Chapter 8 Chapter 8
Night fell and the sky was pitch black without a single star.
Sixty people stood at the entrance of the City God Temple, and it was inevitably a bit crowded.
But everyone felt that the cold wind in front of them was particularly chilly, and they all hunched their shoulders in fear. No one asked when they could enter the City God Temple.
It was at this moment that Ling Suye stepped forward and pushed open the stone door of the City God Temple, which had been in disrepair for many years.
The creaking sound had a strange tone, as if something that shouldn't exist in this world had come to lock the soul.
As soon as the door opened, a cold wind that was dozens of times stronger than before blew directly over. Ling Suye even felt a stinging pain on his cheek, probably breaking his skin.
"I'm not coming, I'm not competing, I want to go back, I'm giving up!" A thin 'Mr. Shi' immediately cried out in fear and tried to retreat.
But Ling Suye could clearly hear his shouts and footsteps rushing inward little by little!
"Hey." Ling Suye opened his mouth, wanting to call out to the man, but the man's footsteps suddenly disappeared.
It was as if a person was erased from their surroundings.
Ling Suye's lips were a little blue.
"Demon Realm." He said in his heart.
That person entered the demon realm.
At the same time, he keenly noticed that some people around him had entered the temple and were actively dispersing in certain directions.
These people are probably the 'Mr. Shi' sent by the person behind the scenes. They must have known about the competition in advance and learned about the City God Temple in advance, so they can make preparations in advance.
He listened to the direction of the footsteps and counted carefully. There were seven people in total. Or at least seven people.
Ling Suye was not in a hurry to enter the hall. He walked a few steps to the side to avoid the crowd, groped his way to the huge copper incense burner, sat on the ground, and began to organize his thoughts.
The prefect asked the announcer to announce the content of the competition: spend the night here, find the twelve raw stones in the City God Temple, and bring them out, then you can enter the third round of competition.
Ling Suye almost completely questioned this content.
Since he knew that the person behind the scenes was the real culprit who wiped out the entire Ling family and took away his eyes, he could infer the purpose of these people - to find a suitable spirit stone to nourish his pupils.
Since they knew that there were twelve raw stones in the City God Temple, why didn't they take them out themselves?
Instead, they used the name of the gambling stone competition to invite a group of Mr. Stone who was powerless to come?
Ling Suye felt that the actions of this group of people were illogical.
He thought that these people must have their reasons, and the only reason he couldn't figure it out was because he had overlooked some key information.
Ling Suye put himself in the perspective of the mastermind behind the scenes: if he urgently needed spiritual stones to warm his pupils, he knew that there were twelve spiritual stones in the City God Temple, and he had at least seven skilled stone masters in his hands.
Then he would definitely ask Mr. Shi to come and identify the jade instead of getting involved in the jade gambling competition.
He pondered, "What does that man want us, the folk stone gamblers, to do?"
Ling Suye's eyeballs moved slightly under a thin layer of eyelids. Listening to the footsteps around him gradually becoming less frequent, he decided to get up and walk around the temple to familiarize himself with the environment.
Unlike Mr. Shi who was well prepared, Ling Suye was completely unfamiliar with the terrain and was completely in the dark here.
However, he has good hearing and can listen to the sound of the wind to determine whether there is a wall in front of him.
Relying on ears and wind sounds to make judgments is obviously very slow, but instead of wandering around blindly, it is better to imprint the terrain map in your mind first, so that even if something unexpected happens, you will know which direction to run.
"Hey, why are you going to the backyard?" A very young voice called out to Ling Suye.
Ling Suye had some impression of his footsteps. He was indeed one of the sixty people and not a monster in disguise.
"Am I walking towards the backyard?" Ling Suye pretended not to know. "I can't see, so I'm just groping my way around."
"That's the backyard, with three large halls. The terrain on the left and right is flat, but the middle hall is on a hill. You have to climb many stone steps." The young man sounded only about fifteen or sixteen years old. He walked towards Ling Suye, feeling the wall as he spoke, "All I can imagine is that there are stones on the hill in the backyard."
"Yeah." Ling Suye responded indifferently.
Seeing that Ling Suye didn't ask any further questions, the young man said, "I grew up here when I was a child. Later, because I found a stone that could produce jade, they blinded me and wanted to teach me to be a stone master. They said that if I became a stone master, I would be rich and prosperous forever."
Ling Suye's voice remained light: "Yeah."
"You... I know you. You are Ling Wuming, who got first place. They said that when you were selected, you were better than the Tian family's stone-gambling expert, and you can even cut stones by yourself. You are very good. I, I am very familiar with this place, you should be able to use me. If something strange happens later, can you, can you take me away?" Seeing that Ling Suye had not said much, the young man finally couldn't hold back and revealed what he was thinking.
"I can run very fast. Even though I'm blind, I can still lead the way. This place is too scary. Just warn me when the monsters come, and I'll run with you."
Ling Suye finally stopped and said, "Okay."
The two walked forward together. Ling Suye followed the sound of the wind while the young man held onto the wall. Both of them walked very slowly.
"You grew up here. How old are you this year?" Ling Suye asked.
"Fifteen."
"Did you discover any strange things or legends while you lived here?"
The boy thought for a moment and said, "Nothing strange, but there is a legend... that legend is quite scary. Should I tell it here?"
"Are you talking about that incident thirty years ago when robbers came and massacred twelve people but took no valuable jade?"
This legend has spread throughout the streets and alleys of Chuzhou. Ling Suye heard about it when he visited the gambling stone competition ten years ago.
Having said that, Ling Suye paused for a moment.
Twelve dead people, twelve pieces of jade, is this number just a coincidence?
"Hiss—" The young man felt goosebumps all over his body. He ran a few steps in fear and approached Ling Suye. "Yes, Mr. Wuming, you know about this."
"After all, it's a real case. It's not surprising that I know about it since the newly appointed prefect personally judged the case." Ling Suye said.
The young man was afraid Ling Suye would think he was useless and abandon him, so he quickly said, "Besides this, besides this... there's another strange thing. I grew up here with my grandfather, who was the gatekeeper here. As you know, this place is too far from town, the roads are difficult, and there are no jade mines or anything like that, so no one wants to come."
"Before my grandfather passed away, he thanked me for staying with him for so many years. He also said that it would be too lonely for me to stay here alone, so he asked me to kowtow at his grave on the third day after burying him and then leave."
The young man seemed to recall something as he spoke. "Grandpa also told me to kowtow and pick up a stone in front of his grave, put it in my pocket, and not tell anyone until I leave Chuzhou City and go to Mobei... Go to Mobei to find the Ling family, and then give this stone to the master of the Ling family. The master will then arrange a job for me, and I can settle down in Mobei and get married."
Ling Suye's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Talking about his grandfather, the young man's voice choked with sobs: "Mr. Wuming, the strange thing you asked me about is that the little stone I picked up turned into jade after I left! It's really jade! The outer shell is peeled off like an eggshell, and the inside is all jade!
I felt something was wrong with it, so I peeled it a little. Seeing the jade, I was both surprised and frightened. I remembered what my grandfather said, and all I wanted to do was get out of Chuzhou City as quickly as possible.
But, but everyone in Chuzhou was talking about the extermination of the Ling family in Mobei! I was very scared and wanted to hire a kind person to take me to Mobei to take a look. Later, they found my stone and told me to become Mr. Stone.
The young man may have kept these words in his heart for a long time, and since he was really scared today, he told Ling Suye everything like pouring beans.
Ling Suye thought that the grandfather should know everything that happened in the City God Temple.
And he himself might have some relationship with the monster, so he knew about the Ling family in Mobei, and after his death, he asked the young man to seek refuge in the Ling family.
Unfortunately, things happened unexpectedly and the Mobei Ling family was wiped out overnight.
As they were talking, the two of them had already walked through the front yard and passed through a carved archway. Ling Suye suddenly felt that the space in front of him was open.
The young man followed him out and said, "This is the backyard. There is a large hall on each side, both very large. Grandpa won't let me enter the other halls except the one in the outer courtyard."
"You didn't go in?"
The boy said, "I, I lay down outside and looked inside. It was pitch black. I was scared and didn't dare to go in."
Ling Suye thought for a moment and asked, "Then do you know which halls or courtyards those twelve people were located in when they died?"
The young man shuddered visibly and quickly shook his head: "I don't know, I don't know."
Seeing that he was too timid to ask any more questions, Ling Suye said, "Follow me."
He rarely felt any compassion. If the Ling family of Mobei still existed, this young man wouldn't have been deceived so badly.
Ling Suye walked slowly around the courtyard, memorizing its layout and the steps. Then he passed the two halls the young man had mentioned and headed straight for the last and highest hall.
As they reached the door, they heard a noise from inside.
Ling Suye looked carefully and saw that someone was packing up things.
The evil spirit here is the lightest and the demonic spirit is almost inaudible. From this, we can infer that the person inside is probably a human.
The boy obviously heard the sound inside, and was so scared that he trembled all over and almost fell down the stairs.
Ling Suye pulled him with his left hand and pushed the door open with his right hand.
The old wooden door creaked, raising a cloud of dust. The person in the hall was concentrating on sorting things when he was suddenly startled by the sound of the door opening. He immediately jumped out of the window with a bag of things in his arms.
He is actually a martial artist.
Ling Suye looked grim. He was in a weak body now, so it was unlikely that he could chase anyone.
However, before leaving, the man hurriedly picked up something, and the sound that thing made as he moved was very similar to the sound of stones knocking against each other.
"Were there stones in this hall before?" Ling Suye asked.
The young man gasped, "Yes, but it's a stone used to suppress the dead. There's no jade inside."
Hearing the words "suppression stone", Ling Suye immediately took a step back, closed the door of the hall, and ran downstairs quickly with the young man.
The evil-suppressing stone, can it be moved at will?
The evil spirit here is already very thick. If the stone that suppresses the evil spirit is taken away, this place will soon turn into a hell on earth.
Ling Suye walked all the way back to the front yard. He thought that he probably knew why that person wanted to hold the second competition here!
Because there is no such thing as jade at all, let alone jade that contains spiritual energy!
These people want to use the evil-suppressing stone to absorb the essence and blood of living people to create spiritual jade!
'Four' is the number of 'death'. A piece of evil-suppressing stone can be refined into blood jade by absorbing the blood of four living people.
Blood jade contains spiritual energy, and it can be used to nourish the pupils.
The man behind the scenes didn't come for a piece of spiritual jade, he wanted to create twelve pieces of blood jade, enough for him to use for the next thirty-three years!
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