Chapter 8 The Temple in the Mountain

  Xiao He Shang was shocked, and hurriedly ran over. He saw Xiao Shi Tou standing beside the mountain stream that flowed out of the pond, with a very strange expression on his face. Seeing Xiao He Shang approaching, he beckoned him repeatedly, saying: "Quickly look."

  Only under the silvery white ice surface, there is a faint shadow that seems to be suspended in mid-air. Looking at it roughly, it appears to be a human figure, looking down from above, as elusive as the moon in the water or flowers in the mirror. Little monk couldn't help but exclaim: "Strange, how did this get in here?"

  "Could be, I suppose? Just now when I passed by, I saw this little treasure. At first, I thought it was something else, but it's a person. Looks like they drifted over from the river and froze to death here."

  Little monk Qidao said: "Isn't the upstream a snowy peak on the mountain top? Even birds can't fly up there, how could someone suddenly drift down from there? Looking at this, even if it's a person, they must have frozen to death. Amitabha, good deed, let's dig him out and let him rest in peace, lest he freezes inside until next spring when the snow melts and becomes food for fish and shrimp."

  "Little Stone asked, 'How are you going to get him out? This ice is much harder than the other side of the pool. I poked it with my ice pick and only made a white mark.'"

  The little monk thought for a moment and then clapped his hands, saying: "That's it, use fire to burn."

  "Such thick ice, when will it melt?"

  Little monk said, "No, I have an axe for chopping firewood over there. You pile up a heap of firewood on this side, and while the ice is being burned soft, use the axe to chop it down. This creek water is only half a person deep even in summer when the water rises. I think the ice layer is at most one foot thick. With the two of us, one burning and one chopping, we can finish it within an hour."

  Xiao Shi Tou rolled up his sleeves and said, "It's still better to use your brain, I'll just follow you and lend a hand. Since that's the case, I'll go find some firewood, you go get an axe, and we'll get started."

  It turned out to be a hot-blooded young man who said he would do it, and the two of them, Xiaoshi and Xiaohe, one piled up firewood and the other scraped ice. "Ka chi ka chi", they knocked the ice blocks into pieces and moved them away, then slowly and carefully, they scraped off the crushed ice bit by bit. Finally, the man's face gradually appeared, and the two of them also saw the person's appearance clearly.

  Xiao Shi Tou took a glance and couldn't help but take a cold breath, saying: "Is this male or female?"

  That little monk took a closer look and was also shocked. After a while, he said: "I think it's still a boy, probably about the same age as us. I've heard that outside the mountain, there are all sorts of strange things, some spoiled young masters who look like beautiful girls. They say their faces are like jade, probably this is what they mean. But his face looks so pale, he must be frozen stiff." As he spoke, he reached out to touch the boy's cheek, and then suddenly withdrew his hand, saying: "He's still breathing."

  Xiao Shi Tou also stretched out his hand, although he didn't feel any airflow, but the temperature was still there, and he couldn't help but feel amazed, saying: "Frozen in ice and still alive, this person is really lucky. Let's hurry up and lift him back, maybe there's still a chance to save him." As he spoke, he moved forward again to scrape off the ice, when someone behind him said: "What are you doing?"

  Two people turned back, and saw two men walking out of the woods. The one in front was a young Taoist priest, eighteen or nineteen years old, with a face as smooth as applied powder, lips as red as painted vermilion, and quite handsome features, except for his nose which was slightly reddened from the cold. He wore a thick blue cotton Taoist robe, warm shoes on his feet, and had his hands tucked into his sleeves, with a feather duster tucked under his arm. The one following behind him was also a young man, sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing thick padded clothes, huddled up and shrinking from the cold.

  The little stone was gone, but as soon as he saw that Taoist robe on his body, his face sank and he said, "You are——"

  That little Taoist slightly raised his head, looked at the two with a white eye, and said: "Are you local villagers? I am Chongyuan, a disciple of Yuehua Zhenren of Purple Cloud Temple on Mount Wanma. Do you know?"

  Xiao Shi Tou's face changed upon hearing this, and his right hand pressed down on the bow he was holding. Just as he was about to take action, a small monk pressed down on his shoulder, temporarily stopping him from acting out. The small monk then stood up, clasped his hands together in respect, and said: "So you are a senior disciple of Yue Hua Zhen Ren. I apologize for my mistake."

  That little Taoist priest exclaimed, "Huh? You're a monk, this is strange. Isn't this area my master's Taoist temple? How can there still be Buddhist monks here? Wait, you're a monk, why don't you have any incense scars on your head?" It turned out that although the little monk was wearing a monk's robe, his head was shiny and bright, without anything else.

  The little monk smiled and said, "Although I am a monk, I have not actually left home. My master had converted me when he was alive, but it was too late to shave my head and take a Buddhist name, so I'm just a small novice. However, I do live next to the Taoist temple of Yue Hua Zhen Ren, for over a year now, and have been favored by him, also sent incense to the temple several times. But all I've seen are four Taoist boys serving beside him: Qing Feng, Ming Yue, Chun Feng, and Hua Yu - where did this little Taoist come from?"

  He raised an eyebrow and said, "You've also said it yourself, the people around Master now are just a few Dao children, pouring tea and serving water. How can they compare to me? I was taken in by Master as a disciple when I was young, and have been with him for twelve years. He gave me the Daoist name Chongyuan. Before he went into seclusion, he sent me out to search...". He paused, muttering to himself: "Why am I telling this to someone unrelated?" Then he said, "Now that I've returned to Master's side, you who live next door to him should naturally be under his protection. You should recognize my identity."

  Xiao He Shang laughed and said: "That's right. Yue Hua Zhen Ren is famous for thousands of miles, no one doesn't know him, no one doesn't recognize him. Since Dao Zhang is the beloved disciple of Zhen Ren, he must also be an extraordinary person. From now on, Xiao Seng will rely entirely on Dao Zhang's care."

  He nodded slightly, seemingly satisfied with the little monk's understanding, and said: "I'll ask you, does my master really only have four Taoist boys serving him now? Is there no disciple by his side? Especially... has my senior brother Chonghe returned?"

  The little monk shook his head and said, "I have never seen this before."

  He nodded slightly and smiled secretly: As expected, I got ahead of him, this senior brother is going to be proud. With a pleasant feeling in his heart, he asked: "What are you doing?"

  The little monk pointed at the boy frozen in the ice and said: "We are digging up the ice."

  He let out a cold laugh and said, "You're making such a big fuss over something as trivial as thin ice. Look at this." He pinched his fingers together, and a purple electric light burst forth from between them, quickly enveloping his entire palm. In an instant, snakes of electricity were swirling around his hand. The little monk and Little Stone were both shocked stiff, neither daring to get close, each taking a step back.

  Only a loud "Hmph" was heard, and the entire palm wrapped in lightning pressed down onto the ice.

  With a loud crash, the thick ice was pressed down by the lightning, and at first it was calm, but suddenly it burst open like a silver vase breaking, exploding into countless shards of ice mixed with cold water spraying towards the sky. Under the refraction of sunlight, it flowed with colorful lights, as if it were a dream.

  But for a few people, the impact of this momentum left them no time to appreciate the scenery. Not only did Little Monk cover his head and face, not daring to look up, but even the young man who had rushed forward took several steps back, staring at the back of this senior brother with a look of horror.

  After a while, the small stone felt that the splashing ice fragments on its body had lessened, and it raised its head. With just one glance, its eyeballs almost fell out. Before it, an area of ice several feet wide and tens of feet long had been blasted open, revealing a hole over a meter deep. Debris was scattered all around, with several small fish that had been blown to a crisp lying on the edge of the pit. The entire surface of the water was like newly plowed land, turned upside down from top to bottom. In front of it, everything was in disarray, except for the youth who lay quietly at the bottom of the large pit, his body covered with layers of ice fragments, his eyes closed, and a peaceful expression on his face, as if he were asleep.

  "You're either breaking the ice or killing someone!" The words had barely left his lips when he suddenly shouted, "Ah, so much blood! You've killed him!"

  As expected, the young man was wearing only a thin single garment, which was frozen tightly to his body. Through the semi-transparent ice crystals, one could see that the clothes were stained with crimson bloodstains, which looked particularly bleak in the snow and ice.

  Chong Yuan furrowed his brow and said, "Nonsense! How could I have killed him? If he had any physical injuries, it's possible that I might have inflicted them. But he clearly... Hmm!" He walked forward, half-kneeling at the edge of the pit, grasping the young man's clothes with one hand, pinching a few times, his expression changing several times, saying "Ghostly sorcery!"

  Apart from him, no one else reacted to the word in his mouth. The little monk blinked and looked down at the young man, but it was the young man who came from afar who asked, "Brother, what is ghostly charm? Is it a spell?"

  Chong Yuan recovered, snorted and coldly said: "Hmph, what kind of magic trick is this ghost drawing? It's just a trick used by Jianghu masters to deceive people. Just like asking for divine possession, trampling on small people and pinning dolls, it can't be taken seriously. I've seen too many of these."

  Although he said disdainfully, his eyes kept wandering on the blood-colored imprint on the young man's body, secretly thinking: This is undoubtedly the ghostly charm of the obstacle-removing technique, only the route is somewhat unusual, and I can't recognize it. Humph, these are all minor paths, all tricks of those wild Taoist priests who can't even get on stage, they come up with many fancy things to confuse people. Now that I have entered the path and become a true immortal, why should I care about his ghostly charm?

  "It seems that this person was subdued by some evil sorcerer's dark magic, rendering him as stiff as a corpse, frozen in the icy cold."

  "Brother, what kind of evil magic is this? This is so unorthodox!"

  He almost blurted out, "How do I know?" But thinking of his dignity in front of his junior brother, he remained calm and said, "This must be one of the evil arts that circulate among mortals, 'Corpse Transformation Technique', the most sinister of all." To make it sound more vivid, he wanted to add, "By noon, this person will surely turn into a puddle of pus", but after knocking on the brick foot, he was afraid of boasting too much, and when the time came, that person might not transform, greatly damaging his own prestige, so he forcibly held back and didn't say it.

  The younger brother heard this and indeed showed a terrified expression, saying: "Elder brother, this person has an evil technique in his body, it's very pitiful. Elder brother, you have great divine powers, why not save him?"

  Chong Yu listened, and couldn't help but be shocked. He took another look at the bright red, blood-like talisman, furrowed his brow and said: "Nonsense, how could I... why would I want to save him?"

  His junior brother was taken aback, revealing a look of astonishment. Xiaoshi saw this from the side with a cold eye and slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

  He shouted in rebuke, then immediately reacted - this junior brother was his own man. Now that he had returned to his master's side, he was about to take charge of this junior brother and couldn't let him look down on himself lightly. His eyes rolled, and he already had an idea: "Exorcising demons and protecting the Way is indeed important, but there is a more pressing matter at hand."

  "What?"

  Chong Yuan's expression turned serious: "Someone who can use such an evil technique must be a demonic person. And since this person is still alive, it proves that they haven't been affected by the evil technique for long. In other words, that demonic person might not be far away, right?"

  "Uh?" The younger brother was taken aback, and then exclaimed from a distance: "Think about it, what kind of place is this? This is the Master's dojo! It should be a peaceful world, but now there are monsters lurking around. Although the Master's divine powers are vast, if someone with malicious intentions were to secretly attack and injure him, it would be somewhat dangerous. As disciples, what could be more important than the Master's safety? If the Master were to suffer even a slight injury, we would be guilty of dereliction of duty until death."

  The younger brother heard this and solemnly said: "Elder brother's words are right."

  "Go, I'll go and report to our master right away. You two little ghosts, it's best if you don't touch this kid. The power of the corpse-sealing talisman is enormous, and at any moment, it will revive the corpses. If one of you isn't careful, you'll get your neck bitten off by a zombie, and no one will be able to save you." Without even looking back at the young man in the pit again, he turned around and left. His junior brother shouted loudly: "Yes, sir!"

  After the two of them left in a hurry, Xiaoshi Tuo turned to Xiahe Shang and said: "My brain is a bit slower, judging from what just happened, will Chong Yuan not be able to dispel this ghostly talisman?"

  The little monk just smiled faintly, walked to the edge of the pit, held up the young man's shoulders with both hands, and said: "I guess it means the same thing. Come on, help me lift this person up..."

  The little stone walked over, lifted the boy's foot, and with a joint effort, they had already lifted the boy out of the pit and placed him on one side.

  "Ha! I knew it, others may not know the truth about that stinky cow nose, but how could I not? What 'exorcising evil and guarding the Tao', he himself is not clean! Clearly a Taoist, yet he's having an affair...!" He sneered twice, his smile more of a scowl than a smirk. After a moment, he continued, "They don't care, but I do. What nonsense about zombies or not, trying to deceive a three-year-old? Let's take him to my place and see if he'll really turn into a zombie and bite my head off!"

  The little monk raised his head and said seriously: "Xiao Shi Tou, there are two things you must be careful about - first, from now on, don't call Yuede Huashan and that group of people stinky cow noses or wild Taoists."

  "Why?" said Xiaoshi Tuo.

  The little monk wiped the ice chips from the young man's face with his hand and said, "You just saw that they may not be any high-ranking Taoists, but the fierce magic in their hands is real, not some roadside swindling wild Taoist. You have to admit this, even if you dislike them, you can't look down on them. Use a different title to remind yourself from time to time, they are not easy-going lamps."

  "What's the point of calling them anything."

  The little monk thought for a moment and said: "Why don't we just call them - a group of demons."

  The little stone nodded and said, "This is already a great compliment to them."

  The little monk smiled and pointed at the young man: "There's one more thing, are you sure you want to save this person?"

  "Why didn't you save him?"

  The little monk said, "That ghost's drawing of symbols is suspicious, I'm afraid he... hmm, just take him to my small temple. Don't touch him. The words that were shouted from afar a moment ago, although they seemed like nonsense, might be brought up by him in front of Yue Hua Dao Ren for the sake of consistency. This way, this person will have registered himself with Yue Hua Lao Dao, who knows what will happen in the future?"

  Xiao Shi Tou raised his head and said: "What's it to me? Even if Yue Hua that old good-for-nothing blocks my door, I'm not afraid of him."

  The little monk sighed: "It's not a matter of being afraid or not. Do you want him to block your door? Don't you think about your sister?"

  Xiao Shi Tou heard the two words "sister", his face changed, he bit his lip and said: "Okay... but put it in your small temple..."

  The little monk said, "My temple may only have a few tiles and three walls, but the old demon dare not come just by hearing its name." As he spoke, the corner of his mouth curled up, revealing a hint of pride for the first time. Suddenly remembering something, he asked, "I think he's about your height, do you have any clothes that would fit him?"

  The little stone carefully measured the young man, drew a rough outline and said: "He's about my height, but he's too thin. The down jacket is definitely not suitable for him, the leather jacket is just right. I'll go find one that fits him."

  Little monk said: "Let's change his clothes first. This thing is a troublemaker, can't bring it with us. Just throw it here, the more eye-catching the better, let's see how they deal with it. If this thing doesn't have anything special, then it's just a false alarm. But if it's really troublesome, we'll have to make other plans."

  "Right, indeed you're clever. I'll go get the clothes, you wait."

  The little monk looked at the back of the small stone, his expression slightly worried, and he had another concern that he didn't express, which was - what is this young man's identity? Although Chong Yuan said that the young man was harmed by a ghostly symbol, but how reliable are Chong Yuan's words? What if the ghostly symbol wasn't drawn by someone else, but rather by the young man himself... Then this person's background would be huge. Even if we take a step back and say that this person was indeed harmed by the ghostly symbol, can an ordinary person be harmed by such an evil technique?

  However, Little Monk wasn't particularly worried. Just as he could keep Yuhua Dao people from setting foot in the small temple, he was confident that even if this young man had a big background, he could still suppress him.

  He also has his own trump card.

  With a hint of confidence, he smiled slightly. Little monk lowered his head and stared at the youth's unusual appearance, asking in a low voice: "Who are you?"

  No one answered, in the snow-covered mountain forest, there was only the sound of cold wind whizzing by.