Because of this incident, the news that people often disappeared on Pingliang Mountain became known to everyone. People near Pingliang County and people who often passed by there also knew about it. Since then, no one has gone to Pingliang Mountain at night.
After hearing this, Qingyan asked Chou Chou: "How far is Pingliang Mountain from here? Can my spiritual consciousness reach it?"
Chou Chou: "More than one hundred and twenty miles to the southeast. If we rush there now, we can reach there tomorrow morning without stopping at night."
The mountain is not big, at least it is very narrow from east to west, and can be climbed over in a few hours. Not far from there is a county seat, Pingliang County. "
Qingyan asked curiously: "Can you find out what happened on that mountain? How did those people and the convoy disappear?"
Chou Chou: "I can't detect it, at least I can't see any problem now. I'll take a look at it at night. It's possible that the problem is at night."
Qingyan thought for a moment and said, "Do you think it's some kind of monster that comes out to cause trouble at night? I wonder if it has anything to do with this half-demon here."
Chou Chou: "It shouldn't matter. I've been keeping an eye on it. It has been busy in Lingguang Temple and has not been out at all during this time."
Qingyan said disapprovingly: "Those who got into trouble didn't happen now. We all know it now. No one goes up the mountain at night. Maybe those are what it did before."
Chou Chou: "..."
Really, it has just been staring at each other for the past ten days. I don’t know what happened before. If there is anything weird happening around here, it is this half-demon, and it is most likely the one who did it.
Anyway, tomorrow is the fifteenth day. Let’s see what the other party is going to do. When you clean it up, you can ask if it was the one who did this.
After sitting in the teahouse for more than an hour, Qingyan left without hearing any useful information.
The horse-drawn carriage left from the north gate of the county. After exiting the north gate, turn left for a mile and then to the right is Beiding Mountain. Lingguang Temple is halfway up the mountain.
As soon as Qingyan left the county town, she was able to use her spiritual sense to detect Lingguang Temple. The temple was not big, not as big as the Qingyuan Temple, but it had a much longer history.
There are only two entrances to Lingguang Temple. Except for the Shanmen Hall in the front, which is the main hall, there is no side hall. There is no garden pool in the back, it is just a small courtyard, except for a well and not even a tree.
Then there is a row of monks' houses, with the abbot in the two rooms on the far left, separated by a low wall to distinguish them from other monks' houses.
The entrance to the underground altar is under those two rooms. The underground altar is not big, only about sixty or seventy square meters. There are no other dark rooms or anything like that.
It looks like it's not from the same era as the temple. It should have been dug by this abbot later and has nothing to do with the previous monks in the temple.
She drove the carriage to the foot of the mountain without going up the mountain. After all, the temple was going to be closed tonight, so it was a bit unexpected for her to go up. She simply found a place to wait at the foot of the mountain to see if she would find anything tonight.
Although the other party said that she only started to perform rituals when she was fifteen, she always felt that tonight was the official day, otherwise she would not have stopped people from going up the mountain starting tonight.
Moreover, the underground altar seems to have been arranged. Although the items inside are placed in a messy position and have strange varieties, they give people a twisted and strange sense of harmony.
Although Chou Chou said that those things were not strange and contained no energy, when these things were placed and arranged like this, they seemed to have a magnetic field.
"Chou Chou, take a look at the things in the altar. I always feel that something is wrong with them. They seem to have some energy left there."
Chou Chou looked over with his spiritual consciousness, and after observing for a while, he said: "Indeed, this seems to be some kind of formation, absorbing the surrounding... well, how should I put it? There seems to be some power in the air around it, it is not merit or evil energy. , that’s right! It’s Wishli!”
Qingyan: "Willing power?"
Chou Chou nodded, "Yes, it is the power of will, which is somewhat similar to the power of belief, but there are differences. The power of belief is the people's belief in the gods and Buddhas in their hearts, while the power of wish is the expectation of many people for one thing or one person. , I hope it becomes what you expect.”
Qingyan frowned, "Then where does this power of wish come from? To say that Lingguang Temple has done a good job in building momentum. People around know that it is efficacious and are more convinced of it. It should be the power of faith, right? What is the power of will?"
Chou Chou carefully sensed his surroundings. Although it was weak, there was indeed a trace of willpower gathering around him. Maybe it was because the sacrifice hadn't started yet, so it wasn't that obvious yet.
"Let's find a place first and take a closer look there tonight. We should know what the other party is up to tonight."
Qingyan withdrew her consciousness and searched around. She found an abandoned cave dwelling in the opposite direction to the village at the foot of the mountain. There was a small open space in front of it, not far from the road, with a forest in the middle. Although there were no leaves on the trees, It's not there, but it can also be covered so that pedestrians on the road can't see it.
Qingyan said to Chou Chou: "Let's go along the path on the right. Turn right ahead. There is an abandoned cave dwelling. There is an open space in front. We can put the wooden house out there, or we can enter the cave dwelling."
Chou Chou also looked over and took a look. It was true that the open space in front was not small. It should have been used for raising sheep. There were rotten fences and half stone troughs.
Just drive the car there, there are sleds, and the snow that hasn't been cleared on the trail is no big deal.
The sled board that Zhang Mancang made for her is really clever. It is hidden under the car board. It is about 20 centimeters above the ground and is not in the way when walking on flat ground. It is not obvious to outsiders.
Once there is snow, the sled is sliding, and the wheels will not affect it at all.
Let Chou Chou clean up the traces behind, and soon arrived at the abandoned cave dwelling. Seeing the dilapidated entrance, Qingyan thought to herself, it's a good thing they have a wooden house, otherwise this cave dwelling would really be unlivable.
She only explored the cave just now, but didn't look inside. Half of the cave had collapsed. Fortunately, they had other options, otherwise they wouldn't dare live here.
Let Chou Chou take out the wooden house, raise the fire at dawn, and cook the food.
The carriage was not put into the space and was left outside. Now that there is a carriage and a shed in front of it, there is no need to worry about snow falling inside at night.
Rich jumped out of the carriage and jumped on the snow, looking for a place with thick snow, deliberately jumping high, and then disappeared.
After a while, he came out from the other side. He was digging a hole under the snow.
Qingyan saw it enjoying itself and didn't stop it. It was so frustrating along the way, so she just let it have fun.
Big Bear has been led into another wooden house. Yes, they took out two wooden houses, one was the one before, and the other was one of the two wooden houses Chou Chou placed in the space. There was nothing in it. Just get it out directly.
It is placed side by side with this wooden house. Big Bear will be warmer in that wooden house at night. Then he can just put a charcoal stove for it.
I originally thought that if they were placed door to door, if the kang was burning here, it would be warm over there.
But after trying it, I think it may not work. The temperature inside the mountain is lower than outside. If they are put together over a large area, the temperature on both sides may not be able to rise.
The temperature is especially lower at night. It is now minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius outside at night. It will only be even lower in the mountains. It will really freeze to death outside.
No matter how well-made this wooden house is, it is not as warm as a cave dwelling, so it is almost useless.
Like when I was at Zhang Mancang's house before, although Big Bear was in the livestock shed, it was actually a shed. It was actually made of adobe and stone. I had raised livestock before, so it was much warmer inside.
Their wooden house is just a thin layer of wood, with no insulation layer in the middle, and there is no way to seal the windows and doors. Without a fire, it is almost like the outside. It can block the wind at most, but it is really not good.
I turned up the charcoal stove over there and cooked on the stone stove in the wooden house here, and the temperature in the room also increased.
But the stone kang is only going to be hot. The top of the stove must be blocked so that all the heat will go into the kang hole.
Put all the food out, pour a pot of water for washing, add charcoal, and then seal the stove mouth.
After finishing the meal and boiling the water, let Chou Chou put away the pot and put a thick iron plate on top. The iron plate will be warm after it is heated, and the temperature inside the house will be higher.
When I had enough money and had enough fun, when I entered the house, the food was already prepared and placed on the table.
I just stewed a piece of cabbage and fried a leek and egg. There was still a lot of vegetables left in the restaurant, so I could continue to eat.
The water in the pot quickly warmed up. She scooped out some and wiped Fuqian's body and paws with a hot towel, then wiped them again with a dry towel.
Then put it on the kang next to the stove and let it bake there for a while to dry the hair on its body.
The snow outside is quite clean, not dirty, so there is no need to wash it, just wipe the paws and dry them.
Just put the food for it in a small pot and place it next to the stove, so that it can eat and roast its hair there, killing two birds with one stone.
She and Chou Chou ate at the table. After finishing their meal, it was getting dark outside.
Qingyan didn't even need to go out. Chou Chou directly used her spiritual consciousness to add charcoal to the charcoal stove on Daxiong's side. Then she took the hot water that had been boiled here into the space, filled it with charcoal and replaced it with an iron plate, leaving the stove mouth open. A small gap will burn too quickly.
After everything was done, I touched the hair on Youqian's body and dried it, and then they went to sleep together on the kang.
The heat on the kang was very warm. As soon as they got into bed, the three of them let out a comfortable sigh at the same time.
Although Chou Chou is an ancient ferocious beast, the coldness is definitely no hindrance to it, but it is sentient, and extreme cold and heat are not easy to endure, so no one wants to suffer if it can enjoy the blessing.
After getting into bed, Qingyan covered the spirit stone lamp with a piece of black cloth, and the room instantly fell into darkness.
It's not that they are going to sleep now, but they both sent their spiritual consciousness to Lingguang Temple. Before looking over, they also asked Youqian to pay attention to the situation around here. After all, it is at the foot of the mountain. If any wild beast comes down, There must also be precautions here.
Youqian whined to express that he understood, and then Qingyan and Chou Chou put their spiritual consciousness into Lingguang Temple together.
Lingguang Temple had just finished dinner and was currently doing evening classes. It was almost half an hour before the half-demon host returned to his meditation room.
But he did not go to the underground altar, but directly washed himself and went to sleep on the kang.
Qingyan and Chou Chou were stunned at the same time. What does this mean? Could it be that they had guessed wrong and that the other party had not taken any action today and they really had to wait until the fifteenth day of tomorrow to take action?
The two of them looked at each other for a while and saw that the other party did not take any action, so they took back their consciousness.
Taking off the black cloth on the spirit stone lamp, the two looked at each other, and both saw doubts in each other's eyes.
Qingyan: "It seems that it really needs to be on a full moon night. There won't be any movement today. We can only wait until tomorrow."
Chou Chou shook his head, "Not necessarily, it may be that it's still early, and the other party may be waiting for a specific time.
You go to sleep first, I put my consciousness there and keep an eye on it. If I call you again if there is a situation, I will also watch the stoves on both sides to prevent them from being extinguished. "
Qingyan nodded, "Okay, thank you for your hard work. Remember to call me if you need anything."
After saying this, Qingyan lay down, covered her shoulders with the quilt, found a comfortable position, and fell asleep soon after.
She got up early this morning and didn't even take a break at noon. After driving for a long time, she was already sleepy.
I used to live at Zhang Mancang's house, but I was in someone else's house anyway. I was definitely not as comfortable as in my own place. Although I didn't go to bed late at night, I got up very early in the morning.
In addition, I have been helping at the intersection these days. Although I haven't done any heavy work, it is quite uncomfortable to freeze in the open air every day.
Now in my own territory, although it is outside and not really my place, there is no one else outside, and with Chou Chou and Rich looking over my shoulder, I am not afraid of any danger, so I almost fall asleep as soon as I touch the pillow. .
Qingyan didn't know how long she had slept. She was pushed awake by Chou Chou's paw.
When Qingyan is sleeping, Chou Chou usually does not send messages to her, saying that it will easily damage her consciousness.
And it was easy for her to think that she was dreaming. After all, a voice suddenly appeared in her head. When she was awake, she could tell that it was Chou Chou's voice transmission. She was still in a daze, and she really thought she was dreaming.
Qingyan was just pushed awake, and she was also in a daze. She forgot where she was for a moment, and still thought she was at Zhang Mancang's house.
Chou Chou had already opened the black cloth on the Lingshi lamp, so it was brighter inside the room. She could see the surrounding environment clearly and Qingyan suddenly woke up.
He sat up and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something going on at Lingguang Temple?"
Chou Chou nodded, "The half-demon master over there led a few monks down to the underground altar. They also carried a coffin. I looked at it and found Zhang Liugen's body inside."
(End of chapter)
