A large force of soldiers surrounded the place, all clad in iron armor and holding weapons.
"Seize them all!" the dark-faced man shouted imperiously.
Chang Jian seemed to feel that his moment to shine had arrived. He strode forward with his head held high and his chest out.
"I am the county magistrate appointed by the Ministry of Personnel. I advise you to abandon resistance if you want any chance of survival.
"All evil will ultimately be punished by justice, and I am justice incarnate."
His speech only made the monks laugh.
One of them said, "You really are digging your own graves."
"Dong! Dong!"
Several peals of a bell suddenly rang out inside the temple.
Immediately afterward, the ironclad soldiers seemed to lose their senses.
Beneath the moonlight, their faces gradually turned deathly pale. Some panted uneasily, while others threw back their heads and screeched.
At the foot of the mountain, villagers from several villages began walking toward the temple.
"This... this is..."
Li Ping'an's heart sank.
Presumably, once the Thousand-Legged Centipedes had fully possessed them and then been suppressed through Buddhist teachings, they became weapons under the monks' control.
It seemed they had stirred up a real hornet's nest.
The surrounding air seemed to congeal, as though even the wind could no longer stir.
The moon moved silently behind the dark clouds, like an ominous premonition awaiting a sudden eruption.
"These are the reinforcements you found?" Li Ping'an teased.
The dark-faced man's expression darkened further.
"Old Ox, take them inside!" Li Ping'an growled.
Old Ox mooed and spread both forehooves.
Gathering Chang Jian's family of three and the girl dressed in black into an embrace, Old Ox darted into the room.
The dark-faced man sank his breath into his dantian and roared, "Come on, you scum!"
With that,