Chapter 1 Trouble

"Damn it..." Jiang Cheng realized that he and Ye Qiutang were in big trouble. These ghosts had already set a trap for them.

The fatty also looked nervous. He desperately strained his eyes in the direction Jiang Cheng and Ye Qiutang were looking. "What... what's wrong? What did you see?"

"Didn't you see it?" Ye Qiutang croaked, as if afraid of being overheard. "There are footprints there, a pair of footprints that suddenly appeared!"

"Footprints..." The fatty looked even more closely, even taking two steps forward. "Where are the footprints?"

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng seemed to realize something. He knew that the fatty had good eyesight, and the footprints were in a very obvious position. There was no reason for the fatty not to see them unless... unless something was restricting him.

Jiang Cheng boldly took two steps forward and pointed to the footprints not far away, asking the fatty, "Do you see anything here?"

The fatty also realized that something was wrong, and swallowed hard. "I don't see anything. It's just a patch of mud there."

Nodding, Jiang Cheng's guess was confirmed. The fatty was different from him and Ye Qiutang. The fatty couldn't see the footprints, which proved that he hadn't been targeted.

According to rumors, those who weren't targeted wouldn't be taken away by the girl with the ponytail, just like the friend across the hall from Xiao Mei. That person didn't die because she only saw and photographed the back of the girl with the ponytail.

Ye Qiutang also reacted quickly. Combining it with the story Jiang Cheng had told, she also realized the problem. She looked at the fatty with envy. She remembered what Old Mr. Song Tianming had said, that Wang Fugui had extremely good fortune, turning bad luck into good and bringing good fortune in the face of disaster.

Knowing that he was the only one who hadn't been targeted, the fatty didn't show any joy on his face. Every step within the Temple of Maintaining the Precepts was fraught with danger. They had been very careful, but they still hadn't expected to be tricked.

Soon, they also discovered an abnormality behind Ye Qiutang. This time it wasn't footprints, because the position behind her was now a large willow tree.

The branches of the willow tree hung down like a curtain of rain, which was quite beautiful, but now Jiang Cheng and Ye Qiutang's expressions had become very ugly, because there were two very strange places in the hanging willow branches. There was clearly nothing there, but the willow branches were bending strangely in mid-air, as if they had been pushed aside by something invisible.

What was even more terrifying was that, after looking at the two blank spaces for a long time, they looked more and more like two human figures.

"Fatty, look at that willow tree. Is there anything strange inside the willow branches?" Jiang Cheng asked in a low voice, staring at the blank space under the willow branches.

"No." The fatty observed for a while and then answered very confidently.

Ye Qiutang, who was involved, was obviously a little excited, because there were actually two following behind her, which corresponded to the two Daoists who had disappeared in the Hall of Merit. This suppressed feeling was despairing.

She looked at the fatty abruptly, her tone rarely containing some pleading, "Go over and see if you can affect them. You haven't been targeted, so there won't be any danger."

"Don't go!"

Before the fatty could answer, Jiang Cheng rejected the proposal. Ye Qiutang's idea was right, but he didn't want the fatty to take risks.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Cheng picked up a few pebbles from the ground and handed them to the fatty, "Throw the stones at that willow tree, but don't hit the trunk. Hit the left side of the willow tree, about 3 meters away."

The pebbles passed through the blank human figures under the willow tree without any obstruction. The fatty turned his head. From his perspective, nothing happened.

But after Ye Qiutang threw the stones, the situation was very different. The stones hit the blank human figures and bounced off strangely.

Ye Qiutang looked at the fatty excitedly, "Did you see that? There really is something there!"

But the fatty's expression was even stranger than hers. He looked at Ye Qiutang with a look of incomprehension. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you see it? The stone hit the blank space and bounced off, it bounced back!"

"Ah?" The fatty widened his eyes. "No, the stone just passed through the middle of the willow branches, I saw it clearly, and it fell to the ground."

Things changed again at this moment. The fatty's perception was already different from theirs. Jiang Cheng thought of the scene that happened near the Sutra Depository in the evening, the switching back and forth between the identities of the Daoist and the monk, the two had the same goal through different means.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Cheng picked up a pebble and threw it violently at the human figure under the willow tree. The stone was also bounced off. It seemed that the ghosts following Ye Qiutang could also affect him.

Since things could be bounced off by something that could be touched, it meant that these ghosts could be touched. To put it bluntly, these ghosts could directly kill people.

The most urgent task now was how to get rid of these ghosts.

Jiang Cheng retracted his gaze and looked back at the footprints behind him. He faced the direction of the footprints and slowly retreated. After retreating several meters, the footprints remained motionless.

"There's a way!"

Jiang Cheng suddenly thought of the Sculptural Ghost he had encountered before. As long as it was being watched, that thing couldn't move, let alone kill people.

Jiang Cheng continued to retreat. He had already roughly figured out the surrounding terrain before, so as long as he retreated carefully, there would be no problem.

He motioned for the fatty and Ye Qiutang to follow him. In this way, the three of them retreated for 20 meters. Then Jiang Cheng moved his feet in parallel, his eyes still fixed on the position of the footprints, until his sight was blocked by a wall.

That's right, this was Jiang Cheng's plan. He wanted to get rid of it in this way.

Jiang Cheng was still facing the wall, taking a deep breath. "Miss Ye, do you see anything following behind me?"

Perhaps because it had rained not long ago, there were either puddles or wet mud behind Jiang Cheng, which made it easy to observe.

After a moment, Ye Qiutang's surprised voice rang out, "It's gone! The footprints are gone!"

"Hoo--"

Jiang Cheng breathed a long sigh of relief. To be honest, he didn't have much expectation that he could get rid of the pursuit so easily. At most, he was just trying it out, but he didn't expect it to work.

Jiang Cheng turned around and quickly walked towards the courtyard door, "Quick, let's leave here first. Miss Ye, don't worry, I'll help you after we get out..."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a burst of hurried shouts. It was Ye Qiutang's voice.

Jiang Cheng turned around abruptly and saw Ye Qiutang's eyes widen, her face full of panic, and she was staring at the area behind him.

As Jiang Cheng turned his head again, a pair of footprints remained in the puddle.

What was even more terrifying was that this time the footprints were no longer motionless, but the toes were pointed at Jiang Cheng, the right foot stepped out, the movement was stiff, but it took a straight step towards Jiang Cheng.

The three of them were stunned by this scene and didn't react for a while. A few seconds later, a suffocating scene was staged again, the left foot also tremblingly stepped out, taking another step forward, getting closer to Jiang Cheng.