Chapter 204 - 13: Discovering the Secret Room and Burning It with a Great Fire

Chapter 204: Chapter 13: Discovering the Secret Room and Burning It with a Great Fire

Chen Ye pressed his ear to the ground, listening carefully for a moment. Then, having apparently made up his mind, he turned and left.

Meanwhile, in the vast secret chamber beneath the rear hall, stood a simple altar.

Upon the altar stood a Puppet, startlingly dressed in a magnificent red wedding gown and a matching red veil!

The Puppet’s figure was indistinguishable from a real person’s—in fact, it was even more perfect.

It had a slender, graceful figure and skin as white as snow, exuding an astonishing charm.

Scattered around the Puppet lay more than a dozen corpses in disarray.

The bodies were both male and female. Judging by their attire, they were the very servants and guards who had gone missing from the Zhang Mansion.

Each of the corpses had a withered, desiccated face. Their eyes were wide open, etched with endless terror, as if they had witnessed something horrifying just before death.

To one side of the altar, a young woman was trussed up, a cloth gag stuffed in her mouth, leaning unconscious against a pillar.

Though her face was pale, she had an unmistakable air of nobility. It was none other than the missing daughter of Landlord Zhang.

Two men stood on the other side of the altar.

One of them was Abbot Liao Chen.

The other, dressed in a long green robe, was handsome, with a small mole near the corner of his mouth.

He was the very puppeteer Li Xiuwen had described!

The man in the green robe gazed at the Puppet on the altar with an almost obsessive, infinitely tender look. "Junior Brother," he said softly, "look. Isn’t my Ling’Er becoming more and more beautiful?"

His voice was so gentle it could have been made of water, as if he were looking not at a cold Puppet, but at his most beloved sweetheart.

Abbot Liao Chen placed his palms together. The compassionate expression he wore by day had vanished, replaced by a look of fanaticism and reverence.

"Senior Brother, your Puppetry Technique has already reached the Transformation Realm. This Ghost Bride is an unparalleled masterpiece. With just one final step, she will truly come to life. Then, Senior Brother, you will be the second person after our great founder to successfully create a Ghost Bride."

The man in the green robe couldn’t help but smile smugly. "That’s right. The final step."

As he spoke, he turned to look at the unconscious Miss Zhang, a feverish glint in his eyes.

"It took me three whole years to find this perfect sacrifice—a Pure Yin Body."

"I just need to extract her Pure Yin Spirit whole and infuse it into Ling’Er. Then, my Ghost Bride will be complete!"

"At that point, she will possess an intellect equal to that of an ordinary person, and her power will skyrocket, reaching all the way to... the Inner Realm!"

The Inner Realm!

One must understand, the Seven Realms of Qi Refiners are: Foundation Establishment, Qi Nourishing, Unobstructed, Sea Condensation, Inner Scenery, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul.

Cong Bo, who was at the Sea Condensation Realm, had already been able to effortlessly crush the Evil Spirit in the Drunken Spring Building.

And the Inner Realm was an entire major Realm higher than the Sea Condensation Realm!

Upon reaching this Realm, one’s Divine Spirit could roam free, one could give form to their Inner Qi—their abilities were practically godlike!

Therefore, forget a small place like Yu Huo County; even in the whole of Qingzhou, such a person would be a powerhouse who could do as they pleased.

"Senior Brother, when should we make our move?" Abbot Liao Chen asked, unable to hide his impatience.

"No rush." The man in the green robe waved his hand. "Creating the Ghost Bride requires the perfect alignment of time and place."

"Tonight, at midnight, the Yin Qi will be at its peak and the moonlight at its purest. That is the perfect time to act."

"We still have a few hours. We can make some final preparations to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

"Yes, Senior Brother!"

Just as the two of them got busy, billowing clouds of thick smoke suddenly rose from the Black Buddha Temple’s Great Heroic Hall and various other locations around the temple grounds simultaneously.

Fire!

A raging inferno!

The dry timber, set with oil-soaked kindling, ignited in an instant.

The fire rode the wind, and the wind fanned the flames.

In the span of just a few breaths, tongues of flame were greedily licking at every pillar and beam, every roof tile of the ancient temple.

In an instant, the Black Buddha Temple, a place that should have been a tranquil Buddhist sanctuary, was transformed into a sea of fire!

"Fire! Fire!"

"Somebody help! Put out the fire!"

Inside the temple, the Monks who had been startled awake let out terrified screams.

They grabbed water buckets and wet blankets, scrambling in a panic as they tried to extinguish the sudden blaze.

But the inferno was simply too large, too ferocious.

Their meager efforts were like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot—utterly futile against the towering sea of flames.

Thick smoke billowed, surging toward the heavens.

Even from Yu Huo County Town, miles away, people could clearly see the sky above the outskirts glowing crimson.

"Trouble! That’s the direction of the Black Buddha Temple!"

On the city walls, the Soldiers on night watch were the first to spot the disturbance.

"Quick, go report to the Lord County Magistrate and Lord Cong of the Demon Slayer Department!"

Squads of constables and Demon-slaying Captains were urgently rousted from their beds. Lighting torches, they sped toward the outskirts of the town.

Meanwhile, the instigator of it all, Chen Ye, stood atop the rear wall of the Black Buddha Temple.

He watched coolly as the temple was devoured by fire, his gaze unwavering and devoid of emotion.

He knew that even if this fire didn’t force Abbot Liao Chen out, it would at least throw his plans into disarray.

And just as he’d expected, down in the secret chamber, the man in the green robe and Abbot Liao Chen immediately felt the ground tremble and a wave of scorching heat.

"What’s going on?!" the man in the green robe demanded in alarm.

Abbot Liao Chen peered through the secret chamber’s air vent and saw the towering flames outside. He froze in shock. "The temple... How could the temple suddenly be on fire?!"

Watching the home he had run for decades go up in flames, Abbot Liao Chen’s face became a mask of shock and fury.