Free Web NovelChapter 420: Chapter 358: The Buddha’s Name
A ghost returned, and now the situation had become complicated. Yang Xiao even suspected that Lu Youcheng had fallen prey to a ghost and died outside the courtyard door.
"What about the task that comes next?" Tong Han suddenly asked.
Yang Xiao understood what Tong Han was worried about. If the ghost kept guarding the door, how could they open it? And if the door remained closed, how could Sui Chengguo complete the task?
They had no time to worry about whether Lu Youcheng was alive or dead now; the most important thing was to deceive the ghost and make it leave.
...
Walking through the fog, the damp stone road was deserted. Lu Youcheng remembered that Yang Xiao and the others had mentioned there should be Ghost Villagers in the mist, but having walked for so long, he hadn’t seen a single person. The vast village was as silent as death.
He grew more cautious and fearful as he walked until he abruptly stopped. Above him, crimson moonlight bathed the scene, and the mist in front of him dispersed to reveal an ancestral hall with a courtyard wall appearing suddenly in his view, a scene he was wholly unprepared for.
Raising the Soul-Attracting Incense in his hand, Lu Youcheng knew the climax of the night had arrived. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the courtyard. The white lanterns on either side of the courtyard door moved on their own as if greeting a guest.
Just like Quan Doufeng, he also noticed the messy footprints on the ground leading to the ancestral hall. As the grand doors of the hall abruptly opened, the vast hall was filled with people sitting on the ground, their heads covered, draped in tattered clothing, all turned away from him, perfectly still. This chilling sight made Lu Youcheng clench the incense in his hand tighter. It seemed these were the missing Ghost Villagers.
No longer hesitating, Lu Youcheng walked into the ancestral hall, passing by each Ghost Villager on the ground, barely daring to breathe for fear of disturbing these seemingly slumbering figures.
In the depths of the ancestral hall was a stone platform for placing the tablets of the deceased. Below the platform was a circle with the character "Mang" engraved within it—the Mang of Mangjia Village. This did not surprise Lu Youcheng; he had already seen the bright red "Mang" character on the lanterns outside the courtyard door. He knew he was no longer in the present-day Mangjia Village but in the one from decades prior, before the massacre of the village had occurred!
He approached the stone platform cautiously, or more precisely, the table in front of the stone platform.
On either side of the stone platform stood a pitch-black wooden table. The left table was empty, but the right table was occupied by a person sitting with their back to him. Lu Youcheng couldn’t make out the person’s face, but judging by the rather elegant blue clothing, it must be the Mangjia Village Chief that Yang Xiao and Cheng Cha had mentioned.
Both tables were similarly arranged, with a four-legged incense burner, a writing brush hanging beneath a pen stand, some papers filled with sutras writing, and a well-ground inkstone. However, what was strange was the presence of a dagger lying across the inkstone. The blade of the dagger was quite short, somewhat resembling a modern paper cutter—not the kind of weapon one would use for murder, and certainly not for suicide.
Lu Youcheng couldn’t understand what the purpose of the short dagger was for tonight’s task of reverse copying sutras, where pen and ink were naturally necessary, but what was this small dagger for?
Could it be there was danger tonight, requiring the use of the dagger as a weapon?
Lu Youcheng quickly recalled Quan Doufeng’s state from a short time ago. Although he was as exhausted as a dog, there were no apparent wounds on his body. If there had been a situation requiring a fight, someone as weak as him would have never come out unscathed.
Moreover, the dagger had a very short blade. Setting aside fighting with it, it wasn’t even well suited for suicide.
Lu Youcheng couldn’t figure out the use of the dagger, but he still sat down, back to back with the Ghost Village Chief. The task had already begun, and he had no choice but to adapt as the situation evolved. Besides, if Quan Doufeng could return alive, was he any less capable?
From the moment he entered until he sat down, the enormous ancestral hall was as silent as the grave. Whether it was the Ghost Village Chief behind him or the Ghost Villagers below, all were motionless as if asleep. However, the moment Lu Youcheng inserted the Soul-Attracting Incense into the incense burner, the whole scene changed. He first heard a Buddhist chant, deep and hoarse, coming from among the many Ghost Villagers below, but he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location. Then, all the Ghost Villagers woke up simultaneously and began to sway their heads, chanting sutras. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
At the same time, the sound of flipping paper came from behind. Lu Youcheng was stunned, and a second later, he understood. The Ghost Village Chief had also begun. Tonight’s task was not only reverse copying of sutras, but also competing with the Ghost Village Chief. The rule seemed to be that whoever finished copying all the sutras first would win, or within a set time, whoever copied more would be the victor.
Regardless of the circumstances, time was of the essence. Lu Youcheng immediately bent his head down to inspect the Sutra Paper on the table. The sutras written on them were obscure and difficult to comprehend, but it was still clear that the Sutra Papers were arranged in reverse order. The first sheet was the last one of the sutras, and its last character was marked with a red ink spot, reminding him to start copying from that last character backwards.
He picked up the brush, moistened it in the inkstone, and Lu Youcheng began to trace over the characters. That’s right, tracing, because each character on the Sutra Paper was hollowed out, and all that was required was to fill it in with ink. Even someone illiterate could do it; it was just more trouble.
Soon, Lu Youcheng finished the first sheet. Picking up the completed paper, he placed it at the corner of the table and continued with the next. However, when only a few characters were left on Lu Youcheng’s second sheet, the sound of paper flipping suddenly came from behind—the Ghost Village Chief had also completed a sheet.
This was the Ghost Village Chief’s first sheet of sutras, and Lu Youcheng heard it clearly. He was always paying attention to the sounds behind him. The two were almost back-to-back, so even with the chanting’s interruption, he could hear distinctly. Lu Youcheng was writing almost twice as fast as the Ghost Village Chief, and that was him slowing down deliberately to carefully differentiate each character, wary of any traps.
If he wrote at full speed, Lu Youcheng was confident he could be three times faster than the Ghost Village Chief. However, at this moment, Lu Youcheng couldn’t feel any pleasure in his speed advantage. He realized there was a flaw in his judgment. Given the Ghost Village Chief’s handwriting speed, they should have no problem completing tonight’s task. Any one of them could easily win—having hands was sufficient. But if that was the case, what was the point of the task? Why would Quan Doufeng have been chased like a dog losing its home? That simply didn’t make sense.
Lu Youcheng wasn’t worried about the speed. He knew the crisis must lie elsewhere. While picking up the second and starting on the third page, Lu Youcheng briefly glanced over the chanting Ghost Villagers with the corner of his eye. He couldn’t believe these characters were mere bystanders; perhaps the real threat lay among them tonight.
The hint Quan Doufeng had given was the Ghost Monk, but so far, he hadn’t seen any trace of it.
Suddenly, Lu Youcheng couldn’t help but freeze. Something was wrong, very wrong! He had clearly heard a Buddhist chant earlier.
It was only after that chant that these Ghost Villagers began their sutra recitation, which had signaled the start of the task.
Lu Youcheng boldly guessed that the Source Ghost, the Ghost Monk, was hidden among these villagers, and during the task, the Ghost Monk would suddenly strike. This explained why Quan Doufeng had been scared like a dog losing its home. Based on the remaining length of the incense Quan Doufeng had left, Lu Youcheng judged that he would have encountered the attack about halfway through the task.
Though Quan Doufeng couldn’t provide more hints due to the rules of the task, a qualified veteran player could infer and analyze from various clues, thereby reaching a reliable conclusion.
His gaze stealthily moved among the villagers. Lu Youcheng was increasingly confident in his judgment—there was something very wrong with these villagers. He remembered that Yang Xiao and the others hadn’t mentioned that the Ghost Villagers would cover their heads with their clothes, but today he saw it. Why? It must be because they wanted to help someone conceal their identity, because the Ghost Monk was hidden among them!
"Creak—"
The Ghost Village Chief had finished the second sheet, as signaled by the sound of paper flipping from behind. Lu Youcheng snapped out of it, moistened the tip of his brush, and continued to bend his head to copy. He couldn’t let the Ghost Village Chief catch up, and at the same time, he had a plan in mind—finding the Ghost Monk hidden among the villagers was key for tonight.
