The lake, the Taoist temple, and the city walls in the distance were immersed in the cool moonlight. Occasionally, the chirping of night birds could be heard. From the open window of the attic, the Toad Taoist lifted up his mattress and climbed onto the desk. He put his webbed feet behind his back and looked at the silver light outside. The wind blew in, and his open robe fluttered slightly.
Thinking about how a whole day passed, my cheeks bulged and my two whiskers were floating.
… I once approached the Demon King.
I didn't do anything and just lay down all day. This is not like my style. How can I be so decadent
Gu~~
The Toad Taoist looked down, put on his webbed feet, clenched his round webbed head, and looked serious. He turned around and jumped off the desk, stomped on the smooth floor, went over to open the door, and then... ran downstairs, excitedly dragging his long tongue outside, dived into the kitchen, climbed onto the table with food, looked at the dishes, licked the corner of his mouth with his long tongue, and then pulled his toad mouth.
"I've been hungry all day, let me fill my stomach first... We can talk about other things later."
After taking a look at the food, his head suddenly expanded twice. He rolled up his long tongue, pulled the plate over and poured it into his mouth, chewing the whole plate of fatty braised pork.
Squeak~~
The slightly opened door gently opened, and the candlelight on the corridor wall outside cast a figure into the room. The Toad Taoist who was sitting at the table eating heartily turned his toad face, glanced at the figure who came in, turned back, wiped the rice grains from the corner of his mouth without leaving a trace, and his eating manner became much more gentle.
"Old Toad, have you thought it through?"
The man walked in with his cloak on, dipped his fingers in the dish, put the soup into his mouth, and then sat down on a chair nearby.
"It tastes good. The little Taoist priest has good cooking skills."
Over there, the Toad Taoist stopped chewing, wiped the corner of his mouth, slowly stood up on his knees, folded the empty plate, walked back to the wolf demon Gongsun Liao, and jumped into his palm.
"Is everything ready?"
"Almost."
The toad nodded, and with his flippers on his back, he groaned, "Hmm... Let's find a chance. We have to repair the demon pill and return to our peak."
Looking at the wolf demon in front of him, he looked at the fire outside the door with his toad eyes, raised his webbed feet and rubbed his flat chin. Should he tell Liangsheng first to avoid wasting the opportunity again
The candlelight flickered in the corridor, and in the extended night, the disciple that Toad was thinking of had arrived in front of the City God Temple outside the city. Lu Liangsheng walked up the stone railings carved with cloud patterns, entered the temple gate, and saluted to the large tripod standing in front of the main hall.
"Ji Cheng Huang."
In the hall with the word "City God" inscribed on it, a circle of light flashed from the statue of the deity. A figure walked out from the clay sculpture, strode out of the door with wide sleeves dragging, and bowed to the scholar in return with a smile.
"Master Lu!"
He stretched out his hand and invited Lu Liangsheng to walk to the secluded path on the side of the hall: "Please come this way, Imperial Master." He took half a step forward, then slowed down, and waited for the scholar to come up before he took another step and walked forward side by side.
"The corpse demon incident caused great damage to Ji's soul. Thanks to the intervention of the State Master, I was able to save my face."
There are several side rooms at the back of the main hall. Inside the tightly closed doors and windows, the temple keeper could be heard snoring loudly. He would never have imagined that the City Emperor, who was guarding the temple day and night, was now walking in the temple with Lu Liangsheng.
"No, the corpse demon incident endangered the entire city. The City God was worried about the people and was confused. Otherwise, how could he be injured by a mere corpse demon? Liangsheng should thank the City God on behalf of His Majesty."
How could Lu Liangsheng not hear the other party's praise and thanks? It was not good to just be praised. And since they were in the City God Temple, he still had to give others some face. His tone was sincere and there was no falsehood in it, which made Ji Xin feel quite comfortable and the smile on his face became even more intense.
"Master, you are too modest. However, when I saw the people being killed, I was anxious and angry. I did lose control of myself. That's all. Master, please do this. The corpse demon's soul will be punished in prison."
After walking a few feet past the side rooms, they came to a back hall. There was a path separated by painted mahogany fences on both sides. A desk was placed in the middle with a plaque hanging high, which was similar to the court in the mortal world. However, when Lu Liangsheng went in, his vision distorted and when he could see clearly, he was already in a deep prison corridor. The torches stuck on the wall were emitting faint blue flames, illuminating the end of the corridor. He could hear the miserable screams of men and women or the eerie moans intermittently, as if they were hallucinations.
"City God, Master Lu, this way."
In the dim blue firelight, a big-headed figure appeared from nowhere, with bulging eyes. He was shaking his head and holding an iron chain that made a clanging sound. He floated to the front and led the way.
This was not the first time that Lu Liangsheng came to the City God Temple Prison. A few years ago, he encountered a similar situation outside Tianzhi City, but the City God there was Zhou Yu, and he also met the chief clerk Lu Zijing.
"Master, is this your first time here?" Seeing that the scholar didn't speak, Ji Xin thought that Lu Liangsheng would feel uncomfortable. On the other side, Lu Liangsheng, thinking about some scenes in the past, shook his head and said with a smile: "That's not the case. I have been to the Yinyu of Tianzhi City God before, and it is not much different from here."
As he was talking, the big-headed ghost leading the way stopped at a stone prison and blew a breath at the copper lock on which a faint blue flame was burning. The flame retreated to the keyhole, and the copper lock broke with a "click". A layer of white mist curled around the prison door made of unknown material, and it made a heavy moving sound and opened by itself.
In the darkness, there were constant crackling sounds and screams. A faint blue firelight shone in. Two ghost messengers in the inner room were waving ghost whips and whipping an old man who was tied up and pulled by several chains. One of the ghosts had a long tongue hanging out of his mouth and scooped a spoonful of water from a nearby water tank. The water was cold and boiling.
"We don't take care of monsters, but we do take care of your soul, right? And you're a cultivator, so even cultivators have to be treated well by us!"
In an instant, the prison door was heard to open, and the spoon that was about to pour out stopped. The long-tongued ghost saw the jailer and the city god, and quickly lowered his hands and stepped aside.
Ji Xin waved his hand to let the two torturers go out. After closing the cell door, he walked to the front and took a few glances. Then he turned back and said, "Master Lu, the soul that was captured from the corpse demon that day is here."
Amid the sound, the iron chains extending from the four walls of the prison were dragged with a rattling sound, stretching the ghost in the middle and hanging it up high so that Lu Liangsheng could see it clearly.
The soul of the old man hanging in the air was dull, and his body flickered and twisted from time to time. It seemed that he was suffering from unusual torture. However, the old man's dull eyes saw the approaching scholar, and his lips moved, wanting to speak, but no sound came out.
There is no need for the ghost to interrogate the person. Once the person is caught, the ghost book in the hands of the City God will record in detail the person's life and everything he has done.
The rest, naturally, would be sent to the underworld at Mount Tai to be tortured and killed because of the evil deeds they had done in their lifetime.
"Mr. Chen, it seems you recognize me."
Lu Liangsheng did not look kindly upon the old man who had killed the people and turned them into zombies. He said a few words and then looked at the City God beside him: "The evil star had been living in his body for a while. Can the City God find any clues?"
Ji Xin was silent for a moment. He asked the ghost to invite Lu Liangsheng over for this matter. He also spent a lot of effort to find a hint of unusual information from this soul.
"Master Lu, the matter of the demon star is extraordinary. It is not from the human world or the netherworld. It can only be... from there!"
The City God raised his chin upwards meaningfully.