain rolled his eyes upward. So Yin Xiu took off his gloves and began to slowly turn the pages of the book, pointing out the words on them to Fain. Even though it feels like a long time, it actually goes by very quickly. After a while, when Yin Xiu closed the scripture, he had obtained three words. Death, me, sand. "Kill me?" Yoon-su asked him, “Is this what you mean?” Fine's eyes rolled up and down, and he looked very excited. "Okay, I will rescue you from hell, not because we know each other, but because it's just something that can be done easily." Yin Xiu shook his sleeves and took a dagger in his hand. Fain stared at the dagger. The cold light reflected in his pupils, and it made his dead fish-like eyes appear bright. Yin Xiu stopped talking and pointed the knife at Fain's throat.

Just then, footsteps were heard outside the door again. With a creak, the door was pushed open. The person who came in was not a monk, but a man wearing a turban, whose clothing style was somewhat similar to that of White Phoenix and White Peacock. He was also a Miao man, named Sang Jiu. He was carrying a bamboo basket and began to bow as he stood at the door. "Good evening, Abbot." Sang Jiu's accent was the same as Bai Kongque's, which made Yin Xiu suspect that he was the Miao man who lived in seclusion in the Thousand Buddha Temple that the two sisters were looking for. At this time, Yin Xiu hid behind the screen and observed him carefully. Sang Jiu put the bamboo basket on the table, and took out a long tube, a scarf, and a bowl of steaming, green, and herbal porridge from it. After Sang Jiu put the porridge on the table, Fain's breathing suddenly became rapid, and the strange noise in his throat became louder. "Don't worry Master, it's hot." Sang Jiu took out the pipe from his clothes, knocked it on the table, shook out the old leaves, and filled it with new tobacco leaves. Then he took out a match and rubbed it on the sole of his shoe, and sparks appeared with a hissing sound. After a pause, he remembered that there was an oil lamp in front of him. "Hey, I forgot again, there's a fire here." Sang Jiu said this and still moved the match closer to his pipe. Nourishes... With a sigh, the smoke became misty and enveloped Sang Jiu's face. He shook his hands and put out the match. “Elder Wuchen told me that we must prevent fire and smoke here. This is a pure land of Buddhism and must be clean and pure. Tsk! How can smoking a pack of cigarettes be associated with uncleanliness? I love cleanliness very much. I wash my cigarette holders over and over again, without any tobacco oil on them. Moreover, I only smoke two packs a day, one pack in the morning and one pack here. Because I know you, Abbot, like to smell the smoke, but it's a pity that you can't move, otherwise I can still serve you a puff." After slowly finishing a pack of cigarettes, Sang Jiu stood up and touched the edge of the bowl with his hand. "Okay, it's already warm. It won't get any hotter." He took the long tube from the side and wiped it carefully with a white cloth. “It’s not easy, Abbot. We are all persevering and enduring hardships, but I know that our suffering is not even one ten-thousandth of yours. But Elder Wu Chen said that the time has not come yet. You and I still have to endure in this world and cannot just give up like this. This can only make you suffer, but as you said, Abbot, if I don’t go to hell, who will? Grit your teeth and bear it for a while longer.”

As he spoke, Sang Jiu stuffed the long tube into Monk Fain's toothless mouth, and at the same time skillfully moved the bowl closer to it. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle… Yin Xiu watched this scene from behind the screen. I just feel that this is the worst torture in the world. The monk Fa Yin's throat, which was originally dry, shrunk and collapsed, suddenly swelled up again as he drank the bowl of rice porridge. As the porridge water entered, it expanded and undulated, gradually becoming round and becoming like a drum. From time to time, green porridge flowed out from the corners of his mouth. At this time, Sang Jiu would stop for a moment, pick up a piece of cloth and wipe off the trace. During this process, because of the natural reaction of the throat and the flow rate, Monk Fain often had a reaction as if he was choking on water. The green porridge water sometimes came out of his nose and flowed to the corners of his mouth, and sometimes mixed with tears and slid out from the corners of his eyes. At this time, the dead wood-like body seemed to react again, shaking and trembling from time to time. However, Sang Jiu's patience was really good. When Fain choked out the rice porridge, he would always stop and clean up at the right time, without any impatience. After a while, as he drank the last drop of rice porridge, Fain's body shrank again like a deflated ball. Sang Jiu took back the tools and carefully helped Fain clean his body. Gulu... Yin Xiu suddenly saw that Fain's tongue seemed to move and extend outside his mouth. (End of this chapter)