Chapter 23 Xiangweng Temple ⑨·The spirit has indeed been seen somewhere before.
Bang!
A few seconds later, Lan Shuyin fell heavily to the ground, her whole body numb from the shock, but fortunately the futon cushioned her fall.
She looked up through the pain, only to be stunned by the sight before her—
In the vast space, there were four people. They were restraining each other in an odd posture:
A man with a bruised and swollen nose, wearing a red and white delivery uniform, was being held down on the ground by another man who looked quite familiar, with a cold blade pressed against his neck; Chen Yi grabbed the man with the knife from behind and tried to pull him away; nearby, Wei Li leaned against the wall leisurely, as if enjoying a good show that had nothing to do with him.
Of course, as Lan Shuyin descended from the sky, all actions and gazes focused on her.
"Cough cough..." She grimaced as she got up, quickly scanning the scene, trying to understand the bizarre situation. "A cosplay event?"
"It's you?!" The man she thought looked familiar suddenly turned around. When he saw Lan Shuyin's face, the ferocious anger on his face paused slightly, and a hint of surprise flashed across his face.
At this moment, Lan Shuyin finally recognized the person—it was a member of the professional expedition team from Qigu Village, the last member she had knocked down with a single punch.
However, Chen Bin's attention wasn't on her at the moment. Her sudden appearance, in fact, calmed his raging emotions somewhat.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chen Yi forcefully pried open the arm holding the knife slightly. "Ah Bin! Calm down! Put the knife down first!"
"Yao Huaiyu, you people are truly despicable! If I hadn't been careful and followed you all the way...would my brother have been taken back by you too?! How many things did they do for you when they were alive? How many merits did they make? Now that they're gone, you want to discard them like used millstones, and wipe them out completely?!"
Chen Bin's eyes were bloodshot. Although he stopped struggling, he still gripped the knife tightly. His gaze was fixed on the man named Yao Huaiyu on the ground, as if it were poisoned. His voice trembled with extreme anger and pain.
"What's going on?" Seeing that no one paid attention to her, Lan Shuyin consciously entered bystander mode, silently retreated to Wei Li's side, and asked in a low voice.
Kui Li turned his head and, speaking at a speed that only the two of them could hear, briefly explained the origin of the conflict before them.
It turned out that last night, when Wei Li left Xiangweng Temple, she ran into this man who claimed to be from the "Official Special Bureau"—Yao Huaiyu, the one who was now beaten black and blue. Yao Huaiyu mistook her for a treasure thief and was about to attack without saying a word. Just then, Chen Yi and others suddenly appeared and stopped them.
In the chaos, Yao Huaiyu forcibly took Zhang Hao and Zhong Jinguo away, with only Qi Weiwei managing to escape. Just as Yao Huaiyu was about to do the same to Chen Yi, Chen Bin suddenly appeared. During his fight with Yao Huaiyu, he accidentally triggered a mechanism, and the group fell into the ground together.
"What do you mean by forcibly taking it away?" Lan Shuyin caught the unusual word.
“It means exactly what it says.” Kui Li’s gaze swept over the oddly shaped, smaller, and more portable silver instrument on the ground, resembling a Dewar flask. He spoke with a slightly arrogant tone, “When people die, they become ghosts. The ghosts we usually talk about are a type of spirit. There are only a few ways to deal with spirits: either ask someone with high cultivation to perform a ritual, or…”
He paused, a hint of coldness in his voice.
“They use those ‘spirit-binding devices’ to forcibly draw spirits into specially made collection containers. These containers are filled with special gadolinium water, and once a spirit is ingested, it basically can’t get out. They call this ‘recycling’.”
Lan Shuyin was shocked. "There are such methods?"
"Actually, it's not really a secret." Kui Li's tone was as calm as if he were talking about the weather. "The soul is a kind of spiritual treasure of heaven and earth, and it is inherently a very useful thing. Especially the great spirit that can maintain its consciousness after taking form is even more valuable."
"What aspects of value?"
“Yes, all of them.” Kui Li smiled faintly. “Some are used for research, some are believed to have the ‘spiritual essence’ extracted from them that can prolong life and strengthen the body… Of course, there are also shady black market transactions, which are exclusively for people with special needs.”
Although his words were vague, Lan Shuyin understood.
The soul is a precious resource, and what people fear as "ghosts" are treasures in the eyes of some.
This realization sent a chill down her spine, and a thought immediately came to mind: "If everyone has a soul after death, wouldn't that mean everyone who dies could be taken back?"
“It’s not that simple.” Wei Li shook his head. “Not everyone can become a spirit after death, not even the lowest-level ghost. It requires extremely strong willpower, a specific time and place, and even a special way of dying. Capturing one is even more difficult. Obtaining a complete spirit that retains its consciousness requires an astronomical amount of resources. If it were so easy to capture one, the world would have been in chaos long ago.”
He paused for a moment, then explained further, "Chen Yi and the others have a very special situation. Normally, living people can't see spirits at all, but the water and mountain formations here are special, gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which allows ordinary people to see things that are normally invisible..."
Bang!
Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a dull thud!
"Damn it! You despicable and shameless scoundrel!"
It turned out that Yao Huaiyu had attempted a sneak attack, but Chen Bin noticed it instantly. Enraged, Chen Bin lunged forward, and the two collided heavily, knocking down the stone pillar in the center of the room!
Amidst the swirling dust, Lan Shuyin and Wei Li's gazes were instantly drawn to it.
Only now did Lan Shuyin truly see the full picture of the underground space they were in—
This place doesn't resemble a tomb or dungeon. It's more orderly. The surrounding walls are man-made stone walls, with a few old light bulbs fixed to them, emitting a dim yellow light. Faint traces of murals are visible on the walls, but they are difficult to discern due to their age.
After the stone platform was knocked down, an altar that had been hidden behind it was revealed. The altar had an antique style and was covered with a thin layer of ash.
Perhaps it triggered some mechanism, because a huge woven banner fell down on the stone wall behind the altar.
The colors of the banner had faded and the edges were somewhat damaged, but the outline of a woman could still be discerned, meticulously embroidered with colorful silk threads.
So much time had passed that the woman's face had become blurred, leaving only a hazy outline. But with her flowing robes and graceful figure, judging from her slender, not yet fully grown physique, she must have been a very young girl.
"Chen Bin! If you lay a hand on me again, I won't be polite!" Yao Huaiyu scrambled to his feet, a hint of ferocity flashing in his eyes.
"Come on! If you're so capable, then take me too!" Chen Bin made a move to pounce on him again.
"Stop!" Yao Huaiyu suddenly shouted, a headache on his face. "Didn't your brother tell you that they all voluntarily signed a spirit matter recycling agreement before they set off?"
These words were like a bucket of cold water, suddenly extinguishing Chen Bin's anger.
He froze, instinctively turning to Chen Yi, his voice trembling with disbelief, "Brother... what exactly are you here for? Why did you sign that kind of thing?!"
"What are they talking about again?" Lan Shuyin asked Kui Li, turning her head like a curious child.
But when she turned her head, she found that Wei Li was looking up, staring blankly at the painting of the woman.
The moment she looked over, Wei Li seemed to snap back to reality because of her movement.
He withdrew his gaze and turned to her with remarkable ease. "It's probably similar to a body donation agreement, meaning that they voluntarily entrust their souls to official institutions for recycling and disposal after their death."
His tone was calm, but there was a hint of seriousness in his eyes.
In that instant, Lan Shuyin had a gut feeling—Kui Li seemed to know the woman in the painting.
In the past, she would most likely have looked away; she wasn't particularly interested in other people's secrets. But the girl in this painting is very likely related to "Feng Zhi Zhao Yin," and therefore, she might also be related to her.
However, now is not the time to ask further questions.
Lan Shuyin was secretly planning to find an opportunity to ask him in detail after they went outside when she was suddenly interrupted by Chen Yi's heavy voice—
"Enough, Ah Bin!"
Chen Yi said in a heavy tone, "This matter is very complicated and cannot be explained in just a few words."
"No rush, take your time," Lan Shuyin replied immediately, not intending to let him gloss over the matter.
Now that she had stepped into these murky waters, she was determined to get to the bottom of things and not leave in a daze.
Her gaze swept over Chen Yi's body, which was indistinguishable from a living person, and she asked casually, "I'm also very curious, how did you all end up like this? And it seems that you yourselves don't even know what happened?"
"This is a top-secret official mission, and outsiders have no right to inquire about it!" Yao Huaiyu interrupted in a deep voice.
Upon hearing this, Lan Shuyin couldn't help but glance at him again.
Despite his bruised and swollen face, there was an inexplicable sense of familiarity about him, and even his voice seemed familiar.
She raised an eyebrow. "Have we met somewhere before?"
Under her intense gaze, Yao Huaiyu's Adam's apple bobbed, and her eyes darted away, momentarily speechless.
In the heavy silence, Chen Yi slowly spoke, "Actually, this matter itself is not a secret, it's just risky."
Kui Li leaned to the side and said calmly upon hearing this, "You mean, the true form of the Yin God?"
"Yes." Chen Yi smiled bitterly. "There has always been a rumor that a huge secret is hidden in that physical body. If it can be unlocked, one can control Yin and Yang and communicate between life and death. Because of this, at least seven expedition teams have been lost."
He paused, his tone turning somber, "But without exception, either the team members died mysteriously or went completely insane. For this reason, this place has long been an unspoken forbidden zone, and no one dares to touch it."
"Until more than a decade ago, another professional expedition team came here with the most advanced equipment available at the time. But as soon as they touched the body, a living worker died on the spot. Everyone was terrified and rushed to evacuate. It was at that moment that the detectors they brought captured an astonishing phenomenon: an extremely strong parasitic reaction was generated around the deceased."
Chen Yi's gaze swept over the crowd, and he said, word by word, "This means that this temple, or rather the place where that physical body is located, possesses a powerful energy that can give birth to or attract spirits."
"Unfortunately, that team ultimately couldn't escape the clutches of the curse. The rest either died or went mad. Most of the bureau's elite forces were wiped out, and even knowing that the physical body was a treasure, they dared not make any more moves."
The anger on Chen Bin's face had long been crushed by shock. He remained silent for a long time before his voice became dry as he asked, "Since you knew you were coming to your death, brother, why did you still come?"
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