For example, how did the tenant farmer’s corpse return home, and why did not a single villager in Shuiyue Village rise to resist these hypocritical monks?
Quickly, he got the answer from the elderly gentleman’s mouth.
The tenant farmer’s corpse walked to the edge of the field by itself and collapsed in the furrows.
The old man thought the tenant farmer was still alive when he returned to the field, but only Xu Qing knew that the tenant farmer had already died back at the Cizhao Temple.
As for why he could walk back to his usual field after death...
It was nothing other than his obsession with this plot of land!
As for why the tenant farmers refused to resist...
When burying the dead, four or five tenant families came to pay their respects, and Xu Qing asked those farmers about four or five years ago when the waters of Qian River breached the banks, causing floods, and over the next two years, Qianzhou faced severe droughts with no grain to harvest. Only in the past year or two, the weather was favorable, and the barns were full.
Yet, your lives are even worse than during the disaster years.
Have you ever considered what this means?
One tenant farmer replied, "A few months ago, the child from the Chen Family said similar things, rallied over two thousand people, planning to burn the mountains and destroy the temples."
"His third uncle said that if they attacked those monks, everyone would be labeled bandits and rebels, and they would be hunted down and killed by the authorities. The Chen family’s son didn’t want to listen to this, but his third uncle also said he had a way to let everyone have enough food and live well without bloodshed."
"Everyone believed him and elected him as a spokesperson to negotiate with the monks at Cizhao Temple."
Listening to this familiar sequence of events, Xu Qing had already guessed what would happen next.
Indeed, the Chen family’s third uncle betrayed his own nephew when he got to Cizhao Temple, seizing the chance to gain benefits for himself, shed his tenant status, moved from Shuiyue Village to Quyang County, and began living envy-worthy days that the tenant farmers dreamed of.
Since then, no one in the village could stand up anymore.
Such people like the Chen family’s son were, after all, the minority.
After handling the tenant farmer’s aftermath, as he left the old man’s house, Xu Qing specifically left behind some rations and loose silver.
As to whether the elderly and the youth would continue to stay in Shuiyue Village or use the food and silver to go somewhere else, Xu Qing didn’t dwell on it.
Nowadays in Dayong, Cizhao Temples and Cizhao Temples are everywhere, could they completely escape this predicament by traveling afar?
The answer was obvious.
Xu Qing understood this principle, lighting up the darkness wasn’t about those fields and grains, but the fire within one’s heart.
Only fire can bring warmth.
Following day, morning.
In the hazy mist, before the sun rose, Xu Qing, leading a horse and accompanied by Xuan Yu, arrived outside the Cizhao Temple.
This morning, Xu Qing let the monks of Cizhao Temple experience the warmth of fire.
When the Yin-Burning Fire swept over the temple coveringly, and the monks wailed and cried like ghosts, the Buddha statues inside still maintained their compassionate gaze, quietly watching all before them.
At this time, Xuan Yu transformed into eight black shadows, patrolling back and forth outside the temple. If any monk unwittingly escaped, it graciously delivered them back to the sea of fire, allowing them to continue experiencing the warmth of Xu Immortal Family.
And after setting the fire, Xu Qing, guided by Xu Yun Monk’s lantern light, found where the grains were stored in Cizhao Temple. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel·fiɾe·net
These grains, even though most had already been transported to Xu Immortal Temple, the remaining grains still reached at least a hundred thousand bushels.
Using the Douspoon, he collected all the grains. Xu Qing turned back to glance at the temple within the sea of flames, feeling remarkably warm.
On the mountain path, when the first rays of sunlight emerged, the mist disappeared, Xu Qing led the horse with Xuan Yu by his side, once again doing a good deed without leaving a name.
At this moment, Xuan Yu suddenly asked:
"Has Xu Immortal Family forgotten what Monk Xin Yuan said?"
"I haven’t forgotten, it’s just a sixteen-character prophecy, I remember it clearly." Xu Qing recalled the deranged monk’s words and recited them again, "The monk says to dismantle temples upon encounter, destroy shrines upon sight, heaven vast earth vast, but food is the greatest."
"I’ve always remembered."
Is this right, did the monk really say this?
Xuan Yu was half-believing and half-doubtful.
"Amitabha, Buddha of limitless benevolence."
Xu Qing chanted the Buddha’s name, unwavering in his belief.