Queen Mother Jiang did not return to the palace with Master Tang Xuan and his disciples.
She wrote a letter to Tang Xuan, but one was in the south and the other in the north, and they just happened to return to the palace at the same time, so she didn't know what the master and disciple experienced on the road.
"It's nothing, I just ran into some human traffickers, and then Xiao Liye took care of them. It's not a big deal."
Tang Xuan spoke first.
On the side, Si Li Ye immediately rolled his eyes.
As soon as Queen Mother Jiang saw it, she knew that Tang Xuan was fooling her.
"What's going on? This involves the safety of the people, it's not a trivial matter."
She said with a serious tone.
"Oh, Queen Mother, you just love to worry. You've been going to the temple and worshiping Buddha for so long, but why can't you change this old habit?"
Tang Xuan couldn't help but say.
Queen Mother Jiang glared at him directly.
"I want to know too, but this is not the place to talk. Let's send the Queen Mother back first, and then we can talk in detail."
At this time, Emperor Cheng Xuan came out to smooth things over.
Empress Dowager Jiang lived in the Cining Palace.
Fortunately, although she had not lived in the palace for a long time, there was always someone to clean and tidy up everything in the Cining Palace on weekdays.
So even though I just came back, everything is arranged properly.
After everyone arrived and took a short rest, Emperor Cheng Xuan ordered Si Li Ye to recount what had happened in detail.
"It is like this, Your Majesty the Queen Mother, my humble servant and I have traveled to a place called Xin'an Town on the outskirts of the capital. Outside the town, there is a mountain, and on the mountain there is a Taoist temple called Xiqing Temple."
In order to get back to the palace as soon as possible, Master Si Liye and his disciples traveled all night long by boat and carriage.
When they arrived at this town near the capital, they planned to rest for a while, pack up and then return to the capital.
So as to avoid looking dusty and unpresentable.
But when they arrived in the town, they found something strange everywhere.
Every household is performing rituals to pray for blessings.
After asking around, the master and disciple learned that several children had been missing from the town recently, and the people who stole the children would leave a note saying that he was a demon god on the mountain and wanted these children as sacrifices for him. They asked the people in the town to send one hundred children within a time limit, otherwise, he would kill everyone in the town.
The people were so frightened that they quickly reported to the police.
But the nearby county magistrate didn't care at all. He said he had checked and there was no missing child in the town. He scolded the people for spreading rumors and talking nonsense.
Later, the abbot of Xiqing Temple on the mountain heard about this and came down the mountain to seek justice.
He had great magical powers and not only destroyed the demon god, but also sent back all the children who had been lost before.
After the children came back, they said that the demon god was a tree demon and they had been locked in a tree hole in the mountain for several days.
Afterwards, as expected, the people in the town were very grateful to the master of the temple.
They built a statue of the temple master, called him a "living god", and worshipped him every day.
One day, the "living immortal" suddenly said that he calculated that he would ascend to heaven in a few years.
But before ascending, he wanted to choose a personal disciple from among the children under the age of six in the town, and pass on his legacy and Xiqing Temple to him.
As soon as these words were spoken, the people in the town went crazy and sent their children to Xiqing Temple one after another.
Now, these people are praying, hoping that after two years, their children will be trained and selected to become the personal disciples of the living immortal. Not to mention owning the entire Xiqing Temple, they can learn some skills from the living immortal, and then they will be considered half a living immortal!
"After hearing this, Xiao Liye and I felt that something was wrong."
Tang Xuan said, "When the common people built statues to worship this so-called living immortal, a significant amount of faith was absorbed. This was a very useful merit for the cultivators in their practice.
"Besides, the matter of the missing child is also very suspicious.
"Later, I asked Xiao Li Ye to investigate, and found that there was indeed a clue."
It turned out that the abbot of Xiqing Temple was the one who directed and acted out the whole thing. He absorbed the power of faith of the people in the town and converted it into his own merits, while selling all the children that the people voluntarily sent over.
When Si Li Ye caught the temple master, he was directing the young Taoist priests in the temple to tie the next batch of children who had received money into the carriage and prepare to ship them down the mountain.
"So, you let your apprentice, an eight-year-old kid, investigate something so dangerous on his own?"
When Queen Mother Jiang heard this, she immediately grasped the key point.
She couldn't help but shake her head helplessly: "Master, how come you are so unreliable even at such an old age?"
"How can this be called unreliable? Look, didn't Xiao Liye handle it very well? Moreover, after handling these things, he was still able to catch up with me. It's enough to show that I'm old. Now is Xiao Liye's time! Of course I should hand over the difficult things to Xiao Liye!"
Tang Xuan immediately defended himself.
The reasoning was so clear and logical that it was hard to find any rebuttal.
Because the facts seemed to be true, just as he said.
But after hearing this, Emperor Chengxuan frowned.
"Xin'an Town is under the jurisdiction of Heding County, and the magistrate of Heding County, as I recall, is the son of the old Duke of England. A child went missing in Xin'an Town, and the people reported it to the authorities, but he, the magistrate, ignored it. He deserves death!"
There was a hint of coldness in his tone.
Upon hearing this, Queen Mother Jiang also frowned.
Because the Duke of England's Mansion happened to be her uncle's home, the old Duke of England was her uncle, and the man who was the magistrate of Heding County was her uncle's youngest son, who was also her cousin.
She felt a little uneasy.
Before she returned to the palace, she received a letter for help from her niece, Concubine Hui, saying that she and the second prince were framed by Xiao Shuangbao and Concubine Chou.
As soon as I returned to the palace, I heard that my cousin didn't care about the lives of the people.
If she did not express her position, the emperor might think that these relatives of hers were protected by her, which was why they dared to act so lawless.
"This is no small matter."
At this point, Queen Mother Jiang immediately said, "Especially since the son of the Duke of Ying, a member of the royal family, doesn't care about the lives of the people, this cannot be tolerated. The Emperor should immediately send officials to arrest and punish him if he is guilty."
"The Queen Mother is absolutely right. I do not intend to tolerate it."
Emperor Cheng Xuan nodded.
He was thinking about who to send to investigate the case.
"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, I'm afraid this matter is far from as simple as it seems."
However, at this moment, Si Liye suddenly said, "I suspect this matter is related to a powerful, arrogant and vicious cult."
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