Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 787: Chapter 590: The Child Walks the Mountain_2

The bodies were dressed differently, some in coarse cloth, others in black jackets, and some in thick animal skins or quality silk robes. These must be the missing persons Ji Gen had spoken about, but Yang Xiao hadn’t expected there to be so many.

Chilling, rigid... as he passed by these "people," a gripping coldness emanated from them. Because he kept his head low, Yang Xiao couldn’t and didn’t dare to look at their faces, but his intuition told him that their faces must be numb and carried an unnatural deathly stillness.

"Crack."

"Crack."

"Snap."

The continuous sounds of snapping twigs grew finer, and this time Yang Xiao caught a glimpse with his peripheral vision, causing his hair to stand on end. The "people’s" tiptoes were slowly moving, shuffling towards him.

It wasn’t the scattering of paper money that had agitated these beings, but rather these ghosts had already been closing in on them, and they were merely revealed now. The paper money on the "tree" also slowed down the corpses’ movements.

Upon closer observation, Yang Xiao realized that some corpses didn’t have their arms naturally hanging down but were unnaturally twisted as if tied behind their backs.

These "people" hadn’t just disappeared arbitrarily; they had been murdered, and the likely culprit was the crew building the Land Temple from Earl Mansion.

The situation grew more critical. The rustling footsteps had now reached right behind Yang Xiao. Chang Chuchu and Jiang Qingluan also felt the threat and frantically tossed their paper money, but such measures were merely temporary solutions that could only delay the ghosts for so long.

Suddenly, Chang Chuchu halted her steps. Caught off guard, Yang Xiao nearly stumbled over her. At this moment, he felt the urge to curse aloud. With the ghosts close on their heels, stopping now could mean death.

He worried about leaking his life force, making it impossible for him to speak, so he could only forcefully squeeze Chang Chuchu’s shoulder, but she didn’t respond. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

What the hell is going on?

Without waiting for Yang Xiao to react further, the footsteps behind had already reached them. However, to Yang Xiao’s utter shock, the ghosts didn’t attack him but instead continued moving forward, scrapping the soles of their feet on the ground and heading straight past him as if there was something more enticing ahead.

His heart skipped a beat, and Yang Xiao figured out what was happening. At the same time, a slightly guilty shout came from not far ahead, about a dozen meters away—a distance that meant life or death.

"Boys travel the mountains, winds be mild and rains be favorable, living make way, wronged souls reincarnate!" It was Fang Zhou’s voice, shortly followed by another call, with a desolate echo reminiscent of a boatman’s chant, "Boys travel the mountains, winds be mild and rains be favorable, living make way, wronged souls reincarnate!"

Now the truth was clear. Fang Zhou had broken away from the group, calling out and drawing away the horde of vile creatures that had trapped them.

This was not Fang Zhou’s intention, nor was it a call any ordinary person would make. He had been taught by someone.

It was Jiang Qingluan.

She was a profoundly strategic woman. Anticipating potential emergencies, she had a Plan B in place and had chosen who was to be sacrificed.

Among their group, the newcomer Fang Zhou was undoubtedly the easiest to control. Besides, sacrificing one newcomer wouldn’t significantly weaken the team’s overall strength from any perspective. This was indeed the optimal choice.

"Boys travel the mountains, winds be mild and rains be favorable, living make way, wronged souls reincarnate!"

Fang Zhou’s voice grew fainter and fainter. In his final moments, he was faithfully executing the task entrusted to him by his teammates. The sound weighed heavily on Yang Xiao’s heart, making him feel suffocated.

Chang Chuchu turned around and patted Yang Xiao’s hand. At that moment, Yang Xiao looked up—the danger was gone, and the surrounding woods had disappeared, leaving only a thin mist.

"Let’s go quickly, he can only delay them until the incense burns out, we have at most 10 minutes." Jiang Qingluan’s voice was as calm as ever. She turned and led the way back, "If we can’t find the path, those ghosts will catch up to us again."

Looking up in the direction where Fang Zhou had left, through the thick fog, Yang Xiao thought he saw a figure loudly hawking as he walked, followed by a string of corpses, one resting on the shoulder of another, the line winding and twisting like a centipede at death’s door, writhing towards another world.

As Fang Zhou led the corpses away, the events that followed were remarkably smooth. They hadn’t walked far along the path beneath their feet when they spotted the dilapidated temple in the distance—its wooden structure, the decrepit black door, and most importantly, that ominous aura. There was no mistaking it, this was the place!

The three of them quickened their pace and reached the tattered wooden door. With a gentle push, the door opened, revealing a pile of ash from a fire that had long been extinguished—the one they had lit the night before.

Looking around, the temple housed twelve statues of deities, with the central one being three meters tall and obviously held in higher regard than the other eleven. However, its face had been brutally gouged out, leaving a terrifying, sunken pit that was highly uncomfortable to look at.

"Indeed, judging by the arrangement here, these eleven clay statues are indeed protective deities, all guarding the main deity in the center." The last time they were here was at night, and the poor lighting made it difficult to see clearly, but this time it was day, and Jiang Qingluan was very confident in her judgment.

Due to years of neglect, the clay statues of the deities were severely flaking, rendering their true faces indiscernible. The statue whose face had been dug out faced the main door, with six protectors arranged against the wall on the left side and five on the right.

Chang Chuchu’s gaze wandered restlessly over each deity, a growing sense of fear emerging in her eyes. "Do you... do you feel that?"

"It feels like we’re being watched." Yang Xiao lowered his voice, that familiar sensation coming over him again, the same feeling as when they had left the previous night.

Almost simultaneously, Yang Xiao and Jiang Qingluan disrespectfully jumped onto the stone platforms housing the protectors on either side, looking down as if searching for something. Soon, both had found the answer they were looking for.

"It really is so," Yang Xiao took a deep breath.

"What have you found?" Chang Chuchu was unsettled by that inexplicable spying gaze and, to be safe, she really did not want to get close to the clay statues.

Yang Xiao jumped down from the stone platform and unceremoniously pulled her over, ready to face any difficulties together—nobody was going to get a free ride.

The next second, Chang Chuchu’s gaze dramatically shifted. She found an inconspicuous wooden bump on the stone steps between two protector statues, similar to a door threshold, separating the two statues to denote their ranks.

"These protectors... they’re mimicking our positions from last night in the Longevity Hall!" Chang Chuchu suddenly realized.

"It’s the other way around; we were mimicking them," Jiang Qingluan also jumped down from the opposite platform, "The temple door is the hall door, and this wooden bump is the high threshold in the hall."

"Last night wasn’t about celebrating a birthday; it was a court session," Jiang Qingluan whispered.

Yang Xiao nodded, continuing, "Exactly, under the heavens, only there has the highest threshold, not just anyone is qualified to enter. That’s why we were separated, we don’t represent ordinary merchants and warriors, but officials."

"In front of the Emperor Hall, left civil and right military, it’s the same here, the left row is civil servants, the right row is military officers," Yang Xiao pointed out.

Chang Chuchu didn’t have a strong memory of the left side, but she remembered from the previous night that the right row was led by Zhang Songde, whose armor clearly indicated he was a military officer.

She immediately went to the first protector on the right side. Although the protector statue was badly weathered, it was still evident that this statue was more robust than the others. From the remaining paint, it did indeed resemble the armor.

"These aren’t obvious, look at the body shapes, recognize the genders," Yang Xiao reminded.

Yang Xiao’s words opened new thoughts for Chang Chuchu. She started to distinguish genders based on the overall feel of the clay statues. After a round of identification, the third on the left, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth on the right were slightly thinner and more delicate, their postures more graceful, likely women.

What was stranger was that these differences weren’t very obvious and could only be noticed if one had prior suspicions and compared them attentively.

Chang Chuchu carefully recalled the positions from last night in the Longevity Hall. The third on the left was Gong Banlan, the fourth on the right was Jiang Qingluan, the fifth was herself. Initially, there were only five people on the right side, but here, there appeared a sixth person, no, a sixth protector.

"It’s Yuan Ruoci’s position," Yang Xiao spoke up, "only she was already dead at that time."