Xiaosuisui and the Little Beggar were dumbstruck, looking at each other, their faces etched with utter helplessness.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry and pick them up!"
Being older, the Little Beggar reacted faster. She called out to Xiaosuisui, then pulled a tattered piece of cloth from her clothes and began to gather the gold.
Startled by her shout, Xiaosuisui snapped back to her senses and quickly reached for the pouch at her waist and her empty Sleeve Qiankun.
"Big Brother, your little cloth pouch won’t hold much. Look at mine!" Xiaosuisui said, quickly tossing her Sleeve Qiankun to the Little Beggar. "Help fill these up, and I’ll give you half when we get out!"
Hearing this, the Little Beggar’s eyes lit up. "Are you serious? You’re not tricking ?"
Xiaosuisui nodded emphatically. "Xiaosuisui doesn’t lie! I’ll never lie, ever!"
Overjoyed, the Little Beggar eagerly helped gather the gold. "We need to be quick! If soone cos, we won’t be able to leave."
"Why wouldn’t we be able to leave?" Xiaosuisui asked naively.
"With all this gold and silver, no one will willingly let us take it. We not only have to leave, but we have to leave quickly. Ideally, we should get out of Qixia Temple right now, making sure no one knows we were ever here!"
"Why is that?"
"Because of all this gold and silver! If anyone finds out we’ve taken it, they’ll definitely make us return it."
Hearing this, Xiaosuisui quickly clutched her small pouch.
"Soone’s coming! We need to go!" Just as they finished gathering the last of the gold, the Little Beggar heard the clamor of approaching footsteps and got up to leave.
Xiaosuisui quickly followed behind her. As they exited the Grand Hall, she saw a young woman walking on air, heading towards the Grand Hall.
The Little Beggar quickly turned and hid behind a pillar.
Xiaosuisui, following her lead, also ducked behind the pillar. Seeing Huo Xing’Er approaching rapidly, she was about to call out in delight, "Secon—MMPH!"
Her mouth was suddenly covered by the Little Beggar.
"That person is clearly soone important! We can’t let her know we’re involved with what happened in the Grand Hall."
Xiaosuisui blinked. Before she could speak, she saw a group of Martial Monks from Qixia Temple rushing towards them.
The Little Beggar’s face turned pale. "This is bad! The monks are here! We have to leave right now! If they find the gold and silver gone from the Buddha’s belly, they’ll kill us!"
Saying this, the Little Beggar grabbed Xiaosuisui’s hand and started to run.
At that mont, the Little Beggar’s words—"they’ll kill us"—were all Xiaosuisui could think about. She had died once before, and besides, that head monk possessed a wooden fish Dharma treasure that terrified her.
So, she planted her feet firmly, making it impossible for the Little Beggar to run any further.
"What are you doing standing there? Run!" the Little Beggar urged, incredibly anxious.
Xiaosuisui stretched out her short little arms. "Carry !"
The Little Beggar’s mouth twitched. "Oh, heavens! I’m not even sure I can escape by myself, and now I have to carry you, a burden! We’re even less likely to get away now."
Complaining all the while, the Little Beggar nevertheless picked Xiaosuisui up and bolted.
However, she hadn’t run more than a few steps when she heard Xiaosuisui’s joyful shout from her arms.
"Feifei!"
Instantly, the Little Beggar felt her collar tighten as if soone had grabbed it. She was lifted off her feet, and in the next mont, she found herself on the roof of a large hall.
"My heavens! Did... did I fly?" Looking at the group of Martial Monks on the ground below, searching around for them, the Little Beggar instantly lowered her voice.
"I flew! I brought you flying, Big Brother! Big Brother, where should we go now?" Xiaosuisui, nestled in the Little Beggar’s arms, heard her low voice and also whispered her question.
"We need to leave this place imdiately! It would be best if we could get back to the Capital City in one go! That way, we’d basically be... Whoa, whoa..."
Before the Little Beggar could finish, Xiaosuisui tugged her collar. WHOOSH! They shot off towards the Capital City.
anwhile, Huo Xing’Er, who was searching everywhere for Xiaosuisui, seed to sense sothing and looked towards the path leading down the mountain. She vaguely saw a tiny black dot in the distance. She frowned, and just as she was about to pursue it, a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering wail reached her ears.
"Who did this? My Buddha! Oh, Heavens! Which bastard did this? Who could be so monstrously wicked?! My life’s savings! All gone!"
The one wailing so dramatically was none other than Wangkong, the Temple Supervisor of Qixia Temple. All the gold and silver hidden in the Grand Hall were his secret stash.
The mont the Grand Hall was struck, Liao Kong had felt an instinctive sense of dread. Dragging his body, which had just been detoxified, he rushed towards the Grand Hall. However, even though he used all his strength to run, he was still a step too late!
Liao Kong stared at the shattered belly of the Lai Fo Buddha statue and the large hole in the roof. His vision went black, and he was about to faint.
"Uncle-Master Liao Kong! Are you alright?" The young novice monk supporting him quickly steadied him, his face a mask of bewildernt and worry.
Supported by the novice monk, Liao Kong slumped to the ground. He recalled the money he had secretly squirreled away here almost daily. Now, it was utterly empty. His heart couldn’t help but ache fiercely!
The sound of disordered footsteps ca from outside. The Abbot arrived, leading the Martial Monks, with Huo Xing’Er and Ji Youyuan following behind.
Seeing the utter ss in the Grand Hall, everyone frowned. The Abbot, the old monk, was particularly aghast. "How could this happen? What on earth occurred here?"
Hearing the Abbot’s question, the young novice monk supporting Wangkong quickly put his palms together and reported, "Reporting to the Abbot, a mont ago, dark clouds gathered thickly in the sky, and suddenly there was lightning and thunder. The Grand Hall was struck by Celestial Thunder!"
"You’re saying this... this state of the Grand Hall... was caused by Celestial Thunder?"
From the mont he stepped into the Grand Hall, the Abbot’s gaze had been fixed on the golden Lai Fo Buddha statue. His heart was bleeding at the sight of its current condition. Although the gold and silver in the Lai Fo Buddha’s belly were hidden by Wangkong, in reality, the Abbot knew of Wangkong’s every move. As for exactly how much gold and silver was in the Lai Fo Buddha’s belly, the Abbot probably knew even more clearly than Wangkong himself!
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