Chapter 2 The Letter's Secret

The second page of the letter read:

The road to Tiewa Temple is fraught with peril, with ghosts and gods obstructing the way at every turn. To make things easier for myself, I have sent these ghosts and gods to the Hall Master, requesting your assistance in their transcendence.

Hall Master Li, much obliged! But with great power comes great responsibility!

As soon as I finished reading the letter, both pages burst into flames.

In the instant the foot-high flames erupted before me, the tips of the two flames, like steel needles, simultaneously pierced towards my eyes.

The flames were too close. There wasn't enough time to pull away. Immediately, I spat out a stream of true qi from my mouth.

I used the Jianghu (martial world) life-saving technique "tongue-tip arrow." The true qi I expelled wasn't strong, but it was enough to disperse the flames in front of me.

As the two balls of fire were extinguished, the white candles on the table also went out.

The room instantly became pitch black.

I could clearly sense the presence of a third person in the room. The figure was sitting on the bed, watching Lin Zhao and me.

The older generation often said: knock before entering a home late at night, to see if someone turns on the light.

Old houses usually didn't have porch lights, and you had to feel your way in the dark. But if you felt someone was inside, you had to turn on the light.

It's a warning that if you suddenly feel someone in the house at night, it might not be your imagination.

There really is someone in the house.

Without turning on the light, they can see you, but you can't see them.

They're playing hide-and-seek with you, maybe just trying to scare you.

But if you turn on the light and actually see someone, it's not hide-and-seek anymore. It means they want to talk to you about something.

If you encounter such a situation, it's best to retreat from the house, back to the door, without running away.

If you run, they'll chase you.

You can only wait at the door until you calm down before going back inside.

By then, most of the time, the person in the house will be gone.

If they let you retreat, it means they don't intend to take your life.

But if you can't retreat, or the door won't open...

Then feel your way onto the bed and go to sleep! Just walk as you normally would.

If you bump into something, don't cry out in pain. Just keep going as you were.

Even if you reach out and touch a head, bump into a body, or even grab someone's hand...

You have to pretend you don't know anything. Don't scream, and don't turn around and run.

As long as you hold your breath, you have a chance to live. Once that breath is gone, the dead person hiding in your house will strike.

As soon as I felt another person in the room, I held my breath.

The person sitting on the bed then spoke, "It's time. I can take you away now."

Before the words finished, my Soul-Chasing Chain shot out.

A moment later, I heard the sound of the Soul-Chasing Chain piercing through the headboard.

The extinguished candles suddenly flared up with green fire, instantly plunging half the room into bizarre light and shadows.

Then I saw that my Soul-Chasing Chain had pierced through the soul sitting on the bed.

The eerie fire erupting from the chain was dazzling, but it couldn't harm the soul in the slightest.

My gaze darkened, but the figure chuckled, "You can't kill me. No术士(shùshì, Daoist sorcerer) in the world can kill me."

"I told you, there is a time for birth and a place for death. You're just on my Death Summons List now."

"When you reach a specific time and place, that's when I'll take you away."

"See you next time!"

With a cold laugh, the ghost's figure became increasingly faint, finally disappearing from my sight.

I said in a deep voice, "Tell Ye Yang to set off with Feng Ruohang with the tour group. We'll go find that old pipe."

Soon after Lin Zhao sent the signal, I followed the signal from the Tracking Gu and raced towards the mountain behind the hotel.

Lin Zhao, keeping pace with me, asked, "Li Po, why did you chase after it? Shouldn't we be going with Ye Yang?"

"We've been tricked!" I replied quickly, "That invisible old pipe deliberately wants to drag us into exploring Tiewa Temple. Following Ye Yang is walking the pilgrimage route of Tiewa Temple."

"We won't get any clues, and we'll only fall into danger. Following the invisible one might lead us down a different path."

"But we can't give up on either side because the invisible one doesn't even know if their path is viable."

Lin Zhao was stunned. "How do you know all this?"

I looked at Lin Zhao helplessly. "Little Milk Dog, with so many people in our Liangjie Hall (Two Realms Hall), why do you have to emulate that Cold Dog? You can clearly analyze things yourself, but as long as I'm around, you don't use your brain. You just open your mouth and ask me."

Lin Zhao first took a step back, judging that I couldn't flick her forehead, and then laughed, "If there's an easy way, why should I think for myself? It's so much faster to have you explain it."

"You're basically copying answers during an exam." I knew that if I didn't tell Lin Zhao, she definitely wouldn't think about it and would just follow me. Ye Yang had spoiled her.

Why am I so miserable?

I gathered a group of experts, but each has their own way of being lazy.

Wang Butcher can cook, but she doesn't. I have to do it.

Ye Yang and Lin Zhao are both smart, but they don't want to think about anything. I have to do it.

Wang Xiaohuan likes cats, but she doesn't pick one herself. She just hooks up with Ye Yang's cat.

Feng Ruohang's swordsmanship is unparalleled. He commanded a Yang Jian Jie Ming Ren (Yang Jian Life Borrowers) team of over a hundred back in the day, but when he came to Liangjie Hall, he didn't even glance at the Iron Guards under his command.

The most hateful one is Xiao Kui. She doesn't even wash her own socks. She throws them next to someone's pillow, and whoever's pillow they land on has to wash them. And she always seems to like my pillow the best.

Why am I so miserable!