Chapter 95: Strange Tales and Treacherous Paths

The middle-aged scholar from the academy was stunned upon hearing this; he looked toward the source of the voice and saw a person—the burly man wearing a bamboo hat, who was none other than Su Yuanshan himself!

That's right, the one who had spoken just now was indeed Su Yuanshan!

It wasn't just the middle-aged scholar from Kaiyuan Academy; almost everyone was stunned.

Xie Lingyu, the Sect Master of the Yaoguang Sword Sect, looked even more bewildered, yet Huang Yang laughed heartily upon hearing this.

"Fine, fine, let's all go back. It's better not to explore this Taoyuan Xujing, lest we lose our lives, right?"

His tone was inevitably laced with mockery.

However, Su Yuanshan ignored him and spoke calmly to Sima Wuhen once more.

"Shall we go? What are you still standing there for?"

Go? Go where?

Sima Wuhen seemed to have been caught off guard by this sudden move from Su Yuanshan; just as he was about to ask, he saw Su Yuanshan stride onto the mountain path, heading in the direction of Zhoutian Si.

Huang Yang was dumbfounded at the sight, only then realizing that the "go" Su Yuanshan spoke of was not returning the way they came to go home, but continuing to venture into Zhoutian Si!

He felt a bit ashamed, but at the same time very surprised, thinking to himself, is he not afraid of death? Those people from Kaiyuan Academy had already made it very clear that the things in Zhoutian Si were not just ordinarily dangerous, but extremely dangerous!

Thinking of this, his gaze could not help but turn to Xie Lingyu, the Sect Master of the Yaoguang Sword Sect; he had not expected that she, who had been sitting with her eyes closed in meditation, would stand up at this moment.

Huang Yang couldn't help but be stunned, and he couldn't resist saying.

"Senior Sister, you..."

However, Xie Lingyu did not look at him, but instead gazed at Su Yuanshan's back and suddenly said.

"Junior Brother Huang, Yun'er, let us go over as well!"

Tian Ruoyun's face lit up with joy.

"Very well, Master!"

Yet Huang Yang was getting a bit anxious.

"Senior Sister, are we really going to take the risk? This person..."

Tian Ruoyun said to Huang Yang in a joking manner.

"Junior Uncle, you still don't understand? They say wealth is sought within danger; if one wants to find good opportunities, how can there be no risk at all? At the very least, I think that dark-faced man's courage is commendable, though I don't know where he suddenly found such courage!"

She said this and went to chase after Xie Lingyu, because Xie Lingyu had already started walking.

Huang Yang muttered with dissatisfaction.

"I don't think it's courage that's commendable, but recklessness. Sigh... you young people nowadays...!"

Although he was a thousand times unwilling in his heart, he still bit the bullet and followed.

Dangerous is dangerous; if the head is lost, it's just a scar the size of a bowl, who's afraid of whom? Perhaps he might really get lucky, survive by chance, and find an opportunity?

He could only think this way to cheer himself up.

Sima Wuhen glanced at the girl in purple, and the girl in purple followed straight after without a word.

"Master... should we... go?" a female disciple of Yunu Gong asked Palace Master Yan Ci.

However, Palace Master Yan Ci let out a cold snort.

"What's the rush? Let them go first, we shall wait a while longer!"

"Yes, Master!" The disciple retreated timidly.

The remaining loose cultivators were watching the monks from Wuyang Temple, seemingly waiting to see if they would make a move.

They saw a little monk who couldn't help but look up and ask the old monk.

"Junior Uncle? That dark-faced uncle has left; should we follow him?"

The old monk recited a Buddhist chant, looked at Su Yuanshan's retreating back, and sighed.

"Amitabha!"

"This old monk has seen countless people, yet I cannot discern the depth or background of this person!"

Seeing that the old monk seemed to be giving an irrelevant answer, the little monk asked again in confusion.

"Junior Uncle, I'm asking you a question; should we follow them? They've already gone far! If there are any treasures, it won't be good if others snatch them up."

Before the old monk could speak, a middle-aged monk beside him laughed and scolded.

"You fellow, how can you harbor such greedy thoughts?"

The little monk pouted.

"What do you mean by greedy thoughts? Didn't we come here just to look for treasures?"

Seeing the middle-aged monk looking embarrassed after being retorted by the little monk, the old monk couldn't help but smile, patted the little monk's head, and said.

"Foolish child, do not talk nonsense. We came here to respectfully request a Fobao; according to our temple's ancient records, this Taoyuan Xujing seals an ancient treasure of our Buddha sect. If it can be found, the merit will be immense!

Very well, let us go over too; that ancient treasure might just be in this Zhoutian Si!"

"Ancient treasure? I like..." As soon as the words left his mouth, the little monk realized he had spoken out of turn, hurriedly shut his mouth, pressed his palms together, and recited a Buddhist chant.

"Amitabha!"

Seeing that everyone except for the women from Yunu Gong had followed Su Yuanshan, a disciple of Kaiyuan Academy looked toward the middle-aged scholar.

"Master... should we..."

The middle-aged scholar glanced at that crazed disciple of the Guiyuan Sect, sighed, and gave a bitter smile.

"Very well, let us go over too. However, one of you must stay behind to look after this Guiyuan disciple. Who among you wants to stay?"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"I will!"

Quite a few disciples wanted to stay, clearly frightened by the encounter at Zhoutian Si.

In the end, only the middle-aged scholar took two disciples and went over.

.......... 。

The mountain path was rugged and difficult to traverse, and there was not even a single bird's chirp to be heard.

Yet, in this godforsaken place, a temple had actually been built!

Just thinking about it felt eerie, but when Su Yuanshan gave it a second thought and remembered they were in the Taoyuan Xujing, he suddenly felt it was normal again.

They had walked for about an hour, yet they hadn't encountered a shred of danger along the way, which was surprisingly calm; however, the sudden appearance of several corpses of disciples from the Return to Origin Sect made one feel that this place was truly not peaceful.

Approaching those corpses, Sima Wuhen observed them carefully, only to see that the faces and necks of the corpses were covered in bulging blue veins!

At first, Sima Wuhen thought as much, believing they had been struck by some kind of poison and died from its onset, but he soon overturned his own deduction because he felt that those streaks of blue veins did not seem to be the true meridians of a human body, but rather resembled the root system of a plant.

He could not help but call out to Su Yuanshan.

"Dao Brother, Dao Brother, come over and take a look...."

However, unlike Sima Wuhen, who was observing the surrounding objects at every turn, Su Yuanshan seemed indifferent to the scattered corpses and other objects around them!

His gaze was fixed on only one direction, and that was the end of the mountain path!

Hearing this, he finally withdrew his gaze and asked with a frown.

"What is it?"

Sima Wuhen pointed at the corpses of the Return to Origin Sect disciples and said.

"Don't you feel that these corpses are very strange? Look at their faces; those streaks of blue veins don't seem to be real...."

Yet before he could finish his sentence, Su Yuanshan spoke up nonchalantly.

"Meridians! That's right, they are indeed not meridians within a human body, but the roots of a chrysanthemum!"

"A chrysanthemum's... roots?"

Sima Wuhen was stunned for a moment, seemingly unable to believe it.

Not only him, but even Huang Yang and Xie Lingyu, the Sect Master of the Jade Light Sword Sect, looked at him in astonishment, not knowing why he would say such a thing.

Even Lv Qingshan was somewhat startled, while Cailian and Tian Ruoyun were full of confusion.

Even the monks of the Five Yang Temple were drawn in by Su Yuanshan's words.

Only the purple-clad young girl seemed indifferent, still standing with her arms crossed, looking down at the ground.