Ghosts Borrowing the Path

Fortunately, none of us were ordinary people. Even I, the least capable, had fought ghosts in Dingtao Village and faced the living dead on the Qinling Mountains. Not to mention the others. So even though Qingyi's speculation cast a shadow over our hearts, our mood remained relatively stable overall. Besides, with Qingyi here, a master capable of slaying a drought demon, we believed we had the strength to fight, even if the entity suppressed by the ancient temple was extremely fierce. At worst, we figured we could still save our skins and escape, otherwise, we wouldn't have dared to come to the Qinling ancient tomb group.

"Alright, everyone get ready."

Zhang Jinya waved his hand and stood up: "At the very least, we need to eat dinner. If something dares to trouble us tonight, we'll need the energy to deal with it!"

With that, we realized we were all starving. We had been so preoccupied with the Ten Kings of Hell that we had forgotten about the most important thing—eating. We quickly got busy. In the deep mountains, dry wood was plentiful. We didn't have to go far from the temple to gather a bunch, and soon we had a bonfire going. We sat around the fire, roasting beef jerky, and before long, the tempting aroma filled the temple, lifting our spirits.

The beef jerky was procured by Zhang Jinya, reportedly from Inner Mongolia. It was said that during Genghis Khan's campaigns, this was the soldiers' ration. Once roasted over the fire, it was delicious, and just three or four ounces with water could fill one up, much tastier than compressed biscuits and energy bars.

"Let's eat, let's eat."

Zhang Jinya couldn't wait any longer, tearing off a big chunk and stuffing it into his mouth, chewing with grease dripping down his chin. Then he turned to the statues of the Ten Kings of Hell behind him, clasped his hands in a mock salute, and said, "Sorry about this, but since you guys can't even suppress those dirty things, I won't be offering you any. In today's world, if you're incompetent, you go hungry."

After saying that, he grinned, revealing his gold tooth in a sleazy manner.

I was speechless at the sight. What kind of person was this...

But in their line of work, it was necessary to be irreverent towards gods and fearless of ghosts. If you were in awe of these things, you wouldn't be able to deal with them. So it wasn't just Zhang Jinya; none of the others paid any attention to the Ten Kings of Hell, although they didn't go as far as to mock them.

Of course, if you weren't in their line of work and lacked the ability to exorcise demons, when passing through abandoned temples or Taoist shrines, you would still offer some of your food to the deities inside. There's a belief that the lingering incense from former monks and Taoists attracts lonely spirits and wild ghosts. So when temples and shrines are abandoned, they're likely to become inhabited by those dirty things. If you eat there without offering some to them, you might find them coming to snatch your food...

After dinner, none of us rested, just sitting around the fire wide-eyed.

It wasn't that we weren't tired; we didn't dare to sleep!

If we could get through the night without incident, we would be eternally grateful. As for rest, it was a luxury for us at the moment.

At that point, Rosa came over to me: "Let me see your wound!"

She had been particularly attentive to me throughout the journey, so I wasn't surprised when she came to check on my injury. I nodded and took off my shirt. The wound wasn't in a place that was embarrassing to show, so I wasn't concerned about her seeing it.

After a day's journey, my wound had started bleeding again, the bandage was stained red and yellow, and it had practically fused with the wound.

Rosa frowned, then said to me, "I'm afraid I'll have to pull it off. It's going to hurt a bit. I'll count to three and then pull, just bear with it."

I nodded.

But without another word, Rosa ripped off the bandage with a swift motion. Caught off guard, I screamed in pain.

"What are you yelling for?"

Rosa frowned at me: "A big man like you can't even bear this little pain?"

Is it my fault?

I felt annoyed and glared at her: "Didn't you say you would count to three before pulling off the bandage?"

"I lied."

Rosa's expression was indifferent, and without a hint of shame, she looked up and said to me: "I did it for your own good. If I had counted to three, all your attention would have been focused on that moment, and your body would have tensed up in anticipation of the pain, which could easily tear the wound."

I felt a bit better after hearing that. Looking down at my wound, the two bloody holes left by the Tomb Tiger on my shoulder were still very noticeable, and the area was swollen. However, the skin color was almost back to normal, not black like the day before, which was frightening. When I pressed the wound, there was no sensation, and the blood that oozed out was black and stank like a rotting corpse. It was disgusting, and at that time, even I was repulsed by myself.

"It's mostly healed; your life is no longer in danger."

Rosa looked at me, took out a roll of bandages, and began to dress my wound. While doing so, she said, "Pay close attention to your wound for the next couple of days. Come to me every half day to change the bandage. Don't let it get infected. Otherwise, you could get tetanus out here in the wilderness, and then I'd have to cut off your rotting flesh."

Her words sent shivers down my spine, and I nodded hastily, not wanting to experience that firsthand.

Afterward, Rosa checked on Heizi's wound, which had mostly scabbed over and was healing much better than mine. No wonder he had survived the brutal fights; his recovery ability and constitution were somewhat frightening.

I couldn't help but take another look at Qingyi, growing even more curious about him.

What exactly did he do?

He was great at exorcising demons, and his medical skills were top-notch. He had solved my problems and treated Heizi. He seemed to be capable of anything!

After Rosa finished treating our wounds, we all sat quietly around the fire. No one spoke, and we just sat there until after three in the morning when Wu Pangzi suddenly stood up, his forehead covered in sweat, and rushed out of the temple without a word, as if he was racing to be reborn.

Qingyi immediately opened his eyes and blocked Pangzi: "Where are you going?"

"I need to... go to the bathroom!"

Pangzi pushed Qingyi away: "I've got diarrhea. I really can't hold it!"

"Try to hold it until dawn."

Qingyi said: "It's not safe to go out now. I'm worried something might happen to you."

"Dawn? Are you joking? I'll die from holding it in by then!"

Pangzi's eyes bulged: "It's fine, I have a talisman made from a pangolin's claw, it wards off evil."

As he spoke, a loud fart escaped him, and a foul stench quickly filled the temple. I was over ten meters away and still felt like I was going to pass out from the smell. I couldn't imagine what he had eaten that night...

Even Rosa, who never frowned no matter what, got up and moved away. Zhang Jinya, half-asleep, was jolted awake and his first words were, "Who dropped the gas bomb?!"

As for Zhou Jing, the least loyal of all, he nearly dragged Heizi to the base of the Ten Kings of Hell statues.

At that moment, Qingyi's eyes twitched violently. He was the closest to the blast and suffered the worst of it, quickly covering his nose and stepping back. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent. Speaking now would mean inhaling the stench...

"Pfft, pfft!"

Wu Pangzi, not content with the chaos he'd caused, let out two more farts, making the temple's atmosphere even more unbearable.

"Damn it, I really can't hold it anymore. We'll talk later if something happens. I need to take care of this."

Wu Pangzi clutched his backside and dashed out, and soon after, a series of "pitter-patter" sounds came from outside, more lively than firecrackers during the New Year in the countryside.

Once he left, we could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the temple was dilapidated and well-ventilated. Otherwise, we might not have been tormented by dirty things tonight, but instead, we could have been suffocated by Pangzi's astonishing trio of farts.

"Ah!!"

Suddenly, a piercing scream rang out from outside, unmistakably Pangzi's. Qingyi immediately stood up and, grabbing his sword, rushed out.

Zhang Jinya, Rosa, and I exchanged looks, all seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

Wu Pangzi had only been outside for a moment. Could he have encountered something dirty?

We couldn't just sit there anymore. We grabbed our weapons and prepared to go outside, but just then, the temple's door banged open. Wu Pangzi, holding up his pants, ran back in, plopping down next to me, his face as white as a sheet, muttering, "Paper... paper man..."

"Paper man?"

Zhang Jinya frowned: "Wu Pangzi, can you speak clearly? What paper man? Look at how scared you are!"

"You don't know shit. That thing was terrifying!"

Pangzi exclaimed dramatically: "While I was doing my business, I felt a cold hand touching my butt. I turned around and saw a paper man smiling at me. It nearly scared me to death. Luckily, I wasn't done yet. In a flash of inspiration, I aimed my butt at its face and let one rip. Otherwise, I might not have made it back. I'm still amazed by my own cleverness."

Hearing Pangzi's story, I felt disgusted. This guy was truly filthy, resorting to such tactics. I wondered if it was just my imagination, but he seemed to stink. I said, "Wu Pangzi, what's that smell on you?"

Pangzi paused, then scratched his head awkwardly: "Uh, I was in a hurry when I ran and forgot to wipe."

So the three of us quickly distanced ourselves from him, joining Zhou Jing and Heizi under the statues of the Ten Kings of Hell. I cursed Pangzi in my mind. He was truly born in the wrong era. If he had been around during World War II and dropped in Japan, he could have won the war without a fight. He was the ultimate biological weapon, not through toxicity, but through sheer disgust...

After about ten more minutes, Qingyi, who had rushed out earlier, finally returned. His hair was disheveled, and his clothes were torn in several places, looking somewhat disheveled. Without a word, he pulled out a stack of yellow talismans, took two, and slapped them on the door. Then he quickly came over to us, handed us some talismans, and instructed, "Stick these on all the doors and windows, quickly!!"

Zhang Jinya's face turned pale when he saw the talismans in his hand: "Qingyi, what's out there? Why are you bringing out these talismans?"

A hint of wariness flashed in Qingyi's eyes as he said four words with gritted teeth: "The ghosts are borrowing the path!"