Chapter 75 Guanyin Statue
Lin Chengye took a deep breath, decisively plucked the wings and two hind legs from the flesh beetle, and put it into an iron cage.
The iron cage was only the size of a palm, yet extremely intricate. The wires on it were as fine as hair, yet there were gaps, so that not even a fly could escape. Lin Chengye carried the iron cage containing the flesh-eating weevils out of the blood-soaked room, each step leaving a trail of blood.
She swayed slightly, and Cai Wenyou quickly reached out and took the iron cage from her.
Although the flesh beetle had lost its wings and hind legs, it still instinctively rammed against the inner wall of the iron cage in one direction, as if something was attracting it, or as if it knew from birth that it had the mission to die for its mother beetle.
"When was this iron cage made?" Cai Wenyou asked, trying to come up with a topic.
"When sitting outside, you can't just look at the snow all the time. Since I entered the fifth level of turning stone into gold, I've had another epiphany. I can use my internal energy to make a furnace without needing a fire, but it consumes a lot of energy and is only suitable for making small things like this."
Lin Chengye pointed to a bare stick standing next to the door and said.
"I borrowed a hoe from Lou Sanbai's family."
If Lin Chengye hadn't looked as if he'd been pulled from a pool of blood, Cai Wenyou might have been able to smile. But now, she seemed to have lost all her strength. She turned to look at the room, but still didn't dare to step inside.
"Let's go, wait until we're done." Lin Chengye glanced back at the room, but quickly looked away, focusing on the direction where the flesh borer had struck.
The road ahead was dark and snow was falling heavily. Lin Chengye grabbed Cai Wenyou by the shoulder and used his lightness skill to move with the wind. The wind and rain lashed against Cai Wenyou's face, the wind whistling in his ears, mixed with Lin Chengye's words.
"We'll come back."
The voice was soft and deep, and very simple, yet it miraculously calmed Cai Wenyou's heart.
...
They stopped in front of a wall.
The flesh borers in the iron cage pounded even more violently, emitting sharp cries, as if they were very dissatisfied with their stopping and urged them to continue forward.
Cai Wenyou frowned, snapped his folding fan shut, and pointed it toward the wall.
"What's behind this..."
She stopped speaking, but the person next to her picked up where she left off, saying each word clearly.
"It is Yongfo Temple."
Lin Chengye reached out and touched the wall. His fingertips brushed away the snow, revealing bloodstains that had not yet been completely washed away.
This is the wall where Lou Yuefeng's death was discovered; she heard her scream from inside the wall. At that time, she jumped over the wall, thinking the "ghost disease" was outside, but now she has to go back inside, because the root of the "ghost disease" is actually here.
That "ghost" is here too.
"The Yongfo Temple, a place supposedly free from illness, a place supposedly blessed by the gods..."
Who exactly wove this empty talk, this dream? Lin Chengye suddenly slammed his fist into the wall, scraping his joints and drawing blood, before slumping limply to his side.
But she only vented her anger slightly before, with a stern face, she led Cai Wenyou over the wall and rushed back to Shenlinju.
Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, there was still a person sitting alone in the courtyard, holding a solitary lamp. Hearing the noise, the person's eyes sharpened, and he suddenly drew a long sword from his waist.
But when he saw who it was, the man breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Lin Chengye from head to toe, frowned slightly, and asked.
"How did it get like this?"
Then he saw that she was holding a woman who looked like a scholar in pink, and the man asked in confusion.
"And who are you?"
"This humble subject, Cai Wenyou, pays his respects to Your Highness the Third Prince."
Cai Wenyou was about to kowtow to Wei Jingchen when he felt his neck being suddenly grabbed, his knees buckling, and he couldn't kneel down. He was almost choked and couldn't breathe.
"What, you still think you can uncover the truth without getting your hands dirty? Your Highness is dreaming."
Lin Chengye listlessly raised his eyes and glanced at Wei Jingchen.
"Don't drag this lame scholar into your fight, you two." Caught between their burning gazes, Cai Wenyou groaned in despair. She knew Lin Chengye and Wei Jingchen had a close relationship, but she suspected it was a distant, mutually exploitative one. She never imagined they were so intimate that they'd resorted to verbal sparring.
"Alright, go change your clothes. These clothes smell too strongly of blood and you'll be easily spotted."
Wei Jingchen laughed in anger. She had thought that after a few days apart, they could each give each other a way out and let bygones be bygones. She never expected Lin Chengye to be so unyielding, even daring to act this way in front of others.
Lin Chengye didn't say much and hurried back to her room. She didn't know what might happen to the insect, so she had to hurry.
"Hey you..."
Seeing Lin Chengye leave him standing there, Cai Wenyou was dumbfounded. He opened his mouth to shout, but Lin Chengye slammed the door shut.
Don't leave me alone with His Highness! Cai Wenyou could feel the anger of the person next to him rising rapidly. Without Lin Chengye, the two of them had nothing to say to each other, and the atmosphere became extremely awkward. To make matters worse, there was an annoying insect squeaking wildly.
Cai Wenyou had no choice but to bite the bullet and say it.
"...Although I don't know what happened, Your Highness is very magnanimous, and Young Hero Lin is also a reasonable person. When friends quarrel, they might as well talk it out."
"...Do you think she considers me a friend?"
Wei Jingchen snorted as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.
"Your Highness, please don't disbelieve me."
Cai Wenyou was caught off guard by the question; she hadn't expected Wei Jingchen to bring this up first. She touched the tip of her nose and said earnestly.
“I think this is because she really considers you a friend. She didn’t talk to me like this when we first met; she was very clear about who was closer to her. Even when I deliberately made things difficult for her, she was still indifferent and called me Young Master Cai. But after we went through some things, she became more direct. This is also a sign of closeness.”
Wei Jingchen remained silent for a while, then said "never mind," before asking about Cai Wenyou's background and how she knew his identity.
Cai Wenyou breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed Wei Jingchen's imposing aura had subsided, and then revealed his identity. However, he was also quite worried. After all, the Gossip Manor was not a respectable place, and having information meant having spies everywhere. Although he wouldn't interfere or meddle, it was inevitable that he would offend someone of such high status.
To everyone's surprise, Wei Jingchen was much more tolerant than expected and did not comment on it. When he learned that Idle Talk Villa was indeed a group of bored people chatting after dinner, he just smiled.
Soon, Lin Chengye, dressed in simple black clothes, came out of the room, tied his hair up with a black hairband, and raised an eyebrow at the two of them.
She took the cage from Cai Wenyou's hand, intending to continue chasing, but felt that the insect was behaving strangely. When she held it in her hand, the insect stopped hitting the inner wall in any direction and instead frantically thrashed about.
"This bug seems to be... ramming downwards?"
"Is the mother beetle underground?" Lin Chengye and Cai Wenyou exchanged a glance, seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes. They both understood that this would only make it harder to pinpoint its location. The underground area was too vast; some places insects could burrow into, but humans might not be able to.
"That's right."
Unexpectedly, Wei Jingchen was the first among the three to nod in understanding. She took the cage from Lin Chengye's hand, played with it curiously for a while, and said.
"Although I don't know exactly what you've been doing all this time, I do have some clues about the underground, and I wonder if they are the same thing you've been investigating."
Suddenly, the dry bamboo leaves rustled nearby, and Jiang Heng appeared out of nowhere, kneeling on one knee in front of Wei Jingchen.
"Your Highness."
"You've come at the perfect time."
Wei Jingchen raised his chin and said.
"Tell me what the situation is now, and keep it short."
"His Highness has made progress in the matter of following her. Hua Shi is indeed acting strangely. She goes to the Treasure Hall at this time every day. There is a secret passage in the Treasure Hall that leads to the underground. When she reappears, she will be covered in the smell of blood, and there will be some bloodstains under her fingernails."
Suddenly, Jiang Heng looked annoyed and said again.
“However, although Huashi is not skilled in martial arts, she is extremely vigilant, and I cannot get close to her. Moreover, the secret passage is extremely narrow and intricate inside; once one is far from Huashi, one will disappear without a trace. I have failed in my duties, and I beg Your Highness to punish me.”
Wei Jingchen shook his head, gesturing for Jiang Heng to get up.
Hua Shi? Probably like Qing Shi, she was a personal maid of the Eldest Princess. Lin Chengye pondered for a moment, then quickly realized.
And then there's the Treasure Hall, practically branded with the name of the Eldest Princess. What role does she play in this ghostly illness? Before she could think any further, her collar was suddenly grabbed.
"And you, in your heart is His Highness such a useless and immoral person?"
Jiang Heng had clearly overheard their argument. She had barely stood up when she angrily slammed him against a pillar in the pavilion. Lin Chengye frowned and let out a muffled groan, but offered no rebuttal.
"Your Highness has also been..."
“Jiang Heng, you must not act rashly at this time. It is not convenient for me to participate in this matter. Jiang Heng, you take Cheng Ye with you.”
Wei Jingchen shook his head. To put it bluntly, the fact that this matter had reached Yongfo Temple was already a shocking scandal, and whoever was implicated would be inextricably linked to the royal family.
Lin Chengye was already being lenient by not directly suspecting her involvement in the matter; her sharp tongue was the least of her worries. Wei Jingchen looked up at Lin Chengye and, surprisingly, raised her hands in a fist salute, bowing to the two of them.
"Please, both of you."
Cai Wenyou dared not accept, and limped to the side. Lin Chengye stood calmly, but when Wei Jingchen raised his head, their eyes met for a moment, and he slightly curled the corners of his lips.
It seems there's no need to argue about who gives whom a way out, or whether they can be called friends. Their relationship is hard to summarize in a few words; they trust each other but don't confide in each other, they play a game but also admire each other.
As she brushed past Wei Jingchen, she whispered something in his ear.
"Thank you, Third Prince."
...
Jiang Heng led the two to a shady spot outside the Duobao Hall. The night was dark, and martial artists move quietly and breathe shallowly, making them difficult to detect. She whispered.
"The flower stone will appear in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."
"Let's go straight inside the palace and hide."
Lin Chengye nodded.
"Thank you for your hard work. The two of us can handle the rest. This is not an easy task with many people involved, so you should go back first."
Jiang Heng seemed to have long wanted to avoid being alone with the two of them, and disappeared as soon as he finished speaking.
Lin Chengye wasted no time and immediately led Cai Wenyou to sneak into the main hall of the Duobao Hall, bypassing the monks guarding the gate.
The Hall of Many Treasures is deep and spacious, and the thousands of candles lit up the entire hall, making it as bright as day.
Even a learned man like Cai Wenyou was so overwhelmed by the sight before him that he remained speechless for a long time.
Prayer flags and colorful murals hanging from the dome sway gently in the glow of butter lamps, as if celestial clouds were hanging low. Offerings lined the altar, and gilded incense burners emitted wisps of smoke, which mingled with the soft sounds of prayer wheels turning in the corners of the hall, creating a low chanting of Buddhist hymns.
This was already breathtaking enough, but the colossal Thousand-Hand Guanyin statue standing in the center of the hall made both of their hearts skip a beat.
The Guanyin statue is several meters tall and is carved entirely from sandalwood. Its layered thousand arms embrace the body like lotus petals. Each hand holds a flower or a ritual implement, and the palm is exquisitely carved with a wise eye that seems to see through the joys and sorrows of all beings.
The face of Guanyin embodies four aspects: compassion, wisdom, peace, and auspiciousness. It seems that even the purest delusions of the human world are concentrated in this face.
A jewel was inlaid between her lowered brows, reflecting the golden glow of the ever-burning lamp. For a moment, Lin Chengye was in a daze, as if Guanyin was gazing at the two of them with compassion.
Tap, tap, tap.
Cai Wenyou's ears twitched slightly. She quickly tugged at Lin Chengye's sleeve and whispered.
“Someone’s coming. Their footsteps are different from those of the gatekeepers. They don’t know martial arts and don’t know how to conceal their presence.”
Lin Chengye immediately snapped out of his daze and led her to hide behind the giant Guanyin statue.
Just as Jiang Heng had said, after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a woman who looked four parts similar to Qing Shi appeared at the entrance of the Duobao Hall. She walked in slowly, observing her surroundings cautiously before suddenly moving the incense burner on the altar in an orderly manner.
Then, the lower half of the enormous Guanyin statue slowly cracked open, forming a deep, eerie crevice that extended into the ground.
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