Chapter 24

Jiangcheng seemed to understand what Yu Chengmu was saying. "So... these people first used some strange means to sacrifice Miss Wu, then built a living person stake and a road to heaven, all in order to send this Miss Wu to immortality."

"And then use this Miss Wu, who has become an immortal, to help them withstand the Heavenly Tribulation that should have fallen on these underworld practitioners. Is that right?" Jiangcheng asked Yu Chengmu.

"That's right," Yu Chengmu nodded.

The series of events that Fatty had been listening to in a daze were made clear to him by Jiangcheng's explanation.

Although he could understand, he still found it absurd.

And this doubt persisted until after they finished eating and returned to the Wu family mansion.

"Doctor," Fatty closed the door. They were back in the wing room, just the two of them. "Do you think that old geezer Yu Chengmu is telling the truth? It all sounds so unreliable."

Jiangcheng took a sip of tea and pondered for a moment. "It should be true."

After a pause, he added, "At least most of it is true. I haven't found any obvious loopholes, and it matches the current situation very well."

"Is there really such a thing as immortality?" Fatty was shocked. "Also, Yu Chengmu said that these underworld practitioners are stained with karma, so they don't have much time left, so they have to gather together to avoid the Heavenly Tribulation..."

"Fatty," Jiangcheng raised his head and interrupted him. "The word 'karma' is not easy to understand, let me change it for you."

Fatty was a little wary. "What do you want to change it to?"

"Door," Jiangcheng said very naturally.

"Door?!" Fatty's face changed drastically.

"These senior underworld practitioners are all disciples. Because they overused the power of the door, their bodies are always in danger of being backlashed." After a pause, Jiangcheng continued, "This is the so-called Heavenly Tribulation."

"How do you like this explanation?" Jiangcheng looked at him and asked.

Fatty quickly thought it over and nodded. "That makes sense!"

"Then what about this Dahe Niangniang (River Goddess)?" Fatty asked. "Why did those disciples think of using her to resist the backlash of the door?"

Jiangcheng pondered for a moment. "I don't have any ideas about this question yet, but there are only two possibilities. First, Miss Wu was also a disciple, and her door was very strange. Devouring her door would greatly delay the erosion of the door."

"Second, just like Yu Chengmu said, this Miss Wu has some kind of great opportunity in her body."

Hearing that Jiangcheng already had some ideas, Fatty was no longer worried. It didn't matter if he couldn't figure it out, as long as the doctor could.

But soon, he realized that things seemed to be different from what he thought. "Why do you look so worried?" Fatty asked.

Based on his understanding of the doctor, he believed that what the doctor was worried about was not this elusive Dahe Niangniang (River Goddess), but something else.

After pondering for a moment, Jiangcheng raised his head and looked at the door. "Why would he tell us so much?"

Fatty was stunned. "Doctor, are you referring to..."

"Yu Chengmu," Jiangcheng said. "Why would he reveal so much information to us? If he didn't, in the next mission, apart from their own team, the rest of us would be groping in the dark. Whether we can survive or not would really depend on luck. But he actually told us. We are opponents. Why would he help us? I can't figure it out."

……

Another room.

"Master Eye," Zhang Junyu lowered his voice, his gaze towards Yu Chengmu filled with doubt and a hint of imperceptible dissatisfaction. "Why did you tell them so much?"

Yu Chengmu put down his teacup, playing with it in his hand. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "To let them live longer."

"Live longer..." Zhang Junyu was even more confused. The relationship between the two groups could now be described as irreconcilable.

"What do you think of the current situation?" Yu Chengmu looked at Zhang Junyu.

"Very dangerous. Just like you said, a one in ten chance of survival," Zhang Junyu replied truthfully.

Yu Chengmu exhaled and shook his head slightly. "More than that. We are really in danger this time, very dangerous."

"If I'm not mistaken, we haven't entered the critical moment of the mission yet," Yu Chengmu explained. "Now we have already lost two people, and Jia Jinliang has become half a cripple."

"If we don't share some information now, at this rate, we will soon be gone."

Zhang Junyu found this argument difficult to accept. "Master Eye, these people are more difficult to deal with than we thought. Ordinary missions are difficult to kill them. Are you... are you overthinking it?"

"The fact that they are still alive now doesn't mean that they will continue to live easily in the future. If they can't even see through such basic things as living person stakes, I'm worried that they will be wiped out in a critical mission."

Yu Chengmu raised his heavy eyelids and glanced at Zhang Junyu. "If the mission is still far from over by then, then will you be used to explore the way, or A Biao, Jia Jinliang, or me?"

Zhang Junyu unconsciously withdrew his gaze, daring not to meet Yu Chengmu's eyes. Although what Yu Chengmu said made some sense, he still believed that Yu Chengmu was not telling the truth. At least, he was hiding some key things from him.

But he knew Yu Chengmu's sinister nature, so he would never dare to question him face to face.

At dusk, before the sky had completely darkened, a burst of锣 (luo) sounds attracted everyone's attention.

When Jiangcheng and Fatty arrived at the gate of the mansion, they saw that everyone else had already arrived. The village chief and the black-faced man they had seen before were standing outside the gate.

In the village chief's hand, he was holding a copper gong.

Chen Hao raised his hand and greeted Jiangcheng, seemingly casually patting Jiangcheng lightly on the shoulder, while whispering a reminder, "Pay attention to the gong in the village chief's hand, it might be the same one behind the Yizhuang (funeral home) door."

Hearing this, Jiangcheng's nerves couldn't help but tighten.

The village chief was still the same as before, his tone and expression carrying a hint of flattery. "Masters, tonight... tonight we will have to trouble you again."

"Just say what you have to say!" Lei Mingyu didn't have much patience for the village chief. After all, a mission meant the possibility of death, and he also felt from the bottom of his heart that there was something wrong with the village chief.

No, there was something wrong with the whole village!

"Hehe," the village chief said with a smile, a little embarrassed to say, "Tonight, we will have to trouble you masters to go to the ancestral hall in the east of the village."

"There are several corpses there," the village chief carefully added. "These corpses are very evil, and no one dares to touch them. We still need your help to deal with them."

"As for what to do, before the third watch, the night watchman will come to find you. He will tell you the specifics."