Chapter 128: Corpse Pit

When Wen Jing and her group arrived at the back mountain, the last ray of sunlight vanished behind the mountain peaks. The sun set half an hour earlier here in the back mountain than in front of the Huaqing Taoist Temple.

Dead leaves fluttered all over the ground, and coupled with the black clothing worn by everyone, an oppressive and desolate atmosphere permeated the air. Aside from Ruan Qinglian, who still maintained a detached expression, the others wore expressions that were more or less heavy.

"Wait, what is this?" Wen Jing stopped in her tracks, staring at a row of wide and deep footprints on the ground.

Everyone else stopped as well, gazing at the long, winding footprints on the ground that pointed in a certain direction like a trail.

"These probably aren't human footprints. They are much longer and wider than the footprints of an ordinary person." Ji Changge stretched out his own foot to measure. He was already considered quite tall, and his feet were much longer than the average person's, yet compared to these footprints, he was still shorter by the length of two fingers.

Ding Wu also compared his foot to them and concluded that they must be the footprints of a beast; it was impossible for a human to leave such gigantic tracks.

Ji Changge gave him a side-long glance and said, "What kind of beast have you ever seen with footprints like these?"

Ding Wu gave two dry laughs. The footprints of ordinary animals were not this large, nor did they have this shape. These tracks looked much more like the footprints left by someone of exceptionally tall and large stature.

"Could it be a wild man? I've heard that wild men covered in long, black hair have appeared in these mountains," Ruan Qinglian remarked.

"Follow the footprints. Everyone, be careful."

With that, Ji Changge walked ahead of Wen Jing, carefully advancing along the tracks on the ground.

"Further ahead is the graveyard," Ruan Qinglian suddenly said.

"Could there really be a female ghost?" Mingyuan, trailing closely behind Ruan Qinglian, asked with a pale face.

"Shut up. As disciples of Taoism, we should subdue demons and eliminate devils," Ruan Qinglian softly scolded.

The footprints suddenly vanished, and Ji Changge and the others looked ahead.

In the twilight, a figure stood not far away.

"That person... looks like Senior Sister Mingqing," Mingyuan blurted out suddenly. She spent her days alongside Mingqing and was intimately familiar with Mingqing's back. Although the figure was dressed in white, the build and hair bun were unmistakably Mingqing's. Yet, seeing her in this white garb sent a sudden chill running down her entire body.

Ruan Qinglian peered closely and muttered, "What on earth is Mingqing up to? Not staying in the Taoist temple, dressing up in white for no good reason, and coming out to the graveyard."

"Ding Wu, go have a look," instructed Ji Changge.

Ding Wu gripped the saber in his hand tightly and walked slowly toward "Mingqing," thinking to himself, *Even if you are a female ghost, today I'll just play the role of a ghost-catching Taoist!*

"Daoist Priest Mingqing, is that you?"

Mingqing still stood rigidly upright, uttering not a sound.

Just as Ding Wu was about to touch "Mingqing's" body, Mingqing's figure suddenly fell backward. Ding Wu instinctively reached out and caught Mingqing's plump body.

"Aiyo, mother in heaven! It really is a ghost!"

Ding Wu let out a sudden, piercing scream and flung Mingqing away as if she were a hot potato.

Ji Changge frowned. "Where is there a ghost?"

Ding Wu stammered, "Ming... Mingqing..."

Ji Changge and Wen Jing walked over to the white-robed woman whom Ding Wu had tossed aside. The woman lay prone on the ground, motionless.

Using his sword, Ji Changge flipped Mingqing's corpse over, prompting both him and Wen Jing to instinctively take a few steps back. The corpse on the ground appeared exceptionally terrifying.

"Ah!"

Several Taoist nuns let out piercing screams of fright. They saw that Mingqing's face was covered in blood with her eyeballs bulging out as she lay on the ground, yet she was smiling—a smile that made one's hair stand on end.

"She is dead. The method of her death is similar to the Abbess's. The difference is that the corners of her mouth have been slit open to her ears, making it look as though she is smiling," Wen Jing stated.

"But she... she was clearly just standing right here!" Ding Wu said, still deeply shaken. He could never have imagined that Mingqing was already a corpse, and that she had just fallen right into his arms. The mere thought of it made his whole body feel wretched, especially Mingqing's gruesome, smiling face, which refused to fade from his mind.

"That is due to rigor mortis. All the bone joints have stiffened, which is why she was able to maintain a standing posture," Wen Jing explained. She had encountered such a phenomenon in modern times as well, though it was relatively rare. For the killer to actually utilize the stiffness of the corpse's joints to make Mingqing stand—was this merely to create a spooky atmosphere, or was it intended to convey a specific message?

Only then did Ding Wu calm down slightly. So Mingqing had been murdered long ago. That damned killer actually resorted to such theatrics; once he caught the culprit, he would definitely—Ding Wu mentally rehearsed a thousand ways to torture the murderer.

A flash of disappointment crossed Ji Changge's eyes. Mingqing had actually been murdered as well, meaning she could not possibly be the killer. Who on earth was the murderer? What was the purpose of deliberately using those footprints to lure them here?

"Carry Daoist Priest Mingqing's body back," Ji Changge instructed Ding Wu.

Yet another victim; including Qingliu, this made four. Furthermore, she had been killed right under his nose, which filled Ji Changge with profound anger. What kind of wicked scheme was the killer playing at?

"Let's bury the remains of Miss Qingliu first," Ruan Qinglian said calmly. Mingqing's death seemed to have no impact on her emotions whatsoever, though everyone knew she and Mingqing had always been at bitter odds. With Mingqing dead, she was perhaps barely able to contain her joy.

Wen Jing cast a glance at Ruan Qinglian and nodded.

Several guards stepped forward to begin digging the earth.

While waiting, Wen Jing replayed the entire sequence of events in her mind. She always felt as though she had missed some crucial detail. The killer seemed to know they would return to the back mountain and then used the footprints to lure them here. If the killer had gone to such painstaking lengths to set up this trap, what was the ultimate intention? If the goal was simply to have them find Mingqing's body, the culprit could easily have dumped Mingqing's corpse inside the Taoist temple without going to such elaborate trouble.

Walking over to the spot where Mingqing had been standing just moments before, Wen Jing looked forward. Ahead stood only a solitary grave mound, upon which words such as "Daoist Priest Mingjing" were inscribed.

"This Daoist Priest Mingjing?" Wen Jing asked, looking at Ruan Qinglian.

Ruan Qinglian examined the tombstone and shook her head. "This Grand Master Mingjing should be Abbess Feng's master. She had already passed away before I came to the Taoist temple."

Could this Daoist Priest Mingjing have suffered a wrongful death? Did the killer want them to seek justice for her? Wen Jing suddenly felt that this case was growing increasingly complex, involving more and more people, and they seemed to be led entirely by the nose by the killer.

"Is there a problem with this grave?" Ji Changge walked over as well.

"This was the spot where Daoist Priest Mingqing was standing just now. From this angle, what Daoist Priest Mingqing was staring at was precisely this grave. I suspect that the graveyard the killer guided us to leads directly to this tomb," Wen Jing explained.

Ji Changge pondered for a brief moment before turning to the guards who were digging the earth. "Stop for a moment. Dig up this grave and have a look."

Ruan Qinglian's expression changed. "No, this is our Grand Master's grave. It cannot be disturbed."

Ji Changge cast a cold look at Ruan Qinglian. "Aren't you afraid that you will be the killer's next target?"

Ruan Qinglian's face turned pale, and a trace of terror appeared in her eyes. First the Abbess, then Mingqing, and the next one... might truly be her...

"Go ahead and dig," Ruan Qinglian said softly.

Ji Changge waved his hand at the guards, and they immediately set to work.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the pit in the ground grew larger and larger, uncertain of what was waiting for them beneath.

"Clang!"

One of the guards stopped. His shovel had suddenly struck a hard object. Looking down, he saw a stark, white human bone and hurriedly reported it to Ji Changge.

"Keep digging."

More and more human bones came into view. This was definitely not the remains of just a single person.

Everyone stared in dumbfounded shock at the pit full of white bones. This outcome clearly exceeded all their expectations. Why on earth were there so many people buried inside a grave marked with Daoist Priest Mingjing's tombstone?

"There are the remains of at least seven or eight people here," Wen Jing estimated, eyeing the number of bones in the pit. The killer had indeed brought them here with a specific purpose in mind.

"Bring all the remains back first."

Ji Changge furrowed his brow deeply. So many more corpses had suddenly surfaced, and Mingqing, their most suspicious suspect, was also dead. The clue had been broken once again. It seemed their only remaining breakthrough lay with the hidden party, and they had to draw that Baili Moxuan out into the open as quickly as possible.