33: Golden Toad, Pheasant, White Snake

Half an hour later.

Jiang Lan looked at the three-way fork in the road and stepped onto the rightmost path.

Just as he entered the fork, a cold wind blew past.

Jiang Lan frowned slightly.

It was early summer, but the wind carried a bone-chilling cold.

However, Jiang Lan's Martial Dao Realm was such that he was long impervious to heat and cold; a mere gust of wind couldn't affect him.

The problem was that after this evil wind blew past, he inexplicably felt a pair of eyes on his back, watching him.

This feeling of being spied upon was hard to describe, yet it was genuinely present.

But at the same time, Jiang Lan also knew that there was no one behind him at that moment.

Exhaling, he activated the Flood Dragon Swim and headed directly for the God of Wealth Temple the old beggar had mentioned.

As he delved deeper into the fork, the sky grew darker.

The midday sun was obscured by black clouds, a breeze began to pick up, then intensified.

The willow leaves by the roadside rustled loudly.

Within the black clouds, faint flashes of lightning flickered.

Jiang Lan stopped.

Before him stood a dilapidated temple with its main doors tightly shut.

With its flying eaves and arched dougong brackets, it was once quite impressive.

Presumably, its incense offerings were once very prosperous.

But now, due to years of neglect, the temple was in ruins.

Under the eaves, cobwebs were abundant, and on the roof tiles, two crows perched, pecking at their black feathers.

"Caw—caw—"

Seemingly startled by Jiang Lan's arrival, the two crows on the tiles cawed a few times, then flapped their wings and flew into the distance.

Jiang Lan stood at the entrance of the ruined temple, silently observing for a moment.

He didn't care about the strange occurrences around him.

In Jiang Lan's view, these were merely tricks to play on people's superstitions.

If there truly was a demon capable of killing him, why not just act directly? Why go through all this trouble?

Jiang Lan gripped the long saber at his waist tightly.

He took a step forward and pushed open the temple door.

The temple door, having been in disrepair for years, let out a grating, teeth-grinding creak as Jiang Lan pushed it open.

Before he could even see clearly inside the ruined temple, the sky suddenly brightened for an instant, followed by a clap of thunder.

"Boom!"

The ruined temple was pitch black inside, and an inexplicable scent of blood emanated from somewhere.

But Jiang Lan was unaffected, seeing as clearly as if it were daytime.

Before him, three divine statues were enshrined.

The old beggar had called it a God of Wealth Temple, but these three deities clearly bore no resemblance to the image of the God of Wealth in Jiang Lan's memory.

In the very center of the statues was a toad, its tongue extended long, with a row of copper coins laid flat upon it.

And where its body should have had pustules, there were now glittering, golden ingots embedded within it.

It was also draped in a large robe that seemed metallic but wasn't quite gold.

Its eyes were blood-red, like embedded gems.

To the left of the golden toad was a chicken.

Although it was a chicken, its head was adorned with high-standing colorful plumes, and its wings and tail also bore medium-length colorful feathers.

The chicken's face was full of human-like arrogance, as if it were not a chicken, but a high and mighty Luan bird.

To the far right was a huge white python, its massive body, even coiled on the platform, stood over seven, nearly eight feet tall.

What was bizarre was that from its neck, the white snake branched into seven heads.

Each of these seven heads wore a different style of crown.

The most crucial point was that those heads were not snake heads.

They were clearly seven women's heads!

Jiang Lan looked at the three 'divine statues' before him, his eyes flickering slightly.

This place was very sinister.

Moreover, the artistic style of this white snake was quite out of place with the other two divine statues; placed together, it created an indescribably eerie feeling.

Suddenly, his gaze focused on the rightmost head of the giant white snake, his eyes narrowing slightly.

For some reason, looking at this head gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

As if he had seen it somewhere before.

Memories churned in his mind, and everything he had seen and heard before flashed rapidly through Jiang Lan's mind like a slideshow.

Finally, it settled on the face of the man who had beaten the drum to appeal to the authorities at the yamen gate.

The rightmost head of the white snake bore at least a five-point resemblance to that man.

Jiang Lan stood still.

This... was this the head of the martial artist's lost daughter?

Just as Jiang Lan was pondering, the external anomalies gradually disappeared.

The sky returned to clear, and the howling winds slowly subsided.

Jiang Lan scanned the surroundings, taking in everything inside the ruined temple.

The temple was not large, square-shaped, and apart from the offering table and the 'divine statues' on it, there was only a single greenish oil lamp.

There wasn't even an incense burner.

No bloodstains could be seen on the walls or the floor either.

Yet, that inexplicable scent of blood still lingered in Jiang Lan's nostrils.

He pondered for a moment, not acting rashly, preparing to observe the situation.

Jiang Lan remembered that the drumming martial artist had said yesterday that his daughter had been abducted by Feng Liu.

He was ninety percent certain that the rightmost head of the white snake belonged to the martial artist's daughter.

Although there was no one else in the temple besides him at the moment.

But a human head couldn't just appear on this divine statue out of thin air.

So, what he needed to do now was to wait here.

As long as Zhang Cui was still alive, she would eventually come to this ruined temple.

Jiang Lan first walked to the entrance of the ruined temple, closed the door he had just pushed open, and then stood behind the offering table.

The offering table was solid and just reached Jiang Lan's head in height.

However, this alone couldn't completely conceal his figure.

But behind the offering table, there were also circles of raised cloud patterns, slightly higher than the tabletop, which were hollow inside.

This way, not only could Jiang Lan be perfectly hidden, but through the hollow openings, he could also see the position of the temple entrance.

"Hoo..."

He silently exhaled, activating the Hidden God Art.

Jiang Lan's breathing grew increasingly faint, eventually becoming imperceptible, and his entire being seemed to merge with the ruined temple.

At this moment, even if an ordinary person were to stand face to face with Jiang Lan, they might not notice him.

Jiang Lan didn't have to wait too long; in less than half an hour, a somewhat fawning voice entered his ears.

"It is this lowly one's fortune to be able to serve Milord."

The voice approached from afar.

Jiang Lan's eyes glinted.

The main person has arrived.

"Creak—"

As the teeth-grinding sound of the door opening rang out, a figure completely enveloped in a Black Robed Man walked into the temple.

Behind him followed a young man dressed in coarse linen, who looked fairly energetic, his face currently bearing a fawning smile.

And behind the two was a somewhat plump woman.

Jiang Lan recognized at a glance that this woman was Zhang Wen's sister, Zhang Cui.

However, Zhang Cui at this moment was like a Puppet, her eyes vacant, following blankly behind the young man.

Entering the temple.

The young man rubbed his hands together.

"Um... Milord... the person has been delivered..."

The Black Robed Man did not turn back, merely responding: "Mm."

The young man awkwardly rubbed his hands again.

"Then the reward you promised me earlier..."