freenovelworld Chapter 1948 The Cycle of Cause and Effect, Even This Old Monk is Caught in the Trouble!
Chapter 1948 The Cycle of Cause and Effect, Even This Old Monk is Caught in the Trouble!
Yuan Neng's lips trembled, as if he wanted to say something, but he could only utter indistinct breathy sounds.
Li Xiangnan's heart skipped a beat again, and his brows furrowed instantly.
This……
Could Yuan Neng's lungs have also been pierced by the sharp knife?
That's bad!
"Master Yuan Neng!?" In his haste, Li Xiangnan quickly clarified, "What do you want to say? Don't worry, I'm a criminal investigation consultant for the Municipal Public Security Bureau. I have the authority to help the police track down criminals! What do you want to say? Is the person who harmed you here? If you can hear me, give me a hint!"
Whether it was Li Xiangnan's words or not, Yuan Neng managed to open his eyes a crack, his gaze unfocused and wandering aimlessly in the air.
Li Xiangnan looked at him nervously, feeling goosebumps throbbing on his arms.
Ultimately, whether by coincidence or not, Yuan Neng's gaze fell upon Abbot Yuan Tong on the outskirts of the crowd.
Li Xiangnan's gaze then shifted back, and he saw the abbot, causing his heart to skip a beat again!
Is it Abbot Yuantong?
Was it Yuan Tong, Yuan Neng's senior brother, who harmed him?
No way?
Did Yuan Tong kill his own junior brother?
why?
Abbot Yuantong's stance should be good, right?
Or is this not what Yuan Neng wanted to say?
now.
Li Xiangnan noticed this.
Yuan Neng's pupils contracted sharply, and his fingers twitched very slightly, as if he wanted to raise them to point out Yuan Tong.
But when he tried to lift himself up, he no longer had the strength to do so.
His lips moved even more violently, and a broken syllable squeezed out: "Master...Master..."
What followed was immediately interrupted by a violent cough and a flurry of snowflakes, drowned out by endless suspicion.
"Senior brother? Is this what you mean?"
Li Xiangnan, however, keenly caught the word "teacher" and his gaze shot towards Yuan Tong like lightning.
Yuan Tong is Yuan Neng's senior brother. Was Yuan Neng pointing to Yuan Tong just now?
What exactly is he trying to say?
however--
Yuan Neng could only utter those two indistinct syllables before his head lolled to the side and he fell into a coma again, his breath even weaker than before.
"Quickly, carry him away! Get him to the hospital immediately!" Li Xiangnan didn't dare to delay and quickly waved his hand to instruct Guo Qian.
"go!"
Guo Qian shouted, and the crowd immediately carried the door panels and hurriedly rushed out of the temple.
Guo Qian left some people behind to continue sealing off and investigating the temple, while he himself took several police officers to the hospital to find out who had brought Yuan Neng back. Obviously, this was also an important clue!
Li Xiangnan even suspected that the person who sent Yuan Neng back was probably not the same group of people who harmed him!
Li Xiangnan did not follow immediately. He stood there, looking in the direction the door panel had left, lost in thought.
Finally, he turned around and his gaze fell back on Abbot Yuantong.
The wind in the square stirred up the ashes from the incense burner, sending them swirling and soaring into the sky.
The afterglow of the setting sun cast long, long shadows of the ancient temple, and also projected Yuan Tong's hunched figure onto the mottled ground, making him appear exceptionally lonely, yet also exuding an inexplicable depth.
"Abbot!" Li Xiangnan spoke slowly, his voice clear and calm in the empty square, "Master Yuan Neng seemed to want to speak to you just now!"
Hey!
Yuan Tong paused slightly as he plucked the prayer beads, then resumed the clattering sound. He looked up at Li Xiangnan, his expression remaining calm and composed.
"What does Benefactor Li want to say? Does he want to accuse Yuan Neng of murdering me? You've seen his condition; he's seriously injured and delirious. How can his words be taken seriously? Perhaps he's in unbearable pain and talking nonsense! Or perhaps he really has something to say to me, but the timing just doesn't work out!"
"is it?"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiangnan calmly retorted with a question, but took three steps forward, approaching Yuan Tong. Once he stopped, he could even smell the old monk's scent, a mixture of burnt remains, moisture, and sandalwood. "But, just before he lost consciousness, he looked at you and called you 'Senior Brother.' And before that, I asked him to identify the murderer... Do you think this was a plea for help or a deliberate act of identification?"
Yuan Tong lowered his eyes, looking at the prayer beads in his hand, and said in a low voice, "Is Benefactor Li sure he called him 'Senior Brother'? Although I am old, I am not blind. I do not think so!"
"..." Li Xiangnan stared at him intently.
"Moreover, it is only natural for fellow disciples to think of their senior brother in times of crisis! I have a deep bond with my junior brother Yuan Neng and am also very worried about him. I pray to Buddha for protection and hope that he can overcome this calamity!"
“The abbot just told me in the backyard that some people in the temple are troubled by worldly desires and worldly troubles,” Li Xiangnan said, not intending to let go of this opportunity to talk to Yuan Tong alone. He pressed on, “Master Yuan Neng is a servant monk in the temple. He is involved in all matters of the temple, from major repairs to minor things like candlesticks and nails! He is not in the temple today and was seriously injured and abandoned at the mountain gate. Is this related to what you mentioned, that he has been entangled in worldly karma?”
Yuan Tong suddenly raised his head and looked at Li Xiangnan.
"Or perhaps he knew something he shouldn't have known? Or perhaps his desire to extricate himself from certain unwarranted entanglements led to his own downfall?"
This statement almost explicitly states that Yuan Neng may have been involved in illegal activities, which is why he suffered this disaster!
Yuan Tong remained silent for a moment, then sent Yuan Hui, who was walking unsteadily in the distance, away.
Only the sound of the wind and the faint clamor in the distance remained in the square.
He remained silent for a long time, like an old monk in deep meditation, before letting out a long sigh.
That sigh contained so much, it seemed so heavy it could crush his thin shoulders.
"Benefactor Li is exceptionally intelligent; he may have already guessed seven or eight parts of some things!"
Yuan Tong finally raised his head and looked into Li Xiangnan's eyes. In the depths of those aged eyes, there was pain, helplessness, deep weariness, and a kind of resoluteness that Li Xiangnan could not understand.
"However, guessing it might not be a good thing! Some truths are like a red-hot iron; holding them in your hand can hurt both yourself and others!"
"Yuan Neng's current calamity may be due to karma... The cycle of cause and effect continues, and I too am caught in this calamity!"
He admitted it!
Although he didn't say anything explicitly, in Li Xiangnan's specific context, these words almost admitted that Yuan Neng was involved in trouble.
Moreover, this trouble is related to the temple's secrets, and even to Yuan Tong himself!
That phrase, "also caught in the calamity," reveals an almost pessimistic sense of fate!
"Abbot!"
Li Xiangnan's voice also lowered, "The Mu family's clay figurine is hidden under the Buddha statue, Yuan Neng is seriously injured and on the verge of death, someone in the temple set fire to the old archives... Are all these things really just as simple as 'karma' and 'cause and effect'? Or is there an invisible hand behind it all, manipulating, covering up, and eliminating them?"
He took a step closer and could almost feel the cool aura emanating from the old monk.
“Abbot, you are highly respected and have cultivated for decades! You should know better than anyone that true compassion is not about watching sins happen, nor is it about covering up the truth with silence!”
"Mu Huanying, what happened to the Mu family, which has more than a hundred members, back then? The bombing of the Mu family a few months ago killed Mu Zelin!"
"What role did this temple play in all of this? Who sculpted those clay figures, and with what were their intentions, before quietly concealing them? And who exactly did Yuan Neng provoke?"
"These questions...do you really not know the answers? Or do you know them, but you can't say them?"
A series of incredibly sharp, almost confrontational questions struck Yuan Tong's heart like heavy hammer blows!
The old monk's body trembled almost imperceptibly, and the knuckles of his fingers holding the prayer beads suddenly turned white.
He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something subconsciously, but in the end, he could only look at Li Xiangnan with a complicated expression.
Ultimately, it turned into an even longer, more mournful sigh.
“Benefactor Li…”