After a commotion, Qin Liuxi finally understood why Chengyangzi and his group were being chased and attacked by the villagers of Juzi Village—because they wanted to dismantle the village’s ancestral shrine.
Oh, it wasn’t exactly demolishing the shrine; it was dismantling the Guardian Beast enshrined inside, a Kui Niu, which had been venerated by this village for generations for fifty years.
Now that Chengyangzi and his followers intended to destroy it, it wasn’t surprising that the villagers would go berserk and fight tooth and nail, even though Chengyangzi claid that the auspicious beast had turned into an evil beast, harming the village. The villagers just thought they were spewing deceitful words to mislead them.
Qin Liuxi then said to the person who seed like the village chief, "There indeed exists Evil in this world, but it’s not us who follow the Righteous Path; it’s sothing you’d never see, and I hope you never have to. Now, when the people of the Buddhist and Taoist follow secular paths, it’s for the purpose of evil slaying. So runes that could bring about disasters and misfortunes were carved on so Stone Beasts, and we must find and destroy them."
Chengyangzi didn’t expect Qin Liuxi to say it outright. Wasn’t she afraid of causing panic?
Little did he know, the state of the world was such that a little more or less panic didn’t matter anymore. Even if word got out, not everyone would necessarily believe it; they’d rather believe what they could see, like thinking Taoists were the real Evil.
The village chief frowned, "Why should we believe you?"
"You don’t have to believe it; but that thing exists, and the misfortune will stay in the village, affecting everyone, causing unlucky deaths, spreading like a plague," Qin Liuxi said. "You can think about it: when did things start going bad for your village? When you had a Guardian Beast before, wasn’t everything going well, without so many strange deaths and calamities?"
The crowd felt a pang in their hearts.
"It’s because the auspicious beast beca an evil beast, destroying the village’s feng shui and causing disasters for the villagers. I have just one thing to say: believe it if you want, don’t if you don’t care—it’s not my life at stake. Zhaozhao, let’s go." Qin Liuxi called to Teng Zhao.
Teng Zhao and his group walked over imdiately, turned around, and started to leave.
"Daoist Chengyangzi, are you coming? If not, do you want to get beaten?"
The disciples of Chengyangzi were a bit dumbfounded. Were they really leaving?
"Master, Master, please wait, it’s all a misunderstanding. We can talk this out." The village chief saw Qin Liuxi saying to leave and hurriedly called out, "Master, as monks we are rciful, please save us."
"No longer calling us demons and deceivers?" Qin Liuxi snorted lightly, looking at the village chief, "Lead the way."
"Sure, sure, this way please." The village chief nodded and bowed, saying to the still sowhat confused villagers, "Disperse now."
This contrast left Chengyangzi deeply conflicted.
He had forgotten Taoist wisdom—it was better to do as Qin Liuxi did, precise and decisive!
Juzi Village was called so because fifty years ago, a scholar nad Wang Chuan had co from the village. It was said that during his exam for becoming a scholar, he encountered a flood and was nearly killed. But in his dim consciousness, a Kui Niu saved him, carrying him to shore, even speaking to him, saying he had accumulated great virtue in his past life to survive the catastrophe and that he would pass the exam, but only as a scholar, and must continue to accumulate virtue and do good to protect future generations.
When Wang Chuan woke up, he could hardly believe it, thinking it might have been a dream—yet the dream was so vivid, he rembered all the details. Later, he did indeed pass the exam to beco a scholar, stopping there, convinced that the Kui Niu was sent specifically to protect him. He had a stone craftsman carve a Stone Beast Kui Niu based on his mory and worshiped it as the Guardian Beast.
With the Guardian Beast, the village prospered, producing two or three more scholars, and the village was renad Juzi Village, establishing a shrine where the Guardian Beast was enshrined.
Yet in the past ten years, strange things occurred frequently in the village, crops repeatedly failed, and they produced no more scholars, not even a single scholar rank. People kept dying mysteriously.
The village chief sighed, "We used to have a large pear orchard, and when it blossod, it was beautiful. In the past few years, the flowers haven’t blood, and not a single fruit has grown."
Little Ginseng interrupted, "Fruit trees have off-years too, but it’s unusual not to produce anything year after year. You don’t think the feng shui is off?"
The village chief said angrily, "It’s not like we haven’t invited Daoists to co check the feng shui, but after paying money, they just burned a few talisman papers without results. They put on a show that looked impressive but did nothing—no fruit, and people kept dying."
Realizing he might have offended soone, he quickly added, "I didn’t an you, just so people who deceive others easily, so when the old Taoist said our village was wrong and the Guardian Beast was harmful, we got furious. We’ve been tricked too often."
Qin Liuxi said, "Then think about it—has anyone ever ntioned the issue of the Stone Beast in the shrine before? How would they know you have a Stone Beast enshrined there?"
"Right, the shrine is closed off except during certain festivals. How do you know?" The village chief was puzzled.
Su Ming said, "I told you, soone in your village spilled the beans—a ghost nad Wang Xiaoquan."
"Wang Xiaoquan died?" The village chief was stunned, "No way, his mother said he visited just a few days ago."
Chengyangzi sighed, "He’s a new ghost. The day he returned was his seventh day, having died away from ho, and without anyone to escort him, he couldn’t have returned."
The village chief’s face turned pale.
At this mont, soone ca running in a panic, "Village Chief, bad news, Brother Xiaoquan’s blind mother passed away."
The village chief’s heart sank, quickly following for a few steps, then looking back at Qin Liuxi and the others, he said to the person, "Zhuzi, take them to the shrine. I’ll be right back."
He hurriedly left.
Little Ginseng asked Zhuzi about Wang Xiaoquan’s family situation, and after listening to him, everyone fell silent.
It had been a good family, but in ten years, the father died, the eldest son died, the eldest daughter-in-law died with her unborn child, and then the son called Xiaoquan, and now the last one was gone too.
A true family tragedy.
They all felt terrible.
"Trouble always finds those who suffer the most," Chengyangzi sighed deeply.
Qin Liuxi, with a cold expression, said, "Let’s first slay the evil beast, then we can help over there afterwards."
Zhuzi, who was leading the way, felt a chill down his spine, carefully glancing at her. These Daoists were bizarre. Although the old Daoist was the oldest, the female Daoist seed the most fearso.
He quickened his pace and soon led everyone to the shrine, shivering as he did.
The sky suddenly darkened, and a chilling wind began to blow.
A burst of malevolent energy roared out from the shrine, heading straight for Zhuzi at the foremost.
Teng Zhao moved swiftly, instinctively pulling Zhuzi behind him, taking the hit of the evil spirit’s aura. The Jade Talisman on him exploded with a crash, and he spat blood.
Little Ginseng scread, "Zhaozhao!"
"How dare you harm my people! You’re courting death!" Qin Liuxi, enraged, flickered forward, her Divine Weapon in hand, slashing down fiercely.
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