Chapter 178: Destroying Demons in the Middle of the Night

Brother Qian Chen asked Li Mi: "In Chang'an city, which temple has the most mysterious behavior?"

"If you say where there might be hidden gods and demons..." Li Mi said: "That should be the Anantuo Temple!"

"Then go to Anantuo Temple... Tomorrow is the Thousand Autumn Festival, and tonight is the last night of the night curfew..." Brother Qian Chen stared at the dim light gradually appearing in the sky.

The evening drum had already sounded, and the street drum formation of Chang'an city roared in sequence. After three drums and eight hundred sounds, pedestrians still on the street would be arrested by the Martial Guards for questioning.

The bells of the surrounding temples also rang in sequence.

The morning bell and evening drum formation swept away the yin and evil, but how could it sweep away the demons that had already penetrated the bone marrow of Chang'an?

Listening to the bells of the surrounding temples,

"Go!" Brother Qian Chen said in a low voice: "Do not let them live to see tomorrow's sun."

Yan Shu was speechless. His junior brother was good at everything, except that sometimes his words were not very serious. Clearly, this was a righteous act of eliminating demons and defending the Dao, yet in his mouth, it could be made to sound like a demon lord wiping out a sect.

Ning Ning Qingchen walked in from outside the door, looking at the shattered statues of the Four Heavenly Kings in the courtyard surrounded by pavilions, with even fragments of golden bones on the ground. In the backyard not far away, a newly erected grave stood tall—General Xue's Tomb!

She knew how cleanly Brother Qian Chen and Yan Shu acted, so she was not surprised, only saying: "I followed the jade talismans of the two senior brothers here. Today at the banquet, I already probed that General Geshu Han is also a demonic cultivator!"

"Yan Shixiong sister?" Li Mi's heart stirred.

Yan Shu laughed: "The elder sister has come just in time. Are you willing to accompany us to eliminate the demons in this city?"

"When the two senior brothers eliminate demons, you are always so proactive. Often, you strike before the demons' evil deeds are even manifest... yet it is very clean and efficient." Ning Ning Qingchen smiled, then added: "Where are the demons? You can count me in!"

Brother Qian Chen tilted his head, listening to the peals of bells in Changancheng, which were coming from temples everywhere.

He laughed in a low voice: "Wherever there are bells, they are everywhere!"

Ning Ning Qingchen was startled: "So many?"

"I even thought this prosperous Great Tang would be a bit better than where we came from!"

"It's no better! The more prosperous and flourishing the age, the more it will breed dark filth!" Yan Shu sighed with emotion.

Ananda Temple was a temple of the Esoteric Sect, located in a relatively remote place in the northern suburbs of Chang'an, so the temple was more expansive than the Heavenly King Temple. This was a temple for cultivation; there were about a hundred monks in the temple, and they did not usually accept believers to burn incense and worship Buddha, only closing their doors to cultivate. The monks in the temple all lived in seclusion, yet the offerings they received were not few.

The nobles of Chang'an often invited the monks in the temple to chant scriptures and pray for blessings.

The most famous thing about Ananda Temple was that a monk in the temple had once chanted scriptures and prayed for blessings for the Chancellor Li Li Linfu, obtaining a six-inch-long object that looked like a rusted nail.

Chancellor Li Li Linfu opened a fast to praise the Buddha, and the gold and silver vessels, silk, and horse saddles obtained by the monks who chanted for him were often worth tens of thousands of Brother Qian; he was famously generous.

After the monk returned, he did not recognize this object.

After taking this object to the West Market, it was seen by a Hu merchant, who bought it for ten thousand Brother Qian... According to what this Hu merchant said, this object was the precious bone of a Buddha, worth a fortune. The monks of Ananda Temple actually did not even recognize the Buddha bone, so their reputation became increasingly declining.

As the eight hundred evening drums finished beating, there were no more pedestrians on the street, Chang'an returned to tranquility, and the gates of each ward were also closed.

At this time, above the usually quiet Ananda Temple, the sound of flapping wings appeared, and something shaped like a bat, as large as a flying bird, quietly landed in the temple. Before the green lamp in the main hall, the wings of that bat-like thing gradually shrank, turning into two ears, and the black hair also gradually disappeared, revealing its true face, which was the appearance of a human head.

Its eyes rolled around; it was actually not a dead object.

"Today is not yet the time to act... Why did you come?" The abbot, kneeling and sitting before the Buddha, did not look back, his body motionless, and said in a low voice.

"Something happened at the Heavenly King Temple!" That flying head said in a low voice: "At the evening drum today, I did not hear their bell."

"Gandharva is good at sending messages through sound. If it were that normal bell, it should carry the scent of wonderful incense." The abbot slowly opened his mouth: "Even if those people moved the Gandharva, they would not know how to ring the bell. Therefore, they revealed a flaw..."

"No... that bell didn't ring at all!"

That flying head said in a low voice.

"I eavesdropped on the conversations of several foolish men and women who had been to the Heavenly King Temple. They said they could hear the bell inside the temple, but couldn't hear it when they came out! And they thought it was strange!"

The steady sound of the wooden fish being struck by the abbot finally stopped, and he said solemnly: "If this is the case, your coming here today is a completely stupid act. Such a grand display, without concealment, shows that they do not fear us at all, but rather want to beat the grass and startle the snake. You coming over will only give them clues."

"Li Mi has been to Ren Ren Xuanyan's place and disappeared together with several people from the Princess's mansion. They might have investigated the Heavenly King Temple!"

That flying head said: "He is a white-clothed chancellor who can see the Sage. If he reports to the Profound Emperor..."

"You don't need to worry about this. As for the Emperor, we have long been prepared, and he will not listen to their one-sided story. And they are too late! If they had investigated here a month earlier, there would still be a chance to salvage it, but now the arrow is on the string, ready to be fired! Even the immortals would be too late..." On the face that the abbot had not turned around, a trace of a bizarre smile appeared.

"That's good... I still have to notify other places, so I will take my leave!" The flying head said in a low voice.

The abbot slowly replied: "Be careful, places you shouldn't go... don't go! If you go, you will only bring clues!"

That flying head's ears spread, turning back into the appearance of a large bat, flapping its wings, it flew up from the main hall and darted into the night.

The ward where Ananda Temple was located was quite remote. Although one could walk in the ward tonight, there were not many people.

When the flying head swept across the night sky, it only saw a young scholar strolling and reciting poetry under the moon.

The moonlight illuminated the winding alleys of the ward. This white-clothed scholar pressed a sword with one hand and held a red-skinned gourd with the other, pacing under the moon. Beneath his feet were green stone steps, and overhead was a half-round moon. The silver moonlight, like water, spilled onto his body as the scholar slowly headed toward Ananda Temple.

The bat-like shadow transformed by the flying head intentionally or unintentionally veered toward that place. With the change at the Heavenly King Temple today, one must be a bit more cautious.

The scholar raised the gourd, took a sip of the amber-colored wine, looked up at the moon, and seeing the bat-like shadow, said in a low voice: "What a big bat... It must have eaten the bugs in the monk's temple to grow this big! After all, monks do not harm the lives of ants, so the mosquitoes they raise are fat enough."

"How are you talking?" The flying head was somewhat indignant.

The scholar danced and gestured: "In my childhood, I did not know the moon, calling it a white jade plate. I also suspected it was a jade terrace mirror, flying to the edge of the blue clouds..."

The flying head was also someone who had read books and knew the goods, secretly saying in the sky: "This poem is not bad. If the examination paper is presented correctly, he should be able to pass the examination. It's just a pity that after tomorrow, Chang'an will become a demonic cave and hell. No matter how good the literary talent is, it will only be a bargain for that demon lord of the Nine Heavens?"

"The immortal hangs his two feet, the cassia tree makes a circle. The white rabbit pounds medicine, asking who will eat it. The toad eats the round shadow, the great brightness of the night is already ruined."

The flying head darted over the scholar's head, seeing from afar a person holding a whisk, standing at the ward gate like an immortal under the moon. Who else could it be but Li Mi? Not far from Li Mi, there was a bearded man in armor, staring at it with piercing eyes. Not far away, a woman in gorgeous dance clothes leaped between the eaves of the pavilions, her movement so agile that it seemed even lighter than the flying head it had transformed into.

"Not good!" The flying head secretly thought.

Just as it wanted to turn back to report, it saw the scholar reciting poetry sighing at the moon: "Yi once shot down the nine suns, the heavens and men were clear and peaceful. The yin essence is now lost and confused, go, go, it is not worth watching. How can one deal with the sorrow, it breaks the heart and liver."

The bright moon in the sky dropped its moonlight, suddenly like sword light, shining like a strip of silk. The flying head looked down at the person below, how could it see the moonlight on its head? It was immediately slashed down by that sword light. The flying head fell to the street, turning into a human head. A red mark faintly appeared between its eyebrows, and a red-thread-like wound at its neck began to ooze blood.

The sword light in the moon suddenly shot out, then immediately retracted into the essence of the Great Yin, turning into ordinary moonlight and spilling down.

This sword was hidden in the moon, silent and soundless, not even having half a point of sword qi, and did not alarm any ghosts or gods in Changancheng.

Brother Qian Chen slowly moved forward. The monk guarding the door at night heard the sound of footsteps and looked through the small door, but seeing him as a scholar coming on the moon, he said in a low voice through the door: "This temple only receives outside guests on the fifteenth and thirtieth, and it is already late now, so please go, honored guest!"

But he saw the scholar laugh: "If you don't receive honored guests, can you receive evil guests?"

The monk did not know how to answer, but saw the long sword at Brother Qian Chen's waist already unsheathed, piercing through the wooden door into his heart. The guest-receiving monk did not even react before he fell headlong.

Brother Qian Chen used the sword tip to cut lightly, and the two copper cores of the door lock were sliced open as flatly as mud. In the quiet night, the creaking sound of the door hinges rang out slowly and heavily. A monk nearby heard the sound and came to look, but saw a flash of sword light; his consciousness did not even notice before a blood line appeared on his neck, and he fell into the flower bed nearby.

Yan Shu entered the door, looked at the two corpses, and said in surprise: "Junior brother, we are here to eliminate demons and defend the Dao. Why are you acting like a bandit breaking into a house?"

Brother Qian Chen's sword light flashed, also slashing the two painted Heavenly King statues behind the gate!

Although the Heavenly King statues were paintings, they were still beheaded, and the faces on the paintings showed expressions of terror.

Brother Qian Chen said in a low voice: "In this temple, not even a chicken or a dog, or even the paintings and colored drawings, or mice, ants, insects, and birds can be spared... The demon in this temple is a Yin-Yang God-Demon. One Yang demon is the master, and it should be matched with forty-nine Yin demons. Any living thing can become a host for the Yin demons, so they must be slashed and cut off with sword intent!"

Li Mi nodded slightly and said: "It should be so!"

Ning Ning Qingchen landed on the eaves, watching the group of people like bandits wiping out a sect, acting like old hands at this. Li Mi swept his whisk at a mouse hole not far away, the three thousand silver threads piercing into the roots. Hearing a few screams from the hole, there was no more sound. Yan Shu's sword was in the style of a Han sword, suitable for two-handed use. With one sword, he chopped off the heads of the two stone lions at the gate.

The stone lion heads fell to the ground, not yet having time to open their mouths.

Brother Qian Chen leisurely untied his belt and hung it on the eaves at the gate.

With his clothes open, he slowly walked into this Ananda Temple...

Ning Ning Qingchen suddenly had an illusion that this was not them eliminating demons and defending the Dao, but a group of demons rushing into the temple to wipe out the sect.