"How could this happen?" Xia Yunsi stared at the corridor by the hall's entrance, utterly bewildered.
Zhengwu was a Buddhist Seventh Rank, and Ren Qianxing was an Eighth Rank of the Puppet Path. Even if the Evil Spirit was powerful, the two of them shouldn't have been unable to put up so much as a fight.
Unless whatever they had faced had been beyond anything they could handle.
If there really were such a powerful Evil Spirit inside Jinzhao Temple, it wouldn't need to skulk in the shadows. It could simply show itself and wipe out all of them Demon Subduing Captains at once.
"Ren Qianxing's puppets didn't react at all. It seems he's already met with disaster," Ning Xiu said gravely, frowning.
"What do we do now?" Xia Yunsi asked.
"Come with me and search outside. See if you can find any trace the Evil Spirit left behind. And remember, don't leave my side. We can't afford to lose anyone else." Ning Xiu went back for the Startling Thunder Hammer, then walked out of the Mahavira Hall.
Braving the heavy rain, he and Xia Yunsi searched every inch of Jinzhao Temple, inside and out, but found no trace of Ren Qianxing or Zhengwu.
With no other choice, they returned to the Mahavira Hall. Judging by the situation, Zhengwu and Ren Qianxing had likely met with disaster—and might already be dead.
Ning Xiu set the Startling Thunder Hammer on the ground and sighed. "We've barely started, and two of our teammates are already dead. Once the rain stops tomorrow, we'll head to Shen Family Town. We'll ask a courier to send word to the Demon Subduing Bureau and have the temple send a specialist to investigate what's wrong with Jinzhao Temple—something here made two Demon Subduing Captains vanish without a sound."
Xia Yunsi was about to agree, but just then, her gaze was drawn to a white wall in the distance.
She cried out in shock, "Lord Ning, look over there!"
All along the way, Ning Xiu had told Xia Yunsi to just call him Ning Xiu. The fact that she'd suddenly blurted out "Lord Ning" showed just how rattled she was.
Following her finger, Ning Xiu saw two little figures on the white wall.
He was certain that the wall had been completely blank before.
He hurried over. The two little figures looked exactly like the missing Ren Qianxing and the monk Zhengwu.
One stood looking around in bewilderment; the other pressed his palms together, holding Buddhist prayer beads as he chanted. Against the endless white, their expressions and gestures were painted with astonishing lifelikeness, as if they were truly alive.
Ning Xiu and Xia Yunsi exchanged a glance, each seeing the same thought in the other's eyes.
How did those two end up inside a mural?
"Lord Ning, I have a bold theory."
"If you have a theory, just say it. Don't worry about whether it's bold."
Xia Yunsi's expression was grave. "If I'm not mistaken, Jinzhao Temple has become a Fierce God."
"A Fierce God?! A temple can become one?" Ning Xiu asked incredulously.
The Demon and Monster Compendium compiled by the Demon Subduing Bureau recorded dozens of Fierce Gods. Most of them were mountains or peaks, rivers, lakes, or forests.
But Ning Xiu had never heard of a building developing sentience and becoming a Fierce God.
"When plants and trees gain intelligence, they become demons; when mountains and rivers gain intelligence, they become gods. The difference is whether they possess innate divine abilities. Fierce Gods have all kinds of innate abilities: some summon wind and rain, some gather spiritual energy, and some turn stone into gold. Each is infinitely wondrous.
"I once heard a Bronze Leopard Demon Subduing Captain tell a similar story. Decades ago, a pagoda built by the Demon Subduing Bureau to suppress a thousand-year-old Snake Demon inexplicably gained sentience and became a Fierce God.
"Not only did it release the Snake Demon pinned beneath it, it also became the demon's Dao companion. Together, they fled beyond Great Shang's borders, and no one has heard from them since. So buildings can indeed become Fierce Gods.
"Turning living people into figures in a wall mural might well be Jinzhao Temple's innate divine ability," Xia Yunsi said earnestly.
Since such a precedent did exist, Ning Xiu no longer doubted her. Instead, he quickly considered what to do next.
The two of them were inside a Fierce God, and Zhengwu and Ren Qianxing had only just been drawn into the mural. If they hurried, they might still have a chance to save them.
At once, Ning Xiu picked up the Startling Thunder Hammer and swung it down hard against the floor of the Mahavira Hall.
If Jinzhao Temple really was a Fierce God, he would provoke it into revealing its true form. Then, by fighting it, they might still have a sliver of a chance to rescue Ren Qianxing and Zhengwu.
Martial artists weren't especially good at investigating and tracking down Evil Spirits. But when it came to fighting them, martial artists were right in their element.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The 320-jin Startling Thunder Hammer slammed into the floor. Ning Xiu had swung it only once, yet it struck the ground with three deafening booms.
The inside of the Mahavira Hall shook violently. Stones flew, and bricks cracked apart.
The floor caved in across a radius of at least fifty paces around the hammer. Spiderweb cracks raced in every direction, splitting the surface with countless lightning-like fissures.
The entire Mahavira Hall shook wildly. Tiles slid off the eaves outside and smashed onto the ground with sharp, clattering cracks.
Xia Yunsi's eyes lit up. So this was the might of a single strike from a Martial Dao Fifth Rank!
If Jinzhao Temple truly was a Fierce God, then Ning Xiu's wanton destruction of its floor was like tearing into its body. It could hardly keep pretending to be a building and quietly hide in the shadows.
That single blow had contained Ning Xiu's Internal Energy and three layers of hammer force. Its power had sunk three or four zhang into the ground. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he'd caused a small Earth Dragon Turnover.
"Come out!"
Ning Xiu hoisted the Startling Thunder Hammer. As he roared, a shower of sparks burst from his mouth and scattered over the hammer.
The entire Startling Thunder Hammer instantly blazed as if drenched in oil.
Once the Great Sun Profound Scripture reached its tenth level, its cultivation naturally produced the strange phenomenon of Internal Energy turning into fire.
And after Ning Xiu evolved the Great Sun Profound Scripture into the Burning Sun Grand Radiance Scripture, this phenomenon had become even more extraordinary.
As Xia Yunsi watched, Ning Xiu swung down with all his strength again. The force of this blow was far more astounding than the last.
The floor could no longer withstand the hammer's force. It shattered, and flames poured from the crevice-like cracks, spreading across the entire Mahavira Hall in an instant.
It looked just like fire bursting up from the earth!
In just two strikes, the Mahavira Hall, which had looked sturdy enough to last another hundred years, was already on the verge of collapse.
There was no doubt about it: if Ning Xiu brought the hammer down a third time, the hall would fall.
Just then, Jinzhao Temple shook violently. Layers of multicolored, bubble-like membranes appeared throughout the temple.
They squeezed toward the place where Ning Xiu and Xia Yunsi stood.
Before he could even react to what was happening, Ning Xiu found that everything before his eyes had changed completely.
The Mahavira Hall, which he'd nearly smashed to pieces, was gone. In its place lay a desolate wasteland littered with ruins and overgrown with dead grass.
Several ancient trees, so withered that every leaf had fallen, stood in the wasteland. Their branches spread wildly like fluttering banners, with several crows perched upon them.
"Xia Yunsi?" Ning Xiu looked around, but couldn't see her anywhere.
Either she wasn't in the same place as him, or, like the Li Family Caravan, Ren Qianxing, and Zhengwu, he'd been drawn into a mural.
"As Xia Yunsi said, Jinzhao Temple really is a Fierce God. Its innate divine ability is to draw people into murals. It was well hidden, too—even my Spiritual Eye Qi Observation Technique couldn't detect a thing." Ning Xiu rested the Startling Thunder Hammer on his shoulder, then chose a nearby direction and set off.
Since he was already in this predicament, he might as well take it as it came and see what other tricks Jinzhao Temple had up its sleeve. He could search the area, too. If he found Ren Qianxing and Zhengwu, all the better.
But just as Ning Xiu was about to leave, the crows perched on the branches suddenly began cawing.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Their piercing cries rang across the wasteland. Like a demonic spell burrowing into his ears and scrubbing his mind raw, the cacophony made Ning Xiu's head spin and his whole body writhe with discomfort.
A wave of nausea rose inside him, as if something were about to crawl up from his belly and out through his throat.
Having experienced Evil Qi entering his body before, Ning Xiu immediately understood. The Evil Qi here was so thick that even a Martial Dao Fifth Rank like him was affected. It must have built up to a truly terrifying degree.
Divine Ability: Blood Qi Furnace!
Ning Xiu immediately activated one of his divine abilities. His whole body turned crimson in an instant, from head to toe, his skin blazing like fire as waves of heat rose from him.
With the Blood Qi Furnace bolstering him, Ning Xiu's powerful blood energy surged forth, and the discomfort inside him vanished at once.
His blood energy also affected the area around him. Before his eyes, great clouds of black qi around him burned away into wisps of smoke.
For martial artists, blood energy was the best way to dispel Evil Qi. When fighting Evil Spirits, it could even suppress certain spirits, leaving them utterly powerless to resist.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
The crows spread their wings and took flight, each spitting out a small white orb that dropped to the ground. Before Ning Xiu could make out what they were,
the orbs had already burrowed into the soil and disappeared.
Within moments, the ground below began rumbling like thunder. Then several mounds rose high from beneath the earth, and great hands burst from the soil.
Each palm had a green eye embedded in it, staring fixedly at Ning Xiu.
"Good. Now I won't have to go looking for you." Ning Xiu circulated the Burning Sun Grand Radiance Scripture. Flames poured from his mouth, thick smoke streamed from his nostrils, and he stomped forward, charging in with his hammer.
A martial artist didn't reason things out. A martial artist fought.
Before you continue