Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 288 Aren't you leaving?

The middle-aged woman who spoke had a dark complexion but a beautiful set of white teeth.

But what's most peculiar is that her face and neck have dark and rough skin, while her hands are fair, delicate, and beautiful, like the fingers of a young girl.

The ten slender fingers were even painted with a light pink nail polish. Just looking at these hands, there was a strange yet innocent allure.

The middle-aged woman's attitude was much better, and her tone was much gentler, unlike the Gu Master's aggressive manner.

But she looked at everyone with a fake smile and said, "As for what the old Living Buddha said, that everyone should join forces to block the door... it is possible, but it is very dangerous."

“Our ancestors in Zangke did try blocking the gate before, but too many people died, so they eventually had to find another way.”

"And there's something even more important: what will happen to the Ghost King's coffin once everyone enters the Ghost Realm of Wujiang?"

"What if someone with a screw loose rushes in to find the Ghost King's coffin? What will happen to the rest?"

Ghost King's Coffin...

This is a huge temptation.

Ran Qing quietly observed the reactions of everyone present; no one seemed to care about the Ghost King's Coffin.

—At least outwardly indifferent.

According to these two locals from Zangke, the villagers of Zangke do not covet the Ghost King's Coffin.

The people of Zangke, from ancient times to the present, have reached a certain balance with the ancient evil spirits of the Wujiang ghost realm, and seem to have found a way to deal with the opening of the gates of hell.

It was the turmoil twenty years ago that caused a large number of cultivators from the Central Plains to flock to Zangke to escape the disaster, and it was these cultivators from other places who sought the Ghost King's Coffin that broke a certain balance between the locals and the ghost realm of Wujiang.

If we are to join forces to deal with the ancient evil spirits, then the Demon King's Coffin is an unavoidable problem.

Just like this middle-aged aunt said, if someone enters the Wujiang Ghost Realm and suddenly changes their mind and runs in to find the Ghost King's Coffin, wouldn't this loose alliance turn into a suicide alliance?

After the middle-aged woman finished speaking, the Xiangxi corpse-driving Taoist priest finally couldn't hold back any longer.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest couldn't help but shout, "You make it sound like only outsiders like us went looking for the Ghost King's Coffin ten years ago. Didn't all you local demons and monsters rush in and have a great time looking for it too?"

The words of the corpse-driving Taoist priest enraged the Gu master with a snake wrapped around his neck.

The hot-tempered Gu Master cursed, "Ten years ago, some scoundrels went in to cause trouble, but most of us locals went in just to find the corpses of our ancestors who died there, to collect their bodies, just like you outsiders?"

The Gu Master cursed loudly, his foul dialect tumbling out incessantly.

The others in the fog remained silent, but the harsh curses made everyone present turn grim.

At this moment, a subtle opposition seemed to emerge between the local villagers and the Taoist practitioners from other places.

The thirteen dark figures beside them remained silent and stopped laughing.

But when Ran Qing glanced over out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Xiong Dacheng and his group of shadowy figures were all tilting their heads and looking in this direction, as if they were watching a monkey show.

As the atmosphere grew increasingly tense, the old man in the wheelchair finally spoke, interrupting the verbal sparring between the Gu Master and the Corpse-Driving Taoist.

He said in a clear voice, "I invited everyone here tonight to ask for your help in dealing with the disaster, not to argue or bring up old grievances."

“Blocking the Wuzhai Pass is indeed very difficult. Aunt Liu also said it would be very difficult to do—everyone has misunderstood what I meant.”

"What I mean is to seal off these red doors that are popping up everywhere in Zangke for a short period of time, so that the ghosts inside can't run around."

"We don't expect to solve this disaster, but at least we can protect ourselves in the face of it."

"Individual strength is hardly enough to withstand such natural disasters..."

Seeing that the crowd seemed to have misunderstood him, the old man spoke up to explain.

He didn't want to eliminate the disaster; he just wanted to gather the strength of the masses to protect themselves and get through this difficult time.

But as soon as he finished speaking, the people in the mist unanimously expressed their disdain. At this moment, whether they were outside cultivators or local villagers, they all unanimously rejected the old man's idea.

"……it's out of the question."

"The more people there are, the bigger the target, and the more miserable the death will be."

"Could the wisdom passed down from our ancestors really lie?"

"Old man, you're not trying to trick us into helping you find the Ghost King's Coffin, are you?"

"I came to Zangke specifically for the Ghost King's Coffin. I'm not afraid of death; if I were, I wouldn't have come to Zangke."

The people of the Mist discussed among themselves, and all expressed their refusal.

Ultimately, the old man's suggestion did not align with the thinking of most people.

Taoist priests from other places, such as those who drive corpses or sell knives, travel to Zangke and leave their homeland not only to avoid calamities, but also because they want to achieve immortality and find the coffin of the Ghost King.

As for the opening of the red gate and the influx of evil spirits into the human world?
They didn't care about these things; they were only concerned with the risks on the way to find the Ghost King's coffin.

The local villagers may not be very interested in the Ghost King's Coffin, but they are unwilling to join forces and do not trust others.

It was still that venomous snake wrapped around his neck, and the grumpy Gu master.

After swearing and cursing for a while, he stood up and said to the old man in the wheelchair.

"I thought you, an old man, had something important to say when you called my house, but it's just some trivial stuff... what a waste of my time."

"I even took the train overnight from Shunping to get here, only to hear you spouting nonsense. I'm so screwed."

The Gu Master stood up cursing and was about to walk outside, his face full of disappointment and displeasure.

And he wasn't the only one who felt this way; everyone else present felt the same way to varying degrees.

This mysterious and eerie old man was able to make precise phone calls to the home of a sorcerer, gathering so many people for a Dharma assembly.

And it seems that the old man is indeed a very powerful unorthodox Taoist practitioner.

Everyone was filled with curiosity and awe, wondering what this remarkable senior wanted to do.

But when he gathered everyone together, the thing he wanted to discuss was something so boring and impossible to achieve. Moreover, the old man's words were full of naive and laughable pedantry, not at all like those of a shrewd and experienced elder.

Everyone was filled with disappointment, feeling as if their expectations had been dashed.

After the Gu Master got up and left, the others didn't linger and also got up and left.

They were polite and even said goodbye to the elderly person in the wheelchair.

Those who are impolite will simply turn around and leave without saying another word.

Clearly, the mysterious and powerful image of the old man in the wheelchair had crumbled in everyone's minds at this moment.

After everyone had left, the thirteen dark figures at the next table burst into laughter and screams.

But before they could laugh for long, the old man in the wheelchair gently clapped his hands, and the fog in the ruins suddenly thickened.

The thick fog obscured her vision, and Ran Qing could not see the dark figures not far away, nor could she hear their voices.

In the suddenly quiet and deathly still ruins, the old man in the wheelchair weakly looked at Ran Qing.

The old man spoke calmly in a clear, childlike voice.

"You three, aren't you leaving? You're the children of the Long family, and the daughter of Sixth Sister Mo..."

The three, whose disguises were flawless, were exposed by the old man with a single sentence.

(End of this chapter)