CH 285

A child was riding a cow and bringing his dog to the village. Some young girls and women were washing clothes by the river, and everyone's expression seemed normal, which was completely different from the last time Li Huowang was in Pixian.

If judged solely by appearance, this village was nothing special. However, the more normal it appeared, the more abnormal it seemed to Li Huowang.

Li Huowang took out the envelope and carefully looked at it again. It did indeed say that there were signs of the Taoist sects that deceive beings here, but it did not say what these signs were.

Thinking of his experience in Pixian, Li Huowang turned to the others and said, "Since there may be signs of the Taoist sects in there, I'll sneak in and take a look to avoid alerting them."

"Li Shixiong, are you sure you'll be okay alone?"

Bai Lingmiao hesitated to speak, but Li Huowang's changes could not escape her eyes. The normally normal Li Huowang had become a bit neurotic again.

Li Huowang did not explain anything, thinking of those voices. The more he explained, the more worried she would become.

Li Huowang made his body and spirit displace each other, following the winding path under the willow tree at the village entrance and slowly moving towards the inside.

"Someone...wind..." The sudden hallucination no longer surprised Li Huowang. He shook his head hard and looked at the monk stuck in the tree beside him.

"What am I doing? It's not like I said it."

"Shh..." Li Huowang put his finger to his lips, slowed down his pace, and walked slowly towards the center of Gan Yuan Village.

His thoughts were completely diverted from the hallucinations, and he focused entirely on the imminent danger in front of him.

Soon, Li Huowang could see that the entire Gan Yuan Village seemed to be celebrating something. The couplets on the walls and the door gods on the doors were all replaced, and even the clothes on the villagers were all new.

Li Huowang stood on a big tree covered with red cloth strips, silently watching everything below. So far, he had not found anything unusual.

However, the situation soon changed. The villagers who were dressed neatly and had eaten a hearty meal were rushing towards the village tail in groups of three or five.

Along the way, the villagers who seemed to be in good moods were laughing and chatting, and there was no abnormality.

Li Huowang followed these people to the village tail and stopped in front of a temple.

Everyone's voice became much quieter, and some children who were making noise were dragged over by their parents and slapped on the butt.

Everyone stood there waiting for something.

Just as Li Huowang hesitated whether to sneak into the temple to take a look, a brown clay statue was lifted out of the dark archway.

Judging by the shape of the bottle in the statue's hand, it was obviously a Buddha statue, and it was made of clay.However, the Bodhisattva's face was not at all kind, as if it had experienced a heavy rain.

All the facial features on its face had melted and stretched into long strips, leaving only two irregular black holes.

"Oh! Oh!!" All the willing villagers gathered around and helped lift the Bodhisattva, swaying around the entire village.

"Mud Bodhisattva..." murmured Li Huowang with a furrowed brow, looking at the two black holes on the Bodhisattva.

Standing on the treetop, Li Huowang watched as the villagers continuously swayed the strange Mud Bodhisattva, circling around the entire Ganyuan Village.

With each circle, more red cloth was draped on the Bodhisattva. When the sun was high, the Mud Bodhisattva was covered with a thick layer of red gauze.

The red-draped Mud Bodhisattva was lifted again and sent into the temple, swaying towards the inside.

Just as it was sent in, it was lifted out of the temple again amidst cheers, and then lifted back into the temple amidst everyone's laughter.

After three rounds of this, they finally put the Mud Bodhisattva down in the temple and began to burn incense and kowtow to worship.

Li Huowang also wanted to go in and see what the temple was like.

However, the villagers crowded around it so much that even the invisible Li Huowang had nowhere to stand and couldn't get in at all.

As the sun gradually set, they also walked home happily.

When it was completely dark, even the hunched-over temple priest locked the door and went to sleep in the side door. Li Huowang slowly came down from the tree.

Not long after, with a crisp cracking sound, the copper lock broke into two sections, and the tightly closed door opened a gap.

When the moonlight outside shone into the dark temple, Li Huowang outside the door had already grasped the hilt of the Purple Tassel Sword.

If the Taoist sects that deceive beings really planned to do something, they could possibly use this place to do it.

With a creak, the invisible Li Huowang pushed open the door and walked in.

Because of the incense, the entire room was filled with a strong sandalwood scent, and the Mud Bodhisattva with melted facial features was faintly visible in the darkness.

There was not only one Mud Bodhisattva in the temple, but also on both sides of the temple were 18 Arhats made of mud. They stood there with anger or hatred, looking very lifelike. Standing in the temple gave a feeling of being watched.

The Mud Bodhisattva that had been carried out earlier was placed in the middle of the temple on a stone lotus platform.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

The incense burners in front were all burned to the end. All the incense was for it.

On the left and right sides of the Bodhisattva in the center of the temple, there were two mud sculptures standing upright with the same height.These two clay sculptures have facial features and judging by their appearance and size, they are a pair of boy and girl under the Bodhisattva's seat.

The temple was not big, and Li Huowang quickly finished exploring it. Eventually, he shifted his attention to the Bodhisattva draped in red.

The clay Bodhisattva was not tall, only about two meters, but because of the high platform it was on, Li Huowang had to look up at it.

In the dimly lit temple, a red-robed Bodhisattva with melted facial features was terrifying to behold. Not to mention that Li Huowang had already suspected that there was something wrong with this Bodhisattva.

"Should I just go ahead and strike it with my sword?" A thought suddenly occurred to Li Huowang.

As he was seriously considering this, he suddenly turned his head to the boy and girl clay sculptures on either side of the Bodhisattva.

"Were they like this just now? Or did they just move?"

Looking at these two clay sculptures staring at him, Li Huowang, who was in the dark and quiet temple, inexplicably felt a chill.

"You...come..."

"Who's there!" The chaotic voice made Li Huowang turn around abruptly, but there was nothing behind him.

"Wait, was that my auditory hallucination just now, or...did something in this temple make that sound?"

Li Huowang thought about this question and suddenly froze in place. For a moment, he couldn't distinguish reality from illusion.