Chapter 213 212. Xianfeng Temple Bandit

After praying for Kotaro's Renqi ball, everyone felt somewhat at peace.

Faith can indeed support human beings to continue living in difficult days.

After everyone paid homage at the place where the Longquan River draws water, they went on patrol again. The attitude of the ronin towards Kotaro changed a lot.

They no longer regarded the ashigaru sent by the Hirata family as a watcher, or as Lan En's follower, a loser. Instead, he was a person who was struggling to find a tomorrow with them at this critical juncture of the war.

The patrol mission was not over yet, so Lan En chatted with Kotaro on the way.

"I think although other people know about Renqi Ball, they don't seem to be prepared."

"This is it." The short man scratched his chin and smiled sheepishly.

"The making of Renqi balloons is very particular. My mother is Shoshin of Senhoji Temple on Mount Kumgang. She was taught how to make them when she went to the mountain to worship. Otherwise, such balloons would not be sold cheaply in Ashina Castle."

"Xianfeng Temple?" Lan En kept nodding. "It sounds like a temple with a lot of history."

"It's true!" When Kotaro heard Lan En's praise, he was as excited as if he had been praised.

His mother was a religious believer in the temple, and it seems that his own beliefs were also influenced by her.

"Senhoji Temple has a long history. It is a famous esoteric temple not only in Ashina but also in the whole of Japan!"

"When this war is over, my mother also asked for a star offering ceremony for me at Xianfeng Temple. Please join me when the time comes! The maple leaves on Mount Kumgang turn red at this time, and the scene of fallen leaves in the valley is also unique.

ah!"

"The Star Offering Ceremony? Kotaro, are you talking about the Star Offering Ceremony in Xianfeng Temple? Oops! You are going to be lucky in the future!"

Some of the ronin behind him seemed to have heard of it, and envy suddenly appeared on their faces.

"Yes!" Kotaro smiled and nodded heavily.

Lan En blinked his eyes, a little curious.

The scene described in the description of the valley dyed red with maple leaves does sound very good, but what interests Lan En more is the ‘Star Offering Ceremony’.

It sounds like a battle of wits in Journey to the West.

"Sir." A ronin seems to understand this Dharma assembly very well, or in other words, he admires it so much that he understands it very well.

"The Star Offering Ceremony is a ceremony in which Buddhist masters from Xianfeng Temple are invited to calculate the natal star based on a person's birth date, and then make offerings to the natal star Bodhisattva and pray for blessings. After success, the prayer's future life will be smooth sailing!

"

When Ronin said this, the determination on his face seemed to be even firmer than Kotaro himself.

"Oh!" Lan En nodded repeatedly after hearing this, feeling that he had learned a lot.

"Normally, it would be impossible for ordinary people to get in line for this ceremony. Kotaro, you are really lucky!"

"No, no, hehe." Kotaro smiled sheepishly. "It's the masters from Xianfeng Temple. They seem to be holding star offerings ceremony in a big way recently, so I am lucky enough to be in the queue."

This group of local people exchanged words with each other, making this ceremony so exciting that the sky and the earth could not be heard. The lively atmosphere made Lan En's doubts about the Hirata family's defense system much easier.

He decided that if nothing big happened after this war, it would be good to go to Xianfeng Temple for a visit.

As for the famous ancient temple, if there was no such thing as the intersection of the celestial sphere, he would not have the chance to see it with his own eyes.

A group of people walked around talking and laughing, and even the laborious vigilance and observation became a little easier.

But Lan En, who was walking at the front, suddenly straightened his face after continuing to walk a few steps along the Longquan River.

He stopped and raised his right hand into a fist.

The rogues behind him had almost developed conditioned reflexes under his training. The moment they raised their fists, the group all stopped talking and laughing and clenched their weapons.

Lan En's nose twitched slightly.

"The smell of blood?. Or human blood!"

The witcher's extraordinary senses gathered information.

Lan En did not explain to the wanderers behind him, but headed directly towards the source of the smell.

Although the rogues had only been under his leadership for seven or eight days, they had already learned a little discipline, so they consciously followed suit.

Departing from the route along the Longquan River, we walked through the undulating mountains and forests for only about ten minutes.

Lan En stopped beside the roots of a big tree, frowning.

The wanderers behind us arrived half a minute later, panting from the rugged route.

In other words, Ashina locals have good physiques, otherwise they would have been left behind by Lan En for at least a minute.

The woods were so silent that humans could not help but lower their voices subconsciously.

Kotaro gasped and approached Lan En.

"Sir, what did you find?"

Before he finished speaking, his eyes followed Lan En's line of sight downwards.

Immediately, the sound got stuck, and after a long time, he let out a sigh.

"He is the second son of the Achai family."

A child chopping firewood with a firewood rack on his back had an arrow stuck across his neck, his eyes widened as he looked up at the towering tree crowns and the sky between the branches and leaves.

The ground under his hands and feet was in a mess, and it was obvious that he had been struggling for a long time.

Now, several bugs attracted to flesh and blood were sitting on his eyeballs.

"You know him?"

"Their family is a tenant of the Hirata family. He often comes out to cut firewood to supplement the family income."

Kotaro's voice revealed a sense of numbness in a war-torn world.

It's sad to see someone you know die, but at the same time, it's all too common.

Just like what is described in Russian novels, a peasant woman still has to drink up the salted soup one mouthful after the death of her child.

Not because she wasn't sad, but because she couldn't give up the salt in the soup.

‘Sadness’ in life does not choose the right time to appear.

With a cold face, Lan En squatted down next to the arrow on the child's neck and sniffed it.

"Is there any lingering smell of bandits? Anyway, it's not that far away."

The pair of cold cat eyes glanced back, and all the wanderers suddenly became energetic, and even their breathing calmed down.

"Follow up!"

"Yes!"*N

No one had any objections.

In addition to the authority that Lan En has established in the past few days, their patrol team also has the responsibility of driving away bandits.

It's just that the Hirata family has never looked down upon these thieves who were struggling in the mountains, and the bandits didn't dare to appear near Hirata Manor, so the existence of this responsibility was not obvious.

But this time, the tenant's son was killed on the edge of Longquan River, which was too close.

Emotions and reasons cannot be ignored.

Lan En's extraordinary senses could easily follow the stench of the bandits.

Within ten minutes, his ears could hear the roar of laughter.

The bandits were making noises happily, and they felt like they were finally going to make a big fuss after suppressing it for a long time.

Occasionally, two sentences mentioned the arrow that pierced the child's neck just now.

They all agreed that for the level of that shot, they should have one more drink tonight.

In their eyes, the children of the tenant farmers who passed by to chop wood were no more than human beings, just like the pheasants they shot while hunting, which was a reason to drink.

Lan En stood still in the forest more than ten meters behind their group of bandits.

His hand had already pulled out Arondette from behind.

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Chapter completed!