As Tang Nian spoke, a short knife suddenly appeared in her hand, radiating a cold, sharp edge.
"you……"
The priest pointed at Tang Nian, trembling.
Ten breaths passed quickly. Since the priest wouldn't say anything, then Tang Nian shouldn't be blamed.
"This is your choice!"
Tang Nian walked towards the person standing at the very front of the crowd and swiftly brought down her knife.
Blood splattered all over the ground, and the man fell silently, unable to even utter a scream because he was immobilized.
"ah!"
The priest screamed, instantly going berserk.
"What have you done! How could you, a Taoist priest, kill someone!"
But Tang Nian ignored her shouts and walked to the next person, striking with the same swift motion.
After cutting down three people in a row, blood dripped from Tang Nian's knife.
Blood fell to the ground, splattering into bright red flowers.
This scene greatly shocked the priestess, and Tang Nian completely broke down her last line of defense.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!"
She knelt on the ground, dejected, and said weakly.
"You should have said so earlier, then none of this would have happened!"
Tang Nian smiled and wiped the knife, looking exactly like a ruthless killer.
The priest stared at Tang Nian with his bloodshot eyes wide open: "You're a devil!"
“I’m telling you, I killed that pork Li and his wife Jiang.”
Just as I expected.
"And that beggar-like corpse you saw, named Sanwang, was also killed by me."
Why kill them?
Tang Nian sat down again and began to question him with an air of nonchalance.
"You must have heard the other day that when Jiang came up the mountain, she was with another man."
"That's right."
Tang Nian recalled what Widow Wang had said; Jiang Shi had indeed not gone up the mountain alone.
"The two of them came to the temple to worship. Although I was puzzled as to why Ms. Jiang would come to the temple to worship with a strange man, I was too busy to pay much attention to it."
"But what I never expected was that Jiang would take that man to the backyard while I was off guard. They... they actually committed adultery in broad daylight!"
The priest angrily berated Jiang for her indiscretion and for defiling the temple.
"Only then did I realize that the strange man was Jiang's lover! I was just about to call someone to drive them away when, unexpectedly, Pork Li came up the mountain."
What is he doing up here?
Widow Wang never told Tang Nian that Pork Li later went up the mountain; someone in this story is lying.
"He probably learned about Jiang's affair and came into the temple with a butcher knife still stained with blood, presumably to catch them in the act."
"Seeing his murderous aura, I knew I absolutely couldn't let him catch Jiang and that man having an affair, otherwise things would be beyond repair. No one can die in the temple; that would be disrespectful to the gods!"
The priest's words made sense, and Tang Nian then gestured for her to continue.
"But I was still a bit too slow, and he still stumbled upon Jiang and that man in their disheveled state."
"So Pork Li killed them both?"
The priest shook his head. "I stopped Pork Li, and while I was stopping him, Jiang's lover also took the opportunity to escape."
Tang Nian glanced at the narrow door in the backyard; it would be strange if Pork Li had let anyone escape.
“I advised Mr. Jiang and Mr. Li to have a proper talk, arguing that the temple is a sacred place and must not be stained with blood, otherwise it would offend the gods and bring bad luck.”
"I told them to go to a side room inside the temple and have a good chat, and then I left them alone."
"But who would have thought that, less than half an incense stick's time later, Jiang's cries for help came from the side room. When I went to see what was happening, I found that Pork Li was chasing after Jiang with a knife, hacking at her. He looked determined to kill her on the spot."
The priest seemed to still feel lingering fear as he recalled the murderous appearance of Pork Li.
"So, Pork Li killed Jiang? Didn't you say you did it?"
Tang Nian raised a question, and the priest immediately gave a disdainful smile.
“I said I killed him, so of course I killed him. Pork Li committed the crime in the temple, offending the gods, and Jiang committed adultery in the temple during the day, defiling the temple.”
“All of these things were intolerable to me, so I took the knife and stabbed it into Pork Li’s back in the heart.”
“That slut Jiang was injured by Pork Li and couldn’t run away. After I dealt with Pork Li, I also dealt with her.”
"As for that unlucky Sanwang, he only killed him because he saw me kill the Jiang couple at the door, so I chased after him and killed him too!"
"His feet were frostbitten and he was very weak, so he couldn't outrun me."
After the priest finished recounting what had happened, he closed his eyes as if resigned to his fate.
Tang Nian pondered, frowning in thought. Although the priest's words made sense, there were too many loopholes in them.
The most obvious question is how she managed to get the three of them into the Yamashita County Magistrate's residence.
How did the corpse turn into a snowman twice?
"Forget it, I probably won't get anything out of you if I keep pressing you," Tang Nian said, and then waved her hand to dispel the spell.
The priestess looked up and realized that there was no blood in the courtyard, and there were no onlookers around them.
"I just wanted to find out the truth from you, but you were unwilling to tell me, so I had to resort to some underhanded tactics."
Tang Nian's calm words were like a thunderclap to the priest, leaving him deeply shocked.
I've heard that some cultivators can use illusions. Tang Nian must be a master of that kind of magic, right?
The priest comforted himself in this way.
Thinking this way, a glimmer of hope arose in my heart.
Perhaps this woman in front of him is his hope.
Tang Nian had no interest in guessing the priest's identity. She returned to her room, as she still had a lot of information to sort out.
...
"Knock knock knock".
At night, just as Tang Nian was preparing to rest inside, there was a sudden, urgent knocking on the door.
"Master Tang, it's me!"
The priest's voice came from outside the door. It was the middle of the night, and he had no idea why the priest wanted to see him.
With her doubts in mind, Tang Nian opened the door.
However, there was more than just the priestess outside the door; several worried women followed behind her, including the woman who had argued with Tang Nian.
This time, however, the woman's eyes were full of pleading as she looked at Tang Nian, making her look quite pitiful.
"What are you doing...?"
Tang Nian frowned, but her good manners prevented her from closing the door.
The priest turned to the side, and the women immediately knelt on the ground.
"Please, Celestial Master, help us!"
This confused Tang Nian. Why would someone suddenly kneel down for no reason? Is this a characteristic of the temple?
I've seen these people kneel down countless times these past few days.
"Master Tang, their child has disappeared!"
The priest explained, his eyes showing concern.
Inside the temple, a motley crew of all sorts of people, the children suddenly disappeared. With no other option, they turned to the priest they trusted most.
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