The Unremarkable Little Taoist Master - Chapter 131 - Daoist Temple

With a loud bang, a big hole suddenly appeared where the old man had just stood.

Looking at the new hole, I couldn’t help but sigh. If that had hit the old man, he would have probably gone to meet Daoist Master¹ Zhang for real.

The old man’s face turned increasingly grim as he gripped his peach wood sword, staring intently at the hairy Jiangshi.

After let out a strange screech, the hairy Jiangshi lunged toward me unexpectedly-a turn of events none of us had anticipated.

In a swift motion, the hairy Jiangshi was suddenly by my side, mouth open wide as it lunged to bite me.

I wanted to dodge, but everything happened too quickly, and I ultimately couldn’t avoid it.

I felt a blast of black mist being exhaled toward me from the hairy Jiangshi’s open mouth.

In an instant, I felt my head spin. At that moment, the old man coldly snorted and rushed over, angrily stating, “Evil creature, you’re truly asking for death.”

With a thud, I was sent flying by the hairy Jiangshi. Pain surged through my body.

The hairy Jiangshi, enraged by the old man, was also knocked back. It stood up, coldly staring at the old man before it.

Seemingly furious, the old man gave the hairy Jiangshi a fierce look, ready for battle.

He bit his own tongue, the tip of it bleeding as he spat the blood onto his peach wood sword, then he charged fiercely at the hairy Jiangshi.

The hairy Jiangshi was taken off guard by the old man’s sudden burst of energy and was pierced through the body by the sword.

With a scream, the hairy Jiangshi vanished from sight. After seeing it try to escape once more, the old man couldn’t stand any longer.

He fell to the ground with a thud, beginning to spit out large amounts of fresh blood.

I quickly got up and rushed over to support him.

The old man weakly said to me, “Young brother, you must find my master. Tell him what happened here, and let him come to subdue this hairy Jiangshi.”

Tears welled up uncontrollably in my eyes, and I hurriedly said, “Don’t say that, old man; you’re not going to be hurt.”

The old man revealed a bitter smile, then spoke hastily, “My master is not far from here. When you see him, you must tell him about the situation here.”

As he spoke, the old man coughed up another mouthful of blood, his eyes widening as he managed to utter one last phrase.

“You must be careful; your journey will not be peaceful.”

After saying that, the old man closed his eyes completely, his body beginning to grow cold.

He had passed away.

In my heart, I was filled with hatred for the Yin-Yang Bureau.

Tears brimmed in my eyes, and I didn’t know what I could do. I felt like a complete failure.

I don’t know how long I cried; it felt like I was out of tears. The blows I had faced in these past days had been too much.

After braving the heavy rain, I performed a simple burial for the old man, then knelt down in front of his grave with a thud.

Memories of the old man in his initial small stature came flooding back to me.

Ever since I arrived, the old man had been protecting the villagers with his life again and again.

As I knelt there before his grave, I silently vowed, “Old man, I will avenge you.”

I slowly stood up, a feeling of hatred filling my heart.

The power of revenge urged me to be strong. I shook my head vigorously and turned to leave.

The heavy rain continued to pour down.

Once again, I set off on a journey alone.

According to what the old man had mentioned casually, his master was at a daoist temple not far from here.

I quickened my pace toward the daoist temple.

I walked for an unknown length of time when I caught a glimpse of light ahead.

Following the light, I saw the words “Qingfeng Temple” written prominently.

Excited, I hurried toward the temple.

At the entrance stood two stone statues, but what was alarming was that these two stone figures emanated a strong yin energy.

Their expressions were exceptionally fierce.

As I observed the statues, one of them suddenly began to move slowly.

I quickly stepped back, watching the statue with a wary gaze.

After a moment, I realized that aside from that brief movement, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

I finally relaxed, inwardly scolding myself.

It seemed I had encountered too much lately, leaving me feeling paranoid, as if every rustle in the grass was a threat.

I gently knocked on the door and called out loudly, “Is anyone there?”

After a long silence with no response from inside, impatience began to creep into my heart.

I softly pushed the door of the daoist temple open.

“Creeeak, the door slowly swung open.”

However, the scene inside left me stunned, one I would never forget.

I saw several corpses lying haphazardly on the ground.

In the center, an old daoist priest was hung from a crooked tree in the middle of the temple.

Swaying gently with the wind, the corpse rocked back and forth.

“Ah,” I quickly stepped back a few paces, forcing myself to calm down.

After a long while, I slowly made my way into the temple.

At my feet lay several young daoist priests. Seeing the grotesque and terrified expressions on their faces made it easy to guess what they had endured in life.

When I reached the old daoist priest, I finally understood the meaning of horror.

Half of his face was unrecognizable, and his eyes bulged out grotesquely.

He looked extremely frightening and terrifying.

I suppressed the bone-chilling feeling and took slow, deliberate steps deeper inside the room.

Suddenly, an eerie sound startled me.

Heavy footsteps echoed toward me.

Each dull thud seemed to press on my heart, nearly suffocating me with dread.

I hurriedly hid, crouching down and peering out from the room.

I saw a man in a black robe walk in.

He was carrying the corpse of a man over his shoulder, and it was easy to see the bloodstains on his daoist robe.

It was clear that yet another practitioner had fallen victim to foul play.

The black-robed man forcefully threw the corpse to the ground, emitting a strange sound.

Then, he pulled out a lighter from his pocket and lit a cigarette with a flick of his wrist.

I quickly covered my mouth, terrified of making even the slightest noise.

“To think this black-robed man is actually Wang-Ge.”

He had exterminated the entire daoist temple, and his brutality was beyond comprehension.

My heart burned with anger, and I wanted to rush out and confront him about why he had done this.

Yet I held myself back; given his current level of power, I knew I was no match for him.

All I could do was remember this hatred and vow to avenge them in the future.

After finishing his cigarette, Wang-Ge turned and flicked the cigarette butt onto the corpse.

Footnote:

1. Daoist Master(天师):In the novel, the title “Taoist Master” and the term “Daoist Master” are used interchangeably. Both refer to a spiritual leader or practitioner of Taoism/Daoism, an ancient Chinese philosophy and religion. “Taoist” and “Daoist” are just different transliterations of the same word, with “Daoist” being more phonetically accurate to the original Chinese.