Chapter 66
Chapter 66
The moment Master Yinxuan fired that Prayer Beads, I had already quickly formed a hand seal and shouted, “Fengwu, out!”
Fengwu was in my hands in an instant. Without a second thought, I drew the bow to full tension toward the direction the Prayer Beads was coming from.
But to my surprise, Jin Wuya acted at the same time, pulling hard on the Red Rope and forcefully hoisting me upward.
My hand shook, and the bowstring released, but my aim was off.
However, I never really had control over Fengwu’s accuracy anyway. Five or six clusters of flames shot out simultaneously; one of them happened to strike the Prayer Beads, which instantly shattered into powder.
Another cluster of flames flew past, nearly grazing Master Yinxuan’s eye and singeing off half of his eyebrow.
Master Yinxuan touched his scorched brow. At first, he was enraged, but when his gaze landed on the Golden Scale embedded in the body of the Fengwu bow, he suddenly began to laugh.
I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things, but the moment he laughed, his pupils seemed to change.
His black pupils transformed into a pair of ghostly blue vertical slits!
But the change lasted only a second before returning to normal.
Cold sweat broke out in the palm of my hand holding the bow. I couldn’t afford to delay any longer. I raised my hand again and aimed Fengwu at the Six-Petal Lotus below!
Now that Jin Wuya had figured out the cause of Jin Chengyang’s death, what I needed to do was destroy the Rain-Seeking Formation and retrieve the Golden Scale embedded in the Former Abbot’s forehead.
Six more clusters of flame were fired from Fengwu, whistling down toward the Six-Petal Lotus.
Before I could even think of how to save myself, the Red Rope around my ankle suddenly slackened, and immediately after, my entire body was yanked upward!
The next moment, I was sprawled inside the Bronze Bell, with Jin Wuya right beside me.
Jin Wuya had clearly been hanging upside down earlier-a position that was extremely difficult to escape from-yet now he was clinging perfectly fine to the inner wall of the Bronze Bell.
The Red Rope that had been tied to me was now wrapped around his waist. He tossed the other end to me. “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, hold on tight! The moment the Bronze Bell swings out, let go immediately. I’ll take you down!”
As he spoke, he began to swing his body from side to side, causing the entire Bronze Bell to rock with him.
After one massive swing, both Jin Wuya and I broke free from the Bronze Bell.
Jin Wuya gripped the Red Rope that had held the upside-down Red Dress Girl to slide down, while my body fell even faster than his.
When I was barely four or five centimeters from the ground, the Red Rope snapped taut, and I landed steadily.
Everything happened in a flash. The moment my feet hit the ground, I could hardly believe it was real.
Jin Wuya’s explosive power was something I hadn’t expected.
The unspoken chemistry of our cooperation and the absolute level of trust between us were also beyond what I had anticipated.
I glanced back; Jin Wuya was about to land as well.
Nearby, the flames shot by Fengwu fell, only to be shattered by the rotation of the Six-Petal Lotus.
Not far away, Master Yinxuan stood quietly, watching us. He didn’t even move to stop us immediately.
He was performing a ritual!
But I couldn’t care about that anymore. I rushed straight toward the Former Abbot’s physical body, intending to seize the Golden Scale.
But I was pulled back once again. Jin Wuya shook his head at me. “Don’t go! Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, that Golden Scale is a fake.”
“A fake?!” I questioned in disbelief.
How could that be?
I had been there the whole time when the Bronze Bell opened and Jin Wuya went to touch the Golden Scale.
Even though many years had passed and much of the Golden Scale’s Merit and power had been depleted, the unique aura emanating from its edges wouldn’t change.
I couldn’t have mistaken it!
“Run!”
Jin Wuya suddenly shouted. I instinctively followed his gaze and saw Master Yinxuan forming a hand seal. The Six-Petal Lotus had finally stopped spinning.
A faint black mist shrouded the Former Abbot’s body.
On his forehead, the Golden Scale that should have been gleaming with golden light was turning black at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The Golden Scale was fake!
It really was fake!
How could that be? I clearly… Just as I was still stunned, Master Yinxuan stepped up behind the Former Abbot.
Was that really Master Yinxuan?
He still looked the same, yet everything about him felt different. His eyes had become an eerie blue, vertical slits, the outer corners slightly upturned. A layer of fine, dense black Scales covered his neck.
Those Scales were tiny, packed together so tightly they made my scalp prickle.
More importantly, a Golden Scale was clearly embedded in his own forehead!
Our eyes met. He bared his teeth at me in a grin, revealing a mouthful of sharp fangs…
He was wearing monk’s robes, so I couldn’t see what was going on below, but the presence he gave off was no longer the Master Yinxuan from before.
He looked just like… a Snake that had taken human form!
How did it come to this?
What in the world was Master Yinxuan?
Jin Wuya was shocked too. “Holy shit, a monster!”
Fengwu slipped soundlessly back into my hand. Even though Jin Wuya and I had managed to save ourselves just now, facing a Master Yinxuan like this, our chances were basically zero.
At least I still had Fengwu protecting me. Jin Wuya had nothing.
I guarded him as we backed toward the front hall and said, “It’s past midnight. According to our plan, Sister Qingying should already be trying to get to us. You just run for the main gate-leave the rest to me.”
Jin Wuya opened his mouth to refuse. He couldn’t just leave me behind.
But before he could speak, Master Yinxuan beat him to it. “Get to you? Are you waiting for her?”
He flicked his hand. A rank, fishy wind swept over us, and from the direction of the Altar came the clang-clang of chains colliding.
Below the Altar, Li Qingying lay there, drenched and bound tight in iron chains. She was barely hanging on, covered in wounds, her eyes unable to even open.
How could this be?!
My gaze snapped back to Master Yinxuan, and little by little, I started to understand.
So Jiyu Temple had been keeping a Spirit Creature.
From the very beginning, we’d been led in the wrong direction. The talk about using the Supreme Lot to pick out Sacrificial Offerings, then performing a Sacrifice for the Rain-Seeking Formation-those were all just a cover!
Master Yinxuan was venerating a Spirit Creature here at Jiyu Temple-and he could let that Spirit Creature take over his body at any time.
No wonder he had never panicked. He’d had something to rely on all along.
Who would have ever thought?
My eyes went back and forth between the Former Abbot’s forehead and Master Yinxuan’s, and I almost wanted to laugh bitterly.
No wonder Jin Wuya and I hadn’t seen through the fake Golden Scale at first-because the real Golden Scale had been right there nearby.
In fact, that Spirit Creature was probably being raised inside the Former Abbot’s belly.
Li Qingying had cultivation; she wouldn’t be caught that easily. And it hadn’t started raining yet-so why was she soaking wet?
The moment I thought of it, that hot spring inside Jiyu Temple hit me like a sudden epiphany.
Li Qingying’s true form was a Red Carp. If she tried to force her way in head-on to rescue us by herself, it would be extremely difficult.
So she must have decided to come by water instead!
Only she never expected that in the water route, a Snake with higher cultivation would be waiting for her!