Chapter 282

The two men and the fox set out in the afternoon, and since the demon's temple was about eighty or ninety li from the capital, they stayed the night at a thatched inn by the roadside, arriving at the foot of the mountain by the next morning.

The morning mist, the mountain forest, and the village constructed a scene of tranquility; with the sounds of birds chirping and dogs barking in their ears, it was a picture of peace.

"Woof, woof, woof..."

A village dog discovered the white fox and barked wildly at it.

The white fox merely turned its head and locked eyes with it using those amber-like eyes; the village dog immediately shut its mouth and walked away silently, daring only to look at them askance.

The two men and the fox passed through the village and walked into the small path on the left amidst the morning mist, and the road immediately became unfamiliar.

Whether it was because they had set out too early, or because the news of people meeting with misfortune after worshipping that evil god had gradually spread, they did not see a single person on this road this morning.

However, there was only this one road in the mountain, and the roadside was often scattered with incense ash and herbal ingredients, so there was no need to ask anyone for directions.

Thus, in the morning mist, the white fox moved through first; it often jumped onto the branches of unknown trees, stretching its neck to gaze into the distance, as if searching or standing guard, and then it would either leap down with the wind or walk down the trunk unhurriedly. Behind it, the Daoist rode a donkey and the martial artist rode a horse, slowly ascending the mountain.

A dilapidated temple soon appeared in the mountain forest.

The temple was truly decrepit, likely struggling even to provide shelter from the wind and rain, and it consisted of only one room, with no signs of human life in the vicinity. Yet, in front of this ruined temple, an unknown number of people had worn a path, and the temple was filled with an unknown number of fruit offerings, as well as burnt and unburnt incense candles.

The fox was not being polite this time; it just stood on the roof of the temple, gazing around.

"In this godforsaken place, I'm afraid even a traveler walking at night wouldn't easily enter; who on earth discovered it could help people extract fat?" Luo Seng said.

"There is no temple keeper either."

The Daoist and the martial artist began to inspect the inside and outside.

Luo Seng was highly skilled in martial arts and quick to react, so he entered the more complex temple first to check every corner.

Lin Jue, meanwhile, checked the ruined temple and its surroundings from the outside.

Only upon looking did he realize that this ruined temple was far more than just lacking a temple keeper.

The temple had no name.

It had no plaque.

It had no door couplets.

Not a single character could be found in the temple.

There was no builder, and no name of a deity.

There was only one altar, one statue, and some mud bricks likely patted together from the soil taken from around the temple; the incense candles were stuck into them, and everything else was offerings given by believers.

And even this statue was a mess, as if someone had grabbed a pile of mud and smeared it together, then randomly applied colors; it didn't even have facial features, and one couldn't tell if it was a person or something else.

Was such a statue really useful?

After Luo Gong basically confirmed there was no danger in the temple, Lin Jue walked in, frowning as he carefully examined the statue.

He didn't know if such a statue was useful, but in any case, this statue was useless.

There was no aura of incense on it at all.

This was thanks to another spell Lin Jue had learned—

Soul-Restraining Command.

He had not studied this spell in depth, having only barely mastered it; although he could not invite this deity over through this statue, he could tell through this spell that the statue in the temple was currently "dead" and occupied by no one.

"This statue is ownerless; the demon's goal is not to absorb the aura of incense through it," the Daoist in the temple said.

"Then is its goal human fat?" the martial artist beside him replied.

"I don't know. But it is also very clever, leaving no information about itself on the temple or the statue," Lin Jue frowned and pondered. "It should be because this place is too close to the capital; it fears that its building of a lewd shrine here to act as an evil god would be discovered by the Star Gazing Palace or the True Zhen Jian Gong, thereby provoking the displeasure of the deities behind them, who would descend to eradicate it. Although it doesn't absorb incense at all."

"Very cautious!" Luo Seng nodded. "It seems it's not one of those brainless demons!"

"I miscalculated. Passing by the True Zhen Jian Gong on the way here, I should have gone to ask Daoist Qingxuan and Daoist Jiang," Lin Jue said.

"Not necessarily," Luo Seng pondered. "Since this statue has nothing to do with it, according to the abilities of immortals, how does it hear the prayers of those 'believers', how does it extract the fat from their bodies, and how does it manage to extract exactly as much as the believers want, and from wherever they want?"

"Makes sense..."

Both were very clever and understood immediately.

Although the statue was ownerless and not connected to the demon, as long as the rumors were true, the demon would definitely come here in person.

Even if it didn't come in person, it would certainly send its subordinate demons and ghosts to check here and listen to the believers' wishes.

The same logic applied to extracting human fat.

"That Daoist Wan who practices the Five Elements Spiritual Method came to look for it the day before yesterday and hasn't returned yet; he must have encountered it or its subordinate demons and ghosts here."

"I'm afraid we came too early; there are no believers who come this early," Luo Seng pressed his hand on his sword. Although he was speaking, he turned his head to look around, trying hard to listen to the movements outside the temple. "What I fear is that the constables from the city came to investigate the case the day before yesterday and have already alerted the enemy."

For some reason, he always felt something was amiss.

"Let's wait a while."

"Hmm."

The two were not worried about this matter.

Being able to wait for the demon here would be best; if they couldn't wait for it, it was likely still in this mountain, and they could find it with diligent searching.

It was just that diligent searching was not the best strategy.

If they couldn't find it even with diligent searching, the worst they could do was tear down the temple and smash the statue, making it impossible for people to come here to worship it, and making it impossible for it to extract human fat again.

Besides, it wasn't certain that it was the one harming people.

Just then, the fox beside them lay on the ground, turned around, and scratched its head with its hind leg, also feeling that something was a bit strange.

Its body was a little itchy, itchy in a way that was hard to describe.

It was as if the itch was at the very tips of the white fur on its body.

Fuyao scratched for a while, then got up and shook its body, savoring the source of this strangeness, and after checking around several times, it finally raised its head and locked its gaze on the roof beam.

It suddenly locked eyes with a pair of eyes.

"Ying ah!"

The fox immediately let out a cry.

The two people beside it moved at the sound, looking at it simultaneously; one gripped his sword hilt, the other held a handful of beans, and they immediately looked up following its gaze.

Lin Jue felt nothing; at a glance, he only saw the dilapidated, dust-covered roof. Although the beams weren't carved, they had some patterns painted on them, but the pigments had long since faded with time, and he could only vaguely guess that they were patterns of immortals and auspicious symbols, while many equally faded and dirty cloth strips hung down, looking very messy.

He couldn't see anything else.

Perhaps if he looked a few more times, he could find the problem, but Luo Seng beside him didn't give him the chance; instead, with a gentle exertion of force, his whole body leaped into the air, flying upward, one hand grabbing toward the roof beam—

Luo Gong, who was already highly skilled in martial arts, had taken three Giant Many Yaoguai Pills, and after obtaining that white jade bottle, he drank tea and wine infused with the essence of heaven and earth every day; it was hard to imagine how powerful his physical strength was now. One only knew that when those five fingers grabbed down, the roof beam actually made a "crack" sound.

Wood shavings fell, and dust billowed.

Luo Gong landed back on the ground.

At this moment, in his hand was a folded talisman paper, accompanied by half a handful of wood shavings, some rotten cloth strips, and a lot of dust.

Previously, this talisman paper had been stuck on the roof beam, hidden by cloth strips and dust, and confused by the patterns on the beam, but with Luo Gong's grab, he had actually pulled it down along with some rotten parts of the beam.

Luo Seng handed it to Lin Jue.

Lin Jue picked up the talisman paper and patted off the dust; although he couldn't understand what was written on it or whose magic seal was stamped on it, he could see a symbol resembling an eye drawn on it.

"Hmm?"

The two looked at each other, very solemn.

Then, the two men and the fox searched the temple without hesitation, and actually found another similar talisman paper, and this one looked like it had a symbol resembling an ear drawn on it.

This could never be a coincidence.

The expressions of the two became even more solemn.

Their line of reasoning just now was not wrong at all—

Since this demon had nothing to do with the statue, it must have other ways to listen to the prayers of believers; since it didn't follow the path of incense and divinity, it must have other paths.

It was just that the spells in this world were ever-changing and incredibly profound; before encountering them, they couldn't have imagined such spells.

"We are from the Gathering Immortals Mansion, here to investigate the recent case of women meeting with misfortune. Since you can hear us, please show yourself and explain it clearly, so as to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and fights," Lin Jue said to the ear talisman in his hand. "We know you are cultivating in this mountain..."

Before he could finish speaking, the talisman paper burst into flames with a "poof" and turned to ash in the blink of an eye.

"This one seems to have a bad temper."

Luo Gong held his sword, sounding leisurely, but his tone was very cold.

The two looked at each other again and quickly walked out of the temple.

In the cave dwelling behind the mountain.

A short person in a floral robe suddenly slapped the table, furious and unable to contain his anger, his teeth even gnashing:

"Gathering Immortals Mansion! It's the Gathering Immortals Mansion again!

"Deceiving people too much! Utterly foolish!

"These pieces of trash from the Gathering Immortals Mansion have no real ability, but their cat-like guts are sky-high; they've actually come to disturb my quiet cultivation again!

"Do they think I'm easy to bully?

"They don't take me seriously at all!

"If I don't show them something impressive, where will I put my face in the future? You all say so, right?"

The person in the floral robe looked around, as if talking to someone.

But in this cave dwelling, although there were indeed many figures standing, some the size of people, some exceptionally tall and strong, and some as tall as a zhang—they were Yakshas with green faces, fangs, and tiger-like backs and waists—they all stood motionless, their faces stiff, their bodies shiny and oily, clearly all paper figures.

"Two generals, lead the troops and go give that Daoist and that martial artist a beating!"

As the words fell, a breeze arose in the cave.

Amidst the breeze, these paper figures and Yakshas immediately swelled up, instantly turning into living soldiers, generals, and Yaksha ghosts.

Those soldiers and generals all had wolf heads, wore vine armor, and held shields and swords, looking fierce and menacing; the two Yaksha ghosts were the fiercest, their eyes opening like two lanterns, their breathing like bellows, and they all turned around in silence and walked out of the cave dwelling.