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Chapter 405 Buddha Skin
After lunch, the county government was in a state of tension.

The magistrate trusted Lord Xu's judgment, but he was also genuinely afraid that another seventh-rate evil spirit might emerge!
The damage to Xinyifang has been tallied: 67 houses collapsed, 41 people were killed, and 105 others were injured.

The village head's three brick kilns were all destroyed.

The Xinyifang area is severely polluted and is not suitable for living people to reside in in the short term.

Such a heavy loss made the county magistrate's scalp tingle. He had originally planned to try to get promoted after his term ended, but now that plan had fallen through.

If another great evil spirit were to appear, causing another wave of heavy casualties, forget about getting promoted; the county magistrate might not even be able to keep his official hat.

Two hours passed in suspense, but then all was quiet.

No one else, either inside or outside the city, came to report the crime.

A glimmer of hope rose in the magistrate's heart: Had Lord Xu guessed wrong?

Although Lord Xu is highly skilled, everyone makes mistakes.

The magistrate waited and waited, filled with anxiety and uncertainty.

Xu Yuan observed his entire expression and said, "Since I am here, even if some evil spirits appear, I can help you resolve the situation."

"If I leave, can you defend yourselves?"

The magistrate didn't know how to answer, and forced a smile, which was quite bitter.

As dusk approached, the county was still quiet.

The county magistrate's sense of侥幸 (a sense of getting away with something) grew stronger and stronger.

People seemed a bit more relaxed.

Xu Yuan stroked his chin, said nothing, and walked into the courtyard on his own. Then, with a stomp of his feet, the fire wheel appeared and with a whoosh, it carried Lord Xu into the air, which was more than ten feet high.

The county magistrate and Wei Zhenbang and the others chased after him, looking up at Xu Yuan in the sky.

"What is Lord Xu doing...?"

Xu Yuan opened the Mirror of Destiny.

It was previously speculated that some low-level evil spirits would appear today.

It's really just speculation.

Xu Yuan firmly believed that evil spirits would appear again, but he wasn't so sure if it would happen today.

Just now, Xu Yuan suddenly realized that the evil spirit might have already appeared, but those who had seen it were probably all dead, so no one had come to report it.

Lord Xu then glanced at him with his gaze.

But you can only see the entire county town.

The evil spirit resembling a blue brick in Xinyifang led Lord Xu to speculate that the next evil spirits might appear in the city or near the county seat.

"Looking at fate" slowly swept across the entire county.

Starting from the south of the city.

When they reached the northeast direction, Xu Yuan suddenly made a discovery.

Just as he was about to directly maneuver the fire wheel across, he suddenly remembered that "running under the sun" was forbidden today. He wondered if riding the fire wheel would count as "running"?
Let's play it safe.

Lord Xu landed and waved to the crowd: "Follow me."

The magistrate felt as if the sky was falling and asked anxiously, "Lord Xu, is there really such a thing as evil spirits?"

Xu Yuan nodded: "Yes!"

The poor magistrate immediately turned ashen-faced.

As Xu Yuan walked, he said, "This matter cannot be blamed on your poor governance. I will explain this to the court in the case documents."

The magistrate was overjoyed, feeling that his career, which had seemingly fallen into an abyss, had been rescued by Lord Xu.

"Thank you so much, Your Excellency!" The magistrate almost knelt down on the spot.

Xu Yuan continued, "But you must do a good job in the aftermath. Those people who have been harmed by evil spirits and are now helpless and destitute must be properly resettled."

"My lord, please rest assured. I would rather starve to death than let a single commoner starve to death." Xu Yuan did not believe this, of course, but with this guarantee, he could rest assured.

The county magistrate bowed and followed closely beside Lord Xu, asking, "Where are you going, Your Excellency?"

Xu Yuan stopped at that moment, his feet slightly apart, his hands behind his back, his posture upright.

Before me stood a vermilion temple gate.

The plaque above the gate reads the name of the temple: Yunmiao Temple.

The main gate in the center was tightly closed, with only a small door on the right side open.

The walls extending from the main gate to both sides were painted yellow.

When Xu Yuan stood in front of the gate, the long shadow cast by the walls on both sides seemed to shrink back towards the base of the walls.

Upon seeing the temple, the magistrate said, "This is an ancient site in our county. It was built by monks of the previous dynasty. In the backyard, there is a seven-story pagoda, which is 34 feet tall. Each floor of the pagoda has Buddha statues covered with gold leaf, totaling 1,200 statues of various sizes."

However, after our dynasty conquered Jiaozhi, several monks came from Zhengzhou and became the new abbots here. The lineage has now reached its third generation…

As soon as Xu Yuan raised his hand, the county magistrate immediately stopped.

Xu Yuan stared at the small door and suddenly said to the magistrate, "Let me show you what the situation is like inside this temple now."

Lord Xu stopped the magistrate and led him into the small door.

"You guys wait outside."

Lang Xiaoba responded with a "Yes, sir," and then, like an iron tower, turned around and stood to the left of the small door, his sword at the ready.

To his bewilderment, Ji Shuangqiu did almost the same thing as him, turning around and standing guard on the right side of the small door with her hand on her sword!

The two stared at each other, then snorted coldly and turned their heads away, refusing to look at each other.

Since the adults told us to wait outside, not even a fly should be let through without their orders!
However, this command can ignore Dafu.

Dafu followed behind, swaying unsteadily.

The magistrate felt a chill the moment he stepped through the temple gate.

It's like... a layer of cowhide soaked in ice water is stuck to your back and pulled up over your whole body!
Then he discovered that his right and left eyes were seeing two different worlds!

"Ah!" The magistrate was startled.

In the world of the left eye, the temple is bustling with incense offerings, and Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and so on occupy their respective places, some with kind and benevolent eyes enlightening people, and others with fierce and angry eyes deterring evil spirits.

But in his right eye, a cold wind was blowing from all directions inside the temple, and ghost fire was rising from the incense burner!

A group of dark red skeletons sat upright on lotus platforms, but were draped in Buddhist skin!
After the two entered, all the skeletons covered in Buddha skins in the front hall, the back hall, and even the seven-story pagoda in the backyard turned their heads at once, their hollow eye sockets staring intently at the two!

Xu Yuan pulled the county magistrate aside and shared his view of the "Yin-Yang Guillotine" with him.

At this moment, Xu Yuan said, "We're too late. The believers who entered this temple today have all had their flesh eaten by evil spirits, replaced with a layer of Buddha's skin, and placed on these lotus pedestals!"

Xu Yuan was still puzzled by the fact that there were so many temples in the world.

There are also frequent stories of Buddhists helping the world.

Just like the door gods who are still protecting the people.

But why do these gods and Buddhas remain hidden most of the time?

It gives the impression that the gods and Buddhas are no longer able to fully protect believers.

The magistrate's lips trembled: "My lord, what exactly is this evil spirit here?"

Xu Yuan's gaze fell on a kasaya in the main hall: "This is it!"

The magistrate looked over and, in his right eye, saw that the robe was actually made of a mixture of gold and gemstones sewn together with human skin!

The area above is filled with resentment, and hundreds of ghostly faces appear and disappear intermittently.

It resembles a treasure, but is actually an evil spirit.

(End of this chapter)