There was no one inside the Daoist Temple.
Wen Shaodong, his eyes wary, slowly walked into the temple with his hands behind his back.
He looked up at the Four Symbols Celestial Venerable enshrined there.
I walked around the Statue and observed it carefully.
He recalled that he rarely saw such Statue when he used to worship in Daoist Temple.
But as soon as he reached the back of the Statue, he suddenly paused, noticing a detail.
On the lower back of the Statue, there are faint, fine lines and gaps.
Wen Shaodong reached out and gently touched the back of the Statue for a while.
Puff.
Suddenly, the back of the Statue collapsed inward, creating a black hole.
Wen Shaodong's expression trembled. After hesitating for a moment, he quickly crushed the edge of the black hole and expanded it.
Soon, it became clear that the inside of the cave was a flat, elongated space, with a book placed inside.
He reached in and took the leather booklet out.
Below the booklet was a black, slender-necked bottle.
"What is this?" He had a gut feeling that this thing must be something good.
The Iron Taoist was so powerful, yet he had been guarding this Daoist Temple all this time. There must be some hidden secret here.
And this book and porcelain vase might just be the secret behind it.
Wen Shaodong's heart pounded, and he quickly packed the items into his bag.
Then he turned and walked out from behind the Statue, acting as if nothing had happened.
He was completely unaware that while he was secretly taking things, Chen Miaotong, who was also searching, saw this scene through a broken window outside the main hall.
"Found it!" someone suddenly shouted.
A group of people rushed over immediately.
Someone found a cellar and rescued Chen Ya, the daughter of Abyssal Constant Saber, who had been imprisoned there.
An ordinary girl who had already fallen into a coma.
Seeing that the person had been rescued, Wen Shaodong felt relieved and immediately ordered everyone to evacuate.
One of the objectives of this trip has been achieved.
The other one, in fact, had a bad feeling because he couldn't find any trace of Senior Brother Yun and the others in the Daoist Temple.
It's just not appropriate to say it outright at this time.
Now that Chen Ya has been found, even if everyone has a secret weapon, they are unwilling to fight the Iron Taoist to the death.
So everyone agreed to leave the Yin Huai Forest.
So the whole group began to turn around and gradually head back the way they came.
After everyone had evacuated the Daoist Temple.
Some people suggested that they should just burn down the Daoist Temple.
"I still have Fire Oil here! Since that Iron Taoist is so keen on this land, let's destroy it completely!" Zhao Dihu said fiercely.
"What if a fire starts here and spreads across the mountain?" Lin Huan asked with some concern.
"That's right, we can't burn it. If it starts a forest fire, how many innocent people will be burned to death?" Chen Miaotong and the others objected.
They each had their own worries.
Looking at Chen Ya, who had been rescued, but still nowhere to be seen, Chen Miaotong's initial hope sank further.
If a fire were to start now and burn the mountain, what if her sister and the others were still alive? So she firmly opposed starting the fire.
"Alright, everyone, it seems that our rescue operation is halfway complete."
"It's getting late now, and we need to find the rest of the people..." Wen Shaodong didn't finish his sentence.
Suddenly, a cry of surprise came from not far away.
"Everyone, come quick!"
He frowned, his mind completely focused on the unexpected item he had just acquired. He had no intention of causing any further trouble.
It's obvious that something hidden in such a secret place must be extremely important.
A group of people rushed to the location where the person was calling out.
He had no choice but to rush there.
When everyone arrived, they were all stunned by what they saw.
Throughout the forest, corpses were nailed to the thick tree trunks with long wooden stakes.
Some of the corpses were already rotten and shriveled, resembling dried salted meat.
Some were still dripping fresh blood.
Strangely, the blood flowing down the tree trunk did not attract any animals or carrion birds.
Wen Shaodong glanced around and immediately saw Senior Brother Yun and the others from the Zhengming Society! Goosebumps rose all over his body, and a chill ran from his tailbone straight to the top of his head.
Not only Senior Brother Yun, Zhengming Society were now all on the tree trunks.
"Sister!!" Chen Miaotong, with tears in her eyes, rushed to a tree trunk not far away.
There was a woman's corpse there, with a huge gash cut into her shoulder.
Seemingly because they felt the body was incomplete, it wasn't nailed to the tree trunk. It was simply left lying around under the tree.
Chen Miaotong covered her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Ah! Suddenly another scream rang out from the side.
With the sound of flesh being torn apart, everyone turned to look.
A figure in a black Daoist robe was seen slowly pulling a sword from a member of the Zhengming Society.
Blood splattered, covering him completely.
"Junior Brother Zhang!!"
An angry voice rang out from the side, and he grabbed a secret weapon, ripped off the black cloth, and sprayed it at the figure.
In an instant, a pungent liquid gushed out, splashing the figure all over.
That's some kind of highly acidic Poison Water!
It is fired in one go using a device similar to a water gun.
The figure didn't flinch, but bent down, took a step, and instantly flashed past the person.
Whoosh! The man froze on the spot, his body split diagonally in two from head to waist, and slowly slid down.
"How come he's not afraid?!"
Someone's voice suddenly trembled.
"We prepared Poison Water specifically designed to target armor. How could he not be afraid?!"
"There's definitely not enough quantity!"
"Everyone, attack together!!!" Wen Shaodong suddenly realized what was happening, roared, and took out the secret weapon from his back.
All members of the Zhengming Society sprayed large amounts of strong acid venom.
But the figure completely ignored it, letting the Poison Water spill all over him.
He simply took a step, rushed closer, and swung his sword.
One after another, within seconds, six people had fallen.
Thud! Wen Shaodong slammed the Poison Water spray gun in his hand into the figure, thoroughly drenching the person with the large amount of Poison Water inside.
The Poison Water corroded the armor, causing it to hiss and emit choking white smoke.
A large amount of liquid seeped in through the gaps in the armor, but the man didn't care at all. With another sword strike, he cleaved a person approaching from the right in two.
"He's not afraid at all!!" Wen Shaodong's face twisted in pain as he finally understood.
This Iron Taoist wasn't afraid of their secret weapon at all!! Then why did he retreat before?! Why did he retreat?! Nearly thirty people, half of them died in just over ten seconds.
Wen Shaodong and the other three High Grade Experts, initially terrified, quickly regained their composure and joined forces to cast a large, thick fishing net, attempting to trap the Iron Taoist.
But the Daoist priest casually ripped the fishing net to shreds.
"Everyone, let's restrain its movements, and let Society Master go all out to stab its eyes!"
The members of the Zhengming Society roared and, with perfect coordination, pounced on the Iron Taoist from three directions.
Three curved swords simultaneously blocked the Iron Taoist's greatsword.
Then the three of them simultaneously took out thick ropes and ran wildly around the Iron Taoist in circles.
In just two seconds, they tied him up in a ball.
"Kill!!"
One person shouted out loud.
But what they received was not support.
Wen Shaodong held a short sword, his eyes filled with hesitation, fear, and anger—a mixture of emotions.
Ultimately, the will to survive prevailed.
Without even glancing at the others, he turned and ran.
He wouldn't have come at all if he hadn't thought it was a safe period and there wouldn't be much danger.
Now they are in danger, having nearly died so many times in a row.
We've already given enough.
Wen Shaodong holds a high position and has worked hard for decades to reach this point.
He absolutely cannot die!
With so many wives, concubines, and descendants at home, the Wen Family still has the potential to become a major local Great Clans! How could that be??
How can I die here now?!
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from everyone's sight, vanishing into the dark depths of the forest.
The three people from Zhengming Society were immediately taken aback.
Before they could even react, the Iron Taoist exerted force.
Snap! All the ropes binding him snapped in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, three more streaks of blood splattered.
In the dense forest, the crowd completely broke down.
The members of the Zhengming Society, who had just been fighting back, lost all morale and fled when they saw that their Society Master had also run away and that their last remaining experts had been cut down.
The scattered crowd was no match for the Iron Taoist, and in the blink of an eye, two more were caught up and killed.
While the others were frantically fleeing, Chen Miaotong rushed forward, picked up her sister's body, and ran quickly back the way she came.
Ah! Another scream came from behind.
Chen Miaotong trembled all over and mustered all her strength to take a step forward.
She didn't know if she could escape alive.
But as long as there was a glimmer of hope, she... Whoosh! Suddenly, a tall, Shadow appeared in front of her.
Chen Miaotong stopped abruptly, looked up, and saw the Iron Taoist raising his iron sword high and bringing it down.
Buzz.
The iron sword slashed down heavily, but suddenly froze, hovering in mid-air.
Chen Miaotong was so frightened that she trembled all over and closed her eyes tightly.
But the pain of waiting never came.
She hurriedly opened her eyes, only to see the Iron Taoist turn and run away, already more than ten meters away, without looking back.
"Huh, there's one more?"
Suddenly a male voice came from behind.
Before Chen Miaotong could react, she felt a blur beside her as a blurry figure streaked past.
In the dark forest, the phantom moved back and forth among the trees, using its momentum like a giant black eagle, swooping down on the fleeing Iron Taoist.
Hiss! Faintly, Chen Miaotong seemed to hear the sharp cry of an eagle as claws tore through the air.
She watched from afar as the man descended above the Iron Taoist, his right hand flashing downwards with lightning speed, grabbing and twisting.
Click.
The Iron Taoist's head instantly rotated 360 degrees, and he immediately stopped moving.
With a thud, the Iron Taoist fell to the ground and fell silent.
Zhang Rongfang turned around, his face blank; after all, the mask couldn't produce any particularly delicate or subtle expressions.
He glanced around and realized he was too late.
There were nearly thirty people here just a moment ago, but now only a handful are still alive.
The rest were killed by the second Iron Taoist.
With a sigh, Zhang Rongfang realized that he couldn't bear to see human life treated so cheaply.
He would never kill indiscriminately unless absolutely necessary. But this Iron Taoist, regardless of right or wrong, good or evil, would kill anyone he saw.
Moreover, as the intelligence reports stated, the Iron Taoist did indeed possess a physical aptitude of the Ninth Grade.
But that's all.
They didn't know any techniques; they just relied on brute force and speed to wildly swing their iron swords.
Dealing with such an opponent is basically just... "Watch out!!" A sudden scream rang out.
Zhang Rongfang looked in the direction of the sound, but his body moved swiftly to the left, dodging the rusty iron sword that was slashing down from behind.
Bang!
The sword blade fell to the ground, leaving a deep gash.
Zhang Rongfang didn't even look behind him, and grabbed down with his Eagle Claw.
Click.
With a crisp crack, the second Iron Taoist behind him suffered a broken kneecap and collapsed to his knees.
Smack
Zhang Rongfang suddenly turned around, his Eagle Claw flashing out and grabbing his neck.
Click.
Neck fracture.
The second Iron Taoist went still and collapsed to the ground.
He turned around and looked at the two Iron Taoist who had also fallen to the ground, his face showing astonishment.
"Dead can actually come back to life?!"
He just killed an Iron Taoist.
I can't believe it's only been a short time and this guy is alive again?
Or is this the third one?