Chapter 44: Diviner

Chapter 44: Diviner

The conditions of the other corpses were similar. Most of them died abruptly of blood loss while in a blissful state.

Lingquanzi said, “Zombies suck blood but cannot use illusions, but ghosts can use illusions. For example, when you see a beautiful woman in an abandoned house or an ancient temple at night, that is a common illusion used by ghosts. But ghosts do not have a physical body, so they can’t suck blood and can only absorb people’s yang energy.

“Only demons are capable of sucking blood and performing illusions. Fox demons and cat demons are masters of this.”

Zhang Yuelu said, “Fox demons and cat demons? I don’t think the problem is that simple, right?”

Lingquanzi nodded and said, “It’s really not that simple.”

Zhang Yuelu asked, “Deacon Qi, what do you think?” Fôllôw new stories at novelhall.com

Qi Xuansu said, “I’m a little curious. Why would these demons kill everyone in this Daoist temple? This doesn’t seem like a simple show of authority but more like a provocation. What is their motive?”

“Motive.” Zhang Yuelu dispersed the qi shield around her hands. “I am also wondering about this. There’s no money here, so we know it’s not for wealth. This group of people aren’t natives of the Western Region and are new here. The Western Region Daoist Mansion doesn’t even have time to take care of them, so it’s not a hate crime. After ruling out these two possibilities, it seems that provocation is more likely.”

“Provoking the Daoist Order is asking for death.” Lingquanzi was in disbelief. “Tiangang Hall has a Hall Master and nine Deputy Hall Masters. There are 35 other Omniscient Sages and the three Deputy Grand Masters supporting our Hall Master. Over the past hundreds of years, many Immortals have died in our hands.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “They may have been instigated. After all, they may be new in the region, so they aren’t aware of how powerful the Daoist Order is. That makes more sense.”

Lingquanzi said coldly, “It doesn’t matter whether they were instigated or deceived. Since they have made such a big mistake, they must die."

Zhang Yuelu suddenly thought of something. “This is different. If there is really a mastermind behind this, then the group of demons who committed the crime are merely used as weapons. We need to find out who is behind the scenes and who wants to be an enemy of the Daoist Order.”

Zhou Bai chimed in. “Speaking of motives, if we assume that this group of demons was instigated by others, what would be the mastermind’s motives?”

This reminded Zhang Yuelu of something. She quickly turned around and inspected the body carefully again.

Qi Xuansu thoughtfully followed Zhang Yuelu.

Zhang Yuelu asked, “Deacon Qi, do you see anything?”

Qi Xuansu replied, “I haven’t seen anything yet, but I have a guess. Is there something missing from the corpses?”

Zhang Yuelu immediately ordered her subordinates. “Check the corpses again. Focus on the internal organs. Cults like to use those for their sacrifices.”

Xu Zhen and several subordinates who were proficient in autopsy came forward and carefully examined the corpses again.

The human body was like a cage. The human blood restrained the Three Corpses in the body, so they were unable to escape. Therefore, the Three Corpses could only leave after the person died.

Without the restraints of the human body, the Three Corpses turn into a ghost, who could accept incense offerings and still hold partial memory. Due to its incomplete memory, unlike the soul, the ghost carried many negative human desires. Thus, a ghost was akin to a madman. This was why powerful ghosts often harmed others.

Since the Three Corpses could only roam around freely as a ghost after a person died, the ghost often looked forward to the person’s premature death, secretly attacking the human and destroying the human’s spiritual vitality. Generally speaking, the higher one’s cultivation level was, the more powerful the Three Corpses would be. Therefore, only an Immortal could live forever.

Even a Heavenly Being would eventually succumb to death. That was why, to become an Immortal, one had to kill the Three Corpses and pull out the Nine Worms.

This was also the reason ghosts could be controlled. The practice of cultivating ghosts was also not regarded as cultish or disrespectful to the dead. However, it was a demonic cult-like practice to take the soul by force and stop it from returning to Heaven and Earth.

This knowledge was not hidden by the Daoist Order and was taught in the courses of the Wanxiang Daoist Palace. Therefore, there was no need to explain much, as everyone already understood the gravity of the situation.

The main motive of this attack on Bishan Temple was to seize the victims’ living souls.

Tiangang Hall and Beichen Hall had solved many similar cases before. Once a living soul was involved, it was most likely related to cult sacrifices. Those cults had to be eradicated without any mercy. Most of the cultists were fanatical, so they could easily cause a large number of casualties.

Zhang Yuelu frowned and asked the two guards from the Western Region Daoist Mansion, “What are the lineages of these dead priests?”

One of them replied, “There are six Diviners, four Martial Arts Practitioners, two Qi Refiners, and two Rogue Cultivators.”

“Six Diviners.” Lingquanzi suddenly thought of something and said, “No wonder they attacked Bishan Temple. Ancient Immortals usually prefer the souls of Diviners because they are more nourishing than the rest.”

Qi Xuansu interjected. “In that case, there should be fourteen people stationed at Bishan Temple, but there are only thirteen corpses here. One person is missing.”

Zhang Yuelu immediately looked at the two guards from the Western Region Daoist Mansion.

The two guards spoke with mournful expressions. “We don’t know either. We were told to guard the corpses and wait for the people from Tiangang Hall to arrive. When we got here, there were only thirteen corpses.”

Lingquanzi, who had been a superintendent for a long time, immediately understood what was fishy about this. He said in a dissatisfied tone, “The Western Region Daoist Mansion is too careless. One person is missing, and his life or death is unknown. They didn’t investigate, carry out a search, or even write it down in the file.

“All they did was wait for our arrival. If they had sent people out to look for the missing person at the time of the incident, they could have probably found out what happened in Bishan Temple.”

Zhang Yuelu took a deep breath. “It’s too late to talk about this now. Our top priority is to find the missing person. Maybe he holds the clue to all this.”

Lingquanzi said, “What are your orders, Deputy Hall Master?”

Zhang Yuelu instructed, “Prepare the mother-child talisman. Deacon Qi and I will pair up, while Superintendent Lingquan and Deacon Xu will team up to conduct the search. No matter the result, we will only check within a 50-kilometer radius of Bishan Temple. Everyone else can stay here and follow the orders of Deacon Zhou and Deacon Mu.”

Everyone responded in unison, “Yes, Deputy Hall Master.”