Caught? But didn't they say they caught the wrong person? Didn't the officers and soldiers deny at first sight that the middle-aged man was infected with the disease?
Wen He was completely stunned, and seemed unable to react to what Tang Yan meant. Almost subconsciously, he looked at Shen Yan for help, but Shen Yan gave the same answer as Tang Yan.
"The person has indeed been found. The hexagram formation was correct. The person suffering from the plague is the middle-aged man from before. Moreover, just now, I paid special attention to the man's face. He looks sick. He is the one suffering from the plague."
"But if we didn't find the wrong person, why did those officers and soldiers deny it so quickly...?" This was a contradiction, and it was something Wen He couldn't understand. "Could it be that those officers and soldiers forgot what the person with the plague looked like?"
"Neither. It's better to say... those officers and soldiers recognized you. You were just a short distance behind me. Didn't you notice something strange about the middle-aged man's movements when he reached the door? Normally, if you see a group of officers and soldiers begging for mercy, you'll generally pounce on the closest officer, or perhaps the tallest one, dressed differently, and likely the leader. But, at the scene, with no officers or soldiers wearing particularly conspicuous clothing or standing tall, the middle-aged man didn't immediately pounce on the nearest officer, but on another, less conspicuous soldier behind him. And that officer, I've dealt with before, is their general. When he's out on business, he often wears ordinary soldier's clothes for ease of movement. And yet, the middle-aged man recognized him instantly. So, basically, there's only one thing..."
"That middle-aged man... did he recognize that general?" Tang Yan said this slowly. In that instant, Wen He seemed to understand something, and the words just blurted out. The expressions of Chen Yan and Tang Yan in front of her also told her that her speculation was correct. They had thought of this aspect as well. Chen Yan added a few words: "Not only that, I also suspect that although the middle-aged man really has the plague, he is probably not a random pilgrim who has mixed in with the pilgrims. Instead, he was arranged to 'accidentally' enter the 'Stargazing Temple'."
Wen He was not stupid. Before, she had only been contemplating the surface of the matter and had not considered other possibilities. Now, after Chen Yan's suggestion, her thoughts suddenly became clearer. Thinking back on it carefully, she found that the reaction of the middle-aged man, as well as the attitudes and response plans of those officers and soldiers, were somewhat strange and disharmonious. Especially those officers and soldiers, they did not seem anxious to eliminate or isolate the harm of the plague. Instead, they were more keen to confront the Buddhist disciple Tang Yan. It seemed as if... they were not coming here for the plague, but for the 'Stargazing Temple'.
"But why? What's the reason? Is there some conflict between the 'Star Viewing Temple' and those officers and soldiers? Or is there some kind of hatred?"
In response to this, Tang Yan shook his head with absolute certainty, directly denying the answer. "No, the abbot has always been compassionate, friendly and gentle. He has never had any conflicts with officials or soldiers, not even with other ordinary people. But now I am afraid that... those officials and soldiers outside are not coming for the Guanxing Temple, but for me who lives in the Guanxing Temple."
"Just because your real surname is 'Li'? Could it be that your existence threatens the officers and soldiers, no, to be more precise, the imperial court?" Chen Yan's words seemed to hit the point right away. Although Tang Yan did not respond, his silence said it all.
Yes, since ancient times, the emperor was most afraid of people who became too successful and threatened the emperor. Under the dragon throne, there was a bloody storm full of conspiracies and intrigues. Now, it was heard that the court had just appointed a prince not long ago, and this prince was none other than Tang Yan's other brother.
It was said that this prince had been intelligent and studious since childhood, was gifted, and that he put the overall situation first, was efficient and decisive, and had the demeanor of an emperor. When Tang Yan's reputation as a "son of Buddha" had not yet spread among the people, the popularity of this prince was extremely high among the people. It seemed that people had long believed that this prince had already secured the throne of the future emperor, even though there were several other princes of similar age.
But a few years ago, during a divination at the Guanxing Temple, the abbot was out on business, and the person who came to seek divination was the county magistrate. The matter he asked was extremely important. He wanted to know where the lost food and grass were. This matter was serious and involved a wider range of issues. If the food and grass could not be found, losing the job would be a small matter. But if the front line was breached due to lack of food and grass, the loss of the defense line would be a big deal, and at that time, there would be devastation.
This hexagram was extremely important and difficult to calculate. With the abbot absent, none of the monks in the Guanxing Temple dared to perform it. The atmosphere was extremely tense until Tang Yan, who happened to be passing by, said, "Let me calculate it for you."
That was Tang Yan's first time to tell fortunes for others, and it was because of this fortune that Tang Yan became famous. The fortune was extremely accurate. Sure enough, within two days, the county magistrate had recovered the lost food and grass.
Not only that, Tang Yan's divination also predicted the outcome of the battle, as well as the remaining military strength. This divination was much more detailed than the abbot's, so detailed that it seemed fake. Because of this, the county magistrate did not take the subsequent divinations seriously at the beginning, as long as the food and grass were found. Until, not long after, our army returned with a great victory, and after comparing them, they found that everything that happened later was exactly as shown by the divination... Tang Yan calculated it all without any mistake!
Tang Yan's fame quickly grew, and as time went on, people discovered that he was not only incredibly accurate in fortune-telling, but also possessed a unique understanding of Buddhist scriptures. Soon, stories surfaced about the emperor's twin sons, one of whom became crown prince, while the other, with a connection to Buddhism, had been taken in by Abbot Tang. With such a legendary background and prowess, Tang Yan quickly became known to the common people, who nicknamed him "Son of Buddha."
But it seemed that because of this, Tang Yan's existence had become an obstacle for certain people, such as his twin brother in the imperial court, the Empress who was determined to help the Crown Prince ascend to the throne, and the aristocratic family behind the Empress. Even though Tang Yan was her biological son, in the eyes of the current Empress, Tang Yan was no longer her child after being cruelly abandoned and crushed to death at birth. To ensure her smooth path to the Crown Prince, she naturally had to eliminate any dissenters.
When Tang Yan analyzed this matter, there was no excessive emotion on his face, as if he had already gotten used to it. Moreover, before this, Tang Yan had also seen the so-called prince and queen vaguely behind those who happened to come to the Guanxing Temple to cause trouble several times.
Therefore, now that he had discovered such a thing, Tang Yan subconsciously speculated in this direction, speculating that the background of this matter might also have the shadow of the prince and the queen. However, the degree of this time was much more serious than the previous situation. They even brought up something as dangerous as "epidemic" as the topic. Compared with this, the previous disturbances seemed like a minor matter.
"Then what should we do now? If those officers and soldiers outside don't admit it, even if we find another 'person with the plague' later, they probably won't let us go..."
"This is the most troublesome part. As long as those officers and soldiers are plotting against us, we will never be able to find people who meet their requirements."
"Then what we can do now to break the deadlock is..."
"There's no other way. We can only wait and see who can't afford to waste time first. If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move either. Instead of panicking, we might as well wait and see what the other side will do next. It's not too late for us to act then. Am I right, Tang Yan? That's why you let those pilgrims go back to their rooms to rest and see what those officers and soldiers outside will do."
As Chen Yan said this, he pointed out without hesitation that Tang Yan's previous excuse of "giving them more time to think of a solution" was a pretext. Tang Yan could not deny this and tacitly agreed with Chen Yan's statement. He took a sip of hot tea before speaking again, "However, we at the Guanxing Temple are not doing nothing. I just calculated that there is no filth that is currently affecting others. But just in case, we still need to clean it up first. After all, the plague is lurking in the temple."
Tang Yan meant disinfection and defense. Although the person who had the water plague had died and the body had been cleaned up by them, they didn't know whether the disease had spread to other people during this period. Even though they didn't expect that there would be filth accumulated in the temple, it would still be better to clean it up.
Wen He agreed with this statement. At the same time, facing the questions from the pilgrims after dinner, the monks naturally had no results yet, because there was no one to catch. Therefore, their statement to the outside world was still to ask the pilgrims to wait patiently and not to be impatient. They were still looking for a solution, and they would notify the pilgrims as soon as they had a solution.
Wen He and Shen Yan, who had a rough understanding of the situation, naturally relaxed. They specifically asked Tang Yan for a private room to discuss matters. Of course, what Wen He and Shen Yan were discussing wasn't the practices of the 'Star-gazing Temple' or the imperial court, but rather their current illusion. They were now almost certain that this 'Star-gazing Temple' was the 'Death Buddha Temple,' and that Tang Yan, Shen Yan's previous life, was probably the legendary Buddhist figure from so many years ago.
"If that's the case, the rumor about the 'Death Buddha Temple' that everyone died in a few days due to an epidemic is a bit far-fetched. Could this be the breaking point of this illusion? We need to uncover the truth behind it."
"Not really." Chen Yan shook his head and said, "To break this illusion, the person who created it must be willing to do so. The most urgent task is to find that key person."
"Could it be... Tang Yan? Apart from the fact that he is your previous life, his identity and background are the most special here. Chen Yan, do you think he is the one who set up this illusion?" There was no way. Wen He thought about it and thought that the most special person here was undoubtedly Tang Yan, followed by the abbot and the chief of officers and soldiers outside. However, Wen He's intuition was subconsciously inclined towards Tang Yan. He felt that he was the most critical person in the whole thing. Moreover, with Tang Yan's strength, it seemed not impossible for him to set up such an extremely difficult-to-break illusion.
Chen Yan seemed to have thought of this, but if he knew that Tang Yan was most likely the key point... For some reason, Chen Yan always felt that the person who planned this would not be Tang Yan. He knew himself. Although he had the ability to set up illusions, he was the most disdainful of using illusions to confuse people's minds. It would be better to crush them with strength directly, and the victory or defeat would be determined by itself.
But he had to admit that the breakthrough points in this illusion now all seemed to point to Tang Yan. Furthermore, there was one thing Shen Yan couldn't understand: why was it said that everyone in this Buddhist temple had been infected with the epidemic in just a few days? Clearly, based on the situation he and Tang Yan had analyzed in the room earlier, not so many people should have died. According to that rumor, everyone in Guanxing Temple died within three days, and now the first day was almost over, with only two days left... As Shen Yan pondered this, something strange suddenly occurred.
Suddenly, the outside, which had become very quiet because of the late night, became noisy. A scream broke the silence of the night. After a while, the oil lamps in the surrounding rooms were all lit up. All the monks were running in the corridor with ugly faces. They didn't know what was going on, so they couldn't help but become extremely nervous when they saw this situation, and followed the pilgrims.
For a while, the entire "Star Viewing Temple" became a bit chaotic.
Seeing this, Chen Yan and Wen He, who were already preoccupied with sleep, were also awakened. Seeing the situation outside, they grabbed a familiar little monk passing by and asked directly, "Are you the little monk named Changsheng? We met him during the day, and you even led us the way. Could you tell me what happened up there? Why did they start arguing so suddenly in the middle of the night..."
However, before Shen Yan could finish his words, he was abruptly interrupted by the young monk in front of him, who looked like he was about to cry. After a while, he heard the young monk staring at him with a pair of eyes that had turned a little red at some point, and then he said, "Senior Brother Wen... has an epidemic. I heard the cause of death was waterborne. We are all rushing over to investigate the situation and see him for the last time..."
Was the cause of death waterborne? How could that be? Tang Yan had clearly confirmed that someone with the disease had sneaked into the Guanxing Temple, but no one there should have been infected. Furthermore, just as a precaution, after leaving Tang Yan's room, they had counted three times, and the results were the same. There was no foul matter circulating in the Guanxing Temple, so how could anyone have died from the plague? And from the way the young monk Changsheng addressed him, it seemed likely that the deceased wasn't a pilgrim, but a monk from the Guanxing Temple.
Upon seeing this, Chen Yan and Wen He looked at each other, both feeling that this matter was unusual. Without much hesitation, they put on a coat and followed the monks like other pilgrims. The place where the incident occurred was not far away, and it didn't take long for them to arrive at the scene. When they looked up, they immediately saw Tang Yan, who was extremely conspicuous in the crowd. He was unusually indifferent, but frowned with a serious look on his face. Standing next to him was the abbot whom they had just met during the day. At this moment, the abbot's face was extremely pale and ugly. It seemed that he could not accept the fact that his own monk had died so suddenly. He looked like he was about to faint. If there were other monks supporting him, the abbot would have fallen to the ground long ago.
Because there were too many people gathered outside, Chen Yan and Wen He could not see the situation clearly, but they could vaguely see that the dead monk was very young, and vaguely familiar, as if they had seen him during the day. No, not seemed, but really seen him during the day. That person was none other than the young monk who was very sensitive. He stared at Chen Yan in confusion for a long time, as if he had died in his sleep. The monk in the same room did not return to the room so early because he had to deal with some matters outside. He returned to the room to rest late at night, but he never thought that when he just returned to the room, he found that his companion had passed away.
The young monk's skin was covered with purple spots, which looked extremely scary and had begun to rot. These symptoms were exactly the same as those of a patient with water plague.
In order to verify what was said, Wen He and Shen Yan took the trouble to squeeze into the crowd to verify this matter. It was indeed as those people said. The monk's face did show abnormal purple spots. However, Wen He and Shen Yan did not know what the symptoms of water plague patients would be like, so they could not determine the specific situation. Shen Yan took advantage of the blind spot on the spot and calculated according to the specific time and landmark. The result of the calculation made Shen Yan's brows furrowed tightly. His face was heavy. He shook his head straight at Wen He and silently gestured to Wen He: "I'm afraid there is something wrong with this matter. It's not convenient now... Let's go back to the room and talk about it."
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