Chapter 105 Secret Passage

Ming Huazhang frowned and looked at the secret door behind him. He didn't know where this secret passage led to. If the abbot came back when he entered the secret passage...

But Ming Huazhang took out the mask without much hesitation and covered the lower half of his face. At this point, he couldn't leave. Even if it was a trap, he had to go in.

When Ming Huazhang was looking through things just now, he had been very careful to keep them in their original positions. Now he only needed to close the floor tiles, so that it would not be obvious that anyone had come in. Ming Huazhang checked again to make sure that nothing was left out, then he put away the fire starter and walked quietly towards the secret passage below.

After walking over the steps, we entered a dark and narrow secret passage. The narrowest part was only wide enough for one person to pass through. Ming Huazhang had to bend down slightly to stand properly. The secret passage was cold and cramped, and the air was filled with a damp and earthy smell. It was obvious that it had been there for a long time and was definitely not newly dug.

Ming Huazhang held the fire starter in his hand, and with his other hand, he had unsheathed his short blade. He left a mark along the wall and cautiously moved forward. The length of the secret passage was beyond his expectation. Gradually, the area illuminated by the fire widened, and the secret passage became wide enough for two people. After turning the corner, it suddenly became open.

This seemed to be an underground secret room. Ming Huazhang lit the oil lamp on the wall. The flame core suddenly shot up from a blue-green dot, and the light swayed like an isolated island on the sea.

He observed by the light of the fire and found that the secret room was about the size of two rooms. In the middle was a stone platform with Sanskrit symbols carved around it. He didn't know what it was used for. There were Buddha statues in various postures around the walls, which looked eerie in the light of the fire.

Ming Huazhang didn't see clearly at first, but when he got closer and saw the contents of the Buddha statue clearly, his face suddenly darkened and he frowned in disgust.

Two Buddhas wearing crowns and heavenly robes stood facing each other, hugging each other tightly, their bodies touching. Ming Huazhang looked at them and found that each Buddha had a male and female body, some standing and some sitting, all in intimate postures. Some of the Vajra had animal faces and human bodies, with green faces and fangs, and the women in their arms were horrible, looking weird and eerie.

This is the double-bodied Buddha worshipped by Tantric Buddhism. Of course, they may be better known by another name - the Happy Buddha.

Ming Huazhang thought of some rumors about Tantric Buddhism. It seems that in Tantric Buddhism, women are offerings, offering love and desire to those violent gods and demons, so that they can be influenced and introduced to the Buddhist realm. Dual cultivation is the highest realm of Tantric Buddhism, representing the fusion of wisdom and compassion, subduing demonic obstacles, leading to Buddha wisdom, and achieving double emptiness and happiness.

In other words, if one wants to practice the highest level of Tantric Buddhism, one needs a female companion. Ming Huazhang looked at the stone platform in the center again at this time. He didn't know if it was because of his preconceived notion, but the more he looked at it, the more it looked like a bed.

Ming Huazhang felt a bad feeling in his heart. He recalled the direction he came from, was startled, and looked up.

In this case, isn't the above the main hall of Pudu Temple?

Ming Huazhang looked gloomy and immediately went to search the stone platform. Unfortunately, the stone platform had been cleaned, and the last murder happened four years ago. Under the erosion of time, many traces could no longer be seen.

Ming Huazhang could only settle for the next best thing and look for other evidence. If his conjecture was correct, the female beggar, Huang Caiwei, Yu Yan, and perhaps more female victims were forced to "help" practice here and then were killed, then there must be a murder weapon nearby. The tools required to break down the tibia are extremely specialized, far more than just a random knife.

Ming Huazhang opened the wooden cabinet that housed the Buddha statue and noticed that the drawers were empty. Judging from the pressure marks on the satin, there must have been something inside, but it had been taken away.

Ming Huazhang measured with his fingers, and sure enough, the length of the bone flutes was just right to fit in. So, the bone flutes were originally enshrined in this place, but were later moved to the dark room above by the abbot, and then the abbot claimed that they were stolen, and then they were destroyed justifiably?

Ming Huazhang continued to search. He looked at several cabinets in succession, but they were all empty. When he opened the door of the last cabinet, his hand stopped.

He stared at it for a long time, and took out the things one by one. Iron saws, iron pestles, ropes, a complete set of knives of various lengths, and many sharp tools of unknown purpose. Ming Huazhang lit a fire stick and carefully shone the wooden cabinet, and found dark brown marks on the bottom.

It looks like blood. Judging from the location, the blood must have been on the murder weapon. The murderer didn't pay attention when he put the knife into the wooden cabinet, so the trace was left.

Ming Huazhang tried to reconstruct the whole case. Tantric Buddhism believes in dual cultivation, and some fanatical believers also believe so. He felt that he was practicing the highest Buddhist Dharma, and it was a great honor for women to help him and become Buddha mothers. He deceived or abducted women to come here. After practicing, those women refused to keep the secret, so he killed them, dug out their tibia, and made bone flutes according to the Tantric teachings to eliminate their resentment and help them to be reborn in paradise.

The murderer may have really thought that doing so would help the women who were living in misery to attain salvation, or he may have just used the name of Buddhism to satisfy his own selfish desires. When those women were being persecuted, tortured, and killed, above their heads was the Vairocana Tathagata, the boundless Dharma, and the people passing by were kneeling devoutly in front of the Buddha statue, praying for their own anger, ignorance, and greed to be resolved.

The murderer did a flawless job in the previous few times, but four years ago, the incident got out of hand, and for some reason, he stopped killing people and abandoned this place. But this year, he appeared again, only the scene was changed to Chang'an City. However, this time was different from four years ago. The investigation of Jingzhao Prefecture was very intensive, and gradually found Ludu and Pudu Temple. The murderer was afraid, so he came up with a trick to divert the disaster eastward.

Ming Huazhang was able to find out that Cen Hu was a fake. The murderer was a devout Buddhist and must have known many Buddhists, so he would have been able to find out. He might not know Cen Hu's true identity, but as long as he knew that Jinghui was a fake and had a connection with the Qingzhou official bank, he only needed to draw the government's attention to Cen Hu, and the rest would be investigated by the government. Then he would kill Cen Hu and create the illusion that Cen Hu was fleeing for fear of crime or died accidentally, so that there would be no evidence.

As for the fact that Cen Hu packed up his belongings and fled, it was also easy to make up. The murderer knew this underground altar, which showed that he was very familiar with the Pudu Temple. He should have accomplices in the temple. They only needed to enter the room when Cen Hu was away, pack up the small and soft belongings, and deliberately make it look like the owner was running away in panic. When the authorities arrived, they would make a few remarks intentionally or unintentionally, and everyone would think that Cen Hu was guilty and fled early.

There was no need for the murderer to take action himself. Cen Hu did not have a good relationship with people in Pudu Temple. All he had to do was to instigate the monks with a few words, and when the government officials came, the monks would be filled with righteous indignation and push the blame onto Cen Hu.

By this time, Cen Hu must have been dead. A dead man would not speak, and the government would not investigate a thief with a criminal record. All charges would be borne by Cen Hu.

Unfortunately, they encountered Ming Huazhang, who was troublesome, unsociable, and obsessed with details. Ming Huazhang later went to the place where Cen Hu fell off the cliff to test it. Human bones would not fall into such scattered pieces if they were dropped from the cliff. Moreover, a heavy object would not fall to the position of Cen Hu's body if it rolled down the cliff naturally, unless someone pushed it.

Cen Hu did not die of natural causes. He was lured to that section of road and then pushed off from behind.

This naturally counted as death by falling. No matter how the coroner examined, he could not find any problems. Only Ming Huazhang discovered that Cen Hu's body seemed to be too far away from the cliff. He happened to be free enough to find a sack of similar weight to Cen Hu, and pushed it off the cliff to try it himself.

At this point, it is certain that the murderer must be related to the abbot of Pudu Temple, Lu Du. Pudu Temple is a house donated by the Zheng family. If Pudu Temple secretly built a secret room, someone around must have known about it. However, the nearby residents knew nothing about it. It is possible that the secret room already existed before Pudu Temple moved in.

During wartime, many families would build secret rooms underground for safety. The Zheng family was a large family, so it was possible that they had such precautions. If the secret room had already existed, then the two people in Chang'an who were most likely to know about it were Lu Du and the abbot of Pu Du Temple.

This was once the house of Lu Du's mother. Lu Du had lived here for several years. Every dead person had some connection with Lu Du. It was just too much of a coincidence. The abbot of Pu Du Temple was even more so. The underground altar was under the main hall, and the entrance was in the abbot's room. He moved the human bone flute to frame Cen Hu, took the initiative to erase the existence of Lu Du's parents, and remained silent when questioned by the government. He did too many things.

But Ming Huazhang is still unsure whether he is involved in the murder or not. If he is an accomplice, he does not need to worry about the means. If he just knew about it but did not report it, he still has to be on guard against the real murderer destroying the evidence.

After all, although the crime scene has been found, there is no direct evidence pointing to the murderer.

Moreover, on the day of Cheng Siyue's death, the abbot of Pudu Temple and Lu Du both had clear alibis. If he made a move without sufficient evidence, and the murderer refused to confess, Yu Shitai would definitely not approve his verdict.

Ming Huazhang thought about this while putting the large items back and keeping the set of knives with him, intending to go back and ask the coroner to examine them.

Ming Huazhang did not try to return by the same route. He had spent a lot of time underground. It was estimated that it was almost midnight and the abbot would be back soon. He could not go back to the meditation room. But Ming Huazhang was not panicked. If, as he guessed, this place was built for wartime refuge, there must be other exits.

Ming Huazhang took the fire and looked around. Suddenly, he found a wall that was different in color from the rest of the wall and was square in shape. Ming Huazhang looked at it carefully and tried to push one side. The stone wall was actually

It was pushed, and the space behind it slowly appeared.

Ming Huazhang took a look, extinguished the oil lamp on the altar, and flashed into the unknown darkness ahead.

The secret passage was winding, dark and cramped, and very difficult to walk through. In some places, it was only half a person's height. Ming Huazhang was calm and not afraid of the darkness, but he did not rush forward. His steps were always steady, like a cat, nimbly and agilely passing through one bend after another.

Unconsciously, the secret passage became higher and frost began to form on the walls. Ming Huazhang realized that the exit was nearby, but when passing a fork in the road, he hesitated and decided to explore the fork first.

At the end of the fork in the road was also a flight of stairs. Ming Huazhang walked up the stairs, lifted the stone slab, and found himself in a meditation room. There was no one in the room, and the air was cold. Ming Huazhang carefully put down the floor, held the knife, and explored the meditation room.

Where is this? Why does the secret passage lead here?

Ming Huazhang used the tip of his knife to pry open the rear window and leaned over to look out. A waxing moon hung high above the treetops, casting a cold glow on the ground that looked like a layer of frost.

Ming Huazhang noticed that there seemed to be a path under the dead branches of the bushes leading directly to the back window. He decided to go all out and simply jumped out to see where the path led.

The monks finished their evening class, and there was a faint sound of talking in front of them. A group of monks were walking together. Ming Huazhang quickened his pace and hid in a corner. At this time, he found that a corner of the wall in front of him had collapsed, which was hidden in the trees and was very inconspicuous.

Ming Huazhang looked inside through the broken bricks and felt vaguely familiar. Wasn't this the courtyard where Huang Caiwei worshipped Buddha? After the Chu Jun case happened, he had people seal this place, but who knew that the yamen runners were so careless that they didn't even notice the loophole.

Ming Huazhang could not help but walk into the yard. Yes, this was indeed the yard that Huang Caiwei had lived in. He had even seen the seal on the back window. Last time Ming Huachang came over and insisted on going in to see, he tore off the seal and let her in, and then he put a new seal on it himself.

Huang Caiwei's yard can be accessed from behind the house without going through the main gate? Who lives in that yard just now?

Ming Huazhang stopped at the rear window and was about to go in to take a look when his fingers suddenly stopped.

The last time he brought Ming Huashang in, he entered through the front door, so why did the seal on the rear window move?

Ming Huazhang realized something was wrong and retreated immediately. At this time, a cold light streaked across the window paper, passed through the cold and thin moonlight, and went straight towards Ming Huazhang's chest.