Chapter 15: Chapter 9: The Mountain’s Locked Ancient Temple, The Forest of Hanging Corpses
Fu Yao noticed that Little Ying was hiding within the crowd of people. Frowning, he asked, "Why is there a woman here?"
Although his tone wasn't aggressive, it didn't contain any goodwill either. Thus, when Little Ying heard it, she bowed her head. Xie Lian was the one who replied for her and said, "She was afraid that we'll meet a mishap, so she came here to take a look."
Fu Yao turned to ask the bystanders another question, "Did you guys come up here with her?"
At first, the people in the crowd hesitated a bit before they replied.
"I don't remember anymore."
"It's hard to say."
"That's wrong. When we came up, she wasn't with us, right?"
"In any case, I didn't see her."
"I didn't see her either."
Little Ying hastily spoke up, "It's because I secretly followed you guys."
The youngster immediately asked, "Why did you secretly follow us? Do you have a guilty conscience? Perhaps you're the disguised ghost bridegroom?"
The moment he said this, the people standing around Little Ying abruptly fled, creating a vast and empty space. Little Ying began waving her hands in a flustered manner before she said, "No...No, I'm Little Ying! I'm really her!"
Then, she turned toward Xie Lian and said, "Young lord, we had just met each other! I helped you put on make-up, and helped you dress and groom yourself..."
Xie Lian: "..."
When they heard this, everyone began looking over to stare at him. There were even some people who started to whisper things. In bits and pieces, Xie Lian heard phrases like, 'kink', 'different from ordinary people', 'I can't believe it'.
Coughing twice, Xie Lian explained, "This...is just a requirement of the mission. A requirement of the mission. Nan Feng, Fu Yao, you guys..."
It was only after he turned his head did Xie Lian become aware that Nan Feng and Fu Yao were staring at him in a strange manner. In addition, they began slowly moving away from him in a restrained way.
Being stared at with gazes like that made Xie Lian feel goosebumps all over his body. He asked them, "...Do you guys have something you want to say?"
How could Xie Lian have known that a girl's skill in make-up created legendary and mystifying results? Little Ying had only taught him how to fix his eyebrows by drawing them elegantly, how to powder his face with some white powder and how to dot his lips with deep, red rouge. However, if he didn't speak, Xie Lian looked exactly like a gentle, soft and beautiful young lady.
Thus, when those two looked at him, it made their hearts shake tremendously. They found this scene hard to believe; it made them feel uneasy from head to toe as they began to doubt life itself. Xie Lian's face still looked like his face, but both Fu Yao and Nan Feng felt as if they didn't know who they were talking to when they faced his current appearance.
Fu Yao asked Nan Feng, "Do you have something you wish to say?"
Nan Feng immediately shook his head. "I don't have anything I want to say."
"..." Xie Lian replied, "Perhaps its better if you guys said something."
At this time, the people in the crowd began speaking up.
"Eh? This is a Ming Guang Temple?"
"This mountain's forest actually had a Ming Guang Temple? Odd, I've never seen it before."
One after another, everyone began looking at the strange sight. However, Xie Lian suddenly said, "Yes, it's a Ming Guang Temple."
Nan Feng noticed that his tone was a bit odd. He asked, "What's wrong?"
Xie Lian replied, "The North is clearly General Ming Guang's territory. It isn't as if the incense burning for him wasn't flourishing, and it's not like his spiritual power is weak. However, why is there only a Nan Yang Temple under Mount Yu Jun?"
It was rather easy to understand why that Official would send his prayers to the Martial God Heavenly Emperor. After all, he had been the number one Martial God for the last millennium, and his status far exceeded General Ming Guang's. Naturally, the higher and more influential you went, the more insured and secured one would be.
However, General Ming Guang's position was equal to General Nan Yang's position, and there was hardly any difference between the two of them. If you really had to differentiate them, then General Ming Guang had nine thousand temples, a thousand more than General Nan Yang. Xie Lian really couldn't understand why General Ming Guang would give up something close and instead seek something far away.
He continued speaking and said, "Normally, even if the Ming Guang Temple on Mount Yu Jun is taken over by the ghost bridegroom, resulting in other people being unable to find it, one could always just build another Ming Guang Temple somewhere else. However, for what reason would another Martial God's temple be built here?"
Fu Yao immediately understood and said, "There has to be another reason."
Xie Lian replied, "Yes, there has to be another reason that would make the people of the Mount Yu Jun region stop building Ming Guang Temples. You guys, please lend me some spiritual energy again. I'm afraid I have to go and ask..."
At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, "So many brides, ah!"
When he realized that the voice had come from within the temple, Xie Lian immediately turned around. He had told these people to properly stay on the open space outside the temple, but they actually turned a deaf ear to his instructions and ran inside!
Nan Feng yelled, "The situation is dangerous, don't run about!"
However, that youngster said, "Everybody, don't listen to them! They won't dare to touch us! We're all good people, would they really dare to kill us? Everyone, get up! Get up, get up!"
This youngster actually realized that the three of them wouldn't seriously hold down their waists and give them a beating. Thus, he began to become absolutely unrestrained.
Seeing this, Nan Feng's knuckles began to crack, and he seemed like he was trying to restrain himself. However, as a martial god under Nan Yang Palace Hall, he really couldn't beat up an ordinary person just because he wanted to. If a supervising Heavenly Official found out about it and reported him, then the aftermath really wouldn't be fun to deal with.
The youngster laughed mischievously before sneering. "Don't think I can't tell what you guys are trying to do. You just want to deceive us and make us stay put, so you guys could solve this case all by yourselves and then collect the reward!"
With those instigating words, at least half the people in the crowd actually became restless. Thus, they followed the youngster and began running into the temple. Fu Yao apathetically brushed his sleeves and said, "Let them do what they want. This group of wicked commoners."
His tone sounded extremely loathing, like he no longer wanted to care about what happened to them.
Then, within the Ming Guang temple came another loud scream, "These are all dead people ah!"
The youngster was also greatly shocked as he asked, "All dead?!"
"All dead!"
"What evil rituals! Some of these brides died decades ago, so how could their skin have not rotten yet??"
However, it didn't take long for the youngster to get over his surprise. "It's fine if they're dead. Let's carry the corpses of the dead brides down the mountain. After all, how could the people from their families not buy them back?"
When he heard that, Xie Lian's gaze gradually sank. And after the group of people thought it over, they began thinking that this was reasonable. Some people sighed, some people muttered under their breaths, and some people became more cheerful.
Xie Lian stood near the doorway of the temple and said, "It's better if everybody comes out first. For many years, a breeze hadn't passed through this temple and thus the death qi has settled in. If ordinary people breathe it in, it won't be good for them."
His words made a lot of sense, and everyone didn't know whether or not they should listen to him. Then, Little Ying spoke up quietly, "Everyone, stop being like this. It's this dangerous here, won't it be better if we listen to this young lord? Come outside and sit down, ah."
However, this crowd of people didn't even listen to Xie Lian and his team, so how could they listen to her? Nobody paid any attention to her at all. But Little Ying wasn't discouraged and repeated her words a few more times.
Ignoring her, the youngster began instructing the crowd, "Everyone, we must choose the freshest corpses. If the corpse is too old, who knows if their family members are still living on this world. This way, we won't have to waste our strength carrying the corpses down the mountain."
Unexpectedly, there were actually people who praised the youngster for being smart and efficient. When he heard that, Xie Lian didn't know whether he should cry or laugh.
Then, Xie Lian saw someone start moving and immediately warned, "Don't take off their veils! Those veils can block the death qi and yang qi. The yang qi in your bodies is too strong. If the corpses absorb it, I can't guarantee that nothing would happen."
However, because this group of people wanted to pick out the freshest corpses, they had already taken off almost all of the veils. Xie Lian exchanged a glance with Nan Feng, who had just walked over to the doorway, before shaking his head. He knew that he wouldn't be able to stop this crowd of people. After all, it wasn't like he could give them a beating until they vomited blood and couldn't move any more.
If they did that and something happened later, wouldn't their wounds prevent the crowd of people from trying to run away? Xie Lian truly felt quite helpless.
At this moment, a buff guy removed one of the bride's veils and exclaimed, "The f*ck! This young lady is really beautiful enough to the point she could ascend to the heavens!"
Everyone began gathering around him as people started discussing her.
"She probably hadn't even crossed her husband's door yet, right? Dying like that is really too unfortunate."
"Her clothes are a bit worn out, but this girl is truly the most beautiful!"
This bride had probably just died recently, because the skin on her face was still quite flexible. Someone provocatively asked, "Does anyone dare to touch her face?"
The youngster immediately replied, "Why wouldn't we dare to?"
The moment he finished saying that, he pinched that corpse's face twice. The youngster only felt that the skin beneath his hands felt smooth like tofu, making people's hearts feel itchy. He even wanted to grope this girl a few more times.
Xie Lian truly couldn't continue watching this scene anymore and was just about to go over there to stop the youngster. However, Little Ying had already rushed over and said, "Don't be like this!"
The youngster easily gave her a push and said, "Don't hinder us big men from doing things!"
However, Little Ying crawled up again and said, "Doing something like this, you guys are truly just courting wrath from the Heavens!"
This time, the youngster became angry. "F*ck! You ugly person! Not only you're ugly, but you're bothersome as well!"
While he cursed her out, the youngster started kicking at her as well. Xie Lian reached over to grab the back of Little Ying's collar and lightly lifted her away from him. Who would have thought that after he had done that, he suddenly heard a 'bam' noise, before the youngster yelled, "Who hit me?!"
Xie Lian turned around to take a look. That youngster's head was unexpectedly badly bruised, and it even had a big hole. A stone covered in blood fell onto the ground. Little Ying blankly stared at it for a moment before she hastily said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I...I was scared, and accidentally threw it..."
However, even if Little Ying rushed to admit her wrongs, nobody would believe her. This was because, the direction that rock had come from was completely incorrect. That stone had been thrown into the window that was behind the youngster.
Thus, the moment that youngster had yelped in pain, everyone had looked over in that direction. They had been just in time to see the shadow of a person's figure flit past the window.
The youngster yelled in a strange manner. "It was him! It's that ugly creature with the bandages wrapped around his face!"
Xie Lian stuffed Little Ying into Nan Feng's hands before taking two steps over there. Then, gently supporting himself by placing his right hand onto the window frame, he flipped out of the room and began chasing the creature into the forest. A few braver people who wanted to get the reward also followed him and jumped out of the window.
However, when he reached the edge of the forest, Xie Lian suddenly smelled the reeking odour of blood. Being extremely vigilant, he sensed something was wrong and immediately halted his steps. "Don't go in!"
Xie Lian had already spoken up to warn them, but those people thought to themselves that it was great he wasn't chasing after it, because now they could. Their steps didn't stop and they instead charged right into the forest. The rest of the crowd that had been originally in the temple began rushing out as well. When they saw Xie Lian standing at the edge of the forest, those that weren't too brave began gathering around him to watch.
It didn't take too long before they began hearing a few blood-curdling screams. A few black shadows began stumbling out of the forest. They were exactly the people who had taken the lead in charging into the woods. Staggering out, these black shadows swayed around until they reached a spot where the moonlight shined down and illuminated them. And the moment everyone saw their appearances clearly, they were immediately terror-stricken by the sight.
When these people walked into the forest, they were still living humans. So why was it that when they walked out, they became people drenched in blood?
From their faces to their clothes, these people were all covered with bloodstains. It looked as if blood was gushing out of their bodies. If a regular person had bled this much blood, then it was impossible for them to continue living.
However, step by step, these people were still walking over to them. Everyone became so scared, they began uniformly scrambling backwards until they were hiding behind Xie Lian.
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