Wedding ceremony tomorrow

Chapter 55 The Lewd Monk

Another person has gone missing?

Yunhai's expression changed, and he immediately stood up.

Luo Qingfeng also stood up.

The young monk was startled when he saw a masked person suddenly appear in the room.

Yunhai quickly said, "This is an official from the Demon Suppression Academy. They've come quietly to investigate, so please don't make a fuss. Explain clearly what happened: when and where did the person disappear?"

The young monk glanced at the other person in the room, his face pale, and said, "That pilgrim and his wife listened to the sutras together in the main hall this morning and didn't leave until noon. Before leaving, his wife said she felt unwell and went to the outhouse..."

The pilgrim waited and waited outside the outhouse, but no one came out. He had no choice but to shout loudly outside, but there was no response from inside. Finally, having no other option, the pilgrim went into the outhouse, still shouting, only to find that his wife was not inside at all...

He searched everywhere, but couldn't find it...

The young monk's voice trembled, clearly indicating great fear.

He had seen that woman in the morning; she left at noon. How could she suddenly disappear in broad daylight?

After hearing this, Yunhai's face turned extremely ugly, and he looked at Luo Qingfeng opposite him with pleading eyes.

Luo Qingfeng immediately said, "Let's go, let's go take a look ahead and ask that pilgrim."

Yunhai immediately led the way.

As he was leaving the room, Luo Qingfeng made a gesture to the girl behind the Buddha statue and pointed out the window.

Aya stretched out a small hand from behind the Buddha statue, touching the tips of her fingers and thumb, and made an "OK" gesture to him.

He left the meditation room.

The group immediately headed towards the front yard.

Luo Qingfeng asked, "Where is the outhouse?"

Yunhai quickly replied, "It's in the front courtyard, in the southern corner. That area is reserved for worshippers. Our temple has a rule that monks cannot enter without permission."

Luo Qingfeng pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Abbot, immediately notify all the monks in the temple to assemble in front of the main hall in the front courtyard. It must be everyone, and there can be no delay!"

Upon hearing this, Yunhai immediately understood and hurriedly ordered in a deep voice, "Huiyan, Huiming, immediately ring the bell to notify everyone in the temple to assemble in the front courtyard!"

"Yes, Abbot!"

The two men quickly accepted the order and left.

Surrounded by several disciples, Luo Qingfeng and Yunhai quickly arrived at the outhouse in the front yard.

At this moment, a young man dressed in coarse cloth was crying anxiously outside the latrine, clutching a woman's embroidered shoe in his hand.

Seeing the abbot arrive, he hurriedly knelt on the ground with a "plop" and cried, "Abbot, please help me find my wife! She is a wife that our whole family spent all our money to buy. Our whole family is counting on her to have children and carry on the family line!"

Yunhai clasped his hands together, his brows furrowed: "Amitabha, rest assured, benefactor. If your lady has truly disappeared in our humble temple, we will do our utmost to help you find her."

The young man immediately held up the embroidered shoe in his hand and cried, "She disappeared right here! In the latrine! I saw her go into the latrine with my own eyes, and when I went in, only this one shoe was left..."

Luo Qingfeng glanced at the shoes in his hand and asked, "After your wife went in, did anyone else go in?"

The young man stared at the mask on his face, paused for a moment, and cried, "No, I've been watching from here the whole time. Only my wife went in."

Luo Qingfeng looked towards the outhouse.

Yunhai quickly said, "My lord, this old monk will go in with you to take a look."

After saying that, he walked ahead.

Luo Qingfeng followed behind and went into the outhouse.

The room wasn't very big, with only three pits. It was surrounded by walls, with only a few narrow slits for ventilation and airing out the smell. There were no windows through which a person could pass.

"If someone really came in, how could they suddenly disappear without a trace? There is no way out of here except to leave from the place they came in from."

Yunhai's face was full of surprise and doubt.

He then lowered his head and said in a trembling voice, "Amitabha, it seems that it really is the work of demons. I hope you can help me exorcise the demons."

Luo Qingfeng remained silent, continuing to carefully observe the three stalls in the outhouse.

When he reached the innermost pit, he suddenly noticed a clump of gray brick dust on the ground.

Because the latrine was dimly lit, the ash that fell to the ground was difficult for ordinary people to see and would not be noticed.

His gaze sharpened, and he looked up at the wall above.

The walls were made of bricks and looked seamless, without any abnormalities, but after careful observation, he immediately made a discovery.

Some of the bricks showed obvious signs of wear along their exposed edges, and the gaps between the bricks were also slightly larger than in other areas. It was hard to see them without careful observation.

"grown ups……"

Before Yunhai could speak, Luo Qingfeng suddenly reached out and pushed hard against a spot on the wall.

"laugh!"

The sound of bricks scraping together rang out!

Suddenly, a ring of bricks slid outwards and fell to the ground outside.

A large, round hole suddenly appeared in the wall!

Upon seeing this, Yunhai was speechless with astonishment.

Luo Qingfeng flashed and disappeared out of the cave.

Yunhai hurriedly and clumsily followed.

Outside was the temple wall, and following the wall forward led to a dead end.

Luo Qingfeng looked around and suddenly noticed some damp soil on the bark of a large tree near the wall.

He glanced at his feet, then looked up at the tree, and finally his gaze settled on the wall.

Yunhai followed, panting, and was about to ask a question when Luo Qingfeng leaped onto the wall and said to those below, "Abbot, go to the main hall and see if all the monks have arrived. Find out who was the last to arrive, and then keep watch there, making sure no one leaves!"

Upon hearing this, Yunhai immediately replied, "Alright!"

After saying that, he turned and left in a hurry.

Luo Qingfeng walked along the wall, carefully observing it as he went.

After walking a distance, he suddenly stopped.

Turning my head, I saw a house below, where the monks slept.

In the soil beneath the wall, there were clearly fresh footprints.

Luo Qingfeng immediately jumped down, took out the Demon Slayer from his storage bag, and carefully crossed the corridor into the house.

While they were searching each room, they suddenly heard a faint "whooshing" sound coming from one of the rooms.

He immediately gripped the knife and walked over, stopping at the doorway to observe carefully for a while before gently pushing open the door and stepping inside.

At that moment, a very faint whimpering sound came from under the bed again.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual around the room, he immediately went to the bedside, looked under the bed, and gripped the broken knife in his hand tightly.

The space under the bed was dimly lit, and there was a naked woman tightly bound with ropes. Her mouth was stuffed with a wad of cloth, and she was staring at him with wide, terrified eyes.

Luo Qingfeng's eyes flickered, but he did not immediately rescue her. He got up and walked out of the room. After looking around to make sure no one was there, he quickly went to the front yard.

In the main hall of the front courtyard, all the monks of the temple had gathered, their faces filled with fear.

Abbot Yunhai also stood there, his face grave.

Luo Qingfeng strode into the main hall and looked at the abbot. Before he could speak, Yunhai said with a grim expression, "One person is missing. His name is Huitong. I have already sent several disciples to look for him."

Luo Qingfeng's expression hardened, and he glanced at the faces of the other monks before saying, "Abbot, I have found the missing woman. Please take the pilgrim to identify her."

Upon hearing this, Yunhai was immediately overjoyed: "Really?"

Then he asked, "Is he alive or dead?"

Luo Qingfeng said, "They've already been killed."

After saying that, he glanced at the monks in the main hall without making a sound.

Yunhai trembled slightly: "Dead...dead?"

Luo Qingfeng nodded.

Yunhai's face turned pale instantly: "What a terrible thing to do, what a terrible thing to do..."

Luo Qingfeng said, "Abbot, please take all the disciples and that pilgrim to go and take a look, and also identify whose room it is."

Yunhai could only nod, his voice trembling.

The group walked towards the backyard.

Throughout the journey, Luo Qingfeng secretly observed the expressions on the faces of the monks.

Before long, the group arrived at the house.

Luo Qingfeng led the weeping youth and Abbot Yunhai inside and pushed open the door to the side room.

The young man went into the room crying.

Luo Qingfeng said, "Under the bed."

The young man suddenly became frightened and dared not go over.

Luo Qingfeng went straight over, pulled the bound woman out from under the bed, took a blanket from the bed and covered her, then removed the cotton cloth from her mouth.

The woman immediately burst into tears.

The young man and the abbot standing at the door were startled.

Luo Qingfeng explained, "The person is not dead. I just said that to see how the others would react."

He then asked, "Abbot, whose room is this?"

Yunhai was stunned for a moment before he realized what was happening, and quickly said, "It's Huitong's."

Then, with a face full of grief, he said, "Amitabha, it really is him... No wonder, no wonder he's disappeared!"

Overjoyed, the young man wept and hurriedly untied the ropes binding the woman.

The woman's clothes were stripped off and stuffed into a corner under the bed.

The young man hurriedly climbed inside, retrieved the clothes, helped her put them on, and then hugged her while crying.

Once the two had calmed down a bit, Luo Qingfeng looked at the woman and asked, "What happened back then? Do you remember?"

The woman wiped away her tears and said in a trembling voice, "I was using the outhouse when someone suddenly appeared inside. Before I could react, I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I was here..."

At this moment, several disciples who had been sent by the abbot to find someone hurriedly returned to report.

"Master, Huitong has disappeared. We have searched the entire temple and found nothing. We have also searched the back mountain, but he is nowhere to be found."

Upon hearing this, Yunhai stamped his feet and cursed angrily, "Beast! Beast! It really was him! He knew he had been exposed and fled to avoid punishment!"

Luo Qingfeng glanced at the woman again and said, "Abbot, now that things are clear, you should go out and explain things to everyone to avoid causing panic."

Yunhai nodded with a sorrowful expression, went outside, and recounted the events in front of all the monks.

Everyone was shocked after hearing this.

"It's actually Huitong!"

"This lecherous scoundrel, who usually seems so honest, actually committed such a heinous act!"

"No wonder he was so enthusiastic whenever female worshippers came to offer incense; he was actually a lecherous thief who lusted after women!"

Yunhai sighed.

The young couple also came out of the room; the woman was crying, and the man was cursing.

All the monks lowered their heads in shame.

Luo Qingfeng cupped his hands in farewell: "Abbot, now that this matter is settled and it wasn't caused by demons, I shall take my leave."

Yunhai quickly asked, "What about the other missing people..."

Luo Qingfeng hesitated, "I suspect he was killed by that monk named Huitong and buried somewhere in the back mountains. I'm not good at this kind of thing, so let's go find the constables."

Yunhai let out a long sigh, as if he had aged considerably in an instant.

Luo Qingfeng reminded him, "Master, what about the reward you promised before..."

Yunhai then remembered and hurriedly said to the disciple standing beside him, "Huiming, quickly go and bring over the things prepared for the master."

Huiming immediately agreed and quickly left.

Before long, he came over carrying a wooden box and a bag of silver, and respectfully handed them to Luo Qingfeng.

Luo Qingfeng took the box, but without checking the silver, he opened it directly.

As soon as the wooden box was opened, a faint, pleasant fragrance wafted out.

Upon closer inspection, a golden lotus flower, about the size of a palm, was placed inside, and it looked quite extraordinary.

"Thank you, Master. I'll take my leave now."

Luo Qingfeng accepted the silver and wooden box without ceremony, then immediately bowed and took his leave.

Yunhai bowed his head in return, his face full of sorrow.

Luo Qingfeng did not linger and quickly left through the front door.

After leaving the temple, he immediately changed direction, went through the woods, followed the courtyard wall to the back gate, slipped back into the temple through the back gate, and quickly entered the meditation room where the abbot had just been chanting sutras.

Ah Ya was waiting for him inside the house. When he saw him return, she quickly came out from behind the Buddha statue.

Luo Qingfeng took out the wooden box, opened it and showed it to her, saying, "We've got the goods, but we can't leave yet."

Aya looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Luo Qingfeng turned around, glanced out the window, and said, "That demon hasn't been eliminated yet. It seems they discovered us a long time ago."

(End of this chapter)