"Of course, that’s the Power of Space. You should think about it, what kind of cultivation is needed to involve the Power of Space in this world?" The Great Freedom Celestial Demon murmured beside him, "Let’s go back. This space passage will probably take more than a month to stabilize. Staying here any longer is just a waste of time."
Zhang Chen nodded, agreeing with the Great Freedom Celestial Demon’s words, realizing he should return to Huangli Temple as dawn was near.
Zhang Chen transformed into a water mist, sneaking back to the Daoist Temple unnoticed, and saw that the cries and clashes had gradually subsided within the temple. The black-clad attackers were also starting to retreat in an orderly manner.
Zhang Chen returned silently to the pavilion, checked on Xiaodouding, and, seeing the child in a deep sleep, felt a sense of relief. Looking out at the armored warriors standing guard in the courtyard, Zhang Chen thought of Zhang Xiaohua. Could he take advantage of the chaos to eliminate Zhang Xiaohua?
"Not feasible! If Zhang Xiaohua were to die in the Daoist Temple, Huangli Temple might be massacred by Prince Pingbian! Zhang Xiaohua is Prince Pingbian’s only heir; even if he were to die, it must not happen inside the temple. Besides, how could Prince Pingbian’s Mansion miss such an opportunity for assassins? Mr. Wuliu is a cunning man, never leaving openings for others to exploit."
With those thoughts in mind, Zhang Chen sensed the water qi underground beginning to permeate and spread through the air. He used the water qi to continuously sense the humanoid creatures within the Daoist Temple.
In Zhang Chen’s perception, Zhang Xiaohua’s pavilion was surrounded by three to four layers, likely guarded by three or four thousand soldiers, making it impenetrable.
"Ultrasound waves have limitations; they bounce back when encountering obstacles, but water vapor does not. As long as it’s within a kilometer, I can sense humanoid creatures wherever the water vapor spreads." Zhang Chen privately compared the differences between ultrasound and water vapor, noting that sometimes ultrasound could be more useful than water vapor, especially in terms of reaction speed and accuracy, which water vapor could not match.
Returning to the pavilion, Zhang Chen waited for the disturbances in the Daoist Temple to subside. When the first light of dawn illuminated the sky, the chaos in Huangli Temple completely ceased.
The morning bell rang, summoning the disciples of Huangli Temple, and at this time, Xiaodouding energetically came down from the pavilion, "Zhang Chen, it’s time for the morning class."
"Why are there so many soldiers standing guard outside? They seem like experts from the Inspection and Supervision Department?" Xiaodouding, seeing the soldiers standing guard outside the pavilion, showed a look of confusion in his eyes. At the same time, his delicate nose sniffed the air: "Something’s not right either; why does the air smell burnt, and there’s a barbecue scent as well? Could it be that the temple prepared a barbecue for us today?"
"Zhang Chen, let’s go downstairs quickly. There’s barbecue today." Xiaodouding said enthusiastically, clearly delighted and excited.
Hearing the word "barbecue" from Chengyu’s mouth, Zhang Chen nearly threw up last night’s dinner. Zhang Chen’s eyes stared curiously at Xiaodouding; the barbecue smell he mentioned should be the scent of burning bodies. He wondered if Xiaodouding would still be so expectant when seeing the bodies in the fire later.
"Let’s go!" Zhang Chen patted Xiaodouding’s head, then took his hand and walked out of the cottage.
"This barbecue smell is so fragrant and rich!" Chengyu joyfully sniffed the air with his small nose: "The only pity is that it seems a bit overdone, burnt even. The cook’s skills have always been poor, wasting good ingredients. Today, I must eat a lot of barbecue; I’m starving!"
Xiaodouding drooled greedily, sniffing the air.
Zhang Chen watched Xiaodouding’s dog-like sniffing expression, eagerly looking forward to eating barbecue, and felt speechless, wanting to say something but ultimately swallowed his words.
As the two of them walked, seeing the bloodstains on the ground and the burned temple buildings, Xiaodouding’s eyes were filled with confusion.
How did the entire Daoist Temple become so dilapidated and look as if it had been ravaged by war after waking up?
"What happened?" Xiaodouding asked, seeing the palaces aflame: "Did the temple catch fire last night?"
But seeing the bloodstains on the ground seemed abnormal. How would fire in a temple cause bleeding?
Zhang Chen was about to answer when he saw a senior brother carrying a corpse.
"Where did the corpse come from?" Chengyu widened his eyes.
Before he could react, he saw two senior brothers carrying a corpse and throwing it into the burning palace.
At this time, a barbecue scent wafted from the flames. One brother turned his head and said to Chengyu, "The temple was attacked by bandits last night, and we fought to the death, leaving over eighty bandit corpses. The Ancestral Master ordered them to be burned on the spot."
Upon hearing this, Chengyu’s face turned pale like wax, and he rushed to the grass nearby, retching.
The beloved barbecue he’d been dreaming of turned out to be this? Who could handle that? Especially as Chengyu walked, sniffing the barbecue aroma, his stomach churned even more.
"Stop vomiting!" Zhang Chen walked over and patted Xiaodouding’s back.
Xiaodouding continued to retch but couldn’t vomit.
"Damn it, this disgusts me!" Xiaodouding cursed angrily: "I thought the temple was kindly preparing barbecue, but who knew it would be so disgusting."
Zhang Chen comforted Xiaodouding for a while, until Xiaodouding, pale-faced, followed behind Zhang Chen, cursing under his breath as they headed towards the main hall.
Walking along, they saw many senior brothers with bandages and wounds, some using crutches, limping through the temple.
"Liu Feng’s soul was destroyed, devoured by that mysterious shadow. I wonder what happened to his body?" Zhang Chen felt curious.
What happens to a body if it loses its three souls and seven spirits?
As they walked, the number of senior brothers in the temple didn’t seem to decrease. In their daily martial practice and coordinated training, even though the black-clad attackers had high Martial Dao Cultivation, they couldn’t use their mysterious power under the military force of Prince Pingbian’s Mansion, and couldn’t gain an advantage against the temple’s senior brothers.
The temple’s atmosphere was solemn. They entered the main hall and saw Gu Mingyue standing in front of the Ancestral Master’s statue, eyes heavy with emotion.
His plan was shattered, unsuccessful in at least one aspect.
In front of Gu Mingyue, Observatory Master Liu Feng’s body stood woodenly, like a wooden sculpture. Zhang Chen’s pupils contracted as he saw Liu Feng’s body still alive, not yet dead.
"Ancestral Master, all the disciples are assembled. Please address us," Elder Chuan Wu said respectfully.
Gu Mingyue scanned the disciples with a grim voice, "Where is Ma Zhou?"
"Reporting to Ancestral Master, Ma Zhou is asleep. I sent someone to inform him, but Ma Zhou couldn’t be awakened, so we carried him over," Elder Chuan Wu replied.
On hearing this, Gu Mingyue’s mustache quivered in anger, "Bring this fool here, nearly ruining my major plans in Yellow Heaven Dao!"
From outside the main hall came footsteps. Two disciples entered, carrying Ma Zhou on a stretcher.
Zhang Chen saw Ma Zhou snoring loudly, making an echo in the silent main hall.
"Bring cold water, wake this beast up," said Gu Mingyue.
A disciple had prepared cold water in advance. It was poured onto Ma Zhou, who instinctively turned but kept snoring loudly, not waking up.
"This wretched drunkard, how much did he drink?" Gu Mingyue pointed at Ma Zhou, a divine light from his fingertip hitting Ma Zhou, who groggily woke up but hadn’t figured out the situation before Gu Mingyue shouted:
"Degenerate, kneel now!"
At these words, the drowsy Ma Zhou hesitated, glancing around the hall at the bandaged temple disciples and Gu Mingyue’s furious face, eyes filled with bewilderment.
"Uncle Master, why the rage?" Ma Zhou clumsily got up, eyes dazed as he looked at Gu Mingyue, a bad feeling creeping in.