The Blade-Wielding Legend
Chapter 357 - 224 The Ancient Village Mystery

Chapter 357: Chapter 224 The Ancient Village Mystery

"The village is called Erbei Bay."

He brought several people into the Priest Dao Xuan’s temple and Yu Lingzi picked up a file from the desk and handed it to Li Yan.

"All the information is here. The disciples we sent couldn’t find the cause; they could only record the situation in detail."

"That village is a bit peculiar, and the issue is now widely known. If we don’t handle it soon, the trouble will only grow..."

Li Yan raised his eyebrows, "What do you mean by peculiar?"

Yu Lingzi shook his head helplessly, "That village is in Zigui County, five miles east of the city. At the entrance of the village, there are two stone monuments, one engraved with ’Qu Yuan’s Residence’ and the other with ’Song Yu’s Residence’."

Li Yan was startled and then nodded, "Indeed peculiar."

"Yes," Yu Lingzi became more helpless.

"That’s why, despite its old age, the village has not produced a Scholar for nearly a hundred years, but its location is crucial."

"There, scholars and literati often visit to reminisce about the past, close to some mountain people’s cities. If the Land God Temple is demolished and Evil Gods are worshipped, it would be a laughingstock if word got out."

"At present, those villagers who trespassed into the City God Temple are still detained in the government office’s prison. If we only sentence the people but do not solve the problem, you can imagine the kind of criticism it will provoke."

"The Daoist can rest assured, we will certainly do our best."

Li Yan nodded in agreement and picked up the file to check.

Just as Yu Lingzi had described, the village had repeatedly planted seedlings all to have them mysteriously wilt and die.

Neither Fengshui nor disaster relief rituals had any effect, and various Divination spells could not reveal the reason.

Later, a wandering Daoist entered the village, spreading rumors that this was due to the court’s immorality and a disaster sent from heaven.

The village head was afraid, and dispatched people to capture him, but the Daoist disappeared into the Qu Yuan monument in broad daylight.

The villagers were panic-stricken, thinking it was a warning from the Three Lus Doctor.

That night, someone dreamt of the Daoist saying the disaster in the village originated from the Land God Temple. Someone directly smashed the Land God statue, only to find it filled with human blood and organs!

The villagers became even more panicked, not knowing who had bewitched them ran to Yichang City to storm the City God Temple.

"This is clearly the work of demons!"

Li Yan shook his head slightly and handed the file to Wang Daoxuan, "Daoist, does this situation seem like what you’ve encountered before?"

When he first heard of this, Wang Daoxuan had said he had seen it before and had prepared overnight.

Wang Daoxuan took a look and stroked his beard, nodding, "It’s similar, but I need to see the specifics when we get there."

On hearing this, Yu Lingzi immediately became curious, "Daoist friend, have you seen this kind of tactic before?"

Wang Daoxuan nodded, "While traveling the world, I passed by Jiao State and encountered a similar situation caused by a Wood Spirit."

"Wood spirits are tree spirits, those villagers had cut down a thousand-year-old tree nearby their houses, and the Wood Spirit retaliated, causing plants to die and even killing several people."

"My spells were not masterful enough to identify the cause. It was only when a Mei Mountain Naval Priest happened to pass by that he managed to capture and suppress the Wood Spirit."

"Wood Spirit?"

Yu Lingzi frowned slightly, "Wood Spirits causing trouble should leave traces of Yin Qi, but nothing was found at the time."

While in Yunyang, the rich young master from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Lin Yu, had controlled "Mountain Guests" to spy.

But "Wood Spirits" and "Mountain Guests" are entirely different.

"Mountain Guests" are spirit monsters of the mountains, having physical forms, more akin to naturally mutant creatures like the cockscomb snake, which in some places even communicate with humans and trade mountain spirit wood for food.

While Wood Spirits are tree spirits become sentient.

The old tree being the main body, the Divine Soul roams as a spirit.

And Wood Spirits have one particular trait, they are not afraid of sunlight, they like to appear during the day, hence the saying "Wood Spirits walk at dawn, Mountain Ghosts startle at night."

Sometimes, people entering the mountains during the day may encounter the Ghost Wall phenomenon, with dense fog making it hard to discern directions, possibly the work of these beings.

They are usually mild in nature, using Ghost Wall mainly to keep people away from their true forms.

But once their true forms are destroyed, they undertake bloody revenge.

Li Yan spoke coldly, "Someone is involved, trying to stir up public unrest, naturally they would erase any traces. Capturing this person should solve the problem."

"That’s also true."

Yu Lingzi smiled wryly, "The elite from Law Enforcement Hall have been dispatched, and the disciples we sent are inexperienced, we still need your help."

"Sure thing."

Li Yan smiled slightly and changed the subject, "Daoist, we need your help too. We are crafting a Magic Artifact and are lacking some treasures and spiritual materials. Do you have any in the City God Temple?"

"What do you need?"

"Mountain Demon hair and Lichen."

Li Yan asked casually, as these items were rare and the strength of Yichang City God Temple was moderate.

Unexpectedly, Yu Lingzi nodded without hesitation, "We happen to have both of those items in our Yichang City God Temple."

He continued with a smile, "Here in Yichang, we are connected to Shennongjia above and the barbaric mountains of Xiangxi below, many places unexplored, abundant with spirit monsters and various Spiritual Objects."

"Last autumn in Xingyang County, a Mountain Demon scourged the area, abducting women into Shennongjia, and at that time, elite from Law Enforcement Hall were present; they brought a Mei Mountain Demon Hunter, and they captured it together."

"The skeleton of the Mountain Demon was taken by that Mei Mountain disciple to craft a Magic Artifact, but its skin and hair were kept in the City God Temple and haven’t been sold yet."

"As for ’Lichen’, it was a desperate treasure-seeking mountain guest who sold it to us in exchange htmlFor some Magic Artifacts."

"That’s great!"

Sha Lifei immediately grinned from ear to ear.

With these two types of spiritual materials, he could make a powder to eliminate smells; Lin Yu had already shared the method with him, and with these, using gunpowder against Magicians was almost guaranteed to succeed.

"Gentlemen, please follow me."