txolops Chapter 55 Fahai's Excitement
Chapter 55 Fahai's Excitement
Xiaoqing was both amused and exasperated, and quickly tried to dissuade him.
It took a lot of effort to persuade Lin Xuan to give up the idea.
After Xiaoqing pulled Lin Xuan back, seeing how concerned Lin Xuan was about her sister, she suddenly sighed and whispered:
"Brother-in-law, if only you weren't an ordinary person."
Lin Xuan seemed to have heard something and turned to look at Xiao Qing.
"What did you say?"
Xiaoqing's heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly said:
"Brother-in-law, you must have misheard me. I didn't say anything."
Lin Xuan stared at Xiao Qing with a strange look, making Xiao Qing sweat profusely, afraid that Lin Xuan would continue to ask questions, and then she would have no way to explain herself.
But Lin Xuan did it entirely on purpose.
He heard Xiaoqing's words clearly and couldn't help but laugh inwardly.
I, Lin Xuan, am certainly not an ordinary person, but it's not appropriate for you to know these things right now.
As for Bai Suzhen's whereabouts, Lin Xuan didn't know, but he wasn't too worried.
Perhaps Bai Suzhen was preparing for the flooding of Jinshan Temple.
In the game "Myth", Bai Suzhen would not do this, but it's hard to say now.
Lin Xuan didn't ask any more questions. Xiao Qing breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look west.
Actually, Xiaoqing never told Bai Suzhen that she always felt that Jinshan Temple was a strange place and would be bad for her and her sister.
This feeling has become even stronger recently.
"I hope my sister can successfully bring back the immortal herb this time, then we won't have to deal with Jinshan Temple anymore!"
A few days later, at Jinshan Temple, Fahai sat cross-legged in meditation.
A purple-gold alms bowl floated in front of him, emitting a peculiar light.
A martial monk approached, stopping a dozen paces away from Fahai. Without even glancing at the purple-gold alms bowl, he said in a deep voice:
"Brother Fahai, no one from the Lin family has gone out these past few days. I wonder what they've been doing."
Fahai did not reply immediately, but meditated for a while longer before opening his eyes.
The golden alms bowl in front of him immediately lost its light and fell down, where it was caught by Fahai.
Fahai placed the golden alms bowl beside him and stood up. Although he had not yet spoken, the monks felt a tremendous pressure and could not help but lower their heads, no longer daring to look directly at Fahai.
Since being tricked by Lin Xuan last time, Fahai no longer holds the same lofty position at Jinshan Temple.
On the surface, the monks dared not disobey Fahai and remained very obedient, but their attitude towards Fahai had changed drastically, and they kept their distance from him.
Fahai saw all of this, but didn't care at all.
He asked:
"Let me ask you first, has that snake demon never gone out again, or has it secretly run away?"
Upon hearing this, the monk was speechless.
"Are they running?"
"Judging from the current situation, it's not that the snake demon is afraid of you, but rather that you're afraid of the snake demon. Otherwise, you wouldn't be appearing and disappearing mysteriously every day, going to chant sutras near Leifeng Pagoda!"
While other ordinary people were unaware of this matter, the warrior monks of Jinshan Temple witnessed it firsthand.
The monk, not daring to speak his mind, cupped his hands and said:
"Don't worry, senior brother. We've seen it clearly these past two days. Although Bai Suzhen's powerful snake demon is nowhere to be found, Lin Xuan and Xiao Qing's snake demon are still in the manor."
"Surely Lady White Snake wouldn't abandon them and run away alone, would she?"
Fahai agreed with this statement, but shook his head and rebuked:
"That's not right! Demons are heartless and ruthless; why would they care about such things? Perhaps Lady White Snake deliberately left them behind to divert our attention!"
The monk was speechless, but didn't know what to say, so he could only nod repeatedly.
Fahai waved for the monks to leave, then sat back down on the futon, his brow furrowed as he pondered.
"The snake demon shouldn't have escaped yet, but it has vanished. It must be plotting some kind of scheme."
Having learned his lesson, Fahai was no longer as arrogant as he had been at the beginning.
"But what methods will that snake demon use?"
"Wait! I seem to have heard someone say that the snake demon and Lin Xuan traveled around Hangzhou. Could this just be a facade, and the snake demon actually has other plans?"
A glint of light flashed in Fahai's eyes. He turned and walked out, arriving at another meditation room.
The walls of the meditation room were engraved with a map of Hangzhou, the scale of which was quite problematic, but it was still barely legible.
Fahai's gaze swept across the map, recalling the places Lin Xuanyu and Bai Suzhen had been, when he suddenly awoke with a start.
"By the way! The snake demon has traveled almost all over Hangzhou, but there are two places she hasn't approached."
"She's never been to Leifeng Pagoda, that's fine; she just saw through my plan and didn't want to take the risk."
"But she's never been to the riverbank either. What does that mean?"
Actually, Bai Suzhen didn't go to the riverbank because she often went to the dock to see Lin Xuan and had been there many times before, so she wasn't surprised.
They didn't treat the Qiantang River as a tourist attraction.
However, Fahai stumbled upon the problem instead.
"Hmph, this is definitely a cover-up! That snake demon is trying to use the great tide to stir up the boundless river, forcing me to fight her!"
"That snake demon! How vicious!" Fahai cursed, but he suddenly became energetic, strode out, and reached out to ring the bell.
They didn't even bother with a hammer; they simply stretched out their palms and slammed them heavily on the bell.
Instantly, a tremendous sound rang out, with a peculiar rhythm, summoning all the warrior monks in the temple.
The monks were all puzzled when they heard the bell. Why were they being called over for no reason?
They all got up and went to the tower, and were even more surprised to see that it was Fahai.
The warrior monk who had just paid his respects to Fahai stepped forward:
"Senior brother, why did you call us here? Has that snake demon really escaped?"
Fahai gently pressed the large bell and calmly said:
"That snake demon didn't run away; it's plotting a huge conspiracy!"
He didn't hide anything and voiced his earlier guess.
The monks were shocked upon hearing this, exclaiming in astonishment, "This...this is impossible! How could a snake demon have such audacity?"
Fahai sneered, "What wouldn't she dare to do? This kind of monster will stop at nothing to achieve her goals!"
Although the monks had seen many demons before, they were all minor demons and they were not familiar with the situation of a thousand-year-old snake demon like Bai Suzhen, so they could not refute it.
They were all anxious and spoke incoherently.
Someone said, "Senior brother, if that's really the case, what should we do? Should we pray to the Bodhisattva and ask her to intervene?"
Others said, "It's not necessary to directly ask the Bodhisattva for help. Our Buddhist sect has so many Arhats; inviting just one would be enough to suppress the snake demon!"
An older monk stomped his foot:
"Bodhisattvas and Arhats enjoy countless offerings, so they might not respond to us. Even if they do, who knows how long it will take! We should first inform the entire city and have the residents move out temporarily to avoid being harmed by the snake demon!"
This made a lot of sense, and the other monks all nodded in agreement and looked at Fahai.
They would set off immediately at Fahai's command.
These martial monks are hardly good monks; they usually indulge in wine and meat while keeping Buddha in their hearts.
Moreover, Jinshan Temple's reputation has been ruined by this time, so people may not believe what they say anymore.
But if they aren't reminded, these warrior monks won't be able to get over that mental hurdle.
However, Fahai sneered.
"What are you panicking about?"
"The snake demon has committed many evil deeds and is trying to kill all the people in the city. What does that have to do with us!"
Upon hearing this, all the monks stared wide-eyed at Fahai, almost unable to believe their ears.
Did Fahai say this?
Fahai, unconcerned by the gazes of the warrior monks, continued:
"Those two snake demons are not easy to deal with. There must be other demons backing them up. Even I don't dare to take the initiative to attack them. I can only defend passively."
"Now that the snake demon has gone mad, how can I miss this golden opportunity? You must not alert her!"
At this point, Fahai noticed that the monks seemed unwilling to obey his orders, so he waved his hand and threw out the golden alms bowl.
The alms bowl instantly grew tens of thousands of times larger, completely covering the entire bell tower.
Fahai said, "You should stay here and cultivate diligently for now. I will release you after the snake demon stirs up the flood."
"At that time, you will help the people and restore the prestige of my Jinshan Temple."
After saying this, Fahai walked straight through the golden alms bowl and out of the bell tower.
Seeing this, the other monks hurriedly chased after them, but when it was their turn, the golden alms bowl materialized and blocked them inside.
No matter how the monks struck the alms bowl, it remained completely still.
Only occasional sounds could be heard.
Upon hearing the commotion, Fahai stopped in his tracks, frowned, chanted a Buddhist prayer, and coldly snorted:
"These people are truly ignorant. Exorcising demons and monsters is the most important thing. What does it matter if a few mortal lives are sacrificed for it?"
"Besides, this killing has nothing to do with my Jinshan Temple. You insisted on interfering in advance, and you have suffered the consequences."
"If the snake demon senses the danger and fails to unleash a great flood, why would mortals be happy to be bothered by you for no reason?"
"Even if the snake demon is truly obstinate and intends to flood Jinshan Temple, you intervened early but failed to save everyone, and some people died. Should mortals only blame the snake demon and not you?"
Fahai was too lazy to explain to the monk, but he still felt uneasy if he didn't say these words, so he muttered to himself.
After cursing a few times while standing there, he shook his head and left. He found the abbot and asked him to arrange for someone to prepare a vegetarian meal to be sent to the bell tower.
There's no need to worry about the rest; Fahai will manipulate the golden alms bowl to open a crack and send in the vegetarian meal, so that the monks won't starve to death.
After explaining all this, Fahai returned to Leifeng Pagoda. Looking at the tall pagoda, he felt a sense of anticipation.
"Even if Lady White Snake were to unleash a great flood, my Jinshan Temple possesses not only the Purple Gold Alms Bowl but also dragon energy to suppress it, so we have nothing to fear."
Even if she has other methods, or hides some water-controlling magic weapon, I can still activate the Great Heavenly Dragon.
"Last time I went to your door willingly, and you ambushed me. This time, it's my chance to get revenge!"
Fahai became increasingly agitated as he thought about it, and his body even began to tremble, attracting onlookers from the surrounding area.
Many people surrounded Fahai, pointing and whispering.
"What's wrong with this monk? Is he having malaria?"
"This won't do. We need to call a doctor to take a look at him right away."
Fahai was awakened by their voices, and curled his lip in disdain.
With my high level of cultivation, how could I possibly fall ill?
He couldn't be bothered with these mortals, and without offering any explanation, he turned and strode away.