Chapter 343 - 10: Yingjie -

After all this time in the game, Duan Fei’s Power had reached 22, more than twice that of a normal person.

Combined with his skill with the crowbar, this made Duan Fei’s strike powerful and heavy, whistling through the air as it shot straight for the Little Daoist’s face.

The Little Daoist, not expecting Duan Fei to actually attack, could only watch wide-eyed as the crowbar flew past, grazing his scalp and flying over his head to strike the paper person behind him, slicing it in two.

This was Crowbar Swordsmanship at work.

Because of Crowbar Swordsmanship, the crowbar in Duan Fei’s hand was both a blunt weapon and a longsword. The paper person behind the Little Daoist never expected a club to be so sharp, and was sliced clean in two.

Little Fatty came back to his senses, looked at the bisected paper person on the ground, and shouted, "Murder! Why isn’t there a mosaic?!"

"Shut up," the Little Daoist, who had broken out in a cold sweat from the shock, roared.

Seeing a group of paper people starting to gather, he flicked out a stack of talisman paper. The talismans ignited without any flame and then turned to ash.

Duan Fei couldn’t see what he had done, only that the paper people had stopped moving.

Then, the Little Daoist pulled up the still-shouting Little Fatty and said to Duan Fei, "This way."

Leading the two, the Little Daoist ducked into an alley in Water Town. He wove through the dark alleyways, finally arriving in front of a Daoist School.

Lifting his head, Duan Fei realized this was the very place where the Elder Daoist’s coffin was kept.

Leading the trio up the stone steps, the Little Daoist sat down in front of the coffin. He let out a harsh breath, then looked at Duan Fei and Little Fatty and said fiercely, "I told you not to come down the mountain, but you just had to. Great. Now we can’t go back."

Pointing outside, Duan Fei saw that the paper people from the town had followed them and were closing in on the Daoist Temple.

However, they seemed to be wary of this place. Most of the paper people just circled the Daoist Temple, not daring to climb the stone steps and enter.

Of course, there were a few bold ones. But as soon as they started up the steps, the Little Daoist would brandish a piece of talisman paper, and the paper people on the stairs would instantly burst into flames, turning to ash in a moment.

Although he was unhappy about Duan Fei and the others coming down the mountain, the Little Daoist still commanded a few paper people to serve them a cup of tea.

Sipping the hot tea, the Little Daoist looked troubledly toward the Daoist Temple halfway up the mountain and sighed. "This is bad. I can’t be away from there for too long, or something will go wrong. You two are really something else. Why did you have to come down the mountain?"

"Curiosity," Duan Fei said calmly.

"I was forced," Little Fatty said, his face looking miserable.

The Little Daoist shook his head helplessly again. ’This is probably not going to end well,’ he thought.

After finishing half his tea, the Little Daoist said, "Forget it. There will be one more chance later. I’ll use my decade of cultivation to send you back. But once you’re back, just focus on cooking and don’t get any other ideas."

"And continue to be oppressed by you?" Duan Fei sneered. "I’m not trying to be critical... actually, yes I am. I’m being critical of you. You want us to work, but you also want to suppress us. You won’t tell us the truth, and you give us dirty looks. Setting everything else aside, that last point alone is enough reason for me to beat you ten times, and even a judge in court would say you were asking for it."

"Brother Duan, you sound really pissed off," Little Fatty commented from the side.

Holding up a hand to silence Little Fatty, Duan Fei looked at the red-faced Little Daoist and said, "You want us to do things for you? Fine. Either make it worth our while, or tell us what’s going on so we can decide for ourselves what to do."

The Little Daoist hesitated for a long time before finally sighing and saying helplessly, "The truth is... I don’t know either."

"Little Fatty, lick him," Duan Fei said, putting down his teacup.

"What do you mean by that?!" Little Fatty roared.

"No, don’t!" the Little Daoist cried out in fear.

Seeing the Little Daoist backing away in fear, Little Fatty asked, now disgruntled, "And what are *you* trying to say?"

"It just... feels a little gross."

"Stay right there, I’m coming over."

"Nooo!"

After stopping the two clowns, Duan Fei stared at the Little Daoist and asked, "What exactly do you mean, you ’don’t know’?"

Once he was sure Little Fatty wasn’t actually coming over, the Little Daoist breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I really don’t know. A few days ago, my master pinched his fingers to divine the future and said his time was up. He said that people would come to the Daoist Temple on the mountainside, and that all I had to do was have them cook."

"And then we showed up?" Duan Fei asked.

"Not you, another group. At first, I thought they were my master’s friends, but they just caused a bunch of trouble, wreaked havoc in the Daoist Temple, and then just up and left. After that, you guys came. I figured you were with them, which is why I wasn’t happy to see you either."

’That group must be from the Eight Desolates,’ Duan Fei mused.

’They probably failed the Divine Artifact’s trial and had no choice but to leave.’

’But they probably didn’t expect the Divine Artifact’s trial to be continuous, leaving me to clean up this mess.’

’If I’d known that earlier, I could have pushed for a better price.’

But Duan Fei knew it wasn’t the Eight Desolates’ fault. He continued to ask, "Then what do you know? Tell me everything."

The Little Daoist shook his head with a bitter smile. "I really don’t know much. I only know that Master told me to place his remains here and protect this place from intruders."

"And Water Town? What is this place?"

"Water Town, also known as Su Town, is where I grew up. I always thought the people in town were nice, that everyone lived in harmony and had happy lives. Who knew that after my ’eyes were opened,’ I would discover they were all paper people."

Remembering the day his eyes were opened, the Little Daoist couldn’t help but shiver, a testament to how strong the Spiritual Shock had been for him that day.

Putting himself in the Little Daoist’s shoes, Duan Fei had to admit it was a terrifying thought.

After all, to find out all your acquaintances were paper people... perhaps even the married woman you once had a crush on was made of paper. Just the thought was enough to demoralize anyone completely.

Sighing, Duan Fei looked at the Little Daoist and pressed on, "So your master didn’t leave any clues?"

"He did, but Master said I could only access the relevant content after my cultivation had improved. Strangely enough, after you two cooked those two dishes, I feel like my cultivation has actually increased quite a bit, and I can understand some of the texts now."

"Can we take a look?"

The Little Daoist instinctively wanted to refuse. But seeing Duan Fei’s serious expression and remembering how he had just saved him, he couldn’t help but say, "Fine, you can. But you have to promise not to damage them or try to hide them for yourselves."

"Understood."

The Little Daoist left immediately, returning a moment later with several books.

Handing the books to Duan Fei, the Little Daoist said, "These are the books my master left behind. He said the essence of our school is within them. Before, when I tried to read them, it was all gibberish. Only now am I starting to make some sense of it."

Looking at the book, Duan Fei found that the one in his hand was very clear, its contents perfectly legible.

And on the cover were two large words: "Yingjie Chapter."