Chapter 29

Wang Xiaoming and five others ran wildly in the darkness for a long time, finally stopping.

"They don't seem to have caught up."

Zhang Han, panting, turned to look behind, but aside from darkness he could see nothing.

The others were no better; each was jumpy as a startled bird.

"Professor, there are four big ghosts opposite, also bringing a bunch of little ghosts—what do we do now?"

Sun Yi swallowed the eyeball back into his mouth before speaking.

"It's my oversight; the birth of the fourth-stage ghost infant is actually related to the Ghost Master, which I didn't anticipate."

Wang Xiaoming had no intention of shirking responsibility, and proactively admitted it was his oversight.

"With just those few moves, an ordinary ghost infant would have been strangled to smoke by me, but those four showed no reaction."

Zhang Han said, still feeling uneasy.

"Should we continue with the original plan?"

Ye Feng asked weakly; the Ghost Fang had already torn his body apart, leaving him even weaker than Wang Xiaoming, who normally stays in the lab, and the recent death-defying sprint almost made him cough up his lungs.

"Well, you just saw that even if your Ghost Fang bites open the Ghost Realm, without Yang Jian we can't use this brief chance to escape; instead it would attract many ghost infants."

Wang Xiaoming analyzed, saying that although Ye Feng had broken open the Ghost Realm, he couldn't let everyone leave quickly.

"But in the Ghost Realm we can't even tell the roads—how could we really find the ghost finger?"

Ye Feng asked.

"I can find the ghost finger; I saw it at the meeting, and whenever a ghost I've seen before comes within fifty meters of me the second time, I can sense its position."

Liu Guang finally got a chance to chime in; the ghost he controls is very special, basically lacking any self-preservation ability, its only advantage being a slow recovery, which is also why he had wanted to leave before.

"In that case, the four ghost infants you just saw—when they approach again next time, you'll be able to sense them in advance, right?"

Zhang Han asked.

"Exactly! My ghost has already memorized them."

Liu Guang nodded.

"Alright, then let's keep going."

Wang Xiaoming didn't waste time.

……………………

Not far from the hospital.

"Not good, my brother's and their signal disappeared for a while then reappeared, and just now disappeared again."

Wang Qiang shook Chen Shoushan beside him and said anxiously.

"Don't panic; the more urgent the situation, the more we need to stay calm."

Chen Shoushan soothed Wang Qiang.

"They must have entered a deeper layer of the Ghost Realm, just like the outside world and us."

Chen Shoushan thought and guessed.

"What should we do?"

"Ye Feng's Ghost Fang should be able to bite open the Ghost Realm; the signal that just reappeared should be their attempt, but it seems they didn't manage to get out."

"What can we do now?"

Wang Qiang looked at Chen Shoushan calmly analyzing, and himself unconsciously calmed down.

"Although they can't get out successfully now, once they obtain the ghost finger they will definitely try again to come out; then we'll meet them from outside, you wait here while I go fetch something."

Chen Shoushan, while instructing Wang Qiang, pushed open the car door.

"You wouldn't want... what thing? Is it important?"

Wang Qiang originally wanted to say, 'You wouldn't want to run away, would you?' but he thought Chen Shoushan wasn't that kind of person, so he changed his words at the last moment.

"Important! I'll be back soon!"

Chen Shoushan didn't drive because he can't drive, and the thing he needs to get is not far away on the pedestrian street.

"Exactly, it's coffin nails! The reason Chen Shoushan didn't dare to take them before is because the Ghost Eye Lord is there; he's not Yang Jian, so if the Ghost Eye Lord were to spot him, what would he do?"

But now, although the ghost finger can suppress fourth-stage ghost infants in the original story, it's unclear whether it can suppress starving ghosts, so Chen Shoushan must prepare for both possibilities and can't worry about the Ghost Eye Lord.

Plans never keep up with changes; he knows that once Yang Jian revives, the starving ghost incident will be resolved quickly, so he originally intended to, during these seven days, grind more ghost infant digesting magic potions while trying to minimize casualties in Dachangshi.

But from Wang Xiaoming's perspective, he wouldn't pin all his hopes on Yang Jian; even if they couldn't imprison the starving ghosts, they still needed to figure out its killing pattern to provide useful information for the later headquarters Ghost Master.

For Wang Xiaoming, death isn't frightening; a death without any value is unforgivable!

So when Chen Shoushan demonstrated his ability to suppress other Ghost Masters' recovery, Wang Xiaoming decisively decided to take the initiative to try to imprison the starving ghosts that hadn't fully grown.

The pedestrian street and the hospital are not far apart; both are in the city center, just a few steps away.

Chen Shoushan passed through the haze, and at a glance saw the temple in the darkness; looking closer, the plaque bore the three large characters 'Hongfa Temple'.

Dong dong dong!

He knocked on the temple's main gate, but there was no response.

Chen Shoushan had no time to waste here; he decisively put on his black gloves and then threw a powerful punch at the gate.

Boom—

The planks behind the gate were shattered by the tremendous force, and a large hole also appeared in the middle of the gate.

Now the gate swung open easily, and Chen Shoushan strode into the temple.

An old monk sat cross-legged in the middle of the courtyard, his body trembling uncontrollably yet he kept his eyes closed and rapidly struck the wooden fish in his hands.

"Namo Amitabha, Namo Amitabha……"

"Master! I have a matter I need your help with!"

Chen Shoushan looked at the sincere believer before him, and couldn't help feeling a bit regretful; it was a pity that he was in a world without gods.

Are you a human, benefactor?

The old monk only then dared to open his eyes; seeing Chen Shoushan's appearance, he let out a sigh.

I need you to take me to the basement.

Chen Shoushan got straight to the point.

Ah, although I don't know how you, benefactor, came to know this, but perhaps everything is fated in the unseen.

Hearing that Chen Shoushan wanted to go to the basement, the old monk couldn't help but be startled, then he sighed and said.

Benefactor, come with me!

Soon the two stood before a rust-covered iron door; the old monk, while opening the iron chain on the door, also spoke.

Decades ago, before my master passed away, he instructed me to guard well the things inside; I have never dared to forget it, guarding the temple day after day for decades, fearing that due to my negligence, the world's beings would suffer.

The old monk paused a moment, then continued speaking.

A month ago, I came down as usual to check, but saw that the gate had been opened by someone; afterward I re-locked the gate and had the other monks in the temple leave.

Clang!

The iron door beneath Propagating Dharma Temple opened again; behind it was dark and gloomy, completely different from the overcast, bluish-gray of Dachangshi.

Please, benefactor; the poor monk once made a vow before the Buddha, never to set foot inside even a single step in this lifetime.

(End of chapter)