Cultivation starts with time management

Now you want me to pretend to be you to deal with her, aren't you afraid that I'll cheat on you... No, I don't have that kind of habit, let alone do that kind of thing with that witch!

"Why not?" Zhizhi showed a look of surprise, "Ah Jing, I'm here to get the fragments of the sky-replenishing stone for you! You don't want me to devote all my energy because I'm worried about a fire in the backyard, right?"

"Stop talking." Kunlun Mirror interrupted him, "Anyway, it's impossible, and the impossible is impossible."

The mirror started to talk, Zhizhi was slightly startled when he heard it, and then quickly reacted.

Fortunately, Ah Jing is not a fierce weapon that men and women eat badly. Otherwise, if he meets Mrs. Jiang who doesn't know the truth, it will be like a sheep falling into a tiger's mouth... No, I always feel that the lady may not be deceived by Ah Jing. Not sure yet!

Thinking of this, Zhizhi didn't mention the matter of letting Ah Jing pretend to be himself, but just read the book silently at night, as if immersed in Buddhism.

Chapter 41 Sandalwood Coffin Formation

On the first day, study Buddhist scriptures.

On the second day, study Buddhist scriptures.

On the third day, watch the water, watch the water, what about the agreed plan to snatch the fragments of the sky-replenishing stone?Can't continue to indulge in it!

On the fourth day, study Buddhist scriptures.

Of course, what he read was not formal Buddhism, but some interesting Buddhist anecdotes... The main reason was that he was a newcomer and had to let the other party let go of his guard, so he couldn't do anything but read.

After coming and going, even the guardian monk in charge of the Sutra Pavilion became familiar with him.

The monks in this temple are very strange. Young monks look relatively normal, but adult monks often look haggard and haggard, as if they have been severely squeezed by 996.

Zhizhi also asked the guardian monk obliquely, but the other party just laughed and fooled around. It seems that this matter is indeed a secret that cannot be said in Jinchan Temple.

Even though it is a small temple, how can it hide so many secrets?

Ming Zhi kept sneering in his heart, but he didn't care on his face, he said goodbye to the guarding monk and left.

"A Jing, do you see any clues?" On the way back to the room, Ming Zhi asked Kunlun Jing quietly.

"Yeah." Kunlun Mirror replied, "This monk doesn't have any cultivation."

No cultivation base, which means a mortal body.

Whether it is the monk guarding the Sutra Pavilion, the monks passing by, or the old monk who is the abbot, there is no mana in his body, as if they are all ordinary people.

But even if you use your cerebellum, you know that if Jinchan Temple is full of monks with no magic power, and it is isolated from the outside world, it may have been directly bulldozed by hell.

Here... Akechi narrowed his eyes slightly.

In this temple, there must be a great horror hidden, so even Luo Daochang, the celestial suzerain, did not dare to force it, so he could only send people to lurk in secret, and slowly figure it out.

In this way, it is even more impossible to act rashly.

The old monk deliberately told me that no matter where I go, I can't go to the apse.It was so mysterious, it was clearly tempting me to go there—if the apse was really a forbidden place, how could there be a reason to tell people not to go without saying why?

Even if you make nonsense that the back is a place to worship the seniors in the temple and enshrine incense tablets, I'm too lazy to break in, okay?

He returned to the room calmly, and continued to study Buddhist scriptures.

……

After a few more days, Zhizhi still maintained a steady daily routine of borrowing books and reading, as if he really came here to study Buddhism with great concentration.

Suddenly someone came to visit from outside, saying that the host planned to meet him.

Zhizhi followed the monk to the main hall, and saw the old monk standing in the middle of the empty main hall as before, and asked him with a smile:

"Master Zhizhi lived in our temple for a few days, what's wrong with the hospitality?"

"Amitabha." Zhizhi recited the Buddha's name and said seriously, "As long as the monks have a calm mind, everything is practice, so why do you say 'the reception is not good'?"

The old monk was stunned for a moment, as if he had never thought that the foreign monk in front of him would actually say such Buddhist words, and he smiled after a while and said:

"That's good, that's good."

The two chatted for a few more words before the absent-minded old monk sent Ming Zhi away.

This foreign monk... Could it be that he really came to study Buddhism with great concentration?

It doesn't matter, since he didn't show any covetousness towards the apse, he can stay here as long as he wants, there are quite a few such residences in the temple.

But if he really harbors evil intentions... Hmph.

The old monk turned away with his hands behind his back, while Ming Zhi returned to the wing room, and immediately said to Kunlun Mirror:

"The time is ripe, let's go to the apse tonight!"

"How to say?" Kunlun Mirror asked in surprise, "How do you know that the time is ripe?"

"Such an extremely xenophobic escapist sect often has a certain period of investigation for new outsiders." Zhizhi said confidently, "The investigation period has ended, and no doubts have been found yet, but I dare not go down. The final judgment, so I was called to do a test."

"And my answer was watertight, which made him suspicious, so he let me go... Isn't this the best time to explore the apse?"

"These are all your subjective conjectures, right?" Kunlun Mirror really wanted to complain like this, but recently he got tired of reading Buddhist scriptures all the time, so he agreed.

Zhizhi made up his mind and asked the Kunlun Mirror to cast illusions on himself to make sure nothing would go wrong.

Then, he left the wing room at night and sneaked towards the apse.

In the direction of the main hall, the lights are brightly lit at this time, and a large number of monks in the temple gather here to start the evening class ceremony. The sound of wooden fish knocking and grand Sanskrit singing resounds throughout the temple, making people feel an otherworldly and ethereal feeling.

The timing I picked is not bad... Zhizhi thought to himself.

When I came to the edge of the apse, I saw that there was a long wall separating this area from the vicinity of the main hall.

The wall is about ten feet high, the surface is powder coated, smooth and difficult to climb, it may be helpless for ordinary people, but it is effortless for monks.

After Zhizhi scanned and confirmed that there was no formation trap, he took a relaxed vertical leap, quickly climbed over the wall, and fell to the ground.

Well, there's a strange smell in the air.

It's like sandalwood... It's not surprising that Buddhists use sandalwood to calm the mind.But is the flavor too strong?

Could it be that it is deliberately covering up the smell of another existence?

Thinking secretly in his heart, Zhizhi simply looked for the source of the sandalwood breath.

Soon, he came to the gate of a great hall.

This hall looks inconspicuous, without any plaque on it, it seems to be an old abandoned hall.

After reconfirming that there were no traps, Akechi stepped into it with an indifferent expression.

The next moment, the calm expression on his face could not be stretched any longer.

Because the temple is filled with a large number of sandalwood coffins.All the coffins were not sealed, and there were corpses displayed inside, all dressed in gray hats and monk clothes, with smooth and hairless heads, no doubt they were monks.

Zhizhi wandered among the coffins, and was shocked to find many familiar old faces:

Whether it is the monks guarding the gate and sweeping the floor, or the monks guarding the Sutra Pavilion, the corpses are all in these coffins.

The only thing missing is the presiding old monk.In addition, the bodies of all the little monks are not...

Thinking about it carefully, it's not surprising: if all the young monks in the temple were killed and replaced, then number two would naturally not be spared alone.

Wise eyes stared at the coffins, and he could confirm that these coffins were all magical artifacts, which were used to embalm and preserve the corpse.

Why kill all the adult monks and hide their bodies here, but leave all the children alone?

And those monks outside, what are they?

Chapter 42 Analysis

"So all the adult monks outside are fake?" Ming Zhi stared at the monk in the coffin, frowning and saying nothing.

The monk guarding the Sutra Pavilion would say a few words every day when he went to borrow books.

The other party's voice and smile are no different from ordinary people, but they never thought that the real body would die here!

Wait...it's not completely unremarkable.

Haggard appearance, haggard complexion, weak speech, more white eyes than pupils, these are all strange and obvious symptoms, but I have seen them many times before subconsciously ignoring them.

How are these symptoms related to fake monks?

After confirming that he did not leave any trace, Zhizhi went back to the east wing silently.

When passing by the main hall, I could hear that the ritual ceremony over there was not over yet, and no one seemed to find me.

In the early morning of the next day, Zhizhi woke up leisurely from his trance, and heard the little novice from outside knocking on the door.

The large array of Jinchan Temple has almost every-pervasive monitoring ability, and even Zhizhi asked a few words on the side of the road before, and the host could quickly know about it.If Jianxing visits frequently, the host must be suspicious.

Zhizhi has A Jing's illusion to protect himself, so he can go anywhere in the temple; but seeing the nature, the second secret work of the hell way, does not have such great ability, so it is only in the name of tidying up the Zen room for Master Zhizhi, every once in a while. Come here on the second day to clean it, and secretly send voice transmissions to exchange information.

"Number [-] went to the apse last night?" Seeing Xing sweeping the ground with a broom, he asked via voice transmission.

"Hmm." Zhizhi held the Buddhist scriptures in his hands and replied calmly, "How do you know?"

"Guess." Jianxing said, "It's already this time, if you don't go to find out, I really thought you were a monk and came to study Buddhism."

"As long as it doesn't reveal any flaws, it's fine if you get caught." Zhizhi heaved a sigh of relief.

"What's the scene in the apse?" Jian Xing continued to ask.

"Haven't you checked?" Zhizhi asked him back.

"Explored." Jian Xing said, "The reason why I practice this secret technique of concealing breath is to avoid the eyes and ears of the temple and explore the apse."

"It's just that the mysteries in the apse have not been clarified, which made me feel weak... Leaving aside this, what did you see in the apse on the [-]th? The two of us will confirm what we have seen with each other, check for omissions and make up for the gaps, so as soon as possible The analysis reveals that he is ugly and Yinmao."

The No. [-] secret worker stutters when speaking normally, but he can speak eloquently through sound transmission.Zhizhi smiled secretly in his heart, and said:

"In that case, I will speak first."

"I went to the apse and saw many sandalwood coffins."

"Exactly." Jian Xing agreed, "And the corpses of the monks in the temple are lying in the coffins!"

"That's right!" Zhizhi continued, "But there are only adult monks, but no child novice, and the corpse of the abbot is not among them."

"It's the same as what I saw." Jianxing said in a gloomy tone, "It's so strange that the huge Jinchan Temple has already been occupied by doves and magpies!"

"Although this is the case, there are still many doubts." Zhizhi said slowly, "First, since the murderer replaces the corpse, the corpse should be destroyed. Why are these corpses preserved and displayed in the apse deliberately? , without any cover-up?"

"I think it was for us to see on purpose." Jian Xing said, "The three caves of the cunning rabbit are layer upon layer. You are not allowed to see the first layer, but what you see is the second layer. The real third layer is still hidden below! "

"Secondly, there is the issue of quantity." Zhizhi continued, "If someone kills someone to replace him, why only kill adult monks and not children? Besides, the body of the abbot has not been seen, so is he still alive, or is he hiding alone?"

"I know a thing or two about this matter." Jian Xing replied, "The adult monks in the temple were all born inside this cave; while many child novice monks were adopted from the outside world."

"Oh?" Zhizhi asked in surprise when he heard the words, "Buddhism forbids marriage, how can you still have children?"

"You don't know about number nine." Seeing Xing replied with a sigh, "Ordinary Buddhist sects do not allow marriage, but recruit Buddhists from outside to practice in temples. If the age is up and the number of people is reduced, they will be recruited from outside." people, so that the number of monks in the monastery remains stable.”

"But Jinchan Temple is different. The monks are passed down from father to son, and son to father. After the child was born, his mother raised him in the small town at the foot of the mountain."

"When he reaches [-] years old, he will marry a wife and have children. When he reaches [-] years old, he will leave the small town and go up the mountain, come to the temple to become a monk, and become a monk to practice."

"This reciprocation, from generation to generation, makes Jinchan Temple no need to communicate with the outside world, and can also ensure the normal replacement of new and old monks in the temple."

"But for some reason, about seven or eight years ago, an earthquake suddenly occurred in this cave."

"Earthquake?" Zhizhi asked in surprise.

Your cave has already been isolated from Shenzhou, and it has become an independent world. How could there be earthquakes?

"Well, I don't know the specifics." Jian Xing Youyou said, "In short, the earthquake almost destroyed the entire town below the mountain, and none of the residents survived."

"Not only is there no source of monks, but even the supply of many materials is cut off. Jinchan Temple had to open the gate of the cave, ask for help from the Buddhist sects outside, and adopt children from the outside world to the temple to be raised as novice monks... Our sect It was also from then on that I discovered the traces of the Jinchan Temple and let me infiltrate it to spy on information."

"So that's how it is." Zhizhi suddenly understood.

In other words, the monks in Jinchan Temple were actually divided into two groups.

Some of them are adult monks, that is, the monks who were killed in the apse were born and raised in the cave here.

The other part is the young novice monks, all of whom were adopted from the outside world.

Thinking of this, a very natural answer emerged from the depths of my heart.

In the earthquake seven or eight years ago, there seemed to be something else hidden in it. It not only took the lives of the residents of the small town below the mountain, but also killed the monks in the Jinchan Temple.

And then... for some unknown reason, a large group of doves and magpies' nests came, pretending to be dead monks, and continued to open the Jinchan Temple.

"By the way, number two." Zhizhi suddenly asked, "Have you noticed that the monks outside all look very strange?"

"You mean no blood, right?" Jian Xing said, "Indeed, I thought they were practicing Deadwood Chan, but it's strange that they have no blood at all."