Chapter 80

Outside, it was pitch black, while inside the temple, a bean-sized lamp, thin walls, and wooden doors blocked the wailing of the wind and snow.

Lin Jue held back, leaving the martial artist with his life.

Of course, just in case, even though he was already critically injured and tied up, Lin Jue searched his entire body to ensure he wasn't carrying anything. The items found were placed aside, and the things the seventh senior brother had previously obtained from him were also placed aside, piled into a heap.

There were a long sword, a hand crossbow, six flying darts, a blowpipe, two poison smoke cakes, a bag of lime, and a few taels of silver.

These could be considered spoils of war.

At this moment, Lin Jue looked at this person, and in a daze, he felt a bit of the demeanor of the martial artist he had met on the mountain road more than half a year ago, and finally understood why two fearless bean soldiers couldn't take him down and were injured, and why the city's constables still couldn't catch him.

"Why did you come to find us again? Could it be that someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes?" Lin Jue asked.

"What's the point of asking this..."

"The defeated should have some awareness; confess honestly."

"You cut off my livelihood; for someone like me, how is that any different from taking my life?" the martial artist answered weakly, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he did so. "Consider it your win, just give me a quick death!"

"That demon has already been beheaded, and the great demon in the city has also been eliminated. If you love money, you should cherish your life even more and go far away. Why come and risk your life to kill us?"

"Risk? Haha!" The martial artist tugged at his wounds, spitting out a burst of blood foam. "Cough cough! You little Daoist, you are truly too arrogant. If it weren't for the deity interfering in human affairs, making me freeze for a whole night, let alone your senior brother not being there that day, even if your senior brother were here tonight, I could have slaughtered you all in the night!"

"..."

Lin Jue turned his head to look at the pile of things on the ground.

If not for the Yili Shenjun's reminder, if not for the Yili Shenjun making him wander outside for half the night until his limbs were frozen stiff, it really might have been possible.

Of course, it was only a possibility.

Although the three of them were not very alert, their little fox was very alert; it was just that the wind and snow were too heavy tonight. If he had walked closer to the temple, he might have been discovered. The seventh senior brother could retrieve hidden weapons, and although the martial artist was skilled in fighting and killing, if the three of them fought him in his prime state, it was not entirely impossible to win.

It would just be more difficult and riskier.

"Do you know who the Yili Shenjun who eliminated the great demon in the city is?"

"Isn't it Yili Shenjun Yi Li?"

"Then do you know whose temple this is?"

"Isn't it Lord Chen's temple?"

"You really have been hiding too well." Lin Jue turned to look at the statue in the temple. "Take a good look, who is being worshipped in the temple now?"

"..."

The martial artist didn't turn his head to look, but he had already guessed.

"Have you been hiding in the city all along?"

"So what..."

"Did you see us performing theatrical arts?"

"Can't I?"

"Did you come for our money?"

"You cut off my livelihood; this is just compensation for me," the martial artist said.

"..."

Lin Jue looked him over and suddenly smiled:

"I don't believe it!"

"Cough cough... believe it or not!" the martial artist said weakly. "Don't send me to those constables at the county office; even if you want to torture me, it shouldn't be done by that bunch of useless pigs and dogs!"

"So, the constables in the city have some interrogation techniques?"

"You? Jianghu rules..."

"You are mistaken; we are just Daoists, not Jianghu people," Lin Jue said calmly, straightening up. "If I had killed you during the magic battle, so be it, but now that you are not dead and still alive, why would we want to have another life on our hands for no reason? Besides, the first and second times were both you actively coming to find us, wanting to kill us. Now that you have lost, where in this world is there any reason for you to negotiate terms?"

After Lin Jue finished speaking, he said nothing more.

The martial artist was furious and simply closed his eyes.

The others ignored him.

The temple was illuminated by the lamp, and the fox was quite curious, walking up to the pile of debris and sniffing it again and again.

First, it sniffed the lime, scratched it twice, then sniffed the poison smoke cake, its nose immediately wrinkled, and it jumped back violently.

Finally, it walked forward again, approaching the few taels of silver, actually seeming to recognize this thing, extending its claws to scratch, flicking the broken silver toward Lin Jue like a toy, and then tilting its head to stare at him.

"I know."

Lin Jue picked up the silver and handed it to the seventh senior brother, then picked up the martial artist's sword, the scabbard of which he had also retrieved.

This long sword looked ordinary, without any decorations, and the scabbard didn't have many patterns, but upon gripping it, the feel was very warm and moist. Although it was heavy, it was comfortable to hold, and swinging it was easy and effortless. One could tell at a glance that it was a Jianghu killing sword made by an old craftsman.

Then he picked up the flying darts.

The design of these flying darts was also very reasonable, the blade was very sharp, and if used for controlling objects, they looked much easier to use than the blades used by the bald gray-robed man that day.

Lin Jue put them back and said to the seventh senior brother, "What should we do with these things?"

"Take whatever you like, hand the rest over to the government," the seventh senior brother said, weighing the broken silver and suddenly smiling. "But in this way, we look a bit like we're dividing the loot."

"Indeed..."

Lin Jue felt that this sword was a good sword.

It was a pity that he already had a broadsword, which was longer and easier to swing than a sword, and a sword was not a simple weapon; in most people's hands, its power was not as good as a broadsword.

So Lin Jue only took the flying darts.

The seventh senior brother took the hand crossbow.

This sword went to the junior sister.

The silver was just enough to make new robes.

Not long after, it was dawn outside.

Lin Jue and the junior sister guarded the temple, while the seventh senior brother went to the county office to call the constables, among whom was the messenger constable named Pan Yi. On the way, the seventh senior brother had already told them about the attack last night.

After arriving, Lin Jue gave them a stern reminder: "A few months ago, the martial artist who was with that bald gray-robed man was him. Although he claims to have come for money, please be sure to interrogate him thoroughly to see if there is anyone else pulling the strings or if there is another purpose."

"Does the Daoist suspect there is another true culprit behind this?"

The head of the constables was examining the ground outside the temple, where the traces of fire were clearly visible, which made him somewhat startled.

"Not at all." Lin Jue was standing at the entrance of Yili Shenjun Yi Li's temple, and it was the old gentleman himself who eliminated the demon, so he naturally didn't dare to speak nonsense. "It's always good to ask clearly."

"Certainly, certainly."

"In a few days, we might have a senior brother coming down the mountain. If he passes through the city, he will come to the county office to ask about the interrogation results. I hope the head can tell us the truth."

"That goes without saying."

The head bowed and said to him.

"Why does the Daoist need to come and ask in person?" the constable named Pan Yi said. "It's no trouble for me to deliver the letter to the Daoist!"

"That would be too much trouble."

"No trouble, no trouble."

Pan Yi was very respectful and said repeatedly.

It was nothing else, just that ever since he drank that cup of tea and that pot of wine at the Fuqiu Temple, not only was he completely free from the fatigue of running around for two days, but for nearly half a month, whether he was working at home or practicing his skills, he felt full of energy, and even his spirit was much better. He naturally knew the taste, and he didn't tell the other constables.

The constables soon left respectfully.

Lin Jue and the other two returned to the temple and each offered three sticks of incense to the Yili Shenjun, thanking him for his reminder and help.

The green smoke curled, covering the statue, but suddenly, as if sucked by someone, it instantly turned into a smoke vortex, went straight into the statue's face, and disappeared.

Lin Jue was startled.

Does this count as the deity accepting the offering?

Lin Jue had asked Daoist Yunhe and knew that this Yili Shenjun was originally a martial general from ancient times, and possibly a cultivator who focused on the physical body rather than magic. He had participated in the wars of succession of ancient dynasties. At that time, the replacement of human dynasties often meant the distribution of interests and the rise and fall of the status of cultivators, deities, and spirits, and deities would participate.

Nowadays, some records of him can be found in historical books. Later, he ascended to heaven to become a god, and by now, he should be considered a major deity under Emperor Yu Jian.

Leaving the city and returning to the mountain.

The junior sister got a long sword and was incredibly happy. All the way down, she kept it in her hand, refusing to put it on the donkey's back, and from time to time she would draw it to swing it, slashing at the weeds and dead branches by the roadside.

"Our temple actually has swords too, but we rarely take them out to use," the seventh senior brother said. "The swords in the temple were bought at the blacksmith shop in this city, and they might not be as good as this one."

"The third senior brother seems to know how to use a sword," the junior sister said. "Seventh senior brother, you say, if I ask the third senior brother to teach me sword techniques, will he agree?"

"Him? He certainly knows how to use a sword; he was a sword performer before he went up the mountain," the seventh senior brother said, pausing and showing a playful expression. "But his sword technique..."

"What's wrong? Is it not good?"

"It's not that it's not good; the third senior brother's sword technique can also be called a masterpiece. It's just that what he knows is not a killing sword or a fighting sword, but a performance sword technique, a sword dance," the seventh senior brother said. "Before he went up the mountain, he was a famous sword dance master in their area."

"This..."

"There are some similarities, though," the seventh senior brother said. "He is a very idle person and likes to be a teacher. If you ask him to teach you sword techniques, he certainly won't refuse. It's just that when spring comes, you must help him pick some peach blossoms and pine flowers to brew wine. If you go down the mountain to buy things, you can't avoid helping him bring wine and do some errands."

"What's wrong with that?"

The junior sister said, puzzled. She liked working the most, and even if the senior brother didn't teach her sword techniques, it would still be an interesting thing to run errands for him.

Returning to the temple.

The seventh senior brother reported last night's events to the master, while Lin Jue took the eldest senior brother to count the donated money, and the junior sister went to ask the third senior brother to teach her sword techniques.

"Eighteen taels and two qian..."

The eldest senior brother weighed the silver with a steelyard.

"Thirteen thousand four hundred and forty-three copper coins," Lin Jue said. "What a heavy pile, truly hard work for Donkey senior brother."

"It's also hard work for you all."

The eldest senior brother showed the thoughtful expression of an old farmer.

Although it was the Fourth Aunt from the neighboring Scissors Peak who became a god, those fellow practitioners had simple minds and spent their days practicing and playing in the mountains; they couldn't even count, so what could they understand about expenses? Fortunately, they were smart, and their intelligence lay in knowing to ask the Daoists of Fuqiu Peak, with whom they were on good terms, for help.

So the eldest senior brother still had to worry about it.

"It's more than expected, probably thanks to the Lantern Festival and your face, junior brother."

The eldest senior brother put away the money and said.

For an ordinary family, a few taels of silver would be enough to build a house. Even if they built a courtyard and a building in the village, with white walls and blue tiles, as long as they put in the effort themselves and asked neighbors for help, it wouldn't cost much money.

An ordinary rural temple only needed one room.

It's just that the temple needs to imitate the style of a palace, which is more labor-intensive. And making a statue is a sum of money. Writing the origin, merit, and path to godhood of the deity on the wall or on a separate monument, and recording the names of those who funded the construction of the temple or all the donors, is also a sum of money.

Originally, the eldest senior brother thought that if the money raised was small, it would be like villagers building a house; he and the neighbors would do most of the work, and only hire people for a few technical jobs. Now that there is more money, it will be much easier.

Of course, the Daoists in the temple still have to work.

The eldest senior brother has the mindset of a simple farmer. When farmers build houses, how can they feel at ease and trust others to do all the work? And when neighbors build houses, how can one not put in any effort?

Regarding this, although Lin Jue didn't like working as much as the junior sister, he didn't mind helping out.

Returning to his room, Lin Jue took out the six flying darts.

This is a type of dart with a sleeve, about the length of a palm, with a slender diamond-shaped head at the front, sharp and pointed, connected to a rod at the back, and a ring at the very end. Many people use a cloth strip tied to the ring to ensure the stability of the dart's flight. If no cloth strip is tied, it will have stronger concealment.

At the same time, it can also be held in the hand as a short stab.

Held in the hand, it is very heavy.

Lin Jue reached out and wiped it, and a trace of spiritual power was already attached to it.

Then he looked at the flying dart left and right, and even made eye contact with the little fox, but he couldn't bear to use the door or the window, so he had to go out and move a wooden stake back.

A hurried incantation.

Whoosh! Thud!

The flying dart immediately flew out like a meteor, sticking into the wooden stake, the dart head almost completely embedded, and even the wooden stake was knocked over by the force.

In terms of force, it was even greater than that gray-robed man's.

This is mainly because this magic technique is a simplified version of the object-controlling method, which itself uses incantations to replace painstaking research into magic. In terms of force, it does not test the attainment and proficiency in magic; the size of the force depends purely on the strength of the practitioner's magic power.

That gray-robed man's cultivation was not as good as Lin Jue's.

It was just that his proficiency was very high and he was very flexible in using it; in this respect, Lin Jue was far inferior to him.

"Thud! Thud!"

Two more darts flew out and stuck into the wooden stake.

Lin Jue also tried swinging the flying dart.

"Slap!"

If given an initial speed, the force would be even greater, but Lin Jue didn't know how to use flying darts, so it was hard to guarantee accuracy. And he couldn't yet adjust the flight direction of the blade in real-time like that gray-robed man.

But he was content.

"Thud!"

Don't say, it's actually quite fun.

Much more interesting than playing with darts himself.

Lin Jue couldn't help but smile, having the idea of wanting to go outside Danxun County to find those strange monkeys for a chat.