NHWSG chapter 94

Perhaps because of his background in the Daoist sect in his previous life, Sheng Zhao had rarely visited temples since he was young, and he knew nothing about the corresponding rituals and etiquette. Apart from buying incense and offerings at the entrance, he didn’t know anything else.

But he observed for a while, and most of the other people who came here were familiar with the place, offering incense and making offerings in an orderly manner. At first glance, it seemed that he was the only one here for tourism.

——This little fox Hu Huanyang, Sheng Zhao sighed inwardly, thinking he really couldn’t rely on him. No wonder he lost Zhang Jian right under his nose.

Reluctantly, he had to follow the woman in front of him.

Even when Lian Yin Yue led him to the entrance of the main hall and made a gesture of invitation with a smile, saying, “Please come in, this is the main hall. If you want to pray for something, just kneel three times and bow nine times, silently reciting in your heart.”

Sheng Zhao’s feeling of strangeness grew stronger.

He didn’t visit temples often, but he didn’t know if every temple had such diligent guides. But in any case, he couldn’t help but think that this kind of occultism should be restrained, and how could such words be said, resembling a charlatan.

Strangely enough, from the moment he entered the door, he felt a little uncomfortable. These days, he had been “training” by Xing Yingzhu at home, making considerable progress in his sensitivity to things. Sometimes he inadvertently saw something from another world, and gradually he could distinguish whether it was a ghost or a spirit.

His intuition for danger had increased several times compared to before, and in theory, his premonition of escape was always accurate.

But even though this temple obviously had something fishy going on, even Zhang Jian had fallen into it, he felt only a little nervous, with no excessive sense of crisis.

… What a crappy place, Sheng Zhao thought to himself, feeling all strange.

As he walked into the hall, he pondered his mood, tumbling through his limited vocabulary for a while, before picking out a word to describe his current feeling.

—Upside down.

As soon as these two words appeared in his mind, Sheng Zhao seized upon them—just as Hu Huanyang had said earlier, monsters have their own smell, and ghosts naturally have theirs. If someone who knew the way looked over, they would be able to discern the difference between the two. Just like how Zhang Jian naturally exuded the scent of burning incense, as if he had already been soaked in it; and no matter how much Hu Huanyang tried to conceal it, there would always be a faint hint of an animal-like appearance about him.

But this Buddhist temple was clearly flourishing with incense and radiating Buddha’s light but despite being inside for so long, Sheng Zhao didn’t feel any sense of belonging to the “righteous path”.

This really wasn’t a good place.

He lowered his eyes, lifted his feet over the threshold, and entered the main hall’s door.

The Self-Transcendence Temple had been around for a long time. Although the incense was good, the construction was not very grand. When Sheng Zhao first entered, he thought he had mistakenly entered someone’s ancestral hall.

The main hall was only about thirty square meters in size. Facing the main door was a lotus throne, with several Buddhist utensils placed on the altar, with a bit of red wax oil sticking to them.

There were still a few people standing in front of him, devoutly kneeling and worshiping on the mats. Among them were men and women, dressed neatly and cleanly, but there were no identifiable brands.

It seemed that even Lian Yin Yue noticed his confusion. She stepped in from outside, lightly touched his arm.

“Come over here for incense,” Lian Yin Yue said, lifting her hand and pointing to a plain table behind the altar. On the table lay some scattered incense sticks, looking dull and unattractive, almost blending in with the old wooden table.

“Ah… sure,” Sheng Zhao chuckled awkwardly, taking the same steps as Lian Yin Yue and hurriedly grabbing three incense sticks without much thought.

Lian Yin Yue seemed to be pondering something as she looked at him for a moment. Her gaze lingered on his chest for a moment before discreetly moving away. She casually asked, “You’re so young, what are you praying for? Family well-being, or academic success?”

“I…” Sheng Zhao stumbled as soon as he opened his mouth. He thought to himself, “How would I know what I’m praying for? I’m just here to find someone. If it weren’t for my partner being absent, I wouldn’t even come to this place.”

However, he wasn’t very clear about the temperament of this temple, and he didn’t dare to casually say he was just here to look around. What if they were potential clients for expanding business, and if he said he was here for sightseeing, he would be kicked out.

“Hmm?” Lian Yin Yue urged.

“I’m here to pray for marriage…” Sheng Zhao blurted out involuntarily.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

He regretted it as soon as he spoke. He thought, “What a lame excuse. Luckily, Xíng Yìngzhu is already out, otherwise, if he hears this, he’ll get angry again.”

A big snake demon that was several thousand years old throwing a tantrum was no joke. He might end up being tossed around in a pond again—

As he thought about this, he suddenly came to a halt, realizing belatedly that the ground he was stepping on was still a “pure land” of Buddhism. He was filled with foul language and inappropriate thoughts. It was… extremely offensive.

Luckily, no one knew, otherwise, he’d probably be chased out with a big stick.

Lian Yin Yue saw his strange expression but thought he was just embarrassed, so she didn’t think much about it, comforting him gently, “It’s okay, it doesn’t matter what you pray for. Buddha saves all from suffering, regardless of what it is. It’s your turn.”

Sheng Zhao turned back in response to her voice and noticed that the queue had reached him. He subconsciously glanced at Lian Yin Yue, then hesitantly made his way to the altar to burn incense and knelt on the mat.

——Honestly, Sheng Zhao knelt with extreme insincerity. He had been hanging out with Xíng Yìngzhu for a long time, and he inevitably had picked up some of his stinginess. Feeling that he had no desire for the cold and aloof idol in front of him, when he knelt down, he felt awkward all over, as if he was shortchanging himself.

It’s okay, it’s okay, Sheng Zhao tried to convince himself through gritted teeth: just think of it as enduring humiliation for Zhang Jian’s sake.

He mechanically knocked his head a few times, then was about to get up when he opened his eyes and happened to meet the gaze of the Buddha on the lotus throne. When he was standing earlier, the curtain beside the altar had obscured most of the Buddha’s image. Now that he was kneeling, he could clearly see the appearance of the Buddha.

But… which Buddha was this?

Sheng Zhao was slightly stunned. He felt that the Buddha’s statue seemed a bit too young, and the carving was too delicate and gorgeous. At first glance, it looked just like a real person. The warm light of the candle reflected on the fair jade face, making the white jade glow warmly. At first glance, he thought he had seen a living person.

His vision blurred for a moment, and he even felt that the thing seemed to breathe slightly.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

His back suddenly broke out in goosebumps, and cold sweat covered his back, making his limbs feel numb.

He forced himself to bite his tongue and took another look, but found that the Buddha statue had returned to normal, and there was nothing wrong with it. It seemed that the momentary illusion was just a flicker of light and shadow from the candle flame.

He didn’t know whether to be relieved or to run away quickly. He stood up with his hands on the ground, but before he could steady himself, he heard a grunt from beside him.

“You’re very lucky today, young man,” the man said.

Sheng Zhao reacted for a moment before realizing that the man was talking to him, and asked in confusion, “What?”

The man stood up from the cushion, brushed off the dust on his knees, and gestured to the incense burner, saying, “Look at your incense—”

Sheng Zhao followed his gaze and only then discovered that one of the incense sticks he had just lit inexplicably broke and fell into the incense burner.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Don’t try to deceive me, Sheng Zhao thought with a straight face. Even fools know that it’s a big taboo for incense to break while praying. How come it’s considered lucky when you say it?

Lian Yin Yue, who was nearby, heard the commotion and looked over. Her eyes lit up, and she walked over with a smile.

“What this gentleman said is correct. The rules here are different from elsewhere, so there’s no need to panic,” Lian Yin Yue smiled and said, “If the incense breaks, it means you’re a destined person. You can stay here for a while and go to the backyard to seek advice from our monk.”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

He felt wary when he heard the word “stay”. After all, Zhang Jian entered the door and never came out again. Who knows what kind of “stay” this was.

But what caught his attention was that this seemed to be an unspoken rule here. In addition to Lian Yin Yue and the man next to her, there were also several men and women in the room who looked over at him, their eyes filled with obvious envy.

…In that case, it seemed that this wasn’t the reason for Zhang Jian’s disappearance. Otherwise, if everyone who met the “monk” disappeared, there would have been trouble in the temple long ago.

Sheng Zhao pondered for a moment and felt that this was probably some kind of sales tactic, just like what Hu Huanyang had told him about Mr. Sun. They used this randomness to draw in visitors and lead them to individual sales pitches in small rooms, whether it was for consecration services or Buddha statue sales, it seemed more reasonable.

If that was the case, Sheng Zhao wasn’t too worried. After all, he wasn’t afraid of being lured into MLM schemes. At worst, he would lose some money but avoid disaster. It would be even better to go to the backyard and see… what if Zhang Jian was there.

“Alright then.” he scratched his head and said, “What should I…”

Lian Yin Yue smiled and walked over, taking his hand and affectionately leading him towards the back door.

“Come with me,” Lian Yin Yue said softly.

Leading Sheng Zhao through a side door, Lian Yin Yue brought him to a quieter courtyard and then pushed open the door, gesturing towards the main house.

“It’s right there, you can go in.” Lian Yin Yue said, “You can ask our monk three questions, anything you want to know.”

Sheng Zhao hesitated for a moment and asked, “Anything?”

“Anything.” Lian Yin Yue’s voice suddenly sounded elusive. “… Except matters of life and death.”

Sheng Zhao unconsciously shuddered.

——Is it too late to regret now? Sheng Zhao suddenly thought. Shouldn’t he wait for Xing Yingzhu to come back before saying anything?

But regardless of how his mind was churning, he couldn’t just turn around and leave now. He could only grit his teeth and follow the instructions.

He mentally prepared himself for the worst and forced himself to take each step with a tragic feeling of being swept away by the wind and cold waters, finally arriving at the door and pushing it open.

Inside the room, a young man sat cross-legged on a clay bed. He was dressed plainly as a monk, but his appearance was handsome. At this moment, he had his hands clasped together in meditation.

However, Sheng Zhao only glanced at him and felt a layer of goosebumps spread all over his body, as if his heartbeat had skipped a beat.

The reason was simple: this man… looked exactly like the white jade Buddha statue in the front courtyard.