A beach surrounded by mountains and rivers to the west of Qinglong Temple is where the inauguration ceremony of the Tianzun Statue was held. A majestic statue stands tall in front of an unknown hill, and a huge canvas covers the statue tightly.

Thousands of people gathered in the open space in front of the statue, and it was very lively. At one end of the open space, a platform as high as one person was built with wood. On the platform were placed a desk and several official chairs, with a red carpet underneath.

There is a blanket, and there are colorful flags on the stage, which is very majestic. This is where the patrolling adults turn into Zhonglang and watch the ceremony.

With the sound of drums and drums, heavily armed guardsmen dressed in gold armor and black robes, holding halberds, filed in from both sides of the square. On one hand, they drove the crowds in the middle of the field away to both sides, and on the other hand, a rectangular square formation was formed in the middle of the field.

, enclosing the square between the statue and the platform.

At this time, a group of officers and soldiers surrounded Hua Zhonglang, Pang Wuwei and several other officials and walked onto the platform. Hua Zhonglang took a seat on the chair in the middle. Pang Wuwei and a local county magistrate sat on both sides. His left and right hands were still free.

a chair.

After Taoist Master Xu Zhen saw several people sitting down in the audience, he was very surprised. His seat was not arranged next to Hua Zhonglang. You must know that he is the landlord holding the ceremony today. As the organizer, he was neither invited

After sitting down, the seats were arranged on the side. It seems that Hua Zhonglang was really offended yesterday.

Without having time to think about it, Xu Zhen did not go straight to the platform, but walked around to the front of the platform. He quickly walked to the platform, bent his knees and knelt on the ground, and raised a box above his head with both hands.

"God bless our dynasty. In this prosperous age of the Ming Dynasty and the birthday of our holy ancestor, we have worked hard to complete this holy statue to praise our merits. Today, we have received the favor of the national master and sent Master Zhonglang to personally supervise and train us. We are even more grateful

I am so grateful that I hereby present the thousand-year auspiciousness of our county, the treasure of the town and county, Hotan Jade Guanyin to you, praying for the Holy Father and Son to live forever!" Taoist Master Xu Zhen said plausibly, and reached out to open the lid of the gift box.

Mr. Hua was just confirming with Mr. Pangda whether the arrangements were complete, and was thinking about how to deal with Xu Zhen, but Xu Zhen's words reminded him that Xu Zhen built the statue to celebrate the birthday of the National Preceptor.

He appreciated it, and the Imperial Preceptor did not really want to convict him, but specifically emphasized whether his loyalty to the Imperial Preceptor was true. It seems that it is not appropriate to convict him easily now.

The jade Guanyin statue appeared from the opened lid of the box, and it immediately emitted a strange luster that caught people's eyes. Mr. Hua was well-informed, and he knew at a glance that this jade was extraordinary. It was rare to find in a thousand years, and it was better than the priceless jade.

The jade is not much different. Look at the exquisite craftsmanship, unique ingenuity and beauty of the carving. It can be said that it is a natural skill.

Master Hua thought that Taoist Master Xu Zhen was really determined this time. If this thing is appreciated by the national master, all sins will be exempted and his official career will be guaranteed in the future. So he hinted to Master Pang with his eyes and called him

Don't move for the moment, watch my expression, and lead someone to come forward and take the jade Guanyin gift box presented by Taoist Master Xu Zhen, and place it on the table in front of you.

After Xu Zhen stood up after presenting the gift, Lord Hua invited him to sit on the stage and watch the ceremony together. After Xu Zhen thanked him, he came to the platform and sat down on the chair next to Lord Pang.

Amidst a burst of Taoist music, a hundred Taoist priests in green robes walked into the square and sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the pedestal of the icon. They all chanted words in their mouths, as if chanting. After chanting, everyone

The Taoist priest stood up and stepped aside.

At this time, Taoist Master Xu Zhen stood up from his seat and stepped forward to respectfully invite Master Hua Zhonglang to come forward with him to unveil the holy statue.

After a moment of courtesy, Mr. Hua stood up and walked to the pedestal of the icon with Taoist Master Xu Zhen. They lined up on both sides, each holding a yellow ribbon hanging from the top of the icon.

At this time, a Taoist priest stepped forward and struck the ribbon with wood. After three loud sounds, Xu Zhen signaled Master Hua to pull the ribbon down with him. There was a sound of "plop la la", and the huge canvas came from the holy

The head of the statue fell down, revealing the true face of the icon.

At this moment, there was a commotion in the square, and there was a roar. Everyone crowded forward and almost broke through the defense line of the Praetorian Guards.

Xu Zhen had long thought that people would be shocked by this lifelike statue of Heavenly Lord, but he did not expect that everyone would react so greatly. Looking at the restless crowd, he looked back at the statue with some doubts, but he didn't see anything.

Strange.

Master Hua was also quite confused. At this time, he saw from a distance that the huge man on the opposite platform had drawn out his sword and was running down from the platform angrily. He thought to himself, I haven't given you a signal to act yet.

Why did you act on your own initiative?

Both Xu Zhen and Huazhong Lang realized something was wrong, so they got off the statue's pedestal at the same time, walked more than ten steps toward the center of the square, and then turned around to look up at the statue that caused a commotion among the crowd.

This sight made Lord Hua Zhonglang very angry. What kind of statue was this of Tianzun? It was clearly the statue of Xu Zhen himself. That ugly face was vividly depicted, with big nostrils, sparse front teeth,

Especially the black beard on the huge mole under the left face is lifelike.

Seeing such a scene, Xu Zhen felt confused in his heart. His legs went weak and he collapsed on the ground. The sweat on his forehead immediately flowed down his cheeks. He couldn't figure out how it could be like this. This was what he personally inspected and accepted the day before yesterday.

Got through.

It was too late to say that, but soon, Pang Wuwei and several imperial guards had already stepped forward to push Xu Zhen to the ground and take him into custody.

While Xu Zhen struggled to stand up, he shouted to Master Hua: "I'm wronged, Master Hua, I'm wronged, please see Master Hua clearly." He then turned to the side and shouted loudly: "Daochang protects the courtyard, Daochang protects the courtyard.

Guard the hospital, go and escort Master Zhang immediately, and present the truth to Master Hua!"

Lord Hua did not comment, but walked away with an angry look. After he quickly climbed onto the platform and sat down, he asked Pang Daren to escort Taoist Xu Zhen to the bottom of the platform.

After a while, several Taoist priests escorted a man to the audience. This man was Zhang Tianci who was imprisoned by Xu Zhen.

Lord Hua shouted and asked: "Xu Zhen, what can you say?"

"This person is the one who helped Pindao build the statue. He was invited by the Zuo family. The Zuo family had some disputes with this sect, so they sent him to frame Pindao. Pindao is really unjust. Please turn me into Pindao."

Make the decision!" Xu Zhen pointed at Zhang Tianci and said with great resentment.

"Master Xu, this is wrong. I have always made the statue according to your request. Didn't you ask me to make two faces for the statue? One is Tianzun himself, and the other is your Lord Xu Zhen.

, the face of Tianzun is placed on the outside of the head, and your cover is underneath. You said that after the people from above come to inspect, the outer face will be removed and only your face will be left, isn't it?

State it calmly.

"Didn't you personally inspect and accept the two faces the day before yesterday? You are very satisfied with both faces. You even hosted a banquet for me and others at noon to celebrate. It's just that I hadn't completed the last process at that time, that is, I hadn't finished the face of the Heavenly Lord outside.

The statue is fixed and secure. Who would have expected that during the dinner, you would suddenly charm me and imprison me, so that I could not complete this last step for you." Tianci turned sideways and said to Taoist Xu Zhen, "As for the statue being revealed today,

Lord Xu Zhen’s face may be because the face of the Lord outside was brought down by the curtain during the unveiling. Lord Hua can ask someone to check it out and we will know.”

After a moment, the Imperial Guard soldiers found a gold-leaf statue of Tianzun under the canvas, and brought it over to Lord Hua for inspection.

Lord Hua now fully understood that Xu Zhen was not only guilty of serious sins, but also had no loyalty to Lord Tian Zun. He slowly stood up from his seat, pulled out the seven-star sword given by Tian Zun from his waist, and pointed towards

Taoist Master Xu Zhen glared angrily.??
Chapter completed!