In the early morning, at three o'clock in the morning, the stars are dim.

Zhao Rong got up early, but instead of doing morning exercises or classes, he dressed lightly, quietly went out, left the manor, and hurried to Luojing.

Luojing has no city walls, and the north and south gates are in name only and are not locked at night. Zhongnan Kingdom was governed by Taoism and had vigorously promoted the policy of inaction. There was no curfew at night. Although some measures similar to a curfew have been implemented in recent years at the request of some Confucian officials in the court, the effect is not obvious due to the lazy and comfortable people of Luojing. There are still people in the city who gather all night long and do not return home at night to seek pleasure.

Therefore, it was not as difficult for Zhao Rong to enter the city in the early morning as he had imagined.

Zhao Rong walked through the city and came to the small inn that rented guest rooms near the south gate. He pushed the door open, went into the room to change clothes, and when he was ready, he left quietly.

Mount Taibai is located in the southern suburbs of Luojing. It is the highest peak on this plain and one of the highest mountains even among the Zhongnan Mountains. Zhao Rong looked up and gazed into the distance. There was a "star" on the top of Mount Taibai, shining brightly.

If an immortal were to look down from the sky, he would surely think that the lights of the myriad houses in Luojing City were the starlight scattered by the falling stars.

That is the place for inner contemplation in Chongxu Temple. I believe it should be as bright as day at this moment.

During a casual chat, I heard Lin Wenruo say that it was a strange stone born in the deep mountains of Zhongnan. The brighter the day, the dimmer it was, and the darker the night, the brighter it was.

Zhao Rong frowned slightly. When he arrived at the foot of Mount Taibai and heard the bell ringing on the mountain, it was already two quarters past three in the morning.

The whole day is divided into twelve hours, and each hour has eight quarters. The Yin hour is from 3:00 to 5:00 in the morning.

It was summer now, the sun rose early, and it was almost dawn. Although it was not yet bright, the chirping of insects could be heard in the woods.

Zhao Rong stepped into the market at the foot of the mountain and found it quite lively. After asking around, he found out that today was the once-in-seven day off for the people of Luojing. To avoid the scorching sun during the day, many pilgrims came early in the morning to burn incense and chant scriptures. Most of them came as a family.

Zhao Rong stepped up the mountain and looked around carefully. He found that in addition to the pilgrims, there were also many Taoist priests and Taoist children from the Chongxu Temple who went up the mountain together. They must have just got up early.

Entering the exterior, after stepping over the threshold, he suddenly felt a mysterious connection with something in his heart, still in the front left side. Zhao Rong felt quite at ease. Just like last time, he put some silver in the merit box and started to stroll around casually.

A Taoist boy in black clothes and a blue hat passed by him carrying a food box. Zhao Rong's heart moved slightly, and he turned around and followed him calmly. After a while, he found that the Taoist boy carried the food box into a side building in the southeast corner.

Zhao Rong glanced around and looked through the half-open door of the side building. He could only see half a table and chairs. Two Taoists in blue were sitting and chatting. After the Taoist boy came in, he smiled and said a few words, then opened the food box, took out a few plates and bowls, then picked up the food box and walked inside. There must be other people in the building.

At this time, the early morning sun had already risen. The side building was located in the southeast corner with a wide view. A few rays of morning light passed over the door frame, through the lattice windows, and into the building, sticking to the side of a thin Taoist priest in blue in Zhao Rong's field of vision. The latter tilted his head to the other side, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and pushed the stool inward to avoid the morning sun.

Seeing this, Zhao Rong pursed his lips gently and reached out his hand into the morning light. The morning sun was slightly warm, like silk covering his hand, bright golden, soft and not hot. Zhao Rong withdrew his hand, turned around and walked out without looking around. Seeing that there was no one in sight ahead for the time being, he quickly turned into a secluded path.

Chongxu Temple looks very large, but Taibai Mountain is even bigger. Apart from the large and magnificent building, the rest of the mountainside is covered with dense forests.

Zhao Rong groped his way up the mountain cautiously.

In Chongxu Temple, the Taoists in blue are the core Taoists, who are practicing; the Taoists in black are ordinary Taoists, who have no cultivation; in addition, I heard that there is also a kind of Taoists in purple, who are the most honorable people in Chongxu Temple, but I have never seen one, and I don’t want to see one before the debate between Confucianism and Taoism.

According to what I saw when I went up the mountain just now, ordinary Taoists all go up the mountain after eating vegetarian meals in the vegetarian hall at the foot of the mountain. The blue-robed Taoist in the three-story side building not long ago should not have eaten vegetarian meals outside, and there should be a vegetarian hall inside the temple where they live.

Anything that happened will leave traces.

These blue-robed Taoist priests asked the Taoist children down the mountain to bring them food in the morning, so there was only one possibility, that they stayed outside to keep watch last night. And people who have stayed up all night have gone through a long dark night, and most of them are sensitive to light. The thin Taoist priest just now avoided the not-so-warm morning sun, which was a sequelae of staying up late, and the other Taoist priests who did not show up in the building must be the same.

Just as he had guessed, the Chongxu Temple must be heavily guarded at night. Although the exterior on the mountainside is usually used for pilgrims to pray and burn incense, it is indeed one of the only ways to go up the mountain. It will be strictly guarded at night, and even when it is open to welcome guests during the day, there should be someone on guard in secret.

On the eve of the Confucian-Taoist debate, Chongxu Temple and Wen Ruo were secretly fighting each other. Both sides did not dare to relax at all and were extremely alert, trying their best to guard against and look for each other's flaws.

Everything has its pros and cons.

The disadvantages of this matter are obvious. With such strict guards, it would be extremely difficult for me to take away the Thundering Purple Gold Furnace. Moreover, after the appearance of an "ordinary incense burner" disappears, it is very likely to attract their attention and cast their eyes on this trivial matter.

But there are advantages as well. All their attention is now on the Lanxi Lin family. When the temple was robbed, the first people they would definitely suspect would be the Lanxi Lin family. As for why Lin Wenruo would come to steal an "ordinary incense burner", they probably wouldn't be able to figure it out no matter how hard they tried. They would only come up with many wrong answers, which would distract their attention and affect their judgment, which would be beneficial to their own debate on Confucianism and Taoism.

Of course, the best result is that they did not notice the theft of this "ordinary incense burner". There are so many people passing by every day, and there must be things stolen over the years. Therefore, I have to mislead them and actively provide them with a more reasonable reason for the theft.

In connection with the above ideas, it would be best for me to act in daytime, because the security during the day is definitely not as strict as that at night. Although it is expected that they will have a rotation of guards and it is impossible for them to let the Taoist guards who have been up all night to continue to watch, the new Taoist guards will become lazy because their predecessors have safely passed the most dangerous night.

And according to normal logic, during the day they should be divided into secret guards and visible guards. The former are those who hide in unknown dark places, while the latter are the blue-robed Taoists who chant scriptures and interpret divinations while guarding the halls after they open during the day. Well, there are also those who walk around outside.

And because of the inertia of thinking, both the Taoist priests hiding in secret and the Taoist priests in the open will develop a sense of dependence on each other because they know the existence of each other and place their hopes on each other.

This is the advantage of taking action during the day, but huge gains are also accompanied by equal difficulties and risks, which is also the problem that needs to be solved in the next few days.

Finally, if there is a choice, it is best to choose a day with a lot of pilgrims and give them a roughly reasonable reason for the theft of the incense burner. People like to make excuses. Only when they can't find any excuses will they consider those unconventional factors. In addition, set up some tricks to confuse their judgment and prevent them from easily guessing the truth of the matter.

In this way, the general idea has been determined, and all that remains to be done is to improve the plan and implementation plan.

Make plans before you act, and you will gain success when you know when to stop.

Zhao Rong climbed the mountain all the way, choosing remote and dangerous roads with no one around, climbing rocks and crossing springs, stepping over stones and trees. Although he was still stuck in the Jinshi period of the Tiantian realm, he had taken the path of a warrior, and his physique had been tempered by Liu Sanbian to be different from that of an ordinary person. He was no longer the weak scholar he once was. He practiced the Fu Shan Xi boxing stance hundreds of times every day. Although he had not yet learned the killing skills, he was no longer comparable to the ordinary chivalrous knights of the dynasty below the mountain.

Not long after, Zhao Rong suddenly stopped and stood under a tree. Three meters in front of him was a red wall with green tiles. Looking up through the gaps between the scattered leaves, he saw that the wall was about thirty feet high. A horizontal row of green tiles intersected with the clear sky, and the same color as the sky. Looking left and right, the red wall extended for who knows how many miles, and there was no end in sight.

This red wall separates the mountainside from the top of the mountain, and is also the boundary between the inside and outside of Chongxu Temple. Outsiders are not allowed to roam around at will.

Suddenly, bursts of bell sounds were heard from behind the wall. Zhao Rong listened carefully and counted silently in his heart.

Yin time, seven quarters.

In another quarter of an hour it would be five in the morning.

The bell tower is behind the wall, and the top of the mountain is too far away to see the mountainside clearly. You don't have to worry, you can hide in a high place near the mountainside, observe the scenery outside Chongxu Temple, and collect necessary information.

Zhao Rong reached out and pressed the red wall in front of him, then turned around and returned the same way, erasing all the traces he had left along the way.

When he arrived at the forest near the Chongxu Temple, Zhao Rong searched carefully and chose a deep forest where no birds or animals lived on the northeast slope of the temple to hide himself.

He gently lifted the leaves and looked sideways. The view was not very good, but he could see most of the exterior except the northeast corner, including the main hall in the middle called Yinzu Temple, the three-story building in the southeast corner called Stargazing Tower, and finally the left side hall where the Tingni Purple Gold Furnace that he was most concerned about was located, the Lingguan Temple.

Zhao Rong nodded, stood on the branch, and carefully memorized the terrain while taking out two pancakes from his arms and chewing them. They were a bit dry and hard. This was what he bought at a breakfast stall that opened very early before leaving the city.

Zhao Rong was chewing and observing at the same time. He glanced and saw more than a dozen Taoists in blue clothes walking out of the observatory in the northeast corner, which was slightly higher than where he was. Zhao Rong turned his head curiously and raised his eyes slightly. Suddenly, he found that there were flickering light spots in the hollow wooden windows of the attic on the top of the observatory, as if there was a figure walking in it, blocking the light.

This attic with the highest appearance can see all directions! Including here! Zhao Rong was startled and the pancake in his hand fell to the ground. Damn, why did he forget the tall building with the secret sentry? !