I immediately understood the cause.
The three maos have a track of hunting, making the Daoists afraid of the master, while the master himself is not strong enough, even more afraid of the Daoists killing them recklessly. No wonder so many Daoist temples have failed to attract a master.
There must be other issues involved. Even if they can recognize some masters, it's not certain that they would dare to go to the Immortal Mountain Cave, risking angering the immortal of Tian Shou Dao.
The withdrawal of most Daoist temples from Xian Dong Mountain should make our actions easier, but if too many Daoists from Tian Shou Daoist Temple return, there may still be trouble.
We did not set off immediately, as old Gong never made an appearance.
This matter cannot be solved without him.
I've been staying in the courtyard for three days. During this time, my parents have gone out several times to gather information. I also accompanied them around the city.
I do indeed need to be cautious, but as long as I am careful when getting close to various factions, that should suffice. Tian Shou Daoist Temple doesn't have that much power; they can't regulate the entire Jiang Huang City with no blind spots. Moreover, no one knows I've returned.
Our family enjoyed an indescribable harmonious and warm atmosphere.
There were some minor incidents during this period. My parents bought a lot of tools, especially folding shovels, flashlights, and many small items that I didn't recognize.
Old Gong emerged from the night pot on the evening of the fourth day.
His eyes were much clearer than before, and he looked very refreshing. Yes, very clean...
"Sigh..."
"Uncle... did you come here?"
He realized that the yard seemed very timid.
"Eat all your bones, the immortal of Tian Shou Dao!"
Having had his chaotic thoughts and souls purified by Agong Lama, Lao Gong regained the timid personality of a mouse.
My mood improved greatly, so I joked about old Gong, saying that he wasn't saying I could go to learn from a master, right? At the same time, I tried to pit him and killed him.
Lao Gong's eyes widened as he said that such a thing was unheard of, and how could he have said such a thing?
I felt even more comfortable.
Of course, I still had an underlying fear. The change caused by eating ghosts for old Gong was subconscious...
Had it not been for the reminder, we truly would not have noticed...
During the purification, Lao Gong was like a deaf person, and he had no idea what we had discussed. Therefore, I recounted everything to him.
Lao Gong's eyes darted back and forth. He reminded me of one thing: the two finger bones of Gao Tian Daoist, which needed to be dealt with properly. If kept on them, they would still affect the use of the female Yin Fragment. It was too much trouble.
My dad looked equally wary, clearly without a good idea.
However, Lao Gong looked at the night pot under his head and muttered, "Put it here. That old lama has some skills, and he's very strong. With me and you, we might be able to slightly suppress his spirit."
Without hesitation, I threw the two finger bones into Lao Gong's night pot.
Indeed, Gao Tian Daoist's remaining spirit did not appear.
We left the yard soon after and found a car to go directly to Xian Dong Mountain.
We arrived just before midnight.
There were no significant changes to the outer area of Xian Dong Mountain. The Daoists attacking here weren't targeting this place specifically; the first place they would dispute would definitely be the appearance.
When we hurried to the appearance, we didn't take the usual mountain path but followed Lao Gong's guidance and walked in another direction, making our way through the woods.
I thought I was quite proficient at navigating through wild and desolate places, but I didn't realize that my parents were even more familiar with the terrain.
The duration of our journey was long because Xian Dong Mountain is quite large.
After half a night and a whole day, we arrived at the appearance of Tian Shou Daoist Temple as darkness fell again.
The appearance of the temple was in ruins, with a significant part of it having been burned and reduced to ruins and broken walls.
The ruins caused by the sword marks were mostly there.
The signs of the battle continued all the way up the mountain, where we hadn't walked before, and there were clear marks.
A large number of Daoist temples had fought all the way up to the top of Xian Dong Mountain, to the main hall of Tian Shou Daoist Temple.
Even though Tian Shou Daoist had great power, it was still only one person's might, unable to withstand the power of the masses.
However, relative to the situation, a powerful force cannot be scattered to deal with scattered sand.
Let alone that the scattered sand includes the strongest among them, Tian Shou Daoist.
We carefully observed the appearance, hiding our bodies.
My mother whispered softly, "No one."
My father nodded slightly and said, "Indeed. It seems the Daoists of Tian Shou Daoist Temple have been scared off by the battle, and the other temples have withdrawn cleanly."
We did not go inside to check the appearance. I led the way directly to the place where we were stopped by Xasala at the edge of the outer appearance.
We did not directly approach that place, maintaining a certain distance.
The open space, full of stone fragments, had been dug into a massive pit!
The edge of the pit was already near the walls of the outer appearance...
Lao Gong exclaimed in surprise and muttered, "It seems that those Daoists have still interrogated some people, but they've dug so much. They should have gone inside, but it seems they haven't been discovered yet..."
Hunching over, Lao Gong fell into deep thought.
I'm still very careful.
It's not that I'm afraid of the Daoists. In fact, in this situation, as long as it's not the Tian Shou Daoist Temple or a Taoist from Ju Qu Mountain or Yun Jin Mountain at the level of a senior elder, no one can do us any harm.
What I'm really afraid of is Xasala.
That ghost is very terrifying and hard to deal with.
I can protect myself without any danger, but my parents would probably not stand a chance against a ghost at that level.
Lao Gong quickly looked up, jumped onto my father's shoulder, and shouted, "Let's go."
The three of us walked forward, and my father's footsteps were a bit faster.
Following Lao Gong's guidance, we reached a wall of the outer appearance. The entire ground had been dug down nearly three meters deep, and a dark hole appeared under the wall. There were also many white bones here.
It's not clear how many Daoists of the outer appearance have been fed to Xasala.
"Let's go inside and take a look?"
Lao Gong proposed the idea and added, "The little lady who enjoys gnawing on bones is not here. Uncle, you don't have to be too afraid. Tian Shou Daoist will definitely take her away. If he leaves her here, other Daoists won't be able to enjoy the delicacy?"
Lao Gong's "delicacy" was not the usual kind of meat.
I somewhat calmed down and was about to lead the way, but my parents were more familiar with the terrain and directly crawled into the hole. In fact, they had even prepared headgear flashlights.
Soon, we crawled a considerable distance, at least half an hour or so, and reached the end.
The cave-in had sealed the tunnel, and there was no path forward.
A rough estimate shows that the distance is about equal to the length of Tian Shou Daoist Temple's outer appearance.
This is definitely not a tomb, nor does it lead to any place with Tian Gong Spring!
Just as a sense of disappointment surged through my mind, my dad suddenly reached out, touched a bit of the mud, and tasted it.
He pulled out a shovel from his waist and quickly began to dig.
My mother, surprisingly in sync, also started to dig the earth!
I took a step back, and my heart was racing.
Soon, a vertical hole appeared in my line of sight!
