Free Web NovelChapter 418: Chapter 357: Harm Others, Harm Yourself
One could imagine that not long ago, many disheveled individuals, some even without shoes, like refugees, walked into the courtyard in groups. These people were undoubtedly the missing Ghost Villagers, those innocent Mangjia Village villagers who had been murdered.
The surroundings were eerily silent. Quan Doufeng steeled himself to walk towards the courtyard gate, carefully treading on the wet and slippery stone path, freshly wet from the rain.
Hesitating in front of the courtyard gate for a moment, Quan Doufeng finally mustered the courage to step over the threshold and enter the courtyard. The red moonlight in the night sky spilled down, casting the entire courtyard in a sinister crimson hue, reminiscent of a slaughterhouse.
Quan Doufeng couldn’t tell if it was an illusion, but he thought he could smell a hint of blood—fleeting and nearly imperceptible, as if it were luring him deeper.
Not far away stood the temple-like ancestral hall. The exterior of the ancestral hall looked no different from before, with its doors now tightly shut and darkness enveloping the inside.
Swallowing hard, Quan Doufeng slowly lowered his head and saw the chaotic muddy footprints on the ground, shallow and deep, all leading toward the ancestral hall.
What worried Quan Doufeng the most now was the whereabouts of the Ghost Villagers. By the looks of the footprints, these ghosts had all gone to the ancestral hall, but... why was there no sign of movement inside the hall?
Remembering the attitude of Lu Youcheng and the others before he left, Quan Doufeng knew his fate would be dire if he returned without finding any clues. They might not kill him, but next time, they would definitely use him to trigger any traps.
With no other choice, he took one step at a time toward the ancestral hall while continuously checking his surroundings, fearful that the missing Ghost Villagers might rush out from somewhere.
The closer he got, he finally approached the great doors of the ancestral hall. But before he could get a clear look, a light suddenly shone from within the ancestral hall the next second. It seemed like a signal, and moments later, a dozen large White Lanterns hanging under the eaves of the ancestral hall also lit up one by one. Each lantern bore the "Mang" character, written in a blood-red script so fresh the marks had not yet dried. freewёbnoνel.com
Before Quan Doufeng could recover from his shock, the large wooden doors of the ancestral hall slowly opened. Upon seeing what was inside, Quan Doufeng was stupefied—his heart skipped a beat. The vast ancestral hall was filled with people seated on the floor, draped in tattered robes resembling Kasayas, heads wrapped within them, all facing the tablets inside the ancestral hall with their backs toward him. The silent scene was infused with a strange aura of Buddhism, chilling to the bone.
Quan Doufeng’s breath stalled, his gaze extending to the depths of the ancestral hall, where he saw two tables in front of the stone platform holding the tablets. One already had someone seated at it.
The other empty table was clearly meant for him, but Quan Doufeng dared not approach. The shock of the scene before him was unprecedented. Regardless of the task of reverse copying sutras, he wouldn’t dare approach the empty table, as it meant walking through the densely packed crowd.
No, these were not people; they were ghosts, ghosts!!
He feared being grabbed and killed by these ghosts on the way, sweat dripping down his forehead, his calves trembling uncontrollably. He still remembered how Yang Xiao had described Du San’s gruesome death at the hands of these Ghost Villagers—torn to shreds with not a single intact limb left, even his head had been smashed.
"No, I can’t go. If I go, I will surely die, surely!" Quan Doufeng slowly retreated, not daring to step into the doors of the ancestral hall. At this moment, his heart was filled with fear. He was just an ordinary person, and even if he went, it would be futile—he was merely courting death.
Retreating step by step, walking back over ten meters, Quan Doufeng stared dead at those eerie figures in the ancestral hall. Thankfully... those things didn’t seem to notice him. Confirming there was no danger, Quan Doufeng turned and ran, sprinting out of the courtyard gate, heading straight for the Du Family Ancestral Home without looking back.
As Quan Doufeng left, the surrounding mist once again gathered, the brightly lit ancestral hall disappearing into the fog, and the Blood Moon overhead eventually concealed by the mist.
"Huff—, huff—" freewёbnoνel.com
Gasping for breath and holding the Soul-Attracting Incense, Quan Doufeng estimated he had run at least a few hundred meters before daring to sneak a look back. He could no longer see the shadow of the ancestral hall, only boundless white mist.
It was only now that he gradually calmed down and slowed his pace. It was impossible to go back after barely escaping. But now the problem was that he had not obtained any clues. How could he report back like this?
To tell the truth meant certain death. His teammates were not kind people—their methods were ruthless beyond words, and they were undoubtedly no good in reality. However, he still needed to rely on them, so he must come up with an excuse to convince them, one that wouldn’t put the blame on him.
Walking and thinking, he still had plenty of the Soul-Attracting Incense left, giving him ample time.
Quan Doufeng racked his brains. The excuse had to fool cunning individuals like Yang Xiao and Sui Chengguo, so it couldn’t be entirely false. He needed to add a bit of what he had really seen.
After a while, he returned to the main gate of the ancestral home. The area near the gate was deathly quiet. Quan Doufeng finally sighed with relief, sat on the steps in front of the gate, and kept pondering and refining his excuse as time ticked by. When a third of the Soul-Attracting Incense was left, he got up and began to move around, starting to jog until he was out of breath and covered in sweat. Only then did he bend down, pick up a jagged stone from the ground, and using the method he remembered from Cheng Cha Tong Han’s way of leaving clues, wrote the word "Monk" on the steps. From his teammates’ analysis, he knew that the Ghost Monk was key to the mission, so throwing all the blame on the Ghost Monk was bound to be unquestioned, as they couldn’t confront the Ghost Monk face to face anyway.
