Chapter 11: Unexpected Joy

In the dark night, moonlight shone in front of the barren temple gate.

Peng!

A loud bang of a door being hit exploded in the mountains, startling countless flying birds.

Several figures swept out of the barren temple one after another.

The government runners surrounding the barren temple were in chaos. The leader slashed a runner with a knife, broke through the encirclement, and headed straight down the mountain.

The four Huaqing Sect disciples followed closely behind.

"Chase!"

Only Head Runner Liu's urgent shout was heard.

A group of runners messily drew their waist knives and chased down the mountain.

Soon, the front of the barren temple returned to calm.

Li Rui's eyes narrowed slightly, and the expression of the man who was surrounded and intercepted just now when he left appeared in his mind.

"Hurt fellow sect members... stole Elder Ma's secret method."

The words of the youth Zhou Hu rang in his ears.

There is something hidden in the temple!

That Huaqing Sect traitor stole the secret method. If it were him, he definitely wouldn't carry it on his body. The best way is to hide it in a secret place.

His gaze fell on the barren temple.

The barren temple is the best place to hide treasures, waiting to be retrieved after the storm passes.

Li Rui's heart moved, and he gritted his teeth and crawled out of the bushes.

Soon, he walked into the barren temple.

Desolation, decay, weeds growing; a feeling of loneliness came over him. No wonder the mountain people nearby didn't want to come here, so it was rarely visited.

The Buddha statue collapsed.

The Bodhisattva's stone skull was half-buried in the soil.

Li Rui wasn't panicked at all because when this temple wasn't a barren temple, he had come here to burn incense. At that time, this temple was called Lingkong Temple.

Later, it was heard that the abbot ran away with the County Magistrate's sister-in-law, and the reputation stank, so it gradually became barren.

It's just that the history that was remembered was almost all dead, and then it was passed on more and more mysteriously.

Precisely because he had experienced many things, Li Rui questioned many legends of gods and ghosts.

Li Rui shook his robe.

A small cloth bag fell into his hand.

Untying the rope on the cloth bag, a bag of white ash appeared before his eyes. This thing is called "E-ash."

In his past life, it had another scientific name—quicklime.

He, a groom, carrying some quicklime, is very normal, right?

Li Rui grabbed a handful of quicklime and sprinkled it on the ground.

Soon, the footprints that were not obvious before gradually became clear.

"It works!"

Li Rui's eyes lit up.

Learn math, physics, and chemistry well, and you can travel the world without fear. The ancients didn't deceive me!

He sprinkled ash all the way along the direction of the footprints and soon arrived at a remote incense hall. This was not the main hall, but a side hall.

There were no traces of fighting.

Clearly, that Huaqing Sect disciple hadn't always been in the main hall where the fighting occurred, but had come to this side hall first.

What did he come to the side hall for?

Excluding burning incense to the Child-Giving Granting Guanyin in the hall, the only possibility is hiding treasure!

Suddenly.

Li Rui's heart beat wildly.

He just wanted to try his luck at first, but didn't expect to really find a treasure!

Searching in the side hall.

Finally.

He touched an object wrapped in oil paper from a small hole under the Child-Giving Granting Guanyin statue.

Li Rui's pupils widened.

If he wasn't mistaken, this should be the secret method mentioned by the few Huaqing Sect disciples.

He didn't have time to look more, hurriedly stuffed the oil paper into his bosom, then threw down a branch, swept away all the quicklime sprinkled on the ground until no traces could be seen, and then left satisfied.

"Damn it, still let that guy escape."

In the valley.

Zhu Yue clutched his lower abdomen depressedly, angrily.

The faces of Han Qin and the others were also not very good. Even though they used the Divine Soldier Talisman, Xu Hua still escaped.

Just then.

Li Rui walked out of the mountain forest leading the four sweat-blood horses.

Zhu Yue looked at Li Rui, who was safe and sound, and was a bit surprised: "Old Li, where did you go just now?"

Li Rui: "Young Master, I heard fighting just now, so I dragged the horses to a hidden place."

"You are quite smart."

Zhu Yue nodded: "If you hadn't dragged the horses away, and they were spotted by the Ghost Sect people, I'm afraid even the horses wouldn't have been saved."

Ghost Sect?!

Hearing these three words, Li Rui felt a burst of lingering fear.

If it weren't for his caution in hiding the horses, he would have really been in trouble.

Zhou Hu was also full of resentment: "Xu Hua actually colluded with people from the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao; it is truly detestable. If not for the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao members providing cover, perhaps Junior Sister Jiang's Divine Soldier Talisman would have already apprehended Xu Hua."

Compared to Zhu Yue and Zhou Hu, Han Qin and Jiang Yan were much calmer.

Han Qin's face still carried a smile: "Report this matter to the Elder first. The Ghost Sect is powerful and not something the four of us can deal with."

"Senior Brother Han is right."

Zhou Hu was now convinced by Han Qin.

Before, it had always been rumored in the Huaqing Sect that this Senior Brother Han was timid, and the name "Senior Brother Han who beats the old and weak" was incomparable, never taking tasks with strength one level lower than his own.

But today Han Qin restrained Xu Hua with a Falling Flower Sword. If it weren't for this Senior Brother Han taking action, even with the Divine Soldier Talisman, there would be no chance to cast it.

"Senior Brother Han seems much more powerful than rumored."

Even Jiang Yan, who had high standards, looked at Han Qin with admiration.

After practicing evil kung fu, the combat power is far from comparable to ordinary martial arts masters. Han Qin could fight Xu Hua to a draw, showing his strength. Among these disciples of the Huaqing Sect, he is a leader.

The four Huaqing Sect people were discussing moving reinforcements.

Li Rui's thoughts drifted to fifty years ago.

At that time, his predecessor fled to Qinghe and sold himself to the Zhu family. There was only one way to leave his lowly status, and that was to join the Ghost Sect.

At that time, the Ghost Sect wasn't called the Ghost Sect, but the Equality Society.

The doctrine of this society was very evil.

Don't worship gods, worship yourself.

Li Rui judged based on his past life experience that pyramid schemes destroy three generations, so he would rather sell himself than enter the Equality Society.

As for why the imperial court defined it as an evil sect and changed it to the Ghost Sect.

That's because the Equality Society was the state religion of the previous dynasty.

But the previous dynasty had already been destroyed for a thousand years.

Unless the president of the Equality Society is surnamed Murong and has a beautiful cousin surnamed Wang, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have a brain cramp and still think about restoring the country.

Over time, the Ghost Sect faded from the official view and only operated secretly among the people.

As for why Li Rui felt the Ghost Sect was dangerous.

It wasn't that these people were really green-faced and fanged yakshas as rumored, but that since some time, people in the Ghost Sect all practiced evil kung fu.

Evil means crooked, meaning not walking the right path.

The right path is the right path because it is safe, stable, and verified by ancestors for thousands of generations.

Walking the evil path is fast, but the risk is also great. You can go into qi deviation at any time. There are not a few Ghost Sect disciples who finally practiced into lunatics and went to the streets to hack people.

Although mental illness is also punished in this world, Li Rui had no intention of risking his life to verify it.

Just as his thoughts drifted.

Han Qin and the others had finished discussing.

Zhu Yue ordered him: "Old Li, return to the residence."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 12 =====