C1 Oran Temple

The night was deeper.

A crescent moon in the horizon was like a hook.

The mountains rose and fell continuously, layer upon layer. It was endless, as if there was a dormant beast hiding in the endless silence.

The military officers wore flying fish uniforms, and wore embroidered sabers at their waists. They rode tall and big horses. Although they only rode a dozen horses, their galloping horses' hooves broke through the sand and rocks. Their imposing manner could be said to be unstoppable.

The leader's name was Lu Zhinan, he was around twenty years old, with a heroic air around him, yet there was gentleness mixed within, he did not seem to be overbearing. He was the only son of the Grand Princess Han-shan, Marquis An Ping of the Emperor Yongle's Imperial title. He had been instructed to know from the third rank Embroidered Uniform Guard that he was in charge of the Southern and Northern Secrets Division.

The mountain road snaked and the mountain road turned.

Passing through the dense forest, he saw a long and wide courtyard in front of him. On top of the courtyard was an ancient temple with red walls and gray tiles. Green grass and fragrant flowers grew around the temple.

Lu Zhinan skillfully pulled on the reins, the horse's front hooves raised into the air. It let out a long hiss and steadily stopped. He flew down, his star-like eyes clear and bright against the cold moonlight.

"Lanruo Temple."

Lu Zhinan stared at the wooden engravings on the plaque above the hall door and muttered.

A gust of cold wind blew past, and the copper bell hanging from the corner of the flying eaves trembled, emitting a crisp "ding dang dang" sound.

"Young duke, we've run for two days and are already tired. Why don't you rest here for the night and continue tomorrow morning?"

The one who spoke was Liu Cheng from the Fourteenth Department of the Jinling's Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Lu Zhinan looked around and frowned: "In the wilderness, a temple is nothing, it's really strange."

Liu Cheng placed his hands on his waist, and said casually: "What's there to be surprised about? The temple was built in the wilderness, far from the secular world. From the looks of it, although it does not have a large structure, it is not abandoned and has not been abandoned.

While they were talking, the temple door creaked open.

An old monk with a head full of white eyebrows appeared from the shadows. He was wearing a coarse monastic robe and was holding a wind lantern.

"I did not know that the various officials would come today. This old monk has come far to welcome you. Please forgive me, please forgive me."

Liu Cheng cupped his hands and said: "Greetings, Zen Master. We were on our way late at night and missed the station. I wonder if we could spend the night at your temple? "

The old monk lowered his eyebrows and said with a smile, "All living beings are destined to meet. "My lords, please follow this old monk."

"Thank you, Zen Master."

Just as Liu Cheng was about to enter the temple, he was stopped by a raise of his hand.

"Hold on."

Liu Cheng raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "Young Marquis, what's wrong?"

Lu Zhinan pursed his lips, the glint in his eyes gradually becoming deep and dark. She seemed to see strands and strands of black fog circling and lingering around the temple, and the old monk's thin back, was unusually light.

"There's something fishy going on here, we have to be on our guard."

Liu Cheng laughed loudly: "Young Marquis, are you scared by the Zhenjiang City's case? Does everyone look like the culprit? "Be at ease, we have a dozen men here. Just with him as a small temple, what kind of waves can a few monks create?"

Lu Zhinan was gentle and magnanimous, even though he was of noble birth and held great authority in the Imperial Secret Service, he had never been arrogant and despotic, looking down on everyone else. came from a martial general family, had an impatient temperament and an arrogant heart. Adding that he had been in the Imperial Secret Service for many years, he knew Lu Zhinan's personality well and was not afraid of him.

Liu Cheng waved his hands, and shouted to the field officers in embroidered clothes behind him: "Brothers, let's go. He gnawed on the dried rations as his mouth began to bubble. He then asked the old monk to prepare some fast food for us ? "

When they thought about being able to eat a hot meal and have a good night's sleep, the field officers wearing embroidered clothes felt even more exhausted. They walked forward one by one and escorted Liu Cheng into the temple.

Lu Zhinan secretly sighed, and could only follow along.

The old monk led the military officers in silk clothing through the patio and into the side hall. He pushed open the door, then stood to one side and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please enter."

The side hall was empty. There were only a few prayer mats scattered on the ground, each with an oil lamp lit at each corner. The lamp was the size of a broad bean, flickering with light.

"Liu-ge, look, there's a mural on the wall."

A military officer dressed in silk clothing said.

Hearing that, Liu Cheng quickly moved closer, and saw that on the grey and white wall to the west, there were many colourful beautiful women painted.

Liu Cheng scratched his chin, and laughed sinisterly: "What kind of method does this temple have, to actually have women's frescoes? "But she's really pretty. She's even prettier than a girl from the Yi-Hong Yuan."

One of them even walked in front of the wall and reached out his hand to touch the mural. "Her charming eyes are slanted back to the bottom of the tent, and her soft breasts are pressed tightly against the lamp. "Such a beauty, such a beauty."

Liu Cheng smacked him on the head, reprimanding him half with a smile: "Hey, you're reciting that crooked poem, haven't you not had a woman for a long time, do you have to face that painting with your true feelings?"

Just as he finished speaking, the wooden door closed with a bang. That loud sound caught everyone off guard, giving them a fright.

Liu Cheng looked unhappily: What's going on?

As he said that, he walked forward quickly and used both hands to pull at the doorknob. However, no matter how hard Liu Cheng tried, the wooden door remained tightly shut, tightly sewn shut.

"So f * cking strange."

Liu Cheng was infuriated, and he cursed in a low voice.

"Heehee."

"Hahaha."

Suddenly low and high, sometimes far and sometimes close, there was a girl's delicate laughter constantly resounding in the side chamber. The sound lingered in spirals, causing one's hair to stand on end.

The military officers dressed in silk clothing looked left and right, but they didn't see a single person. Everyone greeted each other with respect. After a long while, they finally managed to squeeze out a sentence, "Did you cause a ghost?"

Liu Cheng became anxious and shouted loudly: "Open the door, old monk, quickly open the door and let us out, if not I will pull your tendons and skin, and grind your bones to dust."

"Liu Cheng, be quiet. Don't waste your energy."

Hearing that, Liu Cheng was startled, he then turned to look at Lu Zhinan who had been silent ever since he entered the temple, he hid himself in the darkness where the dim light of the fire could not reach, his face could not be seen, only his skinny body like a green bamboo, indifferent and straight, there was a knot in his chest.

"Young duke ?"

Liu Cheng had not even finished speaking, all he saw was a thick smoke grey mist rolling in from all directions, quickly spreading out, and in the blink of an eye, the dense fog had already engulfed his calves.

The military officers in embroidered clothing were indeed well-trained elites. Under the cover of panic, they were able to immediately move and put up a defensive formation.

The thick fog was like a living vine, growing thick hooks bit by bit, following that, it wantonly wrapped itself around the field officers in silk clothing. Everyone felt as if their bones were being frozen. They could feel the chill penetrating their skin and burrowing into their bones. They struggled as hard as they could, trying to break free from the shackles of the thick fog, but they were becoming increasingly tightly bound.

Strangely, the vine in the dense fog seemed to be afraid of Lu Zhinan, but as the hook latched onto him, it seemed to have met a burning coal, and had no choice but to retreat in a dispirited manner.