Uncle Nine: You were supposed to drive corpses, so you summoned the Monkey King!

Father Wu knelt before the six-pointed star diagram, holding the silver cross in both hands, and muttered "God" and "forgiveness."

Lin Chen couldn't be bothered to watch his behavior.

The mess created by the foreigners is beyond their ability to clean up, and now they're scared.

Lin Chen sheathed the lightning-struck wooden sword back into its scabbard on his back, turned around, and stepped onto the stone steps.

"Lin Chen, you're leaving already?"

Master Four Eyes slung his greatsword over his shoulder, glanced back at Father Wu kneeling on the ground, and said, "Should we just leave this old foreigner and those two young men up there?"

"We can't control it. That Western zombie just woke up, was seriously injured, and only drank one person's blood. It's probably hiding in some dark corner where it can't see the light of day to digest its blood." Lin Chen walked up the steps. "Jiuquan Town is so big, where are we going to look for it in the middle of the night? Let's wait until dawn."

Master Four Eyes spat and followed Lin Chen into the main hall.

Lin Chen pushed open the half-closed church door and stepped into the night.

Back at the inn.

He slammed the fifty-pound Crimson Flame Copper Greatsword onto the table, pulled over a long bench and sat down. The Four-Eyed Taoist was seething with anger, both because of the Western zombies and because of that scoundrel who slayed the dragon.

"Damn it, this perfectly good town has been turned into a smoky mess by these opium smugglers and foreign monks." Master Four Eyes poured himself a bowl of cold tea and gulped it down. "If you ask me, we should have followed the smell and found that bastard Tu Long, and chopped him down with one sword."

Lin Chen sat on the edge of the bed and took off his outer coat.

"Master, killing Tu Long is easy, but the shipment he has is the real problem. Since Mayor Ye and his son sponsored the church renovation, they're after that hidden basement," Lin Chen said. "Once Tu Long delivers the goods tonight, the Ye family will never dare to leave so much opium in the distillery. Tomorrow morning, they'll definitely use the church renovation as an excuse to move all the goods into the basement."

Master Four Eyes understood: "You mean, send Tu Long and the Ye family father and son to investigate that Western zombie?"

"When dogs fight, they get all messy." Lin Chen nodded.

"That monster is afraid of light and will never come out during the day. It's probably hiding in a deeper tomb or a hidden compartment, hanging upside down. If Tu Long takes people to move the goods into the basement, the yin energy will hit them and they'll be badly injured, if not killed. We can save our energy and go collect their corpses."

Master Four Eyes slapped his thigh: "Great! We'll do it your way. Let these bastards who make money off the foreigners meet the living Yama of the foreigners."

Lin Chen sat cross-legged on the bed, going over the details of their earlier fight in his mind.

Western vampires have very tough skin and flesh; a typical Maoshan punch can break their bones, and their self-healing speed is extremely fast.

The righteous energy of lightning striking the wooden sword can burn through its skin. This thing is afraid of lightning and fire. The corpse-suppressing talisman is ineffective because there is no corpse energy inside it.

Since it is a foreign evil spirit, it must be countered with the methods of Maoshan.

The next morning.

The market in Jiuquan Town was bustling with activity early on.

After washing up, Lin Chen left the inn without waking the snoring Daoist Simu.

Lin Chen first went to the market and spent two copper coins to buy two large bunches of purple-skinned single-clove garlic. This stuff has a strong yang energy and is pungent and spicy. Both foreign zombies and earth zombies are sensitive to this pungent smell.

Carrying the garlic, Lin Chen went into a blacksmith shop at the west end of town.

The blacksmith, shirtless, was forging iron when Lin Chen entered. He stopped hammering and asked, "Sir, would you like some farm tools made or pots repaired?"

"Could I borrow a stove?"

Lin Chen took out two silver dollars from his pocket and slapped them on the anvil, then took out a small handful of loose silver. "Borrow the bellows and hammer while I'm at it."

The blacksmith owner saw the silver dollar and gave up his spot.

Lin Chen threw the broken silver into the crucible and started the bellows.

The furnace fire glowed red-hot, and the silver ingot melted into liquid. Lin Chen displayed his proficient level of Maoshan weapon-refining technique.

Lin Chen used tongs to hold the crucible and poured the molten silver into two slender molds. After the silver bars solidified, Lin Chen picked up a hammer and began to pound them.

The clanging sound of blacksmithing echoed through the shop.

Lin Chen was strong. With each hammer blow, he cleared away the impurities from the silver bar and hammered his own magic power into the silver. Half an hour later, two pure silver cones, each half a foot long and as thick as a little finger, were formed.

The tip of the cone was polished very thin, and Lin Chen used a carving knife to carve a circle of Maoshan exorcising talisman array patterns on the cone.

The final step is quenching.

With a hiss, the silver cone plunged into the cold water, and white smoke rose from the surface.

Lin Chen took out the silver cone.

The originally soft pure silver became harder than refined steel under the enhancement of weapon-refining techniques and magic power, and a layer of light golden yang energy flowed on its silvery-white surface.

Combining Chinese and Western techniques, this method is specifically designed to combat Western vampires.

Lin Chen carefully put the two silver cones away from his body, then crushed the two cloves of garlic, squeezed out the juice, and smeared it on the blade of the lightning-struck wooden sword.

After finishing these tasks, Lin Chen returned to the inn. Daoist Simu was awake and sitting in the lobby on the first floor eating meat buns.

"Ready?" Master Four Eyes watched Lin Chen sit down and pushed a basket of steamed buns over to him.

"All done." Lin Chen picked up a steamed bun and took a bite. "Let's go have tea across from the church later."

At midday, the sun was blazing.

The second floor of the teahouse next to the Western-style clock tower in the center of Jiuquan town.

Lin Chen and Daoist Simu sat at a square table by the window, on which sat a pot of coarse tea and several dishes of peanuts. From this vantage point, they could see the church's main entrance and steps.

The church doors were open.

Father Wu stood by the threshold, his eyes sunken. John's death had spurred him on. He stood there directing two other monks to clean up the broken glass in the main hall.

Not long after, a group of people walked out from the end of the main street.

Ye Dawei walked at the front, followed by five men dressed in coarse cloth short jackets.

The man pushed a wheelbarrow with several wooden crates stacked on it, covered with straw mats and canvas.

Bringing up the rear of the unicycle procession was Tu Long, dressed in a gray Taoist robe.

"They're here." Master Four Eyes crushed a peanut in its shell. "These beasts dare to smuggle opium in broad daylight."

Lin Chen picked up his teacup and took a sip. Even from dozens of meters away, he could smell the cloyingly sweet scent of ghee emanating from the wheelbarrows.

Downstairs, David Ye walked to the church steps and exhaled a smoke ring to greet Father Wu.

"Father, did you sleep well last night?" David Ye pointed to the wheelbarrow behind him.

"This is a batch of building materials sponsored by our Ye family for the renovation of the church. My father said that since we want the Lord's glory to shine on Jiuquan Town again, our Ye family will take care of the entire renovation work."

Father Wu glanced at the wheelbarrows covered with tarpaulins, not bothering to check what was inside; his mind was filled with thoughts of the vampire that had flown out last night.

"Thank you for Mayor Ye's generosity... God will remember your good deeds." Father Wu made the sign of the cross. "The main hall is still being cleaned, so please put your things in the basement for now."

David Ye turned around and gave Tu Long a wink.

Tu Long waved his hand, and five men pushed the wheelbarrow along the ramp beside the steps into the main hall of the church.

The second floor of the teahouse.

Lin Chen put down his teacup and watched Tu Long's retreating figure. Tu Long didn't let his subordinates go in alone; he personally followed the wheelbarrow into the church.

"Master, the goods have been taken in."

"Let's go close the door and beat the dog. We'll settle all our scores today, old and new."

The two paid for their tea and went downstairs.

The interior of the church.

Tu Long commanded his men to push five wheelbarrows to the iron door of the basement behind the prayer altar. The basement door was open, and the interior was dark, with a pungent, sour, and musty smell emanating from it.

Tu Long had been involved in the business of transporting corpses for over a decade and was sensitive to yin energy and death energy.

The basement smelled cold and had an unpleasant, bloody odor.

"How come this place run by foreign monks is even more sinister than a mortuary?" Tu Long muttered to himself. He had to put his goods in there since he was being paid to do his bidding.

"Light the lamps, move the goods downstairs, and stack them neatly," Tu Long ordered his men.

The two men lit their kerosene lamps and began carrying boxes of opium down to the basement.

Outside the church.

Lin Chen and Master Simu bypassed the main gate, avoiding Ye Dawei and Father Wu, and descended into the courtyard through the back wall they had climbed over the previous night.

The main hall was empty, with wheelbarrow tracks leading all the way into the basement.

Lin Chen walked to the entrance of the basement and heard the muffled thuds of wooden crates being moved down below.