Chapter 1 What Did You Say, Mr. Song?

"What did you say, Mr. Song?" the young man closest to him asked, his face full of confusion.

But Mr. Song ignored him completely, continuing to mutter to himself, "And why are we saving those two people?"

"That was Miss's intention," the middle-aged man chimed in. To be honest, he wasn't very happy about it, but he didn't want to say so.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Song turned to him, questioning, "Miss's intention? Would Miss as you remember her take such an action?"

The middle-aged man was stunned. His first reaction was annoyance. After all, Mr. Song was just the leader of one branch of the *fangshi* (Taoist practitioners), while he was a proper and powerful military general. If it weren't for Miss's sake, he wouldn't even bother with these charlatans. But just as he was about to explode, he heard Mr. Song say, "And you, Commander Zhao, with your personality, would you watch Miss take on two dying burdens without trying to dissuade her?"

Commander Zhao opened his mouth but couldn't say a word.

Indeed, he knew Miss's personality. She would definitely not do such a thing. And he himself was even less likely to. He had probably killed three to five hundred people. He was a proper battlefield warrior, and all his merits were earned with his own blade. According to his character, he would have killed those two useless people while Miss wasn't paying attention to avoid delaying things.

But in the end, none of them did that, and they even took good care of the two all the way until they saw the torches of the monks returning to the temple at night.

"Mr. Song is right. These things are indeed very strange. It's as if we... as if we've become different people," the maid standing in the corner, who had been silent all along, finally spoke.

"The strangest thing is me!" Mr. Song's breathing gradually became rapid, and the contrast in his demeanor was enormous. "How could I... how could I not have stopped you? It's understandable if you don't understand some principles, but how could I not have stopped you? How could I forget the principle of preferring a deserted grave to a wild temple?"

Hearing this, the woman in the center couldn't sit still any longer. She stood up and stared at Mr. Song. "Mr. Song, if you have something to say, just say it."

"Could it be... there's something wrong with this temple?" the woman asked, lowering her voice. She also vaguely sensed something was wrong, but she couldn't say exactly what it was.

Mr. Song took a deep breath, then nodded with a dark expression.

"Is it... the *feng shui* (geomancy) here is bad?" the woman asked cautiously.

Mr. Song's face was obscure. "It's not just *feng shui*. To tell you the truth, all the *feng shui* and geomancy techniques I've learned in my life are useless here. This place blocks the wind and cuts off the water. It's a... a dead end!"

Although she didn't understand what this so-called dead end meant, judging from Mr. Song's expression, it was definitely ominous. The woman had seen big occasions, so she took a deep breath and asked in a deep voice, "Can it be suppressed? I remember Mr. Song should be carrying a *rou shen lingzhi* (flesh ganoderma) Jade Chan Elder. This is a treasure of your *fangshi* sect. Back then, when there were demons causing trouble on Crane Cry Mountain, it was also used..."

Before she could finish, Mr. Song got up and took a wooden box from the pole he had chosen. He opened the box, and inside was a jade statue.

The statue was exquisitely crafted, needless to say, but the most mysterious thing was that the statue was headless, and a *lingzhi* (ganoderma) was wrapped around the statue, with a part of it forming the head of the statue.

But upon seeing this treasure of the *fangshi* sect, everyone present gasped, because this treasure had completely changed its appearance. The *lingzhi* head had rotted, and the originally clear facial features had rotted together, like a rotten human head, accompanied by a burst of bloody stench.

"The evil energy of this place can actually destroy the treasure of my sect. It seems that heaven wants to destroy my *fangshi* sect..." Mr. Song gritted his teeth. "I'm afraid we can enter this temple, but we can't get out."

...

Jiang Cheng and Fatty were lying side by side on the broken straw mat, their stomachs rumbling. Fatty had been thinking about going to the dining hall for some congee in the evening, but he didn't expect that the temple had a rule against eating after noon.

Actually, they had food, but it was obtained from their "benefactors." Now they didn't know whether those people were humans or ghosts, good or bad, so they could only stare at the food.

"Don't think about it, let's sleep. You won't be hungry if you fall asleep," Jiang Cheng comforted. "You sleep first, I'll keep watch."

Fatty sighed, saying that he could overcome hunger, but what he was really worried about now was Yao Shunyu and Li Bai. This mission was different from the past. All these people were missing.

"Those two are more powerful than you think. The abnormalities we can find, they will also find if they are careful. And I have already sent them a message, giving them the clues we have confirmed," Jiang Cheng said.

Although he said so, there was still no news from Yao Shunyu, Li Bai, Tang Qisheng, and Zhu Jie, which was not a good sign.

The night was deep, and Fatty fell asleep. Jiang Cheng leaned against the wall, keeping watch alone. There was only one candle in the room for illumination, and the candlelight kept flickering, not knowing where the wind was coming from.

Gradually, a sudden drowsiness came, and Jiang Cheng lowered his head.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Cheng suddenly felt a hand touching him. The next second, he suddenly woke up, only to see that the room was completely dark, and the candle had gone out at some point.

"It's me, Doctor," Fatty's voice was trembling, apparently also frightened.

"What's the situation?" Jiang Cheng asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, it was like this when I woke up. Also, there seems to be a sound outside. I heard the sound before..."

Fatty stopped here. Jiang Cheng pricked up his ears. Sure enough, there was a rustling sound outside. The sound was not loud, but it was a bit chaotic, as if there were many people.

"Did you open the door?" Jiang Cheng looked at the door, which was now open about a third of the way, with a layer of cold light on the ground outside.

"It wasn't me, how dare I?" Fatty immediately denied.

Jiang Cheng walked to the door and slowly pulled it open. There was nothing outside, but the strange sound became clearer. Fatty had originally guessed it was chanting, after all, Monk Huide and the others had said more than once that they wanted to cultivate merit, but now it didn't sound like it.

The two quietly left the room and followed the sound. The temple was empty at night, and the two soon came to the outside of an antique building, which was located in a remote area, and light was emitted from the building.

Jiang Cheng and Fatty's expressions became even stranger, because they smelled a special fragrance. The two quietly came to a window of the building and looked inside through the gap. The scene in front of them confirmed their guess.

Inside was a scene of revelry. Monks with bare chests were sitting crookedly on the table, and some were drunk on the ground. The table was full of wine, meat, and dishes. They were drinking and eating large chunks of meat, like heroes of the Green Forest.