Refuse to trample on the pride of heaven

Chapter 341 True colors revealed

"Brother, there is something wrong with the wall."

Everyone looked intently. The mottled wall undulated with the light and shadow of the evening. Tiny beads of blood oozed out of the cracks in the bricks. Lu Wensheng wiped the wall with his fingers, and the blood instantly soaked through his fingertips. When he looked back again, the bloodstains had disappeared without a trace.

"Dang Cang——"

In the distance came the sound of iron chains dragging on the ground, mixed with children laughing. Tang He was about to speak when he was startled by the nursery rhyme and his hair stood on end.

"Golden thread, silver thread, the Queen is sitting in the Lotus Palace~

The left eye is filled with immortal wine, and the right eye is filled with a ton of money.

Dedicating three inches of blood from my heart in exchange for the blessings of my descendants~"

"Cinnabar paints eyebrows and eyes, gold powder models silk skirt~" tender children's voices came from all directions, "The queen wants to eat exquisite heart~"

The dusk suddenly darkened, and the shadows of the locust trees twisted like claws. After turning the mountain valley, a dark cluster of buildings came into view. The strong sandalwood with a fishy sweetness hit my face. Qin Xiao's sword was already three inches out of its sheath, and the outline of the temple was reflected in the cold light.

Ninety-nine white lanterns were hung on the eaves of the main hall, emitting a faint green phosphorescent glow in the twilight. Lu Wensheng held down the buzzing magic mirror at his waist - this was a magic weapon he brought specially after hearing the news that the "Goddess" here was suspected of bewitching the villagers.

The palace reflected in the mirror was actually slowly moving - those seemingly wooden beams and pillars were clearly countless entangled black tentacles.

The triple eaves are hung with faded red silk, the gold-painted door plaque reads "Cihang Pudu", and the bronze door knocker is in the shape of a coiled snake with dark red gems inlaid in the snake's eyes. The most bizarre thing is the orientation of the temple door, which should face north and south but faces the sun in the opposite direction, and the animal heads on the eaves are all hung upside down.

The nursery rhyme became clearer and clearer: "Peel off the skin to make drumheads, extract the bones to make silver zithers ~ The goddess grants you a house full of spring ~" Several pale-faced children turned out from the corner, with an abnormal golden glow in their eye sockets. They held hands and turned in circles, their embroidered shoes stepping on the incense ashes on the ground.

Xiaoman was terrified and Wang Yanzhi covered her eyes.

These children were lifeless, just empty shells. Lu Wensheng paid no attention to them and stared at the couplets on the temple gate, where the original words were revealed where the vermilion paint had peeled off.

On the left side there is “the sea of ​​greed has no boundaries”, on the right side there is “making a vain effort to row a boat”, and the horizontal banner is actually “save all living beings”, which is full of absurdity - this is not a temple, it is clearly a devil's lair!

Qin Xiao sneered, his eyes showing hostility: "They are waiting for us, don't pretend..."

Before he could finish his words, bells and drums suddenly rang in the temple, and the tune of the nursery rhyme suddenly rose:

"The seven emotions weave brocade, the six desires turn into candlesticks ~ The Queen will shed her skin and change her bones for you ~"

Tang He suddenly pointed to the sky: "Brother, look!"

There were dense swarms of crows circling above the temple, each holding a red thread in its beak, gorgeous but invisible, weaving a giant net that covered the entire town - the whole town was now an altar for feeding demons.

Amid the lingering sandalwood incense smoke, the statue of Bodhisattva on the lotus platform is emitting a soothing halo.

The clay Buddha in the shrine still has his eyes closed, with a lowered gaze visible in the narrow slits. The line of his nose is carved straight down along the brow socket, with pearl-shaped wings raised at the bottom of the nose. The shape of his mouth is neat and flexible, with a silk-like outline that moves gracefully at the corners of his mouth, as if smiling or not.

Amid the stunned looks of the crowd, Lu Wensheng kicked open the temple door, ignored the bewildered pilgrims, and looked up, only to see this scene.

He kicked the temple door open, and the wooden door fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust. The pilgrims in the temple were startled by the sudden noise and turned back, with surprise written all over their faces. As the candlelight flickered, the sandalwood in the incense burner continued to rise, but it could not cover up the faint fishy and sweet smell.

Seeing the appearance of these people, the believers dared not speak out, but Lu Wensheng turned a deaf ear to them, his eyes were as sharp as a torch, and he walked straight through the crowd.

His disciples followed closely behind him, their sleeves fluttering and their steps firm. A ray of dim light shining through the dark clouds behind them shone on their faces, outlining their angular contours.

In the interweaving of light and shadow, the figure appears particularly tall and straight, like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, its edge fully exposed.

Lu Wensheng did not draw his sword, but instead had a sense of laziness and leisure as if he had entered his own garden. Qin Xiao's sword was completely unsheathed, shining coldly. Yu He held a talisman in his hand behind his back, with a faint golden light on his fingertips. Wu Feipeng stood with his hands behind his back, looking around with Duan Jiashu and Tang He. Yu Shuoyang stretched lazily, while Wang Yanzhi pulled Xiaoman and looked around vigilantly. Zhang Miao said nothing, but had already taken his position...

Dissatisfaction and resentment appeared on the faces of the pilgrims.

An elderly pilgrim, leaning on a cane, trembled as he stepped forward, with a reproachful tone in his voice: "Even if you are the Immortal Master, you should not be so rude! This is the temple of the Goddess, and you are so presumptuous... but..."

"Will you be punished by God?" Lu Wensheng calmly replied to the old man's unfinished words.

Tang He smiled and said, "Even though you accepted her, why are you still being polite to her?"

Yu Shuoyang sneered: "You have been deceiving yourself for so long that you really think the demons are gods."

Wang Yanzhi muttered, "They keep repeating these few sentences over and over again, but I don't see them doing anything."

"What if your queen is a demon?" Lu Wensheng smiled and was not surprised to see the pilgrims' eyes flickering.

He stroked the mirror with his fingertips, whispered a spell, and then shook his wrist. The magic mirror flew into the air and hovered in the air.

Ripples appeared on the mirror surface, as if the water surface was broken by a stone, and then a golden light burst out from the mirror and rushed straight into the depths of the temple.

Wherever the golden light passed, those seemingly solemn and dignified beams, pillars and statues suddenly revealed their hideous true appearance - countless entangled black tentacles twisted and squirmed under the golden light, as if struggling in pain.

At the same time, the crows circling above the temple let out shrill cries, and the red lines on their beaks broke one after another, turning into specks of blood and dissipating in the air.

The six-foot-tall golden body of the statue exudes a warm honey-colored luster, as if it were carved from the finest amber, but when the candlelight flickers, it occasionally flashes a turbid reflection like corpse oil.

The eight-treasure lotus crown on her head had a necklace hanging down, and inside each emerald bead there was a black shadow the size of a grain of rice, which upon closer inspection turned out to be the shape of a curled up baby.

The face of the Buddha, which showed compassion for all living beings, was a hundred times more vivid than that of ordinary statues. The ends of his long dark green eyebrows were decorated with gold powder, but at the turning point they suddenly turned into forked eyebrows like centipede tentacles.

The half-closed phoenix eyes were embedded with glass pupils, and needle-sized blood-red runes were moving in the depths of the pupils. Whenever pilgrims kowtowed, these runes would form a distorted smiley face pattern.

The brocade cassock was embroidered with eight treasures in gold thread. From a distance it looked like auspicious clouds and cranes, but when you looked closer you would find that the cranes flapping their wings had human faces, and countless screaming mouths were hidden in the cloud patterns.

The shawl falls from the shoulders, looking like a light gauze but revealing the veins of the blood vessels, pulsating slightly with the rhythm of the breathing under the candlelight.

The hands made with the seal of wish-granting were as flawless as jade carvings, except for the inside of the fingernails which were covered with honeycomb-like pores. Whenever crows cried outside the hall, amber mucus would seep out of the holes.

The lotus throne that she was standing on barefoot had petals that were unnaturally bright red, as if they had just been soaked in blood, and from time to time half a pale finger joint would peek out from the holes in the lotus pod at the center of the flower.

What amazes pilgrims the most is the sandalwood scent floating around the statue. The fragrance is refreshing at first, but if you sniff it for a while, a sweet and fishy smell like rotting fish will rise from your throat.