81: When one person succeeds, everyone in the family will prosper.

On a street near Bao Ping Temple.

Jiang Lan walked to the spot where he had previously met Yao Banxian.

Yao Banxian was no longer there; his stall had been replaced by someone else, with a banner displaying the four characters ‘Iron-Mouthed Prediction’.

Jiang Lan walked over.

The stall owner was a middle-aged man, who brightened when he saw Jiang Lan approaching him.

“Young friend, are you asking about your fortune or your future?”

“Neither,” Jiang Lan said. “I want to ask, where is Yao Banxian, who was here before?”

“I don’t know, go, go, go, don’t delay my business.” The middle-aged man, hearing that Jiang Lan wasn’t asking about anything, waved his hand impatiently, intending to shoo Jiang Lan away.

“Clang, clang, clang—”

Jiang Lan tossed a few copper coins onto the divination stall. “I have something to ask him. If you know him, brother, please do me a favor.”

Seeing the money, the man’s impatience vanished, replaced by a wide smile.

“I didn’t hear clearly just now, young friend, who are you looking for?”

“Yao Banxian. He was in this very spot two hours ago.” Jiang Lan then briefly described Yao Banxian’s appearance.

The middle-aged man listened, then repeatedly waved his hand, saying:

“Impossible, absolutely impossible. This spot has always been mine. I paid the Sir my share, and I’ve been here for so many years. I’ve never heard of any Yao Banxian. Young friend, could you be mistaken?”

The middle-aged man’s words were firm and decisive, certain that no one else but him would be in this spot.

Jiang Lan took a deep breath.

“In that case, thank you, brother.”

With that, Jiang Lan turned and walked to the stall opposite, bending down to place a few copper coins.

The stall owner was an old man with yellow teeth, lacking any immortal demeanor.

However, Jiang Lan remembered that when Yao Banxian called out to him, this old man was also across the street.

“Old Sir, do you remember me?”

The old man looked up, glanced at Jiang Lan, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

“You are?”

“Two hours ago, I was having my fortune told at the stall across the way.”

The old man’s confusion deepened.

“Young brother, you must be mistaken. Li Laoer only set up his stall half an hour ago, and there was no one across from me two hours ago. And I haven’t seen you today either.”

Jiang Lan stood rooted to the spot, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

Could it be that he really encountered an expert?

As for the two stall owners colluding to deceive him, Jiang Lan didn’t think so.

How much benefit would they need to receive for them to specifically remember Jiang Lan, just to wait for him to come over and trick him once?

“Boss, who are you looking for?” Yu Zhi asked. “Do you need me to call the brothers to help search?”

Jiang Lan snapped out of his thoughts.

He shook his head. “Let’s go. First, to Bao Ping Temple.”

Right now, even finding Yao Banxian would be useless.

And since he had disappeared, it proved that he did not want Jiang Lan to find him.

So, compared to Yao Banxian, it was more important to first deal with the matters inside Bao Ping Temple.

The group arrived at the entrance of Bao Ping Temple.

Jiang Lan frowned slightly; the temple gate before him was tightly shut.

He turned to Huijue. “What time does this place usually close?”

Huijue responded without thinking:

“Mid-You Shi, or early Xu Shi when there are many pilgrims.”

Jiang Lan looked at the sky. When they left the Demon Suppression Division, it was only early Shen Shi. From the Demon Suppression Division to Bao Ping Temple, it was only a little over a quarter of an hour’s walk.

It wasn’t time yet, but the temple gate was tightly shut.

Jiang Lan thought of a saying:

“If you do nothing wrong, you fear no knocking at your door.”

Jiang Lan’s eyes flickered, and he stepped back a few paces.

Immediately after, to the astonished gazes of Bao Jing and Huijue, he stepped forward and kicked the temple gate fiercely.

“Thud!”

One half of the nearly one and a half zhang high temple gate crashed down, hitting the ground with a dull roar.

The loud noise attracted passersby, who stopped to watch.

“Holy crap! Awesome, Boss!” Yu Zhi exclaimed, his eyes full of admiration.

“amitabha,” Bao Jing said, hands pressed together, reciting softly.

Huijue was stunned. “Benefactor, you… this…”

Jiang Lan stepped on the temple gate, glancing back at Huijue.

“What about me?”

“Gulp…” Huijue swallowed with difficulty. “No, no… nothing.”

By then, passersby had already gathered to watch the commotion.

Without Jiang Lan needing to say anything, Yu Zhi quickly found his role, stepping forward in front of the crowd, hands on his hips.

“The Demon Suppression Division is handling a case. All of you, get far away. If you like to watch a commotion, I’ll take you to the Demon Suppression Division for a good commotion.”

Upon hearing ‘Demon Suppression Division,’ everyone immediately turned and ran, scattering like birds and beasts.

Are you kidding? They would rather enter the yamen than the Demon Suppression Division.

That place, it was easy to get in, but to come out of it completely unharmed, that was difficult.

Seeing everyone run away, Yu Zhi was quite pleased with himself.

He had also risen in status.

When he was an Unpaid Servant, he didn’t have the confidence to scare passersby like this on the street.

But now his boss was a Demon Suppression Envoy; with his identity established, his confidence naturally grew.

Not only was he confident, Yu Zhi also felt that he was expanding terrifyingly.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan didn’t stop him. It was indeed inappropriate for people to watch such a commotion.

If a fight really broke out and innocent people were injured, that would not be good.

Thinking of this, Jiang Lan also felt that coming over with people like this, single-handedly, seemed a bit ill-considered.

He said to Yu Zhi:

“Go again, call Centurion Chou or the Commander, bring more people, and guard the entrance. Don’t let anyone in.”

“Got it!”

Hearing Jiang Lan’s command, Yu Zhi had no complaints and immediately turned and ran towards the Demon Suppression Division.

“Let’s go, let’s go in first.”

Bao Jing did not know what Jiang Lan wanted him to do by accompanying him to Bao Ping Temple.

However, he wasn’t foolish enough to ask for the reason. Now Jiang Lan was his superior, so he simply did what he was told.

The three entered the temple.

The entrance was quiet, with not a single person in sight.

Jiang Lan led the two monks through the Bell and Drum Tower, the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, and arrived at the entrance of the Mahavira Hall.

The hall doors they had passed earlier were all open, but when they reached the Mahavira Hall, they were blocked by the tightly closed hall doors.

Through the hall doors, Jiang Lan could faintly hear the sound of chanting from inside the Mahavira Hall.

Jiang Lan did the same.

“Thud!”

“Bang!”

One of the hall doors crashed to the ground, exposing the scene inside the Mahavira Hall to Jiang Lan.

Three gilded divine statues stood tall, and below the statues, dozens of prayer mats were laid out, each with a bald monk sitting on it.

At this moment, their movements were uniform; they all had their heads slightly bowed, hands clasped together, softly chanting something Jiang Lan could not understand.

Even upon hearing the sound of the door crashing down, the assembly of monks remained seated, not turning their heads, continuing their chanting.

The monk closest to the divine statues was an old man dressed in a monastic robe.

Although his back was to Jiang Lan and the others, from the wrinkled skin on his neck, it was clear that this monk was quite old.

But just then, Bao Jing was struck as if by lightning, standing rooted to the spot, speaking with utter disbelief:

“Ma… Master?!”