Little Pengtou was certain they wouldn’t actually break their bones, so he became reckless. Nanfeng’s knuckles cracked, seemingly holding back curses. But as a warrior of Nanyang Palace, he couldn’t arbitrarily break anyone’s limbs. If a supervising official found out and reported it, it would be troublesome. Little Pengtou sneered, “I know what you’re up to. You want to trick us into staying put, take all the credit, and claim the reward yourselves?”

His words incited half the crowd, who ran into the temple. Fuyun dismissively waved his sleeve, “Let them be. These commoners.” He was utterly disgusted and didn’t want to bother. Inside Mingguang Temple, a scream echoed, “These are all dead people!”

Little Pengtou was startled, “All dead?!” “All dead!” “This is eerie, why hasn’t this one decayed after decades?…” He quickly changed his mind, “It’s fine if they’re dead. Let’s carry the brides’ bodies down the mountain, their families will pay!”

Xie Lian’s gaze grew cold. The crowd agreed. Some sighed, some muttered, some rejoiced. Xie Lian stood at the temple entrance, “Everyone, please come out. This hall has accumulated stagnant corpse energy for years. Ordinary people inhaling it will get sick.”

This sounded reasonable, but the crowd was unsure. Xiaoying whispered, “Everyone, please stop. It’s dangerous here. Let’s listen to this gentleman and go outside…”

But they wouldn’t listen to her, let alone Xie Lian and the others. Xiaoying didn’t give up and repeated herself several times. Little Pengtou told them, “Choose the fresh corpses, the old ones, their families might not even be alive anymore, don’t bother carrying them.” Some even praised his intelligence. Xie Lian found it both funny and frustrating. Seeing people touching the bodies, he said, “Don’t lift the veils! They block corpse energy and yang energy. You have a lot of yang energy; if it’s absorbed, something might happen.”

However, to choose fresh corpses, they had already lifted most of the veils. Xie Lian and Nanfeng exchanged a look at the entrance, shaking their heads. They knew they couldn’t stop them, as they couldn’t beat them senseless, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to escape if something happened. Then, a man lifted a bride’s veil, “My god, this girl is incredibly beautiful!”

Everyone gathered around, “It’s a pity she died before marriage.” “Her clothes are a bit torn, but she’s the most beautiful!”

This bride had likely died recently, her skin still elastic. Someone said, “Dare to touch her?” Little Pengtou said, “Why not?” He pinched the corpse’s face, finding it smooth and tempting. Before he could touch it again, Xie Lian couldn’t bear it anymore and was about to stop him, but Xiaoying rushed over, “Don’t do that!”

Little Pengtou pushed her back, “Don’t interfere!”

Xiaoying got up again, “You’ll be punished by heaven!”

Little Pengtou was furious, “Damn it, you ugly monster, you’re always causing trouble!”

He was about to kick her when Xie Lian grabbed Xiaoying’s collar and pulled her away. A “thump,” and Little Pengtou yelled, “Who hit me!”

Xie Lian looked back. He was bleeding profusely, a large hole in his head, a bloody rock on the ground. Xiaoying was startled, “I’m sorry, I… I was scared, I accidentally threw it…”

Even if she confessed, no one would believe her. The direction was wrong. The rock had been thrown from a window behind Little Pengtou. When Little Pengtou yelled, everyone looked in that direction, seeing a figure flash past the window.

Little Pengtou shouted, “It’s him! The ugly monster with the bandages!”

Xie Lian handed Xiaoying to Nanfeng, jumped over the windowsill, and chased into the forest. Several others who wanted the reward followed. At the edge of the forest, Xie Lian smelled blood, becoming wary, and stopped, “Don’t go in!”

He had warned them, but they continued into the forest. The crowd from the temple also came out, watching Xie Lian. Soon, screams echoed, and several figures stumbled out, the ones who had rushed in first. They were covered in blood, and obviously wouldn’t survive such blood loss. However, they were still walking towards them, terrifying the crowd, who retreated behind Xie Lian. Xie Lian raised his hand, “Calm down. The blood isn’t theirs.”

Indeed, they said, “Yes! It’s not our blood, it’s… it’s…”

Their terror was visible despite the blood. Following their gaze, everyone looked into the forest. Xie Lian took a torch, stepped forward, and shone it into the darkness. Something dripped onto the torch, making a sizzling sound. He looked at the torch, then up, paused, and threw the torch.

Although the torch only illuminated the area briefly, everyone saw what was above the trees.

Long black hair, a pale face, torn officer’s uniform, and arms swaying in the air.

Forty-plus men’s corpses, hanging upside down at various heights. The blood hadn’t dried, dripping down, creating a terrifying scene of hanging corpses and a bloody rain.

The strong men were terrified and silent. Nanfeng and Fuyun arrived and saw the scene, their expressions serious.

After a moment, Nanfeng said, “Qinggui.”

Fuyou said, “Indeed, his favorite trick.”

Nanfeng said to Xie Lian, “Don’t go near. If it’s him, it’ll be troublesome.”

Xie Lian asked, “Who are you talking about?”

Nanfeng said, “A ‘near-jue’ (near ultimate).”

Xie Lian was puzzled, “What’s a ‘near-jue’? Near ultimate?”

Fuyou said, “Yes. Qinggui, a ‘near-jue’, is a creature in Lingwen Temple’s records whose power is very close to ‘jue’ (ultimate). He loves this hanging corpse game, he’s infamous for it.”

Xie Lian thought, “This is unnecessary. It’s either ultimate or not. Like ‘ascended’ or ‘not ascended,’ there’s no ‘nearly ascended’ or ‘about to ascend.’ Adding ‘near’ makes it awkward.”

He remembered the boy holding his umbrella. Was he protecting him from this bloody rain? He softly gasped. The two immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”

He briefly recounted his encounter with the boy in the palanquin and how he was brought here. Fuyou was doubtful, “I noticed the formation when I came up, it was very dangerous. He broke it so easily?”