"Eldest Brother, Second Senior Brother told me about this before."
"Black Lotus Temple, where that Mad Monk resides, lies within the Nine Valleys Corpse-Moss Shoal in Yellow Springs."
"Within the mud of the Nine Valleys Corpse-Moss Shoal grows a kind of fluorescent blue corpse moss. This moss feeds on the obsessions departed souls held in life, eventually giving rise to clay effigies that know nothing but gluttony."
"After building Black Lotus Temple here, Mad Monk enlightened all these clay effigies and made them compound guards."
"On the surface, they look kindly and benevolent."
"But once anyone trespasses into Black Lotus Temple, they turn into evil ghosts and pounce on the intruders to kill them."
"These clay effigies have all been trained by Black Lotus Temple."
"Dealing with one alone is manageable, but facing dozens or hundreds at once is no simple matter."
Xu Taiping, who was traveling by sword, nodded lightly after hearing Ping'an's words and said:
"If possible, we'd best avoid alerting these clay effigies."
Ping'an agreed:
"That's what I thought too."
Xu Taiping privately felt his legs ache for a moment, then said quietly:
"We're still at least eight hundred li from Black Lotus Temple. At the Human Sovereign Sword's speed, it'll take another half an incense stick's time to get there."
"So we still have some time to plan this out properly."
Ping'an nodded emphatically:
"I'll follow your arrangements, Eldest Brother!"
Thus, Xu Taiping set aside a strand of his attention and began silently working through the surprise attack on Black Lotus Temple in his mind.
Xu Taiping thought to himself:
This surprise attack on Black Lotus Temple has two objectives.
Stop Mad Monk from healing.
Draw the ghost monks surrounding Yizili back to Black Lotus Temple, buying Second Senior Brother time to assimilate the Yama Inheritance.