At this moment, inside the Hall of the King of Hell.
Perhaps due to excessive excitement, Jiang Zhiqing fainted while crying and slumped softly into Li Zhao's arms.
As she fainted, her fingers tightly grasped Li Zhao's collar, and there were still tears on her face. She looked even more vulnerable than when she was first rescued.
Daoist Yuanzheng squatted beside her, felt her pulse, and observed her body. Then he said, "Her soul has indeed returned. However, since it has been lost for so many years, she will be fine after some time of recuperation."
Li Zhao asked, "Do we need to light the life - lamp to stabilize her soul?"
Daoist Yuanzheng replied, "That's not necessary. She only lost a wisp of her soul, unlike someone who lost all three souls and seven spirits, which is why a soul - stabilizing lamp was needed."
Hearing this, Li Zhao felt relieved.
He looked outside. Jiang Mian and Mo Zhizhang had been outside for a long time and hadn't come in yet. He wondered what they were doing.
...
The patrolling monk checked every corner of the temple and, after confirming that there was no problem, returned to the back courtyard.
There was a door between the back courtyard and the main temple. The monk stood outside the door, raised his hand and knocked three times. Then a voice came from inside, "I recall the past, countless eons."
The monk outside replied, "Among men there is a noble Buddha, named the Sun - Moon Bright Lamp."
The door creaked open, and the monk outside was welcomed in. After the monk entered, another monk poked his head out from inside the door, looked outside for a moment, as if to confirm if anyone was following.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew. It seemed that sand was blown into his eyes. He let out a soft cry, raised his hand to rub his stinging eyes. After finally getting the foreign object out, he could barely open his eyes.
There was no one outside. He quickly closed the door, returned to the futon behind the door, sat cross - legged, and closed his eyes to silently chant scriptures.
He had no idea that while he was blinded by the sand, a yellow dog had already quietly slipped in behind him and hidden in the darkness.
As for Mo Zhizhang and Jiang Mian, they were hiding in a blind spot, quietly waiting for the yellow dog to bring them back news.
Breaking into the monk's quarters at night was quite dangerous. Even though Mo Zhizhang was excellent at light - footed skills, it was still a bit inconvenient to move with Jiang Mian.
Jiang Mian and the yellow dog were extremely in sync. They had been through many things together. So she let the yellow dog go into the courtyard first to scout and then act according to the situation.
Seeing the yellow dog successfully slip in through the door, Mo Zhizhang squinted his eyes and said to Jiang Mian,
"Big Huang is really intelligent. You only need to say it once, and it can understand your intention. Such a smart dog is rare in the world."
Jiang Mian didn't catch his underlying meaning at all. She put her hands on her hips and said proudly, "Of course. I've raised Big Huang since it was a puppy. Daoist Yuanzheng also said that Big Huang is the Heavenly Howling Dog reincarnated. It's naturally smart."
The Heavenly Howling Dog reincarnated?
Right. He had also heard Yuanzheng call the yellow dog that just now.
It seemed that in the eyes of Jiang Mian and Yuanzheng, the yellow dog wasn't just a dog but a silent person.
After experiencing so many strange things, a ridiculous thought suddenly popped into Mo Zhizhang's mind.
Could there really be a person inside the yellow dog?
Mo Zhizhang let out an almost inaudible chuckle, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.
Whether there was or not, he could find out by testing it later.
The yellow dog's padded paws made it walk silently. And because of its small size, as long as it hid in the shadows, no one would notice it. Xiao Jingcheng controlled the yellow dog's body and crept forward along the wall.
Dogs have a sensitive sense of smell and can smell many different scents and hear many different sounds at the same time.
When he reached the first monk's quarters, Xiao Jingcheng sniffed outside the door. He already had a judgment in his mind. Then he walked around the other quarters and couldn't help but sneer.
This Buddhist temple was definitely lying. In order to refuse them to stay overnight, they said that the courtyard was full of disaster - fleeing villagers. In fact, there was no one in these quarters at all.
Since there was no one, why were they so vigilant and not let others enter the courtyard?
Even to enter or leave the courtyard, one had to answer a secret code to open the door. What secret was hidden here?
The black beady eyes became extremely sharp at this moment. The nose twitched slightly, and the ears were pricked up high, trying to identify the slightest abnormality among the complicated scents and sounds.
There was a voice coming from a monk's quarters in the distance. The dog's ears caught a faint sound, and he immediately ran towards it.
As he got closer, the sound became clearer.
"Master, don't worry. Anan just went to check. The Hall of the King of Hell is quiet. Those donors must have gone to sleep. They will leave early tomorrow morning."
After a moment, another slightly old voice sounded inside the room, "When you send them away tomorrow, He Feng must personally escort them down the mountain. Only after seeing them leave can you come back."
The other person said, "Master, I don't quite understand. They are just a family fleeing from disaster. Why are you so nervous?"
"Cough, cough, cough." The old voice coughed a few times and continued, "This place is only ten miles away from Tianyuan County. If they go a little further, they can find an inn to rest in the city. But they chose to stay in the Buddhist temple and asked you about Tianyuan County. I think they must have been there and found that there were officers and soldiers, so they turned back to Ling'an Temple."
Xiao Jingcheng paused.
This old monk was really accurate in his guess. He must not be an ordinary person.
"Moreover, I had a bad feeling as soon as it got dark today. Soon after, someone came to borrow a place to stay. I think these people are not simple. It's better to send them away as soon as possible."
"This feeling... is so similar to what happened eighteen years ago. Amitabha."
The old monk murmured and let out a deep sigh.
But Xiao Jingcheng outside the door was shocked.
Eighteen years ago?!
In a flash, Xiao Jingcheng suddenly thought that it was said that Master Huaihai of Ling'an Temple had been traveling and preaching for many years and had never returned to the temple. Could it be that this old monk Huaihai had never left at all, and the so - called traveling and preaching was just an excuse?!
If so, it could explain why, although there were so many empty quarters in the back courtyard, the people in the temple said that they were full and didn't let others get close to the back courtyard easily.
So, this was the big secret hidden in Ling'an Temple.
The young monk in the room asked, "Eighteen years ago? Master, did something big happen eighteen years ago?"
The old monk smiled, "It's nothing. Well, since there's nothing else, you can all go back to your own quarters and rest."
A moment later, the door of the monk's quarters opened from the inside. The young monk who had received Jiang Mian and the others before and the patrolling monk walked out one after another and went back to their own quarters.
After confirming that both of them had entered their rooms, Xiao Jingcheng patrolled around the back courtyard, found a small hole big enough for the yellow dog's body to pass through, and successfully ran out. He returned to the hiding place of Jiang Mian and Mo Zhizhang.