Chapter 11 Start

Nodding slightly to the fatty, Jiangcheng took a deep breath, "Let's begin."

The fatty turned around, walking step by step towards the position Jiangcheng had planned. At this moment, Jiangcheng and Ye Qiutang fixed their gazes on the fatty's back, as if hoping to seek a trace of comfort from those broad shoulders. Relying on themselves was no longer an option; the only hope for breaking the deadlock now rested on the fatty.

Coincidentally, both Jiangcheng and Ye Qiutang had complete faith in the fatty.

Jiangcheng's confidence stemmed from their long-standing relationship, during which they had developed a deep understanding and bond. Ye Qiutang, on the other hand, based her faith entirely on the words of Mr. Song.

Bearing the hopes of the three, the fatty stood steadily in front of the window, adjusted his emotions, and poked a hole in the window paper with his finger. Then, he peered through the opening.

After about ten seconds, as the fatty straightened up, Jiangcheng, Ye Qiutang, and the fatty himself simultaneously felt a strange force. The force was located at the point where straight lines from the backs of the three converged. But this time, it was no longer repulsive; instead, it formed a vortex, pulling the three inward.

Ye Qiutang was the first to lose her footing and was sent flying into the center of the vortex. Following her, Jiangcheng and the fatty were also thrown backward. The suction force finally disappeared, and the three figures were no longer to be found in the courtyard.

The next second, in another identical courtyard, Jiangcheng and the others suddenly woke up. They didn't wake up lying on the ground; instead, they maintained a standing posture, as if they were statues.

They had been standing for so long that all three felt varying degrees of back pain.

Nevertheless, gazing at the large plaque of the Gongde Hall (Merit Hall) in front of them, Jiangcheng couldn't help but exhale a long breath.

Ye Qiutang reacted quickly. She immediately realized that she had been saved because the strange feeling of being watched from behind had disappeared. "We're out! We... we're out!"

"Brother Wang, you're really something!" Ye Qiutang nodded emphatically at the fatty, grateful for their escape from death.

The fatty waved his hand sheepishly. "What does it have to do with me? The idea was proposed by Miss Ye, my brother added the details, and I was just doing the legwork."

Looking at the Gongde Hall in front of him, Jiangcheng suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity. After a moment, he realized that it was much quieter inside. "Let's go! Let's get out of here!"

Restraining his urge to investigate, Jiangcheng quickly led the fatty and Ye Qiutang away. The "ponytail girl" situation was temporarily resolved, but who could guarantee that there weren't other ghostly things inside?

Moreover, Jiangcheng had noticed something earlier: Xuan De and Xuan Ming were not among the people in the Gongde Hall.

Walking under the ancient and heavy stone walls, the fatty showed no sign of joy after surviving the ordeal, because he knew that the road ahead would only be more difficult. "Brother, where are we going now?"

"The Scripture Depository."

Jiangcheng didn't turn his head. In his eyes, this Taoist temple was full of hidden dangers. Ye Qiutang was right in saying that to catch bandits, one must first catch the leader. Now that it was clear that everything here was fake, and the monks and Taoists were all acting strangely, Jiangcheng would naturally not fulfill Lingxiao Daoren's wishes. He planned to adapt to the circumstances and fight back if necessary.

Weaving back and forth through the cracks between the two stone walls, they used a shortcut to the Scripture Depository that they had discovered, which could save a lot of time.

"Hmm?"

Just as they turned out of an alley, Jiangcheng suddenly stopped. To his left, a vermilion wall appeared.

This wall was tall and dignified, a stark contrast to the rough, ancient stone walls they had seen before.

As the fatty looked up, his expression froze. This... this was actually a Buddhist hall!

"Wha... what's going on?" The fatty was dumbfounded. Then, a chilling sensation washed over him. A Buddhist hall had appeared in Qingyun Temple.

It would be one thing if strange things were happening near the Scripture Depository, but now other places in the Taoist temple were also starting to change.

And, coincidentally, this Buddhist hall had appeared right in front of them, as if it had been prepared specifically for the three of them.

The Buddhist hall wasn't particularly grand, but it was obviously lit inside, and the sound of chanting could be faintly heard. At this distance, they could even smell the incense.

"Shou... should we go in?" Swallowing, the fatty looked at Jiangcheng with some difficulty. Of course, he didn't want to go into such a ghostly place, but based on his experience, he judged that since the other party could appear here, they probably couldn't avoid this hurdle.

Ye Qiutang saw through the fatty's thoughts and gritted her teeth, "We should at least try to see if we can avoid it!"

"I know another path, follow me!" Ye Qiutang led Jiangcheng and the fatty back the way they had come. When she was with Mr. Song and the others, they had repeatedly explored the surrounding terrain. Ye Qiutang believed that she was more familiar with the routes than Jiangcheng and the fatty.

But soon Ye Qiutang's face turned grim. They had been walking for a while, but they hadn't encountered a single fork in the road. Clearly... clearly they had seen several forks when they came here earlier. And in front of a stone wall, Ye Qiutang stopped, her eyes fixed on the wall. "That's not right, I remember clearly, there... there should be a fork in the road here. We were chased by those evil monks back then, and we escaped from here. I definitely won't misremember!"

As if to verify her guess, Ye Qiutang stepped forward and used her hand to push aside the branches of a short tree that was close to the wall. Through the gap, she could see a scar on the tree trunk, which appeared to have been caused by a diagonal chop.

"That's right! It's here!" Ye Qiutang explained excitedly to the two of them.

She patted the wall in front of her. The wall was very solid and didn't budge. There were small cracks on the wall surface left by years of wind erosion, and there was green moss at the corner of the wall. Everything was so real.

"Don't stay here, let's keep going." The three of them continued on their way.

Soon, they stopped again. The fatty stared at the familiar courtyard in front of him, and his whole body was about to collapse. "What's going on? We... how did we come back again?"

The courtyard gate in front of them was extremely familiar, it was the Gongde Hall they had just left not long ago.

But how long had they been walking back this time? The fatty estimated that it was only half the distance they had traveled before. How could they have returned after walking only half the way?

Moreover, the courtyard gate of the Gongde Hall was wide open, as if welcoming guests.

Seeing this, Jiangcheng's face also turned grim. The other party clearly had no intention of leaving them a way out. "Let's go, we're going back, we'll continue to look for a way."

Although he didn't know what Jiangcheng meant by "a way," since there wasn't a single fork in the road on their way back, the fatty and Ye Qiutang quickly turned around and left this place of danger out of trust in Jiangcheng.