Lord of Earth Fiend

Chapter 128 The tragedy caused by a penny

There are more than ten people in this team, the composition is complex, men, women, old and young, everything is available.Their attire is quite uniform, with red scarves on their heads and white robes, and their behavior and actions look well-trained.

Two of them were carrying a shrine, like a small bridge, in which was enshrined a statue of a god, with a red curtain hanging down, it was difficult to see the appearance of the god inside.

There are also old men holding flags and banners; children holding incense burners;

Around the ranks, there were still many people gathered around, holding incense sticks and bowing down one after another with fanatical demeanor.

These people are true believers.

Seeing this, Chen Jin immediately thought of a word: Youshen!
The leader is a woman in her early twenties, with a dignified and beautiful appearance, wearing a beaded crown and a rosy robe.

Holding a special white cloth bag in her hand, she held it in front of her body, and said in her mouth: "Bodhisattvas do good deeds, form good karma, cultivate both blessings and wisdom, please donate from outsiders."

Chen Jin listened, and thought to himself: Maitreya taught these slogans to be quite decent, and it seems that he has studied Buddhist scriptures, so he said "foreign money".

According to Buddhist scriptures, there are three types of almsgiving, which are Dharma almsgiving, wealth almsgiving, and fearless almsgiving.

Dharma alms is to preach the Dharma and develop believers; Fearless alms is to stand up and comfort all living beings when encountering disasters and terrorist incidents;
Wealth alms, as its name suggests, is divided into internal wealth and external wealth. Among them, "internal wealth" refers to a person's body, such as the legendary "feeding a tiger with a body" and "cutting meat to feed an eagle", etc., which belong to internal wealth.

Giving external wealth means directly giving things outside the body, gold, silver and money.

However, with the style of Maitreya teaching, applying Buddhist terminology at this moment seems fake and shoddy, funny and ironic.

Chen Jin took out a penny and was about to throw it into the cloth bag.

Unexpectedly, the woman suddenly said: "Shop owner, at least you have to give me a consistent amount of money."

Chen Jin questioned: "But the tax that the yamen stipulates to collect?"

"It's the amount set by my religion, and it coincides with the opening of the temple fair, so we need to collect enough."

"Hehe, sorry, I'm not religious."

After all, a penny fell into the cloth bag accurately, and collided with the gold, silver and copper coins inside, making a ding sound.

The woman looked at him: "Your Excellency despises the new Buddha, this is unwise, please think twice before acting."

Chen Jin said indifferently: "The business of my shop is deserted, and I can't sell much at all. A donation is enough to show my sincerity."

The woman sneered, "If that's the case, then you should do it yourself."

After finishing speaking, he turned and left, leading the guard of honor to the next house.

When Chu Xiucai saw it, he couldn't help but said: "My lord, you are too impulsive, just give them the money all the time, why offend the Maitreya Sect because of this? They are not easy to provoke."

Chen Jindao: "You said earlier that when the Maitreya religion first emerged, it only accepted donations from believers. As it developed, it began to collect money from every household. When everyone obeys and there is no resistance, then they will naturally intensify. Originally Once a year is collected, it will gradually become once every six months, or even once a month; as for the donation amount, the reason why one penny is accepted is to numb the public, thinking that a penny is worthless, so just give it away Please feel at ease. But when the other party's appetite is raised, the minimum limit will be increased from one penny to two pennies, or more. At that time, how will the people respond? Just like now, taking advantage of the temple fair, every family The store has to give Yiguan money, how absurd!"

Chu Xiucai knew that what he said was right, but living in the market place, he had long been accustomed to the way of thinking of calming things down, and murmured: "Although I have said that, I have offended the new Buddha, and it is said that I will suffer disaster retribution."

Chen Jin said directly: "If the other party suffers disaster and retribution because of this, it proves that it is not a Buddha at all, but a demon."

Chu Xiucai: "..."

He didn't dare to accept these words casually.

Chen Jin asked again: "Tell me, what does the so-called disaster retribution look like?"

"I've heard of several cases. One case was that the owner of the household had an inexplicable illness and couldn't seek medical treatment. Finally, he drank a glass of red scarf amulet water taught by Maitreya and healed immediately; It was cleaned up; there was another case, someone was speechless and scolded the new Buddha. He had a dream at night and was stunned. He ran to the kitchen and cut off his tongue with a knife. Fortunately, his family members rescued him in time. I saved my life, and finally became a mute..."

Speaking of these, Chu Xiucai couldn't help shivering all over.Although these things are all heard, they are all serious and true, and I feel terrible when I think about it.

"Has anyone been killed because of this?"

"I've never heard of that."

Chen Jin mused and understood a little: Maitreya Sect had some scruples about manipulating people's beliefs. They didn't directly kill people, so as to make business with the government, but it also achieved the purpose of intimidation and deterrence.

This thought is quite strict, not a rabble.

What Chen Jin wondered was, is this religion aimed at making money, or does it have other ambitions?It doesn't look like a rebellion because it is so close to the government.

In this regard, it is completely different from Tongwenhui.

But it's hard to say, it may be the reason why the upper management decided to take a roundabout route.

Chu Xiucai reminded: "My lord, we have to be more careful, the weather is dry these days, so be careful of the fire and candles in the store."

The implication is to be alert to being set on fire.

He is a scholar, so he is not so easy to be fooled. In fact, he knows in his heart what the inside story of those "disaster retribution" is.But understanding is one thing, without the ability to fight, without the courage to fight to the death, one can only go with the flow and accept it.

This is the helplessness and sorrow of the little people.

Chen Jin said: "Don't worry, I can handle it myself."

Thinking of all the good things about this young master, Chu Xiucai couldn't help but calm down.

……

As night fell, in the southwest of Jiangzhou, not far from Confucian Temple Street, in a house.

The lights were brightly lit, and everyone lined up.

A young and beautiful woman is reporting loudly. She is the leader who led the team to Wenmiao Street to collect foreign money from door to door today.

After listening, the white-haired old man in the upper seat asked: "What is the origin of the Sanwei Study that is only willing to give a penny?"

"Reporting to Xiangzhu, the slaves have inquired. The owner of the shop is named Chen, and he came from Lingnan. He has no foundation in Jiangzhou, but I heard that his calligraphy works are very popular in his shop. More investigation is needed. "

"Hehe, it turns out that he is an outsider, no wonder he doesn't understand the rules."

The woman asked: "Master Xiang, what shall we do?"

The person in charge of the local state government of the Tongwenhui is called the "rudder master"; while the Maitreya religion is called the "fragrance master" to distinguish it.The name of the rudder master has the atmosphere of the rivers and lakes, and the name of the incense master has the meaning of sectarian incense.

The white-haired incense master said indifferently: "There is no need to investigate any more, just burn the shop directly. This is to let others know that those who dare to disrespect the new Buddha will be punished by disaster. But be careful, you can only burn one of his shops, don't get involved Don't go home, it's hard to clean up if you make a big mess."

"Okay, I will immediately arrange for people to do it."

"Let's move on to the next important thing. The Confucian Temple Fair will be held in three days. This year's meeting is extraordinary. The leader has issued a decree, saying that there will be rare treasures born during the temple fair, and my religion is bound to win it."

Immediately someone asked: "What is the strange treasure?"

The white-haired incense master replied: "I don't know for the time being, but it should belong to the treasure of pretending to be dirty. After obtaining it, the statue of the supreme Buddha body of my religion will be more complete, and its power will be doubled. The great cause is just around the corner."

"Sakyamuni Buddha declines, Maitreya Buddha is alive..."

Everyone raised their chests with one hand and chanted in unison, with fanaticism on their faces.

"Hehe, what a nest of snakes and mice are hiding here."

Suddenly there was a long, high-pitched laugh.

"who?"

The guard in charge of guarding outside shouted, followed by the sound of "clinking" weapons being handed over, followed by several screams, and the sound of bodies falling to the ground.

The face of the white-haired incense master changed: "There are foreign enemies invading, we will meet them."

Lead the crowd out.

But I saw a green-robed scholar appearing in the courtyard, with a refined face, three short beards, and a long folding fan in his hand, as if he was strolling and admiring the moon, he was indescribably romantic.

It's just that at his feet, there are several guards of the Maitreya sect falling in disorder.

The white-haired incense master focused his gaze: "You, who are you?"

The green-robed scholar said with a sneer, "A dying person is not worthy of asking my family's name."

Stretching out the folding fan, he attacked directly.

It turned out that his weapon was this Qimen fan, the fan bones were made of fine iron, the fan surface was made of copper wire, it was extremely tough and its moves were wonderful.

When the white-haired incense master saw it, he knew that the visitor was not good, and immediately shouted: "Let's stand shoulder to shoulder and kill him."

Seven or eight people showed their weapons one after another and surrounded them.

Even with one enemy, the green-robed scholar is unafraid and able to handle a lot of tasks with ease. When he spreads the fan in his hand, it becomes a stick, a pen when it is opened, and a shield, a knife and an axe when it is opened.

On the other hand, the members of the Maitreya Sect, although they have an advantage in numbers, are not good at attacking together, and they seem a bit chaotic.Even several times between the companions, each other almost suffered accidental injury.

Maitreya's teaching is based on the way of worship by the believers, with the purpose of the new Buddha. His followers are from mixed backgrounds, good and bad, and there are only a handful of them who can be called first-class masters.

Naturally, the white-haired perfumer was not on the list.

However, the Qingpao scholar has identified him as the leader of this place, and based on the principle of "killing the first evil", he attacked with all his might.

Snapped!
The long knife in the hand of the white-haired incense master was slapped away. He turned pale with fright, and hastily grabbed the companion next to him, but it was that beautiful woman, who pulled her in front of him, and used her as a meat shield, and took the green robe for life. A blow from the scholar's fan.

This blow was powerful and heavy, the woman's head was broken, her neck was crooked, she died immediately, and died.

Being blocked by this, Baifa Xiang escaped dangerously, avoiding Zhang Yuan, suddenly remembered something, and shouted: "Jiang Youcheng! You are the idiot Jiang Youcheng, one of the four famous envoys of the Tongwenhui!"

Jiang Youcheng, a green-robed scholar, said coldly: "You bastard, you still have some knowledge."

After being confirmed, the soul of the white-haired incense master was all dead, and he no longer had the slightest will to fight, so he shouted: "You stop him!"

He turned around and ran away.

Jiang Youben wanted to chase after him, but was entangled by those Maitreya disciples.

These people can be regarded as the backbone of the Jiangzhou branch. They are deeply influenced by religious brainwashing, believe in fanaticism, and are not afraid of death.

But he said that the white-haired incense master quickly jumped out of the courtyard wall and ran away, he was shocked: he really didn't expect that there were people from Tongwenhui in Jiangzhou, and they were such powerful people.

A while ago, the inner factory used tricks to send a large number of cavalry to set up an ambush, which attracted Yan Nanfei, the chief rudder of Tongwenhui, to show up, but unfortunately, the success fell short in the end, and Yan Nanfei escaped.

However, the inner factory was not without gains, beheading many Tongwenhui experts, including the rudder leader of the Jiangzhou sub-helm, Judge Xiao.

So far, the power of Tongwenhui's Jiangzhou branch has almost been uprooted and completely lost.

It is precisely because of this that the Jiangzhou branch of the Maitreya Sect has no scruples and has become more domineering.

You must know that the Maitreya Sect and Tong Wenhui have always been at odds with each other. Tong Wenhui can't understand the Maitreya Sect's bluffing and deceiving and stealing people's wealth, but if there is a chance, they will take action against it.

In fact, regarding Yan Nanfei's whereabouts information, the Maitreya Sect did a lot of work in reporting the information to the inner factory.

Tongwenhui disappeared in Jiangzhou, and the local branch of Maitreya Sect, under the leadership of Baifa Xiangzhu, quickly dispatched and developed everywhere. They wanted to take the opportunity to search for it, but unexpectedly, Jiang Youcheng, one of the four famous envoys of Tongwenhui, came to visit Jiangzhou is here.

What is he doing here?
Investigate the traitor, and come here specially to kill the traitor?
Or, is it also for the strange treasure that might be born during the temple fair?
Baifaxiang's main thoughts were messy, and he couldn't figure it out for a while.

After running wildly for a while, he was a little tired, so he slowed down and looked back, Jiang Youcheng did not catch up.

The opponent is being fought to the death by several backbones of his subordinates, no matter how high his martial arts are, it is difficult to free his hand in a short time.

Jiang Youcheng is not Yan Nanfei.

And with this time, the white-haired incense master is confident that he can escape.

"Hey, so I ran to Confucian Temple Street."

At night, the wind is quite strong tonight, blowing whirringly.

Confucian Temple Street is closed at night and bustling with people during the day, but at this moment, it is deserted and quiet.

The night wind blew up the scattered garbage, making it look a bit bleak.

The white-haired incense master was panting, thinking about walking slowly for a while, taking a rest, and then turned and fled in another direction.

All of a sudden, there was a warning in his heart, his reaction was not unpleasant, but it was not as fast as the sword.

The sword's edge was like a light, piercing sharply into the white-haired Xiangzhu's ribs.

With a scream, he stumbled forward a few steps, only then could he turn around and look at the mysterious man in black clothes and a bamboo hat.

"You, who are you?"

The man's voice was indifferent: "You came to burn my shop, and you still don't know who I am?"

"Burn your shop?"

The white-haired incense master was full of doubts, looked up, and by the moonlight, he happened to see the banner plaque of the shop next to him, with four big characters written on it: Sanwei Study.

He felt a little familiar with the name of the store, as if he had heard it from somewhere.

By the way, Sanwei Study, that bookstore that only donates a penny during the day.During the previous meeting, the white-haired incense master had ordered that someone should be arranged to burn the shop.

However, it was too late to make arrangements, and Jiang Youcheng came to kill him.

Then he fled here by himself, and suffered a solid blow from the sword.

What kind of exquisite sword technique is that?
But no, didn't it mean that this store is an outsider from Lingnan, an ordinary person with no roots?
The white-haired incense master wanted to ask more clearly, but the one who answered him was the swifter Jianfeng...

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(End of this chapter)