Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 163 The Greedy Monk
Pei Yuan was filled with despair.

There are more than 70,000 taels of silver in the room behind!
As long as these Jinyiwei retreat, the silver will inevitably be dragged into the second dimension by rats.

Not to mention the court's accountability, Pei Yuan himself was about to collapse.

He felt so powerless that even the Bazhou sword in his hand slowed down.

Sikong Sui was in a panic and shouted, "Captain, we can't stay here anymore."

Seeing Pei Yuan still swinging his sword, he quickly advised, "We are not capable of defeating this evil heretic."

When Sikong Sui mentioned the evil demons, he suddenly reminded Pei Yuan.

When Han Qianhu gave himself the Inner Demon Robe, he also gave himself a spirit-dispersing talisman in order to prevent the robe from causing trouble.

And he said to himself that if the inner demon robe did not obey his orders, he should stick the talisman on it.

Not only can this talisman suppress the robe, but after just three or two days, the robe will completely lose its spirituality, just like rotten leather or cloth.

Pei Yuan shuddered.

Cao! Where's my talisman? !
Pei Yuan's mind was like a paste for a moment and he couldn't remember much.

He swung his sword twice in a hurry, turned around to look for Song Chunniang, and shouted, "Where is my talisman?!"

Pei Yuan only had one talisman, so Song Chunniang would naturally not make a mistake.

Seeing Pei Yuan asking for the talisman so eagerly, she knew it must be the key item.

He immediately responded, "Wait!"

Then he left in a hurry.

Seeing that Pei Yuan was still holding on, Sikong Sui had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue to persevere.

He stretched out his hand, and the wood-attributed spiritual power in his hand surged, pulling out a thorny vine from the ground.

The vine is not very tough and its barbs are short, so it is not very useful against humans, but it is surprisingly effective against mice.

A few vines stretched out horizontally, slowing down the speed of the rats' attack.

Pei Yuan chopped the rat for a while, and his passive skill "The poorer you are, the stronger you become" was triggered, making his combat power even stronger.

Just by looking at the swarm of rats climbing all over the wall, ready to come out of the painting at any time, Pei Yuan knew that even if his martial arts value continued to increase, it was only a matter of time before he was exhausted to death.

Fortunately, at this moment, Song Chunniang rushed into the courtyard quickly and threw an exquisite bamboo tube to Pei Yuan in the rat group, "Catch it!"

Pei Yuan hurriedly took the bamboo tube, and directly used a knife to cut off the lid of the bamboo tube, and poured out the talismans inside.

The talisman was in hand, but before he could unfold it, the rats were already squeaking and dispersing from Pei Yuan's vicinity.

Seeing this, Pei Yuan inserted the Bazhou sword into the ground without hesitation and displayed the talisman in its entirety with both hands.

The blood-red cinnabar on the talisman was so rich and bright that it made the rats retreat further away.

Pei Yuan took a few steps forward bravely, like a thug holding a bomb.

The rats immediately hid in all directions in panic. Some of them gathered together, and some could not avoid each other in their haste, and they turned into black gas and dissipated.

Pei Yuan felt relieved. It turned out that this talisman was such a powerful weapon!

He looked back again and saw that there were still many rats besieging the Jinyiwei from behind.

Pei Yuan was afraid that something might happen to his ordinary soldiers, so he quickly stepped forward with talismans in hand and forced the rats back.

Pei Yuan drove them left and right, and for a moment, the rats were like flowing sand, hiding here and there.

Pei Yuan was secretly anxious, wondering how this would end.

He swept his eyes around and fixed his eyes on the evil monk on the wall who was making a seal with one hand and holding a bowl with the other.

Pei Yuan made up his mind and walked forward with the talisman, approaching the wall step by step.

The evil monk who was originally staring at everyone with a sly smile suddenly stopped smiling and turned into a furious look like a Vajra.

Pei Yuan looked at the talisman in his hand.

Just now, Hou Qing smashed the evil monk's feet, but he didn't react at all. Now he is so afraid of the talisman.

Pei Yuan walked closer and closer, and the mouse painted on the wall immediately sensed it.

The rats on the wall were running around in the painting, trying to hide.

Soon, with an unknown mouse taking the lead, the other mice ran around in a panic and escaped into the sack in the painting.

Pei Yuan stopped immediately and took a step back.

The evil monk in the painting smiled again.

The giant rats that were wreaking havoc in the side yard seemed to have received some command. They crawled into the painting through the damaged holes in the wall and returned to the sack.

Pei Yuan thought to himself, this evil monk can also communicate.

Then he held the talisman in one hand and pointed at the silver with the other.

Unexpectedly, the evil monk in the painting did not change at all. He still made a seal with one hand and held out a bowl with the other, with a weird smile on his face.

Pei Yuan thought that he had not expressed himself clearly enough.

He simply moved closer with the talisman in hand as a threat, and at the same time kept pointing at the silver in the painting with his hands.

However, no matter how close Pei Yuan got, the evil monk in the painting did not change.

Pei Yuan cursed in his heart, "What a money-grubber."

For a moment, there was nothing I could do.

After sticking the talisman in his hand on the wall, it would certainly destroy the magic of the wall and make the painting on the wall completely lose its spirituality.

But in this way, Pei Yuan's white, shiny, heavy silver coins completely became a stroke of ink on the painting.

Rather than that.

It would be better to just take out the falconet and blow down the wall!
This can also save one talisman.

Pei Yuan was at a loss for what to do for a moment. The more he looked at the monk's smile, the more he found it hateful.

Sikong Sui came over with lingering fear, "Qian Hu, what should we do next?"

Pei Yuan could only say angrily, "First move the silver away and store it somewhere far away. Put a few sturdy shields under the silver box and have your men keep an eye on it at all times."

Sikong Sui was just about to go down to make arrangements.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and added, "Forget it, just put the silver box on the silver transport vehicle."

The silver box was taken off the silver transport vehicle to prevent extreme situations where thieves might rob it.

Now that there are rats running around on the ground, it would be better to just put the silver aside.

Sikong Sui also asked, "What about this side?"

Pei Yuan took a look at the wall and asked Sikong Sui for advice, "Should we have someone plug the hole in the wall first?"

Sikong Sui thought for a moment and said, "It's useless. When there was no hole in the wall, the mice could have come out anyway, right?"

"That evil monk deliberately let the rats crawl out of that hole. It was clearly his revenge on us."

"Damn it." Pei Yuan gritted his teeth in hatred.

Sikong Sui hesitated for a moment, then said to Pei Yuan, "Just now I remembered some anecdotes, and I can roughly determine where this evil monk came from?"

"Oh?" Pei Yuan looked a little unhappy, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Sikong Sui apologized, "I am not sure either. I want to discuss it with Tan Tai and tell you once I have figured it out."

Pei Yuan said rudely, "Speak!"

Sikong Sui had no choice but to answer, "In the eight groups of the Huangjue Temple, there was a monk named Tannian. This monk's behavior was treacherous, and it was quite similar to this."

"After the Jingnan Campaign, the eight monks of Huangjue Temple dispersed like stars and clouds."

"From the secret files of the Suppression of Evil Thousand Households Office, we can see that the other monks left their traces. Only this greedy monk has no way of being traced."

"I once read the secret records of the founding of the Ming Dynasty out of curiosity. This monk is very good at taking advantage of other people's greed. Even when faced with danger, he can always protect himself."

Sikong Sui said, pointing at the wall.

"Look, Captain. Although there are spiritual objects protecting this painting, as long as we are reckless and use cannons to bombard it, we can easily destroy this wall. Even without cannons, even a figure like Hou Qing can destroy the wall."

"But because we covet the money, we are hesitant to deal with it."

"That's why I feel that he is somewhat similar to the Greedy Monk."

Pei Yuan asked, "Do the secret records tell us how to deal with this guy?"

Sikong Sui shook his head and warned, "If Qianhu can't make up his mind quickly, as his greed grows, I'm afraid there will be other changes later."

Pei Yuan sighed.

No matter what, I can't just abandon those several thousand taels of silver.

Now we can only pin our last hope on this. "Have you contacted Han Qianhu again?"

After hearing this, Sikong Sui quickly shook his head and tried to distance himself from the matter.

"No. When I and you were both centurions, I did send someone to send a letter to Captain Han for instructions on some matters I was undecided about. Now that you are the deputy captain of the Suppressing Evils, it would be ignorant for us to report to your superiors."

Pei Yuan was speechless. You are not sensible when you should be, and you are more sensible than anyone else when you shouldn’t be.

He and Han Qianhu had almost no means of communication, and every time he had to passively wait for Han Qianhu to come to him.

The initial reason was that Pei Yuan was a seconded personnel and of course there was no need to establish a stable communication channel with Han Qianhu.

Later, Pei Yuan officially became the deputy commander of the Evil Suppression Unit. However, his tricks made Commander Han unhappy, and he was subjected to cold violence for a while.

Pei Yuan had no choice but to say, "Then help me urge Han Qianhu to come and join us as soon as possible."

The Huai'an roasted nuts business has always been run secretly by Pei Yuan and Han Qianhu, and some things cannot be revealed too obviously.

Now that the greedy monk is at work, we have a legitimate excuse to find Han Qianhu.

Sikong Sui replied, "Okay. After daybreak, I will send someone to the Jinyiwei in Jiangdu City to deliver the message."

While Sikong Sui was moving the silver, Pei Yuan suddenly remembered something and called Cheng Leixiang over.

"Oh, by the way, go find Taoist Zhiwei for me. He has some Taoist skills, and maybe he can help us solve the current dilemma."

Cheng Leiying responded to the call.

Pei Yuan saw that the silver boxes had already started to be moved, so he did not dare to be careless. He still stood in front of the mural, holding the talisman.

If the evil monk in the painting does not know the seriousness of the matter, then Pei Yuan can only "choose the lesser of two evils" and bear the pain and destroy the mural directly.

The evil monk in the painting is indeed sensible.

He watched the silver being taken away, but he did not release his army of rats again.

I don't know if he was doing it on purpose to disgust Pei Yuan, but every time a silver cart passed by, the monk would slowly follow with his bowl in hand, as if asking for something.

Pei Yuan's mind moved slightly.

If the person in this painting really is a greedy monk, can he look at human nature entangled in desires with a detached attitude and not have greed himself?

It’s just that Pei Yuan has always been uneducated and is a layman in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

After thinking for a long time, I still couldn't come up with any good ideas.

When the silver cart was pulled away from the courtyard, the evil monk who was suspected to be the greedy monk withdrew his gaze, still looking at Pei Yuan in front of him with a sly smile as if he was looking at prey. As long as the silver was not in front of him, Pei Yuan's IQ was still online.

He thought for a moment, and then instructed Song Chunniang who stayed beside him, "Go and count the silver later, and then ask Hou Qing to break down the walls of other courtyards as well."

In this way, we can also avoid the greedy monk's back-up plan.

After Song Chunniang left, Cheng Leixiang came over with a Taoist priest with fluttering sleeves.

Pei Yuan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw this.

——This is what it means to be a Taoist!

But when the Taoist entered the yard, he exclaimed in surprise, holding his Buddhist whisk, and walked to the mural to take a look.

The greedy monk in the painting completely ignored the newly appeared Taoist priest and continued to stare at Pei Yuan.

Taoist Zhiwei held his beard and pondered for a while.

There happened to be a little mouse peeking out of the sack in the painting.

When Taoist Zhiwei saw this, his expression immediately became much more serious.

He thought for a moment, then took out a piece of yellow paper from his sleeve, then took out a pair of golden scissors, and cut it casually a few times until it made the shape of a kitten.

Then he knew that he was a Taoist priest and wanted to prick his finger with scissors to draw blood.

After hesitating for a while, he took some cinnabar from his arms and held it in his palm.

Then he used his fingers to apply cinnabar and painted the kitten's eyes red.

Then the Taoist Zhiwei shouted, "Go!"

A breeze blew by, and the kitten cut out of yellow paper fell from Taoist Zhiwei's hand onto the wall.

Then the yellow paper began to peel off and rot, as if it had been mottled for countless years, leaving only the shadow of a kitten on the wall.

Then, the kitten began to move incredibly.

Pei Yuan had seen those cartoons of mice on the wall before, and had even seen the scene of mice swarming out of the wall, so he naturally didn't think there was anything strange about it.

Taoist Zhiwei waited for a while, and seeing no response from anyone around him, he looked back at Pei Yuan in surprise.

Pei Yuan remembered that this guy liked to pretend to be quiet and silent, so he quickly flattered him, "Master, you have a good method. I have never heard of it or seen it before."

Taoist Zhiwei felt that Pei Yuan's praise was not smooth enough this time, and he always felt that something was missing.

As he thought about it, he looked at the painted wall again.

The kitten saw the mouse in the sack and immediately jumped over happily.

But as it was running, the kitten leaped up and suddenly turned into a big rat.

The big rat was stunned, turned around a few times, and then went straight into the sack.

Pei Yuan was stunned and dropped the Taoist whisk onto the ground without noticing.

"What, what is this?" Taoist Zhiwei's face changed color and he looked back at Pei Yuan in surprise.

Pei Yuan didn't know how to answer appropriately.

Taoist Zhiwei was actually interested this time. He saw the talisman in Pei Yuan's hand and stared at it. He asked in surprise, "Dispersing Spirits Talisman? Where did it come from?"

The things that happened at the Thousand Households Office for Suppressing Evils were no secret in these palaces, temples and monasteries.

Pei Yuan answered truthfully, "It was given by Captain Han."

Taoist Zhiwei was a little angry, "Are you trying to tease me? Why don't you just stick this thing on?"

Pei Yuan had no choice but to explain, "This evil monk stole the tax money from the court. If we stick this spirit-dispersing talisman on him, we can deal with this monk, but we will never get the money from the court."

Taoist Zhiwei twirled his beard and said softly, "So that's how it is. So that's how it is."

As he spoke, he walked slowly in the yard.

After walking for a while, when passing by the door, he turned out directly.

Pei Yuan couldn't believe his eyes.

Are the Taoists in Tianying Palace so crazy?

It's just that this Taoist Zhiwei does have some abilities. Even though they are of no use to him at the moment, he will inevitably be needed in the future, so Pei Yuan doesn't want to force his demands.

Besides, this Taoist priest clearly looked helpless.

Cheng Leixiang watched for a while, scratched his head, and said carefully, "How about I go and call the monk Daigo to try?"

Pei Yuan shuddered and quickly stopped him, "Don't!"

The monk Daigo had an old man hidden in his body before, and no one knew if there were any hidden dangers.

If that guy happened to meet this greedy monk and triggered the bond between the eight tribes of Huangjue Temple, and defeated the Jinyiwei in one fell swoop, Pei Yuan would not know who to cry to.

Cheng Leixiang couldn't help but sigh, "These outsiders are really unreliable."

Pei Yuan's eyes fell on Cheng Leixiang.

Cheng Leixiang was surprised. He pointed at his nose and said hurriedly, "Sir, I can't do it. I only know a little bit of martial arts, how can I handle this."

Pei Yuan said angrily, "Damn it, do you need me for this kind of thing? I've been standing here stupidly for a long time, come and help me hold this talisman."

Pei Yuan just then remembered why he didn't find someone to help him watch here.

Cheng Leixiang was a little surprised, "Can I take it too? Will it work too?"

Having said that, he quickly took the talisman tactfully.

Pei Yuan was also a little worried, fearing that Captain Han had left some tricks behind, such as one that only Pei Yuan could use.

It turned out that when Cheng Leixiang was holding the talisman, the evil monk in the painting did not have any extra reaction at all.

Pei Yuan knew that this evil monk was cunning and was afraid that he would deliberately mislead him.

He glanced around and saw the pile of dead rats.

He motioned Cheng Leixiang to go over there.

Cheng Leixiang held the talisman stiffly and moved a few steps.

The edges of the rat corpses began to melt like snow encountering the scorching sun.

Cheng Leixiang tentatively moved closer to the rat corpses, and saw that the mountain of rat corpses instantly turned into a large ball of black gas, which rushed directly into the mural and disappeared.

"Not bad, it's useful." Pei Yuan commented.

Cheng Leixiang also looked at the rat corpses that had been evaporated with joy, and then looked at the talisman in his hand, but his smile froze slightly, and then he continued to smile.

Cheng Leixiang pretended to continue looking for the dead mouse. He turned his back to Pei Yuan and looked at him, gesturing downwards frantically.

Pei Yuan looked down and his expression changed immediately.

The originally bright blood-red color of the Dispersing Spirit Talisman had become slightly dim.

Although it seems that there is not much difference, this means that the power attached to the Soul-Dispersing Talisman will be quickly consumed during use.

This spirit-dispersing talisman can still suppress the greedy monk.

But what happens next?

What if that greedy monk frantically mobilizes rats to consume the power of the talisman?

Can I resolutely give up the silver and directly put the talisman on the head of the evil monk?

The color on Pei Yuan's face only faded for a moment, and soon returned to normal.

He pretended to casually glance at the evil monk on the wall. The evil monk was still looking at him, and the strange smile on his face became more intriguing.

Pei Yuan felt irritated.

I've just started on the road with the silver, and I've encountered so many troubles.

But all his strength and strategies are useless.

Pei Yuan didn't even dare to think about how much trouble would be waiting for him in the future.

When Monkey King encounters messy situations, he can still use his connections to get help.

However, the Suppression of Evils Thousand Households Office is the final agency responsible for handling these matters within the Ming Dynasty.

If even the deputy commander of the Evil Suppression Unit failed in this kind of matter, how the hell was going to solve it?

Pei Yuan couldn't help but ask Cheng Leixiang, "As the authoritative agency of the Ming Dynasty to hunt down evil cults and arrest evil people, doesn't the Suppression Thousand Households have any reliable power?"

Cheng Leixiang sighed helplessly, "Yes, there are some. But the most useful ones have to guard the imperial city."

As he spoke, Cheng Leixiang suddenly had an idea and said to Pei Yuan, "Sir, do you still remember my good friend Yun Buxian?"

Pei Yuan was stunned when he heard the name.

Cheng Leixiang took the initiative to explain, "He is the grandson of Yun Weilin, the Taoist priest of Da Ci'en Temple."

When Pei Yuan heard about Da Ci'en Temple, he remembered the general who did not give him face. Now he finally matched the person.

"Oh, is that Yun Buxian who bought a hereditary position as a deputy captain but ended up having nowhere to stay?"

In theory, hereditary positions and floating positions do not need to match.

For example, Pei Yuan was promoted to the rank of Chief Captain because of his achievement of injuring Liu Qi, the leader of the Bazhou bandits, and seizing the Bazhou sword. However, his formal official position was the Deputy Chief Captain of the Suppressing Evils Office.

In other words, the deputy captain enjoys the same treatment as the regular captain.

But the gap can't be so big that it's disgusting, right? Especially when it's other people who are disgusted.

Yun Weilin was determined to get his child into the Suppression of Evils Thousand Households Unit.

But in this case, given Yun Buxian's qualifications and background, there is a high probability that he started from a small flag just like Cheng Leixiang.

In the end, the Jinyiwei small flag will enjoy the treatment of deputy captain.

Among the five captains under Captain Han, which one is the easy-going one who spoils you?
In the end, Yun Buxian couldn't even be a captain or a strongman, let alone a small flag officer.

Cheng Leixiang said quickly, "Yes, I have always been getting along well with Yun Buxian, and I heard him mention something occasionally."

"He said that when he was young, he accidentally entered a cave of a real person and learned a lot. Later, the real person came back and kicked him out. When he fell to the ground, he forgot most of what he learned and only remembered vaguely."

"But sometimes, he would have a flash of inspiration, remember something, and often make some surprising remarks."

"Later, he randomly taught himself some Taoist methods and was able to master them."

"Your Excellency is in need of people right now, so why not recruit him? Whether he can be of any use or not is another matter, but at least he is a reliable man."

Pei Yuan was somewhat moved after hearing this.

His team was already mixed, and he never cared about their background or loyalty.

Anyway, it counts as one if we drag one into the water.

Since Yun Buxian has some skills, he could be of use. But he is in Beijing now, and I don’t know when he can get here.

As he was thinking, Pei Yuan suddenly remembered the green-glazed porcelain vase he had buried under a tree in his old house in Beijing.

Oh, and here’s my little money-carrying kid!

(End of this chapter)