Chapter 122 Kongxiang Temple

About fifteen minutes later, the Kongxiang Temple that Ji Xian had mentioned indeed came into view.

Ancient yellow tiles and red walls are nestled among towering old trees, and cobwebs cover the mottled plaques, swaying gently in the heat.

He Zhu nudged Ji Xian with his elbow: "Old Ji, you have good eyesight!"

Ji Xian raised an eyebrow at him: "It's alright."

Chi Yi parked his car under the dense shade of the ancient cypress trees in front of the temple.

Lu Nange let the macaw fly out first, its wings flapping and bringing a chill.

As the heat subsided, everyone got off the bus one after another.

With a slight movement of her fingertips, Lu Nange folded the RV into the space.

The mottled wooden door creaked open slowly.

Several desiccated corpses lay scattered in the courtyard, their skin clinging tightly to their bones, giving them an eerie, waxy yellow hue.

On the wall directly opposite the entrance, the four large, blood-red characters "Amitabha" are particularly striking.

The ground was littered with all sorts of trash—soaked scriptures, broken prayer beads, rotten prayer mats—all remnants of the floodwaters, now dried and brittle from the scorching sun.

In the center of the main hall, a Buddha statue with peeling gold paint lowered its eyelids, its compassionate gaze looking down at the crowd.

The Arhat and Bodhisattva statues on both sides are in different poses, some with angry eyes and others with compassionate eyes, their dusty faces appearing and disappearing in the dim light.

The wooden door to the meditation room in the side corridor was half open, and through the crack, one could see that the room was in a mess.

The furniture was overturned, and the bedding and scriptures were tangled together, covered with a layer of dried mud.

Beside the ancient well in the center of the courtyard, a rusted iron bucket lies askew in the silt.

The well rope had long since rotted and broken, hanging down among the moss on the well wall.

The vegetable garden in the backyard was overgrown with weeds, and the wooden door of the toilet next to it was half collapsed, revealing the moldy and blackened partition inside.

The crowd devoutly performed three prostrations in the main hall.

He Zhuo straightened up, patted the dust off his knees, and looked at the mottled Buddha statue: "Am I making things difficult for Buddha by asking him to restore the world to its original state?"

Wen Qing called out with a somewhat serious expression, "Xiao He."

He Zhuo put his hand to his mouth and made a zipper gesture.

The hall was unbearably hot and stuffy. The macaw flapped its wings vigorously, and its ice-type supernatural power spread with the airflow.

In an instant, years of accumulated incense ash, indoor dust, and cobwebs were all swept up and scattered in the slanting beams of sunlight.

"Cough cough—"

Achoo!

Amidst the coughing, Wen Qing covered her mouth and nose and said, "Shall we tidy up properly? Sincerity is key."

Wen Qing rarely spoke, and no one objected.

Lu Nange took out several plastic buckets, a stack of rags, and rubber gloves from her spatial storage.

Gu Qi raised his hand, and a jet of water leaped from his fingertips and poured into the bucket.

Together, everyone worked to clean the main hall. As the cloth brushed across the mottled surface of the Buddha statue, years of accumulated incense ash fell in a soft rustling sound.

Only after the Buddha statue regained its solemn and dignified appearance did they turn to the side meditation room.

With a wave of her hand, Lu Nange moved all the moldy cushions, rotten low tables, and other items inside to the courtyard.

With the doors and windows wide open, Gu Qi controlled the water jets to wash the room, and foam mixed with laundry detergent carried away years of grime as it flowed out.

The group carefully scrubbed every corner with stiff-bristled brushes until the original grain of the wooden floor was revealed.

Finally, Gu Qi rinsed it with clean water again, the murky sewage carrying foam flowing down the stone steps.

Lu Nange raised her hands lightly, and the wind swirled around the room, quickly dissipating the dampness.

She then sorted the items that had been drying in the courtyard and moved them back to the meditation room, each one exuding the scent of sunshine.

At seven o'clock in the afternoon, the setting sun was still scorching, casting long, slanted shadows on the window frames of the meditation room.

The group sat around one of the meditation rooms, enjoying a vegetarian feast prepared by Wen Qing—cold black fungus salad, braised shiitake mushrooms, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and thick millet porridge.

Outside, the heatwave that had lasted all day finally began to ease.

Before dusk fell, they picked up shovels and went to the door.

Beneath the ancient pine tree by the door, the soil was being turned over shovel by shovel.

The dried corpses, wrapped in clean coarse cloth, were carefully placed in the pit.

As the soil was being covered, someone whispered "Amitabha."

......

As darkness fell completely, Gu Qi asked, "It's too hot during the day, should we change our travel plans and travel at night?"

Lu Xici: "At night, mutated plants, animals, and zombies are all active. Isn't that a bit risky?"

Lu Nange's mind was filled with images of extreme heat and extreme cold...: "This weather is terribly abnormal. Why don't we observe it in the temple for a few days before setting off?"

"Are we still going to the traffic jam area tonight?" He Zhuo sat under the eaves, tossing a wild fruit into his hand.

Chi Yanzhou: "Let's check the weather first, decide whether to travel during the day or at night, and then check the traffic jam area."

The allocation of meditation rooms was simple and clear—aside from the room where the original temple artifacts were stored, the remaining three rooms were allocated just right.

Lu Nange and several other girls lived in the meditation room in the middle, while the boys lived in the two rooms on the left and right.