Shi Qingxuan asked, "After we left Puqi Temple, it slipped in and tampered with the formation?"

Then he overturned it himself: "No! It won't be like this."

Xie Lian also said, “Impossible. We just pushed the door open and came out. Even if it slipped in and made some changes afterwards, we should have arrived at the original location. Because the formation has already been activated, any changes would be ineffective. Therefore, the time it could take action was only a split second.”

That was the brief moment when Mingyi finished drawing the formation and Shi Qingxuan blew out the candles, and the entire Puqi Temple fell into darkness!

However, this contradicts what Xie Lian said just now. Shi Qingxuan said, "But just now, there were clearly only four of us in the room."

In a small temple, with three priests and a ghost king, how could they not know if something happened? And if one of them took advantage of the darkness to do something, who would it be most likely to be?

Shi Qingxuan couldn't help but glance at Huacheng. Although he immediately stopped, Huacheng didn't miss the glance and said with a smile: "Why are you looking at me? In my opinion, don't you think that Master Earth is more suspicious?"

Mingyi also glanced at him. Huacheng said, "Don't just guess who tampered with it later. What if the formation he drew was wrong in the beginning?"

Ming Yi did not refute or express his opinion. However, Shi Qingxuan could not listen any longer and said, "City Master Hua, wait a moment. I know you had a feud before, but Brother Ming is really not that kind of person. He was just brought in to help me this time, and there is no reason for him to do this."

Hua Cheng said: "You don't necessarily need a reason to do something. In fact, Master Feng, you yourself are also very suspicious."

"Ah?" Shi Qingxuan never expected that this would work. He pointed at himself, "Who? Me?!"

Hua Cheng said, "Well. Isn't it common for a thief to cry thief? Why are you here? If you and your brother are really so afraid of Baihua Zhenxian, why would you have put together such a pile of rags? It's not impossible that you two colluded to set up a trap and lure us here by tricking us."

From his expression, it was clear that he was just talking nonsense without restraint, but he was actually talking in a very convincing manner, making it seem as if everyone was worthy of suspicion. Shi Qingxuan was almost shaken and said, "Am I... am I that boring?"

Hua Cheng smiled and said, "Same reason. I'm not that boring either."

He would fight back with whatever they used to hit him. Xie Lian was just thinking about something, so he waved his hand and said, “Okay, all of you stop. You’re already doubting your own people before the problem is solved.”

Hua Cheng laughed and said nothing more. His attitude was very clear. He was not going to help or cause trouble. He was just here to have fun. There was no need to rely on him or be on guard against him. After a moment's silence, Xie Lian said, "In fact, there is another possibility. When the geomancer in the room finished drawing the formation, someone outside the room had already drawn a more powerful formation on the door."

At that time, in order to prevent Qi Rong outside from hearing their conversation, Shi Qingxuan cast an isolation spell, and the Puqi Temple was sealed off. Relatively speaking, it is less likely to be discovered if you tamper with something outside the house than inside. When two similar formations collide, the stronger one wins. This "strength" depends not only on the level of magic power of the person who sets up the formation, but also on the materials used to draw the formation. Mingyi used the old cinnabar that Xie Lian picked up when he was collecting rags and his colleagues didn't want. If someone used fresh blood to "support the formation", it would naturally be better.

Shi Qingxuan immediately accepted this possibility and said, "Outside the house? Could it be the Green Ghost? He's already in that state, can he still cause trouble?"

Xie Lian said, “I can’t do that anymore…”

Hua Cheng said calmly: "He can't move within seven days. However, there are more people outside the house than just him."

This statement seemed to have a hidden meaning. Xie Lian said, “In short, everyone should stop making wild guesses, lest we hurt each other’s trust.”

After walking a few steps, he continued, "That monster's words are really strange. Why did he say that this place would become a 'nightmare that Master Fengshi never wants to remember again'? Will he encounter something in this place?"

Looking around, Shi Qingxuan frowned slightly and said, "...wait. It seems that here..."

Before he finished speaking, Ming Yi's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he slashed out with his palm from the air, aiming at the back of Shi Qingxuan's head. Xie Lian shouted, "Master Feng, watch out for your back!"

However, Ming Yi's palm made a "bang" sound, splitting a large square object. The object fell from the sky and hit Shi Qingxuan's head. He jumped a few feet away and patted his chest and said, "What a close call!" He looked down again, and his pupils suddenly shrank. Xie Lian went up to take a look and was also slightly startled. The object turned out to be a plaque, with three large characters "Feng Shui Temple" written in gold on a blue background.

Splitting the plaque of a priest's temple in half is a big taboo. Mingyi closed his palm, his face grim. Shi Qingxuan was stunned for a moment, then immediately waved his sleeves and swept away the split plaque. He whispered, "Keep it secret, keep it secret! Don't tell anyone. If my brother knew that his plaque was smashed, he would be furious!"

Xie Lian turned around and said, “This… is actually a Feng Shui temple?”

Yes, the dilapidated house they came out of was actually a Feng Shui temple.

Shuishi is the God of Wealth, and everyone loves money. The temple where Shuishi sits is always popular, but it is so dilapidated. It is just like a stack of banknotes thrown on the street, exposed to the wind, sun and rain, and no one picks them up. Shi Qingxuan rushed back into the temple. The temple was full of cobwebs and dust, and it was desolate and no one cared about it. After searching for a long time, he finally found two miserable statues in the pile of abandoned debris behind the house.

The female statue of the wind master was missing arms and legs, and the male statue of the water master had his head broken off. They were not damaged by aging, but were smashed by a sharp weapon, as if someone had vented endless hatred on them. The two statues were carved very realistically, and they looked very lifelike. They lay in such a miserable state with a smile on their faces in the dilapidated ancient temple, which made people feel very uncomfortable.

Shi Qingxuan held a statue in each of his left and right hands, hugged them in his arms, and said, "What kind of hatred or grudge is this?"

Although Xie Lian also felt that this scene was filled with malice, in order to calm Shi Qingxuan’s mind, he said in a gentle voice: “Master Feng, stay calm. If someone worships, someone will attack. It’s just common sense in the world. Don’t worry about it. That thing must have deliberately arranged it for you to see, in order to incite your fear and draw magic power from it.”

Mingyi said succinctly: "Can you do it? If not, leave."

Shi Qingxuan brushed the dust off the faces of the two statues, gritted his teeth, grabbed the Wind Master Fan, stood up and said, "I can do it! I want to see what it has in mind."

The four of them left the broken Fengshui temple and walked around the town. The town was very peaceful and stable, not prosperous nor backward, and there was nothing unusual. Rather, the most unusual thing was them. Among the ordinary people, their appearance, demeanor, and clothing were too eye-catching. Therefore, not long after, they still slipped into an alley and changed their clothes.

Xie Lian's original outfit was very plain, so he didn't need to change, but the other three changed completely from head to toe. Over there, Shi Qingxuan was commenting on Mingyi's outfit; over here, Huacheng changed into a refreshing black outfit, and his long hair was neatly tied up for a rare occasion, and he wore a white jade pendant, which made him look less lazy and more energetic, as if he was a handsome and talented junior brother from a famous and upright family. It's really like forcing the emperor to dress like a beggar, but he doesn't look like a beggar, and he is still very eye-catching. Looking at him, Xie Lian couldn't help but think of an old saying: "If a man wants to be handsome, he should wear soap", and thought to himself that it was true. Coming back to his senses, he often looked at the master Feng over there, remembered something, and whispered: "Sanlang, there is something I have always forgotten to ask you."

Hua Cheng straightened his cuffs and asked, "What's the matter?"

Xie Lian clenched his fist, put it in front of his mouth and coughed softly, then asked as casually as possible: "...What is your spiritual password?"

If you want to communicate with another person at any time, you must first get the other person's password. For example, if you want to find Shi Qingxuan, you must first recite the following four lines of doggerel in your mind: "Master Feng is a genius", "Master Feng is humorous and unrestrained", "Master Feng is kind and upright", "Master Feng is only 28 years old". Of course, the passwords of ordinary priests will not be so embarrassing, it is still relatively normal.

The high-ranking priests would not easily tell others the spiritual password unless they were closely related. As the ghost king of desperate situations, Hua Cheng was naturally the same. Although the two had known each other for a short time, their relationship could be said to be quite good. It was a bit strange that they had not yet received each other's password. But when you think about it, every time there was something going on, they would meet directly, and it didn't seem to matter whether they exchanged or not.

Xie Lian had never asked for the password of any priest before, because if he had something to say, he could just shout it out in the spirit communication array. If he wanted to talk to someone privately, he could also ask the array to communicate with the person. This was also the first time he took the initiative to ask someone for the password. He had no experience and was a little worried about being abrupt. Seeing Hua Cheng's eyes flickering but not moving, he felt a little embarrassed and hurriedly said, "Is it inconvenient? It's okay, don't worry about me, I just asked casually. Because I have something to talk about privately later, so I asked presumptuously, I can find a way to ask you quietly..."

Hua Cheng interrupted him and said, "It's not inconvenient. I'm very happy."

Xie Lian was startled: “Huh?”

Hua Cheng sighed and said, "I'm very happy that my brother finally asked me. Because you never mentioned it, I thought it was inconvenient and didn't want to exchange passwords with others, so I never took the initiative to talk about it. Now that my brother finally asked, how can I say it was just a 'casual question'?"

Xie Lian heaved a sigh of relief, and his mood immediately brightened. He held his hand and said, “It turns out that we both have the same concerns! I was wrong just now, and I just said that casually. I apologize to Sanlang. So, what is your password?”

Hua Cheng's eyes lit up slightly, he leaned forward slightly and said, "My command, brother, please listen carefully, I will only say it once." After saying that, he whispered a sentence.

After Xie Lian heard this, his eyes widened and he said, “…This? Is this really it? San Lang, are you sure?”

Hua Cheng was calm and said, "Yes. That's it. If you don't believe me, brother, try it now?"

Xie Lian didn’t dare to try, and said, “Then… then doesn’t that mean that every time someone comes to you, they have to repeat this sentence to you three times? This… wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

Hua Cheng said with a grin, "I wrote this sentence on purpose because I don't want others to look for me. I want them to give up when they see the difficulty. However, if it is my brother who wants to look for me, I will be there anytime."

Xie Lian couldn’t believe it, thinking, “This is too bad…”

He hesitated, trying to activate his spiritual power, but he just couldn't pronounce the password. Even reciting it silently didn't work. Seeing Xie Lian covering half of his face and turning away, unable to make up his mind, Hua Cheng finally laughed enough and said, "Okay, okay. If you don't dare to recite it, I'll find you. What's your password?"

Xie Lian turned around and said, “Just recite the Tao Te Ching a thousand times.”

“…”

Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow. A moment later, Xie Lian heard his voice beside his ear: "'Just recite the Tao Te Ching a thousand times', these eleven words, right?"

The two of them were clearly standing face to face, but they kept silent, communicating with their eyes and whispering in a voice that others could not hear. It was quite interesting. Xie Lian also responded with spiritualism: "That's right. You didn't fall for it."

Hua Cheng blinked and continued, "Hahahaha, I almost got fooled. This is so funny."

Xie Lian also blinked and smiled.

You must know that he had thought of this password very seriously eight hundred years ago. He thought it was very interesting, so he used it after ascending. However, many other priests did not seem to find it interesting. Even after being fooled, they were speechless. Mu Qing directly said, "Your Highness, this idea is too cold. I'm sorry I can't laugh." Although Feng Xin laughed so hard that he fell to the ground and cried hoarsely, Feng Xin's sense of humor was very low and inexplicable. He laughed, but Xie Lian did not feel any sense of accomplishment. Since Hua Cheng also laughed now, it probably means that it is really interesting.

The original plan was to go to the most expensive restaurant in the Imperial City to drink, but since they didn’t make it to the Imperial City, drinking anywhere would be the same, so the group went to the largest restaurant in town and asked for a private room. They sat there bored for a while, and when the waiter brought the wine, Xie Lian asked, “Excuse me, where is this place?”

Although it was a strange question, it was the most direct and effective way. The waiter asked in surprise: "Did you not come here because of its reputation? This is Bogu Town."

Xie Lian asked, “Admiration? Admiration for what?”

The guy gave a thumbs up and said, "It's our town's community fire! It's very famous around here. Every year at this time, many outsiders want to come and see the novelty."

Shi Qingxuan asked curiously, "What is community fire?"

Xie Lian said, “It’s the kind of entertainment that people use to celebrate festivals. There will be some acrobatics, local operas, etc. You can have a look.” It’s a bit similar to the Lantern Festival in Xianle Country. But the Lantern Festival is organized by the royal family and controlled by the government, while the community fire is a folk entertainment. Shi Qingxuan said, “But today is not a festival. At most, it will be the Cold Dew Festival tomorrow.”

Xie Lian said, “It doesn’t have to be a specific holiday. Sometimes it’s to commemorate someone, so we pick a special day to have some fun and have some fun.”

At this time, there was a commotion on the street below the restaurant, and someone shouted, "Move aside, move aside, children and women, don't stand in front! Everyone, step back, the team is coming!"

The four of them looked downstairs. This look was incredible. Xie Lian's eyes widened. They saw a long parade team walking onto the street. In the team, everyone was wearing bright red makeup, various strange costumes, and a sharp weapon was stuck on their foreheads.

The axes, kitchen knives, pliers, and scissors, which were either sharp or dull and rusty, all pierced deeply into their heads and foreheads, squeezing out their eyeballs, which were bloody on their cheeks. Some pierced through their foreheads and came out from the back of their heads, which was extremely bloody. The marchers all had frowns on their faces, painful expressions, and blood all over their faces, but they still walked slowly forward to the sound of music, like a line of ghosts.