11 Chapter 11: Van, did you take the sword of the True Martial Great Emperor?_1

"Daoist Friend Fan, the Water Ghost you exterminated last night must have been cultivated by someone using evil necromancy!" After listening to Fan Wu's brief account, Yang Yizi took a deep breath and spoke with a grave tone.

He paused for a moment and continued in a somber voice, "The strange occurrence at the county government office last night must have been the work of the person who used evil necromancy to raise the ghost, his goal... might have been to obtain these shackles!"

"He only scared away the constables last night, without successfully taking the shackles, perhaps because the necromancy he used at the time also triggered the imperial qi protecting the county government. The imperial qi stopped him."

"Despite the risk of being suppressed by the imperial qi, he wanted to take the shackles... This indicates that the item is extremely important to him!"

"He was probably too hasty last night, not fully prepared, and that's why he didn't take the shackles. Tonight, he might attempt it again!"

"And tonight his preparations might be thorough!"

"He might even disregard the imperial qi of the dynasty!!"

After some quick reflection, Yang Yizi voiced his speculations.

Just as he finished speaking, Yang Yizi suddenly had a realization and exclaimed, "So that's it! Daoist Friend Fan, you invited us to the Rack Cabinet Repository to remind us of this matter, didn't you? You must have already known all of this, right?"

"Alas, it's I who am muddled, to have only thought of these things after so long, and it took a hint from Daoist Friend Fan to come to this realization."

Oh! So I knew all of this!

Fan Wu's mouth twitched.

"So that means the scoundrel will come again, perhaps even tonight? Dammit! Does that madman not know that the scrounging Magistrate invited all the experts in Qiulong County?" The Abbot of Jinlong Temple snorted angrily, "If he dares to step into the county office tonight, Buddha help me, I will make sure he doesn't leave alive!"

Yang Yizi, on the other hand, seemed somewhat worried, "In my view, if he dares to come tonight, that means his strength is not weak, perhaps it's even strong, so we must not be careless."

"Afraid of him for what? When I was a bandit in the mountains, I killed... cough!"

The Abbot of Jinlong Temple hastily stopped himself, pressed his palms together, and assumed a compassionate expression, "Amitabha. With Daoist Priest Yang Yizi here, and myself, the Abbot of Jinlong Temple, any demonic outsiders are powerless."

"Besides, Daoist Priest Fan is also here. Daoist Priest Yang Yizi, you worry that the two of us are not a match for the evil path, but do not forget, Daoist Priest Fan is here to take control of the situation!"

Hearing this, Yang Yizi's furrowed brows finally relaxed a bit, and a smile appeared, "That's also true, that's true."

He looked at Fan Wu and spoke earnestly, "Daoist Friend Fan, let the three of us join forces to exterminate that evil path! As cultivators, isn't this exactly what we have trained for?"

Fan Wu: "...Yes."

The atmosphere had been roused to such a degree by the two men, he could only manage to squeeze out such a word.

After all, retreating at this point would give the game away.

Heaven knows why these two fellows had so much confidence in him, Fan Wu. Just what had his swindler master done in the past to have bamboozled these two so thoroughly?

"Yue Qing, Yue Feng!" Yang Yizi promptly ordered, "You two, assist me in setting up the altar and preparing the ritual!"

The two novice Taoists nodded eagerly.

Equally unwilling to show weakness, the Abbot of Jinlong Temple addressed the two muscular martial monks behind him, "You should know what to do once that madman appears, right? Break that scoundrel's legs for Buddha here!"

"Yes, Abbot."

At present.

The only two who hadn't spoken in the county office were those two swindlers who had infiltrated their ranks.

The pair of swindlers, seeing the situation at hand, had already turned pale with fear.

They had merely wanted to come to Qiulong County to swindle a few gullible fools for a meal.

They didn't want to catch ghosts!

They didn't want to catch people either!

Because the two of them were completely ordinary, their Daoist robes were fake, and they possessed not the slightest bit of mana. Faced with this situation, weren't they as good as dead?

The two swindlers were pale as ghosts.

They exchanged glances, then simultaneously their legs gave way, and they fell to their knees with a thump.

"Great masters! Taoist Priests! We were wrong, we're no Taoists, we can't catch ghosts, and we don't want to bump into ghosts either!"

They pleaded with fearful trembling in their voices.

"Get out, out, out! Don't block Buddha's view here!" The Abbot of Jinlong Temple ungraciously ordered them to leave, but soon added, "But I'm not telling you to just leave like that. Confess your true identities to the constables outside," the burly monk threatened with a narrowing gaze.

He looked nothing like a high monk who had attained the Way but more like a ruffian dressed in a monk's robes.

What kind of true monk goes around calling himself "Buddha"?

And threatens people in such a manner?

Frightened even paler by the threat, the two swindlers scrambled on all fours, rushing out.

As for these two genuine conmen, Fan Wu simply ignored them.

Fan Wu was well aware that if he didn't wish to end up like those two, or if he wanted legitimate travel expenses to leave Qiulong County... he would have to spend the night at the county office tonight.

...

Time.

Passed.

The night at the yamen of Qiulong County was especially quiet; last night, a group of constables had been inside, but tonight there were three Taoist priests, three monks, and one fake Taoist priest.

Of course, that fake Taoist priest was Fan Wu.

And what of the Magistrate of Qiulong County and the other officials?

They dared not linger outside at night, let alone enter the yamen.

There had been strange occurrences in the yamen last night!

How could they dare to stay overnight?

Within the yamen, the several people had made thorough preparations. Yang Yizi and his two disciples had set up a ritual altar in front of the Rack Cabinet Repository.

The ritual altar was covered with a yellow cloth that hung down on all four sides, with a Bagua Yin Yang Diagram on each.

Already arranged on the altar were various magic artifacts.

Items such as the Peach Wood Sword, Five Emperors' Coins, Bagua Mirror, and so forth were all present, nothing was missing.

Yang Yizi had exchanged his plain Daoist robe for a dark yellow ceremonial robe, which at a glance, was clearly no ordinary fabric.

Yang Yizi stood upright behind the altar with a Peach Wood Sword in hand and his eyes closed.

The blue smoke from the incense burning on the altar swirled around his aged face.

Yang Yizi's two disciples stood one to the left and one to the right, beside him.

The two young novices had removed their shirts,

exposing skin covered in talismans drawn with cinnabar ink.

Each held a Peach Wood Sword, and it was clear that the young novices were very tense.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

The sound of the wooden fish being struck was perhaps the only clear noise inside the yamen.

The Abbot of Jinlong Temple was sitting cross-legged, gently striking the wooden fish with his left hand and holding a string of prayer beads in his right.

His mouth opened and closed as if silently reciting the true scriptures of the Buddhist Sect.

The two martial monks were covered all over in dark golden powder.

At first glance, they looked just like two bronze statues.

They, too, were sitting in meditation, silently reciting Buddhist scriptures alongside the Abbot of Jinlong Temple.

The slightly acrid smell of incense and the rhythmic striking of the wooden fish...

seemed to add a layer of tension to the atmosphere within the yamen.

Although the Abbot of Jinlong Temple had shown nothing but disdain for evil paths during the day,

he was now as if facing a great enemy.

It could be imagined that, in their eyes, the foe they were to confront tonight was undoubtedly formidable.

As for Fan Wu...

he had made no preparations.

He wasn't reciting any scriptures.

Nor had he set up any altar.

Fan Wu had simply moved the large chair, where the Magistrate of Qiulong County usually sat during court sessions, out into the open.

He now sat in it boldly, with the Northern Black Chariot Gunky Horn Demon-Slaying Heroic Sword planted on the ground.

Fan Wu noticed someone watching him and followed the gaze.

He saw that Yang Yizi, who had been resting with his eyes closed, had at some point opened an eye.

Moreover, Yang Yizi's eye occasionally flicked in his direction.

"...Daoist Brother Fan, I hadn't noticed before, but your sword looks very familiar!" Finally, Yang Yizi couldn't hold back and asked softly, "Is that by any chance the..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a bone-chilling gust of wind swept through the entire yamen!

The lanterns hanging from the eaves of the yamen...

at that moment all extinguished!

It had arrived!

...

...