The two acted immediately. They chose a courtyard not too far from the river and moved in. The courtyard had three rooms, and the doors were unlocked. The inside was a mess, showing how hastily the owner had left.
Together, they tidied up two rooms. They would stay there for the night. Ling Tian took out some compressed biscuits and vacuum-sealed preserved foods from his backpack. In reality, these items were stored in Ling Tian's spiritual realm space, and his large backpack was merely a disguise.
Ling Tian invited the Great Monk to eat with him, and the Great Monk expressed his gratitude.
However, to Ling Tian's surprise, this Master of Punishing Evil did not abstain from meat or fish. He ate the vacuum-sealed chicken legs and pork knuckles with great relish.
Ling Tian found out after inquiring that this lineage of Buddhist practice, the Vajra Demon Subduing Scripture, did not forbid the consumption of meat and fish.
Ling Tian thought about it and found it understandable. After all, their lineage often had to fight against evil spirits. If they ate vegetarian food all the time, their bodies would not be able to sustain high-intensity combat without sufficient calories and protein intake.
At some point, a trend of advocating vegetarianism swept across the world. The reasons given by these people were often peculiar: some promoted vegetarianism for health, others for environmental protection, or out of some belief.
But in reality, pure vegetarianism could not guarantee one's health. Most vegetarians were sallow and had a sickly complexion. In fact, long-term pure vegetarianism could lead to severe liver damage.
Even in the sports world, some athletes followed a vegetarian diet. They believed that with the help of professional nutritionists to manage their diet, they could ensure nutrient intake even without consuming meat.
But in reality, meat, as a source of high-quality protein, contained dozens of amino acids and trace elements. No matter how good a nutritionist was, no amount of medication could replace the function of meat.
After a satisfying meal, the two sat in the room and chatted. Ling Tian learned that the monk, who looked quite old, was actually only 28 years old, just a few years older than him.
His background was similar to Ling Tian's; he was also an orphan. He was adopted by the abbot of Fumo Temple in Shanxi Province when he was three years old.
Their temple was not a famous ancient monastery but a small temple in a mountain ravine. Including himself, there were only five monks in the temple.
However, their temple had a very long history. It was said that the temple already existed when Bodhidharma first entered the Central Plains.
But their lineage found it extremely difficult to cultivate. After achieving success, they roamed the land, subduing demons and ghosts, and upholding righteousness. They were completely different from those monks who wore Buddhist robes, ate by relying on Buddhism, and used Buddha to amass wealth.
Ling Tian did not hide his identity. He told Master of Punishing Evil about his identity as a disciple of Longpan Mountain and his position in the Orthodox Alliance.
The Great Monk was surprised that Ling Tian, born into a Taoist family, also had extensive knowledge of Buddhism. They chatted until late into the night. The entire village was dark, with only their room illuminated by the faint glow of an old incandescent light bulb.
Although the villagers had been evacuated, the village's electricity supply had not been cut off.
As night deepened, the two stopped talking. Ling Tian went to the adjacent room, and they each sat in meditation to recuperate and restore their strength.
With the monk present, Ling Tian could not enter his spiritual realm space and had to make do with staying outside for the night.
As midnight struck, the previously quiet village suddenly changed. Wisps of mist began to rise from the cold pond next to the village and the river flowing through it. Within minutes, the entire village was enveloped in a dense fog.
In the dense fog, more than a dozen figures appeared. If any villagers were present at that moment, they would have been greatly astonished because these figures were all people who had been found drowned in the river not long ago.
These were *chang gui* (伥鬼). There is an idiom, "为虎作伥" (wèi hǔ zuò chāng), which refers to people bitten to death by tigers. Their souls would be enslaved by the tigers, and these souls would then lure others into the tigers' ambush, leading to their deaths.
However, wild tigers were almost extinct in China, and the term was now used to describe people who had drowned.
The souls of those who drowned in water were trapped and could not dissipate easily. They would try their best to lure people by the river into the water, inducing them to drown. Only by doing so could they escape their confinement and reincarnate.
The woman Ling Tian encountered earlier that day, Wang Xiuhua, was actually a *chang gui*.
It's just that these beings lacked intelligence. They couldn't possibly know that the villagers had all been evacuated. They continued their usual routine of finding unfortunate souls by the river to be their scapegoats. As a result, they encountered Ling Tian and Master of Punishing Evil, these two "gods of death."
The fog grew thicker. Ling Tian was meditating in the room when a voice suddenly came.
"Ling Tian, come, hurry..."
It was a woman's voice, or more precisely, Wang Bingxia's voice.
Ling Tian immediately realized that this was not Wang Bingxia's voice at all but an illusion created by a mental attack.
This mental attack directly affected the soul, dredging up memories from the depths of a person's heart, making them recall their closest loved ones.
Ling Tian recalled Wang Bingxia. If it were someone else, they would likely recall their own closest loved ones.
However, Ling Tian admitted that the opponent's mental attack was very powerful. Ordinary people, even those with very strong willpower, would find it difficult to resist such a mental attack and fall into an illusion.
Once a person fell into an illusion, they would follow the voice to the river, jump into the water, drown themselves, and eventually become a *chang gui*!
The villagers from earlier, like Wang Xiuhua and the village chief, had met this fate, being lured to drown themselves in the river in the middle of the night by *chang gui*.
The reason for doing this at this particular time was also because humans had three fires within them, known as the "Three Flavors True Fire" (三昧真火).
And at midnight, when people were drowsy and half-asleep, these three fires were at their weakest and most susceptible to evil influences.
With a flash of thought, Ling Tian produced a talisman. He injected his true essence into the talisman and then slapped it directly onto his forehead.
As the talisman touched Ling Tian's body, it suddenly exploded. An invisible energy immediately enveloped Ling Tian, and at the same time, Wang Bingxia's voice in his ear vanished.
This talisman was precisely a Taoist "Clear Heart Talisman" (清心符).