Starting My Cultivation With Time Management-Chapter 902 - 42 Analysis
Chapter 902 -42 Analysis
“So all the adult monks outside are impostors?” Ming Zhi stared at the monk inside the coffin, frowned, and said nothing.
The monk who tended the Scriptural Repository would chat with him briefly every time he went to borrow books.
The monk’s voice, appearance, and mannerisms were no different from any ordinary person, yet his true body turned out to be dead here!
Wait… it wasn’t entirely without abnormalities.
Pallid complexion, lifeless demeanor, speaking weakly, sclera more prominent than pupils—these were obvious signs of oddities, but I subconsciously ignored them after seeing them so frequently.
What connection do these symptoms have with the impostor monks?
Making sure he left no trace, Ming Zhi silently returned to the east wing.
As he passed the main hall, he could hear the ceremony was still ongoing; it seemed no one had noticed him.
The next morning, Ming Zhi gradually awakened from Meditative Concentration and heard little Jianxing knocking at the door outside.
The surveillance capability of Golden Cicada Temple’s grand formation was almost pervasive; even Ming Zhi’s casual questions to Jianwu on the roadside the other day were swiftly relayed to the abbot. If Jianxing visited too frequently, suspicion from the abbot was inevitable.
Ming Zhi had Ah Jing’s Illusion Technique as protection, allowing him to move freely within the temple; but Jianxing, the second Hell Path operative, lacked such advantage and visited under the guise of cleaning Ming Zhi’s meditation chamber, passing sound-transmitted messages in secret every one or two days to exchange intelligence.
“Did No. 9 go to the rear hall last night?” Jianxing asked via sound transmission while sweeping the floor with a broom.
“Yes.” Ming Zhi replied calmly, holding a Buddhist Scripture. “How did you know?”
“Just a guess,” Jianxing said. “At this point, if you hadn’t gone to investigate, I’d really start thinking you became a monk for genuine study of Buddhism.”
“As long as no flaw is exposed and we aren’t discovered, it’s fine.” Ming Zhi exhaled slightly in relief.
“What did you see in the rear hall?” Jianxing continued.
“Didn’t you investigate it yourself?” Ming Zhi countered with a question.
“I did.” Jianxing answered, “My cultivation of this secret technique to conceal aura was specifically to evade temple surveillance and investigate that rear hall.”
“But instead of uncovering the mysteries of the rear hall, it only weakened my aura… Putting that aside, what did you see No. 9? Let’s compare notes and fill in gaps; it’ll help analyze things quicker.”
This No. 2 operative, stammering during normal conversations, was surprisingly eloquent via sound transmission. Ming Zhi smiled inwardly and said aloud:
“In that case, let me go first.”
“I saw many sandalwood coffins in the rear hall.”
“Exactly,” Jianxing agreed, “And inside each coffin lies the corpses of the temple’s monks!”
“Indeed!” Ming Zhi continued, “But I only saw adult monks—no child novices; also, the abbot’s corpse was absent.”
“Same as what I saw.” Jianxing’s tone turned grim. “This vast Golden Cicada Temple has long been occupied by cuckoos in the nest—truly strange!”
“While that’s true, there remain many unanswered questions,” Ming Zhi pondered aloud. “First, if murder and impersonation were the purpose, the bodies should have been destroyed. Why preserve the corpses and blatantly display them in the rear hall without any attempt at concealment?”
“I suspect it’s deliberately left for us to see,” Jianxing mused. “Schemes within schemes, layers of obfuscation. Denying visibility is the first level; what you see is the second level; the true third level lies even deeper beneath.”
“Second is the question of numbers,” Ming Zhi continued. “If murder and impersonation are occurring, why target only adult monks and not child novices? Furthermore, the abbot’s absence—does it mean he isn’t dead or has been separately hidden?”
“This I know a bit about,” Jianxing replied. “The adult monks in the temple are all born within this Dwelling Cave Heaven; however, the child novices were all adopted from the outside world.”
“Oh?” Ming Zhi’s eyes widened. “The Buddhist Sect forbids marriage—how could they have offspring?”
“There’s something you don’t know,” Jianxing sighed. “Ordinary Buddhist sects do forbid marriage and recruit disciples widely from the outside, bringing them into the temple to cultivate. Aging monks who enter nirvana are replaced similarly, ensuring stable numbers of monks in the sect.”
“But Golden Cicada Temple is quite different. Here, monks pass their duties from father to son, perpetuating lineage. After children are born, their mothers raise them in the mountain town below.”
“When they turn twenty, they marry and have children. By thirty, they leave the mountain town, ascend the temple, shave their heads, and take vows to become monks.”
“This cycle repeats generation after generation, ensuring Golden Cicada Temple remains self-sustained without interacting with the outside world.”
“But for reasons unknown, about seven or eight years ago, a sudden earthquake struck within the Dwelling Cave Heaven.”
“An earthquake?” Ming Zhi asked in astonishment.
“This Dwelling Cave Heaven is already isolated from the Divine Land—how could there still be earthquakes?”
“I don’t know the specifics,” Jianxing replied eerily. “That earthquake nearly completely destroyed the mountain town below, with no survivors among the residents.”
“With the monk source gone and material supply cut off, Golden Cicada Temple had no choice but to open the Dwelling Cave Heaven, seeking assistance from external Buddhist sects and adopting child novices to replenish their ranks… That’s when our sect discovered Golden Cicada Temple’s traces and assigned me to infiltrate it for reconnaissance.”
“I see,” Ming Zhi nodded pensively.
In other words, Golden Cicada Temple’s monks were comprised of two groups.
One consisted of adult monks, the murder victims displayed in the rear hall—all born and raised within this Dwelling Cave Heaven.
The other consisted of child novices, entirely adopted from the outside world.
From this realization arose a natural answer, surfacing from the depths of his mind.
The earthquake seven or eight years ago seemed to carry hidden truths, not only killing the residents of the mountain town below but also taking the lives of the monks within Golden Cicada Temple.
Then… for reasons unknown, a large group of usurpers arrived, impersonating the dead monks to continue running Golden Cicada Temple.
“By the way, No. 2,” Ming Zhi suddenly asked, “Have you noticed the monks outside all look very peculiar?”
“You mean their lack of vitality, right?” Jianxing replied. “Indeed, I thought they were practicing Withered Wood Zen, but if it results in complete absence of vitality like this, it’s still bizarre.”
Withered Wood Zen? Ming Zhi pondered briefly, then dismissed the possibility.
Withered Wood Zen trains the body to exhaustion while strengthening the Divine Soul, relying on the body to nourish the soul—a fringe technique.
But the impostor monks in Golden Cicada Temple not only appeared emaciated, their Divine Souls were extraordinarily weak as well. If Withered Wood Zen resulted in this state, it might be better renamed “Suicide Zen.”
It seemed… he would have to find an opportunity to investigate the abandoned mountain town below.
