Chapter 292 Jinjiang
Taoist Priest Li had many speculations about the ghost path.
After all, it was the future he had glimpsed in the gap, and he thought he was ready to face the ghost path head-on.
However, when Taoist Li actually entered Baizhi Lake and walked into the deserted village, he discovered that the ghost path was far more dangerous than he had imagined.
Taoist Priest Li stood in the courtyard of the village house, looking seriously at the wood carvings in the house.
The wood carvings in the hall, which looked like a happy family, seemed to sense Taoist Master Li's gaze on them. In the dim light, they slowly turned their heads and looked straight at Taoist Master Li.
In the surging darkness, the outlines of human figures were looming.
Taoist Priest Li frowned and ignored the chill coming from his back.
The other Taoist priests' shouts of warning and screams came from outside the wall behind him, breaking the silent night in the deserted village.
From every village house, wood carvings with living mouths and eyes came out one after another.
They looked like they lived here, like innocent villagers who went out to check after hearing a strange noise. After seeing the intruders, they picked up anything at hand as a weapon and rushed towards the Taoist priests angrily.
It seems as if the Taoist priests are the evil spirits that should be expelled.
The postures of the wood carvings are very natural, as if they are not aware that they are wood carvings and not living people.
More and more wood carvings surrounded the Taoist priests, and several of them were unable to cope with them.
The spell was ineffective, and they were unable to gain leverage from all directions. The Taoists could only rely on force. They danced with the peach wood swords in their hands with great force, but they were unable to let the wooden sculpture get close to them.
Some Taoist priests were very glad at this moment that they did not slack off in their daily martial arts and sword practice. Otherwise, if they only learned talismans like the mainstream practice of exorcists, they would suffer a great loss here.
However, the Taoist priests have flesh and blood and will feel pain and fatigue.
The wood sculpture opposite does not.
Even if their limbs were chopped off, they could still crawl and wriggle on the ground. Even if their bodies were chopped into pieces, the scattered wood chips could still trip up the Taoist priests.
What made the Taoist priests feel the coldest were the eyes of the wood carvings.
Wood carvings with live mouths and eyes are the pinnacle of carpenters' skills. In order to make the ghosts of the southwest willing to enter the wood carvings on their own initiative, carpenters used all their skills to make the wood carvings indistinguishable from real people.
But now, the Taoist priests have felt the disadvantage of wood carvings being too similar to real people.
——Those lively eyes seemed as if there really was a soul residing in them.
When it looks straight at you, you will feel as if you see a soul begging you, crying and asking you in disbelief why you want to kill it.
It’s like...the Taoist priests are not hurting evil spirits now.
But the villagers who actually live here.
The peach wood sword that the Taoist priest had been holding tightly in his hand began to tremble.
He couldn't suppress his speculation, wondering if he was the one who was possessed. Or maybe the person in front of him really was a living person, but he himself was blinded by the ghostly aura and couldn't tell which was the human and which was the ghost.
How ridiculous!
The people who were supposed to protect life are now pointing their swords at life.
It was clear from those eyes that they were blaming and questioning him!
“Fellow Daoist, fellow Daoist!”
Before the Taoist priest next to him had time to catch his breath, he found that the Taoist priest not far away was staring at the wood carving in a daze, and the peach wood sword in his hand fell to the ground.
What’s worse is that the Taoist priest gave up the attack, but the wooden sculpture did not stop and continued to pounce on the Taoist priest.
At this moment, the sharp palm of the wooden sculpture was already pointing at the Taoist priest's chest, as if it would pierce through the Taoist priest's heart in the next moment.
The Taoist priest next to him was startled and without caring about his own side, he quickly picked up his sword to support the Taoist priest.
While yelling to wake up the Taoist priest, he swung his sword at the wood sculpture. The sword was so powerful that it cleared an entire open space in an instant. The wood sculpture that rushed over was caught off guard and was knocked backwards by the sword energy.
It also left the two Taoist priests some space to catch their breath.
He hurried to check on the Taoist priest, anxiously patting him to bring him back to his senses: "Daoyou, the situation is critical, you have to wake up! Daoyou!"
With that loud shout, the Taoist priest suddenly came to his senses, as if he had been enlightened. He finally came back to his senses from his messy thoughts and looked at the Taoist priest in front of him with a blank look.
He looked around himself and then realized what had happened. He was immediately filled with fear.
"Just now... I suddenly felt that what I saw in front of me were not wood carvings, but villagers."
The Taoist priest shook his head, not understanding why he had such a thought just now: "Sorry, I was distracted."
The Taoist priest next to him looked at him with understanding and did not blame him.
This kind of thing would have the same result for any Taoist priest. After all, Haiyun Temple is committed to protecting lives, so how could the Taoist priests accept that they would harm lives?
Besides... just from the Taoist priest's narration, the Taoist priest next to him had already become suspicious, wondering if these wood carvings had haunted them.
After detailed inquiries, the Taoist priest next to him also knew the reason.
He pondered for a moment and turned to look at the wood carvings around him.
The rest of the Taoist priests were also buried among the huge number of wood carvings, often unable to take care of what was ahead. Even if they held swords in their hands, many of them had various concerns and did not dare to use them to their full potential.
In comparison, the situation on their side is actually quite good.
Although the Taoist priest was temporarily possessed and lost his concentration because he could not tell whether he was dealing with a ghost or a human, fortunately there happened to be other Taoist priests by his side who helped him a lot.
More importantly, the faces of the wood carvings in front of him were not ones he was familiar with or had seen before.
Other Taoist priests are not so lucky.
One of the reasons they were so restrained was that the wooden sculptures that surrounded them had faces they had seen before.
Some Taoist priests recognized that the wood carvings in front of them were the villagers who died in the Baizhi Lake village massacre.
Some Taoist priests also discovered wood carvings that looked similar to the program staff.
Almost every Taoist priest was confused and couldn't figure out what they were dealing with.
"It's not a good thing to continue like this."
A Taoist priest saw the problem and said angrily: "The evil spirit in Baizhi Lake is really cunning! Just relying on a few unknown faces, it has divided us to this extent."
Even though they knew that this was most likely just a trick of the evil spirits in Baizhi Lake, the Taoist priests did not dare to gamble on whether the wood carvings that looked like the missing program crew members were just wood carvings or really were the program crew members.
Even if he accidentally hurt one person, it would be enough to make the Taoist priest collapse and blame himself.
Between truth and falsehood, no one dares to act rashly for fear of harming innocent lives, so they are restrained and this gives evil spirits an opportunity to take advantage.
The area of the deserted village is not small, and there was no overall village planning when the village houses were built in the past, so the paths are winding and covered with weeds. When the Taoist priests were fighting with the wood carvings, they would occasionally walk onto the paths and gradually move away from the place where they first gathered.
After the Taoist priests were separated intentionally or unintentionally, they knew that this would be dangerous and wanted to gather together again to help each other.
The wood carving also saw the Taoist's purpose.
They blocked the Taoist priests' way, forcing them to move far away to avoid harm, making it difficult for them to gather together.
However, although the Taoist priests were completely distracted by the wood carving, they also saw the wood carving's true intention.
If these are really staff members of the program, they would not do such a thing.
Although they seldom interacted with the people from the program crew, it was after all a program that Daoist Fellow Yan had always participated in, and the director was Zhang Wubing, who had left a good impression on all the Taoist priests who had met him.
The Taoist priests still have trust in the program team.
You want to disperse them because you think a single one is easier to deal with than a group?
The Taoist priests exchanged glances from a distance, nodded to each other, and made up their minds.
They gripped the peach wood swords tightly in their hands, no longer hesitating, and swept across the wood carving with great force.
All the wood carvings had their legs and hands chopped off and could no longer stand up, nor could they hinder the actions of the Taoist priests as they had just done.
Then, the Taoist priest casually took out a lot of woven bags that were left over from the house next door, and tore them into long strips with swift movements. Then he gathered the wood carvings that had lost most of their ability to move, put them in a position where they were holding each other, and then tied them into a pile with the ropes of the woven bags.
Only after the Taoist priests had done all this could they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"These evil spirits are really abominable."
A Taoist priest frowned and looked down at his still trembling hands: "I almost thought that I really killed someone from the program team..."
Another Taoist priest sighed: "Me too..."
"To be honest, if it weren't for these evil spirits who were eager for quick success and exposed their true colors, I would have even prepared to resign from the abbot after returning. If our previous concerns had come true, then I would have stopped on the path of cultivation. The knot in my heart has already been formed, how can I overcome it?"
"but."
At this time, a Taoist priest, holding a sword behind his back, finally breathed a sigh of relief after checking that there were no remaining wood carvings around. He walked back and asked, "Did anyone see Taoist priest Ma just now?"
"I just saw a wood carving that looked like Taoist Priest Ma in a village house."
He frowned and recalled: "Not only that, even the woodcarving's techniques and movements are exactly the same as Taoist Priest Ma. I suspect that it is Taoist Priest Ma."
“It’s possible.”
The other Taoist priest hesitated for a moment and nodded to confirm his guess: "I'm afraid that this is the kind of scene that those evil spirits want to see. They want us to kill each other."
With truth and falsehood mixed together, it is hard to tell what is right and what is wrong.
Once a person hesitates, his strength will be greatly weakened, and he will begin to be timid and hesitant. Even if danger is imminent, he will not dare to act rashly.
The evil spirit in Baizhi Lake saw through the weaknesses of the Taoist priests and exploited them to the extreme.
Since the Taoist priests do not want to harm lives and are even more afraid of hurting those innocent missing persons, the evil spirits in Baizhi Lake will use this to deal with them, making them unable to tell what they are facing.
Maybe it's a ghost hiding in the wood carving.
But it could also be the program crew and rescue team members they came to look for.
Having seen through this time, what about next time?
When the Taoist priest thought that these were all fake, he found out the next time he took decisive action that the person he killed was his former fellow Taoist priest... For a Taoist priest, that was enough to make him collapse completely psychologically.
After exchanging information with each other and figuring out the evil spirit's purpose, many Taoist priests became so angry that their eyes turned red.
"His heart is worthy of death!"
The Taoist priest cursed: "I almost got fooled!"
Another Taoist priest said, "However, since more than one person saw Taoist Priest Ma, and someone else saw Taoist Priest Wang, it means that they are very likely in the village. It's just that they are not in the village of our dimension, but in another village separated by a sleight of hand or some other means."
Taoist Priest: "When those two Taoist friends arrived before us, they didn't know anything about the ghost way. They came here for the missing personnel of the program team, so it makes sense for them to appear in the deserted village."
The Taoist priest next to him frowned and said, "This means that the Taoist priest Ma we just saw is actually him. It's just that for some reason, he looks like a wooden sculpture in our eyes."
"If we conclude that all the wood carvings are ghosts, we will not hold back against the wood carvings that appear later. By then, even if the two Taoist friends who came here first show up, they will be hurt by us. No, both sides will suffer..."
When the clam and the crane fight, the fisherman benefits.
The evil spirit of Baizhi Lake wants to make them fight each other, consume the power of both parties who are unaware of each other, and then the final winner will be the evil spirit of Baizhi Lake.
On the other hand, they became the villains who killed their colleagues...
When trying to figure out the evil spirit's purpose and plot here, many Taoist priests took a deep breath and felt a chill in their hearts and lungs.
If it really comes to that, everything will be irreversible.
Everyone fell into painful self-blame, and only the evil spirit in Baizhi Lake won the whole thing.
After they realized what was happening, they couldn't help but feel relieved, secretly sighing that it was a good thing they had discovered it so early and there was still time to make amends.
The Taoist priest who first suggested that the Taoist priests cut off the limbs of the wood sculptures but not kill them, also subconsciously looked towards the wood sculptures that were tied up in a pile.
He was afraid of the most irreversible situation, so he adopted this method.
While restricting the movement of the wood sculpture, it also prevented it from turning into a pile of fragments. Although this also carries the risk of the wood sculpture's possible counterattack, it is better than a situation where they are actually strangers.
"If anyone sees Taoist Priest Ma or Taoist Priest Wang again, be sure to find a way to pass on the message to them and tell them that we are coming from Haiyun Temple to provide reinforcements."
The Taoist priest said solemnly: "We must not allow fratricide to happen."
The other Taoist priests nodded in agreement and added, "If fellow Taoists see wood carvings that look similar to the missing persons, they must also use methods to disable their ability to move to prevent the possibility that they are really the missing persons."
"That's right. With this method, even if the most undesirable situation occurs, there is still a chance to save it. As for those wooden sculptures that are similar to the villagers who have died in Bai Village, everyone can deal with them as they please."
"Master Ma and his men must still be in the village. Everyone, please pay close attention and see what is going on. See if you can pull them from another village to our side."
"But fortunately, we haven't really caused an irreversible situation... It's a blessing in disguise."
"It should be the ghost path that caused the current situation."
A Taoist priest who had been silent all this time suddenly spoke up: "Because Taoist priest Li explained it in a simple and easy-to-understand way so that we could understand, our thinking was limited to this scope, and we were unable to draw inferences from one example and see through the truth. But in fact, I think that the ghost way should not only be about swapping the identities of ghosts and humans."
"The ghost path is to be able to manipulate the identities of ghosts at will. Ghosts can be ghosts, or they can make us think they are human."
The Taoist priests around were silent for a moment, each thinking about it.
"If that's the case, then the key to solving the current dilemma still lies in the way of ghosts."
A Taoist priest frowned and said, "No matter how much we do here, we can't hurt the ghost path in the slightest. It's just a layer of fur that can be discarded at will."
The wooden sculpture with living mouth and eyes is probably not even an ant to the ghost. It is just a handy tool that exists to achieve its purpose.
Even if tens of thousands of wood carvings were killed, it would not stop the continued spread of the ghost path, and it would not touch the core of the ghost path's existence at all.
"Come to think of it...none of us has ever met Fellow Daoist Yan."
Suddenly, a Taoist priest asked, "Could it be that Daoist Fellow Yan has already found the location of the ghost path and is already working on solving it?"
This speculation suddenly ignited a fire in the hearts of the Taoist priests, giving them renewed motivation and hope, as they were feeling a little depressed because they had reached a dead end.
Although many of these Taoist priests had just returned to Haiyun Temple from various places and were then urgently transferred to Baizhi Lake, there were also some Taoist priests who had indeed had close contact with Yan Shixun and worked with him.
Even if I don't know Yan Shixun thoroughly, I am more or less familiar with his style of doing things.
Judging from Yan Shixun's habit of striking directly at the source of evil, this guess is most likely true.
The Taoist priests once again felt a force injected into their bodies. Even the cold mountain wind in winter no longer made them feel cold. Instead, they felt full of power like a volcano.
"The evil spirit has entered my bones."
The Taoist priest smiled and shook his head: "Master Chengyun, it's still the Master Chengyun that I looked up to when I was young. His disciple can't be wrong."
"Since no one has seen Fellow Daoist Yan, it means that the key to the Ghost Dao is not this village at all."
Another Taoist priest said in a deep voice: "Fellow Taoists, we must quickly resolve the problem with the village across the street. We must speed up as much as possible to find the other two Taoists and the missing people from the program team."
"At the very least, before Fellow Daoist Yan successfully resolves the ghost path, we can't let anything distract him."
Everyone has his place and does his job.
Judging from their talents, perhaps they will never be able to touch the true avenue in their entire lives, let alone go deep into the ghost path and reach the core now.
But behind them are innocent lives of the entire southwest.
As long as they can slow down the spread of the ghost way, weaken the power of the ghost way, and support people like Taoist Li and Yan Shixun who can truly touch the ghost way to move forward, they will be successful.
but……
A Taoist priest frowned, and suddenly realized that something seemed to be wrong: "Has anyone of you seen Taoist Priest Li?"
"Where did Taoist Priest Li go?"
The Taoist priests looked at each other, but were all at a loss for words.
Taoist Priest Li, who disappeared in front of all the Taoist priests, is now trapped in the yard with the gate locked.
Two automatically lit candles danced wildly in the cold wind in the middle of the night, and the light and darkness were like the roaring and waving of evil spirits.
The hall is magnificent. Even in the dim light, one can still see the wealth and refinement of this family. The golden nanmu reflects beautiful light under the candlelight.
But the solemnity and wealth in the hall were accompanied by a low pressure, so heavy that it made people feel breathless.
It seemed that this was not an exquisitely decorated house, but a tomb buried deep underground.
Those people in the dim house all looked at Taoist Li. The smiles they showed seemed so creepy, stiff and lifeless, just like the pottery and wooden figurines in the mourning hall.
Taoist Priest Li remained calm and was not frightened by the strange scene before him.
He calmly raised his eyes and looked back at the wood sculptures, while at the same time he did not relax his attention to the sounds coming from outside the yard behind him.
After hearing the outside gradually quiet down, Taoist Li knew that the other Taoists must have dealt with the wood carvings outside.
He could also relax and concentrate on dealing with the evil spirit in front of him.
From the first moment he saw the people in the hall, Taoist Li recognized the identities of several of them.
Sitting on both sides are Zheng Shumu, a carpenter who was interviewed during the heyday of southwestern shadow puppetry. Although there is no relevant information about the girl sitting on the other side, the person standing behind her is Xie Lin.
As for Xie Lin, Taoist Priest Li, who does not pay attention to the entertainment industry, has only one impression of him.
——The brother who lost his sister.
After the kidnapping of Xie Lin's sister, many Taoist temples and masters received Xie Lin. Many masters, out of compassion, predicted Xie Lin's sister's condition.
Although Haiyun Temple did not accept Xie Lin's request, Taoist Priest Li heard about it when talking with other old friends.
He had seen Xie Lin's face before, and it was obvious that Xie Lin's Palace of Brothers was filled with a gloomy and murderous aura.
Xie Lin's sister died a long time ago.
In fact, Xie Lin didn't even have a younger sister. He was an only child, and any of his brothers and sisters would cause his death.
Taoist Priest Li saw this clearly decades ago.
However, the deeper one’s spiritual practice, the more one can feel the impermanence and ineffability of fate.
Taoist Priest Li was not a kind-hearted person. He was not interested in rushing to help others solve trivial matters.
Therefore, he just revealed a few words to his old friend about what he saw and passed it over lightly.
Taoist Priest Li did not expect to see Xie Lin's face again under such circumstances.
Compared with decades ago, the young people who were once full of vigor and vitality have experienced too much hardship and have become mature.
But in the eyes of Taoist Li, there is no distinction between good-looking and ugly. He sees the facial features rather than the appearance.
This face, which was once prosperous in career but bleak in brotherhood, has now become completely gloomy.
...Xie Lin, dead.
Taoist Priest Li frowned. He didn't expect that such a thing could happen with Yan Shixun in the program crew.
Therefore, when he looked at the little girl sitting in front of Xie Lin, there was more inquiry and vigilance in his eyes.
A little girl who can be treated like this by a brother who loves her so much seems to have only the identity of a sister left.
Is this child the one that Xie Lin was looking for like crazy before?
But, this child is also dead?
A series of doubts arose in Taoist Li's mind.
Although he doesn't tell fortunes, it doesn't mean he is not proficient in it.
In fact, Taoist Priest Li was extremely proficient in these matters, and he could tell at a glance that the little girl in front of him didn't even have a destiny.
It is a completely twisted thing that does not belong to the human world or the underworld.
The eight characters are generated when a person is born. They can be used to guess the arrangement of the universe for this person and see through the destiny of a person's life.
But what if the person standing in front of you has never been born?
Where do the eight characters and fate come from?
This child is a ghost baby...
Her mother was the beautiful woman sitting in the main seat in the hall.
There was no life in the woman's belly other than these people, not even a dead fetus, only a ball of thick ghost energy.
Taoist Priest Li's eyes quickly swept over the wooden sculptures, and he already understood the situation.
This place is indeed not a residence for living people, but rather... a layout for a mourning hall.
Just when Taoist Li had made up his mind, a huge rumble of thunder suddenly sounded from afar, and lightning with astonishing momentum flashed down from the dark sky, almost tearing the pitch-black sky apart.
Lightning flashed through the window and the wall, illuminating the courtyard.
At that moment, the whole house suddenly changed dramatically.
A pale curtain rolled down from above, white candles burned in the hall, the man in the main seat disappeared, and only a tablet was left on the armchair.
Placed on the table were plates of offerings, but what was placed on them were not ordinary fruits, but several stacked skulls, as if to commemorate the dead, allowing the dead to close their eyes in peace.
As for the boxes of gold, silver and jewelry casually placed on the ground, in the blink of an eye, they turned into gold ingots made of paper and white and yellow paper money used for burning paper.
The cold wind blew through the hall, and the pale curtains fluttered gently in the wind, making the whole room chaotic. The paper money swayed up and down, making a soft "rustling" sound.
In such a silent and empty environment, the slight sounds echoed repeatedly, which was terrifying.
Taoist Priest Li looked up at the sky and had a strange premonition in his heart.
Heaven and earth are angry.
But now in Baizhi Lake and even the entire southwest, the ghosts are in power, so, did the ghosts see something and became frightened and angry?
Yan Shixun!
Taoist Li's eyes widened slightly, and Yan Shixun's name flashed through his mind.
Now, the only one who could arouse the ghosts who had the upper hand and could be so angry was probably Yan Shixun, the evil ghost with a bone-deep appearance.
Taoist Priest Li couldn't think of anyone else who could do this.
Therefore, Goudan's disciple has not only found the core of the Ghost Path, but has also taken action, which may put the Ghost Path in a disadvantageous position, or even threaten the survival of the Ghost Path...
As expected of Goudan! His disciples are all so outstanding!
Taoist Priest Li's calm and depressed mood suddenly became cheerful again, and even a smile appeared on his face.
He put his hands behind his back, turned his gaze back to the mourning hall in front of him, and snorted coldly.
"Stupid ghost baby, you don't even know you're being used."
Taoist Priest Li looked at the little girl and shook his head repeatedly: "You can't even tell what you should hate and who you should seek revenge on. You really died in vain."
As soon as he finished speaking, a strong wind suddenly blew up in the mourning hall, the white cloth fluttered, and the sound of the wind was as sharp as the roar of a ghost.
When Taoist Li opened his eyes again in a blink, he saw the little girl who was supposed to be sitting in the mourning hall had appeared in front of him.
She was holding a small wooden puppet in her hand and looking up at Taoist Li. Her inorganic eyeballs were filled with cold anger, and the wooden joints under her white skirt made a "creaking" sound, as if she was so angry that she wanted to rush over and attack, but was trapped in her wooden body.
The ghost baby...is dead?
Taoist Priest Li noticed something wrong with the little girl and frowned slightly.
He suddenly realized that since the ghost baby was being used by the ghost path, Yan Shixun must kill the ghost baby first in order to follow the clues and get close to the ghost path. Only then would the ghost path, who was manipulating everything behind the scenes, show up when forced to do so.
As for the ghost baby, she is now dead, and only a trace of residual obsession is forcibly left in this body, supporting her every move.
But even this point has been exploited by the ghosts.
Otherwise, the little girl wouldn't be like this now, unable to act independently even when she was angry.
The little puppet that was dangling back and forth in the little girl's hand attracted the attention of Taoist Priest Li.
When he looked at it, he felt that the little Pinocchio's face looked somewhat familiar.
He slowly realized that this little puppet should have been carved in the image of Yan Shixun.
What's going on? What does Gui Dao want to do to Yan Shixun?
Taoist Priest Li frowned instantly and looked up at the mourning hall.
Everyone in the hall lowered their heads and no longer looked at Taoist Li.
Especially Zheng Shumu.
He lowered his head so low that his expression could not be seen clearly, but it was only possible to see his wooden hands placed on the armchair, trying to slowly tighten their grip on the chair.
Taoist Priest Li did not notice the subtle change in Zheng Shumu. After seeing the paintings and ornaments on the mourning hall, he realized why he was led here.
Those ornaments are not ordinary stationery at all.
But it is a sacrificial ritual vessel.
The five elements and eight trigrams on the painting also have the corresponding spells, as well as the ritual vessels used in offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, plus the ghost baby family that was once used by the ghost way...
——The ghost wanted to use this to sacrifice to heaven and earth, sever the connection between himself and the ghost baby, and completely clean up the cause and effect left by the ghost on the earth.
The ghost path originated from Baizhi Lake, but because of this, the cause and effect were left on the ground.
If it wants to completely replace the Tao, it means that it must cut off all connections with the earth in order to truly transcend the Three Realms and Five Elements.
But the ghost path suffers from the lack of a point of entry.
Just at this time, Taoist Li appeared at Baizhi Lake.
Taoist Priest Li, who can comprehend the heaven and earth and even get a glimpse of the avenue, is the best medicine for the ghosts.
The moment Taoist Li figured it out, he was not only not afraid, but also raised his eyebrows with interest.
"Okay, so this is the funeral hall you prepared for me, and you're using me as a sacrifice?"
Taoist Li laughed in anger: "Then let's try and see who is the one who uses the mourning hall - I bet it's you, Ghost Taoist."
“Boom——!”
The thunder roared like an angry roar, and lightning struck straight down from the sky and hit the mourning hall.
In an instant, dust scattered and bricks and tiles flew everywhere.
Xie Lin's wooden puppet protected the girl in his arms, but he himself was smashed to pieces, with wood chips flying everywhere.
Taoist Priest Li waved away the dust in front of his eyes, and the scene in his field of vision finally became clear again.
Then he saw that the place where he had just stood had been struck by lightning, leaving a big hole. It was charred and had an unpleasant burnt smell, with rubble rolling down.
If he hadn't dodged in time, he would be the one turned into ashes.
And at the critical moment, she pulled him back, allowing him to discover the abnormality in time...
Taoist Priest Li turned slightly and looked at the figure beside him with a solemn expression.
Surprisingly, it was Zheng Shumu who was just in the mourning hall.
The wooden puppet had half its body struck off by lightning, leaving only the other half, which was crumbling.
Only then did Taoist Li see clearly that the inside of the wood carving with movable mouth and eyes was hollow.
And this empty space was just the right size to hold a corpse.
Now that the wood carving is destroyed, the contents inside are exposed, with blood and flesh and broken bones scattered all over the ground.
But Zheng Shumu's wood carving still stood there stubbornly, pulling at the sleeve of Taoist Li's robe.
It was as if there was something unfinished that supported him and made him stubborn and unwilling to fall.
“Yan…”
The wood carving opened its mouth tremblingly and made a hoarse and unpleasant sound so soft that it was difficult to recognize and would be blown away by the wind.
But he still insisted and refused to give up, wanting to convey some message to Taoist Li.
When Taoist Li heard Yan Shixun's last name, his face immediately became serious, and he calmed down and listened attentively.
The wood carving's mouth opened and closed.
Taoist Li's eyes slowly widened, and he looked at the wood carving with disbelief in his eyes, which was far more shocking than he had expected.
In the gloomy sky, dark clouds rolled and thunder roared.
“Boom——!”
When lightning struck again, Yan Shixun finally used this little bit of light to clearly see who the figure standing on the pile of corpses was.
The ebony statue that no one had found actually appeared here?
Yan Shixun frowned. Although according to the ghost's words, the ebony statue was on the side of the human world, he still did not dare to let his guard down.
After all, although the image used as a reference when carving the statue originated from Yeli, the deity itself already had divinity and power. Although it was named as one with Yeli, it was more like two completely different people.
Yan Shixun still remembered the gloomy look on Ye Li's face when he talked about the ebony statue. He also heard about the deeds of the former general from the King of Hell. He was not sure what kind of character this person who appeared now had, so he could not hold back and did not take action.
But the opposite of Yan Shixun's reaction was the general standing on the mountain of corpses.
He glanced at Yan Shixun, and a trace of imperceptible confusion appeared on his cold face. The murderous intent and anger in his heart also paused for a moment.
The general felt very strange.
The soul has never known the warmth and tenderness of the human world, and has long been endowed with angry resistance. The heart and eyes should be filled with rebellious evil spirits and ghosts.
But at this moment, a soul bumped into his field of vision.
The general had a vague feeling that he knew this soul.
——In the future, he will meet this living soul.
Just like the future and death he had seen at the moment he ascended to the throne of ghost and god.
At the moment when man and God merged, the critical value produced a mysterious leap. In that moment, the general saw a handsome face of a mortal.
He saw that his karma would eventually converge on that mortal.
But the general had no emotions at all, and indifferently put the memory of that moment behind him.
And now, the memory came flooding back, and that face became vivid again in the general's mind.
The general slowly turned around and faced the direction where Yan Shixun was.
He lowered his sharp eyebrows and looked at Yan Shixun intently, as if he was pondering Yan Shixun's identity and wanted to know why this living soul appeared in his future and destination at the moment he ascended to the throne of ghosts and gods.
Then, the general stretched out his long legs, stepped firmly over the corpses under his feet, walked down from the top of the mountain, and walked towards Yan Shixun.
The heavy armor on his body, which was shining with cold light, collided with each other, making a metallic sound. The sharp long sword in his hand was still dripping with blood. He had an amazing momentum, as if he had just walked down from the battlefield, and he was wrapped in a murderous aura that soared into the sky. No one dared to get close to him.
But Yan Shixun did not hide or show any fear. He just raised his eyes slightly and looked at the general from afar.
Ye, Li...
The name that he knew so well in his heart slowly and silently rolled over Yan Shixun's lips and teeth.
He looked at the general with extremely focused eyes, but he was not looking at the general. Instead, he was looking at the one he was more familiar with, the Lord of Fengdu a thousand years later.
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