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Chapter 118 The Burning of Guanyin Temple
"Fire!" A shrill cry ripped through the night sky, followed by the ear-piercing clang of gongs, which rang out wildly, intertwining with the rapidly spreading sound of wood cracking.

The originally dimly lit window paper of the meditation room was instantly illuminated by the raging fire outside, turning it blood red. Thick smoke mixed with the smell of burning poured in through the cracks in the door, almost suffocating people.

Yuan Shoucheng was so frightened by the sudden fire that he turned his horrified gaze from the blood-red light outside the window back to Elder Jinchi's face.

The thought that the old monk had been wronged had vanished, replaced by shock, anger, and a sense of shame at being fooled.

"You old bald thief!" Yuan Shoucheng's voice changed as he pointed at Jin Chi and cursed, "You still say you didn't harm us? This fire! This fire is burning us! Did you send someone to set this fire?"

Elder Jinchi's face was pressed against the cold floor tiles, and the towering firelight outside cast flickering light on half of his face.

He tried to remain calm, but his voice was hoarse and broken from the pressure and the smoke: "What... what makes you say that, benefactor? Fire hazards are common in Zen monasteries... how can you be sure it was aimed at you? And how can you know it was me? I am currently... being controlled by you..."

He tried to argue his way out of it.

"An accident? What a coincidence that the meditation room with guests was burned down?"

Yuan Shoucheng was so angry he jumped up and down, frantically searching his body for his divination tools.

"Fine! Fine! You old fox, you're so stubborn, aren't you? Let me cast a divination. If it turns out that you really did it, then I'll act on behalf of Heaven today and send you to your death first!"

He spoke fiercely, his fingers twitching, but his eyes were fixed on Jin Chi, trying to find a flaw in his face.

Upon hearing this, Jin Chi stopped explaining and simply closed his eyes with difficulty, softly reciting a Buddhist mantra.

That look, as if he truly had a clear conscience and was willing to bear any consequences, made Yuan Shoucheng even more uneasy.

"No need to calculate!" Chen Guangrui's voice, as clear as if it had been dipped in ice water, drowned out the noise outside and rang out clearly.

"Elder Jinchi, I've heard that the Great Bodhisattva Guanyin of the South Sea will be visiting your Guanyin Temple in about a month, right?"

Jin Chi's tightly closed eyelids twitched suddenly.

Chen Guangrui continued, “The abbot of the Zen temple intended to murder for money, setting fire to the place where traveling monks stayed and burning them to death… If such a major event that alarmed the Guanyin Bodhisattva’s temple were to reach her ears, how much of your reputation, which you have cultivated for decades, would you be able to preserve? You wouldn’t want her to know about this, would you?”

Jin Chi's tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and for the first time, an undisguised panic appeared in his cloudy eyes. His body, pressed to the ground, seemed to tense slightly as well. The fire outside, carried by the wind, seemed to grow even closer, and scorching waves of heat pounded against the doors and windows.

Chen Guangrui pressed his advantage, speaking even faster and with every word piercing the heart.

"You've been neighbors with the Black Bear Spirit of the Black Wind Cave in the back mountains for so many years; your neighborly affection is truly profound! The old monk practices asceticism and devotes himself to Buddhism, yet he sends you luxurious robes to admire every now and then... Such sincerity is truly touching. I just wonder, what is he after in his generosity?"

Chen Guangrui paused for a moment, lowering his voice even further, with an all-knowing understanding, "The reason behind this relationship... do you think the Bodhisattva will investigate? Do you want to hear it?"

"Who...who are you? How do you know..."

Elder Jinchi opened his eyes, the compassion in them gone, his voice filled with unprecedented horror and disbelief, his old face deathly pale in the alternation of firelight and shadow.

When Chen Guangrui mentioned the black bear spirit giving him the cassock, it was as if he had directly exposed a secret that he had carefully concealed for many years, which terrified him even more than the simple act of arson.

Chen Guangrui's hand gripped Jin Chi like an iron clamp, ignoring the turmoil in his eyes, her voice cold, "Who I am is unimportant. What matters is this fire..."

He gestured with his eyes to the increasingly intense red light and the louder noise of people outside the door.
"It's almost burning your eyebrows! If you drag this out any longer, and your temple is half-burned down, or your disciples and followers rush in to put out the fire and see the abbot pinned to the ground... when the Bodhisattva comes to inspect, who will be left to cover up your lies?"

At that moment, all that could be heard outside were the shouts of monks, footsteps, the clanging of buckets, and the cracking sound of flames licking at the roof beams...

All sounds were amplified at that moment, violently assaulting Elder Jinchi's taut nerves. Time and the sweltering air were scorching his sanity. Large beads of sweat seeped from his smooth forehead, rolling onto the floor tiles and spreading a small dark patch.

The muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably, and his original calm and composed demeanor as a high monk vanished, leaving only the appearance of a cornered beast.

His Adam's apple bobbed laboriously, but he still didn't say a word, stubbornly holding on.

Chen Guangrui's eyes were sharp as knives; without any unnecessary words, he went straight to the heart of the matter.
"Isn't the accountant from Gao Village writing you a letter?"

Elder Jinchi seemed to want to struggle, but his body stiffened and his pupils shrank, as if he had heard the most impossible thing in the world to be exposed.

"There must be people in Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, right?"

"And I guess the Five Elements Mountain probably has one too, and if that's the case, I bet the Flowing Sand River has one as well."

Elder Jinchi, like a fish stripped of all its disguise, gaped helplessly, gasping for breath amidst the firelight and smoke, his eyes unfocused. Chen Guangrui's questions were increasingly fatal, tearing away the layers of darkness he had been desperately trying to conceal.

"Who...who exactly are you?!" Elder Jinchi's voice was no longer coherent, only the howl of a dying beast remained.

"Who I am is not important; what matters is who you are."

Chen Guangrui loosened his grip slightly, allowing Elder Jinchi to stand up normally.

Elder Jinchi wiped his sweat with his monk's robe, but because of his advanced age, he was still panting. He looked at Chen Guangrui with fear in his eyes.

He realized that this person was probably neither an ordinary thief nor a wicked person who coveted wealth.

He seemed to know everything.

"What exactly do you want? I'm not going to say anything."

Elder Jinchi's gaze was resolute; he knew that if he revealed a certain secret, he might lose his life.

Chen Guangrui seemed to have anticipated his concerns, and simply said leisurely,
"I don't want anything, and I don't want to do anything."

Then he brought up something unrelated, "You said there was such a big fire today, is it possible that your letters were burned?"

"A big fire destroyed everything. Even when Guanyin arrived, she wouldn't be able to find out anything. Anyway, it was just a small Zen temple. If some letters were lost, so be it. She could just write another one."

He stopped there and said no more, while Elder Jinchi looked at Chen Guangrui with a sense of despair.

His eyes showed struggle. If he spoke out, he could indeed protect himself, but if the news got out, he might suffer more than death.

He hesitated, struggled, his mind racing with thoughts, yet he still couldn't find a suitable answer.

Yuan Shoucheng stood to the side, his face illuminated by the firelight. This old Taoist priest was no longer able to keep up with Chen Guangrui's pace.

I know almost everything this guy knows, but how come I couldn't figure out how to connect all of these things together?

They even came up with such a wicked and ingenious trick.
He looked at Elder Jinchi and knew that the old man had been cornered. He'd see what he had to say.

After struggling for an unknown amount of time, Elder Jinchi finally sighed and said, "Come with me."

(End of this chapter)