Chapter 111: Confessing Without Being Tortured

"I don't... I don't know you!"

Qian Cheng's hands were trembling. In his pupils, Xiaoshi Tou was grinning with scarlet lips. The glittering Buddha statue behind him didn't show the mercy of saving all living beings at this moment. Instead, it looked a bit ferocious in the dim light. Extreme fear made his eyes almost pop out of their sockets. His throat was like it was locked with a Lu Ban lock, and his scream was suppressed in his throat and then swallowed back down.

"Really?" Xiaoshi Tou maintained the posture of leaning over and staring straight at him. His eyes, as black as grapes, reflected Qian Cheng's panic. He tilted his head and said, "When you had someone smash Master's head with a vajra pestle, I was standing outside the door..." It seemed that since he couldn't get any useful answer from Qian Cheng, he grinned ferociously. "How could you forget?!"

"Sir! Sir!" Qian Cheng pounced towards Pan Haiyun, who was standing in front of the offering table, like a drowning man. His steps were unsteady. Pan Haiyun turned around but seemed not to see him. He smiled and called out towards the door, "Master Baoshan." Qian Cheng followed the sound but didn't dare to turn around. He stretched out his fat hand and was about to grab the hem of Pan Haiyun's robe. Unexpectedly, Pan Haiyun took a step back. His hand reached towards the bottom of the offering table and was about to grab the leg bone of the decaying corpse.

With a strange scream from Qian Cheng, all the lights in the Main Hall went out. He shuddered and threw away the sticky, torn-off limb in his hand. He called out to Pan Haiyun twice. After getting no response, he shouted loudly to boost his courage in his fear and shock, "I wasn't afraid of you when you were alive! How could I be afraid of you now that you're dead!"

A cluster of faint white firelight suddenly appeared. Xiaoshi Tou's pale face suddenly emerged beside Qian Cheng. He held his hands together in a gesture of greeting and looked up at Qian Cheng. Before he could speak, a low chanting sound came from the Buddhist hall, as if the monks were gathering here to recite scriptures during the usual evening classes.

In the empty Buddhist hall, it sounded a bit ethereal.

Pan Yueqing and the others had already retreated behind the nanmu pillars on both sides. Qian Cheng covered his temples and let out a heart-rending scream, "I didn't want to kill you! Why couldn't you just be obedient?! I didn't want to kill you at all!"

Xiaoshi Tou remained silent and took a step closer, staring at Qian Cheng with a deep gaze. After Qian Cheng's scream subsided a bit, he let out a soft laugh. Qian Cheng had evil intentions in his heart. He let out a strange scream and raised his hand to strangle Xiaoshi Tou's neck. At this moment, the most bizarre thing happened. His hand was raised high in the air, but it couldn't come down.

A gust of cold wind suddenly swept through the dimly lit Buddhist hall. Su Ruoqing squinted his eyes. He clearly saw a silver needle coming from behind the Buddha's head just now. Pan Yueqing couldn't hold back anymore. She raised her hand and pressed it on the short blade at her waist. But before she could act, Xiaoshi Tou, as if he had expected Qian Cheng's action, raised a vajra pestle from behind his back and held it high above his head. He gave Qian Cheng a strange smile and said, "A life for a life!" "Ah! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" Qian Cheng's hand was raised in a comical posture in the air. His legs went weak and he fell to the ground. He turned his head away and even felt a chill on his scalp.

Xiaoshi Tou's hand stopped. "You have committed heinous crimes. You will surely fall into hell and never find peace!"

After saying that, he bent down and blew gently into Qian Cheng's ear, "Look back. The masters are standing right behind you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the chanting sound became clearer. Qian Cheng couldn't move. He glanced around with his peripheral vision. But it was extremely dark all around. Under the influence of his psychology, it seemed that there were indeed countless corpses and ghosts hiding in the darkness, grinning at him. He let out several strange screams and begged and negotiated with Xiaoshi Tou, "You... What do you want... I'll build temples for you! I'll offer incense to you! Don't kill me! No..."

"Are you willing to offer sacrifices?" Xiaoshi Tou looked at Qian Cheng with big eyes like a child. He squatted down and looked at him at the same level. "It has to be a golden statue."

"Okay! Okay, okay!" Qian Cheng thought there was a glimmer of hope and nodded frantically.

Xiaoshi Tou stared at Qian Cheng. "Can it be as good as the statue you sent last time?"

Qian Cheng nodded like a chick pecking at rice. "Yes! I'll even specially build a pure gold statue of a boy for you! Just as good as that solid statue behind you!" Now he just wanted to be spared. He was sure that he was definitely trapped by the "ghost blocking the way". But fortunately, the little ghost in front of him seemed easy to coax.

"That statue must cost a lot of money, right?" Xiaoshi Tou stood up, and there was really a bit of greed as if he had been deceived in his tone.

"It's nothing! I'll give it! I'll give it! As long as you spare me!" Qian Cheng didn't care about anything else. He didn't want to die.

"Really? You won't go back on your word, will you?" Xiaoshi Tou took out a piece of paper. "Make your mark as evidence."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Qian Cheng didn't even think about it.

Xiaoshi Tou turned around faintly. The vajra pestle in his hand looked very out of place. Qian Cheng's hand was still frozen above his head. Xiaoshi Tou shook his head. "Your gold is tainted. If you give it to me, someone will come after me. It's better for you to go and meet them." After saying that, he raised the vajra pestle, and his face returned to its ferocious appearance just now.

Xiaoshi Tou's words were a bit confusing, but Qian Cheng understood them completely. Not only Qian Cheng, but also Pan Haiyun and the others hiding in the dark understood everything. Qian Cheng's gold was originally obtained by him selling relief food and supplies, hoarding goods to drive up prices, and killing the victims of the disaster. Every piece of his gold was stained with mottled blood.

"Don't kill me... No..." Qian Cheng didn't know where he got the strength. He stood up. Before he could turn around, he stumbled over the threshold and rolled down the steps, breaking his head. Before he could react, groups of dark shadows, illuminated by the bright moonlight, surrounded him in the shadows. Xiaoshi Tou's voice came from beside him, "Those who starved to death, those who died of illness, those who froze to death... They've been waiting for you outside..." "They" naturally referred to those victims of the disaster who had been killed.

Qian Cheng didn't dare to raise his eyes at all. His face was covered in blood. He begged and kowtowed desperately, "Don't kill me... I didn't mean to... The price they offered was too high... Don't kill me..."

"Who are they?"

Suddenly, a clear voice, as clear as the moon in the snowy clouds in the forest, reached Qian Cheng's ears. Through the blood, he saw Pan Yueqing squatting in front of him, leisurely resting her chin in her hand. Her black eyes were full of mockery and coldness. Qian Cheng looked up and saw that there were no vengeful spirits of the victims of the disaster around. Instead, Pan Haiyun and the others had surrounded him. Especially, there was seriousness and a murderous intent in Pan Haiyun's eyes.

"Sir!" Qian Cheng instantly sobered up. His arm felt like it was about to break, but he mustered all his strength and angrily said to Pan Haiyun, "Although you're an imperial envoy, you have no right to treat a court official like this!"

"You're no longer a court official," Pan Haiyun said in a solemn voice. "You secretly sold relief food and supplies, causing the people to live in dire straits..."

Before Pan Haiyun could finish speaking, Qian Cheng gritted his teeth and said, "You intimidated me into this!" He seemed determined to deny everything.

"If there's no guilt in your heart, how could you be scared like this by just a little ghost?" Pan Yueqing squatted on the ground. Qian Cheng felt a chill under her emotionless gaze. Pan Yueqing smiled softly. "Everything matches up. Congratulations. You've confessed without being tortured. You even have a talent for acting out storybooks."