True Martial Great Emperor, Bless Us! Amitabha! Amen!

Fan Wu opened the Daoist temple gates and saw several people standing outside. They were all dressed in County Yamen Runner uniforms, and above each of their heads hung attribute information that only he could see.

[Prison Dragon County Constable—Life: 66—Strength: 2—Skill: None]

[Runner A—Life: 59—Strength: 1.5—Skill: None]

[Runner B—Life...]

[...]

They were NPC-style names utterly devoid of presence. It was truly impossible to complain about them—before the Golden Finger, these Runners did not even deserve to possess names!

None of their attributes were particularly high. The one with the highest [Strength] attribute was the Constable leading them.

Even so, he was still far beneath Fan Wu.

The Runners were already panting from exhaustion. They had grown impatient from knocking on the door for so long, and tempers had inevitably begun to rise. But when they saw Fan Wu standing before them like an iron tower...

Their breaths caught at once.

They did not dare breathe too loudly.

Their tempers vanished like smoke.

The muscles on Fan Wu's arms were thicker than their thighs. How could they not be afraid?

They had heard that this Old Heavenly Master's disciple had once beaten a mad bull to death with his bare hands!

He was an ultimate ruthless brute!

It was not the Constable's first time meeting Fan Wu, yet every time, he felt a faint but inescapable pressure from Fan Wu that made him secretly swallow.

This Daoist Master...

Looked more like a bandit chief!

The Constable took a deep breath and hurriedly recounted, from beginning to end, the strange incident in Prison Dragon County. "Daoist Master Fan, do you remember that incident with the unclean thing a few days ago? The unclean thing the County Magistrate asked you to suppress!"

"You had originally suppressed it, Daoist Master, but for some reason, it emerged again last night and dragged someone into the water!"

"Fortunately, someone was with him and forcibly pulled him back out."

"After the man who was dragged down woke up, he acted as though he had been possessed. He kept shouting that there was... cough, an unclean thing!"

"He even saw that unclean thing with his own eyes!"

The Constable did not dare say the word "ghost" from start to finish. If Fan Wu had not been standing before him, he probably would not even have dared casually utter the words "unclean thing," afraid that he might invite a ghost onto himself.

Fan Wu heard this.

He fell silent.

Of course he remembered. It was because the County Magistrate had asked him to suppress an evil ghost that Fan Wu had missed his best chance to grab the silver and run, leaving himself tangled in trouble.

But how could Fan Wu possibly know how to exorcise ghosts?

He could only copy a cat by drawing a tiger, imitating the street tricks of his swindler master.

Then, drawing on the ghost movies he had watched in his previous life, he copied what he had seen and performed several "rituals."

When nothing happened afterward... Fan Wu had thought it was merely a false alarm.

But now the Constable had come knocking and brought the matter up again.

He even said someone had seen what the ghost looked like.

He made it sound utterly convincing.

Did that not mean that this time... this fake Daoist's disciple had run into a real ghost?

What the hell?

Fan Wu realized that when he had been "performing rituals" a few days ago, had he not been strolling beside Ghost Gate Pass?

He did not know shit about performing rituals!

Countless thoughts flashed through Fan Wu's mind in an instant. In the end, he abandoned the idea of knocking out these Runners and immediately fleeing. If he truly did that, he would probably... become a fugitive wanted by the imperial court.

Becoming a wanted fugitive meant becoming an enemy of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty!

Fan Wu did not want to live as a runaway.

The few rituals he had conducted several days ago had barely managed to fool them. He could only see whether he could fool them again this time.

"Daoist Master? Dao... Daoist Master?" Seeing Fan Wu's grim expression and his complete lack of response, the Constable could not help beating a drum in his heart. He asked weakly, "Could it be... could it be that unclean thing is too fierce? Do you find it very troublesome, Daoist Master?!"

"It is indeed somewhat troublesome," Fan Wu replied vaguely.

"But Daoist Master, we cannot delay any longer! Night is about to fall again, and that unclean thing may come out to harm people tonight. If lives are lost, it will become a real disaster!" The Constable was deeply worried.

Although people dying was normal, dying in an accident and dying at the hands of ghosts were two entirely different concepts.

An accident would generally only kill one person.

But ghosts...

Would kill many people!!!

"Mmm, this humble Daoist understands. Wait a moment." Fan Wu answered flatly, then shut the temple gates and immediately headed for the main hall of the Daoist temple, where the statue of the True Martial Great Emperor stood.

Fan Wu did not know Daoist arts. He was very skilled at beating people, but when it came to exorcising ghosts, he knew absolutely nothing.

But...

The situation was not entirely hopeless.

Fan Wu looked once more at the statue of the True Martial Great Emperor, and those three lines of text entered his sight again. This statue stood a full four meters tall and had been donated to the Daoist temple by the wealthy landlords of Prison Dragon County.

However, what Fan Wu cared about most was the sword in the True Martial Great Emperor's hand.

It was a genuine sword forged by Prison Dragon County's finest blacksmith, modeled after the True Martial Great Emperor's Northern Black Chi Gun Horn Demon-Slaying Valiant Sword from myth and legend.

A sword forged by mortals was naturally just an ordinary sword, generally incapable of exorcising ghosts or subduing demons.

But the True Martial Great Emperor in this Daoist temple already possessed Incense-Fire Power!

Then the sword He held should have undergone a rebirth as well, right?

It certainly could not be as powerful as the genuine Northern Black Chi Gun Horn Demon-Slaying Valiant Sword, but even if it possessed only one hundred-millionth of the original's might, it would be enough to give Fan Wu the confidence to face an evil ghost.

That was right...

Fan Wu intended to borrow this sword.

He solemnly took three incense sticks, bowed three times with convincing form, and muttered, "The scriptures my swindler master gave me were all made up by him. I do not know what proper terminology I should use to borrow this treasured sword from You."

"If I truly encounter a real evil ghost, I hope Your sword can be of some use. I do not ask that it kill the ghost—only that it frighten it enough that it will not come out tonight."

"Because... once tonight is over, I absolutely have to make a run for it."

"May the Heaven-Suppressing True Martial Spirit-Responsive Blessing-Saint Imperial Lord protect me!"

Then Fan Wu climbed onto the altar.

He planted one foot on the knee of the True Martial Great Emperor statue and reached out for the hilt of the sword.

At that moment, Fan Wu suddenly felt his hair stand on end, as if a pair of eyes above his head were lowered, silently watching him.

"Do not blame me, do not blame me..."

"True Martial Great Emperor, bless me!"

"Flying Spaghetti Monster, bless me!"

"Boundless Heavenly Worthy!"

"Amitabha!"

"Amen!"

Fan Wu swiftly took down the treasured sword. It was enormous enough to be called a greatsword—seven chi and two cun long, exactly twenty-four jin heavy, and four cun and eight fen wide.

Fan Wu curiously drew the sword.

The keen blade left no doubt that it could kill.

Perhaps because this statue of the True Martial Great Emperor had gained a trace of divine might, the sword in His hand had received a certain enhancement as well...

So many years had passed, and his swindler master had never maintained this treasured sword.

Yet it remained incomparably sharp.

There was not the slightest trace of rust.

An ordinary person simply could not wield a twenty-four-jin sword. After only a few swings, their arms would probably become so tired they could no longer feel them.

But Fan Wu felt that this sword's weight...

Suited his taste perfectly!

It was indeed just a little too long. Seven chi and two cun was already one meter ninety in the Great Zhou Dynasty, nearly matching Fan Wu's own height.

A greatsword of this size could serve as a blunt weapon even without an edge.

Fan Wu had just intended to take the sword and head out, but after thinking it over, he returned first. He wrapped some Incense Ash in a sheet of yellow paper and stuffed it into a cloth pouch.

He believed that the Incense Ash used to worship the True Martial Great Emperor's statue should also have some ghost-exorcising effect.

As for how to determine that? Had the Constable not said that someone in Prison Dragon County had encountered a ghost and become possessed?

Was that not an excellent test subject?

Fan Wu wore a gray-blue Daoist robe.

He carried a Northern Black Chi Gun Horn Demon-Slaying Valiant Sword on his back.

A pouch of Incense Ash hung from his waist.

He opened the door once more.

The Constable waiting outside the Daoist temple was already frantic with anxiety. When he saw Fan Wu's strange getup, he could not help staring in stunned disbelief. Anyone unaware of the situation would have thought Fan Wu was heading out to rob and plunder!

"Dao... Daoist Master Fan, you are going to?"

"To kill a ghost." Fan Wu spoke as if it were only natural. "Could it be that I am going to kill people? Lead this humble Daoist to see the person who was dragged into the water by a ghost last night first."

"Ah? Oh!!"