Volume 2 Chapter 23: Sandalwood
The expected cracking sound of the sternum did not reach Yun Mengzhen's ears. Lin Jianlan had already prepared himself for death, but he felt someone grabbing him by the waist and flying into the air. His meridians were also captured. He could only chop at the branches nearby with his sword moves helplessly. Then he heard someone whisper in his ear, "Who are you?"
Before he could answer, Lin Jianlan was put on the ground. At the same time, he felt a palm strike on his back. He suddenly lost his balance and stumbled forward a few steps. He could no longer bear it and spurted out a mouthful of blood. He could no longer hold the sword in his hand and it fell to the ground.
The man in black was a little surprised when he saw the sword, but then he suddenly realized, "It was him." As he was still pondering, Yun Mengzhen angrily said, "I could kill him with my move, why did you stop me?"
The man in black said calmly, "This move is a life-and-death move. It cannot be parried. The intention is to hurt both of you. Although you can hit his chest, he will stab you desperately. You will not be hurt by your lowering your body, but this appearance that she loves is a little dangerous."
Yun Mengzhen knew that this was a sarcastic remark, but thinking back to what had just happened, he felt a little scared and said, "Thank you so much for your help. We will quickly deal with these two people and leave. If people knew that we had to work so hard, we would be ridiculed."
The man in black nodded and walked back to Lin Jianlan. Lin Jianlan stood up and looked back. Although he didn't know why he asked him that incomprehensible question just now, the man's eyes were extremely cold at this moment. He stabbed the sword at the vital point without mercy.
Lin Jianlan thought that today was a very bad day for him and he felt extremely guilty towards Wanxiu. Wanxiu was stunned by the scene and she let out a short cry with tears rolling down her cheeks.
But then they heard some noisy footsteps in the woods. The man in black hesitated for a moment and looked back. He saw a dozen monks surrounding a carriage and slowly walking into the open space. As soon as the carriage stopped, a monk took down two cushions from the carriage, turned around and helped two old monks get down from the carriage and sit down.
Seeing that the tip of the black-clothed man's sword was still pointing at his chest, Lin Jianlan did not dare to stand up. He raised his head with difficulty and saw that it was the abbots of various temples who had returned. The two old monks sitting on the cushions were Abbot Tanzong and Elder Dazhi.
While he was wondering, the monks walked towards the man in black and surrounded the two men. Dao Zheng put his hands together and said "Amitabha" and said, "Dear donor, please hand these two men over to me for disposal."
The man in black did not respond to Dao Zheng. He lowered his sword, turned to Tanzong and said, "Abbot Tanzong, the Yukousi is here on official business. The abbot is a master who has practiced for decades. Please don't get involved in this worldly turmoil." It seemed that he was quite familiar with Tanzong.
Seeing that the man in black ignored him, Dao Zheng felt very upset. Without waiting for Tan Zong to reply, he hurried forward and said, "I would not have come back here without a reason. Abbot Tan Zong kindly invited him to rest in our temple, why did you secretly poison him? Hand over the antidote quickly!"
Lin Jianlan had seized the sword and stood up, still staggering. Hearing this, he became anxious and was about to open his mouth to explain. He had just said "I didn't" when he felt the black-clothed man raise his sword again, with the tip of the sword moving to an inch from his throat. He could not say a word.
Yun Mengzhen was a little anxious at the moment. He acted a step late and involved so many monks. He didn't know what they were up to. From what Dao Zheng said, it seemed that the young man had poisoned Tan Zong. Looking at Tan Zong, although his face was normal, he came here in a carriage. Obviously, the situation was not good. He couldn't help laughing in his heart. He walked in front of Tan Zong, waved his whisk and bowed, saying: "Abbot Tan Zong, we met again in Hangzhou after we parted. I haven't thanked you for your kindness in exonerating me in front of the saint. When old friends meet, we should have a good chat. I will have a long talk with you after I deal with this matter." After that, he turned to the man in black and said: "Go ahead."
The man in black didn't seem to take the monks seriously. Although he was surrounded, he still stabbed with his sword. However, Dao Ning suddenly jumped out from the side, hit him with a palm and said, "Bring me the antidote first!"
Lin Jianlan stood there in a daze, watching the two men fighting around him. He was dazzled, but he could also see that the man in black was stabbing at him with every sword to take his life. Dao Ning was afraid that Lin Jianlan would be stabbed to death by his sword and would not be able to detoxify Tanzong, so he attacked the man in black again and again.
Yun Mengzhen was furious, but he smiled and said, "Master Tanzong, if you need an antidote, what does Yukousi have? Kill these two and I will give you an explanation. Is your disciple doing this to meddle in Yukousi's business?"
Tan Zong said: "Master Yun, I didn't care about the poisoning. It was me and my disciples who insisted on coming back to find this young man to get the antidote. No matter how we tried to stop him, it was useless. This poison was so strong that I couldn't use my internal strength. Now that Master Yun asked me this, I could only smile bitterly."
Lin Jianlan was shocked and asked, "Why is it that Abbot Tanzong has no internal strength like me, but other monks are not like him?"
Yun Mengzhen looked annoyed and said, "This is the only way to offend. This has been the rule for more than ten years. These two must die." After saying that, he drew out his whisk and attacked Dao Ning, saying, "I will stop him. Hurry up!"
The monks nearby were all abbots of famous temples and were usually respected. But when they saw the arrogance of these two men and they joined forces to attack Dao Zheng, no matter how high their Buddha nature was, they could not tolerate it and they started fighting one after another, causing great chaos.
Dao Zheng saw that there were too many people and it was easy to hurt Lin Jianlan by mistake, so he shouted: "I don't know if the poison that Abbot Tanzong was infected with is life-threatening. Fellow brothers and sisters, Arhat Formation! Just take this young man down quickly!" The meaning of these words was obvious. As long as one person could get close to Lin Jianlan and take him out of the circle, the goal would be achieved.
The Arhat Formation is an extremely common formation and is also the first formation that martial monks learn when they first enter the temple. Most monks have a very solid foundation, so although most of these abbots are in their fifties, they have never forgotten the Arhat Formation for decades. They have deployed the formation and surrounded Yun Mengzhen, Lin Jianlan and the man in black in the center.
The situation changed in an instant. If Yun Mengzhen and the other two wanted to attack Lin Jianlan, they would be stopped by these monks. They also had to guard against these monks taking advantage of the opportunity to rescue Lin Jianlan out of the formation. What was even more inconvenient was that Yun Mengzhen did not want to hurt anyone and openly turned against Abbot Tanzong. Although both of them had extraordinary martial arts skills, they were immediately at a disadvantage.
This situation gave Lin Jianlan some time to think. Although he was still unable to move due to the severe pain in his chest and back, he could think about the past few days again and again. He did not shout, but said calmly to Tan Zong: "Grandpa, I have never hurt you. I have lost all my internal strength at the moment. Wu Chang over there was also a member of the Yukou Division. He came to assassinate me first, but he also lost his internal strength while fighting with me. I am also confused as to why this happened."
Tanzong did not say anything, but just shook his hand, with no anger on his face. Lin Jianlan suddenly realized that although all his disciples were furious, Tanzong did not doubt him in his heart, and this happened to help him out of the predicament and save both his life and Wanxiu's life.
Lin Jianlan was relieved at this moment, and he pondered to himself: "Is there something strange in this forest? But that's not right. Yun Mengzhen and the man in black are not unusual, and Abbot Tanzong didn't lose all his internal energy until he arrived in this forest. But Wu Chang's moves were sharp and his internal energy was abundant at the beginning, but he slowly lost it when he came here to fight me. What's going on?"
While he was thinking, he heard two muffled groans. Lin Jianlan looked up hurriedly and saw that the two abbots had fallen out of the formation. The Arhat formation was immediately in chaos. The rest of the monks were all surprised and horrified. Although some of them were still trying their best to perform their moves, they seemed weak and powerless. They were beaten to pieces by Yun Mengzhen and the man in black. In an instant, only the two of them and Lin Jianlan were left standing in the arena, and the rest of the monks were all injured and fell to the ground.
The three of them were also stunned. Lin Jianlan realized in a moment that these abbots were probably tricked. Yun Mengzhen and the man in black were still confused. At first, they were very suffocated when surrounded by the Arhat formation. They didn't expect that it would become easier as the fight went on. In the end, this formation formed by dozens of monks from famous temples was like tofu and fell apart at the first touch.
Dao Zheng used all his strength to stand up and said, "Master Yun, you and Abbot Tanzong are old acquaintances, why did you poison him?"
Although Yun Mengzhen wanted to explain, he had seen Wu Chang's condition before, and this group of monks were also like that just now. Only the two of them were fine. It seemed that there was really someone secretly helping them in this forest.
The two of them couldn't help but look around, and only heard the rustling of leaves in the night wind, but there was nothing unusual. Thinking that the most important thing at the moment was business, there was no point in explaining any more. Yun Mengzhen just smiled, picked up his whisk and walked towards Lin Jianlan, intending to solve this difficult problem personally.
Lin Jianlan's mind was racing, and he felt as if something flashed through his mind. Seeing him approaching step by step, he could not concentrate. Yun Mengzhen raised the whisk high. Wan Xiu hurriedly closed her eyes, but tears welled up in her eyes again. Her body had already fallen on the blanket disobediently, and her clothes were soaked with sweat from the shock. But she heard Lin Jianlan shouting, "Wait!"
Yun Mengzhen was also startled by the sudden shout, and then he heard the young man under the whisk say loudly: "Before I die, I want to say a few words to Abbot Tanzong."
The man in black hurriedly said, "Master Yun, there is no point in talking any more. I'm afraid it will cause complications. It's better to act quickly."
Yun Mengzhen had originally thought so, but after hearing the reminder from the man in black, he felt unhappy and said, "It's just a delay until death comes. Tanzong is my old friend, and he has lost all his internal strength. How can he still stir up a huge wave?" After saying that, he turned to Lin Jianlan and said, "Tell me what you want to say quickly."
Lin Jianlan looked at Tan Zong and said, "Grandpa, I will be buried here and now. You and I met in front of the Kuangyi Gang that day, so we are destined to be together. I hope you can light three sticks of incense for me and recite a passage of scripture, then I will die with my eyes closed."
After hearing what he said, Yun Mengzhen looked at Lin Jianlan again and realized that he was the young man who had asked him to bring back the dead body in the purse at the door of the Kuang Yi Gang. It was just that he had not taken him seriously that day, and as some time had passed, he did not recognize him.
The man in black was anxious and was about to stop him, but Yun Mengzhen waved his hand and said, "I will do a good deed today, so that you will know before you die that Yu Kou Si is not heartless and ungrateful."
Tan Zong was startled. He really didn't expect that Lin Jianlan would ask for something before dying. He didn't know whether he really wanted to die or had other intentions. He could only whisper some instructions. After a while, Dao Zheng took out an incense burner from the car, picked up three incense sticks and inserted them into it. Just as he was about to light them, the man in black came with a sword. Before he could make a move, the three incense sticks in his hand were all half gone. He heard the man in black say coldly, "Only half an incense stick."
Lin Jianlan smiled bitterly and said, "Even half an incense stick is fine. I haven't even lived most of my life yet, why would I need a whole stick? It's just implicate you." The latter sentence was said to Wan Xiu, who almost fainted after hearing it. She just stared at Lin Jianlan and cried.
Dao Zheng had already lit the incense and placed it in front of Lin Jianlan. Tan Zong's voice of chanting was particularly clear in the dense forest at night: "...Thus I have heard. Once the Buddha was in Trayastrimsa Heaven, preaching to his mother..."
For Wan Xiu, that half incense stick was the fastest burning in her life. She looked up and saw Lin Jianlan sitting on the ground with his head lowered on his arms with no expression visible. She felt even more heartbroken.
The incense burned too slowly for Yunmeng Zhen and the man in black. Seeing the three red dots gradually move downward under the moonlight, they finally went out at the bottom. Tan Zong was thinking: "... After such ineffable sounds, there are countless heavenly dragons, ghosts and gods in the Saha world and other countries..." Seeing the incense go out, he was stunned and didn't know whether to continue. He heard the man in black say: "The incense has burned out. This is the first time that Yukousi has treated a dying person like you well." After saying that, he walked towards Lin Jianlan, but his whole body went limp, without any strength. He couldn't even hold the long sword firmly in his hand. He suddenly collapsed to the ground. At the same time, he heard some noises in the woods beside the open space. He was shocked and immediately looked at Yunmeng Zhen, but saw that he was also sitting on the ground with a bitter smile on his face. Looking around, more than 20 people were staggering in the woods, and they were all ambushed by others.
At this time, a person on the ground moved, but did not say a word. He covered his nose and staggered towards the edge of the forest. After a while, he came back and helped another person in with his right hand. He still covered his mouth and nose with his left hand and put that person on the open ground. He smiled and said to Wan Xiu, "I'm suffocating!"
Wan Xiu was really surprised and happy, crying and laughing, "You, you scared me to death! Who is he?"
Everyone looked over and saw that the man was dressed in white and was masked. Although they suspected that he was the one who poisoned them, how could someone poison himself? After thinking about it, they understood that he must be the one who followed them and was poisoned as well. He was really unlucky.
Lin Jianlan stopped talking, waved his hand, and ran out of the forest again. He repeated this three or four times before the smell of sandalwood in the open space finally dissipated. When Tanzong left the temple, he just couldn't muster his internal strength, but everything else was normal. Now the symptoms were aggravated, and his whole body was sore. Seeing that Lin Jianlan was able to move, he couldn't help but wonder in his heart: "Could it be that this young man really poisoned him? Even if he wanted to find out about his father, he didn't have to be so decisive."
