The Yinfolk's Own Temple Fair

Me?

A misogynist?

Captain Qin looked completely bewildered.

Looking at Wu Hen and Ming Yi standing close together, he suddenly realized he might have made an unbelievably bad decision.

Ming Yi was already sharp-tongued enough, and she kept tossing the word "useless" around from time to time.

And Wu Hen seemed like the kind who was exceptionally clever and had a tongue sharper than a blade. If he and Ming Yi teamed up, how was anyone else in the group supposed to survive?

Captain Qin didn't dare say anything more. He obediently became a human umbrella stand for the young master and young lady.

"Besides running your mouth, what else are you good at?" Fei Ying, the one-eyed, bossy woman, refused to indulge Wu Hen and bluntly said.

"That's not fair. If Wu Hen hadn't pointed out that there were ghosts, we might not have had time to react at all." Ming Yi saw it differently.

Eight people had died upon entering Yin Province.

Captain Qin and Captain Cai stood there, their faces full of misery.

Especially Captain Cai. All eight of the dead had been his team members.

The rest of the group, however, weren't as pessimistic as Captain Cai, because they'd all witnessed Ming Yi's strength!

Thunder Radiance level!

With such formidable fighting power, their team's survival rate would improve significantly!

For a while, everyone in the group moved a little closer to Ming Yi without thinking. After all, she was the only one among them who could fight her way out of the Yin Ants!

Wu Hen was very possessive.

Anyone who inexplicably approached Ming Yi was frightened off by the bared fangs and sharp teeth Wu Hen showed them!

"W-We have... even fewer crowns now," Little Stutterer said quietly.

Whether they had eleven people or thirteen, they still needed to light two Spirit Crowns.

The little life they had left had been cut nearly in half.

With no other choice, everyone could only grit their teeth and press on.

The ancient scenery of Yin Province spread out before them, becoming even more prosperous. If not for the oddness that permeated every corner, it would have felt like they'd stepped into an ancient city in White City: crowds bustled through the streets, carts and horses streamed by, vendors sold calligraphy and paintings, shopkeepers called out to customers, street performers showed off their tricks, and celebratory gongs rang out...

"There are a lot of people gathered up ahead, and quite a few Awakened," White Peacock Man said.

"There are a lot of Yin Citizens, too. It feels like they're holding some kind of event," Captain Qin said.

"Probably a temple fair in Yin Province," Cai Jinlin said.

"There are temple fairs here, too?" Everyone was just as confused.

Wandering around aimlessly would waste time. Since so many Yin Citizens and Awakened had gathered in the center of the ancient city, there had to be a reason.

Unlike the places they'd passed through before, the temple fair at the center wasn't "temporarily set up." It stood abruptly in a vast, empty space...

As the group entered, the Yin Ants forming the scenery behind them actually retreated like a tide, as if the temple fair were protected by a sacred power that kept those forces of chaos and evil from entering.

"It's a Domain Suppression Stone!" Fei Ying, the sharp-eyed one, quickly spotted a totem stone placed at the center of the temple fair!

The stone was pillar-shaped and floated in midair. The totem patterns carved into it released a field invisible to ordinary people. The protective power it gave off was equivalent to five Azure Haze-level Spirit Crowns, and it lasted even longer!

"If we take it back, our Pure Land will be safe!" A hint of excitement appeared on Qin Sheng's face.

They'd come here to find this kind of Domain Suppression Stone.

The Nuwa Divine Terminal simulated the natural world of humanity. To a certain degree, it was actually modeled on the ecosystem of Otherworld Desolate Dust. For instance, the saying that "the antidote is always within ten steps."

Locusts formed deserts, and ants formed provinces. That meant there had to be corresponding means of driving them away and countering them. Finding those was the most important duty of their patrol officers!

"That'll be a great achievement. We'll get promoted..." White Peacock Man was excited, too.

Patrol officers were judged by their contributions. If he wanted to improve his abilities and upgrade his combat suit, he had to earn the corresponding merits.

If he brought this Domain Suppression Stone back, he should be able to apply for a combat suit on the same level as Ice Phoenix Gao Huan's!

"Welcome, welcome! If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me. I'm the Temple Attendant of this temple fair." A young boy in ancient clothes warmly approached them, holding wooden sticks of various colors.

"What's going on here?" Wu Hen's social anxiety didn't only apply to talking with the living. Even if the other party was a Yin Citizen, Wu Hen still struggled with social niceties.

Wu Yingting had often taught Wu Hen that information had to be sought out. A mouth wasn't just for eating; if you let information get out of balance, you'd suffer a great loss. He shouldn't pass up any chance to talk to someone.

"It's a temple fair! Everyone gathers here every so often, and we Yin Province folk hold all kinds of ceremonies. Since you're visitors, of course we'll treat you with courtesy. The various temple fair activities we organize have prizes, such as Yuan You, Mystic Artifacts, Divine Stones, Ancient Tomes, Spirit Techniques, Exotic Pets..." the Temple Attendant said.

Yuan You?!

All a dozen or so members of the group had their eyes light up.

Just as they'd guessed, places like this usually had Yuan You. They just hadn't expected the Yin Province locals to offer it as a temple fair prize.

A temple fair meant little activities like guessing lantern riddles, fortune-telling, pitch-pot, archery, and poetry. As a Nuwa people with a rich cultural heritage, they could do all that with ease!

"Then what do we have to do to take that Domain Suppression Stone?" Wu Hen asked the Temple Attendant directly.

"Oh, that's a grand prize. You can take it away once you've collected five of these wooden sticks," the Temple Attendant said.

"How do we get these wooden sticks?" White Peacock Man asked anxiously.

"Just take part in the little games organized by us Yin Province folk. Anyone who successfully plays a game and survives gets one of these wooden sticks!" the Temple Attendant said.

"Your Yin Lord must be very powerful. I imagine killing us would be as easy as squeezing our palms. Why go to all this trouble to design little games for us?" Wu Hen asked without hesitation.

"That's an odd thing to say. Is there such a thing as absolute life or death, absolute evil or good? You fear us because you haven't seen the truth. Parents know that a newborn child will certainly die a hundred years later. Why not drown the baby as soon as it's born?" The Temple Attendant calmly explained it to Wu Hen.

"Uh..." Wu Hen was at a loss for words. He hadn't expected a little Temple Attendant from the underworld to have read Nietzsche, too.

"This is the final resting place of all people. The Yin Lord doesn't expect you to understand right now, but he will guide and bless you without your knowing. This is the Yin Lord's blessing. He won't force you to stay when you haven't yet attained the truth," the Temple Attendant said.

"I can tell your Yin Lord likes to win people over with virtue. I'll be sure to pay my respects if I get the chance," Wu Hen continued.

The Temple Attendant's eyes immediately narrowed to slits. He seemed to be trying to figure out what kind of person Wu Hen was. After a while, the Temple Attendant finally replied cryptically, "You're not sincere enough."

After saying this, the Temple Attendant stopped discussing the Yin Lord with Wu Hen.

He glanced at the other members of the group, who weren't as talkative, and smiled gently. "Allow me to offer you all a tip. You don't need your Spirit Crowns to protect you while taking part in the games..."

As soon as he said this, the faces of the people in Cai Jinlin's team visibly brightened!

They'd been worried that they wouldn't have enough time to take part in the so-called underworld activities, but it turned out that those who joined in the Yin Citizens' activities could get a pass that let them escape death!

They could finally breathe easy!

There was Yuan You, tempting prizes, and the chance to put off their deaths. What reason did they have not to enjoy themselves alongside the underworld folk?

The Temple Attendant had already left.

Wu Hen, however, kept his eyes fixed on him.

"Damn it, he didn't let anything slip."

"Who's your Yin Lord? Where are you hiding and watching us from?"

"Come out and face my Holy Father! Stop pulling all these pointless tricks!"

The truly powerful beings in Otherworld Desolate Dust stayed hidden behind the scenes.

Wu Hen knew full well that there had to be a great power in Yin Province, a being at the Heavenly Radiance level, even stronger than Zai Wu!

That meant Wu Hen had two ways to solve the Otherworld Desolate Dust in Yin Province:

The first way was to follow the test setter's line of thought and solve the problem according to standard logic.

The second way was to find the test setter and beat him to death!

Clang~~~~~~! A gong rang out, and before long, most people's attention had shifted to a White Bone Pavilion.

A woman wearing a scarlet wedding dress sat by one of the pavilion's windows. Her graceful, curving silhouette made many Yin Citizens weep at the sight of her beauty. Her smooth, gleaming back, in particular, radiated a bewitching allure even as she sat atop the White Bone Pavilion!

"The bridal ball is about to be tossed~~~"

"The bridal ball is about to be tossed! Whoever catches it will be the groom~~~"

The gong-beater wore festive clothes and loudly called for everyone to gather beneath the bride's bone pavilion.

"Look at what the bride's holding!" White Peacock Man suddenly said, his face alight with excitement.

The bride held a bridal ball in her hands. It was simply decorated with a few embroidered ball flowers, but its core was actually a crystal-clear piece of Yuan You!

"It's high-quality Yuan You!" Ming Yi exclaimed in surprise, too.

That bridal ball was downright extravagant!

As expected, once they saw what the bridal ball really was, a large group of Awakened who'd wandered into the place crowded beneath the bride's White Bone Pavilion. They excitedly stretched out their hands, hoping the bridal ball would land in them.

"That bride might be a Ghost Sin. Maybe she'll turn around and reveal a skull for a face!"

"How could she be a Ghost Sin? She's a blessing!"

"Exactly! As long as she can get me out of here, she's a living bodhisattva!"

The Yin Citizen with the gong smiled honestly and gestured for everyone who wanted the bridal ball to step onto the flower platform.

Soon, the platform built from piles of bones was full of people. They all tilted their heads back, watching the bride's slender figure as they waited for her to toss the bridal ball.

"Wu Hen, you're pretty good at making girls happy, and you've got a strong build. How about you go get us a wooden stick?" Ming Yi nudged Wu Hen and said with a smile.

"No way. I'm a one-woman man. Besides, what if you get jealous?" Wu Hen declined.

"Why would I get jealous?" Ming Yi said crossly. She glanced at the others in the group, but not one of the strapping men was willing to take part in such an exciting activity. So she simply said, "It never said girls couldn't participate. I'm going!"

Ming Yi's beautiful eyes were resolute. She looked over the others in the group once more, as if stamping the word "useless" even more forcefully on every one of them!

Recommended: a new book by the great urban fantasy author Lao Shi: