Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!

He wasn't a fool. Smashing a few doorways or chopping up some white lanterns was one thing, but to be the first to rush in headlong?

How much was he being paid?

At best, he was just a contracted temp. The permanent staffer, Lin Baihu, was right next to him. If he went charging in first, it would mean he had muscles for brains.

Smashing the stone door with a bluestone brick from the outside and examining the lanterns shouldn't pose much trouble. To be the first to step inside, however, now that was truly asking to walk into an ambush.

No way. Not doing it.

Yi Chen's mind was as clear as a mirror, his mental calculations clicking away.

After all, it wasn't his junior brothers who were trapped inside, so he was in no hurry.

Lin Baihu's gaze turned to Master Lianhua, who looked up at the sky, studying the clouds.

Lin Baihu's gaze turned to the Daoist Qingxu, who had closed his eyes and begun reciting scriptures.

Lin Baihu's gaze turned to Abbess Shuiyue, and the mercurial eyes of the abbess glanced at Lin Baihu but said nothing.

".….."

"The local customs of Fengyun County are truly lacking,"

"When it came time to agree, everyone was brisk, but when push comes to shove, no one's good for a smooth talk; even the seemingly rash Taoist Yi Chengzi is extremely wary."

Lin Baihu grumbled to himself and, having no other option given the reluctance of his four companions, took the lead himself.

He led the charge, with Yi Chen and the other three closely following behind. Together, they stepped into the mist-enveloped front hall of the Lianxiu Tower.

The moment he entered, Yi Chen couldn't help but frown.

Inside the hall was blood everywhere, the thick stench of it wafting through the air.

Yet not a single corpse could be seen.

The hall was a mess, in complete disarray.

Looking forward, his gaze moved to the wall where a large bluestone brick had impaled a paper effigy with rouged cheeks, nailing it straight to the wall.

The paper effigy, as if it were alive, was still flapping its arms, clutching the long bluestone in its chest as if trying to pull itself out of the wall.

No, it really was trying to pull itself out. Yi Chen's gaze sharpened; although it was slow, the paper effigy had already managed to pull nearly half of itself out of the wall.

"What a pitiable little thing."

Yi Chen had a kind heart and couldn't bear to see spirits suffer, so he decided to help it.

The flapping arms and legs of the paper effigy on the wall were heart-wrenching to watch.

He drew his Dragon-Slaying Sword and chopped off the paper effigy's limbs on the wall, turning it into a mutilated figure.

Now it was better; the paper effigy didn't have to struggle so hard anymore.

So good.

The paper effigy on the wall now remained still, its eyes painted with some dye, staring fixedly at Yi Chen.

Staring intently.

If Yi Chen wasn't mistaken, that long piece of bluestone was the one he had thrown, nailing this patrolling paper effigy by accident in the mist.

"Taoist Yi Chengzi, what is the meaning of this?" Abbess Shuiyue, witnessing this scene, furrowed her brows and couldn't help but ask Yi Chen. After all, what he was doing seemed rather perverse.

However, Yi Chen did not immediately reply. Instead, he continued to thrust his sword, piercing it into the chest of the paper effigy on the wall. The body of the paper effigy trembled violently, and a flame slowly kindled where the Dragon-Slaying Sword touched its body, emitting bursts of black smoke.

After observing for two breaths, another flash of sword light passed, and the head of the paper effigy fell to the ground. Its body, hung on the wall, also burst into flames and burned into a puff of fire.

Yi Chen noted that his Golden Finger did not react throughout, with no Deep Red Value credited to his account. Clearly, this paper effigy was a magical creation.

"Is the Daoist testing the weakness of this paper effigy?"

The Lotus Flower Master, who had been observing Yi Chen for a while, seemed to have figured something out and took the opportunity to ask.

"The Abbess is compassionate."

"The Master's discernment is impeccable," Yi Chen said. "Indeed, I am trying to probe for the weak points of this ghostly thing."

Yi Chen thought for a moment before beginning to explain the purpose behind his recent actions.

"This paper effigy possesses considerable strength. I noticed that even though I pinned it to the wall with a long strip of green brick, by the time we entered, the thing had nearly pulled itself halfway out."

"Just now, I attempted to sever the limbs of this ghostly thing. However, apart from being limited in movement, the paper effigy did not sustain much damage. This indicates that its vital points are not located there."

"Next, I pierced the chest of the paper effigy with the Pure Yang Dao Sword several times. Even when I imbued a trace of my own Pure Yang vitality into the sword, the effigy, apart from slight burning at the point of contact, still did not take much damage."

"It wasn't until I chopped off the head of the paper effigy that it automatically burst into flames."

The Daoist Qingxu frowned upon hearing this.

"Does the Daoist mean to say that, apart from its head, the paper effigy nearly has no weak points and it possesses significant resistance to our Daoist sect's mystic arts?"

At this moment, everyone couldn't help but turn their gaze towards Yi Chen, feeling inward admiration.

If Yi Chen had not discovered the peculiarities of this paper effigy in advance, they could have suffered greatly from an unexpected encounter.

It was finally time for Lin Baihu to show a trace of a smile. The famous Taoist Yi Chengzi had proven that there was substance to his reputation. While they were not yet certain of his strength, his attentiveness was indeed keen.

He cleared his throat to bolster everyone's spirits:

"Everyone here is a person of exceptional talent and wisdom. With the help of each other on this expedition, our chances of success are that much greater."

"It seems that the evil spirits within this building are nothing more than mediocre."

"The person behind all this is not clever. If I were that person, I would have hidden a squad of paper effigy ambushers, fully armed, and taken advantage of the fog to unexpectedly strike. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Hahaha... Huh?"

Suddenly, Lin Baihu's smile froze on his face.

The mist inside the hall began to boil as if cold water had been poured into a hot oil pan.

A rustling sound approached rapidly from a distance.

"Everyone, be careful."

The Lotus Flower Master warned everyone in a low voice.

Each person took out their weapons, readying themselves for what was to come.

Abbess Shuiyue, the Lotus Flower Master, and Daoist Qingxu naturally readied their same old trio of tools.

Among the three, Abbess Shuiyue and the Lotus Flower Master likely had similar strength, probably in the mid-stages of refining their essence and transforming it into qi. Daoist Qingxu was slightly more powerful than the other two, seemingly about to step into the later stages of essence refinement.

Lin Baihu's magic artifact was a hundred-refined battle saber, engraved with script as tiny as flies and mosquitoes. After thinking for a moment, he pulled out a fiery red charm from his chest and applied it to the saber with a somewhat pained expression.

The charm ignited without wind, and in an instant, a red glow began to emerge along Lin Baihu's saber. The redness started from the tip of the blade and spread slowly until it reached the guard before stopping.

This miraculous scene also caught Yi Chen's eye for an extra moment.

Zhen'an Department's Lin Baihu indeed had a variety of tricks up his sleeve.

But in the blink of an eye.

With the swift approach of the foreign objects from afar, the mist could no longer hide their figures. Two squads of tall paper effigies, some carrying battle sabers, others wielding chained hammers or seasoned bronze staves, charged at them.

They were as fast as the wind.

Yi Chen and his companions took a deep look at Lin Baihu, whose smile was frozen on his face.

Someone had jinxed them with their words, but nobody would say who that person was.