Someone immediately stepped forward to apologize, saying that Plague Goat had taken the day off.
As for calling Zhao San over...
The Ritual Office clerk pulled a long face. "Good sir, Zhao San is outside the city.
Even if we send for him now, the gates will be shut before he can get back."
It was a respectable-sounding lie, of course. If it were truly urgent, who couldn't they summon? Anyone could climb over those crumbling city walls.
But that was precisely the problem.
Nobody wanted to go.
The danger outside was one thing.
Asking these yamen runners to fetch Xu Feng was another.
Xu Feng had become the person Zhao San imagined himself to be. As a result, Xu Feng was now like stinky tofu.
Those who loved him loved him; those who hated him hated him.
Some managed to feel both at once.
His identity as a Corpse Sewer combined with his new role as Temple Priest to produce a peculiar reaction.
It had created something rather strange.
And so, Plague Goat, Stinky Tofu, and Master had no idea anyone wanted to see them.
At last, before dusk, they climbed to Three Shu Monastery.
In the gathering dark, Xu Feng studied the monastery, then took out the Dragon-Tiger Plaster and handed it to the two men behind him.
Youth had the advantage when it came to stamina.
By the end of the climb, Xu Feng had reached the top first.
Xu Feng deliberately concealed the letter's contents, telling them only that Old Owl had left it. That was enough to make Shen Jicheng curse Old Owl. Clearly, he had a serious grievance against the man.
As Xu Feng looked around, he saw that Three Shu Monastery was remarkably plain.
And no thought had been given to its location.