Although Ye Jin said nothing, there was a hint of murderous intent in his eyes. He drove the car very fast, wishing he could fly to Prajna Temple in an instant.
We kept asking for news about Lu Xiaoying and her friends along the way, but it seemed like Lu Xiaoying didn't take the same route as us. We couldn't find any clues. No one had seen Lu Xiaoying until we reached the mountain pass of Prajna Temple. I even suspected that Lu Xiaoying had been left behind by us.
I wanted to ask for more information, but Ye Jin stopped me: "Don't ask, or you might alert the enemy. Most people in this area are lay Buddhists from Prajna Temple. If you ask too much, you'll get into trouble."
When I looked up along the direction of the mountain pass, I did see a temple built in the mountain, but the scale of the temple did not give off the aura of the four major forces of magic and Taoism: "Is that the Prajna Temple?"
Ye Jin said: "That place is also called Prajna Temple, but it is just a cover-up. From there, there is a tunnel that goes through the mountain. Only after passing through the tunnel can you see the real Prajna Temple."
I suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. I thought the Prajna Temple shouldn't be such a small place. Have you prepared the visiting card?"
Ye Jin and I did not come to Prajna Temple to fight, so we had to follow the ancient rules of Taoism and send in a visiting card and pay a polite visit.
Just as Ye Jin was about to speak, my phone rang with a text message: Don't bow at the gate, Shi Bucong is not in the Prajna Temple. Go find the Prajna Ancient Temple.
My first reaction after receiving the text message was to look around. The other party could calculate the time so accurately, he must know our whereabouts very well. Even if he didn't follow us all the way, he should be nearby.
But apart from the pilgrims coming and going, there are only vendors setting up stalls near us. Are there any suspicious people
I handed the phone to Ye Jin: "Do you know where the Prajna Ancient Temple is?"
Ye Jin shook his head: "I haven't heard of it either. How about we ask someone?"
I got into the car, took out the fortune-telling money, and told a fortune in the back seat, but the fortune only told us to look in one direction.
I walked five or six hundred meters in the direction indicated by the hexagram, and finally saw a land temple in the corner of the market. According to the location indicated by the hexagram, the clue should be nearby. But there was no one here except the two clay statues in the land temple. Where could I find someone to ask
As I was looking around, I saw a puff of smoke coming out from behind the land temple. I quickly took two steps forward and turned to the back of the land temple, and then I saw a blind old man leaning against the back of the land temple smoking, and he was holding a banner with the words "Iron Plate Divination" in his hand.
Although there are always people setting up stalls to tell fortunes wherever you go, it is strange to see a fortune teller near a temple. Anyone who goes to a temple to burn incense will directly ask for a fortune at the temple gate. Who would come all the way to find a fortune teller who is out of place in a temple
But the hexagram clearly told me to come find him.
I squatted next to him and said, "Brother, can I ask you something?"
The blind man seemed not to hear what I said, he raised one hand and waved two fingers in front of me, meaning he wanted to ask me for money. I took out a big bill from my pocket and handed it to him, and then he smiled: "Little brother, just ask anything, people within a hundred miles call me the land old man, there is nothing I don't know in this area."
I said, "I heard there is an ancient Prajna Temple in this place. Do you know where it is?"
The blind man's face suddenly darkened: "Why are you asking this?"
"I'm just curious." I said perfunctorily, but I didn't expect the blind man to get angry. He took out the big bill I just gave him and threw it on the ground. He stood up and patted the dust off his body: "I don't know. You guys should leave quickly!"
After I gave Ye Jin a look, I raised my hand and hit the man on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. Without waiting for him to fall to the ground, Ye Jin and I stuffed him into the car and drove him to a remote place.
After I woke the blind man up, I pulled out a dagger from my body and slapped him twice on the face: "Do you know what this is? Tell me where it is and we'll make peace. If you don't tell me, I'll change its color."
The blind man stiffened his neck and said, "You want to play tough, right? I'm telling you, I don't know."
Ye Jin suddenly said, "You are not afraid of death, but your family members are not afraid of death either? You have a little grandson, right? If I'm not mistaken, he will be out of school in forty minutes. How about I bring him over to meet you?"
After Ye Jin broke the seal on his memory, he had recovered some of his abilities. Although he had not yet reached the point where he knew everything, it was still no problem for him to see through some simple things.
The blind man's face turned pale immediately after hearing this, but Ye Jin said slowly: "Do you need me to tell you what your grandson's name is, which class he is in, and which road he will take to go to his interest class after school today?"
The blind man trembled his lips and asked, "How...how did you find me?"
I said vaguely, "We can find you if we want to. I don't want to waste any more time on you. Just make it clear so we can get on with our business."
The blind man said again: "If you don't tell me how you found me, I will never tell you where the ancient temple is even if I die!"
Ye Jin and I looked at each other before I said, "I told you, I calculated it. Do you believe me?"
The blind man suddenly raised his head and turned towards me, looking like he was going to look at me, but his eyes were just a pair of white pupils. He just stared at me with his white eyes for a long time before saying, "It turns out that someone can really predict me..."
The blind man fumbled in his pocket to take out a cigarette and took a long drag: "Actually, a long time ago I was a monk. A monk in the Prajna Ancient Temple."
Without waiting for me to ask again, the other party said, "You should know the Prajna Temple, right? You should also know that the Prajna Temple is divided into two temples, the inner and outer temples, right?"
I nodded and said, "I know everything you said, just talk about the Prajna Ancient Temple."
The blind man continued, "It seems that you are also people of the art! In fact, the original site of the Prajna Temple was not very large. There was only a hall embedded in the mountain wall and three or four meditation rooms. This was where the founder of the Prajna Temple practiced."
I have no doubts about what the blind man said. Many thousand-year-old temples have gone through a process of rise and fall from nothing. Many world-famous ancient temples may have started out as just a few tiled houses.
The blind man said, "Later, the Prajna Temple gradually became famous and distinguished itself in the art of magic. The number of monks in the temple also increased, so they had to choose another location to build a temple, and the original ancient temple was naturally abandoned."
"But the abbot at that time left behind a group of monks to continue to guard the ancient temple. Legend has it that the abbot left behind monks to guard an item in the ancient temple that could not be taken away. As for what that item was, there have been many different opinions. But one thing is certain, that is, the item left in the ancient temple must be a treasure, otherwise, the abbot would not have left behind four monks with top cultivation."
"Legend has it that after the main body of Prajna Temple was moved away, many strange people in the martial arts world also set their sights on the ancient temple, but they were all repelled by the monks guarding the ancient temple. The ancient temple thus became one of the forbidden areas of Prajna Temple."
"After who knows how many years, an earthquake of unprecedented magnitude occurred near the ancient temple. The mountain on which the ancient temple was built was broken into two parts, and the main hall of the ancient temple was also split into two parts. The upper part was still embedded in the mountain wall, hanging in the air, while the lower part sank into the pool of water at the foot of the mountain."
Ye Jin couldn't help but interrupt him when he heard this: "What did you say? Half of the hall is suspended in the air, and the other half is submerged in the water? How did the mountain break? Don't tell me that after the mountain is broken into two parts, there is still half of the mountain floating in the sky."
The blind man smiled bitterly and said, "It sounds incredible, doesn't it? That's the truth. You'll know when you see it with your own eyes."
I waved my hand to signal Ye Jin not to say any more, but I said to the blind man, "Go on."
"Yes!" The blind man nodded. "After the earthquake, Prajna Temple also sent people to dive into the water to salvage items, but the pool had formed an undercurrent, and no matter who went down, they would never come back. At that time, the abbot of Prajna Temple even invited many masters of magic to dive into the water to find out what was going on. In the end, the masters who dived into the water never came up again, including several monks in the temple."
Ye Jin interrupted him again and asked, "What do you mean by 'never come back'? Do you mean that those masters are nowhere to be found alive or dead? Or do you mean that they all died in the water?"
The blind man said, "The Prajna Temple has been exploring underwater for a very long time. I have only heard about it. According to legend, seven out of ten masters who went into the water would disappear, and the bodies of the other three would definitely be found. However, no matter whether those people were monks or laymen, their bodies would be found sitting cross-legged with peaceful expressions, just like a great monk who had passed away."
Ye Jin looked at me and asked again: "Are there any other legends?"
“No more.” The blind man shook his head again. “Prajna Temple strictly controls these legends. It was only by chance that I heard these.”
I nodded and said, "Go on."
The blind man said, "After the Prajna Temple paid a heavy price, the abbot at the time gave up the idea of continuing to sink the water, but he still did not completely abandon the old site of the Prajna Temple and continued to send people to guard it. However, this time, he changed his previous practice and no longer had people stationed in the ancient temple permanently. Instead, he rotated a group of monks every five years."
The blind man stopped talking and lit a cigarette. “I was a monk sent to guard the ancient temple. At that time, I was still blind.”
The blind man raised his head and said: "The reason why my eyes are blind is because I saw things that I shouldn't have seen in the ancient temple." (To be continued)