Chapter 46: Rainstorm Wild Temple 8 Part 2
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No matter what Yan Shixun asked, the man calmly provided answers.
While Yan Shixun suspected the man was hiding something, he couldn’t find any evidence. So, he continued to watch the man with suspicion, hoping to detect any subtle signs in his facial expressions.
As the two of them walked further away, the air in the hall, which had just seemed to solidify, began to flow again.
On the wall paintings, hundreds and thousands of eyes silently watched the receding figure of Yan Shixun in the darkness.
Silent and motionless…
“Do you have Yan Shixun’s contact information?”
Inside Haiyun Temple, Taoist Ma, disregarding Taoist Song and the visiting guests, pushed the door open and urgently grabbed Taoist Song’s robe, asking, “When you were on Gui Mountain, did he give you any contact information? Social media accounts, private accounts, phone numbers… anything!”
Taoist Song, whose Taoist name was Song Yi, was rarely seen so agitated by his fellow Taoist. He couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
“Why are you looking for Junior Brother Yan? Isn’t he filming a program? If you have something to discuss, you can wait until he’s done with the program to find him. Why the rush?”
Hearing the word “program,” Taoist Ma sneered and asked in return, “Do you know where that unlucky live-streaming program is taking place right now?”
“？”
“Wild Wolf Peak,” Taoist Ma calmly added, “It started raining near Wild Wolf Peak tonight, which means they went to Wild Wolf Peak on a rainy night.”
Taoist Song: “!!!”
This time, it was Taoist Song who was not composed.
He immediately sprang up from his chair, shattering the calm and profound image of the Taoist he had just presented to the guests. Without hesitation, he rushed out of the room and headed straight for his master’s quarters.
The guests: “…?”
Others may not be aware of Yan Shixun’s identity, but Taoist Song Yi certainly was.
His master is the Senior Taoist Li, a senior Taoist from Haiyun Temple. He’s one of the oldest Taoists at Haiyun Temple. Though Taoists don’t reveal their age, no one knows exactly how old Senior Taoist Li is, but Song Yi estimates he must be over a hundred years old.
Senior Taoist Li has had many disciples, and among them, the youngest one, named Li Chengyun, was the most gifted Taoist ever recorded at Haiyun Temple. In fact, their master even considered having Li Chengyun take over the management of Haiyun Temple.
But perhaps Li Chengyun’s name perfectly suited his nature because, as his name suggests, he didn’t stay in one place for too long. He traveled like a cloud, drifting to different places.
Even over the course of several decades, no one at Haiyun Temple saw Li Chengyun. Not even Senior Taoist Li.
He could only ascertain that his youngest, most favored disciple was still alive, but where he was and what he was doing remained a mystery.
‘Master!’ Taoist Song Yi exclaimed, bursting into Senior Taoist Li’s room: “Master, Junior Brother Yan went to Wild Wolf Peak!’
Before he could finish his sentence, a peach wood sword was hurled at him.
Taoist Song Yi jumped back just in time to avoid it.
The old Taoist, who had been pretending to be asleep, emerged from his room with a stern face: “It’s almost midnight, and you’re not asleep yet. Do you want to sit on the ground and cultivate immortality?”
It was only then that Taoist Song realized that, indeed, it was very late, and it was time to rest and rejuvenate.”
Like a student caught misbehaving by their teacher, Taoist Song cleared his throat nervously. Then he hastily said, “It’s not my fault, Master. It’s Junior Brother Yan’s matter. Didn’t he go on that TV show trip? Well, they are currently… on Rainy Wild Wolf Peak.”
Once he heard it clearly, the old Taoist gasped for breath. “That brat, what is Gou Dan’s disciple doing on a Rainy Wild Wolf Peak? Has he gone mad?”
“I don’t think this kid has an inherently unlucky face. Why did he go to Ghost Mountain last time and now to Rainy Wild Wolf Peak?” The old Taoist quickly grabbed his Taoist robe from the side, put it on, and headed out. “Didn’t any of you remind him not to go to Rainy Wild Wolf Peak? What kind of senior brothers are you?”
Taoist Ma replied, “I did want to remind him, but Junior Brother Yan didn’t give me the chance.”
The group huddled together and suddenly realized that none of them had Yan Shixun’s phone number. They only had his personal account, but the messages Taoist Ma sent were still marked as unread.
Under Senior Taoist Li’s deathly stare with his extremely low mood, Taoist Song attempted to call the show’s director, Zhang Wubing. However, apart from the “beep” sounds from the receiver, no one answered. They also tried calling the other crew members who had left their contact information from last time, but none of them picked up.
Seeing this, Senior Taoist Li immediately rolled up his sleeves and personally started divination, calculating one number after another until he determined Yan Shixun’s phone number.
However, when Taoist Song called it—
“The number you have dialed is currently switched off.”
At that moment, the air in the room became heavy.
Several Taoists realized that the production team was likely facing another problem.
Taoist Ma shook his head and said, “Wild Wolf Peak, and it had to be on a rainy day at Wild Wolf Peak.”
For ordinary people, Wild Wolf Peak was just a trendy spot that gained popularity in recent years due to its exceptionally clear and beautiful night sky. It attracted many camping and photography enthusiasts to visit and enjoy the natural scenery.
However, for those in the know in this circle, Wild Wolf Peak represented a heavy story. Rainy days at Wild Wolf Peak were even a place where even well-known figures would not dare to go.
All the talismans and other methods that the Taoists excelled at, such as divination and communication with spirits, were ineffective there. Even the Miaojiang shamans and spirit mediums could not contact spirits in that place.
It was a place where gods died, and Dao extinguished.
The methods of ordinary mortals should not be interfered with.
Wild Wolf Peak had initially been an unknown small mountain corner.
Although wild wolves often roamed the vicinity, causing damage to crops and taking away domestic chickens and ducks, they never harmed people easily.
The villagers enjoyed the fertility of the land and the favorable weather in the area, which resulted in bountiful harvests every year. Consequently, they never entertained the idea of moving away from Wild Wolf Peak. On the contrary, people from distant villages would hear about the good harvests and come seeking refuge in the prosperous villages nearby.
As more and more people gathered, the neighboring dozen or so villages thrived, and humans and animals lived in harmony.
It remained this way until over a decade ago when the first tree was felled, and the first shovel of soil was dug on Wild Wolf Peak.
The tranquility of WildWolf Peak was shattered.
The young people in the village were no longer content with the hardworking life of tilling the fields and were dissatisfied with the money they earned from farming. They disregarded the advice of their elders and signed contracts with wealthy bosses and big companies from outside the village. They allowed these outsiders to take away the fertile soil of Wild Wolf Peak and cut down the precious centuries-old trees.
The money obtained from the land and trees flowed endlessly into the pockets of those who initiated the deals. People from nearby villages, envious of their newfound wealth, followed suit, eagerly inviting wealthy bosses from the city to purchase the mountains behind their houses.
One by one, the old trees were chopped down, and they fell to the ground with the sound of a heavy burden being released. The red ropes and ribbons that were tied to the trees during the annual mountain god festivals were scattered on the ground, and the workers trampled them carelessly with their boots, creating a faint sound.
It was as if the old trees were lamenting and sighing before their demise.
But with money, the young could build large houses, the elderly could stop laboring, and the children could wear new clothes.
It seemed like everyone was content.
No one cared about what Wild Wolf Peak would eventually become.
Even though everyone could see it, the once lush and rolling mountains of the Wild Wolf Peak had become barren, appearing lifeless and dead.
Warnings had been issued by the elderly in the village.
“The Mountain God will be angry! The fertile land you tread on, the bountiful harvests, the peacefulness unaffected by typhoons and storms—all of these are the protection granted by the Mountain God because of your faith and respect! Every tree you cut down is like the Mountain God bleeding!”
However, the young people, dressed in fine clothes and driving luxury cars, mocked and insulted the elderly. “Old man, stop blocking the road to prosperity for others! You’ve spent your whole life in this tiny place, not knowing or understanding anything. Come on, it’s the modern age; still believing in a Mountain God? Haha! If there really is a Mountain God, let him come and fight me himself.”
The old man was trembling with anger but couldn’t stop anything.
Driven by their desire for money, the villagers paid no attention to the fact that there hadn’t been any wild wolves seen on the Wild Wolf Peak for a long time. Even at night, the forest on the peak remained eerily quiet, as if the animals that used to be seen when climbing the mountain had all vanished, no longer willing to interact with humans.
These mountain animals possessed a kind of sentience and knew that the villagers, who had once lived in harmony with them, were no longer their friends.
In the eyes of the current villagers, these creatures were merely sources of fur, meat, and money.
And then, one day, the villagers suddenly discovered that all their chickens and ducks in their courtyards were dead.
It wasn’t yet dawn, but cries of shock echoed from one household to another in the village.
All the chickens and ducks in the entire village had met a gruesome and horrifying end, with every drop of blood drained from their bodies. They lay dead in the courtyards with eyes as black as beans, fixed on the houses, following the movements of the villagers.
The villagers initially suspected that mischievous thieves from their own village were responsible for this act, but when they saw the gruesome scene, fear gripped them. Some fell to their knees and beseeched the Mountain God’s forgiveness, vowing to replant the trees they had cut down and pleading with the mountain god not to unleash further wrath.
Others, however, were undeterred and cooked the dead chickens and ducks for their meals that day. They believed it was the jealousy of neighboring villages, who envied their newfound wealth. They invited people over to feast before seeking revenge on the neighboring village.
However, these individuals never made it to their destination.
As the day broke, the villagers saw these people wandering aimlessly through the village, their eyes vacant, muttering gibberish.
The villagers promptly sent them to the village shaman.
But…
“The Mountain God has nurtured you with its own body, protected your safety and prosperity for a hundred years, and has never withheld its power. With every offering you made to the Mountain God, it transformed into rice that returned to your hands.”
The shaman’s expression was stern, filled with reprimand. “But you have ceased to revere the Mountain God, causing it to lose its strength to support itself. The once-virtuous cycle has been disrupted because of you. The Mountain God can no longer shelter you, and the deaths of those chickens and ducks are evidence of the intrusion of malevolent worship.”
The terrified villagers quickly asked the shaman to exorcise the evil spirits from the young people who had been affected.
However, just as the shaman kindled the flames and prepared to use fire to expel the evil spirits, those previously oblivious young people suddenly burst into maniacal laughter and desperately rushed into the fire. Despite the villagers’ efforts to stop them, they displayed extraordinary strength, and the fire raged uncontrollably.
The fire burned fiercely, and neither water nor the shaman’s methods could extinguish the flames.
Until the laughter of those young people grew fainter.
The fire gradually subsided, leaving nothing but blackened, charred corpses that were impossible to recognize, with their faces obscured.
The shocked villagers couldn’t regain their senses for a long time. However, as they endured nausea and attempted to handle the bodies of the young people, the charred corpses suddenly swayed and began to rise.
Slowly and clumsily, they crawled out of the remnants of the fire. Black fragments fell from their bodies with each movement, and they were completely carbonized. Then, they stretched their mouths, which had turned black from the fire, revealing pale, ghastly teeth, and smiled at the villagers.
The onlookers immediately scattered and fled.
But when they returned to check later, they found that the charred corpses had completely disappeared.
Meanwhile, the shaman had fallen to the ground, unconscious.
It was during this time that the villagers sought the help of Haiyun Temple.
As soon as the young Taoist Ma, who was still young at the time, set foot in the affected village, he nearly vomited.
“Taoist Song, you haven’t been there, so you haven’t seen the scene,” Taoist Ma said with a bitter smile in the room. “The entire village was filled with the stench of corpses. There were fragments of those charred corpses everywhere, even in the villagers’ rice jars. However, the villagers couldn’t sense anything unusual and were going about their daily lives… it was no longer a place in the human realm.”
“The Mountain God was dead,”
Taoist Ma said in a low voice.
Although Taoist Song had heard about the current situation on Wild Wolf Peak, he hadn’t visited personally over a decade ago. Now, upon hearing Taoist Ma’s description, his face changed dramatically.
Taoist Ma sighed bitterly, “In a place without the protection of the Mountain God, you know what it becomes.”
Taoist Song was well aware.
Or rather, that result was already unfolding before everyone’s eyes.
—Malevolent worship, seeking revenge and retaliation.
The forces that were previously suppressed by the Mountain God would now lash out with even greater intensity following the Mountain God’s death.
Even the Senior Taoist’s expression turned solemn.
“Wait.”
But suddenly, Taoist Ma exclaimed, “Wait a minute, something’s not right!”
Under Taoist Song’s puzzled gaze, Taoist Ma quickly brought over the tablet he had been watching the live broadcast on and placed it heavily in front of both of them, looking grave and anxious.
Taoist Song asked, “?What’s going on?”
“The guests from the TV show, they’ve just checked into the Mountain God Temple.” Taoist Ma asked in a hushed tone, “The Mountain God is dead, so where did this ‘god’ temple come from?”
“Or perhaps I should ask—whose ‘god’ temple is this?”
Hearing this, Taoist Song’s gaze fell on the tablet.
The guests in front of the warm lighting were laughing heartily.
But outside the screen, Taoist Song couldn’t help but shudder.
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