Chapter 116 Chen's Fury

Jiang Chen walked into the meditation courtyard, with Abbot Kuming following behind, truly looking as miserable as his name suggested.

By now, a group of monks had gathered behind them, but without Abbot Kuming's order, no one dared to step forward.

Jiang Chen casually pushed open a meditation room door; the interior was plain and simple, containing nothing but bedding and the daily necessities of a monk.

He pushed open another, and it was the same.

Jiang Chen turned his head to look and discovered that most of the monks had expressions of righteous indignation and extreme anger.

A few others looked pleased, as if they approved of Jiang Chen's actions.

As for Abbot Kuming and several temple Elders, their expressions appeared somewhat nervous, though they feigned calmness.

Creak!

The door to a meditation room was opened, revealing the scene inside.

Seeing the scene inside, Jiang Chen frowned slightly.

Seeing Jiang Chen's expression, Abbot Kuming's heart tightened as well.

"What is going on here?" Jianzhen asked, looking inside with some shock.

Abbot Kuming's legs went weak, and two monks immediately stepped forward to support him.

"Don't support me, I can walk!" Abbot Kuming stood up, trembling.

"It's my rheumatic legs, an old ailment that flares up from time to time," Abbot Kuming explained.

Then, as if resigning himself to his fate, he looked into the room.

But when Abbot Kuming saw the situation inside the room, his heart, which had been in his throat, suddenly settled back down. He felt much more relaxed, and his rheumatic legs were suddenly fine.

Abbot Kuming turned his head abruptly, his hair bristling with rage—forgetting that he had no hair and no crown.

Regardless, he said very angrily, "Who did this! Ku Cha, this is your meditation room, isn't it!"

"Gulp!"

The monk named Ku Cha swallowed his saliva and said timidly, "Senior Brother Abbot, I was just confused for a moment. I broke the precepts and secretly ate a chicken, but I swear, I bought this chicken from the commoners! Please, Senior Brother Abbot, spare me this one time!"

Abbot Kuming closed his eyes, appearing both pained and ruthless regarding the precepts.

"You are already a person who serves as an abbot, yet you could commit such a transgression! According to the temple precepts, you should be punished with one hundred strokes of the cane and must copy the precepts scriptures one hundred times. Do you accept the punishment?"

Ku Cha nodded quickly, "I accept the punishment, I accept it!"

Jiang Chen looked at the half-eaten chicken in the meditation room and said nothing.

He simply closed the door and continued his investigation.

However, he found nothing unusual until he was almost done searching.

Until the very last door, which was bolted from the inside.

"Who lives in here?" Jiang Chen asked.

"It is my Junior Brother, Ku Xing. Where is Ku Xing?"

Ku Cha hurriedly said, "Replying to Senior Brother Abbot, Senior Brother Ku Xing went out today, saying he had urgent business."

"I see," Abbot Kuming turned back.

"Daoist Priest Jiang, my Junior Brother is not here today. Why don't you move to another place? I will prepare a vegetarian meal to entertain you, and we can wait for my Junior Brother to return."

Jiang Chen sneered, "Does the monk take me for a fool? This door is bolted from the inside. If the person has gone out, how was the bolt slid into place from the inside?"

"This..." Abbot Kuming was speechless and hurriedly stepped forward to knock on the door.

"Junior Brother, are you in there? If you are, please open the door. We have distinguished guests today!"

Jiang Chen was not afraid of this monk tipping anyone off.

After a moment, there was movement inside, and then the door was opened.

A middle-aged monk with sleepy eyes and loose, disheveled robes walked out.

As he walked out, he didn't forget to straighten his clothes.

"Senior Brother Abbot, what distinguished guest has come to the temple?"

"This is the direct disciple of the Maoshan Sect, Daoist Priest Jiang Chen, and this is Dharma Master Jianzhen of the Vinaya School."

"So it is the high-level Daoist from the Maoshan Sect and the Dharma Master from the Vinaya School. My apologies, my apologies. I am Ku Xing; I have met the two of you."

Ku Xing pressed his palms together in a salute.

"Monk, how can you sleep so soundly in such sweltering heat?" Jiang Chen mocked.

"Daoist Priest, you misunderstand. I was practicing the Sleep Zen method in my meditation room, which is why my clothes are disheveled. Please forgive me, Daoist Priest."

Jiang Chen paced into the meditation room, seeing that it was tidy with very few miscellaneous items; apart from a prayer mat, a bed, and some stacked clothes and prayer beads on the side, there was nothing else.

It was as if it were truly in accordance with his name, Ku Xing: tempering his nature to attain the truth.

"Your Excellency is truly as frugal as an ascetic monk."

Ku Xing also said openly, "Apart from cultivation, I have no interest in external things."

"Is that so?" Jiang Chen asked suddenly.

Seeming to sense that there was more to Jiang Chen's words, Ku Xing asked in confusion, "Daoist Priest, what do you mean by that? I truly do not understand."

Abbot Kuming came out to smooth things over, "Amitabha, since Daoist Priest Jiang has finished looking, why don't we move to the main hall?"

"What's the rush? Isn't there still a grand performance to come?"

Abbot Kuming's heart skipped a beat, and Ku Xing's expression, which had been calm yet slightly resentful, gradually became somewhat nervous.

Jianzhen followed him inside; the room was indeed empty.

But when he stepped on the blue bricks on the floor, he immediately discovered something wrong.

The feeling of stepping on this brick was somewhat hollow!

But before he could voice this discovery.

Clang!

A long sword suddenly left its sheath, drawing two intersecting streaks of light within the narrow room.

Boom!

A stone slab on the floor was sliced off and then fell down without the slightest resistance, revealing the hollow darkness beneath the floor.

"Th-this is..." Abbot Kuming was so shocked he couldn't speak.

"Ku Xing, what is going on here?" Abbot Kuming asked with a dark face.

"Why is there such a secret chamber in your room?"

"Senior Brother Abbot, I don't know what's going on either! This really has nothing to do with me! Who dug a secret chamber in my room!"

And at this moment, faint movements could be heard from below.

"Then this person really went to great lengths, specifically digging such a hole in Your Excellency's room and setting up a sound-insulating Formation."

Jiang Chen said coldly, then jumped down first.

After he went down, he saw a shocking scene.

Below was a square-shaped secret chamber, with walls built of blue stone slabs and candles lit on the walls.

Inside the secret chamber, there were more than a dozen women with disheveled clothes, covered in dirt, and with dull eyes, curled up in the corner!

And in another corner, there was a corpse that had already turned into white bones.

These women's eyes were completely numb; seeing someone come down, they only instinctively felt fear and kept squeezing into the corner.

The girl furthest outside hugged her legs tightly with two withered arms, burying her head into her chest with force.

It seemed that in this way, she wouldn't have to see the filth and darkness of the outside world.

Inside the secret chamber, there was also scattered, messy rice and flour food on the ground, though there was very little left.

Jiang Chen's eyes were dark, and waves surged in the depths of his eyes.

After Jianzhen came down and saw such a scene, he was also too shocked to speak.

Abbot Kuming grabbed the trembling Ku Xing and dragged him into the secret chamber, where he saw so many women with disheveled clothes.

He hurriedly looked away, chanting about sin.

"Ku Xing, what is going on here!"

"I-I-I, I don't know what's going on either! Who is this? Who threw these women into my secret chamber!"

Jiang Chen was furious.

"You admit this is your secret chamber!"