Chapter 3959 Sweeping Monk

The day we arrived, the people from Guandao made their move. They were incredibly fast; we weren't even prepared.

Fortunately, the Buddha's relics at Qixia Temple have already been moved, so we have nothing to worry about. This is a battle of annihilation where we wait for the rabbit to run into the trap. The special investigation team has already set up a tight net, just waiting for the people from Yiguandao to walk right into it.

My only concern is that the people at the pass might be using a feint, and this place is just a decoy. If that happens, things will be much more difficult.

We are in a very passive situation right now, and we can only take it one step at a time.

Since it is a secret operation, we cannot make a big fuss about it, lest we alert the enemy.

The special investigation team stationed near Jinling acted in batches, infiltrating towards Qixia Temple. When they got close to Qixia Temple, everyone had to activate their invisibility talismans and find a hidden place to hide.

Judging from the situation, the people from Yiguandao probably haven't made a move yet; it's just that Tang Shangning's side learned in advance that they were going to make a move tonight.

Our group from the Sixth Regiment, led by Yuan Kong, headed towards Qixia Temple.

Yuan Kong is a local of Nanjing, so he is quite familiar with the roads in this area.

Qixia Temple was not far from the Jinling Special Investigation Team. We arrived near Qixia Temple in less than half an hour.

Once we arrived at the destination, we all activated our invisibility talismans and headed towards Qixia Temple.

At the very center of Qixia Temple's main gate is a large gate, flanked by two smaller gates, symbolizing the "Three Gates of Liberation" in Buddhism. A plaque hangs in the center of the main gate, bearing the four large, gilded characters "Qixia Ancient Temple" on a blue background.

Qixia Temple is surrounded by mountains on three sides and borders the Yangtze River to the north, earning it the reputation of being the most beautiful mountain in Jinling (Nanjing).

We had originally arrived at the entrance of Qixia Temple and were just waiting there for the people from the Guandao sect to come in.

But that slovenly Taoist priest never plays by the rules. He said to wait here, but by the time the Taoist priests arrive, it will be too late. We must wait inside Qixia Temple and ambush them from the shadows. That's the style of our Sixth Regiment.

Over the years, although the slovenly Taoist priest was a scoundrel, his bad ideas were sometimes quite effective.

So we had Kassan lead the way to find a good hiding place, preferably near the stupa, and we would follow shortly after.

Kasang responded and immediately vanished into the void. The rest of us followed closely behind and directly crossed the mountain gate of Qixia Temple.

It was already late at night, and Qixia Temple was very quiet. There must be many eminent monks living here, after all, Qixia Temple is one of the four ancient temples in China.

Before long, we entered the ancient temple. I carefully sensed the area and could clearly detect the presence of a magic array, but it was not activated.

In the event of any great danger, the magic array within Qixia Temple will inevitably activate, trapping everyone who enters the temple inside.

After entering Qixia Temple, we planned to take a walk around the temple to familiarize ourselves with the terrain. The reason for this was that when we needed to escape, we had to find the right place to avoid losing our lives here.

We huddled together and walked carefully through the temple. Before long, we saw a lake in front of us, with a small pavilion in the center and a winding bridge connecting it to the shore.

We passed through the main hall, the scripture pavilion, and several courtyards, and also saw some places where monks practiced and lived.

I think the monks at Qixia Temple must have received the news and are ready to act at any time. They are just pretending to be calm right now. Once the people from the Guandao appear, these monks from Qixia Temple will definitely be at the forefront.

After passing through the courtyard, behind Qixia Temple lies the famous Thousand Buddha Cliff, where large and small Buddha statues dazzle the eye, and there is also a large Buddha Pavilion, which is the largest grotto here.

After we familiarized ourselves with the surroundings, Kassan suddenly appeared among us. He told us that he had found the stupa and a place where we could hide, and beckoned us to come over.

We were already very familiar with the terrain here, so we followed Kasang back to the area east of Qixia Temple, where there was a stupa. Yuankong told us that this stupa was a Buddhist stone pagoda from the Five Dynasties period of China and was the largest stupa in China.

Not far from the stupa is a small hill covered with lush trees, which is perfect for hiding one's figure.

A few of us crouched on that small hillside, staring at the stupa in front of us.

We've been here for almost an hour, and we've circled Qixia Mountain, but the people from Yiguandao haven't shown up yet. I'm starting to suspect that Tang Shangning might have received another false message.

After waiting a while, I started to feel sleepy, and Little Fatty was already snoring.

I kicked the chubby boy in the butt, and he perked up a bit.

Just then, Kassan suddenly whispered, "Look, what's that flying in the sky?"

Hearing Kasang's commotion, we all looked up at the same time, and saw a black dot in the distance. The black dot was flying towards Qixia Temple, and it was getting bigger and bigger as it got closer.

I felt that thing was like a giant black bat, with its eyes glowing red in the darkness.

We were all stunned when we saw this.

We had imagined many scenarios of the people from the First Pass appearing before us, but we never expected them to actually fly down from the sky.

A few minutes later, the huge black shadow flew to the vicinity of the stupa.

Good heavens, I thought it was a giant bat. But when the monster got closer, I realized it was a species I had never seen before. The monster's head was twice the size of a bull's head, its mouth was full of fangs, its eyes were as red as lanterns, and its four claws were extremely sharp.

The monster's wings were similar to those of a bat; it flew silently and made no sound when it landed on the ground.

As soon as the monster landed, three masked men in black jumped off its body and headed straight for the stupa.

Before the three masked men in black could get close to the stupa, suddenly, an old monk emerged from one side of the stupa, carrying a broom and sweeping the fallen leaves near the stupa.

Good heavens, could this old monk be the legendary Sweeping Monk?

Seeing this, I felt something was wrong. How could only three people from the Guandao sect come to steal the Buddha's relics from the stupa? This was a blatant disregard for the monks of Qixia Temple.

Upon seeing the old monk appear, the three men in black stopped in their tracks.

"Gentlemen, what brings you to Qixia Temple so late at night?" the old monk asked without even looking up.