After a while, Qiguan Yuan spoke up, "Let's go in and take a look."
He then reminded Shen Yuzhou and the others, "Once inside, do not believe in or touch anything related to marriage, no matter who tells you it."
The guests nodded in agreement.
Shen Yuzhou pressed the button with extra force, as if he wanted to etch the warning into his mind.
The layout of Cidu Temple is a standard Han Chinese Buddhist temple.
Entering the mountain gate, you arrive at the Hall of Heavenly Kings, where Maitreya Buddha sits smiling in the center, flanked by the Four Heavenly Kings. Skanda Bodhisattva faces the main hall with his back to Maitreya.
Passing through the Hall of Heavenly Kings, you enter a spacious courtyard. Directly opposite is the Mahavira Hall, flanked by the Bell Tower, Drum Tower, and East and West Side Halls.
The courtyard was filled with worshippers, and people lined up in front of each incense burner to offer incense.
Qiguan Yuan stood in the middle of the courtyard and scanned the area.
This temple is quite different from other Buddhist temples.
There are many side halls.
In most Buddhist temples, there are at most two or three side halls on the east and west sides. Here, there are five or six side halls on each side, arranged in a long row, with a group of people gathered at the entrance of each side hall.
He walked towards the most secluded east wing hall.
A wooden plaque hangs at the entrance of the side hall, which reads " Compassionate Ferry and Fate-Guiding Hall ".
The statue inside the hall was neither a Buddha nor a Bodhisattva, but rather a statue of the Yue Lao).
The image of the Old Man Under the Yue Lao is quite traditional, with white hair and beard, holding Marriage Register in one hand and a red thread in the other.
However, the altar in front of the statue did not display the offerings of fruit and incense commonly found in ordinary temples, but rather rows of red ropes and fortune sticks.
A young monk in a gray robe sat on a prayer mat beside an incense table, with a young couple kneeling before him.
The monk held a red string in his hand and was seriously gesturing it across the two men's wrists.
Qiguan Yuan stood at the palace entrance without going in, while Lu Zhao followed behind him and glanced inside.
The monk wrapped the red string around the woman's left wrist three times, chanting an indistinct incantation each time he wrapped it around.
After wrapping the red rope around three times, the other end was tied to the man's right wrist in a strangely shaped knot.
This knot is neither the standard three-ring knot used by Yue Lao Matchmaker nor any knot that Lu Zhao has ever seen before.
At least, none of the knots that Senior Qiguan taught him were like this.
It was a reversed knot, with the two ends of the red rope pulled tightly in opposite directions, digging into the skin of both people and leaving shallow red marks.
The monk said to the woman, "This knot, once tied, is binding you for three lifetimes and cannot be changed. If you go back on your word, the red thread will turn into karmic fire and burn your lifeline."
She then told the man, "You must drip blood from your fingertip onto this knot every day for forty-nine days. In this way, your marriage will be firmly bound together."
The young couple nodded repeatedly after hearing this, saying they would definitely do as instructed.
The monk smiled with satisfaction, accepted the stack of cash the two men handed him, and told them to get up and leave.
Qiguan Yuan's expression darkened further.
That's not a connection, that's sowing seeds of evil.
The moment the rope was tied, their fate was sealed; this man and woman were not destined for each other.
Qiguan Yuan guessed that this was most likely a cult, leading these people to do some extreme things step by step, by watering it with blood from their fingertips every day.
With Qi Qiguan Yuan beside him, Pei Yubai's somewhat unstable emotions calmed down a bit. He didn't lash out on the spot, left the Compassionate Ferry and Fate-Guiding Hall, and continued walking forward.
The second side hall is called the " Obstacle-Breaking and Fate-Illuminating Hall," which houses Guanyin.
Instead of holding a vase and a willow branch, Guanyin was holding a pair of scissors.
A monk in front of the Guanyin is interpreting a fortune stick for a middle-aged woman.
The woman looked to be in her early forties, with red and swollen eyes, and the fortune slip in her hand was crumpled from being clutched so tightly.
The monk pointed to the words on the fortune slip, his expression one of utmost compassion. "This fortune slip is a 'heartbreak slip.' Your path in love in this life is over. To continue to cling to it would be defying Heaven. There is only one solution: shave your head and enter my temple as a nun, severing the three thousand strands of worldly afflictions. Only then can you ensure peace for the rest of your life."
"If we don't do this, there will surely be bloodshed within three years."
After hearing this, the middle-aged woman's face first showed blankness, then fear, and finally she asked where she could get ordained and when.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhao's hands began to tremble.
I want to swat this bald monk's head away with a wing.
This monk forced a woman to become a nun by using a fake fortune slip. He was severing her worldly ties, not severing them normally. He forcibly cut them off, and the severed ties would backfire on her.
Pei Yubai remained silent; perhaps this monk was unaware of these intricacies.
In his view, this was more like a large-scale human trafficking scene.
Qiguan Yuan pressed down on Lu Zhao's wrist, signaling him not to make a move here.
The next side hall is called the " Self-Sacrifice and Fate-Fulfilling Hall," which houses an unidentified statue of a ferocious deity with a blue face and fangs.
A young man, dressed in ordinary dark blue work clothes, was kneeling in front of the incense table, his head bowed.
The monk placed his hand on the top of his head and was reciting a scripture that resembled a prophecy.
After reciting the scriptures, the monk just stared at the man.
The young man was probably communicating with this monk before; his body was trembling, but his voice was firm.
He said he was willing and he would start fasting tomorrow.
Qiguan Yuan's Dust-Settling Red Cord flew off his wrist.
No one present saw how the red light made its move. The red ribbon instantly sprang into the hall, wrapped around the monk's hand that was pressing down on the young man's head, and pulled him out with a sudden jerk.
The monk was pulled into the air and crashed into the offering table, causing the incense burner on the table to overturn and scattering incense ash all over the ground.
Qiguan Yuan entered the hall.
The photographer, with a dark expression, helped the young man up.
When he helped the man up, his legs were still trembling, and his eyes were filled with a mixture of fear and confusion.
Qiguan Yuan gently patted his shoulder, and the man's eyes gradually cleared, as if he had been awakened from a long nightmare.
Qiguan Yuan turned to look at the monk who had been pulled over.
The gray-robed monk got up from the ground, blood seeping from his wrist.
He glared at Qiguan Yuan and said, "Who are you to dare to make a move in this sacred Buddhist place?"
Qiguan Yuan didn't reply to him, but instead walked towards the Buddha statue and examined it.
Just as Qiguan Yuan made his move, Pei Yubai moved a step ahead, completely blocking the camera lens of the photographer who was filming.
The viewers in the live stream did not see Qiguan Yuan make a move.
The viewers in the live stream were too preoccupied to care why Pei Yubai had suddenly covered the camera again.
Everyone was shocked.
[What the hell is this? Brainwashing?]
Is this a legitimate temple? Why does it look so creepy? Is it just my imagination? I feel really uncomfortable.
[Upstairs, it's not your imagination. These side halls of this temple, the ones that Yuanyuan and the others just walked Yuanyuan, look suspicious. They look like a cult.]