Chapter 38: Discussion, Entering the Small Town

The few of them waited in the dilapidated temple for two days, and the Maoshan disciples who had received the summons arrived one after another, moving very secretively; this time, they didn't even bring their own disciples.

Inside the main hall of the dilapidated temple, over a dozen Daoist priests gathered together, and Daoist Da Yi spoke first: "Fellow junior brothers, for the sake of the local villagers, we must not let the people of the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect escape."

Daoist Simu patted his chest and said: "Senior brother, rest assured, we will handle this absolutely reliably!"

Daoist Da Yi nodded and said: "Good, let's do this: I will take our junior brother, A-Jiu, and A-Ying as the vanguard to engage the enemy first and test if there is an ambush."

Daoist Baofan asked: "Senior brother, will it be too dangerous to let our junior brother go?"

Zhang Cheng hurriedly said: "Many thanks for your concern, Senior Brother Baofan, I can do it."

Daoist Da Yi smiled and said: "Rest assured, our junior brother is protected by Master's Eight Trigrams Mirror, there won't be any danger."

The group no longer raised any objections, and Daoist Da Yi led Zhang Cheng and the others toward the small town.

The four of them were wearing yellow Daoist robes when they arrived outside the small town, and someone from the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect ran back to report the situation.

Inside the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect's dojo, President Yokoyama Nobumitsu gathered all the members with a grave expression and said: "The scouts have brought news; the Maoshan priests have already entered the town."

"According to information on the Maoshan Southern Sect collected by our Empire's intelligence officers, we can confirm the identities of three people."

"One is the second disciple of Jin Bao Zhenren, Daoist Da Yi; the third disciple, Lin Fengjiao; the ninth disciple, Lin Jiuying; and there is one more who is unclear. However, I heard that Jin Bao Zhenren took in a closing-door disciple, and the age matches up."

"First, observe their movements. Once there is anything unusual, even if we have to pay a price, we must kill them. We absolutely cannot let them spread the news from here."

On the streets of the small town, pedestrians were not too dense; there were peddlers shouting and hawking their wares, some pedestrians were buying things, some were buying vegetables, and others were just passing by.

After they passed those pedestrians or peddlers, those people's mouths would still be moving and their hands would not stop their actions, but they would all glance sideways at Zhang Cheng and the others; they would only look for a moment before immediately returning to their normal expressions.

Zhang Cheng felt a sensation like needles pricking his back; he looked back, but found everything normal again.

Seeing Zhang Cheng look back, Uncle Nine asked: "Junior brother, what is it?"

Zhang Cheng looked around and then asked in a low voice: "It seems the people of the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect are living in this small town very low-key. Third Senior Brother, how did you find the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect's dojo?"

Lin Fengjiao replied in a low voice: "I used a paper crane; just a little trick."

Zhang Cheng nodded and asked: "Where is the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect's dojo?"

Lin Fengjiao pointed ahead and said: "Walk over there, turn a corner, and you'll be there."

The four of them quickened their pace, and as those people watched the figures of the group leaving, their gazes became even more ferocious.

The people of the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect watched Zhang Cheng and the others' movements the entire time, and seeing them coming toward the direction of the dojo, Kurozawa Tomoko immediately ran to report to Yokoyama Nobumitsu: "President, the Maoshan people are coming toward our dojo. This concubine suggests we kill them immediately."

Yokoyama Nobumitsu nodded and said: "For the sake of the Empire's plan, it is better to kill by mistake than to let one go; make their souls scatter and dissipate so they cannot report the news!"

Following Yokoyama Nobumitsu's order, the believers in the town immediately began to move.

Zhang Cheng had only walked a few steps when he discovered something was wrong; the people in the town were all staring at them, and the movements in their hands had all stopped.

Uncle Nine barked: "These beasts!"

Zhang Cheng immediately realized that these residents were all being controlled!

In *Exorcist Policeman*, that muscle man was just like these residents.

Daoist Da Yi stopped in his tracks, snorted coldly, and said: "Heretical paths, shameless!"

The next second, a blue light flashed in those people's eyes, and they immediately pulled out daggers and rushed over one after another.

Zhang Cheng was greatly shocked; this group of Nine Chrysanthemum Sect people were even more formidable than that woman in *Exorcist Policeman*!

Daoist Da Yi shouted: "Junior brother,"

"These people are already dead; their souls are trapped in their shells, controlled by those Japanese pirates. They are beyond saving; help them find release!"

Zhang Cheng felt a 'boom' in his brain and was somewhat stunned; this small town didn't look like it had many people, but there were at least several thousand!

In the modern era, if dozens of people died in an accident, it would already be a major event, let alone several thousand. Such a shock was hard for Zhang Cheng to accept in a short time.

Seeing Zhang Cheng's eyes instantly bloodshot, Uncle Nine hurriedly comforted him: "Junior brother, steady your mind, do not fall into demonic obsession!"

Hearing this, Zhang Cheng said angrily: "These are thousands of human lives!"

Lin Fengjiao struck out with a palm, killing several people, and shouted: "Junior brother, all we can do is avenge them!"

Zhang Cheng gritted his teeth and said: "Japanese pirates, you truly deserve to die!"

"Samadhi True Fire!"

Zhang Cheng spat out the True Fire in his anger, burning dozens of corpses in a row, and the souls within their bodies also vanished into smoke.

But for these trapped residents, the day-after-day torture finally found release at this moment.

"Killed a Nine Chrysanthemum Sect disciple, gained 100 merit."

Hearing the notification, Zhang Cheng secretly thought the Japanese pirates were treacherous and hurriedly reminded: "Fellow senior brothers, be careful of the Japanese pirates hiding among them."

"Rumble..."

Only to see Daoist Da Yi cast the Five Thunder Curse; bolts of heavenly lightning fell, and the crowd that had been very dense just a moment ago suddenly emptied out.

"Killed 15 Nine Chrysanthemum Sect disciples, gained 1,500 merit."

Just like that, the four of them fought a bitter battle with thousands of puppets for half an hour, and subsequently killed another twenty disciples.

Hiding in the shadows, Yokoyama Nobumitsu said in a low voice: "Continuing to use these cannon fodder is of no use; let them make their move."

Kurozawa Tomoko nodded and immediately told the others to act.

The thirty-six official members bowed to the statue of the Mother Goddess of Sun and Lightning, then took out red threads and a cold chrysanthemum.

They pulled a yellow thread from the chrysanthemum, wound it together with the red thread, and then shook off the petals from the chrysanthemum.

The corpses they had been nourishing all woke up one after another.

These corpses were all the strongest young men in the town; they smashed through their houses and ran onto the main street.

Seeing the thirty-six big men rushing out, Daoist Da Yi shouted: "The Japanese pirates can't hold back anymore; finish off these puppets and force them to show themselves!"

Having said that, he waved his horsetail whisk, taking down one big man with each strike.

"Killed one walking corpse, gained 100 merit."

Although the merit was rising quickly, Zhang Cheng was not happy, because these were all human lives.

A moment later, all thirty-six big men were beaten to death.

"Killed thirty-five walking corpses, obtained three thousand five hundred merit points."

Inside the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect dojo, Tomoko Kurosawa immediately reported to Nobumitsu Yokoyama: "President, our puppets are simply no match."

Nobumitsu Yokoyama stood up and said: "Hmm, I didn't expect these puppets to be of much use anyway. Now is the time for that Flying Zombie to exert its strength!"

He immediately prayed and cast spells toward the statue of the Sun Lightning Mother, and as lightning was seen roaming across the statue, the next second, the statue exploded directly.

"How could this be... pfft..."

Nobumitsu Yokoyama could not believe it; he was directly struck by the backlash and spat out a mouthful of blood.