Just as he was about to walk inward, Li Tao's face suddenly changed, and he turned his head and said, "Be careful!" ’’

As soon as the words came out, the heavy stone gate had already fallen to Li Bai. didn't have to think about it, Li Bai rolled around, and with a bang, the stone gate fell to the ground, shaking the loess flying, and before he could get up, a cold thing had already caught his throat. I felt a chill in my throat, and I didn't dare to make the slightest movement. Reluctantly turned his head sideways, and along his dry hand, he saw a person with gray sleeves and a blade in his hand faintly shining.

Li Tao sighed and then sounded: "Since you have entered the Buddha Gate, why bother to be persistent? ”

The man in the shadows paused, and after a moment, he said in a hoarse voice: "Everyone in the world is obsessed, is it only me?" ”

Even though his life was in the hands of that person, Li Bai couldn't help but shout: "Abbot of the Dharma!" ”

That's right, the old voice is unique to the abbot of Kobo.

"Sure enough, I was alert, and I could guess that it was me."

"It's not a guess, but I have proof!" Looking at the man in the shadows with a smile, Li Tao seemed completely unaware of the murder weapon in his hand.

"Evidence? How do you have proof? "The abbot seems to be a little unconvinced.

"I'll tell you something, and you'll understand!"

"You say!"

Li Tao said slowly: "I ...... three years ago"

……

Chang'an Tianci Temple is quite famous, every year up to the emperor and prime minister, down to the peddlers and pawns all come to worship the Buddha and listen to the scriptures, pay tribute to incense. But three years ago, a tragedy occurred overnight in this holy place of Buddhism, and Master Hongming, the abbot of Tianci Temple, died violently in the meditation room.

The reason why he died violently is because Hongming is in good health on weekdays and has no chronic illness. And in the prime of life, he suddenly died so inexplicably.

At that time, Jingzhao Yin Li Yan was shocked when he received the report, and this kind of thing happened in Chang'an City. If you want the emperor to know, not only will it be difficult to protect your official position, but I am afraid that even the lives of the whole family will have to be taken. The only chance to remedy the situation is to find out the truth and give an account to the imperial court. However, the doctor and the doctor examined the body and concluded that the cause of death was unknown, because the body had no scars on the whole body, and it did not look like it was poisoned. Some of the monks and servants said that this was the work of evil spirits and had taken away the abbot's spirit.

Li Yan stubbornly reported the speculation of the evil ghost asking for his life to the imperial court. He also asked the one hundred and eight monks in the temple to recite the mantra of the 7749 days of Vajra Fu to drive away the evil spirit. Fortunately, Zhongzong Li Xian did not pursue it much, and only ordered the abbot of Hongming to be buried.

But the matter is not over yet. A month later, Hongsheng, who had just succeeded Hongming as the abbot of the temple, died in the meditation room. The way to die is exactly the same as Hongming. Li Yan was shocked and angry, and sent hundreds of officials to surround Tianci Temple, preventing a single monk from escaping. He also interrogated the little novices who served the abbot on weekdays in their daily lives. Still nothing.

Even if Li Yan was full of suspicions, he couldn't do anything, so he had to send thirty yacha to guard the third abbot Hongzhi day and night, not letting anyone approach Hongzhi alone, and Hongzhi's daily diet was also checked to ensure that it was non-toxic before Hongzhi was allowed to eat.

Li Yan thought to himself, even if someone wanted to murder the abbot, there was no way to do it, right? Unless there are really invisible ghosts and gods in this world. However, the unexpected happened again, and Abbot Hongzhi also died. When he died, the outside of the meditation room was surrounded by thirty yacha like iron buckets.

Three monks died in Tianci Temple in March, and all of them were the most high-ranking presiding abbots. Zhongzong was furious, and he immediately reduced Li Yan to investigate. Chen Shi was appointed as Jing Zhaoyin, and the case was solved within two months.

The first thing Chen Shi did after he took office was to ask the elders of the temple: "What are the similarities or similarities between the three abbots who died during their lifetimes?" For example, living habits, hobbies, belongings, etc., ......"

Several elders thought for a moment, shook their heads and replied, "The three senior brothers who passed away had different personalities, Hongming had a quiet personality and liked to sit quietly and study the scriptures in his spare time; Hongsheng is generous and hearty, and loves to climb mountains and wade through rivers with his disciples to watch the scenery; Hongzhi is also moving and quiet, writing poems and painting when quiet, but if you meet VIPs to visit our temple, most of them are entertained by him, just because Hongzhi has eloquence and good popularity. ”

"What about belongings? When the three abbots died, what was the same on their bodies? ”

An old monk frowned and replied, "If you talk about the same object, then there are only prayer beads and robes. The rosary and robe used by the abbot of the temple have been passed down from generation to generation since the beginning of the previous dynasty, and are equivalent to the abbot's tokens. When the three brothers died, they were all wearing the same rosary and the same robe. ”

Chen Shi nodded, and asked again: "Then are the successive abbots appointed by the previous one, or are they jointly recommended?" ”

"Originally, it was appointed by the predecessor, but the three senior brothers all died suddenly, so the new abbot was recommended and evaluated by the monks according to their virtue, seniority, and cultivation."

Chen Shi carefully inspected the prayer beads and robes used by the three people, and still left thirty yacha to protect the fourth abbot to promote the Dharma, and returned home.

But it's strange to say that Hongsheng has been safe and sound since he took over as abbot. Those believers who thought that Tianci Temple was haunted were no longer worried, and they went to the mountain to worship the Buddha one after another.

Later, as the deadline set by the emperor to solve the case was getting closer and closer, Chen Shi was very anxious, and reluctantly took the path of Empress Wei, which saved his life and continued to stay in Jing Zhaoyin. However, the murder of the abbot of Tianci Temple has become a mystery.

……

"That's right, the fourth abbot you said is Lao Gao, so what?" After listening to Li Tao's story, the abbot of the Dharma said quietly.

"Actually, the murder of the abbot of Tianci Temple is not difficult to solve. The murderer killed three abbots in a row by the same method, obviously not out of personal vendettas. The new abbot was elected by the monks, so the murderer must be a monk in the temple who is virtuous, cultivated, and has a high seniority. The three victims have different personalities, habits, hobbies, and residences, so the murderer must have committed the murder process through the objects on the victim's body. The only thing they had in common when they were killed was that they were all wearing rosaries and robes used by the abbot. Therefore, I can conclude that the murder weapon was this rosary. ”

Hongfa did not speak in this regard, and Li Tao continued: "The murderer is cunning and cunning, and when he killed the three senior brothers, in order to make himself completely suspicious, he assigned his apprentice Yuan Jue to do it. Yuan Jue secretly dropped the bag of the prayer beads and replaced them with a string of prayer beads made of hen beads. Hen beads are the seeds of a highly toxic plant with a hard shell that is not easily damaged. However, once it is scratched or damaged, it will release a highly toxic odor, and people will be poisoned to death as long as they smell a little. On the night when the three abbots were killed, Yuan Jue released some small insects called thorn beetles near the abbot's meditation room, which came out day and night, and liked to suck the juice of the chicken mother beads, and the sharp needle-like mouthparts could easily pierce the hard shell of the chicken mother beads. The stinging beetle smelled the smell of the chicken beads, flew into the meditation room and pierced the chicken beads on Kobo's body, and poisoned the abbot by releasing the poisonous gas in the beads. The punctured hen bead drained the poison gas and turned into an ordinary bead. The cockroach always lives in a male and female pair, and only the male insect is released when Yuanjue kills, and the male worm sucks the juice of the hen bead and flies back to Yuanjue to gather with the female worm. Because the hen beads are produced in Tianzhu, which is extremely rare in the Central Plains, the doctor who performed the autopsy could not identify the toxicity. (To be continued......)