Lu Yuan turned his head. Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an, two half-grown lads, were cheerfully running over.
Looking at these two live wires, Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow.
"Why haven't you two gone home yet?"
Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an scratched the backs of their heads, revealing rows of white teeth.
"We were worried about you, Brother Lu, so we thought we'd wait for you to come back before we left..."
Hearing their words, Lu Yuan smiled helplessly.
These two rascals were younger than him, mischievous and rambunctious, and their mouths weren't very clean either but to be fair, these two really did care about him.
Coming back to his senses, Lu Yuan couldn't help but purse his lips and say, "What could possibly happen to me? Hurry up and go home, or your families will start nagging."
The two shook their heads like rattle drums.
"We're not going back today!"
"It gets dark early. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. There's plenty of time, no difference between one or two days~"
Lu Yuan thought about it. It was already three or four in the afternoon, and it got dark early in winter, so there was some logic to that.
He nodded and said no more.
"Alright. Who else is free in the courtyard? Call a few people out to help me carry something."
"Right away!"
The two responded in unison and turned to call for people.
Shortly after, several young Daoists about their age came running out in a flurry.
Each one was full of qi. Seeing Lu Yuan, they all bowed in unison and called out, "Brother Lu!"
Speaking of which, if one went by seniority and followed the proper protocol, this group should actually be calling Lu Yuan "Martial Uncle."
However, True Dragon Temple only had the outward appearance of a great, famous temple.
It didn't have the strict internal rules of such great, famous temples.
Lu Yuan felt there was nothing wrong with this. Being called Martial Uncle would make things too distant.
Moreover, Lu Yuan wasn't that much older than these people anyway.
Making it seem like they were two generations apart would be too awkward.
He led this group of half-grown lads toward the mountain gate, casually asking, "Where's the old man?"
Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an exchanged glances and shook their heads in unison.
"Don't know."
"The day before yesterday, Auntie Qiao'er sent over a whole lot of money, saying she wanted to help us build side halls. Maybe because he was so happy, he drank some wine and who knows where he's sleeping it off."
Lu Yuan's steps halted.
"Auntie Qiao'er came?"
"No," Xu Erxiao rushed to say. "It was that steward called Wang Fu who brought people."
Lu Yuan nodded knowingly.
Given Zhao Qiao'er's situation, it was best for her to stay home obediently, wearing the artifact he'd given her, and not wander around.
Speaking of which... he also needed to go to Zhao Qiao'er's house and finish that job while the mountain passes weren't yet sealed by heavy snow.
Otherwise, once the heavy snow fell, the roads would be difficult to travel.
"Oh right, Auntie Qiao'er also sent a whole bunch of things for you, Brother Lu."
Xu Erxiao suddenly added and as Xu Erxiao finished speaking, Wang Cheng'an leaned over mysteriously and said, "There's spirit meat!"
"I peeked through the gap in the box that wouldn't quite close, and saw red-colored ones!"
Huh?
Lu Yuan was stunned. Red spirit meat?
That was a whole level higher than the pink spirit meat that Yellow Immortal had!
Yellow Immortal's pink spirit meat was worth thirteen thousand.
Red spirit meat of the same size would be worth at least seventy or eighty thousand!
And that was if you could even find it on the market!
Extremely rare!
Before Lu Yuan could say anything, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an both leaned close to Lu Yuan's ear and whispered quietly, "We already moved everything into Brother Lu's room."
"Brother Lu, when you go back later, just open it and take a look."
Hearing this, Lu Yuan frowned and slapped his thigh, his voice anxious, "Aiya!!!!"
"Can this kind of thing be casually accepted!!"
"What am I supposed to use to repay this!!!"
If he accepted this red spirit meat, Lu Yuan would forever be a head shorter in front of Zhao Qiao'er.
If you accepted someone's favor, how could you speak normally with them in the future!
All gifts had their prices marked in secret long ago.
Sooner or later, they would have to be repaid!
Seeing that Lu Yuan was really getting anxious and about to get angry, Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an quickly waved their hands in fear, saying, "It wasn't us who did it, we don't have that authority either."
"It was the old man who told us to accept it."
After the two finished speaking, they seemed to think of something and quickly added, "Oh right, Auntie Qiao'er also sent us a lot of things!"
"We'll gather them up later and return them!"
Hearing these two speak, Lu Yuan turned his head with a confused expression and asked, "What did she give you two?"
The two immediately began recalling and counting, "There are fur coats, fur gloves, fur boots, all sorts of miscellaneous things, and also two pieces of blue spirit meat..."
"Adding it all up, it's worth several thousand coins."
Hearing their words, Lu Yuan said directly, "I don't care about you two. If you want to return it, then return it."
Lu Yuan didn't care whether Xu Erxiao and Wang Cheng'an accepted or not. Those things weren't given to him, so they had nothing to do with him but what was given to him, Lu Yuan absolutely wouldn't accept. He'd return it later!
However, Wang Cheng'an and Xu Erxiao both immediately stiffened their necks and said, "That won't do!"
"If Brother Lu doesn't want it, we won't want it either!"
Hearing these two lads' words, Lu Yuan didn't say anything more.
The group soon arrived outside the mountain gate.
When that heavy coffin appeared before everyone's eyes, all the young Daoists felt a chill shoot straight from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads.
Too sinister.
Whatever was inside this coffin was frighteningly sinister.
Even though Lu Yuan had already pasted several "Evil-Binding Talismans" that he'd personally drawn on the outside of the coffin but how could a few talisman papers completely seal the resentment and malevolent qi from a twenty-star super fierce entity?
However, the disciples of True Dragon Temple were all sensible.
Although they sensed the evil qi, no one opened their mouth to ask. They just silently helped Lu Yuan carry the coffin with their heads down.
Soon, the coffin was carried into an unused side hall in the back courtyard.
Lu Yuan sent all his junior brothers away, not even keeping Wang Cheng'an or Xu Erxiao.
He originally wanted to go find the old man first, but after circling around the entire temple, he didn't see even a shadow of him.
He'd probably drunk too much and was sleeping who knows where.
Lu Yuan had no choice but to give up and return to the side hall, beginning to set up the formation array alone.
The main purpose was to prevent Gu Qingwan's evil qi from affecting other people, especially the pilgrims coming to True Dragon Temple.
Of course, even if the pilgrims discovered there was evil qi in True Dragon Temple, it wouldn't matter much.
He could just say True Dragon Temple was performing exorcism on a great fierce entity. In any case, the final right of interpretation lay with True Dragon Temple but if he could avoid having people discover it, that would be better, to avoid trouble.
...
At night, past seven o'clock.
In the side hall, Lu Yuan was still dripping with sweat as he carved the formation foundation.
Now the walls and beams of this room were densely covered with talismans drawn in cinnabar and in the depths of a bamboo grove behind True Dragon Temple.
Rustle—
From a pile of withered leaves, an old man reeking of alcohol suddenly woke from the cold and sat up with a start.
His eyes were bleary as he let out a long alcoholic belch, looked around at the pitch-black surroundings in confusion, then raised his head to look at that cool, cold moon.
He was hungry.
The old man stood up unsteadily, rubbing his shriveled belly. Just as he was about to lift his leg and head back to the temple to find something to eat.
Suddenly, his figure froze abruptly.
Those originally turbid, hazy drunken eyes instantly became sharp as lightning, sweeping across all of Qixia Ridge.
He raised his head, brought his reddened alcoholic nose close to the air, and sniffed hard.
"This smell isn't right..."
A few seconds later, the old man suddenly slapped his thigh, his eyes wide with shock, not a trace of drunkenness left!
"Ancestor! What in the world have you brought back here!!!"
[NEXT CHAPTER]