This is one of the neighboring cities of Dachuan City, Dayun City.
The light faded, and the scenery in front of me gradually came into view.
The place where Gu Li brought Li Leping was not a noisy and bustling city center.
This place looks more like a quiet, remote mountainous area, with a dark and depressing surrounding, no lights, and no trace of human habitation.
What we were treading on was not a modern asphalt road, but a yellow mud road, but the road surface was not as soft and smelly as when the evil spirits broke out in Qingshi Village.
It was surrounded by a circle of wild weeds, as if no one had taken care of it for a long time.
To be precise, this place doesn't look like a place where people would come.
But at this moment, Li Leping's eyes were locked tightly, unable to look away.
Because in front of him, a small temple that seemed to have been abandoned for a long time appeared in his sight.
This small temple stands in the darkness, as if it has been abandoned for many years. Some of the stone walls in all directions have collapsed, and the remaining stone walls that can still stand look like they have been exposed to wind and sun for many years.
There are a few cracks.
Among the cracks, there are several tenacious weeds growing.
Li Leping had no doubt that as long as he pushed up, he would definitely be able to create another hole in the wall of this ruined temple.
It's just that he doesn't want to do this.
Because, at the entrance of the ruined temple, where the door was half crooked, a bald man wearing a red-yellow cassock was standing there with his hands clasped together and his eyes closed, looking pious.
I don't know what he was saying in his mouth, maybe he was reciting some kind of scripture?
"Monk?"
Li Leping looked at the bald man standing at the entrance of the ruined temple. He was tall and thin, his eyes were a little indifferent, and his skin color was abnormally sallow, but he did not look like he was malnourished due to too much vegetarian food.
"There are still monks in this ruined temple in the wilderness?"
"What monk would guard such a ruined temple?"
This bald man is dressed quite like a monk, but his appearance is actually a bit young, with an ordinary appearance, and he looks about the same age as Gu Li, who is about 23 or 24 years old.
Li Leping had never seen anyone who became a monk at such a young age.
What made Li Leping even more cautious was that the monk was wearing a mask on his face.
The mask covered half of the monk's face, and the shape seemed a bit like the Vajra mask described in Buddhism. The mouth was open and the eyes were wide, and the ferocious expression revealed a ferocious and majestic atmosphere.
However, for some reason, Li Leping always felt that there was a strange aura lingering on this King Kong mask.
Because normal King Kong masks should be painted with thick and bright colors, with red, yellow, blue, green, black, and other colors visible on them. They are gorgeous and at the same time give the mask a sense of reality.
However, the mask on the monk's face seemed to have peeled paint. The color on it had faded a lot, and most of it was filled with a decaying dark brown.
The originally majestic and upright King Kong mask became even more hateful and looked full of disturbing aura.
Those wide eyes seemed to be glaring at everyone who looked at it.
"This donor, could you please stop shining your flashlight on me?"
At this moment, the monk who had been clasping his hands spoke up.
The voice was gentle, but also tinged with some helplessness.
"Oh, sorry."
Li Leping moved the flashlight away.
He now knew why the monk had his eyes closed and looked somewhat pious.
Because there were two high-beam dogs in front of him.
Just because of his status, it was not convenient for him to speak arrogantly, so he waited for Li Leping to take the initiative to turn off the lights.
Unexpectedly, Li Leping's focus was entirely on observing him and the temple behind him. Where could he think of these things.
"Haha, Lao Jiang, long time no see."
At this time, Gu Li stepped forward and said hello cordially.
"We just met two weeks ago. Also, please don't shine your flashlight on me."
The monk opposite opened his eyes slightly, showing an indifferent expression.
He and Gu Li seemed to know each other, and his speech was very direct, without any beating around the bush.
"Forehead."
Gu Li dimmed the flashlight with some embarrassment, but his tone was still casual, as if he was talking to an old friend: "Hello? Jiang Hao, don't be so cold."
"I'm not indifferent."
The monk named Jiang Hao put down his clasped hands and looked at Gu Lida: "You don't know that I have a bad mood when I get up, and I have a regular schedule and rest on time at ten o'clock every day. But today someone came up after one o'clock in the morning.
He even called me and woke me up."
It sounded like he was a little unhappy about being woken up suddenly.
"Haha, I know, I know."
A bright smile appeared on Gu Li's face. He looked at Jiang Hao and patted Li Leping on the shoulder, saying, "But there is nothing we can do. I have a friend here who is in urgent need of your help."
With that said, Gu Li pointed at Jiang Hao and introduced: "Let me introduce, Jiang Hao, my old classmate. We are all in the same school in junior high school and high school, and we are from the same class."
"But I don't know what this person thinks. He applied for a Buddhist college in Dayun City as a college candidate, and now he has become a monk."
"By the way, he is now the person in charge of Dayun City."
Hearing these words, Li Leping looked at the ordinary monk in front of him in surprise.
Although looking at Jiang Hao's appearance and the mask on his face, one can vaguely guess that he is a ghost controller.
However, Li Leping never expected that the person in charge of Dayun City was actually a monk.
Now, in an ethical sense, he has truly transcended the evil spirits.
When Li Leping was amazed, Gu Li also briefly introduced him to Jiang Hao.
"Well, I understand."
Jiang Hao didn't pay attention to Li Leping's awe-inspiring look when he looked at him, nor did he pay attention to Gu Li's introduction to him. Instead, he stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation: "Come with me."
After saying this, he turned around and walked into the dark ruined temple.
However, before doing so, he took out a candle from his wide cuff and lit it.
Illuminated by the fire, he walked ahead like a wandering monk guiding the way.
"Let's go." Gu Li gave Li Leping a look.
The two of them followed Jiang Hao and entered the courtyard, which had been abandoned and dilapidated for many years.
On the wall, the gate is almost peeling off. The original red paint has been mottled and blackened, and it is full of corrosion holes.
The three of them took steps and walked on a path paved with stone slabs. The sides of the path and the gaps between the stone slabs were also covered with weeds.
Especially the weeds on both sides of the path, waist-high weeds, are almost as tall as the weeds Li Leping saw in the woods of Qingshi Village.
Soon, along the stone brick road, the three of them arrived outside the dilapidated temple.
After walking up the front steps and passing through an entrance without a door, Li Leping finally arrived at this small temple located in the courtyard.
There is a Buddha statue enshrined in the old small temple, but the gold paint on the Buddha statue has peeled off a lot, revealing the original metal color of the Buddha statue.
The gold paint is unevenly distributed on the dark-colored Buddha statue, coupled with the pair of human-drawn eyes, giving this Buddha statue a strange and disharmonious feeling.