Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1204: Chapter 806: Road of No Return

Returning to the room, opening the package, everyone’s eyes brightened as inside was a golden Buddha statue. Although not large, it was exquisitely crafted and felt substantial in one’s hand.

Yang Xiao examined the face of the statue, shocked to find that it was identical to the large Buddha in the Inner Buddha Hall, especially the eyes, which, though wide open, appeared lifeless, as if blind.

"It’s made of gold..." Shari reached out her hand naively, a hint of longing in her eyes.

But her hand had yet to touch the Golden Buddha when it was unceremoniously slapped away. Shari snapped back to reality, lifting her eyes to meet Aisha’s unfriendly gaze.

Embarrassed by her faux pas, Shari belatedly explained to everyone that she had never seen such a large Golden Buddha before, and she was momentarily dazed, not because of anything else.

Speaking of the Golden Buddha, Adila, holding it, also felt it was strange. Logically, the Golden Buddha should weigh quite a bit, yet it didn’t seem as heavy as he had imagined.

Curiously turning the Buddha upside down, everyone discovered a hole plugged with cloth at the base of the statue. Removing the cloth, they found the Golden Buddha was hollow.

It wasn’t entirely empty but seemed to have been crudely hollowed out in part, contrasting starkly with the statue’s intricate exterior.

"What is this for?" Adila stared at the statue and looked up at Yang Xiao.

"Tonight, on the funeral journey, place this on the coffin lid; it’s said to ward off corpses." These were the instructions given by the Monks who sent the Golden Buddha, which Yang Xiao was just relaying.

Besides the Golden Buddha, the package contained a few candles of varying lengths and an incense stick as thick as a thumb. ƒrēewebnovel.com

The incense was an uneven dark red, something everyone was seeing for the first time.

Aisha picked up the incense with her fingers and brought it to her nose to sniff, her expression relaxing, "It’s not blood, likely something like cinnabar."

Musa took the incense, examined it closely for a moment, and then lightly scraped it with his fingernail, gathering some dark red powder, which he then poured into a coarse porcelain bowl filled with water.

The next moment, as the powder hit the water, it quickly dissolved into a spreading bright red.

Everyone gathered around the bowl, and a moment later, the water remained a deep crimson. Musa exhaled slowly, looked up at everyone, and said in a low voice, "It’s not cinnabar; cinnabar doesn’t dissolve in water and would settle naturally; this is blood."

"It is indeed blood, yet such a small dose normally wouldn’t change the water’s color to this extent." Yang Xiao’s calm tone was naturally convincing, "Also, congealed blood, once dissolved, wouldn’t be bright red; it should be brown."

Yang Xiao dipped a finger into the bloody water, bringing it to his nose. The putrid smell rushed to his mind, like corpse oil trickling down from a long-dead body.

After discussing, everyone agreed that something was wrong with the incense; the source of the blood atop it was likely illegitimate.

With too few clues, further discussion would yield no more results, so everyone chose to rest.

Yang Xiao had a deep sleep until nightfall. When he awoke, most people were still resting as the scant food caused many a rumbling stomach in the room. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

Closing his eyes, Yang Xiao reminisced about the taste of chicken drumstick rice from the stall outside his old apartment complex.

The stall was always being chased by city inspectors, yet after becoming well-off, Yang Xiao never found that taste again.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

Yang Xiao clutched his stomach, enduring the pangs of hunger. If someone were to come across time and offer him a chicken drumstick meal, he might consider trading the Golden Buddha for it.

Provided he could pay later, once they returned safely tonight, he would give the Golden Buddha.

Yang Xiao was a man of his word; otherwise, he wouldn’t have become friends with Mo Daidai, who taught him much.

Time ticked by slowly; Yang Xiao sat up from lying down, the sound of the night watch’s clappers echoing periodically until it became three short knocks and one long.

At this, everyone perked up; this was the signal.

Packing up the necessary items for the night, Yang Xiao and his group of five quickly left the room, following the route in their memory towards the Buddhist Hall.

Upon reaching outside the hall, another team had already arrived, and as previously agreed, the two teams joined and entered the Outer Buddha Hall.

They pushed open the black-painted door; the hall was empty, save for a few candles burning dimly. The gloomy environment, coupled with the four eerie Divine Statues on either side of the main hall, created an oppressive atmosphere.

Fortunately, they didn’t need to linger here long tonight. After a brief offering, they passed through the Outer Buddha Hall, entered the Inner Buddha Hall, worshiped similarly, and quickly departed.

This done, they barely managed to finish the evening rites; their main task tonight was the burial of bodies.

Leaving the Buddhist Hall, Juan produced a folded cloth from his bosom, upon which was drawn a crude map. Following the map’s marks, they circumvented several courtyards, arriving at a secluded annex on the temple’s north side. In front of the annex stood two stone beasts, seemingly meant to ward off evil.

This was where bodies were kept within the temple. Musa stepped forward, and before he could knock, the black wooden door creaked open, revealing a terrifying face behind the half-person-wide gap.

The person’s head was wrapped in a filthy cloth, slit in the middle to reveal only a pair of eyes and a small part of the face.