Chapter 13

Mingde Temple is located to the south of Feiye City, nestled in the mountains, with a vast sea of trees stretching behind it.

There is only one mountain path that winds its way to the temple’s main gate.

At this moment, the sun is setting, casting a red glow over the land.

A few sparse worshippers are leaving the temple.

It is already afternoon, and few people come to burn incense at this time.

Because the darkness of the wilderness is far more dangerous than the daylight.

At the entrance of Mingde Temple, a tall and robust young man stands.

The young man is dressed in a deep green hemp robe, wearing a large straw hat on his head, and a rough short knife is strapped to his waist. He approaches the mountain gate with quick steps.

The young man has an ordinary face, but his eyes are bright, indicating that he is not from a malnourished ordinary family.

But who would have thought that a few months ago, this person was still thin and weak, with a frail body like a bean sprout.

The young man is Wei He, who had taken a break from his group and left.

He ran all the way, expending a lot of energy, to reach Mingde Temple in a short time.

Following the gray stone steps, Wei He quickly arrived at a spacious temple with yellow tiles and red walls.

On the plaque above the temple’s main gate, in black background and red letters, it reads: Mingde Temple, in three large characters.

Two young monks are sweeping the fallen leaves outside the gate, gathering them into a pile.

Wei He stands outside the gate, looking inside. The temple’s entrance leads to a large courtyard, where a black incense burner, wide enough for two people to embrace, is slowly burning a large bundle of incense.

The incense is almost burned out, with only a few wisps of smoke remaining.

At this moment, two more worshippers arrive together, crossing the temple gate and entering the courtyard.

They bow to the incense burner, perform a ritual, and then enter the side hall.

Wei He does not follow them inside but turns left and walks around the temple’s wall toward the forest.

The two young monks continue sweeping, whispering to each other, completely unaware of his movements.

Wei He circles the temple for a long time, noticing that the temple is well-maintained, with many areas recently completed.

Moreover, the monks’ robes are well-made, indicating that the temple is not short of money.

Returning to the temple’s main gate, Wei He is about to enter.

But he sees a small group of soldiers emerging from inside the gate.

These soldiers are all broad-shouldered and tall, wearing black standard leather armor and carrying sheathed broad-bladed knives. They move swiftly and are well-trained.

Six soldiers file out, protecting a pair of women in the center.

One of the women is wearing a green dress and red shoes, with a young girl’s bun hairstyle, following the other woman step by step, clearly a maid.

The other woman is wearing a white veil, with black hair cascading over her shoulders, and silver hair accessories faintly visible in her hair.

Even with the veil, the gentle and polite aura in her eyes makes Wei He involuntarily look at her a few more times.

From a distance, the woman in the center, dressed in a white dress, is spotless, clearly indicating that someone at home frequently washes her clothes.

Otherwise, no one could maintain such a clean level of clothing.

Wei He sighs inwardly, thinking that in ancient times, without washing machines, to maintain such a level of cleanliness, she must be from a distinguished family.

And those soldiers...

He shifts his attention to the six soldiers guarding the women.

The leather armor of these soldiers is engraved with the character "Hong." The characters are not large but are exceptionally clear and deep.

Soon, the woman, accompanied by the soldiers, descends the stone steps and disappears into the dense forest.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... The private soldiers of Hong Family Castle are clearly not ordinary, truly remarkable," a worshipper can't help but whisper in admiration.

"Feeding them with the best rice and meat every day, and it's said that Hong Family Castle also trains their private soldiers in external martial arts. With such conditions, even a waste can be turned into an elite," another person strokes his beard and sighs.

"Isn't that just a force built with money? Nowadays, the city guards are weak, yet Hong Family Castle secretly maintains such strong private soldiers. What are they planning..."

The worshippers who are still active at this time are mostly not ordinary people. As they chat idly, they share their insights and observations.

They can easily see that something is amiss with Hong Family Castle.

Wei He remains silent. The affairs of Hong Family Castle are not his concern; he is here only to find out about his parents' disappearance.

Entering the temple gate and the courtyard, he quickly finds a passing white-browed monk.

"Venerable Master."

The monk looks him over from head to toe.

"May the layman be greeted."

"I would like to ask if, half a year ago, your temple ever hired some stone carvers to carve Buddha statues?" Wei He asks in a deep voice.

"Half a year ago?" The old monk thinks for a moment. "Yes, that did happen. But..."

......

......

......

At this moment, at the foot of Mingde Temple.

A tall man wearing a straw hat slowly approaches the stone steps leading up the mountain.

He takes out a dark green bamboo tube from his chest, gently shakes it, and places it near his ear to listen carefully.

From inside the bamboo tube, a faint sound of wing flapping can be heard, with three long and two short flaps, very rhythmic.

The man twists the cap of the bamboo tube, which has a small hole for ventilation.

He leans in to smell the hole.

"There is a scent, there's another one who slipped through."

For several days, he has been tracking the black-lettered insects, and he has eliminated all the living people who had last contact with the black-lettered insects.

He relies on the scent-detecting insects in the bamboo tube.

The scent-detecting insects are natural enemies of the black-lettered insects, feeding on them. Once they detect a black-lettered insect or a person who has been in contact with one, they naturally emit a scent.

The scent is as soothing as sandalwood, hard to forget. The closer to the target, the stronger the scent emitted by the scent-detecting insects.

The black-lettered insects are also persistent. Once they come into contact with a person, if they leave a dry mark, the scent can last for months.

The man has already used this method to kill three people who had contact with the black-lettered insects, and he has disguised their bodies as if they were killed by wild beasts.

With his martial arts skills, achieving this is not difficult.

The man takes a relaxed and natural step, walking up the stone steps. His demeanor is calm, as if he is no different from the other worshippers coming to pray.

He has the confidence and the ability to do so.

Initially, Zhao Deli was just a thug, and he died as a result of being caught up in the situation. The people he could have come into contact with were just ordinary people.

Even if they were a bit stronger, they were just a bit more robust gang members.

He was sent to clean up the area and eliminate these people.

To him, these people are just a bit stronger ants, easily harvested.

In fact, in the entire Feiye City, the only people he fears are the old martial artists or the experts from the inner city's major families. The rest, even the small gangs, are not worth mentioning.

Wei He is still questioning the old monk, persistently asking about the disappearance of the stone carvers half a year ago.

"At the time, the stone carvers never reached the temple; they disappeared halfway. Layman, I truly do not know how to answer your question," the old monk says with difficulty.

"Wasn't there even one survivor?" Wei He frowns.

"No, all the stone carvers disappeared halfway. As a result, the temple's Buddha statues were eventually completed by high-priced stone carvers from outside the city," the old monk shakes his head.

Wei He continues to ask for a long time but finds no clues, only learning that the stone carvers disappeared before reaching Mingde Temple.

However, the distance from Mingde Temple to Feiye City is less than ten miles, and there are often passersby. It's impossible for so many stone carvers to just vanish without a trace.

The most likely scenario is that there were traces, but the people who found them did not want to make them public.

Wei He feels helpless and lets the old monk go.

He walks around the temple, but two of the main halls are blocked, and the rest are free to enter.

As the sky gradually darkens, the number of worshippers decreases, and most have already gone down the mountain.

Wei He asks a few more monks but still finds no information, so he leaves the temple and heads down the mountain.

The sun has completely set.

On the temple's descending steps, the cold is intense, and the originally clear forest gradually turns into a dark and deep black curtain.

Wei He does not notice that someone is quietly following him from behind.

He feels a bit cold and speeds up his pace down the mountain.

Suddenly, a small black insect quietly emerges from the seam of his clothing and flies away.

The man behind him pauses, frowning.

"The scent is fading..." He shakes the bamboo tube and confirms that the scent is indeed weaker.

"It seems it's not the person in front." He makes a judgment, shifting his gaze from Wei He's back.

The man turns to look in the direction the black-lettered insect flew.

"Hmm?"

"Wait, there are only two people here, me and the person in front. If it's not him, then who? Could it be a feint?"

The man's heart races, and his gaze returns to Wei He's back.

He is already suspicious. He quickens his pace and approaches Wei He.

"Brother, please stop."

He pretends to be a worshipper and calls out loudly.

Puff!

Suddenly, a handful of white ash is thrown in his face.

The man tenses, closing his eyes to avoid being blinded.

However, as a martial artist, his reaction is quick. Before the ash enters his eyes, he swiftly sweeps his arms, creating a strong wind to blow away the ash.

He realizes that the other party has likely detected his identity. With a fierce determination, he raises his right leg and swings it like a whip toward Wei He.

Unexpectedly, his right leg first touches a blade. The man's expression changes, and he quickly changes his move, pressing his right leg down to try to step on Wei He's foot.

At the same time, his other leg also rises, spinning and kicking toward Wei He's chest.

This is his specialized deadly chain kick.

This kick can change moves continuously, making it unpredictable and alternating between real and feint moves, making it hard to defend against.

The man kicks and stomps rapidly, over ten times in quick succession.

When he opens his eyes, there is no one in front of him. The person who was just there has long since disappeared.

"Damn! How devious..."

In the time it took him to close his eyes, the other person had vanished in the blink of an eye. This person must be a rabbit spirit in disguise?

The man angrily rushes down the steps, chasing after the person.

In no time, he disappears at the end of the stone path.

At this moment, a person quickly emerges from a cluster of shrubs on the right side of the stone path. It is Wei He, who had been hiding.

He looks in the direction the man left, sighs in relief, and stands up.

"Quite clever." A voice suddenly sounds behind Wei He.