MOF Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Xie Yiling Enters the Rain Flower Temple for the First Time – Evil Triggers Movement, Spirituality Brings Fullness…

They found an inn, entrusted the waiter to feed Jiaojiao, and left it there. A Si passed by several pastry shops, pulling Xie Yiling inside.

Nangong Ci took out his money bag from behind to pay, and when he looked up, he saw Xie Yiling with a helpless expression, holding pastries in his hand and talking to A Si.

Gu Huanzhi reminded him from the side, “Immortal Lord Fufeng, it’s time to go.”

Xie Yiling was forced to take the pastry A Si handed him and was about to bite into it when he suddenly remembered the round jade pendant around his neck. He reached out and took it out, shook it twice, and asked, “Master, where did this jade pendant come from, and what’s its purpose?”

Nangong Ci glanced at it. It was the jade pendant he had given Xie Yiling at Nongfeng Mountain.

“I refined this myself when I had nothing to do,” Nangong Ci explained. “I obtained the jade stone unintentionally, polished it, and refined it into this shape using the Southern Return Exorcism Spell. It can absorb evil energy from a person’s body.”

“Evil energy?” Xie Yiling looked down at himself, somewhat surprised. “Could it be that the fox demon wasn’t wrong after all? I really do have evil energy on me?”

Nangong Ci said, “It’s not an important matter, you don’t need to worry.”

Xie Yiling suddenly paused, and the strange feeling in his heart emerged again. He lowered his head, ate the pastry, and looked thoughtful.

The group walked along the street for half an hour and saw the Rain Flower Temple from afar, with people constantly going in and out. The temple was vermilion red, with only black jade tiles covering the top. A crystal stone tablet stood in front of the temple gate, with two flying goddesses carved on it, graceful and elegant, with thousands of postures.

Entering the temple, Xie Yiling found that he was stepping on a layer of crystal yellow jade. Nangong Ci walked past A Si in front and came to his side.

“This must be the statue of the Rain Flower Goddess, right?” Xie Yiling looked up at the temple.

On the black-red offering table, there were clusters of red flowers and fruits. Behind it, a gilded statue stood upright.

It was a kind-looking woman with proper facial features, full cheeks, and a ruby red dot between her eyebrows like a raindrop. Her lips were slightly parted, as if murmuring blessings for the people.

She wore a cloud-sleeved sacred dress, with flowing ribbons in her hands. The thumb and middle finger of her left hand were pinched together, and the other three fingers were spread out, placed in front of her chest. Her right hand held a flowing red lotus, slowly rotating and placed at her waist.

Gu Huanzhi casually asked, “Is that red lotus some kind of magical treasure?”

Nangong Ci said, “That is the Ruyi Red Lotus.”

“Ruyi Red Lotus?” Gu Huanzhi was a little surprised. “There is such a thing.”

Without thinking, Xie Yiling explained, “This kind of red lotus originally grows in a fiery pool together with the mountain of knives. It gestates one fruit in ten years and blooms one flower in twenty years. After being taken out, it needs to be nurtured with great thought.”

These words of his caused some fluctuations in Gu Huanzhi’s heart. The doubts and surprise he had felt before about Immortal Lord Fufeng accepting him as a disciple all disappeared at this moment. He asked almost thirstily, “What kind of thought?”

Xie Yiling thought for a moment, “Probably the thoughts of some people. Because they are too strong, they become desires. Such as seeking marriage and children, dispelling diseases and evil, attracting wealth and treasure, summoning souls, and so on.”

Gu Huanzhi exclaimed, “Then it can be said to be omnipotent. However, the first few are somewhat credible, but is the summoning of souls in the back also true?”

Nangong Ci gently raised his eyes and scanned the golden statue. “This town is full of ordinary people. The so-called summoning of souls is just seeking help for someone who has suffered an illness or whose soul has temporarily left the body. For her, it is not difficult.”

Gu Huanzhi nodded. “Then it seems that this Rain Flower Goddess is indeed a benevolent god who benefits the people.”

Xie Yiling looked at the red lotus. “Not necessarily.”

He took two steps forward, got closer, and looked closely at the red lotus. He saw golden light faintly appearing in the petals, but in the core of the flower, wisps of black gas were faintly revealed.

“The Ruyi Red Lotus can explore people’s thoughts, what they think, what they wish for, and then absorb them as nourishment for its own gestation and maturation.”

Nangong Ci approached Xie Yiling at this time, his eyes darkened, his gaze fell on his face, staring at his lips as they opened and closed, listening to him continue, “The red lotus relies on the thoughts of the world’s people, but people’s hearts are fickle, and their thoughts will naturally change.”

Gu Huanzhi asked, “Then what will happen if this red lotus matures?”

Xie Yiling didn’t continue to speak but turned to Nangong Ci and smiled lightly. “These are all things I saw in books, Master. Do you think so?”

What? Gu Huanzhi almost bit his tongue. He had been listening intently, believing it all to be true!

But fortunately, Nangong Ci nodded. “Indeed.”

Gu Huanzhi breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

“As for what will happen when the red lotus matures, that depends on what this Rain Flower Goddess specifically wants to do,” Xie Yiling said, reaching out and directly picking up the red lotus, holding it in his palm.

“Don’t panic.” He glanced at Gu Huanzhi, who was startled by him, and said, “This red lotus is not the main body, but just a phantom.”

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the red lotus in his hand gradually became transparent until it disappeared completely.

And in the hand of the Rain Flower Goddess, an identical red lotus appeared out of thin air.

“Are you also here to worship the Rain Flower Goddess, gentlemen?”

A hoarse voice sounded behind them, and everyone turned around. An old man was smiling and looking at them.

The three of them made way and stood aside.

Xie Yiling walked up and smiled, “We are new to this Peace Town and heard that the Rain Flower Goddess is very effective, so we came to pray for peace.”

Hearing this, the old man’s face showed some pride. “You have come to the right place. It is because of the Rain Flower Goddess that this Peace Town is peaceful!”

Xie Yiling said meaningfully, “Yes, it’s not easy to find such an effective god of fortune these days.”

Seeing that the old man had knelt down to pray for blessings, Xie Yiling felt that it was not interesting, glanced at the others, and walked out.

Just as he left the temple gate, a woman leading a child of about six years old hurried towards them with a happy expression.

The child’s eyes were a little unfocused, his expression dull as a wooden chicken, and he staggered as the woman pulled him along.

Before even entering the main hall, the woman knelt down with a “thump” in front of the jade steps, and two lines of clear tears flowed from her still-swollen eyes. Before Xie Yiling could react, the woman had already respectfully started kowtowing.

“Thank you, Rain Flower Goddess, for using your divine power to save my son’s life! Thank you, Rain Flower Goddess, for your great compassion! Thank you, Rain Flower Goddess! A Yin, hurry, hurry and thank the Rain Flower Goddess with mother!”

A Yin leaned tightly against the woman and murmured, “Thank you, Rain Flower Goddess.”

The woman smiled all over her face and said, “Quickly kowtow three times to the Rain Flower Goddess, quick!”

A Yin obediently lowered his head and kowtowed three times on the ground.

Seeing this, Xie Yiling waited for the woman to get up and then stepped forward and asked softly, “Sister, are you also here to repay your vows to the Rain Flower Goddess?”

The woman looked up and saw a handsome young man. Feeling less wary, she nodded and said truthfully, “My A Yin had a serious illness last month. Many doctors have seen him, but they can’t say what’s wrong. But his body is hot, and he is unconscious. At first, I could feed him some decoction, but later, he couldn’t even swallow the medicine. I was so scared that I rushed to the Rain Flower Temple to pray to the goddess. I didn’t expect that after returning home, in just two days, his body stopped heating up, and he could swallow the medicine again. After a few more days, A Yin woke up!”

Xie Yiling looked surprised and said, “This Rain Flower Goddess is really omnipotent!”

The woman smiled and said, “Isn’t that so? If it weren’t for the Rain Flower Goddess, where would we be?”

With that, she took the child and was about to leave.

“Hey,” Xie Yiling quickly stopped her and asked strangely, “Aren’t you here to repay your vows? Why don’t you go in?”

The woman pursed her lips and smiled. “Young master, you are from elsewhere, so you don’t know. We don’t need to give incense money for praying for blessings here, and we don’t need to enter the main hall for repaying vows.”

Xie Yiling watched the woman gradually walk away, with a few wisps of black gas winding around her shoulders. Before her figure disappeared, the black gas floated back to the main hall, as if it had absorbed something from the woman and brought it back.

Nangong Ci came to his side at some point. He looked at Xie Yiling, who turned to look at him, and suddenly asked, “Do you know Azurefall?”

“Ah?” Xie Yiling was originally thinking deeply. Nangong Ci’s topic suddenly changed, forcing him to withdraw from his thoughts.

“Azurefall?” Xie Yiling made a remembering look. “I seem to have seen these two words on Master’s sword. It should be the name of Master’s sword.”

Because of these words, Nangong Ci’s eyes showed some smile. “Azurefall is a top-grade spiritual sword, extremely sensitive to the spiritual energy of all things in the world. It moves when it encounters evil, and it fills when it encounters spirituality. I just noticed that since entering this Peace Town, Azurefall has been silent.”

“In this world, even ordinary mortals who have never practiced Taoism will have more or less spiritual power condensed in their bodies to protect their tendons and meridians. If it is said that the entire Peace Town does not have a trace of spiritual power, then there is only one possibility.”

Xie Yiling stared at him with straight eyes. At that moment, he seemed to see the gentle and jade-like Nangong Ci again.

After listening to the other party’s words, his eyes widened slightly, and he lowered his voice unconsciously, “Master, do you mean that there is not a single living person in this Peace Town?”

Gu Huanzhi happened to hear this sentence when he walked over with A Si, and his face changed in fright. He hurried closer and asked in a low voice, “Senior Brother Xie, what do you mean by that? What do you mean… no living people? If there are no living people, then what are all these things in the town?”

Xie Yiling didn’t say too much, only said, “I don’t know for the time being. But what is certain is that this Peace Town is definitely not as simple as it looks.”

Hearing this, Gu Huanzhi asked, “Then what appears before our eyes, is it all illusion?”

Nangong Ci shook his head and said, “These people are just empty shells, manipulated by others.”

Xie Yiling leaned towards Nangong Ci with his arms folded, both afraid and puzzled. “Creating the illusion of peace and happiness for the people of the town by manipulating empty shells sounds too weird. Why is the mastermind doing this?”

Nangong Ci stood still, waiting for Xie Yiling to lean against his shoulder before saying, “We still have to investigate.”

“Could the mastermind be this Rain Flower Goddess?” Gu Huanzhi analyzed reasonably, “After all, everyone in this town respects her, and it is not surprising that she has such abilities.”

Xie Yiling didn’t dare to jump to conclusions, and frowned, “It can only be said that this Rain Flower Goddess is indeed capable. Although the entire town is not an illusion, it looks so real, even the things we eat…”

Hearing this, Gu Huanzhi’s face changed. He glanced at Nangong Ci out of the corner of his eye and saw that his expression was calm, and then he remembered that he had never eaten anything in this town.

“A Si, you’re doomed!” He turned to scare the child, “You ate so much today, you’re probably going to have a stomachache!”

A Si smacked his lips indifferently.

Xie Yiling glanced at Gu Huanzhi with some sympathy, thinking: A Si is not even a human, so he’s not afraid of eating those ghostly things? But it was him who ate a lot with A Si. He should… be fine, right? After all, he is considered a reborn body, so he must be stronger than Gu Huanzhi.

This idea didn’t even last until they returned to the inn, and Xie Yiling’s stomach started to hurt on the way.

“Ouch! Ouch!” Xie Yiling had just screamed twice when Nangong Ci directly grabbed his wrist, pressed his pulse with his fingers, and drove his strength towards his shoulder. Then, he moved from his shoulder to his chest, down to his stomach, and pushed hard. Xie Yiling couldn’t bear it and bent over to vomit a pile of black filth.