While I was thinking, more than two hours had passed. It was late at night, and the village had quieted down. There was no place to investigate.
After we had driven old man Yuan away, Fang Min was sleeping soundly. I called her twice, but she didn't wake up.
I decided not to go back and stayed in the carriage with the evil sacrificial spirit.
While I was cultivating, time flew. Soon, it was the morning of the next day.
Fang Min hadn't woken up yet, so I sat cross-legged in the carriage and didn't move.
However, while I was cultivating, I spread my spiritual sense. I soon noticed a group of monks at the entrance of the village. They were hurrying toward Yuan Family Village.
I felt strange. Last night, that person had been chanting the Ksitigarbha Original Vows Scripture for most of the night. That person's soul had already been purified. Why were there more monks coming?
Could it be that something had happened again?
With that thought in mind, I got up and called the evil sacrificial spirit to follow them.
When we got close, I saw that the leader of this group of monks was a fat monk with a big body. His eyebrows and beard were glowing, and there was a faint Buddhist halo protecting his body. His cultivation base seemed to be at the Glory of Consciousness realm.
In the secular world, a monk with the cultivation of Shi Yao could completely be called a virtuous and eminent monk. In this small Yuan Family Village, even if there was a ghost that harmed people, it would normally not be able to invite such a virtuous and eminent monk. Could it be that something extraordinary had happened again?
With that thought in my mind, I hurried to follow them with the evil sacrificial spirit.
We didn't hide our tracks, and the fat monk in the Glory of Consciousness Realm quickly noticed the two of us. He immediately stopped in his tracks and checked our bodies.
Of course, he couldn't recognize the evil sacrificial spirit's cultivation base. I thought for a moment and released my Glory of Consciousness realm cultivation base.
The fat monk looked at me for a few seconds and was surprised.
He hurried to walk toward us. When he was in front of us, he clasped his palms together and chanted the name of Buddha. His face looked solemn.
Although Monk Miaojue's incident had happened, I didn't have any prejudice against Buddhists.
Seeing him greet me, I also clasped my hands to return the greeting.
The fat monk saw my behavior, and the solemn expression on his face disappeared. He asked, "This poor monk's Buddhist name is Mingjue. Benefactors, what brings you here?"
This Monk Ming Jue is quite smart. He can tell with a glance that we are following him on purpose.
With my cultivation level, I can be Monk Ming Jue's senior, not to mention offering sacrifices to evil spirits.
That was why I didn't try to hide anything. I simply told him that I was here to investigate the case of Yin spirits harming people. Of course, the matter of true dragon energy and shaman energy was a sensitive topic, so I didn't mention it.
Then, I asked Monk Ming Jue, "Why did they come here in such a hurry?"
When Monk Ming Jue heard this, he stepped aside and signaled for us to walk together.
As they walked, they spoke of the purpose of their trip and the situation they had already grasped.
According to Monk Ming Jue, three people had died in the same way in the eight villages. All three of them had died in the same way. All of them had their essence energy sucked away by ghosts.
However, the three of them were of different genders and ages, and there was no interaction between them at all. It was as if there was no connection between them.
So he thought that the ghost was just doing whatever it wanted to do. In order to prevent more people from getting hurt, he had to go down the mountain and walk around, trying to subdue the ghost.
Until yesterday, his disciple sent him a letter, saying that there were people who died in the same way here.
That was why he had rushed here overnight and didn't dare to linger.
Since Monk Ming Jue was in such a hurry, I thought he already knew the cause of the incident.
But now, besides knowing that three people had died, he didn't know anything else.
I didn't hurry to tell him my guess. Instead, I asked him if he had checked the birthdays of the three people who had died.
According to my previous guess, those three people also had pure elemental fate, and they were killed at the same time.
However, it was just my guess. Moreover, I didn't have any clues that could directly connect the scar on the old man's forehead to these things.
Monk Ming Jue was surprised when he heard my question. He didn't seem to understand why I had asked him that.
However, he quickly answered, "I didn't see those corpses, so I didn't pay attention to their birthdays. I just wanted to help them ascend to the afterlife before leaving."
He hesitated for a while before telling me that he hadn't sensed the existence of the three souls when he had helped the souls ascend to the afterlife.
Normally, after a person died, the three souls would leave the body, but they wouldn't disappear immediately. They would wait until the seventh day of the afterlife before entering the Netherworld to reincarnate.
Monk Ming Jue understood this problem.
He had gone to ascend to the afterlife before the seventh day of the afterlife.
I didn't see the three souls before the seventh day of the afterlife. Moreover, I could confirm that Old Yuan hadn't just absorbed the energy of those people. He had swallowed the three souls at the same time.
Was it possible that swallowing the three souls had something to do with Old Yuan's witchcraft energy?
I thought for a while, but I couldn't think of any connection between the two.
While I was deep in thought, we arrived at the yard where the corpses were located the night before.
The host seemed to know that Monk Ming Jue was coming. At this moment, he had already prepared a vegetarian meal. He hurried to invite the monks to enter the house and eat. However, when the monks entered, the host was surprised to see me and the evil sacrificial spirit. He didn't know who we were.
Monk Ming Jue smiled and explained to the host, "We're experts who have come to solve this matter."
This fat monk seemed to have a high prestige. When the host heard him, he was also shocked. He hurried to greet us and led us to the main seats.
With my and the evil spirit's cultivation base, we didn't need to be polite with Monk Ming Jue. We sat on the main seats.
The food of a farmer's family was also delicious. After eating, Monk Ming Jue got up and said that he wanted to check the corpse first.
While walking to the morgue, we asked about the situation when the deceased died.
According to the host, the deceased was his younger brother, who had the same mother as him. He was still in his twenties and hadn't gotten married yet.
That day, he was the only one at home. When they returned home in the evening, they found his brother lying in the yard. He had been dead for a long time.
That was why no one had seen how his brother had died.
The evil spirit and I had come to check the corpse last night, so we didn't pay much attention to it. We casually glanced at the corpse. Who would have thought that we would find something?
The corpse seemed to be filled with a Buddhist aura.
This aura was very weak, and we didn't notice it last night. If we hadn't noticed Monk Ming Jue's Buddhist power when we first saw him, I would have missed it again.
I turned to look at Monk Ming Jue. His face didn't change. It seemed he hadn't noticed it yet.
As a Buddhist, he should be more sensitive to Buddhist power than I was. However, his cultivation base was too low, so it was normal that he couldn't detect this weak aura.
At this moment, Monk Ming Jue's eyes moved away from the corpse. He turned to me and asked, "Did you find anything?"
Old Yuan had a ring scar on his head, which made him look like a monk.
The corpse also had a Buddhist aura. Moreover, the people who had come to help the corpse were also a group of monks.
Under such a complicated situation, I couldn't help but think that Buddhist people might be involved in this.
To make things worse, I wondered if Monk Ming Jue was related to Old Yuan.
After hesitating for a while, I shook my head. I didn't tell him what I had found.
Monk Mingjue saw that I didn't pay attention to him, but he didn't mind. He turned around and continued to talk to the host. "Have there been any strange incidents around the village?"
After listening to me, the host pondered for a while. He looked hesitant as if something strange had happened.
Seeing this, I immediately focused on him and listened to what he was saying.
According to him, on the day of his brother's death, he was working in the field when he suddenly heard the sound of a bell. It lasted for a few seconds before it stopped.
At that time, he was very puzzled. There was no temple nearby. How could he hear the sound of a bell?
Moreover, the sound of the bell was strange. It was as if it was ringing right next to his ear, and it was frighteningly loud. However, he was in the middle of the field at that time, and there was no temple or house around.
At that time, he thought that he was just too tired and had an auditory hallucination. He didn't think too much about it. Who would have thought that when he got home, he would see his brother's corpse?
After listening to him, Monk Ming Jue was bewildered. He frowned and muttered, "The bell?"
While talking, he suddenly lost his composure. He hurriedly asked, "How many times did the bell ring?"
His question stunned the host. The host rolled his eyes and began to count seriously with his fingers as he tried to recall.
After more than a minute, he stopped and answered uncertainly, "About … ten times."
As soon as he said that, Monk Ming Jue became excited. He continued to ask, "Did you hear the chanting of scriptures again?"
This time, the host shook his head. "I didn't hear the chanting of scriptures."
After listening to him, Monk Ming Jue was still excited. His body shivered, and he muttered, "Living Buddha … A living Buddha has come to this world …"
While talking, his face turned from shock to joy. He put his palms together and chanted the name of Buddha.
His actions confused me, and I didn't know what he was trying to do.
After he calmed down, I frowned and asked him about it.