Expressiveless.
The impatience and dissatisfaction in his heart gradually dispersed.
The Serpent churning within him quieted down a bit, sensing it had entered the temple’s domain. Its body sank again into the lake’s depths, leaving only its head sticking out, staring intently at him.
He kept silent; over the past few days, all the Disciples from Purple Cloud Palace had been investigating this matter with their various thods, naturally prying out quite a bit of truth. Not a single manager of the several county towns around was clean.
Seeing Jiang Feng not speaking, the old monk simply turned around and walked straight into the hall, flicking out three sticks of incense from his sleeve with a sway of his palm, which lit without any fire, and respectfully inserted them into the incense burner, placing his hands together in prayer, his expression devout, his voice deep and powerful.
"Shuipang County Magistrate has neither talent nor virtue, over forty years old, having lingered in the officialdom, and spent more than twenty years climbing rely to a seventh-rank position, unable to advance an inch further."
Comparing to the benevolent tone from before, Master Jin Shan’s tone seed sowhat sharp. Jiang Feng noticed the statue the old monk was worshiping appeared sowhat peculiar; the Buddha head was not that of a traditional Bodhisattva or so great Buddha.
But rather, a monk carved from a huge stone.
There were clear marks of severing at the neck, looking as if soone had decapitated it and replaced it with another person’s head. Shocked in his heart, could it be that this shaless Jin Shan replaced the Buddha head with his own?
"No, that’s not right, that’s not Jin Shan; why does this Buddha head look familiar..."
The Buddha statue, with its head cut off and patched together, did not have the ferocious and malicious appearance one would imagine, instead it carried a bit of benevolence, giving off an absurd sense of oddity.
As if it was only right for this Buddha head to be decapitated and attached to soone else’s head, looking very much like that of a high monk. As the saying goes, "The face is a reflection of the heart," one could tell from the face of this carved monk that he must have been a person of great compassion and kindness.
But at that mont, Jiang Feng couldn’t rember who the attached head belonged to.
"In order to enter into official service, he gave away all three of his daughters to the officials in the State City, as slaves and concubines, cutting off all ties, in pursuit of fa and status."
"The eldest daughter, barely twenty-eight, died a miserable death due to illness."
"The second daughter was trafficked six tis, her life and death unknown."
"The youngest daughter, rely in her teens, died in childbirth."
"His dowdy wife, though having borne three daughters, was still regarded as an inauspicious wife, failing to produce a son after five years of marriage and subsequently sending away the three daughters, all to smooth his career path. As a result, disputes arose between husband and wife, leading to a physical altercation."
"Then his wife disappeared without a trace, according to the County Magistrate she left in anger returning to her parental ho, and after more than a decade her whereabouts remained unknown, no one knowing whether she died in so fetid ditch."
"Now, over a decade after his acquaintance with the current County Magistrate’s Wife, she was adopted by Princess Lando as the fourteenth concubine, exclusively used to entertain Guest Elders."
"After learning that Shuipang County Magistrate was without a wife, she gave him this girl, both as a favor and to consolidate his status for control."
"This girl was quite attractive in appearance; although she was used to entertain distinguished guests, her health was intact, and she had developed a decent skill in bed, eloquent and very charming, pleasing to many. Delighted, the County Magistrate sent people to seek redies far and wide, and finally obtained one."
"At last, he fulfilled his desire by having a son."
The teenager just slung the three-foot iron wire behind his back, silent, listening attentively.
Though he wouldn’t believe what Jin Shan said, for the first ti in a long while, he had no intent to resort to violence in this hall, as if rely stepping in here would subdue him with the presence of the several Buddha statues.
It was not an oppressive force, but charity, peace, calmness like still water; he even felt like the Buddhas were watching him with a gentle gaze.
Just like Jin Shan, who was in worship; even a fierce and evil person like him always had a smile on his face when bowing his head, his deanor extrely dignified - a respect and veneration that ca from the heart.
Regarding what Jin Shan said, Jiang Feng had a slight understanding. In the last few days, as Yan Fengchun went to the State City to declare the situation, he was responsible for overseeing the foot of the mountain, while two others were in charge of watching the surrounding county towns and investigating the matter. With their abilities as Cultivators, it was naturally easy for them to discover the clues.
Despite the psychological expectation in his mind, hearing that the beastly Shuipang County Magistrate could commit such heinous acts, he could not help but frown tightly.
However, Master Jin Shan just walked to another Buddha statue, drew out three sticks of incense, and began to worship. In total, there were three Buddha statues in the hall, all with the Buddha heads decapitated and artificially attached with the heads of monks carved from stone, although he was unfamiliar with the other two individuals. Only the middle statue...
"Wait! Is this Master Guang Xian!?"
His pupils dilated sharply!
He finally rembered. When he first joined, his senior sister took him to see a map in the library, where he had asked who the kind-looking monk was.
This was him, the high monk who would slice his own flesh to save others, also the current abbot of Vajra Temple, Saint Monk Guang Xian, and then he was shocked as he looked at the two Buddha statues next to him.
"By such reasoning, could these two high monks beside him be the two Disciples of Master Guang Xian?"
The blurry mories in his mind beca clearer, and to this day, he still rembered his senior sister saying that Master Guang Xian, due to liberating all sentient beings, ultimately suffered retribution, fell into insanity, and started a massacre in Vajra Temple.
The two Disciples, equally kind-hearted, died tragically attempting to stop their master. Master Guang Xian was also seriously injured and later besieged by many skilled fighters, but with his Buddha’s indestructible body, no one could hold him down, and his whereabouts beca unknown.
But Jin Shan, with his back turned to Jiang Feng, was unaware of what the latter was thinking, continuing to speak indifferently: "Good tis did not last, that woman had nightmares incessantly during her pregnancy, spending her days in a daze, as if soone was constantly coming to claim her life."
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