Chapter 364: Chapter 328: Worshiping Xishen

Du Enfu felt the world spinning, and suddenly remembered that the Xishen Temple distributed meat the day after the Divine Statue of Xishen shed tears of blood.

Because the Divine Statue of Xishen shed tears of blood, those who bowed to Xishen at the time had to immediately sacrifice themselves, or the whole family would be claimed by Xishen.

So what they were eating was…

Du Enfu couldn’t hold it anymore and stumbled outside, covering his mouth, to vomit violently.

Sang Que sighed, even if there was real grain left in Tangyuan County, it would only be given to those who could fight. The elderly and useless people, their only value was to live tremblingly in the city, continually providing Xishen with the power of fear.

Human sacrifice, Sang Que recalled this term.

After vomiting, Du Enfu rested for a while before staggering back indoors, where Xia Chan immediately took out the jerky and biscuits she had left for herself from her bag.

“Village Head Grandpa, have some of this. Little Chan brought all these herself.”

Now, Du Enfu felt nauseated at the sight of meat and forced himself to wave his hand, “No need, I can’t eat anything right now.”

Sang Que lifted the rice bag and that strip of meat on the table with the hilt of a knife and tossed them aside, “If you wish to leave here, I can first get you out of town; you can go to Dongyang County, where He Baosheng’s family and Skinny are all there.”

Du Enfu chuckled bitterly, “It’s not that easy to leave; the city gates are indeed open but I have stood by the notice board at the gate, and have seen people try to leave; where do you think those bodies at the gate come from?”

Sang Que recalled indeed a pile of bodies at the city gate.

Du Enfu said, “The longer you stay here, the harder it is to leave; you two should leave early, else it might be too late.”

“Do you know how many guards are still in the city?” Sang Que asked directly.

Du Enfu stared at Sang Que for a while, probably guessing what she was here for, “Yesterday there were patrols of guards on the street; today all the guards in the city seem to have disappeared. However, aside from these living guards, there are also baby spirits patrolling the night in the city; those baby spirits seem to spend the day in the abandoned house on West Street mentioned in the city regulations.”

Sang Que looked out of the window at the sky, which was perpetually gloomy and dark here, where was the daytime?

“How do you tell the time in the city?”

City regulations mention the hour; the city must have something to determine time.

Du Enfu said, “There’s a drum at the county government office gate; one beat means midnight, two beats means one o’clock in the morning, and so on; the rest we estimate ourselves.”

Sang Que nodded, “Have you seen Xishen’s true form? What does it look like when Xishen claims a life? Do they die without a sign, or do other Evil Ghosts carry it out?”

“There’s only one statue of Xishen in the city, just next to the county government office in the Prime Minister’s Temple; every time Xishen claims a life, cries of a baby can be heard, perhaps it’s those baby spirits guarding him.”

Sang Que lowered her eyes in thought; the letter left by her biological mother mentioned that Witch Lady, Daoist Lord, and Longevity Buddha, these Divine are like banks; incense needs to be deposited by individuals before they can apply for withdrawal when needed.

Then Xishen should be the same; as a Divine, no matter how powerful Xishen is, he doesn’t have the ability to actively attack others; his followers need to pray to Xishen, get Xishen’s power, and then attack others.

Understanding this point, Sang Que felt somewhat relieved; if she resolved the person manipulating the baby spirits in the city, and the possible Puppet Master in hiding, the problem in the city might be solved.

“Are the people in black robes mentioned in the second city regulations the living or Evil Ghosts? What about the ninth city regulation?” Sang Que continued to ask.

Du Enfu said, “Last month, I saw a person in black robes by the notice board, with a pen, writing on the blank space of the ninth city regulation. Because of the second city regulation, I dared not look up, so I kept kneeling with my head bowed, praying to Xishen for protection. After finishing writing, he disappeared completely, leaving only a black robe on the ground, the pen still suspended in mid-air, slowly disappearing.”

“What did the person in black write?”

“I don’t know; when I rose, the space after the ninth was still blank, not exactly blank, but the words there had disappeared beyond recognition.”

Sang Que asked further, “Did you notice anything change in the city when the person in black was writing?”

“It seemed… there was no change.”

Sang Que pondered; either the ninth city regulation took effect immediately, one-time use, or it was hidden and still exists now.

“Where did the person in black appear from?”

“From the county government office; I was curious that day and asked several people, some saw the person in black come out of there.”

It means there might be a pen capable of writing city regulations in the county government office, which is important too.

Just then, outside, the sound of a drum echoed heavily, its intervals identical, being struck seven times.

“Noon has arrived; last time that person in black appeared just after noon began,” Du Enfu said.

Noon is 11 am to 1 pm.

Sang Que contemplated momentarily and came up with a plan, she took out paper and ink and asked Du Enfu to help her draw a simple map of the city, mainly marking the locations of the county government office, Xishen Temple, and the abandoned house on the western side of the city.

Then Sang Que instructed Du Enfu to stay indoors, no matter what happened outside, not to step outside.

Sang Que and Xia Chan left Du Enfu’s place, wearing bamboo hats, walking normally in the streets; passersby had grown accustomed to walking with heads down, upon seeing Sang Que and Xia Chan, they quickly glanced away, avoiding contact, fearing Sang Que and Xia Chan might be something sinister.

“Sister, where are we going?”

“When in Rome, as they say, let’s go worship Xishen.”

After twisting and turning through alleyways, they encountered the shadowless people once; Sang Que and Xia Chan finally found the county government office and Xishen Temple.

The scarlet gate of the county government office was decrepit and peeling; beside it was a large drum, where a hollow-eyed, zombie-like person stood, holding drumsticks, evidently responsible for beating the drum and telling everyone the time.

Sang Que immediately recognized a corpse slave, belonging to some Yin Walker.

Beside the county government office was the Xishen Temple; a queue formed in front, filled with city folks like Du Enfu, sallow-faced, unsteady on their feet, occasionally twitching.

From Sang Que’s position, she couldn’t see the complete Divine statue, only the bits that resembled a patchwork costume, folds of fat all over, somewhat resembling a statue of Maitreya Buddha.

Those entering would kneel and bow three times, mutter a few words ’Xishen protect,’ then upon leaving, take a bag of rice from the table nearby, a straightforward process.

But all the people were tense, fearing the Divine statue might shed tears of blood as they worshiped, at which point their fear peaked.

Sang Que whispered a few words to Xia Chan, who nodded, before Sang Que lowered her bamboo hat and walked toward the Xishen Temple.

The line was short, and it was soon Sang Que’s turn to enter.

She had just stepped over the threshold when she heard a cracking sound; the massive Divine statue of Xishen suddenly split open from its face, pouring forth copious amounts of bright red blood, instantly dyeing Xishen’s face in blood.

It was the Yin Walker aura from Sang Que’s body clashing with and opposing the Divine Xishen statue.

As the statue cracked, Sang Que also felt a heavy pressure.

Those around the Xishen Temple, not yet departed, cried out in fright upon seeing the spectacle, “You have angered Xishen, quickly sacrifice yourself to seek Xishen’s forgiveness!”

“Alright!”

Sang Que sliced her arm with a knife and flung her blood onto the Divine statue.

Copying He Buning’s yin fire earlier, the blood ignited instantly with green flames, touching the blood flowing from the Divine statue, like encountering kerosene.

With a crash, the entire statue and the temple roof were all consumed by green yin fire.

Sneaky approaches were not for Sang Que; she decided to face it head-on!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In front of the county government office, Xia Chan stood atop the zombie-like person, her hair tightly wrapped around two drumsticks, vigorously pounding the drum.

Upon the drum’s beat, all city folks, as dictated by the city regulations, panicked and ran into nearby buildings to hide.

Sang Que emerged from the blazing Xishen Temple, tossing away the bamboo hat on her head, slowly taking out the Night Traveler mask He Buning specifically asked her to bring, and carefully fastening it onto her face.

“The Evil Suppression Bureau Night Wanderer, Sang Mulan, is here, you, the motley crew of the Ghost Opera Troupe, come forth to meet your demise!”

Sang Mulan’s name, and her handling of the Yin Child, had long been spread throughout Qinzhou.

Upon hearing it was her, and seeing the mask of the Evil Suppression Bureau, the city folk’s fear of Xishen considerably lessened, all looking towards Sang Que with hope.

Her daring to storm in alone meant the Evil Suppression Bureau and Qinzhou troops were nearby.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep