The third trial

Everyone was shocked by Ye Qianfan's audacity. Shen Lang looked at the hand that had failed to hold him back and reflected, Before coming to this assessment, I never doubted my own judgment. Why have I become so afraid of everything now?

"Brother Ye is right!"

"This time, I'll risk my life to keep a gentleman company!"

Then...

Shen Lang jumped into the well after him.

The others listened intently for a long while. Sure enough, they heard neither screams nor splashes from the well, and began to suspect that everything Ye Qianfan had said was true.

Everyone immediately began itching to move!

The Rich Merchant's eyes had lit up the moment Ye Qianfan jumped down, and he hurriedly started working the golden abacus in his hands.

By the time Shen Lang jumped into the well, he had arrived at an answer!

"Time's almost up! We can't delay any longer!"

The Rich Merchant gritted his teeth and jumped down right on Shen Lang's heels.

Only then...

Did everyone finally react. All three big shots had jumped, so this really must be the Passage Gate!

The Martial Artist stared dumbfounded at the three men jumping down one after another. He hurriedly tugged at the Wooden Stick he had been using to stir the hair, but found he couldn't pull it free. He simply let go of it and ran toward the well!

So this really was the Passage Gate! Now he was anxious too, afraid that everyone else would beat him to the available spots!

But...

The Martial Artist failed to notice.

Just as he dropped the Wooden Stick and ran toward the well, the remaining half-stick of incense went out!

And the Wooden Stick he had abandoned was twisted into splinters by the Hair Demon's strands...

Crack... crack...

Yet in their haste to fight for a spot, they completely overlooked all of this.

The Martial Artist charged up to the well and dragged away a scholar who was about to climb onto its rim. "Get out of my way! You haven't helped from start to finish. What right do you have to go through first?"

"Ah!"

The scholar landed hard on his backside after being yanked away.

But the Martial Artist didn't care in the slightest. He even gloated a little. "Heh! You dare compete with me, you fool who doesn't know the difference between life and death!"

Then...

The Martial Artist jumped into the well!

But when his feet landed on the soft hair inside, leaving him so unsteady that he fell onto his backside, and he even touched a female corpse amid the strands that was grinning at him, he finally realized something was wrong!

He hurriedly shouted, "Brother Ye, Brother Shen Lang, where are you?"

"How do I get through?"

"Someone tell me!"

However...

Not only did none of the three answer him, but his cries even drew the hair to coil around him.

And just as the hair was about to engulf him completely, he heard voices from the mouth of the well. "Why has the incense gone out?"

"Is time up? Why is all the hair coming up here?"

"The hair... aaah!!!"

He heard screams rising one after another above the well.

Only then did the Martial Artist regret not believing Brother Ye sooner. If he had jumped into the well with them before the incense went out, he surely could have passed!

But now that the incense had gone out and the Passage Gate had closed, the real Hair Demon had emerged!

He...

Was doomed!

The instant Ye Qianfan jumped into the well, the world spun before his eyes, and he found himself somewhere else.

At some point, a folded sheet of paper had also appeared in his hand.

It was merely an ordinary sheet of xuan paper, with nothing special about it. Ye Qianfan glanced at it and thought there seemed to be writing inside.

He hurriedly unfolded it for a look.

As it turned out...

It was only a rather baffling poem.

But calling it a poem didn't quite fit, since it didn't seem to rhyme. Perhaps "nursery rhyme" was more appropriate!

It read as follows...

[Withered wood births a god; blood wine honors the high altar.]

[The Joy God wears no bridal veil; who dares come to worship?]

[One enters the temple; send the god home to the Yin Residence.]

"Are these... the rules of the game?"

From these few lines alone, Ye Qianfan really couldn't figure out what this assessment entailed.

But he was in no hurry!

He had already passed through the well, after all, and the three-stick incense assessment was over for the moment.

There was no time limit now—or rather, the timer hadn't started yet—so Ye Qianfan wasn't in a hurry to decipher the note. Instead, he began surveying his surroundings!

An ancient village lay before him.

There were no tall buildings or grand houses, only old-fashioned mud-brick houses with tiled roofs.

Many of them had already mostly collapsed. Even some that still stood had gaping holes in their roofs, clearly the result of years of neglect.

Yet right in the center of this dilapidated village stood a low hill.

At the very center of that hill was a small temple.

It looked like a gigantic burial mound built in the middle of a village, creating an eerie, unsettling impression!

Yet this temple was far newer than every house in the village. Not only were its walls freshly vermilion, but even its roof was covered with neatly arranged glazed yellow tiles.

Glazed tiles were extremely precious building materials, even in a city.

Let alone in a ruined little mountain village!

Yet here...

Such precious glazed tiles had been used to roof a small temple. It was very strange indeed.

Was this the Demon-Quelling Office's third assessment?

"People from outlying cities really aren't up to much!"

Just as the small temple captured Ye Qianfan's attention, an effeminate voice rang out once more. "The candidates from the other cities arrived long ago, yet you three from Fog City only slipped in on the last wisp of incense. Had you been even a step later, the Hair Demon would likely have woken up!"

The Rich Merchant hurriedly cupped his hands and flattered him. "You're quite right, Eunuch He. We've kept everyone waiting."

"Enough, enough. Spare me the empty words."

The pale-faced eunuch was pleased with the Rich Merchant's attitude, but still waved a hand. "To become a member of the Demon-Quelling Office, you need more than keen eyes, sound judgment, and the ability to find your way and divine good or ill fortune. Most importantly, you must know how to deal with evil entities!"

"This trial will test how well you lot can handle an evil entity!"

"Since the evil entity here is rather formidable, I won't insist on whether you fight alone or join forces. In any case, as long as you can obtain a Demon-Quelling Office waist token from it, you'll have passed this trial!"

"Then you can use the waist token to leave through the well. Remember, you must hold the token in your hand to open the Passage Gate. If the Hair Demon eats you, don't blame me for not warning you!"

Having finished, Eunuch He immediately turned and left, apparently so disgusted with this place that he didn't want to linger for even a moment.

Ye Qianfan and the others surveyed the twenty-odd people around them, exchanging bewildered looks.

Because none of them knew where the evil entity for the third trial was.

How were they supposed to pass?