Chapter Fifty: Night Battle at the Broken Temple

  That old Taoist wore a hemp robe, with a dust-covered feather duster slung over his shoulder, and in his hand was a small wine gourd the size of a fist, which he would occasionally take a swig from.

  Three big men's bonfire was in the corner of the small courtyard, seeing Chen Yunfeng's carriage enter the small courtyard, the three men silently looked at each other and continued to gather their horses, then sat down beside the bonfire and took out a pile of dry rations and quietly started eating.

  Chen Yunfeng pulled the carriage to another corner, letting Wanyan Ping and Lu Wushuang stay in the carriage. He then searched around for some dry firewood and lit a bonfire beside the carriage.

  "Cough, cough..." A Taoist priest, not far away, cleared his throat twice and walked over with a small wine gourd in hand. He looked Chen Yunfeng up and down, then gazed at him with bleary eyes and said:

  "Little brother... while it's still daylight, you'd better hurry up and leave by horse carriage. This Western Mountain Temple is not a clean place."

  "Unclean? What does that mean?" Chen Yunfeng asked in puzzlement after throwing a piece of wood into the fire.

  The Taoist priest narrowed his small eyes, shook his head and said with a tipsy nose:

  "This Xishan Temple was built during the Zhenyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. Later, during the Anshi Rebellion, many rioting soldiers came to this small temple and somehow provoked something, resulting in hundreds of people being slaughtered overnight. It is said that at the time, these soldiers and the monks here were all flayed and had their hearts dug out, with extremely terrifying deaths."

  Later, the temple was abandoned. As time passed, all travelers who spent the night in this small temple died here. In the end, it's said that this place is haunted and almost no one comes here anymore. So I advise you, little brother, not to spend the night here."

  Chen Yunfeng was educated in atheism, so he thought the talk of ghosts and gods was nonsense. But he forgot that in his later life, he could watch a TV series about a soul hanging up and reincarnating through time and space. Are these ghostly affairs false then?

  His thoughts were deeply rooted in his education, but if he had thought carefully about it, he wouldn't have thought that way. However, he chose to ignore the Taoist's words and instead smiled and asked the drunken Taoist:

  "Is Daozhang's title? Is Daozhang catching ghosts here or something?"

  "Uh..."

  The Taoist let out a belch, and a wave of foul wine breath floated away with the wind. He plugged up his wineskin, and with a flick of his wrist, he hung it from his waist. He pointed to a peach-wood sword stained with dirt and grime by the fire pit, saying:

  "I, Zhu Que of Nanyang, am a Taoist who controls wine and governs the Way. I was traveling around and heard about this place from the local villagers, so I came to take a look. I wanted to see if these evil spirits could be subdued by me. But whether you believe it or not, little brother, is of no consequence to me. Just like those three big guys with blood all over their faces, I advised them not to linger, but they almost punched me to death, so I left."

  The Taoist finished speaking and walked back to the fire, picked up the dustpan that had fallen to the ground and put it back on his shoulder. Chen Yunfeng shook his head and smiled, this was just a Taoist who liked to drink and talk nonsense. He took out some dry rations from the carriage, heated them over the charcoal fire, and handed them into the carriage. Lu Wushuang and Wan Yanying were both young girls, and in this desolate wilderness, he didn't want to stir up any more trouble.

  The grass had finished dinner, and Chen Yunfeng sat by the fire with his eyes closed. The wine master was snoring not far away, while the three big men found some dry grass to sleep on. Soon, the moon in the sky shone through the clouds and hung high above. A chorus of wolf howls echoed from a distant mountain ridge, adding a sense of desolation and chill to the night air.

  "Crack." A faint crisp sound was heard, Chen Yunfeng suddenly opened his eyes and stood up to look towards the source of the sound. The three big men who were previously lying on the haystack were walking towards the horse carriage. Seeing Chen Yunfeng's eyes open, the three big men also didn't speak, their footsteps paused for a moment before their massive fists, accompanied by a gust of wind, surrounded him.

  Chen Yunfeng had calculated that the Ye family would not let him extort them, but he did not expect the enemy to appear so quickly and hide with him in a small courtyard for so long. The three big men's speed was not very fast, but the fist wind on their fists was extremely sharp.

  Chen Yunfeng hastily gathered his true energy, his hands in front of his chest one collected and one pushed out. The move "Damage then Return" from the 18 Dragon Subduing Palms was used to counterattack at a critical moment. As his true energy left his palms, two large dragon-shaped energies quickly coiled around him, covering his front and back. At this time, if an enemy encountered these energies, they would be able to gain some time to reorganize and counterattack.

  "Hum..." The dragon-shaped true energy voice shook the entire broken temple, and Wan Yanping, who was still asleep, quickly drew out her long knife to lift the curtain of the carriage door. Seeing Chen Yunfeng and three big men already starting to fight, she pointed her knife at the outside and turned back to say in a low voice:

  "Beware, there is an enemy."

  Lu Wushuang was also startled awake, but her injuries were not something that could be fully recovered from in just a few days. She looked out from behind Wan Yanping's shoulder, and the scene before her made her tremble with fear as well.

  Chen Yunfeng made a move, and with a single stroke, he blocked the three big men. His body swayed, and he rushed to the center of the small courtyard. The target of these three big men was him, and as soon as they turned around, they charged at him again like fierce tigers.

  These three big men are the Xiao family's three tigers of Hei Hu Zhai, as mentioned by Yelü Qi. They never show their faces in the jianghu, and once they make a move, there will be no survivors. The eldest is Xiao Tianhu, the second is Xiao Dihu, and the third is Xiao Rentiger. They have practiced the fierce tiger fist for thirty years, and although their skills are not yet at the level of perfection, they can still be considered top-notch martial artists in the jianghu. With their Fierce Tiger Locking Dragon Formation, it's rare to see opponents escape.

  At this time, the three tigers of the Xiao family formed the fierce tiger lock dragon formation. The eldest was the tiger head responsible for strong attack, the second was the tiger body responsible for defense, and the third was the tiger tail responsible for sneak attack. Chen Yunfeng continuously performed several moves of the Dragon Subduing Palm, but they were all blocked by each other's cover. Seeing that these three people's martial arts skills were not weak, their strength was no less than his own, he secretly suspected that these people were the hidden hands of the Ye Lü family.

  Three top-notch masters formed an array of continuous attacks, and Chen Yunfeng continued to use the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms. The sound of dragons and tigers echoed in the small courtyard, but the wine daoist was still snoring away, sleeping soundly.

  Chen Yunfeng was initially forced to be busy by Xiao Jia's three tigers, but gradually, the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms were used more skillfully and smoothly. When the opponent rushed up, he either used Shi Cheng Liu Long or Mi Yun Bu Yu to block them, or used Jian Long Zai Tian or suddenly counterattacked.

  Xiao family's three tigers didn't know that Chen Yunfeng had become so proficient in the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms that he started using them as sparring partners. Although their martial arts skills were strong and would sometimes pose a threat to Chen Yunfeng, he couldn't care less about this since he still had many trump cards up his sleeve. It was rare for him to have such powerful enemies to help him hone his skills, so why bother revealing his trump cards prematurely?