Chapter 242: Shadow Puppets and Lamplight (8)
Because the New Year was approaching, everyone at Haiyun Temple was busy preparing for the festivities.
At the same time, Binhai University and other schools had already finished their final exams. With their schedules freed up, students joyfully set off on their holiday trips.
Binhai City had officially entered its peak winter tourism season.
As one of the most famous attractions, Haiyun Temple was teeming with visitors. Crowds surged through the temple grounds, and the mountain paths were so packed that the ground beneath was completely obscured.
Not even a light rain could dampen the tourists’ enthusiasm.
“Plop, plop!”
Cloth shoes splashed into puddles, sending droplets flying.
Taoist Ma ran all the way back to his room, finally lowering his hand that had been shielding him from the rain. He let out a breath of relief under the corridor eaves.
He turned around to look at the rain falling outside and the gloomy sky, a heaviness weighing on his chest. Something didn’t feel quite right.
Director Zhang Wubing and the others must have already left Binhai City by now, right?
They really picked a good time to leave. The sky had been perfectly clear in the morning, but by noon it had started to cloud over and rain. If they had left any later, they would have gotten caught in the downpour.
Thinking this made Taoist Ma feel a little better.
He figured that since Director Zhang and his team had such good luck right from the start, the filming of this season should go smoothly.
Surely Director Zhang wouldn’t be unlucky enough to run into danger again. The Jingang area had been quite peaceful lately, after all. It looked like things would finally go well this time.
Taoist Ma let out a heavy breath and chuckled softly.
“Taoist, don’t you know how to use lightness skill?”
A curious voice suddenly came from beside him.
Taoist Ma turned his head and saw a young man who looked like a student standing nearby, his eyes fixed on Taoist Ma’s feet.
He looked down and noticed that his cloth shoes were already soaked, the fabric darkened by the water.
No one had pointed it out before, but now that he was aware of it, Taoist Ma immediately felt uncomfortable from the cold and wetness, and his briefly uplifted mood dropped again.
Taoist Ma: “……”
“This area isn’t open to the public. Did you take a wrong turn, guest? The tourist area is up ahead.”
The young man looked like a tourist, and Taoist Ma suspected he had lost his way while trying to escape the rain. He kindly pointed him in the right direction.
However, the young man didn’t seem interested in leaving. Instead, he kept staring at Taoist Ma with a curious look that screamed, “Mom, I just saw a real-life ancient monster, come look!”
Taoist Ma was speechless, but he remained good-tempered, shook his head with a smile, and decided to let it go.
Unexpectedly, the young man was extremely persistent with his question.
“So Taoist, why didn’t you use lightness skill? Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
The young man made a zipping-his-lips gesture, and when Taoist Ma didn’t respond, he hesitantly asked, “Ah… don’t tell me… Taoist, you don’t know how?”
He visibly deflated, disappointment clear in his expression, as if thinking, “You can’t even do lightness skill? Wow, how lame.”
Taoist Ma: “!!!”
“Blessing of the Heavenly Lords!”
He couldn’t help but scold, “Exactly which Taoist have you ever seen use lightness skill?! Wake up, kid, you’ve watched too many TV dramas!”
The young man hadn’t expected this cheerful, good-natured-looking Taoist to suddenly lash out so fiercely.
He flinched and shrank back, but still stubbornly argued, “But Brother Yan can do it!”
Whatever Taoist Ma was about to say got stuck in his throat.
Well, that’s just great—comparing me to someone like that Evil Spirit Bone Transformation… But seriously, what other Taoist in the whole country could be compared to Junior Brother Yan? What a joke!
Taoist Ma muttered, “…And haven’t you ever heard him tell you all to believe in science every time?”
He thought to himself: Don’t try to fool me. Do I look like one of those reclusive Taoists who never watches the show or keeps up with the real world? I’ve personally participated in so many seasons of this show, okay?
The young man was stunned by his reply. His earlier arrogance faded and he now looked a little deflated.
“Well, I saw that Taoist surnamed Song in your temple do it too…”
He mumbled, “And that older one too…”
Taoist Ma listened as the young man began counting names on his fingers. The more he heard, the more lifeless his eyes became.
Good grief, this kid might lack emotional intelligence, but he sure had high standards—every name he mentioned belonged to top-tier talents of that generation.
Anyone from Taoist Li’s lineage, weren’t they all prodigies?
If someone like this kid, completely unaware of his own limitations, really wanted to compare himself to that generation… well, he might as well compare himself to Lu xingxing. Otherwise, he’d only be setting himself up for failure.
Taoist Ma was getting impatient. He was ready to just drag this blunt-tongued youth away when a sudden shout came from not far off.
“Taoist Ma!”
He looked up and saw another Taoist running toward him in a hurry, gasping for breath, clearly anxious.
Taoist Ma immediately straightened his expression, suspecting something serious had happened, and got ready to listen.
But what came out of the man’s mouth was: “Taoist Ma, have you seen a statue in the temple?”
As he spoke, he made gestures to describe the size and shape of the statue.
“It was a small, entirely black statue of a deity—very narrow and tiny, only about the size of a palm. It looked quite old…”
The more Taoist Ma listened, the more familiar the description seemed. He felt certain he had seen such an image somewhere before.
But when he tried to recall exactly where, he just couldn’t remember no matter how hard he tried.
“What about the statue? Why are you looking for it?”
Taoist Ma furrowed his brows. “From what you described, it doesn’t sound like a statue originally worshipped at Haiyun Temple.”
“It isn’t,”
The other taoist replied, nodding repeatedly. “It was brought by a worshipper. She didn’t know what to do with it, so she handed it to me, hoping I could help her handle it.”
“I had to travel to the southern region around that time, so I held onto the statue, but the ritual work ended up getting delayed.”
“When I returned recently, I remembered it. I didn’t want to forget again—after all, the holidays were approaching, and things would only get busier. So I figured I’d deal with the little statue right away. But unexpectedly—”
The taoist let out a sigh, his tone filled with regret. “I couldn’t find the statue anymore.”
This taoist was well-known for his expertise in geomancy and feng shui. Previously, he had traveled to a village called Family Tomb Village to alter the local feng shui so that it would no longer attract negative yin energy, but instead become more beneficial to the residents.
He had spent quite a bit of time there.
After finishing the feng shui setup, he stayed on to observe the area for a while, wanting to ensure everything was fine. Only after personally confirming the situation remained stable did he return to Haiyun Temple.
Coincidentally, the worshipper who had brought the statue in the first place also visited Haiyun Temple that day. Upon seeing the taoist, she immediately and anxiously asked whether the statue had been dealt with and what the results were.
Only then did the taoist suddenly remember the matter. He dug this memory out of his tightly packed schedule.
He hurried to the place where he remembered storing the statue—but found it had mysteriously vanished. He asked all the young acolytes nearby, but they only shook their heads in confusion. None of them had seen any such statue.
The taoist was incredibly anxious. Just then, the worshipper realized her child had also gone missing. So the taoist, forcing himself to stay calm, accompanied her to look for the child.
That was when they ran into Taoist Ma.
Suddenly, the taoist remembered—Taoist Ma had been at the temple longer than he had and was also more powerful. Perhaps he knew something.
But before Taoist Ma could say anything, the worshipper chasing behind the other taoist suddenly cried out in alarm, “What are you doing here! You can’t just wander around this area!”
Both taoists turned toward the voice and saw that the young man taking shelter from the rain under the corridor was the worshipper’s son.
The moment the young man saw the taoist, his demeanor completely changed. He no longer looked relaxed and carefree like he had in front of Taoist Ma. Instead, he seemed nervous, like a child who had done something wrong and was facing his parents. He even shrank back behind Taoist Ma.
Taoist Ma took note of this. He raised his eyebrows slightly and suddenly understood why the boy knew so many taoists from Haiyun Temple.
No wonder. He had been thinking—it wasn’t normal for an average visitor to recognize so many of Haiyun Temple’s taoists.
Even if someone had watched the variety show and knew Junior Brother Yan, Taoist Song Yi and Taoist Li weren’t easily encountered. You had to be lucky to run into them. Besides, Taoist Song Yi was now in Jingang, and Taoist Li was recovering from illness. Neither of them would be at the temple during this period.
It seemed this worshipper had already visited Haiyun Temple many times with her son.
A possibility surfaced in Taoist Ma’s mind. He frowned and asked the worshipper, “Have you been coming here repeatedly because the statue has something to do with your son?”
The taoist and the worshipper both showed expressions of surprise.
The taoist turned to look at the worshipper, clearly confused.
The worshipper, on the other hand, averted her gaze and hesitated to speak.
As for the young man who had been so casual in front of Taoist Ma earlier, he now lowered his head, stepping on one foot with the other and switching again—pretending to be doing something else, but saying nothing.
Taoist Ma’s expression grew more serious. From the looks on their faces, he could tell something wasn’t right.
Most likely, the statue the worshipper had brought to be disposed of had originally been taken home by her child. Whatever had happened frightened her so much that she didn’t dare to tell the truth—worried that if she did, the taoists wouldn’t accept it.
Taoist Ma stopped focusing on the worshipper and turned to the young man beside him. His tone became stern as he asked, “Did you bring the statue home?”
The young man flinched immediately.
Taoist Ma understood.
So it was true.
“Taoist, he really didn’t mean any harm. He’s still young, just a kid. He had no idea it would lead to such serious consequences.”
The worshipper said, flustered when she saw the imposing aura Taoist Ma exuded without needing to raise his voice. “As soon as I found out he brought the statue home, I rushed it here to the temple. I really didn’t dare delay. Please don’t scare him like that.”
The two taoists exchanged glances, realizing that the issue might be far more serious than they thought.
After all, the statue had gone missing inside Haiyun Temple. If none of the temple’s staff had touched it, then either someone from outside had stolen it—or the statue itself had become sentient and left on its own.
Some statues, when worshipped for long enough, could indeed accumulate spiritual energy and develop a kind of consciousness.
Even though the Great Dao had collapsed and the gods had long vanished, the residual power in some statues remained, albeit weak. For something as simple as moving locations, a statue with a trace of vitality could still manage it.
This was why, in some homes that worshipped deities or Buddhas, people would often find that objects on the temple had shifted or gone missing.
—There were still many realms beyond science waiting to be explored and understood.
And since the worshipper had returned to Haiyun Temple multiple times inquiring about the statue, it was clear she believed it could bring misfortune—or even harm her child.
So, where exactly had this statue been taken from?
Taoist Ma cast a deep, intense look at the young man.
Unlike the stern and unsmiling Taoist Song Yi, Taoist Ma was known for being friendly and easygoing. But when he became serious, his presence was far more intimidating.
The young man lowered his head further and soon found it impossible to resist the pressure from Taoist Ma’s piercing gaze. He gave in.
“I… I was just traveling with some classmates when I saw the thing. I thought it looked valuable, so I took it.”
His voice was as soft as a mosquito’s. If Taoist Ma hadn’t been a cultivator with sharp hearing, he might not have caught it at all.
“But I didn’t know… I didn’t know something like that would happen afterward.”
As he recalled the events that followed, the young man’s face showed genuine fear and revulsion.
After getting the first sentence out, the rest came more easily.
Seeing her son had confessed and feeling nervous about the missing statue, the worshipper gritted her teeth and decided to come clean.
About half a year ago, the young man and several classmates went on a trip. Because they didn’t have much money, they agreed to visit places that didn’t charge admission—hiking mountains and checking out local landmarks like stone Buddha statues.
They went to the southwest region and, after climbing down a wild mountain without entry fees, they came across an abandoned village.
Halfway up the hill behind the village was a crumbling and long-forgotten temple.
The roof had collapsed, bricks were scattered everywhere, and moss and weeds covered the faded red pillars.
Young and fearless, they sought excitement and weren’t scared of anything. Someone immediately suggested exploring the temple, thinking they might find some silver or gold relics.
Even if they found nothing, it would still be fun.
After clearing away the pile of collapsed bricks, the first thing they saw was a weathered skeleton.
No one knew how long the corpse had been there. All the flesh was gone, leaving only skin tightly stretched over the bones, darkened to a sauce-like color by wind and rain.
Yet in the skeletal arms and beneath its body, something was being tightly protected.
The hollow eye sockets of the skeleton stared at them, wild grass sprouting from the sockets, swaying gently in the wind—strange and unnerving.
Although the group was clearly frightened, they forced themselves to hold it together, unwilling to show fear in front of their friends. They wanted to appear brave and fearless.
Moreover, they were genuinely curious about what the skeleton had been guarding beneath it. Judging by the setup, it looked like something valuable. So, they mustered their courage, dragged the skeleton out of the temple, and revealed what had been hidden beneath it.
At first, they were stunned. Then they broke out into excited, joyful shouting.
To their surprise, their wild guess had actually hit the mark!
—They had uncovered offerings and ritual vessels once used in the temple.
Although some were already buried in soil and covered in grime, traces of gold and silver could still be seen along the edges.
They laughed and joked as they rummaged through the ruins. Even if it wasn’t for money, the thrill of this treasure-hunting game was enough to excite them.
The young man was among them too.
But he didn’t touch the ritual vessels. Instead, he was drawn to a small statue buried in the ruins.
When he saw the statue, it had been half-buried in the dirt, only the head sticking out. Its dark surface almost blended perfectly with the soil.
Yet the statue’s face was fierce and sharp, exuding an ancient, eerie sense of mystery. It matched the young man’s idea of what looked “cool,” and he was utterly captivated.
He dug out the statue, took it home, and left it forgotten in his backpack. The entire school holiday, he was immersed in video games and barely remembered the thing.
But when school started again, he was dumbfounded.
—Other people told him that several students from school had died.
One by one, he identified them, and to his horror, discovered that every single one of them had been part of the group that had gone on that trip with him.
Without exception.
The one who took the golden candlestick fell down the stairs and was impaled through the throat by a mop handle left in the hallway by a neighbor. When he died, his eyes were wide open in terror.
The funeral home staff struggled for a long time before they barely managed to close his eyes.
The one who took the golden cauldron was killed by a flowerpot that fell from the sky. His brains were splattered all over the ground, red and white fluids flowing through the cracks in the pavement. The person who threw the flowerpot from above had still not been caught.
His entire head was crushed, completely beyond repair above the neck. His traditionally-minded family almost fainted from grief. In the end, they had no choice but to ask a carpenter to carve a wooden head to place on the body, hoping to send him off in one piece.
But on the night of the wake, the family stayed by the coffin all night in the farewell hall. By morning, the wooden head had mysteriously vanished. Inside the coffin was only a headless corpse.
The head was later found in a water vat.
It had been placed there neatly, with a peaceful expression and a faint smile on its face.
The one who took the silver wine jug drowned in his own bowl of rice while eating.
His mother had only stepped into the kitchen to get another dish. When she returned, she found her son’s face buried in the bowl, unmoving.
There was only rice in the bowl, and rice grains clung to his face, yet somehow his nose, lungs, and stomach were all filled with water.
Because the cause of death was so unusual, a forensic autopsy was performed. The coroner discovered that the water in his lungs contained plankton species that could only survive in a lake environment.
He hadn’t drowned in tap water from the house.
He had drowned in lake water from an unknown source.
All the families were devastated by grief, but none of the students had informed their parents about the trip. They had gone on the trip right after leaving school for vacation and only returned afterward, so their parents knew nothing about it—not where they had gone or what they had done.
Because it was the holidays, the parents didn’t contact their children’s classmates about the funerals. They only informed local friends.
So it wasn’t until school started that the young man suddenly realized—
He was the only one…
The only survivor from that trip.
Panic-stricken, he rushed home and desperately began searching for the statue he had brought back.
His mother had no idea what was going on. She kept talking about the call she’d received from his counselor, lamenting how tragic those other kids’ deaths were, and repeatedly reminding her son to stay safe.
The young man stood frozen in his bedroom, too terrified to move. It was as if his room had turned into a gloomy morgue. The air-conditioning blasted with a chill, and even the light seemed to dim instantly. Though it was over thirty degrees in the heat of summer, he felt as though he’d been turned to ice—his whole body frozen, his spine icy cold.
That statue he had forgotten inside his backpack…
Had somehow ended up on his desk.
The statue was pitch black, still caked with unwashed dirt on its surface, making it look ancient.
But that only made it seem more ominous and sinister.
The young man had no idea which god or deity the statue depicted.
But even with his shallow understanding of traditional theology, he knew that gods and deities were supposed to be kind and benevolent. Even if they wore angry expressions, there should still be a sense of righteousness.
But this statue had none of that.
Its dirt-covered face was full of sharp, severe lines. Though its features were carved with a blade, they looked even sharper than any knife—so sharp that just one glance was enough to send a chill through anyone.
The young man screamed in fear, his mind blank, his vision filled only with the statue’s black face.
His mother, startled by the scream, came rushing in.
In a panic, the young man burst into tears and told his mother everything.
She was shocked, but soon a sense of relief and gratitude washed over her.
Even though she knew it was wrong, she was just glad that the ones who died weren’t her own child.
The way the others had died left her shaken and anxious. In the end, she decided to get rid of this cursed thing by handing it over to a Taoist temple.
That way, even if the statue did bring disaster, the ones affected would be the Taoists—not her son.
All she wanted was for her son to live. As for whether others lived or died, she didn’t care.
Besides, hadn’t people said Haiyun Temple was powerful? Those Taoists—if they were truly Taoists—should be protecting ordinary people like them, right?
Wasn’t it said that with great power comes great responsibility? She and her son were just pitiful, powerless common folk. The Taoists should help them. Even if it cost the Taoists their lives, that would be only fair.
After all, weren’t they the great Taoists from Haiyun Temple?
Thinking this, she brought her son to Haiyun Temple.
Because she feared that Haiyun Temple might refuse to accept the statue after learning the truth, the mother only claimed that the statue was an heirloom from their ancestral home, something the elders used to worship.
Now that the elders were gone, and they didn’t know what the statue was, nor did they wish to keep worshiping it, they worried something might go wrong. So, they returned it to the temple, hoping the temple would handle it for them.
The Taoist entrusted by the mother happened to be in a hurry to go out and save someone at the time.
After hearing the general story, he didn’t think too much of it and didn’t examine the statue carefully—he simply accepted it in a rush.
He even comforted the mother and son, telling them not to worry, and that whatever the issue was, he’d resolve it once he returned.
Since then, the taoist had been running around outside, caught up in matters at Family Tomb Village. He had only now returned and remembered the statue he had forgotten.
What he hadn’t expected was that this mother and son would, under the furious glare of Taoist Ma, reveal such a terrifying and horrifying truth.
“You, you, you…”
The taoist’s hand trembled as he pointed at the mother, his lips quivering violently. He couldn’t manage to get a word out for a long time.
He had never imagined that this pair—who had seemed so pitiful and helpless, in need of assistance—could actually be like this!
“Taoist, don’t blame the child! He’s still young. What does he know?”
Tears streamed down the mother’s face as she cried, “It’s all because of that stupid broken temple! It was torn down, and no one was managing those things. Of course my child thought it was just some discarded junk. He thought it looked cool and picked it up—what’s the harm in reusing something, or doing a good deed?”
The taoist was so enraged he nearly fainted, but his good upbringing kept him from lashing out. His chest heaved, and his whole body trembled as though he might pass out.
That had been a temple! A temple in a remote village in the southwest!
The taoist could barely stop himself from swearing.
The deeper you went into the mountains, the less influence science had, and the more the divine lingered.
The people there truly believed in deities, and they worshiped them devoutly. So even though the Dao was waning nowadays, those old temple statues that had received incense offerings year after year still retained some spiritual power.
Under those circumstances, if a village had been abandoned and even the statues in the temple hadn’t been properly moved to a new site, with gold and silver vessels left behind—well, it was easy to imagine something serious had happened. Something so dire that even the devout villagers had no time to attend to the temple.
Even in such disrepair and ruin, it was still a temple!
To snatch something away from a deity, to even remove the statue without reverence from its place of worship—any spiritual presence, no matter how mild-tempered, would be enraged.
And even worse, no one even knew what kind of statue it was.
If it had been a righteous deity, that would be easier to manage.
Like the official in charge, even when angry, righteous deities operated within limits. There would be a method to appease them. You could offer incense and name a few of Haiyun Temple’s ancestors—perhaps one of them had a past connection with the deity, and the offense might be forgiven for that reason.
But if it wasn’t…
Just the thought made the taoist’s heart go cold.
Fortunately, Taoist Ma had frequent dealings with Zhang Wubing’s variety show crew and had lots of experience with these bizarre and dangerous incidents. So after the initial shock, he quickly composed himself and regained his calm.
Taoist Ma frowned and asked the young man: “Everyone else took gold and silver. Why did you take the statue instead?”
The young man responded sulkily, “I thought the statue looked pretty punk—cool, dark, really unique. So… I brought it back as a decoration.”
Taoist Ma: “……”
Now that was truly punk in the name of Blessing of the Heavenly Lords!
The taoist beside him awkwardly pulled out his phone and started searching, “What is punk?”
Taoist Ma explained, “It’s the ‘peng’ from ‘friends’ and the ‘ke’ from ‘nemesis’… Just think of it as the new aesthetic kids have these days.”
Note: peng and ke are Chinese characters from words like friends and nemesis in Chinese.
The taoist: “Oh, oh, oh. Fellow Taoist Ma often works with them, huh? You’ve really immersed yourself in youth culture. Impressive.”
Taoist Ma glanced speechlessly at the mother and son huddled together in fear. “You really are a nemesis of friends. Guess that’s punk in its own way.”
The young man blinked, confused. “Huh?”
Taoist Ma shook his head. He didn’t even know where to begin with this kid.
“Even if you don’t believe in ghosts and gods, you should still keep a respectful distance—for your own safety at the very least. Don’t just grab anything without a hint of reverence.”
Taoist Ma sighed. “If you had spoken up earlier, if this had been discovered sooner, maybe your friends could still have been saved… But you waited until it was your turn to say anything. No, actually, if we hadn’t noticed something was wrong, you wouldn’t have said a word.”
The taoist had also gotten lucky.
Had he not been preoccupied with the situation at Family Tomb Village, he would have already dealt with that statue.
But unaware of the statue’s true origins—blinded by the mother’s lie—he would have simply gone through the standard ritual, treating it like any other offering.
The problem was, judging by how those others had died, that statue… was evil.
If the taoist had performed the ritual without proper precautions, he might have been consumed by the statue and died on the spot.
Thinking this through, it seemed that Family Tomb Village Village had actually helped the taoist narrowly escape death.
Cold sweat broke out on the taoist’s back. Even with his mild temperament, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger.
“You really… you were trying to get me killed.”
The taoist shook his head and muttered to Taoist Ma: “If I get the chance, I must meet Taoist Yan. He truly saved my life.”
Taoist Ma turned to the young man and held out his hand, signaling for something. “You said the statue looked cool, right? Then you must’ve taken some photos to share. Otherwise, who are you being cool for? Where are the photos? Give them to me.”
The young man looked nervous and hesitant, dragging his feet, clearly reluctant.
The worshipper couldn’t help stepping in to defend her child. “Taoist, if there’s an issue, talk to me. He’s still a child. This whole thing already scared him terribly. Please don’t frighten him more…”
“He’s twenty-one this year.”
Taoist Ma sneered. With just a glance and a quick calculation, he said, “Already an adult. What do you mean ‘just a child’? When I was his age, I was already dealing with charred corpses on Wild Wolf Peak. Evil spirits didn’t say, ‘Oh, you’re just a child,’ and spare me.”
“If it had been anything else, it might not have been such a big deal. But your so-called child—he chose to take the statue.”
Taoist Ma’s voice was icy cold, with not a trace of a smile on his face. It was intimidating to behold.
“You, a worshipper—why don’t you go ask the families of those kids who died? See if their children were scared?”
Taoist Ma stared at the mother, his voice squeezed through clenched teeth. “If only you had spoken up sooner, noticed something wrong sooner, said something sooner—maybe, just maybe, at least one life could’ve been saved.”
The worshipper had visited Haiyun Temple several times, and every time she saw the Taoists, they all had smiling faces. Over time, she genuinely believed that all Taoists were easygoing. She never expected to encounter someone with the temperament of Taoist Ma this time.
For a moment, she was frightened by Taoist Ma’s stern words and stood there in silence.
Seeing his mother not stepping in to defend him, the young man instantly lost his confidence. He obediently took out his phone and handed it to Taoist Ma.
“I-I did take a few photos and posted them on my social media account.”
Now that the deity statue had mysteriously vanished, Taoist Ma had no choice but to rely on the photos taken earlier to confirm which deity the statue had depicted.
But after opening the photos and examining them for a long time, Taoist Ma’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper, his expression growing darker.
The carving of the statue had been incredibly sharp and precise. Though the statue was only about a hand tall and covered in dirt, it still gleamed with a jet-black luster. The finely carved folds in the robes and strings of beads could still be seen clearly underneath the soil. Every detail had been handled with care, a testament to the masterful skill of an experienced craftsman.
Yet, despite all the exquisite detailing, the entire statue lacked a single smooth or rounded line.
Especially in the statue’s form and facial features—all the lines were straight up and down, as if the artisan had carved them in a fit of rage, pressing down with heavy force. This only made the statue appear even more intimidating, instilling fear and dread in anyone who looked at it.
“This material…”
The taoist came over for a look, tilting his head in deep thought. He had a feeling that he could recognize the material the statue was made from.
Unlike Taoist Ma, who specialized in formation techniques, this taoist was an expert in feng shui and geomancy. Wealthy merchants and powerful elites often sought him out to create talismans to suppress evil or to rearrange the feng shui of their homes.
After thinking for a while, the taoist suddenly realized something, his voice rising in surprise: “Ebony!”
“It’s ebony wood that can suppress all evil spirits!”
He momentarily forgot everything else, quickly stepped forward, and snatched the phone from Taoist Ma’s hands to zoom in and examine the photos closely.
“That’s definitely it. If that’s the case, then it makes sense why the statue was made this way.”
The taoist pointed things out to Taoist Ma one by one. “Scale armor carved on the limbs, a sword held in hand, an angry gaze, a dragon at the waist—and with those sharp lines and the material being ebony wood… this is a warding object!”
Taoist Ma slowly started to realize the truth as well.
What kind of family would commission such a fierce-looking deity statue for regular worship?
If it wasn’t because the artisan held a grudge against the client, then the only explanation was that the area where this statue had been placed had been plagued by malevolent spirits in the past. Thus, such a fierce form and powerful material had been used to suppress the evil, in hopes of restoring peace to the place.
Realizing this, Taoist Ma finally understood why, out of all the young man’s friends, only he had survived—while the others had all died tragically.
—The young man had taken away the warding statue, so the evil that had been suppressed was now lashing back.
Those friends who had held sacrificial vessels still tainted with ghostly energy had become the first targets.
Although Taoist Ma didn’t know exactly what kind of entity the statue had originally been suppressing, nor the specific events that had occurred there, he was well aware of one thing: once a warding item left its designated place, it not only threw the area into chaos, but the item’s power itself would gradually weaken after being removed from the context of its purpose.
In the end, not only would the local spirits rise and wreak havoc, but the warding item itself would also be subjected to backlash and revenge.
And when that time came, the young man who held the ebony statue would face a fate far more terrifying and gruesome than all his friends combined.
“What a friends nemesis.”
Taoist Ma said, shaking his head in dismay.
Upon hearing the full truth, the mother broke down. She rushed forward and began pounding her fists on Taoist Ma, crying out, “What nonsense are you spouting! Don’t you dare curse my son! Nothing is going to happen to him, don’t speak such rubbish!”
The taoist quickly pulled the mother away. Taoist Ma’s brow twitched, but seeing how worried she was for her son, he said nothing further.
He sternly asked the young man, “Where exactly did you go back then? What mountain was the temple on? What village?”
The young man, startled by the chaotic scene and his mother’s wailing, was completely flustered. His teeth chattered uncontrollably, and after a long pause, he forced himself to speak: “I don’t remember exactly… just that it was somewhere in the southwest region.”
“We’re students. We didn’t have money, so we didn’t go to any official tourist spots. We climbed a wild mountain. I remember where we started climbing, but after we crossed the mountain, I don’t know where we came down from.”
Under Taoist Ma’s piercing glare, the young man struggled to recall.
Choking back tears, he said, “Besides the mountain, I remember there was a lake. The lake had a really unique shape—round on the outside, with an island in the middle that looked like a square-shaped hole had been cut out. That’s why it stuck in my memory.”
Taoist Ma’s deeply furrowed brow slowly began to relax.
Suddenly realizing something, he turned and looked at the other taoist.
That taoist seemed to recall something as well and blurted out in shock, “Baizhi Lake?”
There were many stories about how Baizhi Lake got its name.
Some said it was because everyone who had lived near the lake had died, and the paper offerings scattered in mourning had covered the lake’s surface like a white sheet.
Others said the name came from the shape of the lake itself, which resembled ceremonial joss paper.
Based on the young man’s description and the location—both Taoists could only think of one possibility: Baizhi Lake.
“You have to save my son, Taoists! I’m begging you—if anything happens to my boy, it’ll be on your hands! You’ll be murderers!”
The mother wailed as she pointed at the two Taoists, pleading and cursing at the same time.
The young man couldn’t hold back anymore—he rushed over to hug his mother, crying, “Mom! Mom, I won’t die, right? I don’t want to die, waaah!”
Mother and son clung to each other, sobbing bitterly.
Their cries were so loud that many other Taoists and young acolytes came over to see what was happening.
After all, this area wasn’t part of the front section open to tourists for sightseeing and incense burning. Many Taoists practiced and studied here in quiet retreat, and it was rarely this noisy.
So when people heard the commotion, they naturally came to check it out.
The crying gave Taoist Ma such a headache that his temples throbbed. He couldn’t help raising a hand to rub them, while his mind drifted back to the issue at Baizhi Lake.
He thought to himself, Thank goodness Director Zhang Wubing and the others went to Jingang instead this time. At least they avoided a disaster—that’s a silver lining in this mess.
Taoist Ma quickly calculated that he needed to head to Baizhi Lake immediately. After all, they didn’t know what the situation was over there. The longer they delayed, the more likely something would go wrong.
The toist next to him quickly said, “I’ll go with you.”
“No need. You stay here and look after the mother and son. Make sure nothing happens to them.”
Taoist Ma let out a sigh. “I’ll inform the official in charge first. If anything happens, he can find someone else. After all, Director Zhang and the crew are still filming outside. Even if Jingang is safe, we still need to be cautious.”
Just as Taoist Ma finished sending a message to the official contact, another voice rang out from nearby—Taoist Wang’s.
“Taoist Ma, don’t tell me you’re a scumbag?”
Taoist Ma: “…?”
He turned toward the voice, utterly confused, only to find Taoist Wang looking even more shocked than him.
Taoist Wang pointed at the mother and son sobbing miserably and asked, horrified, “Are they… yours?”
Taoist Ma’s expression went dead. “Can you please have a normal thought in your head? I’m single! Single! Single! Been single since the day I was born!”
Everyone nearby: “Ah…”
Alright then, Taoist Ma. We hear you. You really didn’t need to shout it. Now we all know you’re single.
Some even looked at him with sympathy: Poor Taoist Ma… in order to clear his name, he even ripped open an old wound. A lifetime of being single… truly tragic.
Taoist Wang finally withdrew his hand and apologized awkwardly. “Sigh, why can’t you guys be more like Junior Brother Yan and get yourselves a wife, huh? Look at the lot of you—all single. It just pisses me off!”
Taoist Ma rolled his eyes so hard they almost turned over. He was just about to fire back when the familiar topic of conversation triggered a memory.
…He remembered talking to Taoist Song Yi about Junior Brother Yan getting married.
At the time, he and Taoist Song had been standing outside a guest room. Through the glass, he had vaguely seen a pitch-black deity statue inside the room.
The expression on Taoist Ma’s face slowly faded into seriousness.
He realized that the statue he’d seen before was the same one that the pilgrim had secretly brought—and it was also the lost guardian relic of Baizhi Lake.
Just then, his phone buzzed with a reply from the official contact.
[Taoist Ma, what are you talking about? Director Zhang and Mr. Yan didn’t go to Jingang. That was the original plan, but Director Zhang changed his mind—they went to Baizhi Lake instead, to check out the shadow puppetry there.]
Baizhi Lake!
Taoist Ma’s heart sank like a stone dropping into an icy lake.
Baizhi Lake, without its guardian relic… and on top of that, someone as catastrophically unlucky as Director Zhang…
Only two words remained in Taoist Ma’s mind.
It’s over.
“Taoist Ma? Taoist Ma?”
Taoist Wang walked over, puzzled, his eyes naturally falling on the phone in Taoist Ma’s hand.
That statue looked… familiar.
Taoist Wang frowned, thinking it over.
But before he could get a good look, Taoist Ma grabbed him and started running.
“You’re not busy, right? Good! Let’s go to Baizhi Lake!”
Taoist Ma kicked off and leapt onto the rooftop, dragging Taoist Wang along as they dashed down the mountain across the rooftops at top speed.
The young man who witnessed all of this: …Lightness skill?
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