He Lan Tianxia

Just as Murong Junlan was about to move, he suddenly heard a sound ahead, as if a large object was rolling to the right. The monks over there chased after it, and a figure flashed past on the left, looking like a child.

"Little Yezi? This child knows martial arts?"

A guess flashed through Murong Junlan's mind. Recalling how the little boy seemed to have some kind of light-footed skill when he ran away from home, and thinking about it more carefully, it was a full five miles away. Could the old man really trust the little boy to go into the mountains? And it seemed that this wasn't something that had happened in just a day or two. Just as he was lost in thought, the group of monks returned.

"It sounds like there's a noise coming from this side too."

Murong Junlan flicked his wrist, sending several pebbles into the woods to his right. The group of monks immediately swarmed to the right again. Murong Junlan lightly touched the ground and leaped onto a tree, wanting to see where the little fellow had gone. Just then, he vaguely saw the large characters "Anqiao Temple." A monk stood in front of the temple gate for a moment, looked around, and then hurried inside. Murong Junlan leaped to the temple entrance, and seeing no one, jumped over the wall and entered. Perhaps the monks had all left; the temple was quiet. The main hall was brightly lit, while only a few rooms in the monks' quarters glowed dimly.

Murong Junlan walked along the wall and suddenly heard a voice outside a monk's quarters: "While the abbot is unconscious, why don't you hurry up and take out the relic?"

Another trembling voice said, "Abbot, this is the box that held the relics, but there's nothing inside."

"Who tampered with it, you piece of trash?" came the abbot's voice.

"Ah!" came the other person's scream.

The noise was so loud that the monks, carrying torches, filed in one after another. Murong Junlan took the opportunity to hide in a lush Bodhi tree.

"Abbot, what happened?" the leading monk asked loudly.

The abbot said righteously and sternly, "He stole the temple's relics, but I discovered it in time and dragged him out to be flogged."

Several monks escorted the already dead monk outside for punishment. The abbot stood there, speaking in a grand and imposing manner:

"Investigate the whereabouts of the relics thoroughly. Everyone here is a suspect. If they cannot be found, they will be punished according to the temple rules," the abbot warned loudly.

The monks replied, "Yes."

Abbot: "Seal the temple."

The torches at Anqiao Temple immediately blazed, making it as bright as day. Suddenly, someone shouted from the dining hall, "Oh no! The vegetarian food has been stolen!"

What a mess! Who's so rude as to steal vegetarian food? Then a monk, a cook, came running out, his face covered in blood. Stealing vegetables and assaulting someone? Only a little boy would do that. Murong Junlan couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

The chef-monk, holding a broken spatula, pointed behind him and shouted, "Catch the assassin!"

The group of monks ran off again, and Murong Junlan seized the opportunity to leap over. There was no one in the kitchen; the monks found nothing and were thrown into chaos.

"Oh no! The abbot has disappeared!" someone suddenly shouted.

The host walked out with a series of thumps and a wave of his hand: "Search for me."

Good heavens, this person who had fainted has disappeared, right under everyone's noses! What a joke! The abbot was so angry that he kept banging his staff and roared, "We must dig three feet into the ground to find the abbot! We must find him alive or dead!"

In the slanting sun cave below the kitchen, Murong Junlan and Xiao Yezi were settling the abbot's body. Although Xiao Yezi was young, he skillfully massaged the abbot's muscles and bones. He looked at the puzzled Murong Junlan and said, "He's not dead, he just fainted."

Murong Junlan felt utterly superfluous at this moment. Aside from not being able to move the abbot, Xiao Yezi wouldn't let him help with anything else. Frankly, his pride was severely wounded. Murong Junlan reached out to take out a pill and put it in the abbot's mouth, but Xiao Yezi instead took a relic from the cloth bag behind him and placed it in the abbot's mouth. This terrified Murong Junlan; if the abbot moved his mouth, it would get stuck in his throat, and even a god couldn't save him.

Murong Junlan was about to reach out to stop him when Xiao Yezi pushed with her two small hands, and a white mist surged out. Suddenly, the relic in the abbot's mouth emitted a soft light. The light swirled in the abbot's mouth, and a breath made the abbot's face, which had lost its vitality, round again. At this moment, there was a sudden "bang" above his head, and a cloud of dust fell down.