No wonder Senior Brother treats these people with such respect...
With thoughts brewing in his mind, he dared not be neglectful. He quickly called a hunter who wasn't injured, preparing food and wine, and personally escorted Wang Daoxuan and the others down the mountain path.
Watching them leave, Shi Heilong then returned to the inn.
As soon as he entered the door, his expression turned grim:
"Investigate! The Beggar Gang, and those few Martial Arts schools, see who's stirring trouble!"
......
Early spring at Jingyang Ridge, wrapped in warm sunlight.
Sandy hills scattered with sprouting buds, twisted old pine branches holding droplets of dew.
Though not mountain high nor forest dense, the rolling hills, patches of half-person high dead grass, alongside those twisted pines grown for countless years, hiding so wild beasts or tigers isn't much.
Among the pine forests, there are many old tombs, of unknown dates.
Dead vines wrapping around tombstones, fallen leaves covering mounds, hidden under the trees, exuding a sense of eeriness.
"This...isn't right."
The one leading the way was a young hunter.
He circled around several tis, urgently saying, "The old tomb we encountered before was much bigger than this, right here, why is it gone now?"
"No need to say, you were tricked by an Illusion Technique."
Sha Lifei scoffed, turning to Wang Daoxuan, "Daoist, any findings?"
Wang Daoxuan slightly shook his head, saying, "There is so yin energy, but it's normal. Miss Long, what about you?"
Beside him, Long Yan'er spread her white palm.
A huge moth flew through the forest, circling a few tis before landing on her palm.
Long Yan'er frowned slightly, "That thing is cautious, its scent has been wiped away."
Sha Lifei sighed, "What a pity, Brother Lv still has to protect Brother Yan. If he were here, we would definitely find that thing."
While speaking, he looked afar, "Oh, Brother Zhao, have you found sothing?"
Zhao Lvzi squatted beside a bush, waved, signaling everyone over.
He said quietly, "I may not be up to Brother Lv's skills, but I am familiar with the forest."
As he spoke, he pushed aside the bush. Above were many broken grasses, and on the ground were footprints.
The young hunter leading the way said, "These are ours, but doesn't look like chased by a tiger."
"That's not what I ant for you to see..."
Zhao Lvzi muttered, then pushed aside the surface soil.
Below were large patches of dead ants, and two tiger claw prints frosted with cold.
"It's Yin Soul Travel!"
Wang Daoxuan looked and his face instantly turned serious.
Yin God Travel, that's a capability of the Fourth or Fifth Layer.
In Ezhou, they had seen Liu Gang possess a tiger demon for Yin God Travel, leaving similar footprints in the courtyard.
"Prepare, that thing won't be easy to handle..."
Wang Daoxuan warned, then took out a cloth doll from his bosom.
Encountering such level of demon, only the "Seven Arrows Secret Spell" could deal with it.
The others quickly made preparations as well.
None of them had Daoist Practice reaching the Fourth Layer, but they were completely fearless.
After all, they've dealt with worse and gained experience.
Whether it's Wu Ba's Tiger-Squat Cannon or Wang Daoxuan's spell, they were all killing moves.
Others just needed to shield and protect.
With clues, everything beca easier.
Long Yan'er summoned the Gu Worm again, sniffed out the yin energy, leading everyone forward.
Soon, they arrived at the highest point of Sha Gang.
On the mountain stood a small temple, already weathered by ti.
The faded vermillion door fra had a gold plaque "Subduing Tiger Spirit and Power" mottled and cracking.
From cracks in the stone stairs sprouted clusters of yellowish spring flowers, vines climbing the fragnted brick-carved beast heads, gently swaying in the wind.
"It's the Wu Song Temple!"
The young hunter leading the way was uneasy, "The demon must be hiding in the temple..."
"Try and see."
Wang Daoxuan said no more, grabbed a handful of incense from his waist pouch.
He chanted a mantra, blew towards the ruined temple.
The incense swirled out, unhindered in the air, gently landing on the temple's front steps.
"No problem, let's go in and take a look..."
Wang Daoxuan shook his head slightly, leading everyone towards Wu Song Temple.
Outside the faded blue brick yard wall, several hunting forks were stuck, fork handles wrapped in faded red cloth strips.
Seeing Wang Daoxuan checking, the young hunter hurriedly explained, "This is our hunter's tradition, praying for safety when worshipping at the temple."
They pushed the door open, and the small yard was overgrown with wild grass taller than a person.
Entering the front hall door, the sweet pungent pine resin sll mixed with incense rushed at them.
The clay statue of Wu Song had been repainted gold by the hunters, the knotted arms draped with three processed yellow wolf pelts.
In front of the offering table, several empty wine jars were toppled, the incense burner was filled with incense sticks of varying lengths.
In the corner, piled with loose straw bedding, campfire remains left scorched black round marks on the blue brick floor.
"We stayed overnight in the temple before."
The young hunter's eyes were full of caution, looking around, "This temple has been built for a long ti, funded back in the day by the local gentry of Yanggu County, but being on the mountain, with frequent wild beast presence, the old temple priest was killed by wolves, no villagers dared visit afterwards, it beca abandoned."
"Only we hunters occasionally tidy up..."
Wang Daoxuan listened while casting a Mantra to look around.
His eyes glowed with precision, clearly using Divine Skills to investigate.
Soon, his gaze focused on the Wu Song statue.
"Wu Ba, move the Divine Statue aside."
Wang Daoxuan instructed, Wu Ba promptly stepped forward, easily moving the statue aside.
Only then did they discover the Wu Song statue against the wall.
The statue had long been hollowed, and behind on the wall was a large hole.
Through the hole, they saw large patches of wild grass and trees.
A few tufts of yellow hair stuck in the brick seams of the hole.
The young hunter looked and felt a chill down his spine, "This hole is newly dug, that thing was here last night!"
"Hmm."
Sha Lifei promptly checked, ponderingly said, "This tiger demon must have dug the hole while you were here, whatever was stored in the statue is gone, perhaps that was its target."
The young hunter heard this, his face turned pale, "We burned incense for Wu Song Master, praying to hunt more tigers, surely the tiger demon heard and got angry, hence frightened us."
"Interesting..."
Sha Lifei rubbed his shiny head, "Daoist, what's stored in these caches?"
Wang Daoxuan spoke, "If it's a Buddhist statue, it would contain scriptures and spells such as the 'Heart Sutra', 'Great Compassion Mantra', 'Lengyan Mantra', rolled into tubes and put inside, symbolizing Buddhist Law dwelling, along with Five Treasures, Five dicines, Five Incenses..."
"If it's a Taoist Divine statue, it would contain scriptures and talismans, 'Five Mountains True Form Map', vermillion written Divine Taboo or secret words, and items of the Five Elents gold, wood, water, fire, earth, symbolizing the completeness of Five Elents."
"Wu Song has fa, but not in National Sacrifice, considered local worship, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, known as 'Heroic Brave and Responsive Marquis', in Luzhou called 'Subduing Tiger God', usually for mountain settlent..."
"Daoist truly knowledgeable!"
The young hunter hurriedly flattered, "We all call him 'Tiger Subduer'."
"Hmm."
Wang Daoxuan didn't mind, pondering, "Local worship, typically wouldn't be without scriptures and Five Elents items, perhaps sothing was initially hidden inside?"
While they conversed, Long Yan'er and Zhao Lvzi searched the wild ground behind the hole and returned shaking their heads: "Can't find anything, the scent and trails have been erased."
"I have an idea!"
The young hunter quickly said, "We have a rule, all residential constructs must be registered with the governnt, temples too, the governnt registry should have records."
"Let's go back and search!"
Wang Daoxuan imdiately ordered the return.
This tiger demon with Fourth Layer Practice, a Demon King in the mountains, yet ca to steal, they were genuinely curious...
...
Governnt archives, ordinary people naturally cannot check.
But the Cheng Family in Zhangqiu isn't ordinary.
Old steward Chen Fu did so arrangents, finally finding the records.
"Third year of Xianhua, Yanggu County funded the construction of Wu Song Temple, facing north to south, built in 'Front Ridge Rear Water' layout, five-rafter-sided rigid mountain top, spans three rooms, deep two rooms, total height twenty-six feet..."
Upon reading the last line, Wang Daoxuan suddenly stood, face full of disbelief.
"Baohua Book House donated Xu Fu Bamboo Scroll fragnts as the sacred temple treasure, hidden in the belly of Wu Song statue..."
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