Jiang Mian was actually extremely anxious. The appearance of Taoist Yuanzheng brought her a glimmer of hope. Just as she was about to lead Taoist Yuanzheng into the cave, someone placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Mu Jin." Li Zhao gave her a meaningful look. "The Taoist priest is soaking wet. Why don't you first lead him into the cave to take shelter from the rain, change into some dry clothes, and drink some hot water to warm up before making other plans?"
Jiang Mian was taken aback and only then remembered that Taoist Yuanzheng was dripping wet, his body soaked by the heavy rain.
Li Zhao bent down and whispered in her ear, "The situation here is too chaotic. We need to find a way to calm the villagers down and get them back into the caves. Otherwise, there might be trouble."
Jiang Mian knew that Li Zhao was right. She took a deep breath and said to Taoist Yuanzheng, "Priest, this way, please."
Taoist Yuanzheng nodded and followed Jiang Mian towards the cave.
"Hey, why is the priest leaving?"
Li Zhao said to the villagers, "Everyone, would you please listen to my advice?"
"Your lives were saved by the Crown Prince. His greatest wish is for all of you to be safe. If you fall ill because of getting wet in the rain, wouldn't it be a waste of the Crown Prince's painstaking efforts?"
"You should have also heard the priest say that there is a purple aura covering Qianren Mountain. The Crown Prince is the heir apparent of the Great Sheng. He has the protection of the heavens and will surely be fine."
After Taoist Yuanzheng's words, the villagers' expressions changed. Persuaded by Li Zhao, they finally gave up the act of kneeling and kowtowing in the rain and returned to the caves one after another.
Xiao Wuchen sincerely said, "Mr. Li really has a way. No wonder the elder brother highly respects you and specifically told me to consult you on everything."
Li Zhao smiled and said, "The villagers are simple - minded. They do what they think. If we use force on them, it might backfire. If we persuade them nicely, they will surely understand."
Xiao Wuchen said, "I've learned my lesson."
The villagers really took Li Zhao's words to heart and returned to the caves. After changing their wet clothes, they still felt that they wanted to do something for Xiao Jingcheng. They got together and discussed for a while. Suddenly, one person said,
"They all say that the purple aura comes from the east, and the purple aura is an auspicious one. If we make a statue of the Crown Prince and worship and pray for him every day, will His Highness wake up soon?"
Everyone thought this was a feasible idea.
One person approached a middle - aged man with dark skin and rough hands. "Old Liu, don't you know how to do wood carving? Please carve some statues of the Crown Prince. We'll secretly worship them and never let others know."
The man called "Old Liu" pondered for a while and said, "Okay."
There were plenty of trees in the mountains. Although the heavy rain had made the trees wet, it wasn't impossible to find dry wood. There were always shady corners, and finally, they managed to collect quite a lot.
The villagers secretly carved many statues of Xiao Jingcheng and engraved the words "Crown Prince of the Sheng State" on the back. Almost every family had one. They would take it out to worship and pray whenever they had time, respecting it even more than the town god and the earth god.
After all, the town god and the earth god hadn't protected them, while the Crown Prince had truly saved their lives!
But all these were later events.
On the other side, Taoist Yuanzheng put on the dry clothes that Qi Wen had found. After changing, he finally felt warm.
He didn't waste any time and immediately went to find Jiang Mian.
"Did Lady Jiang have something important to tell this poor priest just now?" Taoist Yuanzheng hadn't forgotten Jiang Mian's anxious expression as if she was about to cry.
Jiang Mian nodded vigorously. "Yes. Priest, you may not know that the Crown Prince single - handedly saved the villagers of Dongli Town and several nearby villages, saving countless lives. But the heavens didn't favor him. He..."
Just thinking of the wound on Xiao Jingcheng's head, Jiang Mian felt so sad that she couldn't go on.
Something nudged her leg. She looked down and saw the yellow dog wagging its tail and snuggling up to her, as if comforting her.
Taoist Yuanzheng followed her gaze and met the yellow dog's dark eyes. A chill ran down his back, and he quickly coughed twice.
Jiang Mian steadied her emotions and continued, "When he was saving people, he was accidentally hit on the head by a floating log. The injury wasn't serious, but he has been in a coma for a day. Could the priest please take a look at him again?"
Taoist Yuanzheng said seriously, "Lady Jiang, don't be anxious. This poor priest said that since we're fated to meet again, now that the heavens have led me here, I won't ignore this. Just lead me there."
There were three bonfires lit in the cave, so the temperature was a bit high. However, it was precisely because of this that the cave remained dry, preventing Xiao Jingcheng's wound from worsening. In fact, it had already started to heal.
This wasn't the first time Taoist Yuanzheng had seen the comatose Xiao Jingcheng. After standing still, he coughed lightly and said, "Let this poor priest take a look."
He squatted down, sized up Xiao Jingcheng's body by the light, held his right hand in front of him, quickly calculated with his fingers, and mumbled something in his mouth.
The yellow dog had also followed them into the cave and was squatting beside Jiang Mian. Xiao Jingcheng squinted at the mysterious - looking Taoist Yuanzheng.
He had woken up early that morning. He had wanted to stay with Jiang Mian to comfort her, but unexpectedly, he received a message from Sang Biao saying that there was a suspicious - looking man at the foot of the mountain.
Xiao Jingcheng was extremely sensitive to his surroundings. Hearing that there was a sneaky person here, he immediately led the dogs to investigate. He didn't expect that the suddenly - appeared person was actually an old acquaintance.
When Jiang Mian found Taoist Yuanzheng and asked him to cast a spell to bring his soul back, he had already fallen into a coma and knew nothing about what was happening outside. However, Taoist Yuanzheng's yellow talisman was really useful in helping him conceal his appearance, which showed that he really had some skills.
He was really curious about how Taoist Yuanzheng would explain his current situation to Jiang Mian.
Jiang Mian stared at Taoist Yuanzheng nervously. Seeing that he stopped his actions, she couldn't wait to ask, "Priest, how is it? Is there a solution?"
Taoist Yuanzheng subconsciously glanced at the yellow dog at Jiang Mian's feet. The yellow dog bared its teeth menacingly at him. He coughed twice and said, "Previously, I told Lady Jiang to use those three life - lamps to stabilize the Crown Prince's soul. Did Lady Jiang do as I said?"
Jiang Mian was taken aback.
Could it still be related to that incident?
She couldn't help scratching the back of her head and said, "I did follow the priest's instructions and intended to let the life - lamps burn for three days. But for some reason, the Crown Prince woke up earlier."
Mentioning this, she couldn't help thinking of Xiao Jingcheng's strange behavior at that time. Frowning, she said, "When he woke up, he had lost all his memories. He couldn't speak or walk, and he even thought he was a dog."