The police arrived quickly.
Two police cars were parked outside the gate of Cidu Temple, their red and blue lights turning silently without sirens blaring.
The officer leading the group was in his forties. After entering the mountain gate, he surveyed the scene in the courtyard.
The floor was littered with fragments of clay sculptures, an overturned incense burner, and a gray-robed monk kneeling in the side hall with red marks around his wrists.
He paused for a moment, then quickly regained the composure expected of a seasoned policeman, directing the men behind him to take control of the scene.
When the abbot was lifted up from beside the incense burner by two police officers, his legs were still shaking.
His robe was covered in incense ash and scattered prayer beads. He was muttering something repeatedly; only when you got closer could you hear it clearly. "Amitabha."
The officers had already learned about the temple's situation through a live broadcast on their way here.
Hearing the old monk still chanting Amitabha, I scoffed, "Don't even mention Amitabha, even calling for Buddha's protection won't help."
The worshippers were guided in an orderly manner to the open space on the east side of the courtyard, where police officers registered their information and inquired about their situations one by one.
The middle-aged woman who had almost been forced to shave her head at the Obstacle-Breaking and Fate-Illuminating Hall tugged at the police officer's sleeve and recounted the contents of the "heartless divination slip" that had already been burned.
A young man in a dark blue work uniform sat on the stone steps, holding a cup of hot water that someone had handed him. The water was no longer hot, but he didn't drink it; he just held it.
The young couple, whose wrists were tightly bound, still had red marks on their wrists. When the police took photos as evidence, the girl rolled up her sleeves, revealing the bruises on her wrists.
The program's cameramen stood at the entrance of the Hall of Heavenly Kings with their equipment, their lenses pointing at the panoramic view of the courtyard.
Meng Xu stood next to the photographer, staring at the screen with a serious expression, his mind racing with three things.
First, can the show be saved?
Second, if we can't save it, how do we explain it to Chenbao?
Third, if he manages to keep it, this footage could be enough for him to edit into a viral video of a certain caliber.
The Yue Lao, there's Yue Lao on his show. He wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing, but he actually encountered one.
In a sense, Qiguan Yuan that Meng Xu's Thread of Career and Thread of Wealth are very good also reflects this aspect.
Meng Xu already possessed a top-tier family background, so he could succeed at anything he tried.
For example, before making this program, Meng Xu tinkered with the filming equipment.
Now, with the airing of " Travel to That Unknown Place " and back when it was filmed at the film studio in Jiangcheng, many directors have taken a liking to those equipment.
As a result, Meng Xu made a considerable fortune from these devices.
Then they created a live-stream variety show, and with Pei Yubai, a childhood friend and award-winning actor, supporting him, the show generated a lot of buzz even before filming began.
Then I encountered Qiguan Yuan that's completely unique in the Chinese entertainment industry.
What's particularly fantastical right now is Qiguan Yuan or the Yue Lao.
That's a god!
For most people today who are materialists, this has a significant impact.
Isn't this a perfect example of generating massive buzz?
It can be said that Meng Xu's career has been incredibly smooth.
He glanced down at the constantly changing trending topics on his phone.
Yue Lao Qiguan Yuan #
Cidu Temple Cult#
#There are gods in this world!#
A series of entries lined up and jumped up.
Meng Xu was thoroughly enjoying himself. He clicked on the first entry, and as soon as he clicked...
Then all that appeared was a blank screen.
Meng Xu was stunned.
What happened?
He quit and re-entered several times, but the result was the same each time.
It took him a while to realize that Weibo seemed to have crashed.
Just then, the live stream was abruptly cut off.
Meng Xu surely understood what the problem was.
It must have been someone from above who intervened.
As expected. After all, this involves both a cult and a god. The impact of its spread would be astonishing; it would be strange if it weren't controlled.
Everyone was stunned when the live stream was cut off.
I immediately switched to Weibo, only to find that Weibo was down.
So they moved on to other platforms.
However, regardless of the platform, all entries related to " Yue Lao " or "god" have disappeared.
Before the incident could escalate further, Weibo was restored, and related trending topics were removed.
All that's left is the hashtag # Cidu Temple #.
Meanwhile, Meng Xu posted a Weibo on the official account of " Travel to That Unknown Place ": Does anyone remember what the theme of this episode of our variety show was? That's right, it was " The Yue Lao's Origins." The content about the Yue Lao in the live broadcast was arranged by the production team to fit the theme. Everyone who likes our show should be careful to verify information and not believe or spread rumors.
After Meng Xu posted this Weibo post, a number of bloggers came out to analyze and refute it, saying that it was arranged by the program team to fit the theme.
Most passersby believed it after seeing the official Weibo.
After all, talking about Yue Lao and such things is really a bit far-fetched.
But how could the viewers who watched the entire live stream believe it? With Meng Xu's ability to blatantly lie, he could only fool casual observers, not them.
Qiguan Yuan is the Yue Lao!!!
But they weren't stupid; they knew why Meng Xu would suddenly post that Weibo, and combined with the fact that the trending topic had been removed, they understood why.
It's clear that this matter cannot be widely disseminated, so the authorities are suppressing its popularity.
Xiao Yuan Grains, Imperial Fans, and Taro Balls immediately reacted and helped control the comments.
This matter must not be blown out of proportion. What if Yuanyuan is taken away for research if it gets out of control?
With the addition of fans, the control of comments was swift, and soon everyone's attention was shifted to the issue of the cult.
However, in some obscure corner, someone quietly posted an ad, saying they were willing to pay a large sum of money for a red string of Qiguan Yuan.
Below, many people also commented asking for red strings (a traditional Chinese string of prayer beads).
Yes, that's right, they just wanted a red string, they didn't mean anything else.
Qiguan Yuan stood in the middle of the courtyard, looking down at the pile of yellow paper scraps swept out of the "Fate-Changing Hall".
The wind blew his silver hair wildly, and the hem of his red shirt slapped against his calves.
He looked at it for a moment, then squatted down and picked up a piece of paper from the shards that was burned to only half its original size.
Half of the word "wish" can still be seen on the paper, but the "heart" is gone, leaving only the "original" at the top.
He turned the piece of paper over; on the back was a line of numbers written in pencil—the date.
Judging from the depth of the ink and the creases in the paper, it must have been written not long ago.
Qiguan Yuan went through the date in his mind.
It was the day before Lu Zhao entered a dream at Fallen Fate Chan Monastery to Enter Dreams to Inquire about Marriage.
In other words, before he and Lu Zhao reconnected with the Northwest marriage line, the temple was still operating normally, with new people being lured in every day and new pieces of yellow paper being burned to ashes in front of the clay statues every day.
Because people seek marriage here, the Power of Marriage gradually gathers here.
However, due to the actions of these monks, and the fact that the Power of Marriage here is not under the control of the Yue Lao, the situation has changed.
This caused a disturbance in the Power of Marriage.
As the saying goes, "a single hair can affect the whole body," and this temple has existed for an extremely long time, having ruined countless marriages over time. This is precisely why the Tree of Fate caused such a disturbance in the first place.
It was because of this cult that his Yun Yin soul was scattered and destroyed.
Pei Yubai walked to his side, without calling out to Qiguan Yuan, but simply put a hand on his shoulder.
Qiguan Yuan folded the half-sheet of yellow paper and put it in his sleeve. He stood up, rubbed the ash from his fingertips, and the ash disappeared on his hand, leaving his fingers clean.