Chapter 1213: Chapter 811: Offering II
Maria paused for a moment, raised her hand to her temple, and whispered, "I suspect Hafeez was scared stiff. Last night, outside the door, he was so frightened by his own shadow on the ground that he couldn’t speak. It was only after dawn that he partially recovered."
"After we separated yesterday, the thing in the coffin quieted down." Yang Xiao shared the intelligence his group had gathered with Maria. Upon hearing this, she insisted it must be that Ghost that their group had lured away, but as for why, no one knew.
"At the time, I truly thought I was going to die." Recalling the deformed corpse that appeared suddenly last night, Maria was still petrified.
Yang Xiao couldn’t understand it either. The corpse Ghost had already appeared, and there were several of them. Yet, in the dark and slippery alley, chasing a woman with a hurt foot couldn’t prevent her from getting away. It was incredible.
Yang Xiao asked if anything else had happened during Maria’s escape. Maria thought for a moment and shook her head. She was frightened at the time and only remembered fleeing.
The alley was too dark for her to see almost anything, and she didn’t dare to look back, for fear of seeing a Ghost face.
Once she completely escaped the alley, she dared to look back, and there was nothing in the alley behind her.
"On the escape route, I also didn’t hear any strange sounds behind me. Maybe... maybe they weren’t chasing me at all. I’m not sure." Maria added.
Not long after, the group was led to a large area of residential buildings, finally stopping at an alley entrance, where Monks from the temple were already maintaining order.
Maria widened her eyes, looked around, and confidently nodded at Yang Xiao, "Yes, this is the place. Last night, Juan and I were separated around here!"
"It was so dark at the time, how do you remember it clearly?" Yang Xiao replied.
Maria raised her arm, pointing to a door not far ahead, "This street’s door, only that door frame was painted red. Last night when we passed, we were startled, thinking it was blood."
Looking in the direction Maria pointed, indeed there stood a door, a pitch-black wooden door closed tightly, and the door frame was covered in patches of red paint.
Yang Xiao’s group was taken into a dark alley, and there they saw Juan’s corpse.
The corpse was leaning against the wall, twisted to the left, with legs splayed, sitting limply on the ground.
His face was blue-black, mouth open, eyes bulging, body hunchbacked and shriveled, as if drained by some force, the same death pattern as Ahmed’s who died in the Outer Buddha Hall.
"The vengeful Ghost from River Immortal Village killed him. You are all Hejia Lun Du of the High Monk; these Evil Ghosts won’t spare you either." Patuo Monk sighed, ordered someone to bring a white handkerchief with scripture, and personally placed it over Juan’s unclosed eyes.
"I will arrange for the collection of his corpse and personally chant prayers for him." Patuo Monk joined his palms, looking compassionate. Although not very old, he indeed had a touch of an enlightened High Monk’s demeanor.
Yang Xiao returned the salute with joined palms, but what came to his mind was the tragic scene from the abandoned temple in the mountain last night.
These Monks were not legitimate Monks; they were Taixiao followers, living off the plundering of others’ beliefs, cruelly savage and stubborn, ruthless and vicious, a true band of demons.
"Master, please kindly send my friend on his final journey." Yang Xiao appeared even more devoted than Patuo.
"Juan is also a disciple of our Buddhist Temple; it is my duty."
"Master Patuo, is there only this one corpse?" Supported by others, Maria couldn’t help but ask, after all, they had another person whose whereabouts were unknown.
At this moment, another middle-aged Monk standing beside them suddenly spoke, "Someone in the town found a woman unconscious by their well while fetching water early this morning."
"Where is she?" With few outsiders in town, especially after such an incident, even fewer would dare come. This woman must be Davi.
"She’s fine, currently being cared for by villagers. I’ll take you there." With Master Patuo’s approval, the Monk led the way in front.
After about ten minutes, in a remote and humble dwelling, Yang Xiao and the others saw Davi sitting at a table. Surprisingly, Davi was in good condition, merely frightened, without any noticeable injury.
Seeing everyone again, Davi couldn’t contain her excitement; her eyes reddened, and she spilled out last night’s events like beans.
She was handing out blessing scripture originally when she turned back to find everyone gone, and a creepy Ghost shadow appeared on the window.
"And then you ran until you fainted by the well." Yang Xiao looked at her and said.
Davi swallowed, nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, that’s about right. I... I shouted many times, calling everyone’s name, but got no response."
"Why didn’t you return to the temple?" Datou caught the key point, glaring at her.
"It was too dark; I... I couldn’t remember the way, and I started running aimlessly, completely losing direction."
"I don’t even remember how I got here. I only remember running very far, exhausted and scared, and then... then it seemed like I fell. When I opened my eyes again, I was... lying on that bed, these people here are kind, taking care of me." Davi turned her head towards a wooden bed in the corner.
At this moment, Davi also noticed the absence of a person in the group, Juan... Juan was missing.
There was nothing to hide about this, and they straightforwardly told her Juan was dead, they found his corpse in a nearby dark alley, they had already seen it.
