Black Lotus Concubine's Case-solving Notes

Feng Jia's sharp eyes were directed at Shen Shi: "The first problem was that they had an internal conflict. Some people didn't want to be accompanied by the Buddha for the rest of their lives, or they were dissatisfied with Shen Shi's control and planned to replace him, but failed. The bodies of those people are buried in the back mountain!"

"You mean the dozen or so lonely graves we saw that day?"

"That's right!"

"How did you know!"

Feng Jia said calmly, "Because those dozen lonely souls all had Soul-Suppressing Wheels placed on them, and this Soul-Suppressing Wheel is a mysterious sacrificial instrument in the cult. Legend has it that if you place this wheel on a grave, it can suppress the evil spirit of the person who died tragically, burying him forever underground, and never reincarnating! This Soul-Suppressing Wheel is usually only used on cult traitors, so those people must have betrayed Shen Shi and were killed in return!"

Someone asked, "What about the second fork?"

"The second problem was that someone in the fishing village at the foot of the mountain recognized him."

Feng Jia said, "Master Jingwu was a traveling barefoot doctor when he was young. He often went down the mountain to treat the villagers for free, so the villagers loved him very much and naturally knew his appearance. Shen Shi was afraid that he would be exposed, so he wanted to kill the villagers. But if he slaughtered the entire fishing village overnight, wouldn't it arouse suspicion?"

"So he went all out and placed cult-related items in the fishermen's homes. He then reported that the fishing village was hiding remnants of the cult. Jingzhao Prefecture immediately sent people to encircle and suppress them. The originally happy fishing village was struck by a disaster. Some died, some escaped. From then on, no one knew what the abbot of Cheng'en Temple really looked like!"

After a pause, Feng Jia said, "The third problem is that after absorbing the nutrients from the monks buried underground, the dead red elm tree came back to life! There are rumors that the resurrection of this thousand-year-old tree is the manifestation of the living Buddha. Cheng'en Temple has become famous because of this, and more and more people are rushing to see the Buddha's true appearance. Shen Shi began to get nervous, fearing that his crimes would be discovered, so he often placed strange Buddha statues in the rooms of people who offered incense, or held cruel nunnery rituals in front of them, just to make them retreat."

"The pilgrims returned home after being frightened, but they dared not tell the truth, because the Queen Mother believed in Buddhism. If this incident made the Queen Mother feel that she had no affinity with Buddhism, it would be a big trouble. Therefore, everyone tacitly kept silent!"

"This method was not very effective, because there have been a constant stream of pilgrims going up the mountain over the past ten years, so Shen Shi came up with a way to prevent future troubles."

Someone has already guessed it, and said in a trembling voice: "It is to announce to the world that the Buddha Bathing Festival will be held every ten years, and invite us, the noble ladies in the capital, to come and watch. In front of everyone, they repeated the same tricks, watching the cruel nunnery ceremony and placing strange stone statues, just to scare us away, but a few of us stayed, and even wanted to investigate further. So Shen Shi directly burned us to death with a big fire, which can not only eliminate future troubles, but also have a deterrent effect on future generations, so that they dare not come up again?"

"That's right!" Feng Jia said to Shen Shi, "Not only that, you used the money from incense offerings to build more meditation rooms and take in orphans and refugees. This was not out of kindness at all, but you used drugs and mind control to make them lose themselves to you and only obey you, just like the group of people behind you, becoming your puppets! Pawns of the evil cult!"

The smile on Shen Shi's mouth finally spread to his eyes. He looked at Feng Jia and said, "You are very smart, but unfortunately... you found out too late!"

His eyes were full of murderous intent. As long as he moved his fingers, the puppets behind him would pounce on him like crazy. No one could walk out of the fire with the truth.

Since then, his secret will be forever buried in this fire.

Shen Shi raised his head slightly, looking at the bright moon in the sky, and recalled the old monk's eyes full of compassion when he looked at him that night ten years ago.

He said, donor, you are wrong.

But what did he do wrong? He was just trying to survive! This is the law of the jungle, only those who are ruthless enough can survive to the end!

"Goodbye, Your Highness..."

Shen Shi slowly raised his right hand, with a slight curve at the corner of his mouth. Just as he was about to give orders, the neighing of horses suddenly came from the foot of the mountain, followed by the overwhelming shouts of the army.

Shen Shi was startled, and at this moment, an arrow flew through the crowd and pierced his right palm!

"Reinforcements are coming!"

At the foot of the mountain, torches were seen winding like snakes, with a bright yellow flag fluttering in the wind at the front and the sound of fighting continuing. The monks who had been entangled with Xie Haoxuan and his men were outnumbered and retreated up the mountain one after another, with wounds all over their faces and bodies.

"Kill the dog thief, protect the princess, kill him for me!"

A familiar male voice rang in her ears. The princess was startled for a moment, then suddenly hugged the child tightly with tears in her eyes. The maidservant beside the princess was overjoyed.

"It's the prince!"

"It's the prince who has come to save us!"

It turned out to be the troops of Xu Huai, the Prince of Yingchuan! Shen Shi was shocked. He ignored the severe pain in his palm and immediately shouted, "Go!"

The monk behind him had red eyes and rushed into the sea of ​​fire like crazy.

The one in front, wearing a yellow monk's robe, was about to chop a noble lady's face with the cold knife in his hand. Suddenly, a feather arrow pierced through the monk's chest from behind. Warm blood sprinkled on the noble lady's face like a fountain, and the monk's body, as stiff as a puppet, fell to the ground with a bang.

Then the second, the third...

Dense feather arrows shot in from the sky, and the monks were shot like hedgehogs, falling down one after another.

"Princess! Your subordinates are too late to rescue you!" Xie Haoxuan and his men also rushed up from the other side. His armor was covered in blood, and it was impossible to tell whether it was his or the enemy's.

Xu Huai and Xie Haoxuan attacked from both sides, their shouts of killing resounded through the sky, and the monks soon began to show signs of defeat.

Shen Shi thought he had fallen into a trap. That Miss Xie Jiu took advantage of his arrogance and was simply trying to delay time by telling him about the case!

More and more monks fell in front of him. Shen Shi knew that the situation was hopeless and took advantage of the chaos to escape. However, a long sword came towards his face at a tricky angle and he could not avoid it at all. Shen Shi could only reach out and grab the yellow-robed monk who was escorting him to escape, and use him as a cushion to push him away.

The sword was completely penetrated into the monk's body. The monk immediately vomited blood and fell to the ground. His dying body still tightly clung to Shi Xun's thigh to buy time for Shen Shi.

"You are really stubborn!" Shi Xun shook his head, stabbed the sword into the monk's heart, and then pulled it out violently.

Blood foam came out of the monk's mouth and his hands dropped weakly.

Shi Xun kicked the monk's hand away and wanted to chase him, but it was too late. Shen Shi's figure had already merged into the thick night and disappeared. Suddenly, he heard the sound of tiles breaking. Shi Xun looked up in surprise and saw a stone-blue figure flying onto the roof. The shadow was as fast as lightning and chased in the direction of Shen Shi's escape!

Xie Lanzhao?

Shi Xun frowned coldly.

On the other side, Shen Shi fled quickly. The night ahead was as thick as fog, making it impossible to see the road ahead. He walked in one direction for a long time until he could no longer hear the fighting in front of the side hall. The mountains and forests were silent, even the cries of crows at night were gone, as if he had walked into a land of death.

It's not right.

Shen Shi sensed a dangerous aura and couldn't help but stop. He took out an iron whip from his waist to protect himself and stared at the darkness.

The footsteps behind became clearer and clearer, someone was catching up.

He turned around immediately, feeling a chill down his spine, only to find that the person chasing him was actually just a little girl of thirteen or fourteen. His heart was at ease, and he couldn't help but look down on her. Seeing that the person had taken a broken sword from somewhere, he even said sarcastically, "How dare you come here alone? What do you want to do?"

"Of course..." Feng Jia's eyes flashed with coldness, "I'll take your life!"