Chapter 22: Arrogance (9)
Anyhow, there were all sorts of myths, able to make anyone gawk. In the end, the townspeople themselves also started to believe in these legends which came out of their own mouths. Hence, someone turned the stone cave into a temple, and the stone platform into a holy seat. The statue was named "Dancing Goddess," and there were worshippers all year round.
The inside of the cave was spacious, similar to the size of an erjin temple, with the statue of the goddess set in the center. At first sight, it did indeed look like a human—the maiden's waist could even be considered lithe and graceful. However, after taking a closer look at it, it would seem rougher. Then again, a naturally-formed statue being so similar to an actual human was enough to make most people gasp in awe.
Lan JingYi lifted and lowered the compass of evil, but its pointer still didn't move. A thick layer of incense ashes covered the table for offerings, and disordered candles lay on there as well. A sickly sweet scent came from the plates for holding fruits. Most of the people from the GusuLan Sect had some degree of minor mysophobia. He fanned at the air in front of his nose and spoke, "The locals said that it is quite effective to pray at Goddess Temple, but how can it be this ruined? They should at least come and clean once in awhile."
Lan SiZhui spoke, "There has already been seven people who lost their souls. Everyone is saying that lightning has let out a fierce creature from the ancient graves of Buddha's Feet, so would anybody dare to come up the mountain? There is no attendance at the temple and so, naturally, there is nobody to clean the place."
A disdainful voice came from outside of the cave, "It's only a stupid rock, given the title of a goddess by who-knows who, and people dare to put it here, accepting incense and worship!"
Jin Ling came inside, with his hands crossed behind his back. The time limit for the silence spell was not long, so his mouth could already open. However, nothing nice came out of that mouth of his, as he looked at the goddess statue and humphed, "These rural villagers don't work hard when they face difficulties, but instead pray to the Buddha and other things every day. There are thousands and millions of people in the world, but gods and Buddhas are already hands-full with their own matters, so who would care about them? Let alone a powerless goddess without status, like this one. If it's really that effective, then I'm gonna pray for the soul-consuming creature in Dafan Mountain to appear in front of me right now. Can the statue do it?"
A few cultivators from smaller clans came in behind him, and everyone laughed right after hearing him, agreeing with his words. The originally quiet temple became bustling with noise, after the group of people had rushed forth, and the space also seemed more cramped. Lan SiZhui silently shook his head, turning around and glancing without any aim. His gaze landed on the head of the goddess statue; the features of a compassionately smiling face could vaguely be seen.
Yet, he felt a strange sense of familiarity toward the smile, as if he had seen it somewhere before this.
Where on Earth had he seen it before?
Lan SiZhui thought that it must be a very important matter, and couldn't help but to approach the statue, wanting to examine the goddess's features carefully. At the same time, someone bumped into him.
A cultivator who was originally standing behind him had fallen down without any noise. The others were alert with surprise. Jin Ling spoke in a vigilant tone, "What happened to him?"
Lan SiZhui held his sword and bent down to examine it. There was nothing wrong with the cultivator's breathing, like he had just suddenly fallen asleep. Yet, no matter how hard he was pushed or called, he would not wake up. Lan SiZhui stood up, "He seems as if…"
Before he finished his sentence, the dark cave abruptly lit up. The cave was suddenly covered in a red light, as if a waterfall of blood was rolling off its walls. The candles on the platform for offerings and in the corners of the cave had ignited on their own.
With a few shings, everyone in the cave had either drawn their swords or taken out their talismans. At the same time, a person suddenly burst in from outside the temple, holding a gourd of medicinal alcohol. He threw it toward the stone statue, and raging flames sprouted from it, illuminating the stone cave so that it could even pass for daytime.
Wei WuXian used up all of the items he had found in the qiankun bag. He threw it away and shouted, "Everyone, go back outside! Be cautious of the soul-consuming goddess on the inside!"
Someone yelled in surprise, "The goddess's pose had changed!"
Before, the statute clearly had one foot lifted and both of its arms raised upward, of which one was pointing directly at the sky, its form graceful. However, amid the crimson and yellow flames, it had lowered both its arms and its foot. There was no doubt—it definitely wasn't a mistake of the eye!
The next moment, the statue lifted one foot again, and stepped out of the fire!
Wei WuXian shouted, "Run, run, run! Stop slashing around! It won't work!"
Most of the cultivators ignored him. The soul-consuming monster that they had tried so hard to find had finally appeared, so why would they miss out on the chance? However, even with so many swords chopping and stabbing, and so many talismans and magical tools being thrown at it, the statue's advance didn't stop at all. It was around three meters tall, resembling a titan as it moved, giving off a strong sense of oppression. It picked up two cultivators and lifted them in front of its face. The stone mouth seemed like it opened and closed, and the swords in the cultivators' hands dropped to the ground with two clanks. Their heads drooped. Their souls were sucked away.
With no attack methods working properly, the others were finally willing to listen to Wei WuXian's words. Everyone gushed outside, scattering in all directions as fast as they could. With so many people and faces, the more anxious Wei WuXian became, the longer it took to find Jin Ling. Wei WuXian rode on the donkey and ran into a bamboo forest, encountering the juniors from the Lan Clan as he turned around.
Wei WuXian called for them, "Children!"
Lan JingYi replied, "Who are your children? Do you know which sect we are from? Did you really think that you would be considered a senior just because you washed your face?"
Wei WuXian spoke, "Okay, okay, okay, gege-s. Send a signal and get your clan's… HanGuang-Jun up here!"
The juniors nodded a few times, and ran around while searching for signals. Lan SiZhui spoke, "The signal firelights… were all used up during the night at Mo Village."
Wei WuXian was shocked, "You guys didn't restock afterwards?"
The signal firelights were usually only needed once in over eight hundred years. Lan SiZhui replied bashfully, "We forgot."
Wei WuXian tried to scare them, "Is this a matter that you should forget about? If HanGuang-Jun knew about this, he's going to make you sorry."
Lan JingYi's face was pale with terror, "It's over. This time, we are gonna be punished to death by HanGuang-Jun…"
Wei WuXian, "Indeed, he should punish you! Without punishment, you wouldn't remember the next time."
Lan SiZhui, "Young Master Mo, Young Master Mo! How did you know that it was not a spirit-consuming spirit or beast, but the goddess statue instead?"
Wei WuXian searched for Jin Ling as he ran, "How did I know? I saw."
Lan JingYi also caught up. They each ran on one side of him, "What did you see? We also saw lots of things."
"You saw, so what happens next? What things were in the area of the ancient tombs?"
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