[This… not a lot of time has passed, right? What happened on the other side?]
[Did they poke the hornet’s nest? The village couldn’t have been any more calm and quiet a moment ago. How come in a split second humans and ghosts all came over here?]
“Fuck, what did they do?”
Seeing such a big commotion, the newcomers were all scared silly.
AD
They hadn’t even walked for a few minutes, so how did they cause such a big commotion? Not only did shadows of phantoms come in droves, but those villagers also seemed as if they were crazy, their faces twisted, chasing with all caution thrown out of the window.
“Don’t worry about it so much right now. First run to the temple and then talk!”
Zong Jiu turned his head back. A poker card rushed out of his hands with swishing sounds, sinking into a tree stump with a ding.
Their vision was greatly restricted in the woods, not to mention that right now, they were in a situation of being encircled.
Everyone’s movements weren’t slow. Those who had shields defended with shields. Those with talismans threw talismans. The amount of people reciting spells were also plentiful.
Black-Robed Azan looked at those shadows with a frown. At the moment, he was actually unable to differentiate which belonged to the villagers, which belonged to leaves, and which belonged to real evil ghosts. Thus, he very decisively kneeled on the spot and silently recited a spell, releasing a portion of the ghosts in the Soul Summoning Streamer.
For a while, inside the woods, wind blew everywhere, and dead leaves flew in the air.
Although they tried their best to avoid direct confrontation with the villagers, now that it had happened, they couldn’t do anything about it. They could only run first. A group of people ran desperately, screams arising one after another. Soon, they reached the temple.
It was really coincidental. The sky had just brightened then. That rickety, black-robed figure in front of the temple was holding a dustpan containing water and tree leaves, clearing the floor while removing dust.
The trainees couldn’t afford to care about too many things. They swarmed into the temple, swiftly pulling on the door handle of the temple door. A group of people huffed and puffed, closing the temple door that had just been opened not too long ago. Afterwards, there were still many people who pulled out their special props and added an extra lock on the door.
After the temple door was locked, the entire temple hall darkened. Only the lotus lamp that was lit by the spirit tablet at the foot of the clay bodhisattva was still emitting faint light.
Grandma Yin watched their movements. She didn’t go up to stop them and directly frowned, “Who are you all? You dare to act insolent in front of the bodhisattva?”
Zong Jiu signaled Xu Sen with his eyes. The latter then very conscientiously went forward and conducted negotiations with Grandma Yin.
He turned his gaze towards another person within the team.
“Shit, there truly was something wrong with that woman.”
The B-rank veteran Cao Hongtao cursed and then sucked in a deep breath. Looking down, there was a shocking bite mark with fresh blood in between his thumb and forefinger.
After Zong Jiu and his team finished asking questions, people in the veteran’s team had seen through the woman’s lies. So, they wanted to use threats and bribes to make the other tell the truth. It just so happened that Cao Hongtao had learned some interrogation and torture techniques, so he volunteered.
Killing the NPC might result in the entire mission plotline collapsing. However, letting the NPC suffer some pain wasn’t a problem. In the infinite flow, the means of veterans who had seen many harsh and extreme situations couldn’t be considered glorious. As long as they could survive and evade the rules, why wouldn’t they do it?
Cao Hongtao questioned with great detail, step by step, while also paying attention to the changes in her expression.
For this kind of NPC, their settings fit the time period of the background, and she hadn’t received any professional training against interrogations. It was very easy to see through any flaws.
Very soon, Cao Hongtao found the suspicious points.
Cii atf cjggjalbcr gfujgvlcu atf fivfgis kbwjc uejgvlcu atf ybvtlrjaanj rbli, fjalcu atf ybvtlrjaanj rbli, jcv yflcu j ubbv qfgrbc ktb ktbif-tfjgafvis qgjmalmfv Devvtlrw jr kfii jr rfmgfais ulnlcu obbv ab atf kbwjc, jii atfrf vfrmglqalbcr vlvc’a mbcajlc jcs oliifg bg ojirlalfr.
Lbkfnfg, atf qgbyifw kjr klat tbk atf fivfgis kbwjc vlfv. Cr ibcu jr atlr qblca kjr jrxfv, teuf mtjcufr lc tfg fzqgfrrlbc kbeiv jqqfjg. Eluta ktfc Jjb Lbcuajb kjr bnfgpbsfv jcv aglfv ab obiibk atlr mief jcv vlu bea wbgf lcobgwjalbc, atja kbwjc revvfcis kfca tsrafglmji bc atf rqba.
“I have already told everything I know to you all. What else do you want?!”
Her expression became twisted, her voice sharp and piercing, “So what if she was nice to me? In the whole village, only she had enough to eat. Wasn’t everything that happened afterwards what she deserved?”
Saying this, the woman felt that she had misspoken and immediately closed her mouth again. No matter how they asked, they couldn’t get a single word out of her.
Not only this, under the interrogation, she became angry, bit Cao Hongtao’s hand with all her might, and loudly cried for help, attracting the attention of the people in the village. They could only give up on continuing to question.
At first, the newcomers all felt that this woman was pitiful. It was only now that they realized that she, whose mouth was filled with lies, wasn’t innocent.
Cao Hongtao borrowed a strip of cloth from someone and crudely wrapped his hand up, his expression dark, “This village is just fucking abnormal.”
On the other side, Xu Sen’s negotiations were fruitful.
During the last round, Grandma Yin had revealed her attitude towards this deserted village.
So in this round, when they took out enough evidence, the other wasn’t overly suspicious.
“I know what you mean.”
Grandma Yin slowly said, “Hearing what you all have said, directly entering the nether world and finding that elderly woman’s soul to ask clearly would indeed be the fastest way.”
“However——”
Her words took a turn, “It’s impossible to Yin walk during the day, and additionally, there isn’t a full moon tonight. If there is a need to Yin walk, then I’ll have to trouble you youngsters to bring back the empty crimson coffin from the mourning hall at the back.”
Not only this, but entering the nether world when the night wasn’t of the full moon also still needed a lot of preparation work.
The other people all followed Grandma Yin’s directions, transporting the coffin, sweeping the main hall, and lighting the candles.
The main hall was dark and solemn. Wind, which had flowed in through the cracks, lifted the gauze.
Outside the temple door, they could still hear the villagers’ shouts and even the sound of hoes slashing at the ground, clanging and banging loudly, accompanied by a large cloud of sawdust falling.
“Open the door! Fucking open the door!”
“Our village has supported this temple together for so many years, yet you aren’t willing to even open the door?!”
“That Grandma Yin is really a bitch. The village head was indeed right. She wishes to curse our entire village to death with that old woman.”
……
The noise outside was endless. But in the end, the temple was still a place that made the villagers a little afraid. Swearing was swearing, but in the end, they didn’t dare to make insolent actions so close to the bodhisattva.
It seemed that it was still temporarily safe in the temple.
Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief.
After the problem of safety had been solved, another problem arose.
The trainees felt hunger pangs coming from their stomachs, a burning sensation starting to come from their heart. The hunger value in the upper right corner was once again red.
From when they last ate, an entire night had already passed, and they had experienced a round of running for their lives. Now they were all so hungry that it felt like their stomachs were sticking to their backs.
Finally, a veteran couldn’t help but open their mouth, “Grandma, is there anything edible in the temple?”
The rickety figure covered by a black robe slowly said, “As a cultivator, for the sake of pursuing abstinence from food, I eat very simply and crudely. If you don’t mind, you can go look in the mourning hall that contains the coffin.”
Abstinence from food?
Zong Jiu felt like a revelation quickly flashed through his mind. Combined with the narration of the woman earlier, he almost caught upon the final answer.
As soon as they heard there was food, the trainees swarmed over. Unfortunately, the results truly made people greatly disappointed.
Because what they brought back was only some coarse rice bran. All together, it was merely a handful. There was no need to mention if it was edible. Even if it was edible, it wouldn’t increase the hunger value by much.
But even so, many people were staring at that handful of coarse rice bran, eyes filled with desire.
The veterans led by Cao Hongtao, however, had started to think of other ideas. He scanned the surroundings, “Look. Aren’t there fruits on the altar? How about we steal…”
“It’s best if we don’t.” Lin Guoxing frowned, “Senior No. 4 had said before that there were traces of bodhisattvas in this temple. Although those fruits and melons are a bit shriveled, they are all used as offerings. If something happens, no one can afford to bear the consequences.”
Then what?
Even with that said, not many people moved their eyes away from the offerings.
No one wanted to die. If things got really desperate, who would care about that?
They still needed to stay in the temple for another whole day.
Now, everyone’s hunger value had already turned red. One day entailed eating at least two meals.
Even if those coarse rice brans, melons, and fruits were added up, it was only at most four or five people’s daily amount. But thirty some people were standing within the temple.
On the other side, a few veterans had already started arguing over the ownership of that handful of coarse rice bran, each with red faces and ears from arguing. Everyone wanted to get more, and there were signs of the verbal conflict rising to a physical conflict.
Veterans with lower ranks even started to put their thoughts on the bodhisattva soil outside the temple.
“Say, everyone in the village eats this. We should also be fine if we eat some, right…”
“It should be. Sigh, if there’s really no other way, then we can only do that.”
Someone curled up their lips in the dark. The smile was filled with malicious pleasure.
This was only a start. There seemed to still be room for choices and alternatives.
When there were no more choices and alternatives, when their hunger value fell from the double digits to the single digits, when the footsteps of the death god drew near, when under the double torment and pain of both their bodies and mental states approaching death, the end result would definitely be more interesting.
He was very willing to waste this time to admire and appreciate the expressions of humans struggling in a quagmire of pain.
Especially…
His gaze swept over the white-haired young man standing off to the side, like watching an interesting toy.
Zong Jiu frowned.
From out of nowhere, he felt a gaze that made people very uncomfortable.
Hm, it was very familiar.
He looked at the chaos in the temple and did some calculations. Finally, when the few people who were fighting over the rice bran were about to get physical, he stepped up.
“How come everyone has started to get physical? Harmony is very important. Don’t harm people from the same side.”
With his words, everyone looked over.
[23333 They still don’t know that the Magician can conjure food.]
[I’m about to die of laughter. Once everyone in the temple knows, wouldn’t everyone need to kneel down, hug his leg, and call him daddy?]
[Yeah, I’ll call whoever can give me enough food daddy! Daddy, I’m an eating machine. Please give me another bowl.]
Those few veterans sneered, “You trying to tell us what to do? Could it be that you also want a share of the pie?”
Another B-rank was even more rude, “I advise you not to meddle too much. Don’t think that just because you got recognition from that master that you can do whatever you want.”
The white-haired young man sighed and spread out his hands, “Sigh, I’m clearly here to do business with you all.”
Saying this, his palm turned. A huge, red apple appeared just like that on his palm.
Receiving everyone’s stunned gazes, Zong Jiu stroked his chin, “One thousand survival points for one apple. This price is fair, right?”
The other people: “……”
Why don’t you just steal?!
[This… not a lot of time has passed, right? What happened on the other side?]
[Did they poke the hornet’s nest? The village couldn’t have been any more calm and quiet a moment ago. How come in a split second humans and ghosts all came over here?]
“Fuck, what did they do?”
Seeing such a big commotion, the newcomers were all scared silly.
AD
They hadn’t even walked for a few minutes, so how did they cause such a big commotion? Not only did shadows of phantoms come in droves, but those villagers also seemed as if they were crazy, their faces twisted, chasing with all caution thrown out of the window.
“Don’t worry about it so much right now. First run to the temple and then talk!”
Zong Jiu turned his head back. A poker card rushed out of his hands with swishing sounds, sinking into a tree stump with a ding.
Their vision was greatly restricted in the woods, not to mention that right now, they were in a situation of being encircled.
Everyone’s movements weren’t slow. Those who had shields defended with shields. Those with talismans threw talismans. The amount of people reciting spells were also plentiful.
Black-Robed Azan looked at those shadows with a frown. At the moment, he was actually unable to differentiate which belonged to the villagers, which belonged to leaves, and which belonged to real evil ghosts. Thus, he very decisively kneeled on the spot and silently recited a spell, releasing a portion of the ghosts in the Soul Summoning Streamer.
For a while, inside the woods, wind blew everywhere, and dead leaves flew in the air.
Although they tried their best to avoid direct confrontation with the villagers, now that it had happened, they couldn’t do anything about it. They could only run first. A group of people ran desperately, screams arising one after another. Soon, they reached the temple.
It was really coincidental. The sky had just brightened then. That rickety, black-robed figure in front of the temple was holding a dustpan containing water and tree leaves, clearing the floor while removing dust.
The trainees couldn’t afford to care about too many things. They swarmed into the temple, swiftly pulling on the door handle of the temple door. A group of people huffed and puffed, closing the temple door that had just been opened not too long ago. Afterwards, there were still many people who pulled out their special props and added an extra lock on the door.
After the temple door was locked, the entire temple hall darkened. Only the lotus lamp that was lit by the spirit tablet at the foot of the clay bodhisattva was still emitting faint light.
Grandma Yin watched their movements. She didn’t go up to stop them and directly frowned, “Who are you all? You dare to act insolent in front of the bodhisattva?”
Zong Jiu signaled Xu Sen with his eyes. The latter then very conscientiously went forward and conducted negotiations with Grandma Yin.
He turned his gaze towards another person within the team.
“Shit, there truly was something wrong with that woman.”
The B-rank veteran Cao Hongtao cursed and then sucked in a deep breath. Looking down, there was a shocking bite mark with fresh blood in between his thumb and forefinger.
After Zong Jiu and his team finished asking questions, people in the veteran’s team had seen through the woman’s lies. So, they wanted to use threats and bribes to make the other tell the truth. It just so happened that Cao Hongtao had learned some interrogation and torture techniques, so he volunteered.
Killing the NPC might result in the entire mission plotline collapsing. However, letting the NPC suffer some pain wasn’t a problem. In the infinite flow, the means of veterans who had seen many harsh and extreme situations couldn’t be considered glorious. As long as they could survive and evade the rules, why wouldn’t they do it?
Cao Hongtao questioned with great detail, step by step, while also paying attention to the changes in her expression.
For this kind of NPC, their settings fit the time period of the background, and she hadn’t received any professional training against interrogations. It was very easy to see through any flaws.
Very soon, Cao Hongtao found the suspicious points.
Cii atf cjggjalbcr gfujgvlcu atf fivfgis kbwjc uejgvlcu atf ybvtlrjaanj rbli, fjalcu atf ybvtlrjaanj rbli, jcv yflcu j ubbv qfgrbc ktb ktbif-tfjgafvis qgjmalmfv Devvtlrw jr kfii jr rfmgfais ulnlcu obbv ab atf kbwjc, jii atfrf vfrmglqalbcr vlvc’a mbcajlc jcs oliifg bg ojirlalfr.
Lbkfnfg, atf qgbyifw kjr klat tbk atf fivfgis kbwjc vlfv. Cr ibcu jr atlr qblca kjr jrxfv, teuf mtjcufr lc tfg fzqgfrrlbc kbeiv jqqfjg. Eluta ktfc Jjb Lbcuajb kjr bnfgpbsfv jcv aglfv ab obiibk atlr mief jcv vlu bea wbgf lcobgwjalbc, atja kbwjc revvfcis kfca tsrafglmji bc atf rqba.
“I have already told everything I know to you all. What else do you want?!”
Her expression became twisted, her voice sharp and piercing, “So what if she was nice to me? In the whole village, only she had enough to eat. Wasn’t everything that happened afterwards what she deserved?”
Saying this, the woman felt that she had misspoken and immediately closed her mouth again. No matter how they asked, they couldn’t get a single word out of her.
Not only this, under the interrogation, she became angry, bit Cao Hongtao’s hand with all her might, and loudly cried for help, attracting the attention of the people in the village. They could only give up on continuing to question.
At first, the newcomers all felt that this woman was pitiful. It was only now that they realized that she, whose mouth was filled with lies, wasn’t innocent.
Cao Hongtao borrowed a strip of cloth from someone and crudely wrapped his hand up, his expression dark, “This village is just fucking abnormal.”
On the other side, Xu Sen’s negotiations were fruitful.
During the last round, Grandma Yin had revealed her attitude towards this deserted village.
So in this round, when they took out enough evidence, the other wasn’t overly suspicious.
“I know what you mean.”
Grandma Yin slowly said, “Hearing what you all have said, directly entering the nether world and finding that elderly woman’s soul to ask clearly would indeed be the fastest way.”
“However——”
Her words took a turn, “It’s impossible to Yin walk during the day, and additionally, there isn’t a full moon tonight. If there is a need to Yin walk, then I’ll have to trouble you youngsters to bring back the empty crimson coffin from the mourning hall at the back.”
Not only this, but entering the nether world when the night wasn’t of the full moon also still needed a lot of preparation work.
The other people all followed Grandma Yin’s directions, transporting the coffin, sweeping the main hall, and lighting the candles.
The main hall was dark and solemn. Wind, which had flowed in through the cracks, lifted the gauze.
Outside the temple door, they could still hear the villagers’ shouts and even the sound of hoes slashing at the ground, clanging and banging loudly, accompanied by a large cloud of sawdust falling.
“Open the door! Fucking open the door!”
“Our village has supported this temple together for so many years, yet you aren’t willing to even open the door?!”
“That Grandma Yin is really a bitch. The village head was indeed right. She wishes to curse our entire village to death with that old woman.”
……
The noise outside was endless. But in the end, the temple was still a place that made the villagers a little afraid. Swearing was swearing, but in the end, they didn’t dare to make insolent actions so close to the bodhisattva.
It seemed that it was still temporarily safe in the temple.
Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief.
After the problem of safety had been solved, another problem arose.
The trainees felt hunger pangs coming from their stomachs, a burning sensation starting to come from their heart. The hunger value in the upper right corner was once again red.
From when they last ate, an entire night had already passed, and they had experienced a round of running for their lives. Now they were all so hungry that it felt like their stomachs were sticking to their backs.
Finally, a veteran couldn’t help but open their mouth, “Grandma, is there anything edible in the temple?”
The rickety figure covered by a black robe slowly said, “As a cultivator, for the sake of pursuing abstinence from food, I eat very simply and crudely. If you don’t mind, you can go look in the mourning hall that contains the coffin.”
Abstinence from food?
Zong Jiu felt like a revelation quickly flashed through his mind. Combined with the narration of the woman earlier, he almost caught upon the final answer.
As soon as they heard there was food, the trainees swarmed over. Unfortunately, the results truly made people greatly disappointed.
Because what they brought back was only some coarse rice bran. All together, it was merely a handful. There was no need to mention if it was edible. Even if it was edible, it wouldn’t increase the hunger value by much.
But even so, many people were staring at that handful of coarse rice bran, eyes filled with desire.
The veterans led by Cao Hongtao, however, had started to think of other ideas. He scanned the surroundings, “Look. Aren’t there fruits on the altar? How about we steal…”
“It’s best if we don’t.” Lin Guoxing frowned, “Senior No. 4 had said before that there were traces of bodhisattvas in this temple. Although those fruits and melons are a bit shriveled, they are all used as offerings. If something happens, no one can afford to bear the consequences.”
Then what?
Even with that said, not many people moved their eyes away from the offerings.
No one wanted to die. If things got really desperate, who would care about that?
They still needed to stay in the temple for another whole day.
Now, everyone’s hunger value had already turned red. One day entailed eating at least two meals.
Even if those coarse rice brans, melons, and fruits were added up, it was only at most four or five people’s daily amount. But thirty some people were standing within the temple.
On the other side, a few veterans had already started arguing over the ownership of that handful of coarse rice bran, each with red faces and ears from arguing. Everyone wanted to get more, and there were signs of the verbal conflict rising to a physical conflict.
Veterans with lower ranks even started to put their thoughts on the bodhisattva soil outside the temple.
“Say, everyone in the village eats this. We should also be fine if we eat some, right…”
“It should be. Sigh, if there’s really no other way, then we can only do that.”
Someone curled up their lips in the dark. The smile was filled with malicious pleasure.
This was only a start. There seemed to still be room for choices and alternatives.
When there were no more choices and alternatives, when their hunger value fell from the double digits to the single digits, when the footsteps of the death god drew near, when under the double torment and pain of both their bodies and mental states approaching death, the end result would definitely be more interesting.
He was very willing to waste this time to admire and appreciate the expressions of humans struggling in a quagmire of pain.
Especially…
His gaze swept over the white-haired young man standing off to the side, like watching an interesting toy.
Zong Jiu frowned.
From out of nowhere, he felt a gaze that made people very uncomfortable.
Hm, it was very familiar.
He looked at the chaos in the temple and did some calculations. Finally, when the few people who were fighting over the rice bran were about to get physical, he stepped up.
“How come everyone has started to get physical? Harmony is very important. Don’t harm people from the same side.”
With his words, everyone looked over.
[23333 They still don’t know that the Magician can conjure food.]
[I’m about to die of laughter. Once everyone in the temple knows, wouldn’t everyone need to kneel down, hug his leg, and call him daddy?]
[Yeah, I’ll call whoever can give me enough food daddy! Daddy, I’m an eating machine. Please give me another bowl.]
Those few veterans sneered, “You trying to tell us what to do? Could it be that you also want a share of the pie?”
Another B-rank was even more rude, “I advise you not to meddle too much. Don’t think that just because you got recognition from that master that you can do whatever you want.”
The white-haired young man sighed and spread out his hands, “Sigh, I’m clearly here to do business with you all.”
Saying this, his palm turned. A huge, red apple appeared just like that on his palm.
Receiving everyone’s stunned gazes, Zong Jiu stroked his chin, “One thousand survival points for one apple. This price is fair, right?”
The other people: “……”
Why don’t you just steal?!
