...Outside the temple, beneath the shade of green trees, the horses nervously snorted and stamped their hooves, trying to leave.
The two escort guards stepped forward to calm them while keeping watch over their surroundings. They kept glancing back the way they had come, their eyelids twitching incessantly.
They'd really hit the jackpot this time. In all their years escorting goods, they'd spent nights in mass graves and eaten among piles of corpses, but this was the first time they'd encountered something so wickedly bizarre!
Fortunately, there was a temple here. Once the Head Escort and the others finished burning incense and came out, it would be their turn to go in and pay their respects...
Just then, two figures, one tall and one short, appeared in the distance.
The taller figure was burly and sturdy, clad in a black robe with the hood pulled low, concealing most of his face without hiding his fierce, frigid presence. The shorter one wore a hood as well. Slender and graceful, the figure drifted along with each step, eerie and uncanny.
Seeing the pair head straight toward them, the two escort guards immediately grew alert. One of them shouted, "Stop! Who are you?"
The newcomers didn't react at all and kept striding forward.
"Clang, clang..."
The two guards drew their long sabers at once.
By then, the two figures had drawn closer. The instant they came within three zhang of the temple courtyard wall, their black robes and hoods melted away like snow beneath the sun, revealing their true forms.
The taller one was blue-black all over, with blood-red eyes and vine-like patterns crawling across his face. Knotted muscles bulged across his body, and countless eyes were scattered over his exposed chest like stars in the night sky. On his belly, a huge