#909 - Yun'an Temple

The day after Yang Liu Shi and Xu Quan, along with that "Beauty Demon Queen", left Changliu Mountain with one hundred thousand demons, the news of the impending beast tide finally reached Su Qi's ears.

For the current situation in Linchuan City, this piece of bad news was undoubtedly adding insult to injury.

Yesterday morning, Wei Changtian "caused a great disturbance" in the government office, killing four people and taking away two, directly nipping the "Anti-Wei Alliance" in the bud.

After witnessing Wei Changtian's methods firsthand, the various forces of Daqian mostly dared not act rashly, each wanting to observe more.

In three days, even if Jing Guoqing set off from the capital immediately, it would be impossible to reach Linchuan.

Moreover, Su Qi couldn't find any reason to "trick" Jing Guoqing into coming.

So, now he seemed to be left with only one last choice.

That was to betray Wei Changtian in order to save the lives of the people of Linchuan City.

With a strong enemy pressing closer step by step, and himself isolated and helpless.

Su Qi already had no other way to go.

But even if this was the only way out, it was still very difficult to take this step.

After all, this was betraying the emperor and the country, which was the behavior he, as a member of the Qingliu faction, had once despised the most.

And until half an hour ago, Su Qi still had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

He truthfully reported everything to Jing Guoqing, hoping that the latter could stand up and turn the tide.

But just now, Jing Guoqing's reply completely extinguished this last hope.

【I will mobilize experts to go to Linchuan, but they will not be able to arrive within three days. You need to delay for a few more days.】

Mobilize experts?

Su Qi wasn't stupid. When he received this secret letter, he knew that Jing Guoqing had already abandoned Linchuan.

After all, if they could really mobilize enough experts to fight against Wei Changtian, defending the capital would be much easier than defending Linchuan.

In fact, if he stood in Jing Guoqing's shoes, this choice was understandable.

Even the slaughter of Linchuan City would be a good thing for the Jing family.

Because in this way, the hatred for Wei Changtian within Daqian would reach its peak, and Jing Guoqing could also use such popular resentment to protect his throne.

But Su Qi wasn't Jing Guoqing. No matter how he "put himself in his shoes", it was impossible for him to watch the people under his rule become sacrifices in this great chaos.

And just as this hope was shattered, and he was repeatedly struggling in the choice of "rebellion or not", Wei Changtian "timely" sent the last straw that broke the camel's back—

The beast tide.

Changliu Mountain, which had been peaceful, suddenly erupted in a beast tide, and its target was clearly Linchuan City.

How could Su Qi not know that this was Wei Changtian's doing?

In his opinion, this undoubtedly represented Wei Changtian's determination and ability to slaughter the city.

If they wanted to resist the beast tide, they had to have an army.

Although the number of garrison troops in Linchuan City was large, they might not be able to withstand these ferocious beasts.

Unless the 200,000 Daqian surrendered soldiers outside the city also participated in the war.

It was just that these surrendered soldiers were nominally Daqian soldiers, but in reality, they were controlled by the Tiangou Army. If Su Qi wanted to "borrow troops", he could only ask Wei Changtian.

And this also meant that he had to betray first.

Betray, borrow troops, repel the beast tide, and start a rebellion.

Only now did Su Qi realize that everything was planned, and even Wei Changtian had prepared his own "bargaining chip" for rebellion, which was the 200,000 surrendered soldiers.

Su Qi had always felt that he had a choice, but now he realized that his every move had always been within Wei Changtian's calculations.

Even, for him, being able to finish this play according to the "script" was already a good result.

What if Wei Changtian no longer needed him, but let the beast tide attack the city?

Slowly standing up, Su Qi's temples had unknowingly added a few strands of white hair.

He slowly walked out of the room, the golden morning sun fell on him, and even the half-sky of fiery red morning glow seemed to become lonely.

Su Qi finally made up his mind, but he was destined not to see Wei Changtian today.

Because just as he was heading to Guanyue Inn, the latter had already arrived at Yuna Temple, and was now clicking his tongue in amazement at the huge plaque.

Don't look down on Yuna Temple as not a big temple, but the temple plaque is very grand, at least much bigger than all the temples Wei Changtian had been to before.

And if there were no accidents, this should be the old beggar's foothold.

Of course, this was just Wei Changtian's guess.

Although the "signal" of Qianli Yanbo disappeared here, it might just be a coincidence.

However, Wei Changtian still felt that people would subconsciously go to places they were familiar with in times of crisis, so he came here.

Anyway, he had to try.

“. . . ”

Looking around, it was still early, and there were not many pilgrims here. There were several young monks sweeping the floor in the temple.

Because Wei Changtian had simply changed his appearance when he came, he was not afraid that anyone could easily recognize him. He swaggered into the temple and casually asked a young monk.

"Little master, I wonder if your abbot is currently in the temple?"

"Ah, this benefactor, do you have something to do with our abbot?"

The young monk raised his head and replied uncertainly, "I don't know if he is in. I need to ask to find out."

"Oh."

Wei Changtian nodded and casually made up a story, "My surname is Xiao. I recently made a fortune and feel uneasy, so I want to donate some incense money to Yuna Temple."

"Not much, about two or three thousand taels."

"Wh-what?"

Hearing Wei Changtian's words, the young monk's eyes widened instantly, and the broom in his hand also fell to the ground with a "pa da" sound.

Obviously, for a young monk like him who had never seen much of the world, two or three thousand taels was undoubtedly an astronomical figure.

And naturally, there was no problem at all for such a distinguished guest to want to see the abbot.

"Benefactor, please wait a moment. I'll go ask the abbot if he's in!"

"Okay, thank you, little master."

“. . . ”

Soon, the young monk ran away in a hurry, even forgetting to pick up the broom on the ground.

Wei Changtian watched his back run away, turned his head and carefully observed the layout of Yuna Temple.

It was not much different from ordinary temples. The place where he was standing now was the Hall of Heavenly Kings, which was the closest to the temple gate after entering the temple.

The Hall of Heavenly Kings enshrines the Four Heavenly Kings: Eastern Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Southern Virūḍhaka, Western Virūpākṣa, and Northern Vaiśravaṇa.

Simply put, they are four fierce-looking Buddhas.

It was quite similar to the red evil Buddha of the old beggar last night.

Clicking his tongue, Wei Changtian estimated that the young monk would be back in a while, so he walked into the Hall of Heavenly Kings.

And just as he crossed the hall door, the Buddhist eyes of the four Heavenly King statues moved at the same time.