Chapter 20 - 12 (I): A Ghost in Red Sets Fire Upon the Military and Civil Temples
As he had suspected, on the young man's face was a serious burn scar. However, beneath the expanse of the blood red scar, one could vaguely make out three or four very small human faces.
Those human faces were all the size of an infant's palm, scattered crookedly across his cheeks and forehead. Because they had been burned before, each face was severely shriveled and looked as though they were screeching in pain. With these strange, screeching miniature human faces squeezed onto an originally normal human face, it truly was scarier than any ghost!
In that instant, upon seeing that face, Xie Lian felt as though he was thrown into a nightmare. An immense fear numbed his entire being, to the extent he was unaware of when he stood up. He also wasn't aware of what kind of expression appeared on his face, but it must have been extremely frightening.
The young man was slowly and hesitantly taking his bandage off, already feeling uneasy. Seeing his reaction, he also took two steps back, seemingly aware that Xie Lian couldn't accept a face like this. As if to protect himself, he suddenly covered that terrifying face, leapt up off the ground, before screaming and fleeing toward the depths of the forest.
He chased and shouted after him, "Wait! Come back!"
But because he had stood still for quite some time before finally reacting, and with how that teenager was more familiar with the routes of the mountain (having been used to hiding and escaping in the dark), it comes without saying that the teenager would disappear without a trace. No matter how much Xie Lian shouted, he would not come out. With no one around to help search, and lacking spiritual power, thus rendering him unable to use the spirit communication array; he dashed through the mountain and searched for an hour with no results.
As the cold wind blew, Xie Lian became more clear-headed and knew that randomly fumbling around like a headless housefly wouldn't result in anything. He gathered himself together and thought: "Perhaps he will come for Little Ying's corpse."
He doubled back to Ming Guang Temple—but was startled.
He was greeted with a mass of people clothed in black all gathered in the forest behind the temple. With solemn faces, they carefully took down the forty or so corpses from their hanging positions above. At the front of the forest stood a tall figure with his arms crossed, currently supervising the group of people. The head turned, revealing an elegant yet cold face belonging to that of a young man, which turned out to be Fu Yao. It seemed like he had made trip back to Heaven, before bringing back a group of officials down from Xuan Zhen Palace Hall to come help.
Xie Lian was just about to speak when the sound of footsteps came from behind. It was Nan Feng who had also finished sending off the villagers and had just returned. When he saw this scene, he cast a glance at Fu Yao and asked, "Didn't you run off by yourself?"
The way he said it was very unpleasant, causing Fu Yao to raise an eyebrow to show his displeasure. Xie Lian did not want them to begin arguing at such a critical moment and thus interjected, "I was the one who had him return to bring backup."