The eunuchs stopped what they were doing and looked hesitantly at Li Changzhou and Xia Yan.
Before science can explain everything, people will believe in something more or less. There was no God of Cars in the past, but most car buyers today worship God of Cars.
Modern people are like this, let alone these eunuchs from the Ming Dynasty.
Xia Yan glanced at the presiding official, then swept his gaze over the eunuchs who had stopped, and said calmly, "Is the Emperor greater, or is the Buddha of the Western Paradise greater?"
The eunuchs covered the Buddha's head with gauze and continued dismantling it.
Several eunuchs carried away a statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva. The statue had a sutra on its left shoulder and a sword on its right shoulder. Li Changzhou saw it as it passed by.
He nodded inwardly. Yang Qinglan was right after all; the golden statue of a Buddhist monk was indeed suitable for creating a special edition golden crown.
Boom!
Another Buddha head rolled down and landed next to the Tathagata's head.
The gauze covering the Buddha's head was slightly lifted by the wind, and it looked eerily at the crowd along with the head of another Buddha statue.
Li Changzhou looked in the direction of the second head and saw a large-bellied monk with a bare chest and belly, and a friendly smile.
Maitreya Buddha.
"It's the Future Buddha!" the abbot exclaimed in surprise. "With great compassion and wisdom, he rescues those drowning in suffering, leading them to the other shore; with the great lamp of light, he illuminates all those lost in delusion, showing them the path to enlightenment. The Future Buddha has fallen... this, this—"
"Are you trying to say that my Great Ming Dynasty has no future?" Xia Yan said coldly.
"Amitabha Buddha." The abbot bowed his head.
"Buddha has no say in our Great Ming Dynasty. Only the Emperor can decide the future of our Great Ming Dynasty!" Xia Yan looked at the eunuchs. "Continue to dismantle it. Anyone who dares to stop will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane!"
Li Changzhou thought for a moment and said to Xia Yan, "Lord Xia, there might be something wrong with this temple. Have someone thoroughly investigate it."
Xia Yan thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay."
One head falling off could be a coincidence, two... could also be a coincidence, but checking is always more reassuring than not checking at all.
Now that Li Changzhou has already dismantled the other party's golden body, and they have a grudge against each other, if there is any real situation, it should be dealt with immediately if possible, and not left until the Lantern Festival.
Not long after, a eunuch came to report.
"Reporting to Lord Xia and Master Li, we have searched inside and out, and there is nothing strange about it. Only the last hall is locked tightly, with a large padlock on the animal-shaped ring."
"Where's the key?" Xia Yan asked the abbot.
"Lord Xia, inside that hall—"
“Monks shouldn’t lie, Buddha is watching from the ground,” Li Changzhou said with a smile.
The abbot hesitated for a moment, glancing at the Buddha and Maitreya standing side by side on the ground.
He pondered for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Strange noises sometimes come from inside that hall. There are probably monsters inside. We must not open it lightly."
“Any monsters who dare to disobey orders? The key,” Xia Yan said.
"grown ups--"
"You want to defy the imperial decree?" Xia Yan's voice and gaze pressed closer.
The abbot sighed, chanted Buddhist mantras, and took out a large key.
Xia Yan led his men and rushed towards the rear hall.
From the outside, the Buddhist temple was clearly abandoned long ago. The eaves were covered with cobwebs, crisscrossing each other, and the lock on the door was covered with dust several inches thick.
A eunuch stepped forward, unlocked the door, and pushed it open.
Dust and a musty smell hit you.
Before it even reached his face, Li Changzhou swept his sleeve, and a strong wind swept through, overwhelmingly blowing the odor and dust to one side.
Xia Yan glanced at him, then led the group inside, with Li Changzhou following behind.
The hall was dimly lit and filled with countless Buddha statues.
The Buddha, who does not wear a crown, but always wears a robe;
The Buddha of Infinite Light, with his hands overlapping on his knees in the meditation mudra;
The Buddha with the pattern of tree rings on his chest; Vairocana Buddha with his fists clenched and his index fingers joined together, forming the wisdom fist mudra.
Ratnasambhava, with his left hand in the meditation mudra and his right hand in the varada mudra; Amoghasiddhi, with both hands in the abhaya mudra; and Bhaisajyaguru, with his right hand holding a pill or his left hand holding a small bowl.
The central position is dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha.
Standing on either side are the eight great Bodhisattvas: Manjushri Bodhisattva, Vajra Bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Sarvanivaranaviskambhin Bodhisattva, Akasagarbha Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva.
Below are images of celestial deities, wrathful deities, and guardian deities, all holding majestic hand gestures and watching over the crowd.
These Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Heavenly Kings were all golden, their eyes fixed intently on the crowd.
With a full figure, serene expression, and kind demeanor, one can feel the compassionate heart of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Heavenly Kings in saving all sentient beings just by looking at them.
There's nothing wrong with that.
"Ah!" a eunuch suddenly exclaimed.
"What's all the noise about?" Xia Yan snapped.
"The wall, the wall!" the eunuch shouted intermittently.
As everyone looked, they saw countless strange monsters and women with painted hair and fair faces painted on the walls.
boom!
The main gate of the hall suddenly closed, and everyone's heart skipped a beat, almost jumping out of their throats.
The interior of the hall became dark and deep.
"W-What happened? Why did the door close by itself?"
"It's the wind!"
"Light the fire!" Xia Yan whispered.
With a whoosh, a eunuch lit an oil lamp, and immediately the four walls were covered with shadows.
The benevolent Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who had previously appeared now smiled eerily in the firelight, and all eyes were fixed on them.
It doesn't look like a Buddhist temple anymore; it looks like Fengdu City!
"My lord," a eunuch asked tremblingly.
"What's the panic!" Xia Yan scolded, then sneered at the Buddha statues. "I never imagined there would be such a wicked and lewd place within the palace. Master Li, the Emperor has ordered you to deal with this. What do you plan to do?"
"What is Lord Xia's opinion?" Li Changzhou asked, his gaze fixed on the diagrams.
"Bury them all!"
“It’s not good to bury it,” Li Changzhou said. “If someone digs it up, it will cause trouble. We’ll demolish the Buddhist hall and melt down the Buddha statues.”
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