The Adventures of a Naive Apprentice 4

As Huaiwen had expected, there was indeed a Taoist temple on the mountain, and the monster, out of fear, did not pursue him further. The temple was rather deserted, so Huaiwen tidied his clothes outside before stepping inside.

Although they didn't have money to burn incense, they still wanted to offer their prayers. So they went into the temple and bowed before a portrait of some unknown deity.

As Huaiwen got up, he saw a young Taoist priest returning. He called out to him and asked, "Excuse me, when I came in, I didn't see any plaque outside the temple. May I ask what kind of temple this is and who it is dedicated to?"

The young Taoist priest replied, "It used to be called Qingyun Temple, but I don't know where it is now."

What does that mean?

"I'm afraid the young Taoist priest shouldn't say that."

Huaiwen looked toward the source of the sound and saw a man coming in from outside: "Because this former Taoist priest was castrated!"

What kind of talk is that?

The young Taoist priest nodded and sighed. The man continued, "Want to know?"

Huaiwen nodded, and the man stretched out his hand and said, "Then give me some money for telling the story, and I'll tell you in detail."

Huaiwen glanced at him, said "Excuse me," and prepared to leave. The man pulled Huaiwen back, pressed him down to sit on the ground, and then asked the young Taoist priest to prepare a cup of tea for him in his room.

He said to himself, "It doesn't matter if you don't have money. I'll tell you, you can trade something with me later."

Huaiwen shook his head: "I have nothing to trade with you."

"Nothing at all?"

"Wow, you're dressed like a respectable person." The man said while looking Huaiwen up and down.

"..."

The man suddenly laughed and patted Huaiwen on the shoulder: "Alright, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll tell you for free."

This Qingyun Temple is one of the most popular Taoist temples in Baidi City. This is because the original Taoist priest had cultivated immortality for many years and had developed excellent skills.

If demons were to afflict the city or village, he could subdue them single-handedly. Thus, the Taoist priest's fame spread far and wide, and he lived a life of great prestige for many years.

Five years ago, the King of Wei brought his women to this place. Having heard of the Taoist priest's reputation, they came to pay their respects. Because the Taoist temple was a beautiful and pleasant place to escape the summer heat, the King and his women stayed there for a while. It was during this time that the Taoist priest and the King's women began to seduce each other.

Five years later, the king and his female relatives returned for a short stay, and the Taoist priest naturally sought out the woman for a secret rendezvous. This time, however, their tryst was discovered by the king's subordinates, who then informed the king.

When the Taoist priest realized that his plan had been exposed, he prepared to use his magic to harm people, but since the king was a true dragon, he was unable to do so.

He had no choice but to abandon the woman and flee for his life. Later, he was captured by men sent by the king, who, in a fit of rage, had him castrated.

As a result, the Taoist temple lost its reputation, its signboard was smashed, and in the end, only a few young Taoist priests remained to run the temple.

After hearing this, Huaiwen rubbed his temples, looking worried, and asked, "This Taoist priest isn't named Song Ziheng, is he?"

"Hey! How did you know!"

It's over.

After Huaiwen recovered, she thought that since Song Ziheng had already been castrated, she couldn't persuade him to protect her even if she found him. Besides, Song Ziheng had disappeared and she couldn't find him.

Huaiwen sighed, and Onikiri followed suit. The sight of the two monsters looking so dejected at the end was truly amusing.

The man laughed. Seeing this, Huaiwen coughed a few times, stood up, and said to the man, "Thank you for informing me, brother."

After leaving the main hall, Huaiwen told Onikiri to search the area to see if Matsuko Yoko had left anything behind, or if the treasure given to him by the yokai was still there. Although the possibility was zero.

Huaiwen was flipping over the pots in the kitchen when he was startled by a voice saying, "You're stealing food!" Huaiwen turned around and saw the person from before. The person asked him what he was doing.

Huaiwen, without batting an eye, said she was hungry and had come looking for something to eat. Just then, her stomach started growling.

The man believed him and laughed loudly. After a while, he finally spoke: "It seems you are really hungry. I'll have the young Taoist priest bring you some food later, and it'll be on my tab."

Huaiwen was inwardly very excited, but outwardly he pretended to be calm and thanked the person. Before long, Huaiwen stayed overnight at the Qingyun Temple. Huaiwen figured that his first bodyguard, Song Ziheng, was no longer usable, so he had to find a second one, namely the Jiang family.

However, the Jiang clan, in order to avoid being hunted down, did not have much contact with humans and demons back then. Their whereabouts are now unknown. But since fallen leaves return to their roots, their clan must have left traces in their former homeland; we can only start searching from there.

Before descending the mountain, Huaiwen first bid farewell to the young Taoist priest, then knocked on the man's door. However, the man seemed still asleep, so Huaiwen left a note on the door as a notification before heading down the mountain with Oni-slayer.

However, they were unlucky. After leaving Baidi City, on their way to the Jiang clan's homeland, they were chased and attacked by new enemies. This time, because their enemies were human, Huaiwen could not use magic to bully them, so he could only hide with Onikiri.

They were exhausted from the long, bumpy journey. Having finally escaped their pursuers, they had a little time to rest. However, Huaiwen worried that their enemies might discover them again, so he circled a large tree, took out a newly prepared white talisman, wrote an incantation, and set up a small protective barrier. Ordinary minor demons and monsters couldn't get in. They could finally get a proper night's rest.

for a long time.

Huaiwen felt the frivolous words of drinking in her ears. She blinked and opened her eyes. The scene before her eyes terrified her. She was suspended in mid-air, her feet a hundred meters above the ground, with a jewel-like flower tower above her. Each floor of the circular flower tower was crowded with demons of various shapes, mixed with people, and all kinds of floating ghosts.

Huaiwen was terrified. She thought, "Where am I? What's going on?"

Huaiwen didn't understand why he was hanging here, but looking around, he knew he would surely die if he wasn't rescued. Wait, if he was hanging here, then where were Onikiri and Onimei?

A voice came from the sky: "Humans and demons gather here, not for wealth and honor in the next life, but for enlightenment in this life. Today, the destined one will hang in the brothel, with a price of one silver tael. The arena is ready, everyone please take your seats."

The people and demons on the upper floors cheered and placed bets.

Huaiwen sighed inwardly, "They've made me a gamble."

With a deafening roar, Huaiwen saw a large platform rise beneath her feet, finally coming to rest beneath her. Suddenly, the ropes binding her hands came loose. Now she was free to move, but beyond the platform lay a bottomless abyss. Huaiwen wanted to say something. But in such a noisy place, no one could hear her if she shouted.

Amid cheers, a graceful beauty descended. She brushed her flowing sleeves across Huaiwen's cheek, then circled him a few times, a half-smile on her face: "Young master, your appearance is indeed refined, even more handsome than our beauties."

Huaiwen tried to back away, but the beauty grabbed him and pulled him close, smiling sweetly, "It's just a pity you're stuck here today. Otherwise, I would definitely take you away and have some fun with you."

Huaiwen felt a chill run down her spine. What kind of talk was this! But she quickly regained her composure and, feigning nonchalance, said to the beautiful woman, "Miss, we have no grudges against each other. Why don't we sit down and talk?"

The beautiful woman laughed heartily: "Sit down? Young master, young master, you can't sit down here, you'll only fall down!"

Hearing that Huaiwen was heading towards that bottomless pit sent chills down her spine. Now, with the die hanging in the balance, she had to find a way to survive. The cries of "Kill! Kill! Kill!" echoed continuously. The entire scene awaited this inevitable massacre.

"Young master, may we meet again in our next life." With that, the beauty unleashed a whirlwind palm strike at Huaiwen. Caught off guard, Huaiwen was forced back to the edge of the large platform. In just one move, Huaiwen could sense that his opponent's strength surpassed his own.

But the battle had already begun, and she could not retreat.

The surrounding screams and the alluring smiles of the beautiful woman added to the spectacle of the massacre. She winked, and another attack followed. Huaiwen swiftly pulled out her white talisman, wrote an incantation, and as the woman's whirlwind palm struck again, she said, "Quick!"

The spell worked, and a large white cloth quickly appeared, wrapping the beautiful woman. While congratulating himself on the perfect execution of his spell, Huaiwen swiftly took out another white talisman, wrote an incantation on it, and wrapped her in another layer, repeating this process until the woman resembled a silkworm cocoon.

Right now, Huaiwen wrote the word "fly" on a white talisman, stuck it on his forehead, and flew with all his might toward the place where onlookers could watch.

But before she could fly off the large platform, the beautiful woman tore the white cloth covering her to shreds. Huaiwen was also pulled back by the woman's outstretched water sleeves.

She grabbed Huaiwen by the neck, her seductive eyes filled with mockery as she said, "Resisting before you die will please me. But since you've already resisted, I'll be sad if I don't treat you properly and just die like this."

Huaiwen felt he was having difficulty breathing, his veins were bulging, and his face was pale. He had only been out of the house for a short time, and he was already being sent to the slaughterhouse. Was there no law or order left?

On the stands, shouts of "Kill!" and "Win!" filled the air. Amidst the cacophony, the beautiful woman smiled elegantly at all the vendors on the stands, finally turning to Huaiwen and saying, "I'll play with you a little longer."

Having said that, she bound Huaiwen tightly, and with a flick of her sleeve, Huaiwen floated into the bottomless pit. If the beauty loosened her grip, Huaiwen would surely die. Completely bound, Huaiwen couldn't move, and had no chance even to pull out a white talisman to fight back.

Seeing the onlookers' delight, the beauty even flew Huaiwen around the entire brothel a large circle. This further fueled the onlookers' excitement, who clamored for more thrills. The beauty was pleased to hear this. Only Huaiwen felt dizzy and nauseous. To be honest, dying like this would be quite unpleasant.

The beautiful woman tossed Huaiwen onto the platform and ordered her to get up. But Huaiwen was still dizzy, lying weakly on the ground. Seeing how weak Huaiwen was, the woman felt no excitement at winning, only a desire to tease and bully her.

But the spectators who come here to play don't care about your carefree feeling of winning; they like bloodshed.

They shouted, "Kill her already! It's time to smell the first blood of the day!" Huaiwen listened to them all. In this way, she had no choice but to seek fortune in danger. Just as the beauty was about to extend her water sleeves to hoist Huaiwen up, Huaiwen stood up on her own.

Huaiwen kept his head down, and the beauty couldn't see his expression. Then she heard Huaiwen's deep voice: "If this is destined to be a hopeless slaughter, I will not yield. There are many ways to die, not to be tortured to death as a commodity. The smell of blood is acceptable, but—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Huaiwen used the talisman as a blade, flashing past the beauty. The beauty looked down and saw a deep gash on her right arm, from which blood flowed. Here, the smell of blood was amplified many times over; upon smelling the blood, the onlookers cried out again.

The beautiful woman raised her head, turned to look at Huaiwen, her face no longer displaying its former coquettishness, but instead filled with surprise in her eyes. She said to Huaiwen, "A paper sword, interesting."

Huaiwen held the blood-stained white talisman between his two fingers, his eyes filled with unwavering resolve. The beauty smiled again, but the next second her gaze turned icy as she rushed towards Huaiwen and said, "Take your life."

In the blink of an eye, Huaiwen clasped the blood-white talisman between his fingers and shouted firmly, "Destined for greatness, reborn from the ashes!"

"boom--"

Blood splattered everywhere as Huaiwen fell into the deep pit. The cheers from the stands reached a climax. Bloodshed was rampant, and the spectators were in high spirits, screaming throughout the brothel. This one-sided killing came to an end. The first bet of the day at the brothel had no losers.