Chapter 71: Circling the Pagoda

After getting off the carriage, the three of them saw a Buddhist pagoda standing in the woods from afar. Because it was obscured by nearby trees, they could only see the earthy-yellow spire.

The coachman lowered his whip, his eyes filled with awe as he looked toward the pagoda. He swallowed hard and explained, "Three Lucky Guests, the place where we are standing now is still safe, but if we wait until we get closer to the Soul Suppressing Pagoda, we will have to... have to hold a mouthful of this thing."

As he spoke, the coachman pulled a Yellow Paper packet from his bosom and shook it open to reveal some grave dirt.

The Martial Master from the carriage behind trotted over and cupped his hands politely, saying, "Three Lucky Guests, we won't follow along to add to the trouble. Once you have finished your business, come back here to find us, and we will return to the manor together. My master is looking forward to hosting a welcome feast for you!"

Yang Xiao put on the air of an expert, hands tucked into his sleeves, and glanced at the Martial Master with indifference. "Whether there is a feast or not, we don't really care, but the silver promised to us must not be a single coin short, otherwise, don't blame me for turning hostile!"

"That goes without saying! That goes without saying!" the Martial Master surnamed Zhao agreed readily.

Taking the grave dirt from the coachman, Yang Xiao and the other two walked slowly toward the Demon Suppressing Pagoda. As soon as they stepped into the woods and were out of the Martial Master's sight, the three of them found a place to sit down and began to deliberate.

"They don't intend to let us go back; once the task is done, we're dead," Kuang Hongyi proposed. "After the mission is complete in a moment, we will run—run deep into the woods and try our best to stall for time. Since the Soul Suppressing Pagoda is here, they won't dare to pursue us easily."

Yang Xiao and Su Tingting were newcomers after all and did not understand the rules within the Nightmare World. "Brother Kuang, can we return immediately after the mission is completed?"

"More or less. At that time, a rift will appear in this world, which is the exit. This exit could be a door, a window, a tree hole, a well, or anything at all. As long as we enter the exit, we can return to reality."

"However, you must be careful. The rift will only exist for a short time. If we don't enter before the rift disappears, we will be left here forever and never be able to go back."

Hearing this, Su Tingting felt a bit afraid; things were more complicated than she had imagined. "Then... then how are we supposed to find this exit?"

Kuang Hongyi comforted her: "Don't worry about that. Once the exit appears, all survivors will sense it."

"Alright, stop dawdling. Delay leads to changes; I can't stay in this godforsaken place for another minute." Standing up, Kuang Hongyi opened the paper packet in his hand. "Hold the grave dirt in your mouths. Let's finish the mission as quickly as possible and go home."

The word "home" seemed to have a special magic, making one's spirit feel invigorated.

Yang Xiao noticed that Su Tingting had grabbed the grave dirt but had no intention of putting it in her mouth, so he couldn't help but frown: "What's wrong?"

Su Tingting stared at the grave dirt in her hand and hesitated for a moment: "You... you say the Feng Family is so evil, could they have tampered with this grave dirt, deliberately mixing in some sleeping pills or poison or something, so that once we eat it, we will..."

Hearing this, Kuang Hongyi was caught between laughter and tears. He reached out and tapped Su Tingting on the head. "Can you stop adding drama for yourself? Poison and sleeping pills? The matter isn't even resolved yet; what benefit would it be for the Feng Family to drug us? Would Master Feng just wait to die?"

The three of them held the grave dirt in their mouths. Although it was not their first time eating this stuff, the taste still made Su Tingting frown.

As they drew closer, the full appearance of the Soul Suppressing Pagoda was finally revealed to the three of them. It was a rather spectacular Buddhist pagoda, standing over 10 meters tall. The main body was a structure of wooden beams joined with bricks and stones, with eaves hanging from the top of the pagoda, while the rest was rammed with yellow mud. Dozens of Buddhist statues of various sizes were embedded all over the exterior of the pagoda, made of a motley variety of materials—wooden Buddhas, stone Buddhas, mud Buddhas, and even some relatively rare porcelain Buddhas. However, after years of wind and sun, and with no one to maintain it, the entire pagoda was severely eroded. The paint on the Buddhist statues had long since peeled off, and several mud Buddhas even had half their faces crumbled away.

Staring at these Buddhist statues in their various postures, Su Tingting did not feel protected; on the contrary, she felt a sense of horror.

Kuang Hongyi took a deep breath and turned his head to look around. It was surprisingly quiet here; there were no insect chirps or bird calls in this patch of woods, silent as if dead.

Yang Xiao gave Kuang Hongyi a gesture, first pointing at the trees beside them, then pointing into the distance. With the help of Yang Xiao's gaze, Kuang Hongyi quickly understood his meaning: the plants near this pagoda were growing significantly better than the surrounding trees and grass.

The reason was simple: no one knew how many corpses were buried under the soil here. It was no exaggeration to say that the plants here grew by drinking human blood.

Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi approached the pagoda. Many names were crookedly carved into the exposed bricks of the pagoda. Looking closely, the names were dense and numerous, numbering in the hundreds.

Su Tingting could not help with this kind of thing. Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi had a clear division of labor. Yang Xiao picked up a sharp-edged stone from the ground, circled the pagoda once, and finally found a blank spot. He set to work carving the two characters "Chun Jie," and for the sake of security, he added the Birth Date and Time afterward.

After Yang Xiao finished, Kuang Hongyi held up the old garment brought from Chun Jie's grave with both hands, knelt down respectfully, and kowtowed to the pagoda.

Then Yang Xiao put his hands together and led the way, with Kuang Hongyi following behind him holding the garment. As they circled the pagoda clockwise, they silently recited auspicious words in their hearts, wishing for Chun Jie's soul to return here and for mother and daughter to be reunited as soon as possible.

But after circling more than ten times, the garment in his hands showed no movement at all. Yang Xiao had no choice but to stop, as he keenly sensed some changes occurring around them.

At first, the feeling was quite vague, but soon he confirmed it: there were several sinister gazes staring at him.

He looked around, but found nothing.

Kuang Hongyi's expression also changed, his movements identical to Yang Xiao's. Yang Xiao knew that he had felt it too. This was not a good sign; Chun Jie had not come, but they had instead attracted the attention of other things.

Without further hesitation, Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi took Su Tingting and retreated immediately. Because they were holding grave dirt in their mouths and could not speak, Su Tingting widened her eyes, having no idea what had happened.

After walking a long way, Su Tingting couldn't help but look back, but that one glance made her shudder.

She saw that dozens of black human figures had appeared out of thin air beside the originally empty pagoda. The figures were of all heights and builds, all bowing their heads with hands pressed together, forming a circle and slowly crawling around the pagoda.

But unlike Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi before, these figures were actually circling the pagoda counter-clockwise, the scene silent and eerie.

After walking out of the range of the Soul Suppressing Pagoda, Kuang Hongyi was the first to spit out the grave dirt in his mouth. "Something's wrong. Chun Jie's relic had no reaction. That child... that child is not in the Soul Suppressing Pagoda!"