130: Chapter 130 The Dark Clouds Over Kokuseiji Temple

Li Xiuyuan remained indifferent to Deputy Director Guo Lin's reaction, merely waving his hand.

That had always been his nature; once he truly stopped caring about something, he wouldn't give it another thought.

"It's nothing."

Now that he knew his identity, Deputy Director Guo Lin's attitude did a complete one-hundred-eighty-degree turn. However, he didn't go so far as to be overly obsequious, and Li Xiuyuan truly didn't mind.

Handling this matter was going to be troublesome. Ding Zhen had been the one to attack out of shame and anger, and Li Xiuyuan had killed him, but Yuntai Temple, where Ding Zhen belonged, would certainly demand an explanation.

Moreover, Ding Zhen was, after all, a great talent in the Chan school who practiced the Samatha-Vipassana method. The aftermath couldn't be handled with an iron fist, letting Yuntai Temple suffer in silence, as that would easily plant the seeds for future trouble. Therefore, this matter was something Deputy Director Guo Lin would have to put some thought into resolving.

Just as Deputy Director Guo Lin and Ye Xiaoqing were feeling a headache coming on, Li Xiuyuan suddenly mentioned something that surprised them both.

"You should investigate Ding Zhen carefully. When he suddenly became furious and went mad just now, it seemed like something had influenced him, because I sensed a very peculiar fluctuation of Spiritual Sense at that moment."

Hearing this, Deputy Director Guo Lin nodded. "Hmm, his reaction was indeed abnormal. Although he lost the debate to Jingxin and lost face, it shouldn't have been enough to make him act so impulsively."

"Are you implying that something affected Ding Zhen's state of mind?" Ye Xiaoqing asked.

Li Xiuyuan replied, "It's possible."

Although he had been quite disgusted by Ding Zhen's persistent, unruly behavior earlier, he hadn't intended to kill him outright. Yet, just before Ding Zhen's sudden sneak attack, Li Xiuyuan had captured a momentary fluctuation of Spiritual Sense.

That fluctuation of Spiritual Sense had emerged from the shadows, interspersed with an extremely brief sound, like demonic whispers ringing in the ears.

It was precisely after that that Ding Zhen had gone mad.

However, when Li Xiuyuan tried to track it, he couldn't find any direction.

"That means there really is something wrong with Guoqing Temple." Ye Xiaoqing muttered to himself, lowering his head in thought.

Seeing him like this, Li Xiuyuan asked, "Listening to you, it seems the Jiantian Bureau has also set its sights on Guoqing Temple?"

Ye Xiaoqing looked up, slightly hesitant. "I don't know if I can say. After all, this is an internal matter for the Jiantian Bureau."

"You may speak," Li Xiuyuan said.

Ye Xiaoqing looked at Li Xiuyuan with a complicated expression, then turned to look at Deputy Director Guo Lin, who was full of curiosity. As for Jingxin, he stood there like an outsider.

After hesitating repeatedly, he finally gritted his teeth. "Fine. Since this matter is so complicated, I'm afraid our team doesn't have the capability to find many clues. Having some outside help wouldn't hurt."

"Before coming here, I received a mission from the Bureau Chief. On the surface, our team is representing the Jiantian Bureau to attend the Dharma Transmission Ceremony, but in reality, we are here to investigate Guoqing Temple. Last month, in the Happy Sunshine Residential Complex in Fenglin County, several households exploded into blood mist in broad daylight."

"After a few days of investigation, we discovered that those households were all patrons of Guoqing Temple, visiting almost every month."

"One family's child once mentioned that he had his head touched by Abbot Huiyun at Guoqing Temple, who said it was to 'enlighten his spirit' and make him more intelligent."

At this point, Ye Xiaoqing's expression suddenly became grave.

"But that Abbot Huiyun died twenty years ago, and only his portrait remains hanging in the temple."

After he finished speaking, a chill surged through the side hall.

If the child wasn't lying, it meant either Abbot Huiyun had manifested, or there was a ghost.

In this day and age, both were possible.

"We've been here for five days now, counting everything, but neither I nor the other team members have found any useful leads."

A look of shame appeared on Ye Xiaoqing's face.

"I do have some clues here."

Deputy Director Guo Lin took over, continuing, "It was probably the night before last. I was planning to return to the hotel to rest when I suddenly heard the sound of chanting and crying. The crying sounded like someone suffering some kind of torture. I thought about going to check it out, but I couldn't find anything at all."

"However, when I was about to leave later, Yiyun appeared out of nowhere, smiling and saying he would see me off. But he gave me a very strange feeling at the time; the left and right sides of his face were somewhat asymmetrical. I didn't think much of it then and didn't take it to heart."

This Yiyun was the old monk who had been helping Jingxin out and even criticizing Ding Zhen during the debate earlier.

Just now, there had been no signs of anything unusual; in fact, the old monk gave the impression of being very kind. Everyone could feel that Yiyun was truly indignant and had stepped forward because he didn't want Ding Zhen to keep making things difficult for Jingxin.

"Captain Ye, it seems Guoqing Temple isn't just a little strange. Your mission might actually be quite dangerous."

Deputy Director Guo Lin smiled, using a teasing tone to lighten the mood.

Ye Xiaoqing, however, couldn't laugh at all. But on second thought, if he could get Li Xiuyuan to help, then what could possibly be considered dangerous?

"Lord Dragon Lord, for now, I can only ask for your help."

Ye Xiaoqing wasn't one to be coy and directly asked for assistance.

Being afraid of death wasn't shameful, especially since, as the captain, he had to be responsible for the lives of his team members.

Li Xiuyuan didn't give an immediate response, saying, "Let's see what the situation really is first."

He did not mention that he had perceived a spirit soul hidden within the Buddha statue using his Spiritual Sense, because he felt that the spirit soul inside the statue was very timid and didn't seem like the type to be capable of major events.

The fewer people who knew about this, the better, to avoid alerting the enemy.

With identities revealed and matters laid out, the group left the side hall. Jingxin hadn't said more than a few words from beginning to end, and the debate at Guoqing Temple had been temporarily terminated due to Ding Zhen's death.

Li Xiuyuan and Jingxin returned together to the guest room in the side hall where they were staying.

Upon returning to the side hall, that old monk Yiyun actually came looking for them himself.

Yiyun was not the abbot or head monk of Guoqing Temple, but he had extremely high seniority in the temple, and his status was on par with the abbot.

"This benefactor, I have some treasured scriptures I would like to let Jingxin study. I wonder if you could spare some space?"

Yiyun made an excuse, saying that he had been amazed by Jingxin's eloquence in debate today and believed that Jingxin had a limitless future, so he was prepared to bring out his treasured scriptures for Jingxin to peruse.

Li Xiuyuan glanced at him very casually, then walked out of the side hall without a word, heading to a pavilion outside.

At that moment, a very faint wisp of white mist drifted out from Li Xiuyuan's sleeve, slipped through the door crack, and floated into the hall, hearing the conversation between Jingxin and Yiyun clearly.

Inside the hall,

Yiyun opened his mouth, and a single sentence left Li Xiuyuan frozen in place.

"This humble monk Yiyun pays respects to the Bodhisattva!"

Thud!

Immediately following that was a muffled sound, as if something had knocked against the floor.