Lu Guangqi ordered all the statues to be moved away and carried to a distance of ten miles.
Lin Xiaodong opened his Dharma eyes and saw that the golden light was indeed much dimmed. However, he looked around and still found nothing, so he shook his head repeatedly.
Gao Anhe nodded: "So, he must have hid far away."
Lin Xiaodong said: "At least there must be a direction, otherwise we will just look for a needle in a haystack. By the time we find it, the villagers will be in dire straits."
Gao Anhe gritted his teeth and said in anger: "Catch all the wizards, goddesses, Taoist priests, and Mr. Yin and Yang around the village."
This is no better than finding a needle in a haystack, but there is no better way at the moment.
Everyone returned to the county town. Gao Anhe, Luo Jincheng, Chen Shilan, and Xu Simin all went to the county government office to interrogate the arrested people one by one. Lin Xiaodong returned to the inn and explored Dingzhong for clues.
Unexpectedly, one day passed and Xu Simin knocked on Lin Xiaodong's door: "Master Lin?"
Lin Xiaodong left Ding and came to open the door. Xu Simin said: "Let's go, let's eat."
Lin Xiaodong asked: "Any clues?"
Xu Simin curled his lips and shook his head: "Although Qiyun Dao doesn't have a big sect, there are countless witchcraft passed down from family to family. Now I think everyone looks like a heretic."
Lin Xiaodong said: "I observed in Dingzhong and found that the black energy of witchcraft is everywhere here."
Xu Simin stamped her feet anxiously and was about to cry: "This is a family of more than a hundred people. What will happen if something happens!"
Lin Xiaodong shook his head helplessly. The two of them went to Gao'an's house and had dinner together, but neither of them was interested.
One night passed, and the next morning, Lu Guangqi brought people to the inn early in the morning. He looked for Gao Anhe in a panic, and shouted outside the door: "It's not good! Master Gao, someone is missing again!"
Gao An and others came to open the door without even putting on their clothes. Lin Xiaodong and others heard the noise and hurried over.
Lu Guangqi said anxiously: "The government servants who went to Jihuai Village to move the statues yesterday were all missing last night!"
Lin Xiaodong slapped his thigh after hearing this: "There is something wrong with the statue!"
Everyone suddenly realized, Gao Anhe arranged: "Luo Jincheng and Chen Shilan will go with me to investigate, while Taoist Lin and Xu Simin will go to the village to see the statues."
Song Jianzhong took 20 officers and soldiers, followed Lin Xiaodong and Xu Simin to Shangzhuang Village, and the statues of Jihuai Village were moved to the Tianwang Temple here.
Lin Xiaodong took a closer look and saw that the King of Heaven was like a golden light, and he could not sense any evil or evil energy.
Xu Simin raised his head and blinked, confused: "This is nothing."
Lin Xiaodong closed his eyes and sensed in concentration, but found nothing unusual.
He opened his eyes and sneered: "Hidden so deeply!"
After saying that, his body became a shadow, and now he could finally see that at the foot of the one-foot-tall statue of the Heavenly King, there were many small statues the size of palms, one of which was glowing with blood-red light.
Lin Xiaodong regained his figure, picked up the statue, and looked at it carefully. It was the image of a Taoist, holding a whisk in his left hand and a mirror in his right hand.
He turned around and showed it to everyone, asking, "What kind of statue is this?"
Xu Simin stared at it for a while, then shook her head: "I don't know, I've never seen such a statue before."
Song Jianzhong looked at it and waved his hand: "I don't understand these things either."
Lin Xiaodong thought for a while and said: "Go and ask Muramasa to come."
Song Jianzhong sent officers and soldiers to call the village leader Wang Zhiqiang, and asked respectfully: "Sir, Taoist Priest, what do you want from me?"
Lin Xiaodong asked: "Do you know about the disappearance of the villagers in the next village?"
Wang Zhiqiang nodded: "I know, the village now arranges people to patrol and keep vigil at night."
Lin Xiaodong picked up the statue and showed it to him: "Do you recognize this statue?"
Wang Zhiqiang shook his head: "I don't know you, what's wrong?"
Lin Xiaodong asked: "Does anyone know him?"
Wang Zhiqiang thought for a while and said: "I should know Li Xianpo in the village. I will go find her right away."
Li Xianpo, who was in her sixties, was stooped and her legs and feet were not very agile. She came to Lin Xiaodong and asked: "Taoist Master, what do you want to do with my old lady?"
Lin Xiaodong took the statue and asked, "Who is this statue?"
Li Xianpo came closer and looked at it carefully for a while, then shook her head: "I don't know, where did this come from?"
Lin Xiaodong said: "The Tianwang Temple in Jihuai Village.
'Li Xianpo wondered: "It's strange. The Temple of the Heavenly King only worships the Heavenly King, Jianlao Earth God, Mountain God, and River God. There are regulations. Where did this statue come from?"
Lin Xiaodong thought for a moment and said to Song Jianzhong: "Send people to other surrounding villages to see if there are any such statues. Bring them all and ask if anyone knows them."
Song Jianzhong took the order and took people to the Tianwang Temple in other villages. As expected, they all found the statue. They brought it back and gave it to Lin Xiaodong, who piled it on the ground.
Li Xianpo was surprised and said: "Do these things exist in the Tianwang temples in several surrounding villages?"
Lin Xiaodong's expression became more solemn: "No matter what we are planning, the scale is not small. These villages combined must have at least 500 villagers."
Xu Simin was frightened: "What should we do?"
Lin Xiaodong glanced at the five or six statues on the ground, snapped his fingers, and burned them all with fire.
Song Jianzhong said: "I've asked, but no one knows this statue, but I'm sure it was put in later. It didn't exist when the temple was first built."
Li Xianpo lowered her head and thought for a while, then asked Lin Xiaodong: "How about I ask Bai Xiangu?"
Lin Xiaodong nodded: "Okay, you can ask."
Li Xianpo grabbed a handful of incense ash, sprinkled some patterns on the ground, and then began to dance and recite incantations with her eyes closed.
Song Jianzhong was stunned as he watched on the sidelines, thinking that he was both a Taoist priest and a goddess, how could the eunuch handle the case so wildly?
After Li Xianpo finished reciting the incantation, she suddenly trembled, her face looked like a different person, her waist was no longer stooped, she straightened up, her eyes glowed with gold, and her voice became younger, and she said: "Xingling Mountain, Yezi
hour."
After saying that, Li Xianpo's body softened and she fell to the ground, regaining her consciousness.
Lin Xiaodong said to Song Jianzhong: "Miss Xu and I will go to Xingling Mountain for a trip. You can go back."
Song Jianzhong took people back to the county town. Lin Xiaodong and Xu Simin found out the way and escaped to Xingling Mountain.
This mountain is twenty miles south of Jihuai Village. It is difficult to call it a mountain. It is better to call it a hill or a ridge. It is covered with poplar trees and has no human habitation.
At the foot of the mountain, Lin Xiaodong raised his eyes and saw that the mountain was covered with green trees and it was quiet and there was nothing suspicious.
Xu Simin spread his hands and said: "There is nothing here."
Lin Xiaodong took a breath, closed his eyes, and searched carefully in the uncertainty, but still found nothing.
Xu Simin asked: "How?"
Lin Xiaodong said: "I don't know if this person is more skilled in magic, or if there is really nothing here."
Xu Simin walked forward: "Let's go up the mountain and have a look."
The two men walked around the mountain and found nothing.
It was already noon. Song Jianzhong went back and told Gao Anhe that Lin Xiaodong and Xu Simin went to Xingling Mountain.