Was it really true?

[Negative emotions: 90]

[Yin Weiying's negative emotions rewarded five years of True Qi.]

[True Qi remaining: one hundred and thirty-five years.]

Yin Weiying's face seemed coated in a layer of frost.

Chen Yi reached out and casually toyed with the ends of her hair.

Turning back, a Shangqing Dao priest frowned and rebuked him:

"Sir, why would you utter such frivolous, discourteous words?"

The young female Daoist who had been chatting and laughing with Yin Weiying was about fifteen or sixteen. Seeing Chen Yi's frivolous gesture, she grew somewhat angry and said:

"Sir, even setting aside the distinction between immortals and mortals, Immortal Maiden Yin comes from Prince Jing's Manor and is a member of the imperial family. That alone is enough for her to turn you away, let alone the fact that she has entered the religious life. If you slight her again, Heaven has eyes-it will punish you."

Seeing the Shangqing Dao priests round on Chen Yi, Yin Weiying's expression eased somewhat, but when Chen Yi spoke, her ears flushed again.

Chen Yi laughed and spilled everything out like beans from a bamboo tube:

"To tell you the truth, Immortal Maiden Yin fell for me at first sight two days ago and insisted on dragging me up the mountain to be her Golden Lad and Jade Maiden. I just wasn't thinking straight then and instinctively refused. Now I regret it..."

Before he could finish, Chen Yi felt a gaze that wished it could slice him into a thousand pieces.

At first, the Shangqing Dao priests did not believe his words. How could Yin Weiying, as ethereal and unworldly as an immortal maiden on the moon, fall in love at first sight, especially with an ordinary mortal? It might have been different for anyone else, but Mount Taihua's Daoist arts had always emphasized supreme oblivion of emotion. Chen Yi's words sounded as ridiculous as a tale of a mountain woodcutter stealing a fairy's clothes.

Yet when everyone turned to see Yin Weiying's reaction, they were startled to find her hands trembling slightly, her pretty face flushing uncontrollably with embarrassment and anger. Under their gazes, she instinctively stepped back, then glared viciously at Chen Yi.

Could it be... really true?

Their hearts could not help stirring. Looking again at the Western Depot Thousand Household's handsome face, his strong, fit body, and his manner that was neither servile nor overbearing, perhaps this man really had, through some chance encounter, won the heart of the Goddess of Mount Taihua.

And recalling Yin Weiying's words of confidence in Chen Yi's ability to slay demons and exorcise evil, perhaps it was... beauty being in the eye of the beholder. After all, who would disparage her own lover in front of others?

So...

Were they part of this pair of dao companions' flirtation too?

At that thought, several Shangqing Dao priests exchanged awkward smiles and said nothing more, turning away. The female Daoist acquainted with Yin Weiying noticed something amiss but could not be certain, so she could only follow them into the ancestral hall sheepishly.

After this whole performance, Yin Weiying's face was crimson enough to bleed. Chen Yi could see that she was thin-skinned and dared not explain too much. If everything from two days ago came out, she, the Goddess of Mount Taihua, would be the one left most desperate for a hole to crawl into. And religious practitioners observed Lord Lao's Five Precepts and could not speak falsehoods, so she could not lie and say she did not know Chen Yi either.

"You think I don't know you're trying to praise me to death?"

Chen Yi gripped the ends of her hair and said with ill intent:

"If you try praising me to death again, Immortal Maiden, I wouldn't mind turning our act into reality and going to Mount Taihua to become a Golden Lad and Jade Maiden with you."

"You!"

Yin Weiying was instantly both shocked and furious and was about to rebuke him, but as a thought settled in her mind, her expression changed, and she said softly:

"Do you mean that?"

Her sudden change rather surprised Chen Yi, and he gave a puzzled "Hmm?"

Yin Weiying considered it inwardly. Even if Chen Yi really did turn their act into reality, what of it? Once they reached Mount Taihua, there would be plenty of ways to make his life worse than death. Religious practitioners did not kill, but that did not mean they did not hurt people. Once hundreds upon thousands of Daoist arts were brought to bear on him, this man would probably wish he could kill himself.

"You don't care about your virginity?"

Chen Yi asked curiously.

"Why would someone cultivating supreme oblivion of emotion care about worldly views? I'll just consider it a dog bite."

Yin Weiying said coldly.

Chen Yi could not help laughing. Yin Weiying's disregard for worldly concerns really made an ordinary mortal like him unable to resist wanting to defile her.

Especially if, while practicing supreme oblivion of emotion, she were also sinking into the sea of desire...

Stepping through the ancestral hall's doors, besides smelling waves of Yin Balefulness, he looked up and actually saw a virgin boy and girl tied up and held down before the altar. They had nearly cried their tears dry, and their bodies were covered in binding marks. The crying he had heard earlier had come from those two.

Where the ancestral tablets had originally been enshrined stood a statue of an armored ghost deity. Its features were indistinct, its armor battered and covered in scratches and sword wounds, and there were dried bloodstains on its body. Its face was pale, its mouth wide open, facing the altar as though telling something.

"What is going on here?"

Daoist Xuan Zhen demanded with a frown.

The old village chief shuddered and hurriedly offered an apologetic smile:

"Th-this... the villagers didn't know any better. Somehow they ended up tied here. We'll untie them now, right away."

With that, the old village chief hurried over to untie the two children.

Chen Yi looked at the altar and discovered that the offering laid upon it was fresh beef. Great Yu law explicitly forbade eating beef unless the cattle had died of illness or old age. This beef was tender and smooth, clearly not from cattle that had died of illness or old age.

Clearly, this was not for people to eat, but for a ghost deity!

And those two children were the virgin boy and girl offered to Huai River Village's ghost general.

After untying the two children, the old village chief hurriedly sent them outside.

"The reek of blood is thick here, and the Yin Balefulness is quite heavy. I'm afraid they sacrifice a virgin boy and girl every year. If we hadn't come, these two children would probably have suffered the same fate."

After saying this, Daoist Xuan Zhen chanted a phrase.

The Shangqing Dao priests were indignant, glaring fiercely at the villagers watching from a distance outside the ancestral hall.

Daoist Xuan Zhen took a stack of talismans from his pack: Evil-Repelling and Body-Protecting Talismans and Lamp-Lighting Talismans. The former could resist evil entities to a certain extent, while the latter detected their approach. Daoist Xuan Zhen distributed the talismans one by one, but stopped when he reached Chen Yi and Min Ning.

"Officers, I know you are highly skilled in martial arts. Otherwise, you could never have joined the Embroidered Uniform Guard. But everyone has their strengths. A blade that can kill people cannot kill ghosts. Heed my advice and leave this place at once! Staying here will not only be of no help-you will be a burden!"

Daoist Xuan Zhen urged them earnestly. Anyone else might have become angry despite his sincere tone, but Chen Yi was different. Smiling, he reached out and accepted the talismans.

Seeing this, Daoist Xuan Zhen sighed softly, thinking that here was another bunch of martial artists with their eyes above their heads.

The young female Daoist acquainted with Yin Weiying spat:

"Kind words can hardly dissuade a ghost bent on dying."

The other Shangqing Dao priests were not so direct, but their thoughts were much the same.

Seeing this, Yin Weiying smiled and praised him:

"Fellow Daoist Xuanzhen, you underestimate him. Thousand Household Chen has taken over the Eastern Depot this past month and enjoys unrivaled prominence. Why would he fear demons and monsters?"

After speaking, a trace of mockery curled at the corner of her lips.

Min Ning frowned at the Daoist priests. In truth, she could faintly sense the eerie Yin Balefulness in this ancestral hall too, and felt somewhat uncertain. Turning to Chen Yi, she asked quietly:

"Do you really have a way to slay demons and exorcise evil?"

Chen Yi shook his head and said:

"No."

Min Ning's eyes widened, and she asked in a low voice:

"Then should we get some rooster blood? Smear it on our blades?"

Chen Yi shook his head with a laugh and said:

"There's no need for those folk remedies. You'll know in a while."

Min Ning remained half-convinced.

The old village chief ran back just then, and Daoist Xuan Zhen asked him:

"Old chief, do you know this ghost deity's name?"

To slay demons and exorcise evil, unless one could shatter ten thousand arts with sheer strength alone, the most important thing was to establish the demon's origins, background, and even its true name.

The old village chief shook his head and said:

"Well... nobody knows, and nobody ever told us. Those people just told us to enshrine it. For the first few years, they even gave us some silver, but later that stopped. We want to drive this ghost general away too, but we can't get rid of it..."

After speaking, the old village chief looked fearfully toward the statue, then caught a detail.

The statue, which had been motionless, now seemed to turn its head slightly, as though staring straight at the old village chief!