Qin Mu and Princess Changning exchanged a glance before entering the main hall. Xiangli Yanran stood excitedly at the entrance to a dark tunnel.
"Go down and check! Be careful," Qin Mu instructed.
The two members of the Cheng family and the Xiang family's guest constable who followed them in nodded and went down into the tunnel. Of course, only they could go down for this kind of thing.
"There's a secret here!" Xiangli Yanran stepped forward and patted the Buddha statue's large foot, saying.
Qin Mu had never seen this Buddha statue before, but guessed it belonged to a master of some school. He stared intently at it for a moment and asked, "Is the center of this Buddha statue hollow?"
"Brother Qin, you're so smart!" Xiangli Yanran exclaimed.
Qin Mu wanted to say that it wasn't because he was clever; the explanation was so obvious, how could he not know? In another world, people only knew that monks liked to hide things inside Buddha statues, and these were all forged from copper and iron. Even if such a large Buddha statue was hollow, it would probably weigh several thousand kilograms, worth a considerable amount of money!
"Brother Qin, guess what this Buddha statue is made of?" Xiangli Yanran asked, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the Buddha statue.
"Could it be gold?" Qin Mu chuckled. A Buddha statue over three meters tall—if it were really gold, that would be terrifying. The monks wouldn't stay here indefinitely; melting down the statue would be enough for them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
"It's not gold, but it's almost the same. This is copper! Copper can increase the toughness of weapons and is also an essential material for making armor; in addition, it is also needed for puppets and mechanisms, so the price is not low," Xiangli Yanran explained.
"Excellent! Excellent! Yanran, you've done a great job again!"
"These monks are really rich, using such a huge bronze Buddha statue to hide things," Xiangli Yanran exclaimed in amazement.
"Open it up and take a look, then we'll know what's hidden inside." Qin Mu was also very curious about what these monks had hidden inside.
Without saying a word, Xiangli Yanran jumped to the side of the Buddha statue and began to grope around on its back.
With a "click," Qin Mu saw Xiangli Yanran open a fairly large window, and after a quick glance, she took out several boxes one after another.
The boxes are about the same size as a girl's jewelry box, there are six in total, and they look quite old.
Before they could open the box, Cheng Huaimo and his men walked in, threw the monk and Wu Yifan on the ground, and said casually, "These guys have all confessed. He raped and murdered the person. The reason is simple: he was lustful at first sight."
"Say it yourself!" Xi Junmai kicked the monk and scolded him.
"I...I'm Shi Junjie, their leader. We've occupied the temple for five years in search of something; I cooperated with Wu Yifan because he could help us make money." Shi Junjie, the arrogant monk who was their leader, said, his body trembling. He revealed the truth for two reasons: first, because of Cheng Huaimo and his group's methods, and second, because he had heard Xiangli Yanran excitedly say that they had found it—meaning they had found the tunnel. Since Qin Mu and the others would find out sooner or later, he figured he might as well tell them now to avoid further trouble.
"Looking for something?" Qin Mu asked curiously.
"The Moon Pearl Temple possesses a treasure. Legend has it that the temple has a Moon Pearl that can gather spiritual energy, benefiting all cultivators. I learned of this by chance, so I led my brothers to occupy this place, which also provides us with a place to stay in Chang'an." Once he started speaking, he had no intention of hiding anything, and Shi Junjie spilled everything out like beans from a bamboo tube. As for where the original members of the Moon Pearl Temple went? At this point, Qin Mu and the others didn't bother to ask, because it was obvious.
"Moon Pearl? There are such things? Could they be useful to martial artists? Where are they?" Yuchi Baolin asked curiously in succession.
“If that’s really the case, even if it’s useless, its value is extremely high, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe it as priceless.” Li Chongyi took a deep breath and explained with a burning gaze.
"Idiot, they definitely didn't find it. If they did, why would they stay here? Tell me, what does the Moon Pearl look like?" Cheng Huaimo squatted down and asked with a smile.
"Hmph! Who's the idiot? Of course, the Moon Pearl is a pearl!" Yuchi Baolin sneered and said smugly. He was always very happy to be able to strike at Cheng Huaimo.
"Is this what you're talking about!" Just then, Xiangli Yanran's voice came.
Everyone looked up suddenly and saw Xiangli Yanran squatting on the platform, holding a bead the size of a baby's fist in her hand, looking at the others with a somewhat blank expression.
The beads are a pale bluish-white color, and behind the Buddha statue, they emit a moonlit glow.
"I can't sense any spiritual energy!" Li Chongyi said in confusion.
"Ah! Ahh!" Shi Junjie's eyes widened in disbelief. The thing he had been searching for for several years was now right in front of him. Unfortunately, it didn't belong to him. They had examined the Buddha statue many times and were certain that it was a solid object that couldn't be moved. They also couldn't find any mechanism. The platform below was made of stacked bluestones with no joints.
Shi Junjie was filled with remorse and regret, but Yuchi Baolin stomped him to the ground, and he struggled to break free. If Qin Mu and the others hadn't found the pearl, he would have felt somewhat better, since if he couldn't have it, no one else could either. But it was right under his nose, in a place he saw every day—like a stone in front of his house that he had never paid attention to, but one day someone took it away, and he realized it was priceless. The frustration was indescribable.
Princess Changning opened the other five boxes as well. Four of them were full of jade, all of which were polished and still looked warm and lustrous even after many years of not being seen in the world. The last box contained two yellowed booklets.
The two Buddhist cultivation manuals, "Vajra Body Training Technique" and "Arhat Fist," didn't interest the group much, as each sect already possessed its own unique manuals. Each sect's cultivation method had its own distinctive mental techniques and special methods, making them largely useless to others.
"Throw it into the Six Doors. Later, as a reward, any guest elders who wish to learn it can do so." Qin Mu picked it up, glanced at it, and then tossed it into the box. These manuals were not original creations and had no special effects, so he had no interest in them.
Jade is a very good material with considerable demand. Jade with such high purity, only slightly inferior to fine jade, is even rarer and of high value.
"Put it away, we'll talk about it when we get back!" Qin Mu waved his hand and said.
At this moment, the people from the underground passage also came up, but their expressions were not good.
"What happened?" Cheng Huaimo asked.
"These beasts have imprisoned more than a dozen women underground!" Xiangli's retainer glared at the monk on the ground and said.
He didn't explain it clearly, but everyone understood that being arrested and locked up on the ground meant certain death.
…………
I took my child to queue for vaccinations this morning, and will update another chapter tonight!
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