Bonus Story 1: Thanks to Silver Alliance Leader (Happy Birthday to Li Huowang 0402) for the donation

"Daoist Master, this way. Watch out for the shit—don't step in it."

Wu Shuifeng, her face full of misery, led Li Huowang onward while immediately beginning to ramble.

"Ah, my life has truly been bitter. I was weak and sickly as a child, then I raised him with shit in one hand and piss in the other. He finally managed to take a wife, but before she could bear a grandson, my daughter-in-law got possessed! Ah, bitter, so bitter. My fate is truly bitter."

"She might've provoked something when she went to chop firewood in the barren hills a few days ago and got close to that Dilapidated Temple. That place is not somewhere people should go. They worship Wutong there—it's evil as hell."

Li Huowang, carrying two swords on his back, knitted his brows as he listened to the old woman's prattle and surveyed the surroundings.

The village looked terribly run-down. Its fences were broken, its walls slanted, and filth was everywhere. His brow furrowed even deeper. The people in this village deep in the mountains truly did not seem very hardworking.

Just then, Wu Shuifeng stopped outside her home. Turning around, she looked at Li Huowang with hope in her eyes. "Little Daoist Master, look, this is my home. The girl is being offered up inside."

Before Li Huowang stood three shabby tile-roofed rooms. The dirty walls plastered with yellow mud had already cracked, though at least they did not let in the wind.

Li Huowang said nothing and stepped through the door. The moment he entered, he saw an honest-looking bald man squatting in a corner, speaking mournfully to an old man.

A thin woman sat cross-legged atop the kang, wrapped in an old red quilt. Her expression was listless. Before her stood three bowls of rice,