When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

The great hall remained shrouded in darkness, with the only light coming from Elder Qi's fire whip. The flames cast flickering shadows across the damaged face of the stone statue, adding an eerie, terrifying quality to its appearance.

Jiang Mo felt her skin crawl at the sudden sight. Yet she was relatively fortunate, as she had earlier closed her eyes, unable to bear watching the old monk being whipped. Yun Qingyue and the others weren't so lucky—they had witnessed firsthand how the old monk transformed into a stone statue, only to have his face damaged by Elder Qi's whip, leaving them far more disturbed.

Elder Qi, however, displayed either "skilled courage" or perhaps had witnessed too many strange occurrences, for she remained unfazed even after seeing the monk transform into stone. Judging by how her whipping rhythm never faltered, it was clear that regardless of whether the old monk before her was human or ghost, she had no intention of stopping.

With a sharp "crack," another vicious lash descended.

Jiang Mo's eyelid twitched. She sensed this strike would yield different results—though facing a stone statue, she doubted it would continue to accept blows without retaliation.

Sure enough, just as Elder Qi's fire whip was about to strike the statue, it suddenly moved. In a lightning-fast motion, it raised its hand and caught the fire whip, which writhed like a live snake in its grasp.

A moment later, sparks flew as the statue crushed the whip of condensed flame in its hand.

Everyone present was worldly enough to understand from this single move that the statue's strength was certainly no less than Elder Qi's—at least no less than the strength she had displayed so far.

Elder Qi clearly recognized this as well. Her expression shifted slightly, though while grave, she remained unruffled. With a flick of her wrist, the remaining half of her whip rippled, and the crushed flames regathered. Although the external appearance of the flames remained unchanged, the power within had noticeably increased. This revealed that she hadn't been using her full strength before, and even now, she wasn't intimidated by the statue's displayed power.

Soon, Elder Qi's whip lashed toward the statue once more, with roaring flames illuminating half the hall.

Following the light, Jiang Mo and the others watched as the statue again neither dodged nor evaded. Its ferocious face seemed to come alive, its mouth twisting into a smile. Yet this smile appeared utterly sinister, sending chills down everyone's spine.

Then, before everyone's eyes, the statue vanished. As Elder Qi's whip struck empty air, a bizarre figure appeared behind her. She sensed something amiss and instinctively retreated while simultaneously striking backward with her free left hand.

The blow connected, and even hurriedly delivered, a Fusion stage cultivator's strike carried considerable power. Yet only Elder Qi herself knew that her strike felt like hitting the hardest of magical treasures—not only had it failed to harm her opponent, but her own arm had been injured. From elbow to palm, her entire left arm went numb, beyond even feeling pain, and she couldn't summon the slightest bit of strength.

Elder Qi's expression finally changed, especially when she inadvertently locked eyes with the statue while retreating. Though the statue's eyes were merely carved stone, she saw within them a cold, malevolent intent.

She suddenly remembered that this temple contained more than just this one monk—there had been quite a few monks in the main hall for evening prayers!

As Elder Qi's mind wandered for a moment, the statue gave her no opportunity for further thought, silently reappearing at her side. By the time Elder Qi noticed, the statue's hand was already reaching for her.

Blood splattered as several wounds appeared on Elder Qi's chest. Though the location was somewhat delicate, none present would misinterpret it. Despite being in a sensitive area, it was also vital—had Elder Qi's reaction been even a breath slower, her heart would have been torn out.

Elder Qi covered her wounds and retreated several steps, feeling not only the stickiness of blood under her palm but also her heart pounding violently.

Before coming, Elder Qi hadn't known much about this nameless temple, only that it appeared and disappeared mysteriously, with little understanding of its dangers. But since the sect had sent her here, it clearly wasn't an easy task, so she had mentally prepared herself for danger and was now on the highest alert.

She flipped her palm, and as the fire whip dispersed, a string of prayer beads appeared in her hand—Buddha-light flashed, with faint Sanskrit chants audible. This was clearly a treasure commonly used by Buddhist cultivators, appearing somewhat incongruous in Elder Qi's hands.

However, incongruous or not, practicality was what mattered.

The statue, originally transformed from the old monk, had been protected by Buddha-light when Elder Qi whipped it earlier. Yet now, facing the prayer beads radiating Buddha-light, the statue seemed to have encountered its natural enemy. Previously violent and determined to finish Elder Qi, it now retreated into the darkness, visibly raising its hands to shield its face.

Seeing the prayer beads were effective, Elder Qi pressed her advantage, swinging them toward the statue.

The statue dodged several times. Being naturally elusive, it could easily evade Elder Qi if it truly wanted to flee. However, having shed its human skin, the statue seemed to have lost all restraint, becoming not only eerily vicious but also thoroughly impatient. While Elder Qi's prayer beads clearly intimidated the statue, after several exchanges, rather than injuring or frightening it away, they only further provoked its ferocity.

Jiang Mo and the others watched as the murderous light in the statue's eyes intensified, and they silently anticipated trouble. Sure enough, the statue suddenly stopped dodging, raised one hand to block the incoming prayer beads, and with its free hand, once again reached for Elder Qi's heart.

This change happened so quickly that Jiang Mo and the others held their breath for Elder Qi, caught unprepared.

Fortunately, Elder Qi was no novice and possessed rich combat experience. As the statue's hand reached for her, a spiritual light flashed at her chest, not only repelling its attack but injuring it in return.

For an instant, everyone seemed to hear a muffled howl of agony.

Looking closer, Jiang Mo and the others saw that half of the statue's reaching hand was missing. The severed end was pitch-black, as if cut by some extremely high-temperature blade and cauterized in the process. The statue's other arm, which had blocked the prayer beads, fared no better—the beads had proven far more powerful than the fire whip, shredding the stone "monk robe" from its arm.

The statue had clearly suffered damage, yet rather than retreating, its ferocity only intensified. A red light flashed in its eyes, and both the severed half of its palm and the shredded "robe" were instantly restored.

The only thing unchanged was the damage to its face, which remained grotesquely disfigured.

Witnessing this, Jiang Mo found it oddly familiar, reminiscent of her battle with the sand puppet.

But clearly, this statue was no puppet. Like the other monks in the temple, it was a spirit. Though the nature of the other spirits remained unclear, this one had apparently become a malevolent entity—extremely fierce!

༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺

While Jiang Mo and her companions followed Elder Qi into the Great Buddha Hall, their attention completely absorbed by the battle, they remained unaware of what was happening outside. Elder Qi, locked in combat with the stone statue, naturally had no attention to spare for external matters.

Outside the hall, in the darkness, the scattered Nine Abyss Sect cultivators were rapidly searching the entire temple.

These cultivators were of considerable cultivation, moving with windlike speed and absolute silence. Initially, everything proceeded smoothly. They thoroughly searched the modest-sized temple, even prying up the bluestone floor tiles to look underneath before carefully replacing them, leaving no trace.

Gradually, however, they sensed something amiss with the atmosphere. Silence was expected—they had taken care to make no sound, and a temple in the desert had no insect calls. But at some point, even the sound of the wind had disappeared. The complete silence made them uneasy.

Finding nothing after their search, the scattered cultivators began to regroup.

When Elder Qi failed to appear at the appointed time, they waited briefly before growing anxious. With the atmosphere feeling wrong, someone rubbed the goosebumps on their arms and asked quietly, "Does anyone else feel something's not right?"

Cultivators have keen perceptions, and everyone had sensed it, but beyond remaining vigilant, they weren't sure what to do.

Someone instinctively glanced toward the temple exit, where the two or three zhang high walls revealed the distant, towering sand dunes beyond. Such a height and distance were negligible to cultivators—escaping the temple seemed but a thought away. This realization calmed their unease somewhat, but when they counted their numbers, several people were missing.

Missing people was to be expected—besides Elder Qi, Jiang Mo and the others were still hiding in the Great Buddha Hall watching the spectacle. But the number of missing wasn't just those five—they counted and discovered seven people missing!

This ignited panic among them. Someone quietly suggested, "Elder Qi's situation isn't something we can help with, but shouldn't we look for the others? If Elder Qi returns and finds so many missing, she'll likely blame us..."

The suggestion seemed reasonable, and just as everyone was about to agree, a sense of alarm suddenly rose in their hearts.

Cultivators place great importance on intuition, especially those of high cultivation who have faced life-or-death situations and been saved by intuition countless times. Without thinking further, they immediately employed various defensive techniques or evasions, causing various colorful lights to flash throughout the temple.

Two who reacted more slowly—perhaps having faced fewer dangers in their lives—moved half a beat too late and never got another chance. Long, slender hands pierced through their chests, the once-white skin now covered in fresh blood. Still-beating hearts pulsed in those hands, struggling desperately to sustain life. The owners of those hearts, shock still evident in their eyes, gradually lost their luster.

A person without a heart cannot live, but for accomplished cultivators, there exists a second chance at survival.

Void Crossing cultivators possess not only Nascent Souls but also Spirit Divisions, giving them the opportunity to seize another body after death. Unfortunately, their attackers gave them no such chance. A dark current immediately swallowed the newly deceased, consuming not just their Nascent Souls and Spirit Divisions, but every last hair—in an instant, the dead left no trace behind.

Those who witnessed this were greatly alarmed. As they turned to flee, they discovered numerous shadowy figures had silently appeared behind them. Though their faces were indistinguishable, they had completely surrounded the group, with cold gazes seemingly fixed upon them from the darkness.

Even these demonic cultivators felt their hearts skip a beat at the sight. Someone couldn't help but shout, "Retreat!"

It was unclear who shouted, but with their lives threatened, none remembered what mission they were on, nor could they consider the consequences of Elder Qi discovering their flight. Almost everyone immediately chose to retreat, and without exception, they all rushed toward the temple exit. Though they couldn't make out the features of those shadowy figures in the darkness, they could all see the bald heads in the moonlight!

The temple had something strange about it—everyone knew this. They also understood the principle of risking danger for great rewards. Their presence here meant they had chosen to take the risk, but they hadn't imagined the danger would be so extreme.

Void Crossing cultivators, in the hands of these beings that might be neither human nor ghost, were killed as easily as chickens, their hearts torn out!

The demonic cultivators had no resolve to die for their mission. They scattered like birds and beasts, with the fastest one reaching the temple wall in the blink of an eye. Perhaps guessing that the wall might have some trick, he didn't blindly rush forward but took out his treasured high-grade Formation-Breaking Cone and thrust it ahead.

This Formation-Breaking Cone was of significant quality, acquired by chance, effective not only against formations but barriers as well. The cultivator had escaped many dangers with it and expected this time to be no different. To his dismay, after deploying the cone and rushing forward, he still collided solidly with the barrier.

Momentarily dazed, he provided a cautionary example for those following behind, who immediately employed various methods to break through the barrier.

However, when seven or eight spiritual attacks hit the barrier, it showed no reaction whatsoever, like fireworks hitting glass—they simply exploded in midair. The quick-minded immediately thought of the temple gate and rushed in that direction.

The gate hadn't disappeared and remained where it was, seemingly offering escape if only they could open it.

But the pursuing shadows gave them no such opportunity. The fastest runner's fingertips had clearly touched the door bolt, but at the last moment, he was caught by the shadow and dragged further from the gate...

The quiet temple erupted with the sounds of fighting and shouting.

༻༺❀༻✧⋆｡°✩☽༓☾✩°｡⋆✧༺❀༻༺

The temple hall doors seemed to function as a barrier. No matter how fierce the fighting outside, even if the modest temple was being destroyed, those inside couldn't hear a thing—not even Zhu Baiyi, a Grand Achievement cultivator, sensed anything amiss.

The group's attention remained largely fixed on the battling cultivator and spirit, while the remainder of their focus... well, they hadn't come merely to spectate. Having originally sought to uncover the temple's secrets, and with Elder Qi now occupying the stone statue, they naturally wouldn't miss this excellent opportunity to quietly examine the Great Buddha Hall for hidden mysteries.

On one side, Elder Qi and the statue fought ferociously; on the other, the four cautiously circled the hall, investigating. As she searched, Jiang Mo increasingly felt as if something was watching her.

She rubbed her arm and turned toward her senior sister, seemingly wanting to ask if she felt it too.

But before she could turn, her arm was grabbed firmly by Yun Qingyue, halting her progress. She looked back questioningly, only to see Yun Qingyue's face tight with concern, her eyes fixed intently on something behind Jiang Mo.

Jiang Mo instantly broke out in a cold sweat, feeling as if her scalp might explode. Like all startled felines, she instinctively leaped up and landed behind her senior sister, instinctively seeking safety there. Upon regaining her senses and feeling too cowardly, she quickly emerged from behind her senior sister and positioned herself in front of her instead.

This series of actions, though taking time to describe, occurred within just one or two breaths. When Jiang Mo finally mustered the courage to shield her senior sister and look ahead, she saw a small Buddha statue where her senior sister had been staring.

Having statues in a temple was perfectly normal—though they hadn't examined the Great Buddha Hall in detail, even a cursory glance revealed many Buddhist statues. Yet this particular one seemed especially strange—not only was its location unusual, but its size was wrong, and even its material differed. Most statues in the hall were bronze or gold, but this one was stone, and at a glance, bore a striking resemblance to the statue fighting Elder Qi.

Realizing this, Jiang Mo's heart skipped a beat, especially when she noticed the small statue's eyes seemed to be looking directly at her. She backed away step by step, protecting her senior sister, and the small statue's gaze appeared to follow their movement.

Jiang Mo's scalp tingled with fear, and she even forgot about Zhu Baiyi's concealment formation around them, feeling only that the statue had fixed its attention on her.

When faced with danger, human instinct leads to either flight or fight. With her senior sister behind her, Jiang Mo's first thought wasn't to flee but to strike first.

She was about to act, golden spiritual energy already gathering in her palm, when someone suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Yun Qingyue's voice sounded by her ear, extremely soft: "Don't move."

Just those two words, without further explanation, but Jiang Mo obediently dispersed her spiritual energy. Then she felt the hand gripping her wrist gently pulling, and she followed the guidance, retreating step by step. Throughout this, she didn't look back, withdrawing backward while keeping her eyes fixed on the small statue. The small statue seemed to watch her continuously, yet even as she was pulled away by her senior sister, it made no move.

Even after the two had retreated far enough for the small statue to be swallowed by darkness, Jiang Mo still felt its stare. However, as the distance increased, the sense of danger gradually dissipated, and her tense nerves slowly relaxed.

What was that small statue all about?

Jiang Mo turned, about to ask her senior sister what she had discovered, but as she turned, she saw a dark shadow behind her senior sister. Still on edge from the fright with the small statue, with her nerves not yet fully relaxed, she almost instinctively pulled Yun Qingyue behind her.

Fortunately, before she could act, the shadow emerged from the darkness—it was none other than Zhu Baiyi.

Jiang Mo didn't lower her guard, looking behind her twice more, only relaxing slightly when she saw Qingyu following as well. Still alert, her brows furrowed, and just as she was about to transmit a question, Zhu Baiyi sent a message first, her tone somewhat urgent: "Let's go, we need to leave this place first!"

Having spoken, Zhu Baiyi didn't waste time, immediately pulling Qingyu toward the exit.

Yun Qingyue glanced at the two, pursed her lips slightly, and followed, pulling Jiang Mo along.

The four returned to the front hall, where, unsurprisingly, the cultivator and stone statue were still battling. However, unlike when they had left, Elder Qi was now covered in wounds, clearly at a disadvantage. She seemed to realize the statue's formidable nature and no longer wished to engage it, but the statue had fixated on her, clinging like a leech, refusing to let her escape.

Jiang Mo and the others took just one glance and concluded that Elder Qi's situation looked dire. However, with different allegiances, they had no intention of helping, and after a brief look, they silently slipped out of the hall.

As they exited the hall, the night breeze greeted them, and Jiang Mo wrinkled her nose, frowning slightly.

Yun Qingyue was the first to notice, immediately stopping and transmitting: "What's wrong?"

Jiang Mo sniffed the air again, puzzled: "I thought I smelled blood, but when I tried to smell it again, it seemed to be gone."

At these words, Yun Qingyue immediately became alert, her sharp gaze sweeping the surroundings. Yet everything appeared as quiet as before, with the moonlight illuminating an unchanged scene, seemingly no different than when they had entered the Great Buddha Hall.

But this very normality was wrong. Though they hadn't kept track of time, they had spent at least half an hour in the Great Buddha Hall with Elder Qi. By now, the previously scattered Nine Abyss Sect disciples should have reconvened in the open space before the hall. But not a single figure was visible, which was extremely unusual.

Zhu Baiyi, however, showed no interest in investigating further. She seemed eager to leave this troublesome place and, after a quick survey of the surroundings, transmitted to the two: "Let's go, back to our quarters first."

The four silently departed, heading toward their lodgings without encountering anyone or anything along the way. Had they emerged a quarter-hour earlier, perhaps they would have witnessed the carnage, the dying struggles. Had they emerged half a quarter-hour earlier, they might even have seen dark shadows dragging corpses away from the hall entrance in the night.

But they saw nothing, and fortunately, they saw nothing.