He suspected this in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face, and ignored the people hanging in the tree behind him.

After taking the water pouch and drinking a few sips, he thanked Qin Luo with gratitude.

"All my injuries have healed, thank you so much!"

Qin Luo then handed him a box of osmanthus cakes.

"Have something to eat! Consider it breakfast!"

The abbot nodded, took the food, and began to eat. He had expended too much energy and felt as if he had been completely drained.

After he had eaten and drunk his fill, he asked Qin Luo about the situation in the city.

Qin Luo told him everything she knew, and the two chatted for a while.

Qin Luo then realized that the person in front of him was the young Taoist's master.

She secretly gloated to herself: Haha, I guessed right! That little Taoist priest is indeed someone of extraordinary status!

Seeing her lost in thought, the abbot assumed she was worried about the people in the city and offered words of comfort.

"Don't worry, my disciple is young but exceptionally talented. He will definitely be able to protect your brother!"

Qin Luo snapped out of her daze and casually echoed his sentiments.

"Yes, yes, I believe you!"

While the two were chatting and laughing, the three fake monks woke up. Hearing their shouts, Qin Luo led the abbot over.

He also picked up two thick wooden sticks and handed one to the abbot.

“The abbot and his accomplices have seen your disciple, and they came to steal again after I questioned them about the situation. I suspect there’s something fishy going on!”

Upon hearing that it concerned his beloved disciple, the abbot picked up a stick and began to beat him.

"Tell me, why did you disguise yourself as a monk to enter the city? What is the situation inside? Why didn't my disciple come out?"

The three of them screamed in agony as he whipped them.

"Ahhh! Please, have mercy! I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Upon hearing this, the abbot stopped beating Qin Luo, turned to look at him, and raised an eyebrow triumphantly.

Qin Luo gave him a thumbs up, then walked over to him to listen to the story.

The three men looked at the sticks in the two men's hands and began to recount the story.

"Before, we kidnapped people in the city during the day to sell them, but later no one dared to enter the city anymore. So we thought we would sneak in with the masters at night and kidnap some people in the chaos, but we didn't expect to get lost as soon as we entered. It was like being in a ghost wall!"

"Yes! It's all foggy inside, you can't see anything!"

"Not only can't we see clearly, but something is deliberately knocking people aside! We just don't know what it is!"

The abbot noticed that the group was speaking in a slow, unhurried manner, as if they were performing a comedy routine.

Something that could be said in one breath is being said slowly, one sentence at a time.

The abbot, hearing this, was even more enraged and grabbed a stick, striking wildly again.

The three of them cried and wailed again, looking utterly miserable! The abbot, tired of beating them, stopped and asked them...

"Can you finish speaking quickly now?"

The three of them immediately chimed in, saying, "We couldn't get out of the house after we went inside. A young Taoist priest used a magic weapon to break open a hole. We took advantage of his inattention, pushed him aside, and ran out ourselves. After that, the hole closed up!"

"Yes, yes, that's exactly how it was!"

"Yes! We've told you everything we know, please spare our lives, Master!"

As the saying goes, calm is the precursor to an explosion.

Seeing the abbot's ashen face, Qin Luo quickly moved several meters away from him.

It turned out that her leaving was the right thing to do. The abbot then threw away the stick in his hand and untied the whip hanging from his waist.

He swung the weapon at the three of them, and instantly screams pierced the sky.

Those who had been secretly glancing in this direction quickly moved to more distant spots.

Only when the three were barely clinging to life did the abbot listen to his words.

"May the Heavenly Venerable grant you boundless blessings! You abducted the people first, and then trapped my disciple. I spared your life out of mercy. This matter is settled, let's call it even, and leave the rest to Heaven!"

After saying that, he turned and left, his back view extremely dashing!

Qin Luo looked at the blood-soaked figure hanging from the tree and then sighed.

"Taoism truly brings comfort to the mind and body, and its main tenet is fairness and justice!"

Wu Hua was horrified by what she saw in the space; she hadn't yet recovered from the fact that the Heavenly Dao had used the Abbot's body!

My mind is filled with images of Jiao Yan being hung up and whipped!

Qin Luo and the abbot waited outside the city gate for three days. When the others still hadn't come out, the abbot began to worry.

"They should have come out long ago, could it be that they ran into the Ghost King this time?"

Qin Luo would send puppets in every day to check on their safety, and learned that they were all alright, but they just couldn't come out.

Even following the puppet won't work; you'll be blocked by an invisible barrier. The puppet can pass through, but you can't!

The abbot couldn't wait any longer and said goodbye to Qin Lu, saying he needed to go inside and take a look.

Qin Luo stopped him

“Abbot, could you please wait a little longer? My younger brother will be here soon. He is the abbot of Fuhua Temple. If we go in together, our chances of success will be higher!”

The abbot, despite hearing this, insisted on going in.

"It's not that I want to wait, it's been several days already. Even if my disciple hasn't been eaten by ghosts, he's probably starving to death! I have to go in and check on him! Are you coming with me or will you wait a little longer?"

Qin Luo thought about it and realized it made sense. With so little food and fruit, and the two of them having to share it, Twelve and Thirteen were probably running out of food too.

She discussed it with Wu Hua in her mind, whether or not they should go in.

Wu Hua said she had no objections and would listen to her.

Fan Xing suggested going in to take a look, saying that his man was a ghost king, so how could he be frightened by a group of vengeful ghosts?

Xia Beinian is as devoted to his wife as ever, and he does whatever Fan Xing says!

Tengteng didn't offer any opinions and simply followed the organization's arrangements.

Titi was quite excited; it wanted to show off its skills before returning to Fuhua Temple and also wanted Jingming to have its deeds engraved on a stone tablet.

Seeing how enthusiastic Fan Xing and Titi were, Qin Luo started to have second thoughts.

Based on her past experience, these two would probably be the ones who cried the most in the end.

Seeing that he was still in a daze, the abbot did not wait for his reply and was about to enter the city.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Qin Luo quickly grabbed him.

"You're just going to go in empty-handed? Even if you find your apprentice, what are you going to feed him?"

The abbot was speechless at her question. He had been so focused on finding people before leaving the temple that he hadn't thought about how much food he should bring!

He had been fed and clothed by Qin Luo for the past few days, and after searching his pockets, he handed over the only five taels of silver he had left to Qin Luo.

"Excuse me, can I ask you if I can buy some food?"

Qin Luo pushed the silver back, telling him to wait where he was, and then hid the donkey cart before going into the city with him.

Then he hurried away with the donkey-hide gelatin, and a gust of wind blew by. The abbot, utterly dejected, wiped his old face with his sleeve.

Qin Luo chased the donkey-hide gelatin to a secluded spot and stored it in her spatial storage. She then took out a bag of food, slung it over her shoulder, and ran back the way she had come.

The abbot waited for about fifteen minutes before Qin Luo returned, handing him the bag she was carrying.

"Abbot, please take these foods in case we get separated!"

The abbot was deeply moved. Seeing that her hands were empty, he asked, "What about you? What will you do if you give me everything?"

Qin Luo patted the cloth bag on his chest.

"Don't worry! I don't eat much, this is enough. You're more capable than me, you'll definitely find them first, so you should take more!"

Upon hearing this, the abbot felt that what she said made a lot of sense, so he carried the bag and walked into the city.

Qin Luo followed closely behind him. As soon as they entered the city, a white light flashed across the rope on Qin Luo's wrist, as if she were thoroughly enjoying the yin energy within it...