Free Web NovelChapter 419: Chapter 357: Harm Others, End Up Harming Yourself_2
After going over the entire excuse in his mind, Quan Doufeng believed there were no issues, and only then did he walk to the gate, step up the stairs, and pull out a round-headed wooden stick from the bamboo tube. The next second, he forcefully knocked on the wooden clapper hanging by the door.
After all this, he feigned a look of being drained of strength, leaning against the courtyard wall, his gaze scattered and breathing heavily.
Inside the room, everyone was somewhat surprised by the sound of the clapper. Quan Doufeng’s return was much faster than they had expected; previously, everyone had barely made it back when an incense stick was about to burn out, but Quan Doufeng had returned at least a third ahead of time this round.
It seemed the task had gone extremely smoothly this time.
Lu Youcheng immediately got ready to set out, holding the Soul-Attracting Incense in his hand, he opened the door and quickly walked toward the direction of the ancestral house with its doors wide open. Upon seeing Quan Doufeng, he felt a jolt in his heart, noticing Quan Doufeng looked as if he had been flayed and de-boned, completely sagging, his legs weak as if he could only barely remain upright by leaning against the wall.
Lu Youcheng had no idea what had happened, but he was certain that Quan Doufeng must have encountered something extremely terrifying and had barely escaped with his life after using up all his strength.
At that moment, he noticed the crooked inscription on the ground. The characters had been carved with a stone, and the sharp-edged rock was still tossed aside. The characters also looked feeble and weak; they spelled "Monk."
"Did Quan Doufeng encounter the Ghost Monk?"
Lu Youcheng suddenly felt a bit panicked. Before, the Ghost Monk hadn’t a record of directly killing anyone; during the fishing mission, he even saved Sui Chengguo and Wuma Haoming among others. Why would he attack Quan Doufeng for no reason?
Was it because he violated some taboo, or was there another reason?
His thoughts wandered far away for a moment. Lu Youcheng conjectured that tonight’s task—copying Buddhist scriptures in the ancestral hall—might have enraged the Ghost Monk?
But Quan Doufeng didn’t care what Lu Youcheng thought. From Lu Youcheng’s momentary hesitation, he knew his plan had succeeded. After all, who could thoroughly understand thoughts about a ghost? He was confident he could also fool the likes of Yang Xiao and Sui Chengguo.
As long as his acting was good enough, without any flaws in his expressions or tone, he might not be clever, but let those self-proclaimed smart people struggle against the ghost.
After confirming that Lu Youcheng hadn’t seen through him, Quan Doufeng no longer lingered; not being back in the room wasn’t absolutely safe. The reason Quan Doufeng still kept a small segment of the Soul-Attracting Incense was to ensure nothing went wrong on his way back to the room.
Taking a deep breath, Lu Youcheng’s brow furrowed involuntarily. He had a faint feeling that this time they might run into serious trouble. He didn’t know what the Ghost Monk had done to Quan Doufeng, nor could he guess, but it had to be very dangerous, or else Quan Doufeng wouldn’t have only written down this name.
With time pressing, there was no opportunity for further hesitation. Lu Youcheng stepped out of the courtyard and walked into the mist, the Soul-Attracting Incense in his hand his only reliance.
As he approached the small courtyard, Quan Doufeng immediately put on an act, deliberately making his footsteps heavier and breathing deeply, as if he was extremely exhausted, having just narrowly escaped death.
From a distance, Yang Xiao and the others could hear his footsteps. At the moment, they all gathered behind the door—opening the door was out of the question, that was the rule.
"Brothers, hurry... help open the door," Quan Doufeng said breathlessly, his body still shaking uncontrollably, "I was scared to death."
"What happened?" Sui Chengguo was also set to perform a task tonight, naturally eager for any clues. freewēbnoveℓ.com
But the next words from Quan Doufeng sent chills down everyone’s spines, "You must be careful, I was... I was ambushed by that ghost thing, almost lost my life!" Quan Doufeng said with a sobbing tone, tears nearly streaming down his pitiable face.
"What attacked you?" Tong Han pressed, "Be specific!"
"What else could it be? It was that thing, a ghost... the Ghost Monk." Quan Doufeng said with a mournful face, "I had just approached the ancestral hall, and man, the place was full of people. No, not people, ghosts, the Ghost Villagers. I had walked the entire way without seeing anyone in the fog, and it turns out they were all hiding in the ancestral hall. Inside, it didn’t look the same as it did during the day. I was just about to go in and check it out, but as soon as I stepped on the stair, the next second... the next second I couldn’t move." Quan Doufeng paused here, in fact testing his teammates’ reaction. He wasn’t completely confident he could fool someone like Yang Xiao and Cheng Cha.
"Was it your shadow that got stepped on?" The next second, Cheng Cha spoke out excitedly.
"Yes, I was terrified and had no idea what was happening. When I turned around, there was nothing behind me." Quan Doufeng knew Cheng Cha had taken the bait and continued to lie with a straight face, using the clues that Yang Xiao had brought back last time, which had already been verified. He was simply repeating them in a different scene and manner.
"What happened then? How did you handle it?" Yang Xiao asked, things were more complicated than he had imagined. He hadn’t expected that someone would be attacked by a ghost even before entering the ancestral hall, and it was the Source Ghost responsible for this mission, the Ghost Monk, whom they always encountered at the end of previous tasks. freewebnoveℓ.com
Quan Doufeng swallowed hard and cautiously said, "I... felt very strange, it was not that my whole body couldn’t move, just my foot... my foot couldn’t move, my left foot. I immediately thought my shadow was being stepped on, and it was right on my left foot. I tried to turn around and brought the Soul-Attracting Incense close to the side of my foot, and as expected, the scent was sucked away and disappeared into thin air."
"And then?" Sui Chengguo pressed on.
At this point, Quan Doufeng nearly cried, his voice quivering, "Then I felt dizzy and passed out. When I came to, I was lying on the ground. It was pitch black inside the hall, and the door was closed; I don’t know when. There was not a soul around, and the silence was terrifying. The incense in my hand... was nearly burnt out. I didn’t dare to delay, and immediately ran back. If I hadn’t run so fast, I might... I might not have made it back!"
"Right, not long after I ran out, when I looked back, that yard and the ancestral hall inside had completely disappeared!"
A lie mixed with truth is more convincing, a trick Quan Doufeng knew well.
The faces of Yang Xiao, Tong Han, and the others turned grim at this point, especially Sui Chengguo, who was about to head out. Fear silently spread throughout the room. Able to turn invisible, step on shadows, and even suck away incense smoke, it was undoubtedly the Ghost Monk. They were in deep trouble now.
They couldn’t understand what triggered the Ghost Monk to obstruct them even before the task had fully started. If everyone passed out like Quan Doufeng at the entrance of the ancestral hall, how were they supposed to continue this mission?
The most important issue was that Quan Doufeng was just the beginning. If the start was already this perilous, there was no telling what other problems might arise later. If they weren’t careful, they could very well end up losing one or two lives.
After a moment of thought, Yang Xiao immediately turned to Sui Chengguo, who was visibly tense, his brow furrowed in anxiety, "Sui, something seems off about this mission. Try not to take risks. Your life is the priority. If it really doesn’t work out... we still have one last chance."
Tonight was the precept against lying, and tomorrow night would be the precept against drinking. No matter what, they were not out of options yet. They wouldn’t need to draw lots for tomorrow night; they’d go straight to their strongest lineup. If they died, they died. After all, if they still failed to break the Five Precepts in the end, they would all die.
For Yang Xiao, he would rather die at the hands of a ghost than be killed by the beasts of Du Family Village and have his body desecrated after death.
"Hmm?" Cheng Cha, who had been silent the whole time, seemed to have noticed something. He leaned to peer through the crack in the door, then suddenly shuddered and staggered back, his face ashen as if his soul had been shaken.
Tong Han was the first to notice something was amiss and hurriedly supported Cheng Cha while lowering his voice, "What’s wrong?"
"That Quan Doufeng outside is off. He... he’s too clean." Cheng Cha was still visibly shaken, "But he said he had fallen down earlier, even laid on the ground for a long while. It just rained outside, the ground is wet, yet there’s not a single water stain or mud on him."
With these words, everyone else became alert, and their expressions darkened. None of them had expected the "Quan Doufeng" outside to be a ghost.
It seemed that the real Quan Doufeng had died long ago; no wonder his words were incoherent, and he returned much sooner than expected. Now everything made sense.
