77: A place for Buddhist meditation

Behind the three giant Buddha statues, there were three more divine statues.

However, these three divine statues were vastly different from the ones before.

They lacked any of the previous splendor, the golden and magnificent appearance, or the sense of solemnity.

The previous three divine statues, though subtly different in form and appearance, were largely similar.

But these latter three each had their own unique characteristics.

The only thing they had in common was their equally terrifying and dreadful appearance.

Forget the Buddha; even if someone were to jump out now and tell Jiang Lan that these were three evil spirits crawled out of Hell, Jiang Lan would not doubt it in the slightest.

In his previous life, Jiang Lan had visited many temples, and while the divine statues there might have had wrathful expressions, they were never as eerie and terrifying as these.

The surfaces of the divine statues were not painted with gold lacquer, displaying a bizarre purplish-black color.

The leftmost statue was massive, with bare feet treading on a mountain of corpses. Both of its hands held clay figurines, and its mouth was wide open, poised to stuff the figurines into its mouth.

The one on the far right also held a clay figurine, standing between its legs, with a long staff piercing the entire figurine, and its face wore an expression of insatiable desire.

The divine statue in the very center was relatively more normal, but its face was full of gloom, paired with a pair of scarlet eyes, giving one a chilling sensation.

Staring at the three divine statues for a long while, the discomfort in Jiang Lan's heart lessened considerably.

Since these divine statues were erected in the Mahavira Hall, they must have been made by humans.

They couldn't have appeared out of thin air, could they?

Since they were man-made, that means these three divine statues were also Buddhas?

If he had to guess, Jiang Lan could only tell that the one on the far right was probably a Joyous Buddha.

What about the other two?

A Man-Eating Buddha? An Unhappy Buddha?

After standing in place for a while longer, Jiang Lan turned and continued through the Mahavira Hall.

Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided not to research it for now.

Bao Jing used to be a novice monk in Bao Ping Temple; he must know the origin of these three divine statues. He could just ask him when he returned.

Exiting through the back door of the Mahavira Hall, Jiang Lan walked for some distance.

Before him, a row of wing rooms was scattered in an orderly fashion, appearing to be the monks' resting and lodging quarters.

It was strange, really; the structure of Bao Ping Temple truly resembled a vase.

The positions of these two rows of wing rooms extended outwards, like the handles of a vase.

Jiang Lan frowned.

As soon as he arrived here—no, as soon as he saw those three purplish-black divine statues—he felt that this place was eerie, no matter how he looked at it.

Having hunted so many demons, Jiang Lan was now extremely sensitive to the aura of demons.

His intuition told him that something was wrong with this place.

And it wasn't just a little wrong.

Jiang Lan continued to walk a few steps forward, attempting to find the source of his discomfort.

Just then, a bald monk in a monk's robe walked out of one of the wing rooms and headed straight for Jiang Lan.

“Patron, please return. This place is for our pure cultivation, and it is inconvenient to receive outside guests.”

Jiang Lan sized up the newcomer.

He was under thirty, ordinary-looking, with two scars from the vow of ordination (jieba, Buddhist ordination marks) on his head.

Seeing that Jiang Lan wasn't leaving, a barely perceptible flicker of annoyance appeared in the monk's eyes.

“Patron, please return.”

Jiang Lan grinned.

He was currently wearing casual clothes, and although he had a saber at his waist, he wasn't as conspicuous as he would be in official attire.

But wearing casual clothes didn't mean he was an ordinary person.

“Monk, is this place of pure cultivation truly quiet?”

The monk frowned slightly.

“What do you mean by that, Patron?”

Jiang Lan pondered for a moment.

“I feel that your place of pure cultivation is probably not very quiet.”

“This is a sacred Buddhist site! How dare you speak such nonsense?!”

The monk's face was full of anger, truly resembling a wrathful Vajra.

“Clang!”

Jiang Lan directly drew his saber and held it to the monk's neck.

“The Demon Suppression Division is handling a case. Be smart and scram.”

The monk's face, originally full of anger, instantly turned deathly pale, his eyes filled with terror.

However, this expression of fear lasted only for an instant.

Before even two breaths had passed, anger once again crept onto his cheeks.

“This is a place of pure cultivation for Buddhists. Without the abbot's command, no one is allowed to enter!”

Jiang Lan lowered his saber, an expression of 'I knew it' on his face.

If it was just suspicion before, now he could confirm that there was a problem within Bao Ping Temple.

If it were a normal temple, this place would at most be a dormitory plus a refectory.

They might not receive outsiders, but even if someone forced their way in, they would probably politely ask the person to leave, certainly not act like this.

Moreover, he had already stated his identity.

Who gave him the guts to openly defy the Demon Suppression Division?

Sheathing his saber, Jiang Lan took half a step forward and delivered a palm strike to the back of the monk's neck.

The monk had no time to react, only feeling a dizzying sensation before the world plunged into darkness.

Jiang Lan grabbed his monk's robe and hoisted the man onto his shoulder.

Having done all this, Jiang Lan prepared to take the man back.

But before he could even walk two steps, the doors of the various wing rooms were pushed open almost simultaneously, and rows of bald monks quickly emerged from the wing rooms, blocking Jiang Lan's path.

This group of monks varied in height, weight, and build, but the one thing they had in common was that their faces were all filled with anger.

“Put down Huijue!”

“Put down Huijue!”

The crowd spoke in unison.

Jiang Lan's expression remained unchanged, and he drew his saber again.

“Clang!”

The long saber was unsheathed.

Jiang Lan concentrated his Qi in his Dantian.

“The Demon Suppression Division is handling a case. Anyone who dares to take another step forward will be killed without mercy!”

As Jiang Lan's words fell, the monks who were originally charging forward all stood rooted to the spot, as if under a paralyzing spell, completely motionless.

The angry expressions on their faces almost simultaneously turned to terror.

Jiang Lan's eyes narrowed slightly, and without hesitation, he took off running.

With the Flood Dragon Swim activated, in an instant, he disappeared, carrying Monk Huijue...

Half an hour later, in the Demon Suppression Division's Interrogation Room.

Jiang Lan threw Huijue onto the ground and said to Yu Zhi, who was nearby, “Tie him up.”

“Boss, why did you bring a monk back in such a hurry?”

“Just tie him up, don't ask so many questions.”

Hearing this, Yu Zhi immediately shut up and began to tie the man with a rope.

And Jiang Lan sat on a small stool, watching silently.

It wasn't that he didn't want to explain to Yu Zhi; it was just that explaining would be a bit troublesome.

Jiang Lan brought this monk back for only one purpose.

To see if this monk was a demon.

Although there were quite a few monks in Bao Ping Temple, they were all ordinary people who hadn't entered the Dao.

Although their behavior was strange, Jiang Lan couldn't say for sure what their situation was.

So he simply planned to rely on the System to identify the monk's identity.

If the System prompted that this Monk Huijue was a demon, he would return to Bao Ping Temple and go on a killing spree.

If there was no prompt, then they would reconsider.

As for why he didn't just kill everyone earlier... what if they weren't demons?

Slaughtering nearly a hundred civilian monks?

He had just said he wanted to bring peace to the world, and then immediately became the biggest source of instability. Wasn't that just playing around?

“Boss, he's tied up.”

Jiang Lan pointed to the corner of the Interrogation Room.

“Get the whip and lash him.”