Ji Yuan was still weak and dizzy from sitting up when a voice suddenly came from outside the temple, drawing nearer and nearer.
"Brother Shilin, Brother Shilin!"
The people in the temple were instantly stirred up.
"It's Little Dong! Little Dong is back!"
Sure enough, Wang Dong's figure soon ran in from outside the Mountain God Temple and was immediately surrounded by Zhang Shilin and the others, all wearing tense expressions.
"Little Dong, why are you alone? Is Old Jin and the others all right? Where's that scholar? Did you hear the Great Beast's roar just now?"
Zhang Shilin fired off a string of questions, eager to get answers from Wang Dong.
Wang Dong merely stood there panting heavily, his expression somewhat unnatural. He did not take the bowl of water someone offered him. He glanced at Zhang Shilin, then looked away, only beginning to answer after steadying his breath.
"Old Jin and Mister Lu are together. Digging up the Mountain King Ginseng went smoothly, but..."
"But what? Little Dong, aren't you usually the best talker? Why are you stammering now?"
"Don't interrupt!"
Zhang Shilin roared, looking at the pale-faced Wang Dong.
"Little Dong, go on."
"Yes. The Mountain King Ginseng was on a slope. We had just dug it out when we heard a tiger's roar in the distance. It was terrifying. Old Jin, Scholar Lu, and Liu Quan were so frightened that they lost their footing and slipped down!"
At Wang Dong's lowered-head explanation, Zhang Shilin and the others were stricken with alarm.
"What? They slipped down?"
"How are Old Jin and Liu Quan?"
"Was it high?"
"Little Dong, say something!"
Zhang Shilin panicked and grabbed Wang Dong's arm as he questioned him.
That shaking seemed to rouse Wang Dong. His speech became more fluent as well.
"The slope wasn't high, and it wasn't too steep either. Old Jin and the others are not seriously hurt, but they twisted their ankles badly. Old Jin told me to come back and find two or three people to help carry them back. Li Gui is over there taking care of them."
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Right, right, right!"
"Count me in!"
Since they had not run into the Great Beast, everyone felt far more at ease and volunteered to help.
Zhang Shilin was no exception.
"This time, I'll take Little Du and Ah Hua with Little Dong to help. The rest of you stay in the Mountain God Temple and watch our things."
As he spoke, Zhang Shilin and several others beside him had already taken out torches and lit them.
Ji Yuan's hands and feet turned icy cold, while waves of numb chill shot straight up his scalp.
He recognized this young traveling merchant's voice, yet aside from his voice, Ji Yuan had not heard a single footstep from his arrival.
Moreover, when Ji Yuan looked over with his gray-white eyes, Wang Dong appeared as two overlapping shadows in his blurred vision. One looked perfectly normal; the other had its neck twisted grotesquely to one side, twitching from time to time.
The sight made Ji Yuan's goosebumps impossible to suppress.
Yet Zhang Shilin and the others beside him noticed none of it.
This was no longer a human!
Thinking back to the tiger roar from earlier, Ji Yuan suddenly understood something.
He was naturally scared out of his wits, but when he heard Zhang Shilin planning to lead people out with this Ghost Servant, anxiety made him cast all caution aside. Apart from not wanting Zhang Shilin to die, he also felt that if only five people remained in the temple, they would be in danger.
Zhang Shilin and the others had lit their torches and were about to hurry outside.
"Come on, come on. Little Dong, lead the way. We..."
"Wait!"
An unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out, startling everyone. They tensely followed the sound, only to discover that it was the Beggar. At some point, he had already sat beside the Deity Statue, leaning against it and looking toward the temple entrance.
Ji Yuan's voice at this moment was completely unlike his physical state, each word clear, upright, and resonant.
"Zhang Shilin, there's something wrong with Wang Dong. You cannot go with him!"
In Ji Yuan's eyes, his voice caused Wang Dong to turn his head with extreme stiffness, making the back of Ji Yuan's head tingle.
"You Beggar, what nonsense are you talking about? Brother Shilin, let's go. Old Jin and the others are still waiting!"
"Mm, all right."
Whether to trust his companion or a filthy Beggar required no thought at all. Zhang Shilin still stepped out of the temple gate.
"Stop!! Wang Dong is already dead!"
That roar immediately made Zhang Shilin and the others stop. They instinctively looked toward Wang Dong, who stood outside the temple watching them, the darkness of night shrouding his face.
"Brother Shilin, hurry up. Old Jin and the others are waiting for us. Don't listen to this filthy Beggar's nonsense. Aren't I perfectly fine?"
Wang Dong took a step closer. Torchlight illuminated half his face, revealing a smile struggling to spread across his pale skin...
It was deeply discordant. Deeply wrong!
A chill surged through every traveling merchant. The people who had intended to leave instinctively drew their feet back.
Zhang Shilin swallowed, looking from Wang Dong to the Beggar.
"Little Dong, are you... are you really all right?"
But before Wang Dong could speak, Ji Yuan, seated within the temple, immediately said coldly,
"A tiger raises Ghost Servants, a tiger raises Ghost Servants. Wang Dong has already become a Ghost Servant. Just like that Scholar Lu before, he intends to lure you to the Fierce Tiger so it can eat you!! If you go with him, you will never return!"
"Ghost Servant!"
Zhang Shilin and the others were so frightened that they staggered back several steps. Recalling the earlier tiger's roar and the strange things about Wang Dong after his return, the traveling merchants' scalps tingled.
"Brother Shilin, don't believe him. Old Jin and the others are still waiting."
Wang Dong walked toward the temple entrance, but there was no emotional rise or fall in his voice.
"Little Dong, don't come any closer!"
Zhang Shilin had already raised his torch before himself. Wang Dong stopped walking.
He looked at those at the temple entrance, and those at the temple entrance stared back at him without blinking. After a brief silence, the next scene nearly suffocated everyone with terror: Wang Dong suddenly blurred, then in the space of a breath transformed into smoke wisps and drifted away from the temple.
"Clang..."
A Woodcutter's Knife fell to the ground, and two traveling merchants collapsed in fright.
"Ghost... a ghost!"
"Ah!"
"Oh, mother!"
"Into the temple! Into the temple!"
"Right, right, right! Get inside, quickly! Hold onto your weapons, hold onto your weapons!!"
The remaining eight traveling merchants fled back into the Mountain God Temple in a frantic scramble, all instinctively crowding closer to the Deity Statue and the Beggar.
Zhang Shilin's breathing was still somewhat ragged. He looked at the dark night outside, then at Ji Yuan.
"This... this Master, you..."
Before Zhang Shilin could finish, Ji Yuan raised a hand to stop him. Ji Yuan looked dreadful now, his lips even trembling slightly, but the surroundings were dim enough that the others could not see clearly.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle... Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
The wind grew stronger, and the grass and trees swayed wildly in the forest.
A steady, powerful, distinctive tread drew closer from afar. Outside the temple came the low sound of a wild beast baring its teeth, interspersed with subdued growls.
Ji Yuan swallowed, staring tensely outside. In just those few seconds, his back was already drenched.
"Don't speak... it's here..."