CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 30: TEMPLE GUARDIAN

Half an hour later, the bus stopped across from Xujiawan Village, at the newly built Exhibition Center Square station.

The weather was gloomy with heavy clouds.

Sang Que stepped off the bus with a heavy heart, still thinking about Xu Yichao’s situation; it was certain that he had encountered evil and lost his soul, experiencing the subsequent events from the perspective of the soul.

The temple guardian was able to bring his soul back, allowing him to survive even when he accidentally turned around and triggered the rule, proving he indeed had real skills.

Moreover, soul retrieval exists in modern times as well. Although there are slight differences in the rules and processes, it likewise shows that modern times have experts capable of dealing with evil spirits.

Sang Que felt both expectant and anxious at this moment, "No matter what, I have to find the person first."

"The vast horizon is my love..."

Amidst the deafening music, a group of elderly people were dancing in the shade of the square, while children chased and played, enjoying the leisurely afternoon under the overcast sky.

The distant exhibition center, filled with artistic style, was a project that had just been completed at the beginning of the year in Yu City. Yu City, with its proximity to Dragon Back Ridge Mountain and its lush green mountains and waters, was developing into a tourism city.

Sang Que retracted her gaze from the carefree children, turning it towards the dilapidated Xujiawan Village across the road.

After the demolition fencing facilities, the outer old houses had been torn down, leaving only remnants and broken walls.

The self-built houses in the depth were stacked messily, blocking the sunlight, making the entire village dark and decayed, and feeling very ’unclean.’

Adjusting her sunglasses, Sang Que crossed the road, entering Xujiawan Village with an air of determination.

Crossing through the mostly demolished ruins in front, the road towards the back of the village was narrow and winding, with electric poles adorned with mottled little advertisements. The red-background white-letter signs of the street-front shops varied in size, covered with grease stains.

In the large village, only Sang Que was walking on the road, but she always had the feeling that there were many people here.

Bang!

The signboard of a shop facing the street in front suddenly fell down, sending dust everywhere.

Sang Que stood still and looked over, the faded and torn signboard clearly bore the words ’Fushou Paper Shop.’

Inside the shop missing a door, there were a few faded and hole-ridden Papermen, leaning at skewed angles, smiling vacantly at her.

She still attracted evil spirits!

Sang Que squinted her eyes, taking out a Ghost Soldier Talisman from her pocket and holding it in her hand.

An eerie breeze swirled up the paper scraps on the ground, and the Papermen inside the shop suddenly twisted their heads backward in unison.

"I haven’t even ignited the talisman, and you’re scared already?"

Sang Que shook her head, feeling that the evil spirits here were far inferior to those at Black Mountain Village. She put away the talisman and continued heading towards the deepest part of the village.

"I don’t even know how many evil spirits are here. If I kill them all, will the Yansheng coin show more trigrams?"

As Sang Que pondered, the sensation that there were many people around quickly disappeared.

About five minutes later, some sounds came from ahead, with a southern accent.

"...Granny, I’m here on behalf of our boss to specifically thank you. That day at the construction site, if it weren’t for you scaring away that Apiao, our boss would have been crushed to death by the falling concrete slab."

"Master Ma, that coward, got so frightened that he fled. Granny, your name is Shufen, and our boss’s grandma is also called Shufen. Isn’t that fate!"

"Are you done talking? If you’re done, then leave."

"Granny, listen to me. The demolition at Xujiawan can’t stop. The Apiao here can only be dealt with by you. Name your price, it’s no big deal."

"I already made it very clear that day. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, everything will resolve itself. The demolition isn’t that urgent over these two weeks, is it?"

"The higher-ups are pressuring us, there’s a deadline, we don’t have a choice."

"If you don’t value your lives, do as you please!"

In front of an old courtyard, a middle-aged man in a suit with slicked-back hair was speaking respectfully to someone inside while holding many gifts.

Sang Que approached slowly, seeing a skinny elderly woman with graying hair, wearing a floral silk nightdress, standing at the entrance waving a bamboo fan to shoo people away.

"Miss, do you have something?"

Xu Shufen raised her voice to ask Sang Que, while the man in the suit turned to look as well.

"Zhang Yunzhu introduced me to find you."

Zhang Yunzhu is the name of Sister Zhang, her family’s domestic worker.

Xu Shufen thought for a while, unsure if she had any impression, and waved the man in the suit away irritably with her bamboo fan, beckoning to Sang Que.

"Come here."

The man in the suit kept watching. Sang Que nodded slightly, signaling before moving past him and entering the courtyard.

"You’re lucky. If you came two weeks later, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, I would’ve left already. So, what’s the matter?"

Xu Shufen closed the door and turned around to find Sang Que wearing sunglasses, facing the bungalow inside the courtyard, standing there like a statue, motionless.

Xu Shufen glanced through the bungalow’s window. "Can you see my dead husband?"

Sang Que remained silent. Xu Shufen put on her reading glasses and squinted at Sang Que.

"There’s yin energy. Seems you’ve encountered evil. Your three souls are unstable, allowing you to see unclean things. But don’t be scared, in this courtyard there’s only my dead husband. He won’t harm you."

Only?

Sang Que’s throat tightened. From her perspective, in this small blue-brick courtyard, unclean things were everywhere.

The corpse hanging under the grapevine swayed with the wind, a head bobbing in the lotus tank, a woman in green clothes singing eerily.

Animal corpses rotting with maggots lay in the vegetable garden, and behind the pile of cardboard waste in the corner, a shadow flickered by.

In the window, besides an old man in a Zhongshan suit, there were two pale-faced children peeking out.

Compared to the Papermen encountered before, these Evil Spirits exerted great pressure on her, with faint black lines on their bodies converging inside the house, making her scalp tingle, feeling hard to deal with.

Sang Que dared not look closely. Fortunately, these Evil Spirits, invisible to Xu Shufen, remained ’emotionally stable,’ and didn’t pay her any mind.

"Come in."

Sang Que gritted her teeth and followed Xu Shufen inside, living harmoniously with so many Evil Spirits was quite an ability.

Inside the bungalow, all furniture had an ’80s vibe, and was very neat.

A black-and-white TV, a green fridge, a floral cover and old photo frames, the noisy ceiling fan creaked as it spun, the old man in Zhongshan suit sat ghostly in rattan rocking chair, reading a newspaper.

Behind him stood the incense table, with his memorial portrait hung on it.

In the middle of the room, there was a shen kan, its light always burning, emitting eerie dark red light, surrounded by swirling smoke, heavy sandalwood scent, the black lines on those outside Evil Spirits converged here.

Xu Shufen stood before the Divine Statue, lighting three sticks of incense, raising them to her brow, and bowed devoutly.

Sang Que couldn’t see the Divine Statue blocked by Xu Shufen, puzzled why it wasn’t in a temple, wasn’t she a temple guardian?

Xu Shufen sensed Sang Que’s thoughts, inserted the incense into the incense burner and spoke slowly, "Our Xu Family worships a Wild Mountain God from Dragon Spine Mountain, without orthodox decrees. Used to be in a temple, but later..."

"Girl, your school history books should’ve mentioned, after that period, these feudal superstitious things were abolished, and the temple was gone, so we secretly worship at home."

"So, granny here is a temple guardian without a temple. Don’t underestimate our Mountain God; those orthodox gods are bound by heavenly rules and don’t meddle in earthly matters. Only Wild Gods like ours are willing to lend Divine Power to believers for problem-solving. What’s happening?"

Sang Que took out her prepared explanation, "Just a few days ago, I received a text from a classmate late at night. I went to her house and found she had been dead for days. When I was about to call the police, so many hands grabbed me... then I started having nightmares, dreaming of an abyss, feeling possessed by something dirty."

Xu Shufen’s eyes sparkled, "The case of that beastly father who beat his biological daughter to death, right? Your classmate, and you reported it? Your classmate obviously died unjustly, and her grievances clung to you. Seems like not too big of a problem. Wait here. I’ll get some tools."

Sang Que frowned. Xu Shufen didn’t seem to notice the ’abyss’ matter. Does this mean modern times don’t involve Opening Ghost Gate and Lower Nine Netherworld issues?

And her problem, how could it not be substantial?

After Xu Shufen went to search for things, the Divine Statue in the middle of the shen kan, covered with red cloth, was exposed to Sang Que.

At a glance, Sang Que’s spirit suffered another blow!

A gigantic figure coiled behind the shen kan, its upper body a muscular Daoist in green attire, eyes covered with red cloth, hands forming a Taoist Seal, but its lower part...

Consisted entirely of thick, bluish human legs, more than a dozen, curled like a centipede, with scattered scales resembling mold on it, black liquid dripping down drop by drop.

The two pale-faced children seen earlier, less than three years old, completely naked, stepped playfully in that black liquid.

An overwhelming pressure descended, as if a gaze focused on her, Sang Que swiftly lowered her head, not daring to look anymore, feeling mentally deranged and her vision blurred.

Layer upon layer of muttering struck, like countless people complaining, beseeching, cursing, piercing the ears like needles, the Yin Tong Gui Chou within her began to stir, exuding a bone-chilling coldness, like an enraged beast ready to explode.

Sang Que turned and ran outside, away from the Divine Statue, trying to escape those maddening murmurs, gritting her teeth to calm the agitation within.

Is this the Mountain God?

How could anyone worship such a god?

Does the granny even know her god looks like this terrifying form?

Is it her that’s problematic, or is it this world that’s crooked?