Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 152 Four-Faced Buddha

The stars are hanging low in the sky, and the moonlight is pouring down on everyone.

"What a powerful hungry ghost hell, great monk, was that your trick just now?"

Guan Wei turned his head and looked at Zhiming in amazement.

Seeing that the Wudang disciple attributed the method of breaking the formation just now to himself, the big monk shook his head calmly.

"This is not my achievement. It should be the result from Donor Yuan."

As he spoke, the monk had put away the five-colored auspicious clouds, helped the railway worker down, and handed him a bowl of clean water.

"Speak of the devil, and here he comes, look!"

Qin Huai nodded towards the back hall, and everyone looked in that direction.

The burly Yuan had several pieces of blue-white scales missing from his body, and blood mixed with well water dripped from his fingertips, splashing blood.

Yuan walked to the crowd, holding a blurry body that could barely make out a human shape.

"what's going on?"

Qin Huai took the vague human-shaped object, glanced at it, and put it on the ground, motioning everyone to consult together.

"There are several more bodies in the well. They should all be the innkeepers and clerks of this inn. As for this one, look at its clothes."

Yuan turned the body over and everyone took a closer look.

Blue linen clothes, brown headscarf, black cloth shoes
It was the guy who greeted them in the first half of the night.

"Is he a ghost too?"

Qin Huai's eyes flashed with blue light. Although he didn't notice anything unusual, a quick glance gave him back a lot of information.

A corpse: Its essence was sucked away by Ushuva and it was controlled by him.

Ushuva: A man-eating hungry ghost who is good at using clever words and deceiving others. He can manipulate people’s minds and has the ability to deceive people.

"No, it's just a corpse."

Yuan took the ointment handed over by Zhang Teng, and while applying it on his body, he said to himself: "After the rain stopped, I used the well water to fight the enemy. Suddenly I found that this guy looked strange, so I played a trick and deliberately let him go. After following him all the way to the well, I found several corpses leaning against the well wall, and there was an undercurrent surging under the water, but there was no sign of this guy. After thinking for a while, I dived underwater and followed the current to find a dark river. There, I met the mastermind behind the scenes.

The ghost looked strange, and I didn't recognize it, but apart from its thick skin and the magic of raining knives out of thin air, its other abilities were ordinary. After a fight, it became like this."

Yuan said it lightly, but judging from his injuries, he had obviously been through a tough battle.

"It can enter the human body to eat its essence, and it also has the magic of dropping a knife from the air. Not only is its body strong, but its magic can also make it impossible for us to break free. If I remember correctly, it should be Ushupocha, one of the thirty-six hungry ghosts. Donor Yuan, it is really a great deed for you to be able to deal with it."

After the great monk finished reciting the sutra for the innkeeper, he clasped his hands together and bowed solemnly to Shui Yi.

Yuan quickly avoided the salute and turned to walk towards the backyard.

"I'll go fish out the bodies of the others. It would be bad if they stayed in the water for too long and got infected."

"I'll stay with you."

Guan Wei followed with his servant's body, leaving Qin Huai and others to clean up the mess.

"It's almost dawn, let's pack up and get ready to go."

The sky was already turning pale, and Qin Huai saw that time was running out, so he simply stopped arranging for everyone to rest.
-
When the sun passed zenith, even though the mountain road was steep and difficult for vehicles to navigate, with the help of everyone, the hundred miles of road were passed in a flash.

Logically speaking, Jiaozhi is a land of great wealth and natural resources, and the Qinhuai people were traveling through deep mountains and old forests, so they should have encountered some wild animals more or less.

But since they set out from Longyuan yesterday, they have walked nearly 200 miles of mountain roads, and they haven't seen any jackals, tigers or leopards, let alone a single rabbit hair.

Moreover, the further east you go, the more the grasses and vines in the mountains and forests appear to take on a strange, burnt yellow color.

During this process, the strange chill never disappeared. Qin Huai asked Zhiming, but the monk couldn't explain it. Although the matter was strange, the mission was urgent, so everyone had to bite the bullet and continue on their way.

It was getting dark and the horse was tired. Qin Huai was wondering whether to stay in an inn to rest, when an ancient temple in a deserted mountain appeared in front of everyone.

Barren mountains, ancient temples?
Qin Huai thought of a classic movie.

In Jiaozhi, apart from the densely populated cities, there are very few places to stay like Jia'an Inn. There are a few temples in the wilderness, but they are not that many.

The sound of horse hooves gradually slowed down. Qin Huai looked at Zhiming, who had rich experience in placing orders. The meaning was self-evident.

"This is the Jialuo Temple in Nanze Prefecture. In the early years, it was very popular and often held Buddha bathing ceremonies. But later, the monks left and the temple fell into disrepair. It should be in ruins now."

The big monk was turning his Buddhist beads with a leisurely look on his face, and it was obvious that he knew the background of this mountain temple very well.

"In that case, let's take this precious place to rest tonight. Brothers, this wilderness is not like a big city or a Buddhist temple, so be careful!"

"Here!"

The generals responded, and soon a hundred brave guards arrived at the mountain gate with carts.

Green bricks and black tiles, red lacquered wooden doors, two stone lions with broken heads and tails, and a plaque above them with the three characters "Jia Luo Temple" written on it. The gold lacquered animal face on the red door is shiny and bright, obviously someone has been maintaining it regularly.

Everyone looked at Qin Huai, and Qin Huai looked at Zhi Ming.

In the end, Qin Huai came forward, knocked on the door three times, and asked the temple door to be opened.

After a while, the person who came out was not the monk everyone imagined, but a tall and thin young man with a raised mouth and dressed in black.

"You found your fellow traveler!"

The same reminder sounded in the ears of the two. Qin Huai's eyes narrowed and a faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

Name: Eucommia

Status: Smart
Expertise: Forging Expertise 69%, ???
Skills: A Glimpse, ???

Inheritance: The clever eyes of the extraordinary arm

Threat level: Light red (Ten Cities)

Note: Qigong has one arm and three eyes. He is good at strange things and can make a flying car and travel far with the wind.

——Classic of Mountains and Seas: Western Classic of Overseas

Oh, it’s a rare inheritance of naked insect craftsmen and a rare logistics worker.

Looking at the shifty-looking Yanfu walking around, Qin Huai clasped his fists and said politely.

"My friend, it's getting late. We brothers would like to take a rest here. I hope you can help us."

Du Zhongxu looked at the dozens of threatening people in red and black in his field of vision. Although he was a little scared in his heart, he still handled it properly on the surface.

"No problem. When we go out, we are all men of society, so we should help each other. Brothers, please come in!" He stepped aside and opened the gate. The valiant cavalrymen in full armor filed in from the gate, and several carts loaded with supplies were easily moved into the yard by the brave soldiers.

Seeing Qin Huai staring at him with his arms folded, Du Zhong swallowed his saliva, walked to Qin Huai, clasped his fists, and said seriously.

"My name is Du Zhong. I am honored to be called Mr. Du Er by my brother. Brother, we are from the same field. There is no need to be so formal. Just call me Du Er."

"Mr. Du Er, you are too polite. I am Qin Huai, a military officer of the Third Department. I am on my way to Jing'an to do some business."

Du Zhong was relieved to see that he had established a connection with Qin Huai. While the other fruit natives were away, Du Er whispered to Qin Huai.

"Brother Qin, do you have an extra mission on this trip? Let me tell you, we are lucky this time, we have a big boss to lead us."

As he spoke, Du Er showed Qin Huai his Yamafu incident mission, seemingly not worried about his own safety at all.

Du Zhong's Yamabu event mission:
1. Obtain the Yama token that also possesses the power of Zhu Yongzi.

2. Collect at least ten kinds of rare minerals, stones, precious woods, bones and other casting materials

3. Forge at least one rare quality weapon armor
4. Prevent the conflict between the local witches, Buddhists and Taoists

5. Add additional features to forged rare quality weapons (extra tasks)

Qin Huai touched his chin and said, "You didn't go to the Three Judicial Meeting? I don't think I've seen you in Longyuan?"

Qin Huai had an amazing memory and confirmed that the person walking around like Yanfu in front of him was not among the people of the Dharma lineage at that time.

Du Er smiled embarrassedly: "My skills are mostly in forging and smelting, and I am not good at direct fighting with others. This main quest is quite difficult, and I might die if I am not careful. The evaluation of this purchase is of no use to me, so I didn't think of getting involved from the beginning."

Qin Huai nodded, and he could understand the logistics staff's choice to be a coward.

Bingshen thirty-three is an advanced fruit, which is extremely dangerous for martial artists below the Baji level. It is already good enough for a blacksmith with naked heritage to survive.

"Then you really gave us a hard time."

Seeing that Du Er was honest, Qin Huai also showed Du Er some of his own information about the incident to gain his trust.

Du Er's eyes suddenly widened a little, and then his eyeballs rolled around.

"We are all from the martial arts world, we can't take advantage of Brother Qin for nothing. How about this, you give me your contact information, and I'll make you a rare weapon after I go back?"

"Of course, labor costs can be waived, but production costs cannot be waived."

Hearing Du Er's supplement, Qin Huai was quite interested, but still shook his head.

"Qin Huai appreciates Mr. Du Er's kindness, but I have my own suitable weapons, so you don't need to worry about it."

Qin Huai changed the subject and a large silver spear appeared in his hand.

"However, my gun is a little damaged. Can Mr. Du Er repair it?"

Du Zhong took the spear, looked at the blade, nodded, turned and walked towards the hall.

"Brother Qin, come with me."

He carried the heavy gun weighing dozens of kilograms without any effort, and his steps were steady and light without making any sound.
This Du Er is not a simple person.

Inside the main hall, people had already built a fire in front of the huge Buddha statue, on which a large pot of meat soup was cooking.

Du Er walked to the corner of the hall with a gun in hand, where all kinds of smelting tools were placed.

"Captain Qin, him?"

Zhang Teng glanced at the stranger, and looked at Qin Huai with an inquiring look in his eyes. It was not that the Hundred Warriors' General was overly sensitive, but they had to be extra careful because of the military orders.

"Nothing. My gun was slightly damaged during the previous battles. He said he could fix it, so I let him try."

While the two were talking, Du Er had already lit the fire and turned to ask Qin Huai.

"Brother Qin, do you have any rare minerals you want to add? If not, it's okay, just use mine, but the effect may not be satisfactory."

Qin Huai waved his hand, and the metal and stone objects previously seized from various enemies covered the smelting table.

A strange man with one arm, three eyes, and flying hair and beard appeared behind Du Er. Then a vertical eye split open between the strange man's eyebrows. The fine ripples emitted from the blue-gray pupil swept across the entire bright silver spear and the gold and stone objects on the smelting table.

From the tip of the gun to the grip, from the gun body to the inside.
After a while, Du Er picked out two pieces of metal, one large and one small, and signaled Qin Huai to put the others away.

Earth Dragon Silver: Metal stained with the blood of an earth dragon. It can be used to enhance the toughness of alloys and is a rare forging material.

Shouyang Copper: High-quality copper produced in the south of Shou Mountain. It can be used to forge weapons to produce sharp weapons.

Seeing that Du Er had already started hammering and shaping, Qin Huai walked away and returned to the group.

Qin Huai took the meat soup pancake handed to him by Zhang Teng, and while eating, he looked at the things in the hall.

In the main hall, apart from the usual statues of Arhats, Heavenly Kings and Bodhisattvas, there were only some incense burners, murals, and altars covered with dust and cobwebs, which looked nothing special.

Qin Huai's gaze shifted from the attendant Buddha to the main Buddha statue. His eyes fixed and he felt an uncomfortable tingling sensation.

Looking at the four-faced Buddha statue that was completely different from the other Buddha statues enshrined in the main hall, Qin Huai frowned and nodded at the monk who was chanting.

“This Buddha statue, isn’t it?”

Zhiming opened his eyes and said, "Yes and no, it's also right. There are many different opinions about the origin of this Buddha statue, but my master once mentioned it accidentally. If Mr. Qin is interested, I will tell you about it."

"Master, please speak. We are all ears."

"Thousands of years ago, a monk came to this place. He was called Kalakhara and was a monk with supernatural powers. Kalakhara fell in love with a woman and had a daughter. However, the two of them practiced Buddhism, so Kalakhara abandoned the baby girl in a banyan tree hole. Decades later, the banyan tree withered and fell down, and floated to the river in front of this temple, lingering for a long time. Kalakhara saw that the tree was hard to be damaged by gold, iron, lightning and fire, so he asked craftsmen to carve this four-faced Buddha."

The big monk paused, looked at the Four-Faced Buddha, and continued.

"It is said that when the craftsmen cut the tree hole where Kalakhara abandoned his daughter, the tree hole had become a hard stone that could not be damaged by magic. Later, the craftsmen threw the hard stone into the water to avoid disaster, but unfortunately, all the craftsmen died without exception. Kalakhara had no choice but to bring it back to worship the Buddha, welcome it into the temple hall, put it among the Buddha statues, add gold to it, give it a name, and worship it for generations. This is how the annual Buddha Bathing Ceremony of Kalakhara Temple came about."

After listening to the great monk's popular science, Qin Huai seemed to be thinking about something.

Isn’t this the ancient case of breaking the precepts and abandoning the baby?
"This Garajali sounds like a piece of shit. If he doesn't raise a daughter, what's the point of having a high level of cultivation?"

Long Sui's beautiful eyebrows were frowned and her pretty face was full of anger. It was obvious that she was very dissatisfied with Galajali's behavior.

"The exact origin of this four-faced Buddha is no longer traceable due to the long time ago. You can just get a rough understanding of it."

The big monk did not refute Long Suinu's opinion. He just warned everyone not to take it to heart and just treat it as a story.

The hammering sound also stopped, and Du Erzheng put the golden brass blocks and purple silver ingots into the crucible and sent them into the furnace for smelting.

In the middle of the hall, four huge Buddha statues of different shapes were staring at the Qinhuai people in front of them, with a gloomy look in their eight eyes.

(End of this chapter)