??572: Chapter 105: No Ifs
572: Chapter 105: No Ifs
Lanterns swayed, the night wind wailed.
Chu Guo, Deng Baiyi, Mi Yun, awaited outside the thatched cottage.
“Squeak——”
An hour later, the door of the cottage opened.
Chu Guo held his breath, clutched tightly at his sleeves, not daring to look inside…
Xie Xuanyi pushed the wheelchair, erging alone from the cottage.
“How is it?”
Deng Baiyi looked anxious, asking on behalf of Chu Guo about the result.
“…”
Xie Xuanyi was silent for a mont, shook his head, and said in the softest voice: “I have done my best.”
Upon hearing this.
Chu Guo leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down to sit, trembling as he closed his eyes.
“Let him be alone for a while.”
Xie Xuanyi lowered his eyelids, Deng Baiyi, understanding the hint, pushed the wheelchair and left with Mi Yun.
Tonight, Taoyuan was very quiet.
The young man tilted his head back, his throat moved, and tears slowly stread down his face.
…
…
“My lord, this is the map of Yuan Ning County over the recent years.”
On the long table.
A dozen old parchnt scrolls were spread out one after another.
ng Kejian, wearing light armor, extended his hand and gently brushed over each map.
“Ah Jian, have you discerned anything?”
Du Yunzhong stood by the side.
Although he was brave and good at combat, his mind was relatively simple, and these intricate, mind-demanding tasks often overwheld him.
“Sothing is odd.”
ng Kejian’s back manifested a faint Snake-man Dharma.
It was not a direct use of Divine Skills.
Instead, he was leveraging the power of the Tao Realm, deducing and calculating.
These dozen parchnt scrolls were replicated, imprinted in his Heart Lake, ultimately overlapping one by one.
“These forty-one years.”
“Yuan Ning County has changed considerably…”
“Yet the Buddhist temples around have not changed much.”
ng Kejian narrowed his eyes and slowly said: “Fan Yin Temple has been cultivating for a thousand years, ancient temples have long been established in Yuan Province.
The temples remaining in Yuan Ning County are mostly ancient, and there are only three or four new temples.”
“Qingzhao Temple, Zhengfa Temple…”
Du Yunzhong stood in front of a map, following ng Kejian’s pointing, he looked long and hard, frowning: “If I rember correctly, these new temples were leveled just the other day!”
The Destroying Buddha campaign was vigorous.
Ancient Buddhist temples could not remain.
Newly built Buddhist halls even less so!
“Yes.”
ng Kejian continued to move his finger, landing on a remote barren mountain: “This is where the strangeness lies…
The Buddhist faith is like wild grass, taking root wherever it falls, unstoppable even when cut.
The Yuanzhou Iron Cavalry exhausted great efforts to flatten these temples on the map, yet they can’t guarantee that none were missed.
Under such circumstances, do you think it’s possible for temples to disappear on their own?”
Du Yunzhong’s eyes widened, suddenly understanding ng Kejian’s implication.
“Are you suggesting that soone sensed the ‘Destroying Buddha’ earlier?”
“And then, they abandoned the Buddhist temple on their own initiative?”
This conjecture seems quite far-fetched.
Buddhist monks are stubborn mules.
This ‘Destroying Buddha’ operation was both ‘unsmooth’ and ‘smooth’…
The ‘unsmooth’ part is that every ti the Iron Cavalry attacked a temple, they encountered strong resistance from the monks.
The ‘smooth’ part is that these monks’ desperate struggles conveniently allowed the Yuanzhou Iron Cavalry to capture them all in one net.
“Yes.”
ng Kejian said coldly: “These temples still existed on the map last year, but they’re gone this year, which is highly suspicious.
So of these temples we visited personally…
truly deserted, with just the structures left, best to dismantle.
But this ‘Yuan Guang Temple,’ clearly marked on the map, why has the scout not reported it?”
Du Yunzhong thought it over.
It seed to be true.
These past few days, he had not encountered this so-called Yuan Guang Temple.
Thus, Du Yunzhong spoke with a grim expression: “Quickly summon the scout responsible for exploring Yuan Guang Temple!”
Before long, two scouts entered, frightened and bowing deeply: “Lord Du, Lord ng!”
ng Kejian, holding the sheepskin scroll, asked sternly: “Why was there no report about Yuan Guang Temple during the recent inspection of Buddhist temples?”
The two scouts looked at each other, their expressions blank.
“Snap!”
The sheepskin scroll was thrown out, landing in front of them.
After a glance, the scouts sighed in relief, feeling unburdened, and respectfully replied, “Reporting to Lord ng, on the day of exploration, we did not find the so-called ‘Yuan Guang Temple,’ hence no report was made.”
“Did not find the so-called ‘Yuan Guang Temple’?”
A fla seed to flicker in ng Kejian’s pupils.
He had a premonition that this might be the place he was looking for!
“Yes…”
A scout recalled: “That day, we led the cavalry there, but in that wilderness, there was no Buddhist temple, just a small village, which was also thoroughly inspected…
and we did not find the Yuan Guang Temple marked on the map.”
“Good.”
Hearing this, ng Kejian decisively interrupted the scout’s continued report.
“Old Du, report today’s matter in detail to the Great General…
Apart from that, reconfirm that the Yuanzhou border defense is flawless, without any omissions.”
ng Kejian took a deep breath.
He stood up, pushed open the tent, and delivered the order in a deliberate tone: “Yuzi Camp, prepare your armor and follow
on an expedition!”
…
…
Many flowers have blood on Taoyuan Back Mountain.
And many markers have been erected.
In these chaotic tis, the living have no ho, the dead have no na.
Most of these gravestones are simple wooden markers, only bearing a surna, planted into the soil.
When the wind blows, the wooden markers sway, and if there is a heavy rain, they may just fall, washed away, never to be found again.
But…
this is just like their lives.
Like weeds, like wooden markers, like fleeting flowers.
Today, many people gathered here.
The young woman who was cured of her head ailnt, holding a thick coat, face full of tears.
The monks from Yuan Guang Temple, though they had shed their monk’s robes, clutched their Buddha Beads, each silently chanting scriptures.
The atmosphere was solemn, everyone’s expressions filled with sadness.
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