Finding II

Finding II

Lu Sheng slowly approached and stopped twenty paces from the Taoist Temple.

He looked carefully in the direction of the Taoist Temple.

Through the collapsed gates, he could clearly see Yan Kai holding a Fine Iron Sword, driving a blurry white shadow back again and again.

In no more than a moment, the white shadow was viciously struck by the tip of his sword. It let out a shriek in the voice of a little girl.

Then it fell to the ground and abruptly vanished.

Yan Kai's face was the color of jujubes as he slowly sheathed his sword. White steam rose slowly from the top of his head.

This region near the Arctic Ocean was frozen and bitterly cold, and it was deep in the mountains. Even a slight breath would turn to white mist, let alone after such an intense fight.

As Yan Kai sheathed his sword, he also spotted Lu Sheng and the others hurrying over.

"Young Master Sheng of the Lu Family has brought people."

Duan Rongrong had been hiding in a corner the whole time. Now that the demon ghost had been dealt with, she quietly slipped out as well.

"That was truly dangerous. Demon ghosts never acted in groups, yet we ran into three here. Our luck was terrible."

The moment she recalled what had happened earlier, she still felt lingering fear.

"It's fine. They've all been dealt with." Yan Kai said calmly. "Go greet Young Master Sheng. That tunnel beneath the Taoist Temple may be connected to the missing people."

"Once we finish this, we'll have traveling money for quite a while again." Duan Rongrong immediately cheered, dusted herself off, and headed toward Lu Sheng and the others.

Yan Kai shook his head. Weariness showed on his face as he followed after her with some helplessness.

A smile appeared on Lu Sheng's face as he stepped forward to meet them.

"Daoist—"

The words had barely left his mouth when he heard a tearing sound, like cloth ripping apart.

Pff! A white shadow shot out from the shadows at the side and pounced viciously at Lu Sheng and the guards behind him.

"Not good! It wants to possess someone!"

Yan Kai knew how troublesome demon ghosts were. Unlike other ghosts, demon ghosts could possess people. Once they did, many of his methods for restraining ghosts became useless, and he could only settle it through a head-on clash.

After possessing someone, a demon ghost could greatly enhance every aspect of its host for a short time. This move was utterly monstrous.

If he had been in perfect condition, he might not have feared it. But Lu Sheng had brought so many people with him. To the demon ghost, each of them was an ideal host.

These robust men, brimming with Qi and blood, gave the demon ghost the perfect opportunity for possession.

His stamina was spent now, and he could barely keep going. If the demon ghost succeeded in possessing someone, the situation would become perilous in the extreme.

"Get out of the way!!!" With his Qi and blood surging, Yan Kai charged forward in alarm.

But no matter how fast he was, he was still no match for the demon ghost.

With a swoosh, the white shadow pounced first at Lu Sheng, whose Qi and blood were at their most vigorous.

Yan Kai was horrified. The others would have been one thing, but if anything happened to Lu Sheng, they would truly be in deep trouble in Nine Links City.

Though only a day had passed, in that short day they had come into contact with people at many levels, and had deeply realized exactly what kind of status the Lu Family held in Nine Links City.

His feet moved in a strange footwork, his speed surging as he tried to intercept the white shadow before it reached Lu Sheng.

Clang!!

In that instant, a flash of white light appeared.

Lu Sheng's eyes snapped open.

The air around him suddenly shuddered, releasing a deafening tiger's roar.

Like lightning, his right hand drew the long saber from his back and cleaved straight down before him.

Blade Light flashed, carrying the savage roar of a fierce tiger.

Roar!!

Pff! Like a rag that had seen a ghost, the white shadow was struck by the saber and sent flying. It rolled several times through the air before vanishing with a tearing hiss.

The surroundings fell silent as Lu Sheng slowly sheathed his saber.

The muscles all over his body were still flushed and swollen with blood. Threads of savage aura seeped from him, making him seem like a ferocious beast.

Yan Kai abruptly stopped, his eyes wide as he looked at where the demon ghost had disappeared, then at the vigorous, surging Qi and blood filling Lu Sheng's body. For a long while, he could not speak.

Duan Rongrong clicked her tongue, her eyes shining as she walked to his side.

"Brother Yan Kai, this Young Master Sheng is incredible."

Duan Rongrong had only just entered this line of work and did not understand the true significance of that strike.

But Yan Kai was different. He stared blankly at Lu Sheng. Even when Lu Sheng walked up before him, he still could not say a word.

"Daoist, you've worked hard. If that demon ghost hadn't already been severely injured by you, I wouldn't have been able to finish it with one strike either." Lu Sheng said with a smile.

"Young Master Sheng... you are too courteous."

Yan Kai shook his head and came back to himself.

"To be honest, I've met Spirit Exorcists like myself, and I've seen other methods used to deal with troubles like demon ghosts.

"But this is the first time I've seen someone like you, Young Master—someone who could deal with a demon ghost purely through powerful inner Qi."

As he spoke, he recalled what he had said before, claiming that martial arts were useless against demon ghosts.

He could not help but smile bitterly.

"Oh?" Lu Sheng was somewhat surprised.

Yan Kai smiled bitterly. The faint impatience he had shown earlier was gone, and he explained carefully.

"It isn't that martial arts are entirely useless. Only extremely yang or specially endowed inner Qi can harm ghosts at all.

"But that harm... Let me put it this way. If we used our methods and exerted one part of strength, we could kill a demon ghost. Yang-aspected inner Qi, on the other hand, would need to expend fifty parts!"

With that explanation, Lu Sheng understood.

He also understood why Yan Kai had looked down on so-called martial arts experts. The gap in efficiency was simply too great.

"Still, that strike just now succeeded for two reasons. First, the demon ghost had already been injured by me. Second, the inner Qi you unleashed, Young Master Sheng, possessed an attribute that slightly restrained demon ghosts. That was why it achieved a one-strike kill."

Yan Kai explained.

Yu Han and the other manor guards who had followed Lu Sheng had all seen with their own eyes as Lu Sheng's saber struck that drifting white shadow.

The fear they had felt immediately faded, and their courage swelled greatly.

Every one of them looked at Lu Sheng with reverence.

Though that Daoist was formidable and could easily destroy those ghostlike white shadows, their own Young Master was no ordinary man either.

Yu Han had been afraid earlier, especially when the ghost had flown at them. Cold sweat had soaked his back.

Fortunately, he had not reacted in time and had merely stood there stupidly, so he had not made a fool of himself.

But among the guards behind him, more than half had turned and fled. Their torches, sabers, and swords had been tossed all over the ground.

Lu Sheng glanced back at the many guards behind him, then turned to Yu Han.

"Handle this place. Search the surroundings and see whether there's anyone else. Daoist, it's clean here now, isn't it?"

He turned back and asked Yan Kai.

Yan Kai's old face reddened as he recalled his earlier oversight. He nodded forcefully.

"Don't worry. It's clean. That was merely a fish that slipped through the net."

Duan Rongrong stood to the side, staring curiously at Lu Sheng with wide eyes.

Yan Kai continued.

"There's a tunnel inside. When Miss Zhuan Feng discovered this place, she believed there might be living people hidden within."

"Where is Miss Zhuan Feng?" Lu Sheng had just asked when he saw Zhuan Feng walking out of the Taoist Temple.

"Come on. Let's go inside and take a look."

Lu Sheng gripped the hilt of his saber and walked toward the Taoist Temple gates.

Yan Kai and Duan Rongrong followed, overtaking Lu Sheng in a few steps to lead the way through the gates.

The Taoist Temple was yellowish-gray overall, with three rooms connected together.

The central hall had no doors, and a large hole had opened in its roof, exposing the disorderly weeds and piles of stones inside.

Lu Sheng followed Yan Kai and Duan Rongrong into the main hall. Directly opposite the entrance, a black-and-white Taiji diagram had been painted on the wall.

Before the Taiji diagram stood a stone idol. Half of its head had been chopped away, making it impossible to tell which Dao Lord it had once enshrined.

Yan Kai walked to the idol and hooked his foot through the pile of weeds on the ground.

Clang.

With a crisp sound, a square tunnel entrance more than a person wide was uncovered in the floor.

A faint moaning wind could still be heard from within. Standing at the entrance was like hearing someone crying inside, sending chills down one's spine.

Zhuan Feng stood beside the entrance.

"I've already gone into this tunnel once. Inside... there are some corpses, and some living people."

As she spoke, a troubled expression appeared on her face, as though she did not know how to describe what was inside.

Lu Sheng looked toward Yan Kai again.

The Daoist only shook his head with a bitter smile.

"I heard Miss Zhuan Feng describe this place. Only you should go in. Don't worry, there are no evil entities inside anymore. There won't be any danger."

A faint sense of foreboding rose in Lu Sheng's heart. He tightened his grip on the saber hilt, suppressed his unease, and slowly descended the stone steps into the tunnel.

Zhuan Feng went in with him.

Other than the two of them, no one else entered.

The tunnel was narrow at first. After walking more than ten steps and turning a corner, they came upon a pitch-black iron door.

The door stood half open, and faint sounds could be heard from within.

Lu Sheng glanced at Zhuan Feng.

"This is the place. The missing people should all be here."

Zhuan Feng said seriously.

Lu Sheng was quite curious about Zhuan Feng.

What kind of experiences could have transformed a girl in the bloom of youth into such an indifferent expert, like a professional hunter?

When the demon ghosts had appeared earlier, Zhuan Feng had not seemed panicked after arriving. Perhaps she had seen similar scenes before.

He studied Zhuan Feng carefully.

"Miss Zhuan Feng, would you be interested in joining my Lu Family as a retainer?"

"No." Zhuan Feng answered simply and directly.

"All right." Lu Sheng knew that aside from money, he had no resources that could attract a talent of her caliber, so he said no more.

He reached out and pushed open the iron door.

Amid the scraping sound of iron rubbing against the ground, Lu Sheng slowly saw the scene behind the door.

In a stone Secret Chamber no more than ten paces long or wide, naked corpses lay piled haphazardly in the corners.

There were men and women, old and young.

Apart from the corpses, three living people remained in the Secret Chamber.

Two women and one man. All three were well-proportioned and fit, clearly the kind who exercised regularly.

What weighed most heavily on Lu Sheng's heart was that one of the women was Lu Qingqing.

Lu Qingqing was naked, kneeling on all fours on the floor. Her long hair hung loose, and her face was so pale it had turned bluish.

Hearing the movement, she raised her head sluggishly and looked toward the doorway. Her once lively, large eyes were now dim and vacant.

Saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth. She looked completely demented.

"Qingqing!!" Lu Sheng stepped forward twice, took off his outer robe, and wrapped it around her. "Qingqing, wake up! Wake up!!"

He raised his hand and slapped Lu Qingqing twice.

But it was useless.

Lu Qingqing's eyes remained exactly as vacant as before.

A trace of sorrow flashed through Zhuan Feng's eyes.

"It's no use. She's already become a fool. Yin Qi has entered her brain. Without Yang Qi to sustain it, at least half of her brain has lost all vitality. The fact that she survived is already a miracle. Those were the Daoist's exact words."

Lu Sheng's mood sank to the bottom.

He held Lu Qingqing as he stood, then looked at the other two people.

The man and woman were both handsome and beautiful, with well-proportioned, attractive figures. Clearly, they were goods deliberately kept by the demon ghosts here for some unknown purpose.