"There's no problem with the soup, no problem with the meat, and your facial features are fine, Grandpa. After eating this meal, your fortune will be even better and stronger!"
"My heart skipped a beat, I grabbed Lao Gong's head with one hand, and stepped out of the temple door faster!"
My hand movements were quicker, and I directly pushed Lao Gong into the bag.
Beside the temple was a path, with an even steeper slope, and a bit further on, there were some lushly overgrown forests.
While I climbed up, I quickly squeezed into the forest.
The dense trees blocked the moonlight, and the dim light combined with the shadows of trees made it difficult to see anything in the forest...
The more it seemed to be fine, the bigger the actual problem turned out to be.
Lao Gong even examined my facial features...Imagine how tempting that pot of soup was to him.
I couldn't put my finger on exactly what the problem was, but I was clear that I needed to at least keep a distance from that temple...
Lao Gong's head emerged halfway out.
He seemed to have also sensed something was off. Sweat beads formed on his ghostly face, making him appear trembling.
"How can it be stronger than a young wife's... Ghosts among ghosts..."
Lao Gong took another swallow of saliva.
At that moment, I heard some fine noises, which seemed to be footsteps.
However, the sound was not from inside the temple but outside.
I slightly adjusted my standing position to make it harder for the outside to see me, and my view became much more open.
About half a minute later, several people appeared at the temple gate.
Three of them wore Taoist robes, with dignified expressions.
The other two wore ordinary clothes and it was hard to tell where they came from.
The group glanced at each other and entered the temple one by one.
My view was blocked...
I suppressed the tick in my eyelid and continued onward, climbing higher.
In the pitch-black forest, I always had to be on the lookout to avoid stepping on something.
After a minute or two, I found a better spot where I could see most of the courtyard and even some of the temple interior.
The five people were gathered in front of the pot of soup, seemingly whispering something to each other.
After that, they lifted their heads, looked left and right, with extremely scrutinizing and sharp expressions.
I had no good intentions of stopping them.
The identities of these few people were unclear. They had come from behind me, and it was possible that they were from the Ghost Tablet Sect and the Heavenly Longevity Temple.
The distance was too far, and I couldn't hear their conversation.
But soon, one of them picked up a spoon, scooped out a bowl of soup, blew on it twice, and took a sip.
After that, he blew the soup bowl even faster, and even used his hand to scoop up the meat, eating it greedily.
The others couldn't wait anymore. One person took a bowl, and before long, the pot of soup was empty.
"Fortune... it's even better now..." Lao Gong said with a frown, muttering, "It doesn't seem like there's a problem..."
At that moment, an even more bizarre scene occurred.
A person appeared outside the temple gate...
From my vantage point, I could overlook the situation below. The people inside the temple were still unaware, even as one continued to scoop soup with a spoon, and the others started to argue over who had drunk more or less than a bowl.
The person outside the temple was staring at the temple gate, as if through the door, he could see everything inside.
The chill was rising from the spine bone.
The soup, was it his cooking?
What was his purpose?
The people inside were arguing more and more fiercely, as if they had completely turned against each other. There was an ominous premonition of a physical altercation!
Just then, one person suddenly barked out a loud rebuke!
"What's going on with all of you? Have you gone crazy! After eating and drinking enough, we need to find someone! Luo Xian Shen has entered this village, and he can't be allowed to leave!"
His voice was too loud, and that's why I could hear it from outside...
A sense of cold dread washed over me. Were they truly not well-disposed towards us?
It's happening too quickly...
If I had still stayed in the house by the village gate or by the side of that river, I would have already been surrounded by these few people.
Fully five of them... Sun Zhuo certainly has a grand handiwork!
By sheer coincidence, the pot of soup brought me over. I struggled to stay awake and ran out, but they couldn't hold back.
In a flash, the others fell silent, no one daring to make a sound, even as one kicked over the pot of soup.
The person outside the temple suddenly turned his head and looked in my direction...
My face suddenly turned pale, and I retreated two steps slightly into the underbrush.
My view was completely blocked, and logically speaking, he shouldn't have been able to see me...
Even more bizarrely, I was so far away and hadn't been staring at him continuously, so how could he have looked over here?
Stiffened for a few seconds, I slowly moved back to my previous position. What made my heart skip a beat was that the person outside the temple gate had disappeared without a trace.
The few people with malicious intent inside the temple had gathered in a circle, as if discussing a plan of action.
"Lao Gong?" I lowered my voice and called out.
"No... I haven't come over... cough... Grandpa, they're going to have bad luck..." Lao Gong's eyes bulged wide open, and a trace of fear appeared on his face.
At first, I found it peculiar.
Unfortunate?
Wasn't I the one who said their fortune was even better? How could they possibly be unlucky?
Did Lao Gong misunderstand or miscalculate?
In the next second, I saw the problem right away...
At the temple gate, a group of people had silently appeared...
This group of people was different from the previous one; the previous person looked normal, at most a bit secretive.
While this group of people were almost all soaking wet, as if they had just climbed out of the water.
Even though the distance was far, I could still see that they all had smiles on their faces.
All at once, I felt a tingling on the back of my neck!
This smile... wasn't it the same smile on the faces of those villagers at the bottom of the river?
Looking a bit longer, their posture, arrangement, and attire were almost identical to those villagers at the bottom of the river!
The villagers were clearly trapped at the bottom of the river, as Lao Gong said; they couldn't escape or run away...
How did they appear again!?
Everyone stood quietly in front of the temple gate, as if waiting for something.
The few people inside the temple were still unaware of the seriousness of the situation...
"How can their senses have become so weak?" I whispered, squinting my eyes.
"It's not that their senses are weak... These villagers have become one with the chi, and this village is located at an Qi opening, continuously blowing and blowing... They are like the wind here."
"Grandpa... Would you care about the sound of the wind?" Lao Gong swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
My heart skipped a beat.
Another two minutes later, the five people inside the temple slowly walked out. The one who had shouted at the others to stop arguing was leading the way.
I noticed that they all had rosy cheeks, as if the soup had replenished a great deal of their energy.
Lao Gong made a soft "sha" sound, staring intently.
I was staring at the temple gate as well...
Soon, he pushed the door open with a push.
In the next second, the five of them were all frozen in place!
The villagers outside the temple gate suddenly surged forward.
Initially, there were only a dozen or so people, but during the time they paused, even more people swarmed in.
Suddenly, dozens of hands enveloped the person in front of them!
The other four panicked and retreated!
A scream of terror echoed through the night sky, a cry for help!
