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Chapter 133 Lu Xiuyuan

Lu Xiuyuan felt that his luck had recently hit rock bottom.

It wasn't that his wife wasn't pregnant, nor that the landlord of the security escort agency kept coming to collect debts, nor that his nephews were stealing chickens or dogs every now and then, nor that the county constable was asking for more and more bribes lately.
Compared to now, these are all minor matters.

Now, Lu Xiuyuan is beginning to doubt whether he made a mistake by transporting this shipment.

He turned around and looked towards the middle of the line.

There, two mules were pulling a large box. Although it was covered with a waterproof tarpaulin, you could still see through the gaps that the box was huge and completely black.

Most importantly, there were more than a dozen enormous padlocks hanging on the edge of the box.

What exactly is inside that requires such caution?

The doubts that arose from the moment I received the goods have crossed my mind countless times, yet I still haven't found a single answer.

"Did I accept the wrong shipment this time?"

Once again, I questioned myself, but this time I uttered it aloud.

"Uncle, what are you saying?"

A young man standing nearby asked.

Lu Xiuyuan glanced at the guy without realizing it.

This is another source of his troubles.

This young man was named Lu Ping, and he was her nephew. His father had died many years ago, so he had been raised by her. However, since she had never been able to have children of her own, she had long regarded him as her own son.

The original intention of bringing him out was simply to broaden his horizons and prepare him for inheriting the escort agency in the future—I myself have accumulated a lot of injuries and illnesses from years of hard work and have long wanted to retire—but who would have thought that we would encounter so many things along the way.

Now Lu Xiuyuan had only one thought: to see if he could find an excuse to send Lu Ping home.

—This is the only bloodline of the Lu family. If something happens to him, how will he face his brother and the ancestors of the Lu family after he dies?

Unfortunately, the other person was at that innocent and carefree age, completely unaware of the worries and anxieties of their adult self, and was still asking questions like a curious child.

"Uncle, what exactly is Ci'en Temple trying to achieve by going to such great lengths to keep it secret and keep it hidden?"

"What business is it of yours what they want to do? Haven't you heard that those in the security escort business should be careful with their words and actions? Just focus on protecting your cargo!"

Lu Xiuyuan slapped Lu Ping on the back of the head and chased him to the back of the group.

But after that, he couldn't help but mutter something under his breath.

"Seriously, what exactly are those masters trying to do?"

The Ci'en Temple that Lu Ping mentioned was the owner of this shipment. It was one of the "Three Mountains and Seven Temples" in Lizhou. Although it was not as large as a first-class temple like Bodhi Temple, it was still quite large.

What's even more remarkable is that, with the imperial decree ordering the large-scale entry of Tantric Buddhism into Lizhou, Ci'en Temple is one of the few temples that refuses to yield and still adheres to its own sect—which is one of the reasons why Lu Xiuyuan was willing to take on this escort mission.

—Don't be fooled by those ignorant men and women in the state who are completely misled and regard the Tantric master as a reincarnated Buddha. Who is Lu Xiuyuan? He has traveled all over the country and seen all sorts of things. He knows what kind of people these guys are.

To put it mildly, these guys' bloody and bizarre magic could easily be called the demons of our time!
But Lu Xiuyuan is a smart man.

A smart person would never stick their neck out over something like this.

So he simply avoided all work related to Tantric Buddhism while trying to save money to move his whole family out of Lizhou and get as far away from those bastards as possible.

If I can't afford to offend them, can't I at least avoid them?

"But...sigh." Lu Xiuyuan sighed deeply, looking at the oversized suitcase and reflecting on his experiences along the way, his expression grew even more troubled. But in the end, he decided to resort to his escape strategy—

"Let's think about that later. There's no point in thinking about it now, is there?"

However, just as Lu Xiuyuan was sighing, his nephew, as if he had never learned his lesson, came over again.

"Uncle, Uncle?"

Lu Xiuyuan tried his best to avoid rolling his eyes.

"Just say what's on your mind. Stop yelling all day long. You're a grown man, and you still can't behave properly!"

Lupin didn't seem to mind and continued to laugh and joke.

"Uncle, look how late it is, why don't we find a place to camp first?"

—The sky?
Lu Xiuyuan looked up and realized that it was almost dusk. The sun had already set, and its blood-red glow enveloped the sky, plunging the whole world into a dim yellow hue.

Damn it, why is it so late?!

In this world, even illiterate village women know that once the sun goes down in the wild, one should never wander around carelessly. Not only wild animals, but also evil spirits, strange creatures, and even unknown aliens hidden in the mountains and forests are active at this time. If one accidentally encounters one, one may fall seriously ill at best, or even have one's whole family suffer and die at worst.

Therefore, escort agencies like theirs usually hire a cultivator as a bodyguard for each trip—not to slay demons or anything like that, but purely to avoid misfortune and seek good fortune, so as not to suffer trouble for no reason.

"Lu Ping, go and invite that monk from Changlin Temple here, and have him..."

Halfway through his sentence, Lu Xiuyuan saw a blank face.

Only then did he realize what was happening, and he shook his head with a wry smile.

The master they hired when they set out had run away seven days ago. The reason given was to fight over the tokens for the Three Altars Dharma Assembly. Now, nobody knows where he is or who he's fighting to the death with. The team can only rely on the experience they've gained from their escort missions to set up camp.

He took out a map from his pocket and carefully compared it to his location, but after searching for a long time, Lu Xiuyuan still couldn't find a good spot—but just then, a muffled rumble of thunder suddenly sounded.

Lu Xiuyuan looked up in surprise and found that dark clouds had gathered at some point and were now pressing down heavily.

Damn, that's the bad thing about the mountain climate. One minute it's sunny and clear, and the next it's pouring rain!
I told you, this gamble was doomed from the very beginning!
Lu Xiuyuan lowered his head and quickly began searching—and soon he found a spot.

I've stayed in this place a few times before when I was a镖师 (bodyguard/escort), and nothing ever happened. It should be fine.
Thinking of this, Lu Xiuyuan waved his hand and called to the people in his team.

"Everyone, hurry up! This rain doesn't look like it'll be light. If we get caught on camera, we're all doomed!"

The sounds of people and animals screech and howl filled the air, and Lu Xiuyuan wiped the sweat from his brow.

For some reason, he always felt a little uneasy.

I hope it's an illusion.

Despite their haste, just as the first raindrop was about to fall, Lu Xiuyuan finally arrived at the destination with his escort team.

—It was a temple, but it was obvious that it had been abandoned for a long time.

Lu Xiuyuan raised his head and looked up.

At that moment, a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the temple gate sign.

Three large characters were engraved on it in faded lettering.

Baiyang Temple

(End of this chapter)