Chapter 321: Boundless Buddha Dharma

He Yuzhu stepped on the tiny protrusions on the rock wall, climbing to the top in just a few movements.

As soon as his body poked out of the cave entrance, he broke into a cold sweat—less than a meter outside the entrance was a sheer cliff, with a feeling of bottomless depth.

Standing on the one-meter-wide cliff edge, buffeted by the biting north wind, He Yuzhu truly felt as if he could be blown off at any moment.

He walked slowly along the edge of the cliff and finally found an open area.

He Yuzhu took out his Telescope and looked down into the sinkhole. It was an inverted funnel-shaped sinkhole, with a massive pit at the very bottom measuring about seven or eight hundred meters square. Unlike the desolate scene of all things above, the bottom of the pit was surprisingly lush and green, filled with grass, shrubs, and even many crooked trees, all growing toward the sun.

He Yuzhu looked closely and saw monks lying in disarray within the woods.

The cliffs on all four sides were smooth and bare; it was impossible for an ordinary person to climb up. How exactly were these people sent down there? He Yuzhu was completely baffled.

He put away the Telescope and walked carefully around the edge of the pit, finally finding the answer in a relatively wide spot—a rope ladder was firmly tied to a huge rock, but currently, this rope ladder had been pulled up.

Clearly, after someone had lowered these people down with the rope ladder, they had pulled the ladder up, with no intention of letting them come back up at all.

Thinking of this, He Yuzhu couldn't help but shiver.

In this temple, there was likely no one other than Abbot Huiming who had the capability to do such a thing.

Should he go down to investigate, or should he let Tian Dan handle this matter? After weighing the pros and cons, He Yuzhu finally made up his mind: such matters were best left to Tian Dan to handle.

Returning to the foot of the mountain, He Yuzhu reported everything he had seen and heard to Tian Dan in full detail.

Tian Dan patted his shoulder firmly and praised, "Zhuzi, you handled this matter beautifully! I will request a commendation for you when I get back!"

He Yuzhu grinned, took the opportunity to lean in closer, and said, "You'd be better off giving me something practical; can you reimburse me for the 9.5 million in expenses I spent earlier?"

Tian Dan smiled: "You miser, I'll help you apply and see."

Having received this answer, He Yuzhu retreated to the side, feeling satisfied.

Tian Dan immediately ordered someone to invite Abbot Huiming over.

"Benefactor, what brings you to call this poor monk here today?" Huiming asked, twisting his prayer beads.

"Master, I don't have time to play riddles with you; hurry up and hand over Yuanzhi!" Tian Dan said.

"Benefactor Tian, what is the meaning of this?"

Tian Dan sneered: "You should know better than I do what kind of people were put into that sinkhole. This is New China; your method of using temple rules to punish criminals is outdated. That group of people under Officer You are Bald Party agents who have committed heinous crimes. You cannot protect him; if you really do this, you will be guilty of the same crime as him!"

Huiming's hand, which was twisting the prayer beads, suddenly paused, and cold sweat immediately began to stream down.

"The organization had you undergo political study; it seems you only went through the motions and didn't study properly..." Tian Dan looked at him with cold eyes.

"Comrade Tian, I will tell you!" The old monk finally lowered his head.

Six hours ago, Huiming finally verified that the monk Yuanzhi (namely Officer You) was actually a Bald Party agent and was still carrying out sabotage activities. He immediately broke into a cold sweat; he had to think of a way to capture Yuanzhi. But they all had guns, so using force definitely wouldn't work.

He learned that Yuanzhi had lost two men and that Yuanzhi wanted to go down the mountain to fight the government people to the death, so he decided to play along and called Yuanzhi and his group over.

"Junior brother, tell me the truth, are you still working as an agent?"

"Senior brother, things have reached this point, so I won't hide it from you anymore. We have been surrounded. I will take responsibility for my own actions; I'll take my dozen or so brothers and charge out to die with those people. I won't implicate the temple."

"Junior brother, we grew up together; I don't want to see you meet a violent end. How about this: there is actually another secret passage in the temple leading outside the mountain. You can escape from there, but you must promise not to do any more killing in the future!" Huiming said.

"I promise you!" Yuanzhi walked up to Huiming, his expression solemn, and bowed deeply with palms pressed together: "Senior brother's great virtue and this kindness are heavier than Mount Tai. Please accept your junior brother's bow."

Huiming helped Yuanzhi up and said, "I am not doing this purely to save you. You deserve to die, but I don't want to watch your Apprentices, who are still so young, lose their lives with you. But I have one requirement, and that is that you all leave your weapons behind; otherwise, pretend I never said anything."

"Fine, I'll listen to you."

Eager to escape, Yuanzhi didn't suspect a thing. He immediately left his weapons behind, followed Huiming into the underground palace, and descended into that sinkhole along the "secret passage."

Seeing that everyone had gone down into the sinkhole, Huiming quickly pulled away the rope ladder.

After Yuanzhi and the agents went down the rope ladder, they quickly ducked into a pitch-black entrance, walked for a hundred meters, and discovered that it was actually a dead end.

Yuanzhi never imagined that his compassionate senior brother had actually tricked him.

Half an hour later, he walked out of the cave entrance, dejected, and saw a small figure standing high above the cave entrance.

"Zhang Huiming, you old bastard! You look so kind and benevolent, yet you tricked me! I'm not finished with you!" Officer You shouted hysterically from below.

"Junior brother, cultivate well! This is a good place; our late master once practiced here for two years. Your murderous aura is too heavy now, and it is no longer suitable for you to walk in society. As long as you don't slack off, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, the things prepared inside are enough for you to eat. Every month, I will send you some things and chat with you," Huiming said.

"Zhang Huiming, you will die a horrible death!" Officer You cursed.

After hearing the account, He Yuzhu felt a chill down his spine and sighed to himself: "This old abbot is truly formidable!"

Next, a thorny problem was laid out before them: even if they lowered the rope ladder, once those people below knew that the outcome awaiting them was likely execution by firing squad, it was unlikely that many would voluntarily climb up.

Tian Dan was at a loss and had no choice but to find He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu didn't decline; he said with a grin, "Sister, there are over twenty people down there. It's a dangerous mission for me to go down; can you satisfy a small condition of mine?"

Tian Dan couldn't help but scold: "You brat, I know your abilities; stop trying to negotiate conditions with me using this!"

He Yuzhu said unhurriedly: "This matter isn't difficult for you. I'd like to ask you to help arrange a job for someone, preferably one where they can join your team."

Tian Dan asked: "Tell me, who do you want to arrange?"

"On New Year's Day, my second uncle met with my father, and my father has been thinking about helping my second uncle—Cai Quanwu—find a job. I think if you could find a position for him in your team, he would definitely be willing."

Tian Dan agreed readily: "Fine, I promise you."

After saying this, He Yuzhu went down to the bottom of the sinkhole along the rope ladder without looking back.

The twenty agents immediately surrounded him.

He Yuzhu asked calmly: "Which one is Officer You? Come out and let's chat!"

A man in his forties with a tall build, a square face, and thick eyebrows stepped forward and snorted coldly: "You are He Yuzhu?"

He Yuzhu nodded.

Officer You asked coldly: "You want to take us up so we can all face the firing squad?"

He Yuzhu didn't evade the question either; he looked him straight in the eye and said, "I'm not sure if others will face the firing squad, but you—you definitely won't escape it."

Officer You's expression changed, and he shouted sternly: "Brothers, what are you waiting for? All together now! This brat wants to send us to our deaths!"

The twenty-plus people suddenly swarmed toward him like an exploded beehive.