Chapter 62

At this point, the silver and coins on the temple floor totaled roughly two or three hundred taels, mostly official silver stolen from this temple—Lin Jue realized they must have come from traveling merchants who had stayed overnight.

“Squeak… squeak…”

The rat soldiers in front called out.

“That’s all.”

The rat soldier leader turned to Lin Jue, his eyes glinting with clear concern.

“Relax! I keep my word!”

“Thank you, True Person, thank you, True Person…”

“You’re not even sure you’ll survive,” Lin Jue said, neither softening because of the earlier calm exchange nor breaking his promise because they were demons—“When I step aside, we begin counting.”

Once he saw them either shaking awake the stunned rat soldiers or helping the injured ones to their feet, with the old woman being personally supported by the rat leader, all of them tense and ready to flee, Lin Jue stepped aside and began counting.

Inhale…

Exhale…

His breathing was even—neither hurried nor deliberately slowed.

After five breaths ended—

He suddenly turned his head and caught the last two rat demons scrambling frantically into a hole in the wall corner.

The timing was calculated: the demons could just barely reach the hole’s mouth; if any fell behind due to injury or got shoved in the crush, they wouldn’t make it. His own movements were faster than most ordinary people’s, and he had some confidence in slaying them.

He hadn’t expected them to be so united.

Lin Jue charged forward without hesitation.

In a few strides he reached the farthest corner of the temple, just as the last rat demon slipped into the hole. Without a moment’s pause, Lin Jue drew a deep breath and exhaled into the hole.

“Huuu…”

Spiritual fire flooded the tunnel.

Then he pointed a finger.

“Boom!”

The spiritual fire instantly burst into flames, squeezing through the narrow tunnel and exploding with a sharp report—flames mixed with wall dust erupted violently from the wall.

Even Lin Jue stepped aside to avoid it.

He waited inside the hole, hearing no sound, uncertain of the outcome below, but faintly smelling the scent of charred flesh. Realizing prolonged waiting was pointless, he walked back to the two.

He looked down—the little fox followed him.

“You’ve earned your merit!”

Lin Jue’s tone grew much gentler.

He returned and sat down beside the wall.

The altar still glowed with light, dim as an ordinary oil lamp or candle, illuminating the entire temple.

“These rat demons must have a greater demon behind them,” Lin Jue glanced at the temple’s statue, unsure whether it was inherently spiritless, whether this matter involved the deity, or whether some powerful demon lurked here, forcing even the local god to retreat—he sensed this might be a great demon unlike any he’d encountered so far, and said, “We won’t sleep tonight.”

“Makes sense.”

“Brother, how do you usually handle such things?”

“Usually, it’s Elder Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, and Fourth Brother who descend to deal with demons. Besides, our sect’s cultivation methods aren’t specialized for demon-slaying. This case seems more complicated than we thought—we’d better return and report to Master.”

“Alright.”

The temple fell silent for a moment.

After a while, Seventh Brother broke the silence: “With your courage, Brother, when Master passes, you won’t need worry once you descend the mountain.”

“Brother flatters me—I’ve merely encountered a few spirits before ascending the mountain,” Lin Jue said, then turned to the other side, “Little Sister’s courage is great too.”

“I didn’t want to hold my brothers back,” the little sister replied seriously, “I’ll study hard and protect my brothers someday.”

“Good.”

Lin Jue was surprised—he hadn’t expected the girl to remember his offhand remark.

It’s been two months already?

“What technique did Seventh Brother use?” Lin Jue asked curiously, “You waved your sleeve and snatched the rats’ arrows right out of the air—into your sleeve.”

“Just a trick.”

“There are tricks like that?”

“Tricks have many kinds—there are countless techniques. You’ve just never been to big cities. Telekinesis, peach pits sprouting roots, the Qingfu method, the Zhaofu method—all are tricks,” Seventh Brother said, glancing left and right as he spoke to his two younger siblings, “I heard twenty years ago, the Emperor held a banquet in the palace, inviting all the world’s strange masters to compete in tricks for amusement. Someone built a tower a hundred thousand feet high from nothing. Someone caught fish from ten thousand miles away—all sea fish. The Moon Goddess sent peaches from the heavens. Dragons and phoenixes danced in the sky. Paintings came alive. The immortal carvings on the rafters flew down to wish the Emperor longevity.”

“So profound…”

“No technique becomes profound easily.”

“What about the lamp-lighting technique?”

“It’s called the Lamp-Lighting Technique—also a trick. Not just in Changjing, even in Yixian, during the Shangyuan Festival, lantern fairs feature performers selling palace lanterns and hairpins. They use this technique to light them—plain hairpins sell for ten taels that day. All bought by nobles and officials, just for novelty.”

“Are there so many kinds of tricks?”

“Many more.”

“I see…”

Lin Jue nodded, committing it to memory, then asked, “By the way, you two woke up too—why didn’t you speak up?”

“I already said—I’m not skilled at demon-slaying and didn’t know what to do. When the demon came near me, sniffed, then left, I held back to see what it would do. I was also watching how you’d handle it—I’d lend a hand if needed.”

“I figured since I woke up, the two brothers must’ve woken too—if you didn’t speak, neither would I!”

“Hmm…”

The three exchanged glances and smiled.

This night would be sleepless; merely staying alert drained energy, and weakness made them vulnerable to demons and ghosts—they had to keep talking.

Eventually, bored out of his mind, Lin Jue went to the front and counted the pile of silver.

The heavy, honeycomb-shaped silver ingots alone totaled two hundred and ninety taels, plus some loose silver—perhaps another dozen taels—over three hundred taels total.

Lin Jue had never seen so much money in his life.

As for what the demon behind the rats intended to do with so much silver, he couldn’t guess.

Fortunately, the night passed without incident.

…

The next morning, dawn was just breaking.

The three loaded the three hundred-plus taels into a bamboo basket, loaded it onto the donkey, and headed for the carriage inn.

The carriage inn wasn’t far. As the three and the fox walked there, the sound of the donkey’s hooves crisp in the air, the merchants of Shu Village were already waiting outside the inn.

At the sight of them, they rushed forward.

“Well? Lin Jue?”

“Uncle Shu, don’t rush—we caught the spirit last night. They were rats. Under threat, they returned all the money—it’s right behind the donkey,” Lin Jue said. “First, I’ll settle your lodging fees.”

“You really got it back? Oh my! That’s wonderful!”

The dozen merchants all burst into joy—their entire demeanor changed instantly.

“Wait, wait—I’ll settle first.”

“Settle what? Who charged you? No need! No need!” the middle-aged man waved his hands.

“Why?”

“We lost our money—how could we afford to stay? Besides, on the road, we often sleep in the wild! Not to mention staying in town!” the man said. “Just last night, we met a group of merchants who’d stayed at the She Temple the night before—they lost their money too. They knelt helplessly at the county magistrate’s gate all day. The innkeeper was kind—he let them sleep on the straw in the courtyard, so we did too.”

“Huh?”

Lin Jue’s expression hardened—he hurried to look into the courtyard: “Where are those merchants now?”

“They just left.”

“Where to?”

“The county official ignored the case. He only posted notices at the city gate saying we lost money because we refused to buy iron chests—so we had no choice but to go home.”

“Come with me—find them!”

Lin Jue hurried after the merchants.

Fortunately, the merchants hadn’t gone far. They were dejected and likely hadn’t eaten, so they moved slowly. Around the next corner, they caught up.

Lin Jue asked how much each had lost. Adding the Shu Village caravan’s loss, the total matched almost exactly.

The merchants here were truly honest.

No other explanation—of course, he returned the money to them.