Actually, I had a thought cross my mind, to ask Old Zhu now where the place was that the incident happened back then.
Just then, it seems that Old Zhu is impulsive and indifferent, but I feel that he must be incredibly perceptive within.
If he links something together, with his impulsive nature, it might lead to trouble.
At this moment, Daoist Zhu Sisong brought the food and drink. He wore a kind smile and left after setting down the tray.
There was no need for Zhenying to knock on the door to call Old Zhu; he came out by himself, carrying a plate of food and went into Yang Guijin's room.
I and Zhenying sat down, ate some food, and each went back to their own room.
Earlier, I couldn't settle down, but now that everything was arranged properly, my mind and spirit were much more stable.
I read through the Four Principles of Genuine Heart, restoring my calm state of mind, before then moving on to read the Four Principles of Genuine Method.
In the first month at the small town, I learned over a dozen kinds of talismans. After meeting Li Tong, I focused solely on studying one kind of talisman for exorcising evil spirits, which happened to be used on Li Tong later.
What I'm looking at now is a completely new talisman.
Fortunately, from the Monastery of Rescue from Sufferings, I got a fair amount of magical artifacts. For the future talismans or Daoist magic, more or less, they will need to be paired with artifacts.
Soon, it grew dark.
I copied the talismans until deep into the night, and only lay down to rest after midnight.
As soon as I closed my eyes, drowsiness started to overtake me.
But suddenly, a shiver ran down my spine, and I shot up from bed, staring straight ahead.
My breathing became slightly more heavy as I realized that something… wasn't quite right…
It's Xie Luo who's off.
Clearly, Xie Luo mentioned the downhill path to me, and he mentioned Mr. Wu, who is Lao Gong, saying that as long as there is Mr. Wu, there will be a chance.
But during the day, Xie Luo said that we should try not to walk at night.
That's a contradiction, isn't it?
Xie Luo is a Daoist of this caliber; could he have overlooked such a matter?
Turning over the bed, I walked out of the room.
I glanced and found that Old Gong's head seemed to look up at the sky, his mouth moving continuously as if he was swallowing something.
His demeanor seemed very comfortable.
I walked straight towards Zhenying's room, and Old Gong suddenly turned his head to look at me, his eyes even more excited!
Knocking on the door, Huayin opened her eyes blearily.
My serious gaze made Huayin a shiver and woke her up.
"Old Gong," I whispered.
Old Gong's head just bounced up and down, heading towards the chamber pot.
His eyes widened, but there was a hint of disappointment.
"You look strange… Is there a problem?" Huayin asked me.
"There is a downhill path on the back mountain. Do you know about it?" I didn't ask Huayin but asked Old Gong instead.
According to what Xie Luo said, that path appeared after the change in the geomancy, so it might not be known only by the three of us.
"Descending the mountain…"
Old Gong's eyes were deep in thought. He first shook his head, then nodded.
I furrowed my brows.
Old Gong smacked his lips and said, "Is that what you call a path?"
My face suddenly lit up!
This proved that Old Gong was aware of it!
"If one can only descend from there, is it better to walk at dawn or at night!?"
I asked quickly.
Old Gong ah-ed for a moment before saying, "It's better to walk at dawn and get hurt by falling, or at night and get scared by ghosts."
Me: "..."
Then, he added, "Follow Old Gong, and you won't die."
I didn't say anything more and quickly walked to Old Zhu's room, knocking on the door without response inside.
The door of Yang Guijin's room on the side opened, and Lao Zhu looked at me with a stern expression.
Before I could speak, Lao Zhu glanced at Huayin and Old Gong on the other side, turned around and entered the house.
Soon, Yang Guijin was supported out.
Yang Guijin seemed to have rested well, and his spirit was much better.
I indicated to Old Gong to show us the way, and we should take that path down the mountain.
Old Gong didn't say much. He jumped onto Huayin's shoulder and whispered into her ear.
Huayin led the way, with Lao Zhu and Yang Guijin following behind.
Lao Zhu's face wasn't looking too good either, and he seemed to be muttering something under his breath.
I walked at the very back.
The night was extraordinarily quiet, with the mountain wind howling, leaning against the cliff edge of the Monastery of Rescue from Sufferings, there was an indescribable pressure and solemnity.
After passing through the monastery area, we entered the regular mountain path, with dense trees and lush foliage that added to the oppressive atmosphere.
Huayin seemed to be familiar with the path.
When he first came here, Old Gong had taken her up the mountain once, so it was normal that she was familiar with the path.
Now I finally heard clearly what Lao Zhu was muttering. He meant that the unreliable Luo family had connected with a self-righteous Daoist, which was beyond unreliable.
The words weren't pleasant, but I could only remain silent.
I felt really bad.
The Monastery of Rescue from Sufferings had been kind to me before, and Xie Luo had also seemed fine. However, he deliberately sent us to the downhill path during the day, which Lao Gong had said was impossible. If we walked during the day, we would fall and die.
That means Xie Luo suddenly wanted us to die?
One moment he treated people sincerely, and the next, he wanted to kill them.
If I didn't realize it in time and something went wrong, then it would be too late to regret.
Xie Luo's actions prove that he must have noticed the origin of the talisman on Yang Guijin's body and even more so, that the talisman is likely to be related to the Monastery of Rescue from Sufferings!
Even Xie Luo might have known about what happened back then!
The thoughts in my head were still chaotic. We had already moved from the main path to the side and were still climbing upwards.
I heard the sound of rumbling, continuous and loud.
The humidity increased greatly, and slowly water droplets formed on my eyelashes.
The mountain path became steeper, with larger and denser trees, reducing visibility and making it harder to see far ahead.
We had been walking for a considerable amount of time, more than halfway through the night, which is about two or three hours. At last, the trees in front of us became smaller, and we could see other things in our line of sight.
This sight left me with a profound shock!
We were standing on a platform at the side of the mountain waist, which was probably the path's endpoint.
Outside the platform was a sunken area of the mountain!
The mountain slope was very gradual, with an angle so small that it seemed almost perpendicular!
The top of the mountain, unknown how high it was, looked like water flowing out under the moonlight, like a bowl overflowing with water.
There were hundreds of holes on the mountain itself!
From those holes, streams of water, like white ribbons, flowed out!
Some of the holes were not very large, and the water flowed out like a horse's tail. Others were large, forming waterfalls.
All of the water flows into the area below!
The rumbling noise came from below the mountain foot!
It was a vast lake, with white flowers on the surface. The constant waterfall erosion ensured that the water was never at all calm.
Looking further, the water converged into rivers flowing towards the city of Guanyao.
From our angle, we can still see faint nighttime lights.
The urban area, resembling a steel forest, was exceptionally quiet.
"It's... my masterpiece..."
Old Gong muttered to himself, constantly licking his lips, hungrily inhaling the moisture in the air as if he were sipping it.
"Where is the way down the mountain?" I took a deep breath, trying to calm down my thoughts and asked Lao Gong in a low voice.
"To go down the mountain… Here, from here…"
Old Gong's head jumped down from Huayin's shoulder and landed on the edge of our platform.
"Where's the path here? Jumping off a cliff?" Lao Zhu's face was extremely unpleasant.
"Well, well, well! Jumping off a cliff is good! A chance for survival!"
Yang Guijin's eyes lit up immediately, and he leapt towards the edge of the platform at once!
