CHAPTER 211: CHAPTER 124 FIRE SETTING, TOWER PUSHING_2

Animals are easier to save than humans; better to save animals than humans.

In just a brief moment, the fleeting lantern light left Xu Qing’s emotions in turmoil for a long time.

Xuan Yu didn’t know what Xu Qing had seen. It lifted its head, deep in thought.

Then Xuan Yu gently rubbed its head against the youth’s leg.

Xu Qing smiled and reached out to pick up the cat attempting to comfort him.

As he walked toward the temple entrance, he said, "But it doesn’t matter. Once our Cat Immortal Hall razes this place to the ground, nothing like this will ever happen again."

An eerie wind swept through the main hall, knocking over red candles on the incense table, flames licking up the drapes. The enormous deity statue was cut into pieces by blood-red threads, and its massive head fell to the ground. The hall’s beams caught fire with bluish-green flames, and the Yin-Burning Fire spread over the scattered scriptures.

The deep night fire stirred up complete chaos inside the Child-Giving Temple.

The over-forty-year-old temple priest rushed to the main hall. The surrounding nuns were in disarray, while some elderly incense attendants brought water buckets to extinguish the flames.

Above the fire scene, a crow circled and observed.

When a sharp whistle sounded from below, the crow swooped down toward a red-clad figure in the darkness.

"Master Crow, I must inform you of something in advance."

Xu Qing briefly explained to the old black crow the wicked deeds committed by those at the Child-Giving Temple.

"The children sought by those women were not sent down by the divine powers of the Rescue Mother, but were inherently fated to them."

"They were schemed against by the Child-Giving Temple, but were completely unaware..."

"Now that the truth is revealed, I ask Master Crow not to show pity for these people and let them escape..."

The old black crow’s eyes reflected the firelight. After hearing Xu Qing’s words, it resolutely agreed, "I have long heard of the Child-Giving Temple’s deeds. The first time I saw those nuns, I knew they were not good birds. Don’t worry, I will keep every escape route guarded; not a single nun will leave this temple."

...

Many incense candles and oil were stored in the Child-Giving Temple’s main hall. With the fire already started, even with everyone fetching water to douse it, it was like a drop in the bucket.

Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger.

Though Xuan Yu was just a cat, it had some skill in controlling and riding the wind.

In the firelight-lit night, wherever the black cat passed, a gray mist followed, and an ominous wind howled.

The rampant flames, guided by the bizarre wind, quickly spread to other buildings.

The temple priest of the Child-Giving Temple was somewhat adept. Seeing this scene, she realized the reason for the fire-spreading disaster in the temple.

With a sorrowful face, she patrolled in her presiding monk’s robes.

Seeing a red-clad figure emerging from the darkness not far away, the temple priest suddenly questioned, "Who are you? Is the fire in my temple related to you?"

The person in front did not respond, only quickened their pace. The temple priest could only see the figure darting through the temple court, and with each pass, a monk or nun fell.

"How dare you!" The temple priest tightly grasped her Buddha Beads, chanting the Ghost Mother Spell. The next moment, the cries of infants abruptly erupted.

Thick purple Evil Qi seeped from the beads, coagulating into ghost infants. These ghost infants had their eyes tightly shut, mouths wide open, and faces distorted by the malevolent energy.

The Mother-Child Prayer Beads on the Buddha Beads had twelve beads. Once the evil ghost energy formed infants, they obeyed the temple priest’s command, lunging toward the wicked red-clad guest.

The youth in the bright red bridal gown merely glanced in her direction, then resumed killing the nuns in the Mother and Child Temple.

The red-clad youth moved swiftly and erratically. The infant-faced ghost fiends chased for a while but couldn’t even touch the hem of his garment.

Seeing she couldn’t capture the red-clad intruder, the temple priest shifted her focus to the cat demon stirring up the fire.

Xuan Yu looked at the ghostly baby face chasing him as if watching a fool.

This old nun had no idea of the speed of a cat.

Xuan Yu remained still. Before the ghostly babies could pounce, it transformed into a plume of black demonic energy and vanished.

When it reappeared, it was right before the old nun.

Without any warning, without any indication, it slapped the temple priest across the face.

The temple priest clutched her face in pain. By the time she recovered, the black cat had disappeared again.

Her fingers touched the deep wound on her cheek, where demonic energy spread, eroding her flesh.

The old nun gritted her teeth, scanning around, only to see the cat already by the red-clad youth’s side, squatting down, licking its paws, and casting an indifferent glance in her direction.

The fire in the temple’s front yard was beyond rescue. Xu Qing’s Qi Observation Skill hadn’t been stowed away; those who had committed the crimes of abortion and infanticide had vengeful spirits entangled above their heads. He spared none who bore these signs.

In the end, of over thirty people drawn by the night fire, only a few incense attendants and two nuns survived.

But these survivors were knocked out by Xu Qing and thrown into places untouched by the fire.

After this, the Galloping Immortal Disciples would come to interrogate them.

The temple priest watched as her vast empire was destroyed in a single night. Her resentful gaze was as if she wanted to devour the person and the cat standing before her whole.

"I bear you no grudge. Why have you destroyed my livelihood?"

Xu Qing looked at the trembling old nun and suddenly spoke, "The child you bore with the evil spirit is in that Locking Infant Tower, right?"

"What do you intend to do?"

Xu Qing drew out the Si Nan Sword, flicked it elegantly, then stroked the blade, as if admiring the sword in his hand.

"One who sows, must reap. When you aborted and killed infants, did you never think that one day, someone might kill your child before your eyes?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. Your child is a stillborn, isn’t it?" Xu Qing’s chilling words stirred the old nun’s fragile emotions, "But that’s fine. I can kill him once more."

With that, Xu Qing, holding the Treasure Sword, turned and headed toward the tower-like structure behind the temple.

In the air, a crow’s call echoed.

Xu Qing, skilled in bird language, understood the crow’s message.

The old black crow said he would watch over that old witch.

But there was no need for it to watch her, as the temple priest labeled the old witch had already started chasing after Xu Qing.

The next moment, a shadow flashed, claws ripped through the monk’s robe.

The pursuing old nun’s leg tendons snapped, causing her to collapse to the ground.

Still unwilling to give up, she broke the string of the Buddhist Bead Bracelet, scattering twelve prayer beads, releasing the infant ghosts within to attack Xu Qing.

Seeing the ghostly infants crash into Xu Qing’s body one after another, the old nun’s face lit up with joy.

However, a moment later, the youth continued walking, only letting out a burp and exhaling a dense cloud of Evil Qi, with no further reaction.

The old nun refused to believe it. She chanted the Ghost Infant Spell, but there was no response.

She chanted the Ghost Mother Spell, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea.

Panic gripped the old nun as she stumbled and shouted, "You cannot kill my child! My husband is a descended deity, and my child has an immortal fate. You cannot kill him!"

Xu Qing paid no heed.

That so-called deity might have fooled the old nuns, but not his Qi Observation Skill.

The temple was filled with malevolent Evil Qi, leaving no other possibility but that of an evil spirit.

Even if it was a deity, it would be an evil spirit deity!

Standing before the Locking Infant Tower, Xu Qing looked up.

The tower wasn’t tall, about three stories high, built of bricks and tiles, but covered in strange runes drawn in human blood. Up close, a nauseating stench filled the air.

Xuan Yu couldn’t help but gag. It hesitated for a moment before closing its nostrils and following Xu Qing to the tower door.

"Master Xu, are you going in?"

"Does Xuan Yu want to go in?" Xu Qing glanced at the tightly-following cat.

"I follow Master Xu’s lead." Xuan Yu lifted its head, displaying a willingness to risk its life for its master.

"I wouldn’t want to go into a place like that."

For a place even this zombie found filthy, it must have reached a level of extreme contamination.

"Nor do I. It stinks and is filthy in there."

Xu Qing exchanged a glance with Xuan Yu, suddenly proposing, "Since neither of us wants to go in, why not knock down this wretched tower instead. What do you think?"

Xuan Yu’s eyes gleamed with excitement, "Master Xu is indeed wise."