Chapter 141: The Bizarre Beneath the Shrine

The situation here is too terrible! Far worse than he had imagined; he was even a bit curious, what on earth was the previous Prefecture City God doing? Had the situation deteriorated to this point without anyone even bothering to manage it?

With such a performance record, how could they even be appointed to Suyang Prefecture?

The sky had already begun to brighten, though there was still a chill in the mountain forest.

The long river stretches far into the white clouds, a lonely city stands amidst ten thousand craggy mountains.

Why must the Qiang flute complain of the willow, the spring breeze does not cross Ning Liang Guan.

Su Yuanshan thought to himself, it truly lives up to its reputation as a frontier land, with more mountains than plains. Although Huangliang Xian is also under the administration of Ningliang Prefecture, at least that place has more plains, which are favorable for farming, and the climate is more humid and warm; in contrast, this place gives one a feeling of emptiness, loneliness, and desolation.

Su Yuanshan stepped on the fallen leaves, walking a distance in the mountain forest with a 'rustling' sound.

Suddenly, he stopped his footsteps and bent down to crouch.

The little white fox seemed to feel something strange, so it leaned over.

An arrow!

It was actually a broken arrow!

Su Yuanshan picked up the arrow; it felt heavy in his hand, and there was also a chill to it.

This arrow was clearly forged from refined steel, appearing quite weighty. Su Yuanshan carefully examined the patterns on it, feeling that it shouldn't be something an ordinary hunter could afford; it was more likely a weapon of the frontier army, and very likely from the elite among them!

After all, in this era, how many people could afford to use refined steel to forge arrows?

Su Yuanshan continued walking forward and discovered more arrows!

Walking further ahead, what he discovered was no longer just arrows, but corpses!

And the number was not small, totaling over a hundred people!

Seeing the fine armor they wore and the bows, crossbows, steel sabers, and flintlocks they carried, Su Yuanshan was certain his deduction was correct: this was an elite frontier defense squad, only he did not know why they had died in this nameless mountain forest.

And judging by the degree of weathering of their bones, quite some time must have passed.

Wailing!

A wailing sound seemed to suddenly come from behind him; Su Yuanshan turned around abruptly, but the sound vanished.

There was only the wind in his ears, 'wooing' away; for a moment, he couldn't distinguish whether it was the sound of the wind blowing through the branches or someone crying!

Su Yuanshan let out a sigh of relief and said to the little white fox.

"Xiaobai, let's go!"

He led the little white fox toward the foot of the mountain, because through the forest he saw what appeared to be a temple at the mountain's base, towering and magnificent.

However, as Su Yuanshan walked away, a skeleton that had decayed until only bones remained suddenly had a pair of eyeballs appear in its hollow eye sockets, rolling around and around, just like two glass marbles.

Finally, the 'glass marbles' suddenly fixed in place, revealing pupils, and then the skeleton 'clattered' as it sat up, completely ignoring the falling ribs and sliding armor plates, staring fixedly at the direction in which Su Yuanshan had departed.

Then the 'glass marbles' rolled out and submerged into the fallen leaves, like two moles burrowing through the soil, disappearing in an instant, leaving behind only two raised 'long dragons'.

The autumn wind was bleak, and a lone goose wailed at the edge of the sky, but in the next second, it disappeared inexplicably.

Su Yuanshan suddenly frowned and asked the little white fox.

"Did you hear some kind of bird calling?"

However, the little white fox looked up at the sky and shook its head in confusion.

"No, it must be the sound of the wind!"

Su Yuanshan nodded and, looking at the foot of the mountain, said.

"There seems to be a small town down there, let's go over and take a look!"

The little white fox revealed a fox-like smile.

"Yes, and there is a temple down there too, tsk tsk, what a large one!"

The temple was indeed as the little white fox had described, truly large, occupying a full dozen or so acres of land, and it was built in a magnificent and opulent manner; the roof used uniform glazed tiles, which, when illuminated by the sunlight, were colorful and very beautiful.

Moreover, in front of the white pillars at the temple gate were pasted two wooden couplets; the first line read: "Entering the gate to worship is to have an affinity with the immortals."

The second line read: "Entering the gate to sacrifice oneself is to gain merit!"

The horizontal scroll read: You have come too!

For some reason, Su Yuanshan always felt this temple was strange and bizarre, but he couldn't quite put his finger on exactly what was strange about it.

However, there seemed to be quite a few pilgrims here, and it was very lively with people coming and going.

It formed a sharp contrast with the coldness on the mountain, but that strange feeling in the depths of Su Yuanshan's heart lingered, and he didn't know why.

At this moment, he heard the little white fox say in a low voice.

"Let's go over and take a look too, to see what kind of deity is worshipped inside for the incense to be so flourishing; how strange!"

Su Yuanshan thought to himself, it is strange enough; although he could sense a trace of a deity's aura here.

But that trace of aura was extremely weak, let alone a City God or Earth God, it wasn't even as strong as a tiny local Shrine Master!

Yet, the bizarre thing was that the incense here was so flourishing!

Using divine arts to conceal his own divine aura, Su Yuanshan led the little white fox toward that temple.

As he passed by that wooden archway, he glanced at the pillar and his heart suddenly stirred.

That's right, I almost overlooked it; most temple pillars are red, but the pillars here are white.

The passing pilgrims all kept their heads down, coming and going in a hurry, seemingly having no intention to pay attention to anyone else.

Su Yuanshan deduced that this should be a Daoist temple, because he saw a few young Daoists busy inside; Daoists are also a type of practitioner, very similar to cultivators, but with slight differences.

Su Yuanshan lifted his foot, about to step into the temple gate, when suddenly someone walked out from inside, moving very quickly and with their head down, nearly bumping into Su Yuanshan.

Nearly bumping into someone, yet this fellow didn't even say a word of apology, and even left directly without lifting their head.

The little white fox bared its teeth and seemed to want to lash out at that fellow, but was stopped by Su Yuanshan's gaze.

He looked at the departing back of that person, lost in thought, because that back... suddenly gave him a feeling of familiarity, though he didn't know why.

He thought to himself, if I had known, I should have looked at that fellow's face.

But if they were an acquaintance of his, why would they appear here? What were they doing here?

Why did you pretend not to recognize me when you saw me?

Or perhaps, is he truly an acquaintance of mine? Or is it just my imagination?

"Ahem!"

Just as he was lost in thought, a cough suddenly interrupted his train of thought; he looked up to see a Daoist priest of about forty years old, who flicked his horsetail whisk and greeted him warmly.

"It has been many years, benefactor, I trust you have been well!"

Su Yuanshan was stunned upon hearing this and felt secretly strange, thinking to himself, I am clearly here for the first time, yet this Daoist priest actually says it has been many years? Is he senile?

However, Su Yuanshan did not point it out, merely cupping his hands and saying vaguely.

"Many thanks for your concern, Daoist priest, I am well, quite well!"

"Please, benefactor, please come inside!"

After ushering Su Yuanshan through the door, he then said.

"My master has been waiting for you, benefactor, for many days, but he happened to have business to attend to yesterday and went out; he will only be back in a few days, but my master has already given instructions that if you, benefactor, arrived, I am to host you well and ask you to wait for him for a few days!"

"I have already tidied up your guest room, benefactor; it is the same old one, please follow this poor Daoist!"

Although there were many clouds of doubt in his heart, Su Yuanshan remained calm and composed.