Chapter 218: Side Hall

Li Yanchu couldn’t help but chuckle. "No, no, I’m not that detached from the world. I just wanted to act like I was."

Ding Rou fell silent at his words.

The two walked side by side into the Daoist temple hall and were immediately stunned by the grandeur of the hall. If not for the passage of countless years and the calamity it had suffered, this Daoist temple hall could easily be called a immortal's temple.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Even after a millennium had passed, stepping inside still gave the sense of what must once have been thriving incense offerings and divine presence.

In the main hall, an immortal deity was enshrined. But the enormous statue was now badly damaged, and over half of its body had collapsed into rubble. It gave off an air of bleakness and solemn tragedy.

This immortal was not unfamiliar to Li Yanchu, because every Daoist temple hall was dedicated to this same deity. It was a Land Immortal called

Immortal Ma.

It was said that someone had once witnessed a fragment of the immortal’s lingering will traverse the void, wielding divine power in broad daylight to protect the last ember of incense at Mount Jinting’s Blissful Land.

On the night the evil demons invaded, it was said that this very statue within the palace had suddenly come to life, slaying a great demon on the spot, and bestowing a trace of Dao resonance to Li Yanchu.

He still felt a deep sense of respect and reverence for this Daoist elder. He stepped forward and offered a formal bow, and Ding Rou did the same, as she too was a disciple of the Dao.

Only then did the two begin to explore the ruins of the immortal's temple.

Dust lay thick throughout the hall, but here and there, footprints could be seen, which were evidence that others had already been here.

The two searched the entire main hall carefully, and as expected, anything of value had long since been taken. Not a thing was left behind.

Just from what Li Yanchu knew, Mount Mao’s Hong Baiwei, Master Jiekong from Great Xiangguo Temple, Gongsu Peiyu of the Gongsu family, Chen Yang from the Court of Judicial Review, and the mysterious Xiao Ce had all certainly come through this place.

As for a few others, he didn’t recognize them.

Suddenly, a thought struck Li Yanchu. Before him... or rather, before anyone else crossed the river, there had been a veiled woman in white. She must have been the very first person to set foot in Mount Jinting’s immortal's temple. Thinking of that woman, Li Yanchu suddenly felt a little distracted.

“The ferryman demanded divine artifacts as payment, so what about that man holding the Soul-Summoning Bell? And I forgot to ask how that veiled woman managed to cross the river...”

As he explored the immortal's temple, these questions flashed repeatedly through his mind. This Daoist temple hall was immense in scale, part of a sprawling complex of buildings.

He and Ding Rou had entered through the main hall. After searching it, they proceeded into one of the side halls. The side hall was completely empty. It was once a sacred Daoist sanctuary, a true immortal's temple, but now, it gave off an eerie, oppressive chill.

Li Yanchu frowned slightly. The atmosphere in this side hall was extremely murky, filled with a heavy aura of death.

Ding Rou’s expression turned cold. She couldn’t help but grip her horsetail whisk tightly.

“Fellow Daoist Li... the moment I stepped into this side hall, I felt so uncomfortable. It’s like some malicious gaze filled with evil intent is watching me.”

Li Yanchu’s eyes narrowed.

Malicious gaze?

With a flicker of thought, he activated the pure yang aura of the fivefold enhanced Five-Lightning Talisman, sweeping his gaze across the side hall like a divine general, tasked with slaying demons and purging evil, inspecting the mortal realm.

His eyes brimmed with the sharp and domineering force of lightning. No evil could withstand his gaze!

And yet, he didn’t detect anything unclean or abnormal.

“This place is dangerous. Let’s leave,” Li Yanchu said in a low voice.

In situations like this, when a companion experienced that kind of feeling, it usually meant something sinister had already targeted them.

Even though Li Yanchu’s lightning-charged eyes detected nothing unusual, He still chose to retreat, rather than dismiss or question Ding Rou’s intuition.

Plop!

Just as the two of them were leaving...

Suddenly, a faint footstep echoed from the ground behind them. It was so soft it was barely audible, and even Ding Rou didn’t sense it at all.

Li Yanchu’s qi and blood surged like a blazing sun, and they were vast and mighty as towering mountains. Just standing beside Ding Rou was enough to drive away evil and demons, and they didn’t dare draw close.

Plop!

As the two were walking away, Li Yanchu once again heard that faint, cautious footstep.

"Some demonic wretch dares spy on me? Get out here!" Li Yanchu shouted thunderously, like a bolt of lightning splitting the clear sky.

The eerie footsteps came to an abrupt halt. But for someone like Li Yanchu with senses sharper than a saber, locating the source by sound alone was second nature. He turned and charged straight toward the place where the footsteps had stopped.

Divine Astral Hands! Great Unified Qi Seizing Art!

He directly yanked out a twisted, non-human creature. Its entire body was covered in Daoist talisman markings.

The creature let out a low, guttural growl, as if it were in immense pain.

Just then, Li Yanchu’s qi and blood surged violently around him. His hand radiated blistering, razor-sharp inner force.

Boom!

He instantly annihilated the inhuman monstrosity.

+1000 merit points.

Li Yanchu gave a slight nod. "Judging by the amount of merit, this thing wasn’t very strong."

He had a hunch that these creatures were probably the remnants of people who had died within this Daoist temple hall.

Lingering resentful spirits eventually turned into evil entities. Most of the demons and corpses here were probably created this way.

Just as Li Yanchu and Ding Rou were preparing to leave, he suddenly noticed that in such a huge side hall, there were no other footprints besides their own, which meant that this highly conspicuous hall was likely hiding a great treasure. Yet earlier, people like Hong Baiwei, Master Jiekong, and the rest had not come in.

Li Yanchu thought about it. These people weren’t leagues smarter than him. He possessed incredibly sharp senses, was well-versed in ancient Daoist Qi Sight, and had the keen instincts honed through years as a martial artist.

There was no way that everyone else had noticed some hidden clue, except him. That would mean he was totally blind!

He glanced at Ding Rou beside him. “Perhaps there was originally some clue in the main hall that got taken away, causing us to miss the most important hint... Or... Your terrible luck is so overwhelming that it’s suppressing my natural sensitivity to fortune and danger.”

If it were the former, he could still accept it and curse them behind their backs, then kill them when they meet.

But if the problem was Ding Rou... Li Yanchu would really need to reconsider whether it was wise to continue traveling with her.

His thoughts ran quickly, and all of these ideas flashed through his mind in just an instant. He took the lead, stepping out of the grand side hall of the immortal's temple.

But behind him, Ding Rou’s entire body began to stagger backward! In her vision, Li Yanchu’s figure grew smaller and smaller, until finally, it was like she was submerged in warm water, and all she could see was a tiny circular opening ahead.

Her entire body felt as if she were trapped in a dream, and she was unable to speak a single word.

Ding Rou’s delicate face was filled with panic. If she really were trapped here... that would truly be a fate worse than death. She would be unable to live, yet also unable to die.

Suddenly, a clean, solid, and powerful broad hand reached in.

Crack!

The endless darkness around Ding Rou shattered in an instant.

It was Li Yanchu!

Ding Rou snapped back to reality, deeply moved. “Thank you!”

Li Yanchu said nothing and just jerked his chin toward the side hall.

Meanwhile, Ding Rou turned abruptly. At a glance, she was stunned. Inside the side hall were countless corpses packed densely together. Their faces were withered, and their clothes were tattered, but the sinister demonic aura coming off their bodies was enough to send a shiver down one’s spine.

Ding Rou frowned. “Could it be... they were here in the side hall this whole time?!”

Just thinking about it made her skin crawl.