Before anyone could react, Ye Lin abruptly stopped in his tracks. His gaze turned cold, and he spoke at breakneck speed:
"Everyone, stop! We've been tricked!"
"I kept wondering why we got candles, and why we lit the pillars."
"We did find clues, but what if all those clues were fake? What if the ghost carved the wounds on me, too?"
"I wouldn't leave information I couldn't figure out. Even if I hadn't had time to think, I had plenty of time in the Scripture Pavilion to carve words instead of drawing a stalk of bamboo!"
"So there's only one answer: the ghost doesn't know my handwriting. It can only imitate scars!"
"We only died twice! The ghost drew both the map and the bamboo!"
Ye Lin snatched the candle from Zhang Tie's hand. As everyone watched in horror, he blew it out in a single breath and hurled it into the distance.
"Tianyang! Why did three of us die outside while seven went inside? Why are there three special ghosts in the village? Why is there a barrier around the Taoist Temple? Why did our bodies keep getting heavier when we hadn't died that many times?"
"Because the ghosts are clinging to our backs! Three souls and Seven Souls—the immortal's three souls are outside, and its Seven Souls are sealed in the Taoist Temple! The Immortal Gate is fake! It's tricking us into carrying its Seven Souls outside!"
"Think about He Zheng's chicken! The chicken didn't die. The ghosts didn't kill it, and no person touched it. The only thing that could have moved it was the 'immortal'!"
"That's why it's waiting for us outside the Taoist Temple! The moment we step outside, its three souls and seven spirits will merge completely!"
"This examination is The Mysterious and Subtle!