Suddenly, a fat and stout figure sprang out of the darkness behind Danba.
I was startled at first sight. It turned out to be Lin Ruhu, who had borrowed his wife's fortune!
His two eyes had become two bloody holes, and a horizontal cut was made from the corners of his eyes, severing his nose bridge. Just like Yang Fan, who had been possessed by the One - Eyed Buddha Mother in the hospital, it seemed as if a single eye had grown horizontally across his whole face!
Lin Ruhu hissed out a terrifying sound and lunged at me and Si Jiangchen with his hands waving. The red strings twining around his body had turned the color of filthy blood. I'm afraid this state of his was the result of the spell's backlash after we rescued his wife!
In his hand, there was a blackened vajra pestle. Filthy red liquid dripped from the tip of the vajra pestle, presumably the blood from the wound on his own face.
Seeing that the blood on the vajra pestle was about to splash on me, Si Jiangchen quickly pulled me behind him.
I couldn't help but feel worried. If it were ghosts, demons, or monsters, Si Jiangchen and I would have ways to deal with them. We could subdue them with talismans and spells. But it was a human being! A living person with a weapon, who could really cause harm to our bodies!
The vajra pestle, also known as the demon - subduing pestle, was one of the few non - evil magic tools in the Hinayana sect.
The reason I didn't like the Hinayana sect was that they had some strange customs. They liked to use parts of the human body as magic tools to subdue demons and monsters, like the intestines of virgins and the leg bones of young boys! I was used to the teachings of the Mahayana sect, which advocated not harming ants when sweeping the floor. I instinctively felt repulsed when I heard about using parts of living people as magic tools.
This vajra pestle was made of alloy. Originally, it was a weapon used by ancient Indian Buddhas to slay demons. The one in Lin Ruhu's hand was now pitch - black and shiny, showing that it had been through many years. At a glance, it was a top - grade magic tool used by eminent monks.
Even if Si Jiangchen and I were not demons or ghosts, this weapon made of fine copper would pierce us through and cause us to bleed if it hit us. Moreover, both Si Jiangchen and I were living zombies with incomplete souls. If we were hit by the vajra pestle, we didn't know what kind of harm we would suffer!
"Be careful!"
I was worried about Si Jiangchen, who was standing in front of me. Although I knew he was very powerful, Lin Ruhu clearly had his mind muddled. Coupled with his fat body, if he really fought recklessly, Si Jiangchen would surely get hurt.
"Humph!"
Sure enough, Lin Ruhu was like a runaway truck. Even though Si Jiangchen had kicked him in the stomach, he still rushed forward with undiminished momentum. The vajra pestle in his hand left a bloody gash on Si Jiangchen's face.
Si Jiangchen frowned.
I knew he had a cleanliness fetish. The filthy blood on the tip of the pestle must have made him extremely annoyed.
Sure enough, Si Jiangchen gently wiped his wound, and a few drops of blood adhered to his fingertips. He reached out like lightning and grabbed Lin Ruhu's neck. With a slight squeeze, Lin Ruhu's cervical vertebra made a cracking sound, and his head tilted to one side, hanging on his chest like a lantern without support.
"Thud!"
Lin Ruhu's mountain - like body fell to the ground. His limbs twitched a few times and then stopped moving.
"You... you dare to kill someone?"
An expression of disbelief appeared on Danba's face. He had never seen a person of Si Jiangchen's status do something like this with his own hands.
"Danba, you still haven't answered Xiao He's question."
Si Jiangchen ignored Danba's words. He just looked at him indifferently and took out a tissue to wipe the remaining bloodstains on his fingers.
"What question?"
Danba was confused. He had performed the life - swapping spell on Lin Ruhu and had just brought him to the secret room to calculate the birth date of Lin Ruhu's next life - borrowing target. Who would have thought that Lin Ruhu would suddenly go crazy? He grabbed the vajra pestle on the altar and stabbed his own eyes into two bloody holes. Then he made a desperate horizontal cut between his eyes, and he seemed to become a one - eyed monster.
"Where are Xue Shuo and his mother?"
I was sure that Danba was the one who worshipped the One - Eyed Buddha Mother. Xue Shuo must have come here to hide in Hongluo Temple.
"I don't know the people you're talking about."
Unexpectedly, Danba flatly denied it. Pointing at Lin Ruhu lying at Si Jiangchen's feet, he said, "Mr. Si, even if you're the boss of Lengshan, you can't kill people at will!"
"Who said I killed someone?"
Si Jiangchen squinted his eyes and looked at Danba coldly. "I'll ask you one more time. Have you seen those two people?"
"You'd better worry about yourselves instead of asking others!"
While shaking his head, Danba reached for the altar behind him. In an instant, he picked up a slender horn inlaid with gold, about a foot long. Putting the horn to his lips, he laughed arrogantly. "Mr. Si, I thought you came to Hongluo Temple to seek wealth. I didn't expect you to come here to give your lives. Since you two have found your way into my secret room, don't even think about getting out alive!"
"My assistant is still at the foot of the mountain. Aren't you afraid of exposing your true nature?!"
Si Jiangchen raised his eyebrows. He never expected that Danba would dare to blatantly harm human lives.
"How could I expose my true nature?"
Danba looked at the horn at his lips proudly. "After I blow this human - bone horn and absorb your two souls into the horn, then I'll stuff two refined souls into your bodies... From then on, you two will be my puppets. Just thinking about it makes me feel excited!"
As he said this, his sticky eyes sized us up.
I could understand why he explained so much to us instead of blowing his so - called human - bone horn.
It was a common perverse pleasure among people. Danba wanted us to plead with him desperately for a way out, and then he would play with us like a cat plays with a mouse, making us suffer so much that we would neither want to live nor die.
"Why don't you give it a try?"
I imitated him and curled my lips into a malicious smile. "If it doesn't sound good, there will be no reward!"
Danba didn't expect that I would still dare to make fun of him when we were in such great danger. Veins popped up on his forehead immediately. He took a deep breath and put his mouth to the golden mouthpiece of the human - bone horn.
This human - bone horn was also a magic tool given to Danba by Sheng Shixun. It was said to have been found in the ruins of the One - Eyed Buddha Mother's temple during the restoration. Danba had tried it several times. Without exception, everyone who heard the ear - piercing sound of the horn lost their souls and became mindless idiots!
"Woooooo..."
A low, eerie sound rushed towards Si Jiangchen and me. The low - frequency resonance made my heart feel like it was about to jump out of my chest.
I couldn't help covering my ears with my hands.
Si Jiangchen snorted and pulled me into his arms. But Lin Ruhu, whose neck had been broken at our feet, suddenly twitched and crawled up from the ground, twisting his limbs.