Du Enfu felt the world spinning, and suddenly rembered that the Xishen Temple distributed at the day after the Divine Statue of Xishen shed tears of blood.
Because the Divine Statue of Xishen shed tears of blood, those who bowed to Xishen at the ti had to imdiately sacrifice themselves, or the whole family would be claid by Xishen.
So what they were eating was...
Du Enfu couldn’t hold it anymore and stumbled outside, covering his mouth, to vomit violently.
Sang Que sighed, even if there was real grain left in Tangyuan County, it would only be given to those who could fight. The elderly and useless people, their only value was to live tremblingly in the city, continually providing Xishen with the power of fear.
Human sacrifice, Sang Que recalled this term.
After vomiting, Du Enfu rested for a while before staggering back indoors, where Xia Chan imdiately took out the jerky and biscuits she had left for herself from her bag.
"Village Head Grandpa, have so of this. Little Chan brought all these herself."
Now, Du Enfu felt nauseated at the sight of at and forced himself to wave his hand, "No need, I can’t eat anything right now."
Sang Que lifted the rice bag and that strip of at on the table with the hilt of a knife and tossed them aside, "If you wish to leave here, I can first get you out of town; you can go to Dongyang County, where He Baosheng’s family and Skinny are all there."
Du Enfu chuckled bitterly, "It’s not that easy to leave; the city gates are indeed open but I have stood by the notice board at the gate, and have seen people try to leave; where do you think those bodies at the gate co from?"
Sang Que recalled indeed a pile of bodies at the city gate.
Du Enfu said, "The longer you stay here, the harder it is to leave; you two should leave early, else it might be too late."
"Do you know how many guards are still in the city?" Sang Que asked directly.
Du Enfu stared at Sang Que for a while, probably guessing what she was here for, "Yesterday there were patrols of guards on the street; today all the guards in the city seem to have disappeared. However, aside from these living guards, there are also baby spirits patrolling the night in the city; those baby spirits seem to spend the day in the abandoned house on West Street ntioned in the city regulations."
Sang Que looked out of the window at the sky, which was perpetually gloomy and dark here, where was the dayti?
"How do you tell the ti in the city?"
City regulations ntion the hour; the city must have sothing to determine ti.
Du Enfu said, "There’s a drum at the county governnt office gate; one beat ans midnight, two beats ans one o’clock in the morning, and so on; the rest we estimate ourselves."
Sang Que nodded, "Have you seen Xishen’s true form? What does it look like when Xishen claims a life? Do they die without a sign, or do other Evil Ghosts carry it out?"
"There’s only one statue of Xishen in the city, just next to the county governnt office in the Pri Minister’s Temple; every ti Xishen claims a life, cries of a baby can be heard, perhaps it’s those baby spirits guarding him."
Sang Que lowered her eyes in thought; the letter left by her biological mother ntioned that Witch Lady, Daoist Lord, and Longevity Buddha, these Divine are like banks; incense needs to be deposited by individuals before they can apply for withdrawal when needed.
Then Xishen should be the sa; as a Divine, no matter how powerful Xishen is, he doesn’t have the ability to actively attack others; his followers need to pray to Xishen, get Xishen’s power, and then attack others.
Understanding this point, Sang Que felt sowhat relieved; if she resolved the person manipulating the baby spirits in the city, and the possible Puppet Master in hiding, the problem in the city might be solved.
"Are the people in black robes ntioned in the second city regulations the living or Evil Ghosts? What about the ninth city regulation?" Sang Que continued to ask.
Du Enfu said, "Last month, I saw a person in black robes by the notice board, with a pen, writing on the blank space of the ninth city regulation. Because of the second city regulation, I dared not look up, so I kept kneeling with my head bowed, praying to Xishen for protection. After finishing writing, he disappeared completely, leaving only a black robe on the ground, the pen still suspended in mid-air, slowly disappearing."
"What did the person in black write?"
"I don’t know; when I rose, the space after the ninth was still blank, not exactly blank, but the words there had disappeared beyond recognition."
Sang Que asked further, "Did you notice anything change in the city when the person in black was writing?"
"It seed... there was no change."
Sang Que pondered; either the ninth city regulation took effect imdiately, one-ti use, or it was hidden and still exists now.
"Where did the person in black appear from?"
"From the county governnt office; I was curious that day and asked several people, so saw the person in black co out of there."
It ans there might be a pen capable of writing city regulations in the county governnt office, which is important too.
Just then, outside, the sound of a drum echoed heavily, its intervals identical, being struck seven tis.
"Noon has arrived; last ti that person in black appeared just after noon began," Du Enfu said.
Noon is 11 am to 1 pm.
Sang Que contemplated montarily and ca up with a plan, she took out paper and ink and asked Du Enfu to help her draw a simple map of the city, mainly marking the locations of the county governnt office, Xishen Temple, and the abandoned house on the western side of the city.
Then Sang Que instructed Du Enfu to stay indoors, no matter what happened outside, not to step outside.
Sang Que and Xia Chan left Du Enfu’s place, wearing bamboo hats, walking normally in the streets; passersby had grown accustod to walking with heads down, upon seeing Sang Que and Xia Chan, they quickly glanced away, avoiding contact, fearing Sang Que and Xia Chan might be sothing sinister.
"Sister, where are we going?"
"When in Ro, as they say, let’s go worship Xishen."
After twisting and turning through alleyways, they encountered the shadowless people once; Sang Que and Xia Chan finally found the county governnt office and Xishen Temple.
The scarlet gate of the county governnt office was decrepit and peeling; beside it was a large drum, where a hollow-eyed, zombie-like person stood, holding drumsticks, evidently responsible for beating the drum and telling everyone the ti.
Sang Que imdiately recognized a corpse slave, belonging to so Yin Walker.
Beside the county governnt office was the Xishen Temple; a queue ford in front, filled with city folks like Du Enfu, sallow-faced, unsteady on their feet, occasionally twitching.
From Sang Que’s position, she couldn’t see the complete Divine statue, only the bits that resembled a patchwork costu, folds of fat all over, sowhat resembling a statue of Maitreya Buddha.
Those entering would kneel and bow three tis, mutter a few words ’Xishen protect,’ then upon leaving, take a bag of rice from the table nearby, a straightforward process.
But all the people were tense, fearing the Divine statue might shed tears of blood as they worshiped, at which point their fear peaked.
Sang Que whispered a few words to Xia Chan, who nodded, before Sang Que lowered her bamboo hat and walked toward the Xishen Temple.
The line was short, and it was soon Sang Que’s turn to enter.
She had just stepped over the threshold when she heard a cracking sound; the massive Divine statue of Xishen suddenly split open from its face, pouring forth copious amounts of bright red blood, instantly dyeing Xishen’s face in blood.
It was the Yin Walker aura from Sang Que’s body clashing with and opposing the Divine Xishen statue.
As the statue cracked, Sang Que also felt a heavy pressure.
Those around the Xishen Temple, not yet departed, cried out in fright upon seeing the spectacle, "You have angered Xishen, quickly sacrifice yourself to seek Xishen’s forgiveness!"
"Alright!"
Sang Que sliced her arm with a knife and flung her blood onto the Divine statue.
Copying He Buning’s yin fire earlier, the blood ignited instantly with green flas, touching the blood flowing from the Divine statue, like encountering kerosene.
With a crash, the entire statue and the temple roof were all consud by green yin fire.
Sneaky approaches were not for Sang Que; she decided to face it head-on!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In front of the county governnt office, Xia Chan stood atop the zombie-like person, her hair tightly wrapped around two drumsticks, vigorously pounding the drum.
Upon the drum’s beat, all city folks, as dictated by the city regulations, panicked and ran into nearby buildings to hide.
Sang Que erged from the blazing Xishen Temple, tossing away the bamboo hat on her head, slowly taking out the Night Traveler mask He Buning specifically asked her to bring, and carefully fastening it onto her face.
"The Evil Suppression Bureau Night Wanderer, Sang Mulan, is here, you, the motley crew of the Ghost Opera Troupe, co forth to et your demise!"
Sang Mulan’s na, and her handling of the Yin Child, had long been spread throughout Qinzhou.
Upon hearing it was her, and seeing the mask of the Evil Suppression Bureau, the city folk’s fear of Xishen considerably lessened, all looking towards Sang Que with hope.
Her daring to storm in alone ant the Evil Suppression Bureau and Qinzhou troops were nearby.
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