Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
The two Taoists carried Fang Xushan, who had just hurriedly changed his clothes, and went downstairs with the crowd. Because the emergency evacuation alarm sounded, all the guests of the hotel had come downstairs.
It was only dusk at this time, and there weren’t many guests staying here. The thunder could have been heard by people on several floors, but it couldn’t be heard clearly through the walls. They would have believed it was some kind of explosion – but it was impossible to believe that it was the kettle.
Xie Lingya didn’t have the nerve to use the kettle as an excuse, so he temporarily let go of the idea of taking the blame for breaking the kettle, and discussed with everyone that they would refuse to admit that it had anything to do with them.
Anyway, there were no traces of anything in their room.
The hotel officials were scared to death when they heard the loud noise inside and were afraid that something had happened, so they initiated an emergency evacuation and called the police.
When Xie Lingya walked downstairs and heard that someone had actually called the police, he immediately felt guilty. Wouldn’t this be a wasted trip? If they went upstairs to check, they would definitely not find anything.
Fortunately, Fang Xushan woke up at this time and found that he was still on someone’s back. So he asked weakly, “What happened to me?”
Xie Lingya briefly told him what had happened and said, “Abbot Fang, do you think you can contact the police through local Taoist friends and make this matter vague?”
The hotel and the police could not find out what happened, but many people heard the thunder, and the surrounding guests were discussing it. They were sure to spread some urban legend in the future. If they thought of it as the sound of thunder, wouldn’t they think there was a monster in the hotel undergoing a calamity?
Xie Lingya recalled that Abbot Fang had demonstrated his abilities before, and the corpses at the Hongyang Dao stronghold were also handled by the police due to him.
Fang Xushan felt a little weak after being possessed, but he still took out his cell phone: “Help me to a secluded place, I’ll make a few calls.”
At this time someone came to ask them if they were the residents of a certain room, and then said that based on their judgment, the sound seemed to come from their room. Those rooms were booked by the Taoist priests, and there were no residents in the rooms next to them.
Xie Lingya knew that Fang Xushan was asking someone for help, so when he heard that there were no other guests around, he didn’t think it was a big deal. The other Taoists were a little shy, but he was fine. He looked down and saw that the waitress he had asked was not around, so he said seriously: “We were also wondering why there was such a loud noise. We came downstairs in a hurry and didn’t dare to check.”
In fact, the people in the hotel wanted to ask if the noise was related to them. Everything had been explained so clearly, but Xie Lingya still acted as if nothing had happened, so the only thing to do was to ask more directly: “What… were you guys doing in the room at that time?”
“The Taoist priests were all reading books, what else can a Taoist priest do?” Xie Lingya said casually, “Do you think our alchemy furnace exploded?”
Everyone: “…”
– Not to mention, when they changed Fang Xushan’s clothes, they got some cinnabar on their bodies, which was really suspicious!
The people next to them could vaguely hear a few words, something like “room” and “alchemy”.
However, the police also arrived at this time, went upstairs to investigate, but came down not long after, saying that nothing had happened and it was just a misunderstanding.
The guests returned to their rooms in twos and threes, and at this time, the monks returned to the hotel. The Buddhist temple they went to was far away in the mountains, so they missed the entire event and did not even catch up with the evacuation.
When the guests asked about the reason, the answer was a bit vague. They said it was a prank with several speakers playing sound effects. It was a false alarm and nothing to worry about. Who could pull such a prank in a hotel? Should they catch him? Which room was it from?
It was unclear for a while, and the police were called but responded vaguely. Later, Xie Lingya heard from local colleagues that somehow there was a rumor that the loud noise was not a prank at all, but because of a few Taoists who were refining elixirs in the hotel and whose alchemy furnace exploded…
Compared to a prank, this statement was actually more popular and became an urban curiosity that everyone talked about with relish.
There were other statements to support this, saying that there were indeed Taoists living in the hotel and they were on the floor where the loud noise came from, and there were no other guests on that floor except them. Either they were making elixirs or they were playing the speakers.
….
Back to the present, Xie Lingya was ready to set off back to Zhuyang.
At this time, the Wendao Group still had two stops to go, but Xie Lingya could not lift his left hand, so he decided to return to Zhuyang first. As for the follow-up matters in Qiwu and Tianyu, Lian Tan and Fang Xushan would naturally take charge of them.
However, through this experience, Xie Lingya also got to know some like-minded people and even gained some friends. They had fought together and had an extraordinary relationship. They thus agreed to keep in touch in the future.
It was these fellow practitioners who, because they witnessed Xie Lingya drawing talismans on the spot, helped him spread his reputation as the human talisman-printing machine even further and higher.
He was away for more than half a month, and when he came back the weather in Zhuyang had changed and it had entered the hot summer.
One of Xie Lingya’s hands was limp, so Shi Changxuan didn’t ask him to carry the luggage. He took care of it himself along the way and carried the luggage for both of them by himself.
When they returned to Baoyang Temple, they saw a courtyard full of tea drinkers as soon as they entered the gate. Zhang Daoting was watering the flowers, and a group of people around him were taking pictures of him with cameras and mobile phones. Xiao Dian was sitting in the sun reading a book, and the rest of the Taoist priests and volunteers were serving the guests.
This familiar scene touched Xie Lingya deeply. After being away for a while, he really wanted to come back.
A familiar believer saw him and greeted him, which attracted Zhang Daoting and others to look over and they hurried over to take the luggage. Especially since Xie Lingya’s hand was hanging down like it had no bones, they didn’t dare to touch Xie Lingya, as if they were afraid of breaking him.
When they arrived at the backyard, Hai Guanchao and Fang Zhe came hurriedly from the clinic, “I heard that Mr. Xie has made another contribution outside? How many wounds did he suffer this time?”
“No,” Xie Lingya said proudly, “I’m just exhausted.”
Hai Guanchao checked and said seriously, “Luckily it’s your left hand. If it was your right hand, how could you write, eat, and do that?”
Everyone: “…”
Xie Lingya: “…That what?”
Hai Guanchao still had the look of an upright doctor, “Just that, taking a bath.”
Everyone present was a man, and it was not the first day that Xie Lingya knew Hai Guanchao, so how could he be fooled by his gentle appearance? He hummed, “I can wash with one hand.”
Liu Bohe joked, “Does little Xie still need to wash himself? Taoist Shi takes care of him so well.”
Before Xie Lingya was injured, everyone knew that Taoist Shi took good care of him, so he made an exaggerated joke, as if saying that Shi Changxuan could help him take a bath.
Shi Changxuan felt a little depressed after listening to this. His mood at that time was completely different from now. At that time, he was embarrassed to enter the bathroom and only lent a hand occasionally. He was embarrassed now as well, but the meaning was different.
Xie Lingya didn’t notice that he left for a while and just went to check the progress of the construction with one hand hanging down.
Fang Zhe had been keeping an eye on it these days and there were no problems, so he felt relieved.
….
After a few days, the news came out as expected. The authorities cracked down on the resurgence of folk cults, distributed brochures to villagers, and so on. Lian Tan and his colleagues also said that they had almost finished the investigation, and all the Taoist temples and Buddhist temples that had been encroached upon would be thoroughly investigated.
According to the results of interrogating some Hongyang Taoists, it was also known that the statue of the deity was first unearthed from the Yuanjun Temple. The abbot didn’t think too much about it at first, thinking that it was hidden by his predecessors. Whether it was a statue of a god or a Buddha, it was not surprising.
In ancient times, some temples did not have only one religion resident. Especially in times of turmoil, a group of Taoists might leave and a group of monks would come. They would then move the statues of gods to the back and change the signboard to say it was a temple. When the monks left and the Taoists came back, they would change the statues and turn it into a Taoist temple.
According to the records above, those scriptures and statues were hidden in the temple by a certain generation of Hongyang Taoism’s ancestor when he was pursued by the imperial court. Originally, the intention was to ask the people in the temple at that time to protect them – yes, in the early years there were such Taoists who were in Cao’s camp but their hearts were with Han, this was a very common thing. Thanks to the help of such people, some scriptures were hidden in the temple for a hundred years without being lost and were not discovered and destroyed by the government. But as these things were passed down, somehow something went wrong with the Taoist priests of that generation and they forgot about them.
Many years passed before it saw the light of day again in the hands of He Miaotian. She had only looked at the scriptures and had not figured out anything, but because she did not throw away the two statues in time, she became fascinated.
Those two statues were not simple, they were ancient artifacts that had been worshipped by the Hongyang Dao for three or four generations and hundreds of years. They had long since acquired some minor abilities under the influence of evil magic. This time when they returned to the human world, they attracted new believers and asked them to make more offerings to them. They also wanted to get some more human souls for themselves to increase their strength.
The Patriarch Hunyuan and the Mother of No Birth were both gods fabricated by Hongyang Taoists. These two gods were created with thoughts and they really thought of themselves as the Patriarch Hunyuan and the Mother of No Birth. In fact, they were just more advanced evil versions of the Wutong Gods.
There were some other details, most of which were not much different from what Xie Lingya had speculated before, such as the role of those infant spirits – now monks and Taoists were being asked to organize the salvation of the souls.
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron or access advance chapters on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents • Next