The entrance to the secret passage is hidden under the meditation bed, and the secret room of the secret passage is built in the middle of the mountain, which is a very ingenious design. The entrance is topped with a layer of green bricks, which is particularly ingenious.

If it weren't for the comrades who suspected that there was a problem in the meditation room, if it wasn't for Master Chen hearing a voice that shouldn't have been heard, if it weren't for Zhao Zimeng's insistence on his judgment, it would have been really difficult to find the secret passage.

The two young nuns who disappeared in this room must have something to do with this secret passage, so are the three missing nuns in Jingping related to this secret passage? Is there a connection between the meditation room in the West Zen Monastery where the three nuns lived and this secret passage?

When the eighth stone staircase was revealed, the earth was gone, and in its place were stone walls—the so-called stone walls, which were actually made of stacked stones—and the stones were covered with black soil.

The stones were relatively large, each stone was about seventy or eighty pounds—the size and shape of these stones were about the same as the stones on the stone walls on both sides of the tunnel.

With Abbot Huijue's current age and health, she alone would not be able to complete such a large project—it was not a small project in terms of the amount of earthwork alone.

Erzhu found a rattan frame and a flat pole, and Master Chen used a brick knife to pry out a gap in the south frame of the meditation bed for easy entry and exit. Several craftsmen work together to put the stone into the basket, and two craftsmen carry the stone out of the meditation room, one after the other.

Now, the craftsmen have nothing to worry about.

Each stone was wet, both from the humidity of the stone and from the black dirt on the stone, which came from a dark and damp place, and there was no doubt that the stone should have come from the Chamber of Secrets.

Master Chen's words also confirmed Zhao Zimeng's judgment: "There are no such stones on our construction site. "The construction site that Master Chen is talking about is the Tibetan Scripture Hall that is being renovated.

When Master Chen pried a few stones from the top of the second layer of stones, he saw a flat stone slab standing behind the second layer of stone wall, which should be used to block the secret passage.

After the second layer of stones was cleared, a large stone slab was erected in front of everyone's eyes.

The large stone slabs are stuck in the stone walls on both sides.

Erzhu took two crowbars, one for each of Master Chen's apprentices, and inserted the crowbars into the gap under the slate—the only gap around the slate.

The master and apprentice worked together, but unfortunately, the slate did not move at all—the back of the slate must have been held against something—or it was sealed with earth.

"Captain Zhao, what should I do?" Master Chen pulled out the crowbar, straightened up, and looked at Zhao Zimeng.

"Do you have sledgehammers?"

"Yes."

"Smash the slate with a sledgehammer."

A craftsman rushed out of the meditation room.

After a while, the craftsman walked into the meditation room with a sledgehammer on his shoulder.

Erzhu took the sledgehammer and spit a mouthful of saliva on the palm of his right hand, and then picked up the sledgehammer and slammed it from the outside to the inside, in parallel. The hammer is only as powerful as it is exerted from the top down, but unfortunately, the height of the dark passage is limited, so the hammer can only be swept in parallel.

"Captain Zhao, the sound I heard last night should have come from here, and now, I finally figured it out, it was the sound made when stacking green bricks and moving stones, although the sound was not loud, it sounded very clear in the night." Master Chen said.

The second pillar picked up the hammer and smashed it five more times on the slate, but there was still no reaction on the slate except for a few sparks.

Master Chen walked up to the slate and tapped it a few times with the back of a brick knife, while putting his ear to the slab and listening.

"Master Chen, isn't the slate very thick?" Zhao Zimeng asked.

"Yes, the slate is indeed thick."

"Is there a way to move this slab out of the way?"

"There is a way, I'm afraid that the slate will be completely blocked."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm worried there's something behind this slate. Captain Zhao, I have been working in the temple with my master since I was eighteen years old, and my master's ancestors were craftsmen who built temples, and my master said that almost all temples have underground palace secret rooms. ”

"This stone slab is specially used to block the entrance to the secret room, Mingchen Nunnery is the largest nunnery in the Jiangnan area, there must be a secret room in the underground palace, and this should not be the only entrance. Therefore, there should be more than one stone slab blocking the entrance. ”

"They already know you've found the entrance to the chamber. Therefore, I will definitely try my best to seal the entrance of this secret passage, as long as this entrance is kept, the secret room of the underground palace of Mingchen Nunnery will be preserved - the secret room of the underground palace will be kept by the secret of Mingchen Nunnery. ”

"I think this Mingchen Nunnery is not simple, all the secrets of Mingchen Nunnery may be hidden in the secret room of the underground palace. Your case may also have something to do with this dungeon chamber. ”

"Are you trying to say that if they gather all the stone slabs at the other entrances to the chamber here, it will be very difficult to open?"

"That's what I meant."

"So, we can only try?"

"I'm afraid not now, we have to be careful."

"Why?"

"I'm also worried that there are other mechanisms behind the slate."

"How can we open this stone door?"

"Please come out of the mountain."

"Please ask your master to come out of the mountain? Could it be that he knew the layout of the secret room of the underground palace of Mingchen Nunnery? ”

"My master is a stonemason, and no matter what kind of stone comes to his hand, it will be torn apart after a few hammers. The point is that my master has a way to deal with the mechanism in the secret room. My only concern is time. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"My master went back to his hometown five years ago."

"Where does he live? We can send someone to pick him up. ”

"My master is in Fengyang, Anhui Province, and I don't know how he is now? I hope his old man's body is still strong. ”

So, Zhao Zimeng immediately sent Xiang Daimo to follow Master Chen to Fengyang, Anhui Province to pick up Foreman Chen's master.

After the two left, Zhao Zimeng sent Xiao Luhan, Ma Jianping, and Lu Qian to immediately monitor and follow Abbot Huijue, and of course, Master Nianci. More importantly, guard the front and back doors of Mingchen Nunnery.

At present, the comrades can only do this, there are many buildings in Mingchen Nunnery, and no one knows about the other entrances to the secret room. So, controlling the two old nuns and the two mountain gates is the only option.

Zhao Zimeng and Linghu Yunfei had already realized that opening the entrance to the secret passage and entering the underground palace - or secret room did not mean that they had found evidence of the disappearance of several nuns.

At this point, the adversary is likely to use the limited time to destroy – or divert evidence of the crime. And the main purpose of the opponent to block the entrance to the dark passage with a stone slab is probably to gain more evidence for himself. If there are other entrances to the dungeon secret room - there is no doubt that there must be other entrances to the dungeon secret room of Mingchen Nunnery.

At around one o'clock, Xiao Luhan arranged Ma Jianping in the woods outside the main gate of Mingchen Nunnery.

After that, Xiao Luhan took Lu Qian along the root of the courtyard wall from west to east, and then from south to north, to the inside of Tallinn outside the back door of Mingchen Nunnery - the author here to add that outside the back door of Mingchen Nunnery, there is a Tallinn, which is the resting place of the abbots of the past dynasties.

Xiao Luhan left Lu Qian in Tallinn.

Xiao Luhan followed the root of the wall from north to south, and then from east to west, from the main gate into Mingchen Nunnery.

The old nun who opened the door for Xiao Luhan was still the old nun before, she was carrying a lantern in her hand, perhaps she was used to this kind of work, the old nun was not grinding at all, although there was no expression on her face, but there was no complaint, and her movements were quick. Without saying a word, she opened and closed the door, and when she was done, she walked into the porter unhurriedly.

Xiao Luhan felt that he should say hello to the old man, at least he should know her legal name: "Master, thank you." ”

The old nun stopped, turned to Xiao Luhan, bowed her head slightly, and folded her hands: "Amitabha." ”

"May I ask the master's legal name."

"Poor Nifa is silent."

"Master Mo Ran, after we entered the temple, we caused you a lot of trouble."

"Amitabha."

The faint light of the lantern reflected the uncertain face of Master Mo Ran.

"Master Mo Ran is expensive this year?"

"One in seventy."

"How many years have you been practicing at Mingchen Temple?"

"The poor nun became a monk at the age of seventeen and went to Mingchen Nunnery."

"Master Mo Ran, there is one thing, I don't know whether to ask or not?"

"As long as the poor nun knows, he must know everything."

"Mingchen Nunnery has a secret room in the underground palace, do you know this?"

"I don't know, how do you know?"

"We found the entrance to a secret room under the meditation bed in the third meditation room of the Tibetan Scripture Hall."

"There is such a thing, which is unheard of by poor nuns." Master Mo Ran's voice was like a bell, she didn't seem to shy away at all, and when she spoke, she didn't control the volume at all.

This is very different from the way other nuns in the monastery speak. Earlier, the comrades had already come into contact with a few nuns, who spoke little, and when they spoke, they always tried desperately to keep their voices down.

"Master Mo Ran, as far as we know, in Mingchen Nunnery, together with Jingping, a total of five young masters have disappeared mysteriously, as the oldest master in Ming Chen'an, what do you think of this matter?"

"The poor nun is just a gatekeeper, and the Buddhist affairs in the monastery are rarely involved, so the poor nun knows very little about the things in the monastery."

"When the master in the temple goes down the mountain, he will definitely go through this gate, you recall, have you seen anyone walk out of this gate, I mean Jingping, Qingshui, Xiuzhu, Mo Wei and Zhishui."

"If they want to leave the monastery, they just need to take down the door bar, and they don't need to alarm the poor nuns."

Mo Ran's attitude was lukewarm, and the conversation could only end here, and in the context of the time, it was really not suitable to talk too much.

After Xiao Luhan said goodbye to Mo Ran, he returned to the West Zen Temple, and Lin Di was the only one in the meditation room.

"Lin Di, where is Captain Zhao?"

"The captain has gone to the Jingwu Hall to monitor Abbot Huijue. He asked Captain Linghu Yunfei to go to the Eastern Zen Monastery to monitor Nian Ci Shitai. Be sure to come back here before dawn. The captain said that we can't be idle until Master Chen returns. ”