Chapter 48

After the wind and snow subsided, the two of them headed toward Nanshan Temple.

"Scent, him." Great Treasure suddenly found a piece of blood-stained cloth from the gravel by the roadside and pointed his finger at Guo Ming.

Guo Ming's eyes widened; he recognized this piece of cloth; it belonged to his servant.

Seeing his expression, Chu Danqing also received confirmation from the other party.

When the servant was dragged away and struggling, a piece of his clothing had been caught on the gravel.

There were other traces around; Chu Danqing looked at Great Treasure and asked: "Can you track it?"

If he could follow the traces to find the Lame-Footed Tiger, there would be no need to go to Nanshan Temple.

Great Treasure did not answer, nimbly climbed up a tree to look into the distance, and after about two minutes, came down, shook his head, and said: "Cannot, wind and snow, covered it."

If it hadn't been for that previous bout of wind and snow, the remaining traces might have been trackable.

Now, naturally, it was a vast expanse of white.

"Sigh, it is fate." Guo Ming sighed; he and the Lame-Footed Tiger truly had new grudges and old hatreds added together.

"My condolences." Chu Danqing comforted him: "Let's go to Nanshan Temple first; it's not far now."

Guo Ming could only nod and, with Great Treasure's support, go up the mountain.

The two arrived at the gate of the temple; what met their eyes was the gate tightly shut, and the surroundings were very quiet.

Chu Danqing called out for nearly five minutes before hearing a monk's response.

"Nanshan Temple has sealed the mountain and closed the temple; we will open the gates again next spring. Please return, benefactor." The voice of a monk came from behind the gate.

With such heavy snow and the disaster, the temple naturally did not dare to open its gates.

If they encountered disaster victims who were so hungry their eyes were red, it would cause incalculable losses.

When people are desperate with hunger, they can do anything.

"One of my companions was unfortunately injured by a fall while coming up the mountain. Monks are compassionate; please help us a little." Chu Danqing was not lying; Guo Ming truly needed treatment.

"There are no medicines in this temple; you had better go down the mountain quickly to find a good physician in the city." The monk behind the gate hesitated for a moment but still refused to open the gate.

This made Guo Ming's face darken; he was already in a bad mood due to many reasons, and then he heard these words.

They received incense and offerings from the common people every day, and now, let alone offering a helping hand, they weren't even willing to open the temple gate.

"We are not bad people; we are just guests enjoying the snow." As he spoke, Chu Danqing took an ingot of silver from his bosom and threw it over: "This is for the medicine."

He was not short of money; after all, he was a retainer of the Lu family, and he had been given a generous settling-in allowance when he joined.

The silver landed, and Chu Danqing heard the monk behind the gate moving to pick it up.

"Benefactor, please wait a moment; I will go and ask the Abbot." After speaking, the monk behind the gate ran off in a flash.

"To need silver to pave the way just to enter a temple gate, hmph." Guo Ming said with dissatisfaction.

Chu Danqing was accustomed to it; this was nothing; he had even seen big monks turn their own temples into listed companies.

It was already very good that they were willing to do things for money.

Before long, he heard footsteps again, and at the same time, the temple gate was slowly opened.

A tall, thin monk wearing cotton-padded clothes pushed the temple gate open with effort.

"Benefactors, please come in." After the monk opened the passage for them to enter, he said to the three of them.

After the three entered, this monk led them to the dormitory, checked Guo Ming's injuries, and applied medicine to him.

"It is getting late today; the two benefactors should rest here for now. It won't be too late to go down the mountain when the weather clears tomorrow." The monk packed up the medicine and intended to leave.

Chu Danqing spoke up first: "I see that there are usually many monks in the temple; why is it so deserted today?"

When asked this, the monk's eyes flickered, and he said: "Yangxian County suddenly suffered a disaster, and the temple cannot afford to feed so many people."

"Therefore, we sent many people down the mountain, which is why it appears deserted."

The reason was very appropriate, but Chu Danqing did not believe it.

The other party's demeanor while lying was simply too obvious.

However, he did not immediately expose him, but instead put on an appearance of believing him: "The world is difficult; even Nanshan Temple, which usually has flourishing incense, cannot withstand this disaster."

"Indeed." The monk replied, and then said: "Do the two of you wish to have vegetarian meals?"

"No need, we brought our own." Chu Danqing refused directly.

He could see the greed flickering in the tall, thin monk's eyes; if he agreed, he would probably have to pay money.

Chu Danqing had given money once; it was impossible for him to give it a second time.

After being refused, disappointment appeared in the monk's eyes, and his attitude also changed, appearing much colder.

He casually offered an apology and left carrying his things.

"When I came here years ago, Nanshan Temple was not this mercenary and greedy." Guo Ming wanted to curse, but since they were on someone else's territory, he couldn't say too much.

"Tell me, is it possible that the wicked beast is hiding in this Nanshan Temple?" Chu Danqing did not pick up on Guo Ming's explanation but instead stated his own guess.

Guo Ming was brought to a halt by Chu Danqing's jumpy words, unable to understand the logic behind Chu Danqing saying this.

"That's not very likely, is it? If that wicked beast were really in this Nanshan Temple, how could there be any living people?" Guo Ming did not quite believe it; how could the Lame-Footed Tiger let the meat right in front of it go uneaten?

As for saying they were Ghost-Servants, that was possible, but it didn't seem like it.

"Why is it not possible?" Chu Danqing said slowly: "And there are indeed no living people left."

"What you and I have seen are all Ghost-Servants."

This was something Great Treasure had confirmed.

When that monk was applying medicine to Guo Ming, Great Treasure had secretly whispered to Chu Danqing that the monk smelled just like a corpse.

Chu Danqing guessed that it might be Ghost-Servants borrowing shells to control corpses.

"This... we have entered the wicked beast's lair???" Guo Ming could not help but be shocked.

He knew Chu Danqing was a person of extraordinary abilities, but two fists were no match for four hands.

Who knows how many people the Lame-Footed Tiger had eaten; the number of Ghost-Servants gathered would be more than thirty or fifty.

"That's right, which is why we must go and probe the reality of this wicked beast." Chu Danqing narrowed his eyes: "The Abbot the monk spoke of must be the Lame-Footed Tiger."

"Since it didn't make a move immediately, perhaps it just ate your servant and isn't hungry for the moment, keeping the two of us as reserve food to eat when it gets hungry."

"We should take advantage of this opportunity to find a way to break the situation." Chu Danqing was not flustered at all.

A large number of Ghost-Servants was nothing; with those attributes, Chu Danqing wasn't even afraid of being surrounded while unarmed.

On the contrary, for the Lame-Footed Tiger, being able to control so many Ghost-Servants, he had to take some risks to investigate clearly.

The words on the tip of Guo Ming's tongue—to leave first and find the government to bring reinforcements—were swallowed back.

In his mind, he was a turtle in a jar; he couldn't even guarantee he could leave, let alone bring reinforcements.

"How much certainty does Brother Chu have?" Guo Ming asked hesitantly.

"Even if we are no match for this Lame-Footed Tiger, it won't be difficult to take you and me out of Nanshan Temple." Chu Danqing still had this much confidence.

Great Treasure's physique was not grown for nothing.

(End of chapter)