Night falls, Lin Fu'an holds a candlestick, walking through the main hall of the temple, where rows of official statues are displayed.
Each night before bed, the old man checks here, ensuring the altar is clean and the incense candles in front of the statues are sufficient.
As he reaches the back door, Lin Fu'an stops.
The statue at the end of this row is the White Crane Child.
Seven days ago, the statue of the Child developed cracks.
Initially, the temple folks thought it was because the statue was at the back near the door, exposed to the elents most.
But gradually, the cracks increased, spreading densely from the statue's head to its chest, even the feet, the outer paint began to large-scale peel, cleaned up, yet soon another pile gathered under the feet.
Such degree of damage couldn't rely be explained by location; all statues were custom-made, consecrated, and invited in together, unlikely to have such severe quality issues on just this one.
The temple invited a statue craftsman to repair, following the process, he held a bowl of water, tapped a copper coin on its rim, and dropped it into the water, called sound and color discernnt.
In their trade, there are three refusals.
First, never repair a temple without a master, fearing to provoke Evil; second, never repair ill-tempered temple wind, fearing to abet tyranny; third, never repair to make up for rit loss, fearing self-filling loss.
The first can be repaired if the local virtuous elder leads villagers to invite, second can ignore if the money is sufficient, after all, not by refusal do they make a living, and of countless temples, truly effective ones are rare.
Thus, sound and color discernnt often is re formality, but this ti, the copper coin upon touching the bowl bottom, cracked.
Frightened, the craftsman fled with two apprentices without a word.
Being local, he knew this temple was effective, but the copper coin cracking signified the White Crane Child's rit loss, should he and the apprentices privately repair, it was sacrificing their lives to the Child.
They, this bit of flesh, how could they even fill the Lord of Yin God's teeth gap?
They had no choice, the Lord Child's statue could only be left as is for now.
Lin Fu'an watched, feeling uneasy, though the Child ranked low among officials, compared to other Lord Yin Gods, the Child was diligent, with significant contribution.
At this mont, Lin Fu'an's disciple Chen Shoun approached, he was Lin Shuyou's ntor, also the current temple master.
Chen Shoun spoke to Lin Fu'an: "Master, I've inquired other Official General Head Temples, their Child statues are similarly damaged. One invited a craftsman, just after repairing, he suffered a sudden heart attack, luckily tily dical aid saved his life."
Lin Fu'an nodded upon hearing.
The temples Chen Shoun inquired had Divination Child and could perform divination, unlike re performance temples, whose Child statues were intact, since they couldn't invite the Child.
Lin Fu'an: "Are the children still unable to invite the Child?"
Chen Shoun: "Today I took them to try, all failed, even I attempted and didn't succeed."
As White Crane Child is the easiest to invite, it is the first Yin God many young Divination Children contact and attempt to invite, and in daily temple affairs, it is the busiest.
When the Child no longer responds to divination, it significantly disrupts the daily affairs of the Official General Head.
Other Yin Gods are hard to invite, young Divination Children can't summon them, simple matters now require the elder generation to summon other Lords.
Chen Shoun again spoke: "Master, could it be because of Ah You…"
Lin Fu'an glared, halting Chen Shoun's words.
"Nonsense, daring to utter anything!"
"Yes, yes, I was careless."
Lin Shuyou pledged Jianghu's Zou Jiang of the Dragon King family, only they two had visited Jinling among the temple, even Lin Shuyou's parents knew not of this.
This could be said as the temple's greatest secret.
And as ti passed, this secret grew heavier, even fearful.
Because despite diligently seeking Jianghu's news, they never heard of the Qin and Liu Families' descendants' Zou Jiang matter.
Logically, with the youth's identity, Zou Jiang's fa should garner great attention and stir, how could it be so silent?
This silent atmosphere chilled the master and disciple's backs, keeping the secret even tighter.
However, last ti Lin Shuyou returned ho for divination, his interaction with the Child showed an extraordinary closeness, even revered old Divination Children couldn't achieve such rapport with the Lord Yin God.
Actually, Lin Fu'an also speculated whether it was due to his grandson causing the Child's issue.
"Enough, rest now, tomorrow try contacting Ah You without ntioning temple issues, just ask how he's been lately."
"Mm, Master, you rest early too."
The master and disciple left the main hall, closing the door to prepare for sleep.
Unexpectedly, just lying down, firelight flickered from the main hall.
Temple folks thought it was a fire, starting to call out.
Lin Fu'an and Chen Shoun quickly rose, ran over, through the door, they saw flickering light inside but slled no smoke.
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