Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 2: Signed and Sealed

"That was close. We almost died at the hands of that cursed thing."

"Yeah, too close."

Chen Huangpi also breathed a sigh of relief.

If these people hadn't carried him in flight, he would have had to ask the brass oil lamp to protect him.

Huang Er had a nasty mouth.

If he had to beg it for help, it would definitely mock him.

The men exchanged glances, a silent understanding passing between them.

If it weren't for this kid dawdling for so long, they wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state.

Once they survived the night, they would slaughter everyone in his temple tomorrow.

As for the deity statue worshipped in this temple, they would naturally take it with them.Otherwise, how could they possibly leave the Hundred Thousand Mountains, a place teeming with evil?

Having made their decision, the men inwardly sneered at Chen Huangpi for being a country bumpkin from the mountains, ignorant of how dangerous the outside world truly was.

Just then, the goateed old man seemed to notice something and his face paled in alarm. "Little child, where is the deity statue worshipped in your temple? Why is there not the slightest scent of incense?"

Chen Huangpi said, "There are no deity statues, so of course there's no need for incense offerings..."

The goateed old man's expression changed drastically. "Without a deity's protection, how do you survive? You... there's something not right about you, kid."

The group had already secretly scrutinized Chen Huangpi.

Other than a body of steel and iron, he only carried a backpack full of spices and a shabby oil lamp hanging from his waist.

No matter how they looked at him, he seemed to be just an ordinary Body Tempering realm cultivator.

But thinking about it carefully now, everything was a problem.

When they were flying through the air, their speed was incredibly fast. The whistling wind alone was like knives.

Although they had protected him so he wouldn't be injured, the boy's face wasn't even red, and his heart wasn't racing when they landed.

This was completely unreasonable.

Chen Huangpi looked at the group warily and said, "I only promised to bring you to the temple. I never said there was definitely a deity statue inside. You've all signed and sealed the agreement. If you try to go back on your word, I'll call my master!"

As he spoke, he took out the small, yellowed booklet and showed it to them.

The goateed old man glanced at his own name, then at Chen Huangpi's name, his face growing darker.

He served under Governor Xu of Xu Province.

A snot-nosed kid actually dared to trick him.

If it weren't for the strangeness that permeated this place, and if the kid himself didn't seem off, he would have slapped him to death long ago.

"Little child, what are you saying? It's written in black and white. How could we possibly deny it?"

"Besides, the monk can run, but the temple can't."

The goateed old man gritted his teeth and emphasized his words, "Isn't that right, Chen Shidao?"

That's right...

Chen Huangpi hadn't signed his own name.

He had signed his master's.

And just at that moment, an old voice echoed in everyone's ears.

"Who is it? Who's calling me?"

In the next second, a white-haired old Daoist in a white robe, trimmed with black and embroidered with red plum blossoms, appeared bizarrely beside them.

The men looked as if they had seen a ghost, feeling goosebumps erupt all over their bodies. When did this old Daoist appear?

This fright made them completely forget about the fact that Chen Huangpi had tricked them into signing while not using his own name.

"Se... Senior..."

The goateed old man and the others hurriedly bowed in respect.

Arrogant before, humble now; it was a perfect example.

The white-robed old Daoist tilted his head and glanced at them, and a chill instantly ran down their spines.

Terrifying... Horrifying!

What realm of expert was this?

There wasn't the slightest trace of cultivation aura on his body. If they hadn't seen him with their own eyes, anyone would have mistaken him for a mortal.

Fortunately, the white-robed old Daoist only glanced at them before losing interest, turning instead to pull Chen Huangpi aside.

"Huangpi'er, why are you only back now?"

"Second Master, I was delayed on the road for a bit," Chen Huangpi said obediently.

Second Master's temper was different from First Master's. He liked to appear and disappear like a ghost.

And when he was unhappy, he would go crazy, unlike First Master who was easy to coax.

The white-robed old Daoist complained, "You only came back after dark. Huangpi'er, you've become a bad boy. You want to starve your master to death, don't you?"

Chen Huangpi said, "You won't starve. I brought back a lot of ingredients."

His master never took medicine.

So Chen Huangpi would trick him by saying the medicinal herbs were ingredients. Only then would his master obediently eat them. If he said it was medicine, he wouldn't take a single bite.

If he wasn't sick, why take medicine?

The white-robed old Daoist glanced at the men again and said to Chen Huangpi with satisfaction, "Huangpi'er, you're becoming more and more considerate. You knew your master was starving and brought back so much food. This will last for several days."

Chen Huangpi nodded in agreement.

Listening to the master and disciple's conversation, the goateed old man and his group felt there was a hidden meaning in their words, making their hearts pound with an indescribable fear.

But Chen Huangpi walked over and comforted them in a low voice.

"Don't be afraid. My ma... Second Master's brain was damaged from his cultivation practice. He's a very nice person, just really hungry."

As he spoke, Chen Huangpi patted his backpack. "The food is in here. I'll cook for you all tonight."

The men's smiles became even more forced.

...

The sky grew darker.

Chen Huangpi led the few ingredients...

No, the few guests to the temple's guest rooms.

Along the way, the goateed old man and the others were terrified.

"Little brother, has your temple always been this big?"

"It's like this at night. You all shouldn't wander around. I'll bring you your food once it's ready."

Chen Huangpi earnestly instructed them before leaving with the brass oil lamp.

The Pure Immortal Temple was actually very large, spanning the entire front and back of Mount Yuqiong.

It could accommodate over a thousand people. The front, back, side, and auxiliary halls alone numbered more than ten, not to mention the scripture pavilion and the living quarters for the Daoists.

But that was only after dark.

During the day, one could only see the current main hall, along with the alchemy room, kitchen, and rows of guest rooms.

Chen Huangpi remembered one night he had wanted to explore the areas that appeared after dark, but he was discovered by his master before he could even enter.

In the end, both he and the brass oil lamp received a harsh beating.

The goateed old man and his group knew nothing of this.

But staying in the guest rooms, looking at the surrounding rows of houses that were clearly unoccupied yet as clean as if they were swept daily, they felt an inexplicable sense of horror.

Fortunately, a brass oil lamp hung in each guest room.

The bright light gave them a sliver of comfort.

It was just that all these brass oil lamps looked like they came from the same mold, right down to the strange bite marks on them.

Someone whispered, "I keep feeling that something is wrong with this place, like something is always watching us."

Another said, "And that master and disciple pair, too. Just now, I clearly saw that old Daoist looking like he wanted to eat me."

Someone's face turned ugly. "I saw it too. He was even drooling at me."

"And this cursed temple. It wasn't this big before dark. That kid definitely had bad intentions bringing us here."

"Elder Lin, you are the most senior among us. You decide what we should do."

Elder Lin, the goateed old man, listened to the others, his mind deep in thought.

They were all men from the government office, receiving a salary from the imperial court.

They had entered the Hundred Thousand Mountains this time to find the source of an evil corruption. For this, they had not only brought a deity statue but also a consecrated geomantic compass. They had found the source, on that mutated deity, but the thing was excessively terrifying. They couldn't handle it at all and could only flee in panic.

He didn't know if the mutated deity was so terrifying because it carried the source of corruption, or if it was so terrifying because of the source of corruption itself.

In any case, if it had been even a little weaker, they would have followed the plan and lured it to the border of Xu Province to create a panic.

Then, in order to resist this creature and protect the people of Xu Province, it would be natural to increase taxes.

The taxes cultivators wanted were not things like money or grain.

Those were what the common people were supposed to hand over anyway. What they wanted was human qi.

The incense offered to deity statues was, in fact, a form of human qi.

Cultivation also required human qi, but cultivators revered antiquity and continued to call it spiritual qi.

The cultivators and the powerful nobles were high above, naturally unwilling to expend their own human qi, so they could only make the common people suffer.

Now that the plan had failed and they had lost a deity statue, Elder Lin had originally thought of taking the Pure Immortal Temple's statue to at least have something to report back to that lord, but who knew the Pure Immortal Temple would be so bizarre.

Without a deity's protection, with only a master and disciple, they were living just fine, with not a single evil thing coming to their door.

If it weren't for the heart-pounding feeling of being in this temple, Elder Lin would have thought this place was much safer than Xu Province, which was protected by thousands of deity statues.

Thinking of this, Elder Lin shook his head at the others. "We can only move after daybreak at the earliest. Otherwise, the moment we step out of this temple, we're dead. I suspect that mutated deity is hiding nearby, waiting for us to come out."

"But this place... seems even less safe."

"At least for now, we are safe..."

Elder Lin hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth. "Zhang Wu, you and I have the highest cultivation here. The two of us will go out and probe the background of that master and disciple. If something happens to us, the rest of you find a way to hold out until dawn. If you get the chance, you must bring people to avenge us."

The remaining men all nodded.

But in reality, they all knew that if Elder Lin and Zhang Wu, the ones with the highest cultivation, met with disaster, how could they, the weaker cultivators, possibly find a way to hold out until dawn?

If there really was such a method, why would they need to probe the background of that strange master and disciple?

They were only doing this because they were forced into a corner.

Elder Lin and Zhang Wu no longer hesitated. The more they delayed, the more uneasy they felt.

Leaving the guest room, the two of them simultaneously concealed their auras and darted through the shadows towards a certain location, without making the slightest sound.

Elder Lin remembered that the Huangpi kid had gone to the kitchen before leaving. He hadn't been lying, because the smell of spices was carried over by the wind.

"Is he really cooking?" Elder Lin transmitted his voice secretly to Zhang Wu.

Zhang Wu shook his head slightly. "We'll know when we go take a look."

The two of them approached the kitchen window. The paper covering the window was like nothing in their eyes.

Inside the kitchen hung a brass oil lamp covered in mud.

Several two-meter-high stoves were arranged in the kitchen, with a giant pot on one of them.

Chen Huangpi was diligently adding firewood, making the fire burn fiercely. The boiling water bubbled and overflowed from under the pot lid, filling the entire kitchen with hot, humid steam.

Seeing that the heat was about right, Chen Huangpi added spices like dried tangerine peel, star anise, and white cardamom to the pot.

Then, he suddenly spoke, "Second Master, do you think the heat is enough?"

Elder Lin and Zhang Wu's hearts jumped.

That bizarre white-robed old Daoist was also here?

But how come they didn't see him?

In the next second, the white-robed old Daoist's voice came from a place they never would have expected.

From inside the pot, the white-robed old Daoist complained, "The fire is too small. I don't think I'll be cooked through. We should still use my alchemy furnace. That one has more power, and it's fierce."

(End of Chapter)