The rat demon dropped the pretense: "You've been fighting for so many years, and all those Buddhist temples and Taoist monasteries have either been smashed or burned down. There really aren't any such places near Jiang Town..."

"What about further away?" Fang Zhiyi understood a little. It turned out that there were no longer any institutions that could manage them.

"Far away?" The rat demon thought for a moment. "There seems to be a small Taoist temple on Dragon Head Mountain. It will take a day and a night to get there."

"Then let's stop talking and get going!"

The more Fang Zhiyi acted this way, the more afraid the rat demon became. Faced with Fang Zhiyi's orders, it didn't even dare to refuse.

The human and the demon left Jiang Town and headed east.

As Fang Zhiyi walked along the road, she felt a little heavy-hearted, as she would occasionally see unclaimed corpses by the roadside.

The rat demon said very solicitously, "Most of these people died on the road while fleeing from disaster, some encountered bandits, and some were killed by deserters. Usually, the whole family died and no one came to collect the bodies. In the past, wealthy families in the area would pay people to collect the bodies, but now... I heard that the wealthy families in the area have all run away."

Seeing that Fang Zhiyi remained silent, the rat demon continued, "Jiang Town is doing quite well; it's still safe..."

Fang Zhiyi suddenly sighed: "Damn it, after going through so many times, why can't I learn it well?"

"Master Dao, what did you say?"

"Shut up, give me the basket, and go find a shovel."

"ah?"

The rat demon hadn't expected that this young Taoist priest would actually dig a hole by the roadside to bury the corpse so earnestly, but while he did that, what he said was something else entirely.

"The conditions aren't good, and I can't tell you apart. It's fate that you all died together... Please be understanding and make do, everyone." With that, he pushed all the remains into the pit and then called the rat demon to bury them together.

Although the rat demon didn't understand, it dared not disobey Fang Zhiyi's wishes. However, while doing this, it inexplicably felt a trace of sympathy for these dead humans.

The journey, which originally took a day and a night, was extended considerably because Fang Zhiyi would dig pits to bury any corpses she encountered along the way. Later on, the rat demon became more self-aware and would carry a shovel to dig pits without Fang Zhiyi's instructions.

"See that? This is what a promising future looks like." Fang Zhiyi looked at the rat demon who was buried in work. The scene was a bit strange. A richly dressed noblewoman was laboriously wielding a shovel to dig a hole.

Xiao Hei shrugged and offered no comment.

That night, Fang Zhiyi randomly found a patch of wilderness to go to sleep, but then the sound of a suona horn rang out around her.

Fang Zhiyi had just closed her eyes when she suddenly sat up.

Although he no longer possessed Taoist magic, his sense of danger remained constant.

The cool moonlight filtered through the leaves, making the normally quiet environment seem incredibly noisy.

Fang Zhiyi turned to look to the east, where something seemed to be approaching. The piercing sound of the suona was coming from that direction. He then turned back to look to the west, where there was also the sound of suona. If you listened carefully, you could hear not only suona but also the sound of gongs.

The rat demon, Xiaobai, was trembling with fear.

As a demon, it could perceive the terrifying malevolent energy more clearly.

Xiao Bai clung tightly to Fang Zhiyi's body. No problem, there's still this Taoist priest here!

Finally, the sound drew closer, and Fang Zhiyi saw what was coming and couldn't help but gasp.

The procession from the east was dressed in bright red clothes. Two people carrying wooden signs walked at the front, followed by a large red sedan chair carried by eight people. The people following behind the sedan chair carried red lanterns, and the light emitted by the lanterns was so eerie.

Another group of people came from the west, but this group was dressed in mourning clothes. There were two people in front carrying white banners, and eight people behind carrying a black coffin. The people behind the coffin were carrying white paper lanterns.

These people were deathly pale, and they didn't even make a sound when they walked. The only sounds were the suona horn, the gong, and the mingling of crying and laughter.

"A wedding procession in the east, a funeral procession in the west, damn it! A cacophony of red and white!"