Chapter 275: Chapter 242: Return to Heaven-Reaching Temple

Heaven-Reaching Temple.

Lin Miao and Sun Youwei returned once again.

After half a year, the entire Heaven-Reaching Temple was in such a state of disrepair that it was unrecognizable; once a house is left unoccupied and untended, it deteriorates rapidly.

The subtle influence of natural forces is tremendously powerful.

"Junior brother, how... how did this place become like this..." Sun Youwei was surprised because they had once stayed here.

This was once a thriving nunnery, and now it’s turned into this state; it’s really hard to believe.

"Something must have happened here." Lin Miao said, "We were hoping to spend a night here, but it’s ended up like this..."

Mr. Xie instinctively covered his mouth. He knew about this nunnery; he had come with Lin Miao before. Lin Miao clearly knew that this nunnery had long since been deserted, yet he brought everyone to stay over.

He dared not ask more; the master’s mind is too deep, knowing too much brings no benefit. Anyway, he was very clear now that staying with Lin Miao held no harm.

In times like these, being with the right person is extremely important. How many years have I conscientiously served in "Yuanheng," and what have I gained?

Other than the main hall, obviously none of the other rooms are habitable.

Luckily, it wasn’t winter. At night, the temperature in the mountains was pleasantly cool, except that there were quite a few mosquitoes.

But Lin Miao had already prepared, making mosquito coils to burn in the four corners of the main hall, naturally deterring mosquitoes from approaching.

The reason Lin Miao came back to stay at Heaven-Reaching Temple again was certainly with purpose.

The first layer of intent was to further investigate Heaven-Reaching Temple and see if he could discover where the nuns went after the upheaval here.

Also, the Buddhist scriptures in the Sutra Library, he left in a hurry last time and couldn’t take them along; these should be highly valuable.

If left here, they will eventually deteriorate and decay. This time, he intends to take these scriptures and books away.

After studying the "Moon Attraction Chapter," he realized it was in Sanskrit, which sparked his interest in the world’s Buddhism.

Other than Fahai from Shanglin Temple, the only other people involved with Buddhism he had brief contact with were the nuns at Heaven-Reaching Temple.

Especially knowing that there were many Buddhist scriptures left uncollected here; he was eager to discover the secrets of Buddhism in this world.

Also, another layer of intent was to lure the snake out of its hole.

When he stays in Dongshan City, those people wouldn’t dare to act rashly. Now that he’s out, would they let go of such a golden opportunity?

"Old Xie, stay alert; we might have unwanted guests tonight!" Lin Miao reminded Mr. Xie.

"Master, are you worried about the Green Blade Sect people?" Mr. Xie immediately understood Lin Miao’s point. The Green Blade Sect has always been domineering and vindictive, having suffered such a loss previously; they’ve been inactive for so long because Lin Miao was in Dongshan City, and they didn’t dare act under the government’s nose to avoid displeasing and retaliation from the court.

But now Lin Miao suddenly returned home, and in the wild, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the Green Blade Sect.

"Old Xie, do you think they’ll come?"

"It stands to reason, they will." Mr. Xie replied, "But they couldn’t possibly not know your current association with the Snow Mountain Sect and the Su Family. Would they still dare to attack you without fearing retaliation from the Su Family and Snow Mountain Sect?"

"If Green Blade Sect has ambitions, do you think they would fear the Su Family and Snow Mountain Sect?" Lin Miao said, "The Su Family are royal merchants, skilled in commerce and horse trading, but they’re slightly lacking in martial strength; also, the support from the Snow Mountain Sect towards me might not be substantial. Ultimately, others’ help is just icing on the cake; what’s crucial is one’s own strength."

"Master, have you already made preparations?"

"What do you think?"

"I can’t guess, anyway, I’ve already died once, following the master, with great fortune and blessings!" Mr. Xie chuckled.

"Rest assured, with me, your days are only going to get better."

"Junior brother, time for dinner!" Sun Youwei’s voice called from ahead.

"Coming, senior sister."

After nightfall.

Lin Miao moved the hidden scriptures to the front hall, bored, and someone needed to stand guard, so he kept vigil the first half of the night.

Thus, he lit another lamp.

Started flipping through the Buddhist scriptures.

"Junior brother, why did you suddenly become interested in Buddhist scriptures?" Sun Youwei arrived, draped in a coat, even in summer, the mountain night is chilly, requiring an extra layer of clothing.

"There are many stories in these Buddhist scriptures, guiding people towards goodness. Reading them at leisure can calm the heart and cultivate oneself," Lin Miao explained cheerfully.

"Hmm, junior brother makes a good point." Sun Youwei casually picked up a scroll of Buddhist scripture. As she opened it, a bright red leaf fell out.

"This is..."

"Once you’ve seen the sea, no other waters will do; once you ascend the Wushan, no other clouds are worthwhile!"

"Such beautiful lines, junior brother, look, there’s even a couple of verses on this leaf!" Sun Youwei handed over the bright red leaf.

"This handwriting..." Lin Miao glanced at the verses, and suddenly felt the handwriting seemed familiar—yes, it was the same as the characters in the Dragon Elephant Wisdom Strength book, identical to those on the leaf.

Looking again at the Buddhist scripture in Sun Youwei’s hand, it was the exact same handwriting. This indicated both the Buddhist scripture and the leaf were penned by the same person.

Jinghui the nun.

The nun who practiced with her hair while giving birth to a child.

Regarding her identity, Lin Miao had speculated secretly, but there was too little useful information. Later, when the Heaven-Reaching Temple was destroyed and all the nuns disappeared, it became even more impossible to know their identities.

Jinghui’s martial arts book, the Dragon Elephant Wisdom Strength, indeed helped him a lot. Without this martial arts manual, he wouldn’t have explored the world of martial arts, nor would he have tried to deconstruct this world’s martial arts using what he learned in his past life...

It’s like a seed, guiding him to understand the secrets of this world’s martial arts, and thereby strengthening himself.

"Senior sister, help me find all the Buddhist scriptures copied in this handwriting." Lin Miao pleaded.

"Alright." Sun Youwei nodded and agreed immediately. Finding something to do on this long night was better than sitting idly.

Scrolls were picked out one by one.

From hundreds of scriptures, a dozen with the same handwriting were selected, likely those copied by Jinghui as mentioned by Lin Miao.

Copying Buddhist scriptures is partly for practice and partly for peace of mind. Although Jinghui had a semi-monastic lifestyle, she didn’t take monastic vows, likely related to her pregnancy.

From the words, it can be seen that her heart was not at peace at first, but after copying many Buddhist scriptures, she became tranquil.

"Master, master, we found an underground chamber!" Lin Miao looked up and saw Mr. Xie, who was patrolling outside, enter with a lantern and report.

"Let’s go take a look." Lin Miao, startled, put down the Buddhist scripture he was holding and stood up.

"Junior brother, can I come along to see?"

"Sure, come along." He didn’t feel assured leaving Sun Youwei alone in the main hall; it was safer to have her by his side.

"While patrolling the back hall, I heard movements inside, went in to check, and found a hole behind the Buddha’s Sumeru seat. Upon going down, it led to stone steps going further down, with many living supplies inside..."

Everyone followed Mr. Xie, descending through the hole behind the Buddha’s Sumeru seat in the back hall, and found a massive underground chamber.

There were a bed, table, benches, and everything needed for living; the closet had clothes, all seemingly belonging to women.

Most intriguingly, there was a crib.

There were also children’s toys, shoes, hats, most of which were still new and unused...

Lin Miao knew about Jinghui giving birth at the Heaven-Reaching Temple, so seeing these, he wasn’t surprised. The Heaven-Reaching Temple was a nunnery; if it leaked that a nun had given birth there, it would cause much controversy.

Dingxian’s arrangement for Jinghui and her child to live here made sense, given the tribulations faced by the Heaven-Reaching Temple.

There was possibly more to it; the unusual nature of Jinghui’s identity might be the reason for the great misfortune at the Heaven-Reaching Temple.

Of course, this was just Lin Miao’s guess without concrete evidence. Now, the Heaven-Reaching Temple was vacant; whether those who attacked and wrecked it or the nuns, none were to be found, and nobody knew their whereabouts.

Lin Miao didn’t know Jinghui, nor the nuns of the Heaven-Reaching Temple, but this small nunnery seemed unusual.

Now, the place was deserted, and no sign of life or death was left behind.

The fact that they left the child’s clothes behind indicated they left in a hurry, showing how tense the situation must have been.

The enemy must have found this underground chamber; otherwise, the hole under the Sumeru seat wouldn’t have been exposed for Mr. Xie to discover.

Back then, upon arriving with Mr. Xie late at night, they didn’t look very closely, so the state behind the Sumeru seat was overlooked.

They had left hastily at the time.

"Young master."

Liansuo exclaimed in surprise.

Everyone followed the sound and saw that behind the clothes rack, another hidden door appeared, seemingly leading to a passage heading in an unknown direction.

They lit a torch.

Everyone lined up and entered, walking in.

This was indeed a passageway, possibly existing for a long time, not recently dug. Judging by the traces left on the tunnel walls and the signs of reinforcement, this underground passage should be at least several decades old.

Lin Miao didn’t know how long the Heaven-Reaching Temple had existed, but for a nunnery to persist in such a remote area, there must have been its own way of preservation.

The passage’s exit was in a forest on the back mountain, with a specially designed "L" shape to avoid being easily discovered.

There was no path at the exit, but for those skilled in martial arts, descending the mountain wouldn’t be difficult.

This should be the escape route from the Heaven-Reaching Temple, explaining why, after a fierce battle, not a single person was left in the Heaven-Reaching Temple.

"Let’s go back, there’s nothing more to see..." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Just then, Lin Miao noticed something odd, a sound, very light footsteps, accompanied by dozens of breaths...

His senses were sharp; in the wild, movements within two or three miles couldn’t escape his ears if he paid attention.

This was the exit of the escape passage for the nuns of the Heaven-Reaching Temple, so why would there be people?

Moreover, from the sound of their approach, they seemed to be heading straight for the cave entrance.

This was too coincidental!