Chapter 33 Pretend and Revenge

033 Pretend and Revenge

Gao Yuan attached great importance to the stinking ditch incident mentioned by Xiang Jiannan. He kept his mouth shut and said he knew nothing about it. Finally, he got tired of being asked and walked out of the Taoist temple with his whisk in hand. Xiang Jiannan felt that the old Taoist was pretending, insisting that he didn't hear such a loud noise.

"It's not that the master doesn't recognize him."

The weather had already improved with the departure of the pale-faced scholar. Xiang Jiannan saw that his master had a sad face and innocent eyes when he spoke:

"Our Ping An Temple has been next to the ditch for decades. How can I believe what you said? With such a big scene, why is there not even a trace?"

As Gao Yu'an looked outside the temple, Xiang Jiannan was once again speechless. He had thought he would hear something extraordinary today, but in the end, the master still refused to be honest with him.

He walked to the edge of the stinking ditch without giving up, observed for a while, and then returned to Ping'an Temple in shame.

It was indeed clean, as if nothing had happened, and the only trace left was footprints.

Considering the methods we have seen before, this is actually not difficult to do.

"You are just too impatient. Have you used those pieces of talisman paper?"

Seeing that Xiang Jiannan still looked at him with disbelief, Gao Yuan couldn't help but ask again.

It was like he had to put on a complete show, and Xiang Jiannan was quite dissatisfied with what he said.

You still don't know whether it is useful or not. Do you really think that your disciple is old and blind now? Anyway, no matter how you argue, what happened before must be closely related to our Ping An Temple.

"It's all used up, but there's no fish fried."

After answering unhappily, Xiang Jiannan turned around and wanted to go to the backyard.

This was the first time he felt there was a conspiracy around him, but his master refused to admit it. There must have been no pilgrims in the temple at the time. If there had been, why would he have failed in his search for the truth again?

I really don’t understand what there is to hide, I have truly experienced it.

The sound of the explosion nearly deafened me. The angry rebuke coming from the air was impossible to be answered back unless one was from the Taoist sect.

"It must have all been wasted."

After hearing this, Gao Yuan sighed and said, "I didn't even hear any sound. It's such a pity for my hard work."

Keep pretending! Thinking that you can't hear such a loud noise, Xiang Jiannan felt that the master's acting was a bit too much. It doesn't matter if you don't say it, and you don't have to act so hard. There is an idiom that goes, "The more you try to cover up, the more obvious it becomes." The more you pretend to be ignorant, the more you can expose that you actually know everything.

Although the words used are not very appropriate, they can accurately express my, Xiang Jiannan's, mood at the moment. One day, you will be embarrassed because you can't hide it.

"Disciple, I have something to say to you."

When Xiang Jiannan was about ten feet away from him, Gao Yuan suddenly shouted loudly outside the temple. This shout was full of sincerity, and Xiang Jiannan had to stop as soon as he heard it.

He was a person who was skeptical about everything. If he was skeptical for a long time, he would become sensitive. He seemed to hear hidden meanings in his master's words. To be honest, he was quite looking forward to it.

"What's up?"

"The spit I just spit out was not directed at you."

"The Overlord is back."

Soon after leaving the stinking ditch, the white-faced scholar transformed himself into another form, entered the water and swam all the way to the depths of the East China Sea. Today's attempt made him feel a little tired, so he was unwilling to respond after the Yaksha greeted him.

I just want to go back to the palace and have a good sleep. Over the past few decades, that stinking ditch has become a thorn in my heart, and I think about it day and night.

It has been thirty years and it still hasn't been removed.

"What happened to Overlord?"

Watching the pale-faced scholar walking away, the yakshas who came up to him could see that he was unhappy.

Overlord must have encountered something today. No matter what happened in the past, he would always smile at them. Humility and courtesy are what Overlord learned from the shore, and in the early years he listed them as compulsory subjects for East China Sea aquatic animals.

They must not be arrogant towards their own kind because of their status or strength. If the aquatic people want to be strong, they must rely on cohesion. Strength is certainly important, but it is not the basis for them to regain glory.

This idea has been ingrained in the minds of every East China Sea aquatic creature for many years, and except for the Overlord who occasionally forgets it, everyone is trying hard to abide by it.

"Release those water monsters and drive them to the South China Sea."

After the figure left, it seemed as if he had thought of something. The Yakshas heard the Overlord command from afar:

Please...you...collect_6Ⅰ9ⅠBookⅠBar (Six\\\Nine\\\Book\\\Bar!)

"After dinner, call a few people who can make rain to come to my bedroom. They should be smart ones."

"yes."

Three days passed in a flash.

Three days ago, he vowed to avoid the stinking ditch. After everything returned to normal, Xiang Jiannan could no longer hold back and began to inquire about it. In addition to trying to dig deep into the time of its formation through books, he also made more verbal inquiries to pilgrims.

Apart from the fact that I forgot about it because I was eager to verify it that day, I didn't have the courage to get close to the stinking ditch again. I could only start from the surrounding area to see if I could find any clues.

It was a pity that I didn't have much memory of the stinking ditch, and what the townspeople said was not very clear. After several rounds of discussion, I quickly lost all my confidence.

"Young Taoist priest, you are studying Taoism again."

Sitting in front of the temple with his eyes fixed on the stinking ditch, Xiang Jiannan's dazed behavior has become commonplace among the pilgrims.

After asking so many questions about the stinking ditch, there must be an explanation. Anyway, the pilgrims didn't know the real reason, so they just made up a reason.

"Um."

Every time someone asked him about it, he would complain about his master. Xiang Jiannan was basically on strike these past two days. He was not doing his job every day and seemed to be greeting guests at the door, but he never took Gao Yuan's words seriously.

You don’t want to tell me, right? Let me ask myself.

The only useful information obtained in the past two days occurred in the county town. According to the pilgrims returning from the city, on the night when the stinking ditch incident ended, the temples in the county town suddenly experienced a strange rain.

The rain was different from usual ones. It started at three o'clock in the morning and lasted until five o'clock. During this time, it soaked the temple several times. Every drop of water carried a strong pungent smell, which made the monks in the temple helpless. They gathered in the scripture hall to chant scriptures most of the night. When they were discovered by pilgrims in the morning, countless people went to the temple to watch.

Some people said that the monks in the temple had angered the Buddha and were therefore punished, while others said that the monks were putting on a show of self-torture as an excuse to get the court to allocate money to them for repairs.

Monks in the Zhou Dynasty had privileges. If their reasons were justified, they could apply to the court for special funds for their own use. Whether their application would be approved depended on the amount of incense burning on their side. Taoists, however, did not have such privileges. For example, the Ping'an Temple where Xiang Jiannan was located had to rely on itself for everything else, except for the site selection which was approved by the court.

It has been like this for many years.

(End of this chapter)