On the other side, the Black and White Impermanence were scrambling to catch the ghosts.
Niannian's gaze was always fixed on her master.
In a daze, she seemed to see a dark shadow approaching her master.
However, since it was already approaching dusk, the woods in the back mountain were dense, and it was almost impossible to see clearly under the shadow.
Abbot Qingyun, hiding in an inconspicuous corner in the dark, was now concentrating on the every move of the Black and White Impermanence.
He didn't notice at all that the danger was quietly approaching from behind.
Niannian squinted slightly and craned her neck to see if there was really a shadow behind her master and if what she saw was an illusion.
But just then, the shadow suddenly grew and expanded, and in a flash, it darted to Abbot Qingyun's side.
Before Niannian could shout out, the black shadow completely enveloped her master and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.
When the shadow receded, Niannian was in a daze for a while.
Where was her master?
Where was her so - big master?
Niannian stared blankly, and her mind went blank for a moment.
Oh no, it seemed that her master had been carried away by something!
Realizing this, the little girl looked around nervously.
Seeing the eldest senior brother rushing over with a lot of people not far away, she immediately rushed over.
Hugging the eldest senior brother's thigh tightly, she sobbed, "Eldest senior brother, master has been captured by a monster. Wuwuwu~"
Mu Yanchen was stunned for a moment. He always felt that his little junior sister's line was strangely familiar.
He inexplicably wanted to make a few sarcastic remarks.
"Master has been captured? By whom?"
Now was not the time to think about those messy things. Mu Yanchen forced his mind back to the matter at hand and quickly asked.
"I don't know. I just saw a shadow run behind master, and then master disappeared. The direction where the shadow disappeared seems to be over there."
Niannian pointed in a direction towards the deep mountains.
Actually, she wasn't sure if the direction where master disappeared was that one. But the shadow came from that direction and also receded in that direction, so it should be about right.
"You stay here first. I'll go find the third junior brother. Later, I'll go into the mountain with him to look for master."
There was a big trouble in the deep mountains.
Mu Yanchen's eyelids twitched wildly, and he had a faint premonition of something bad in his heart.
He patted the little girl's head soothingly, then turned around and ran towards the village entrance.
The eldest senior brother ran in a hurry, and the little girl didn't even have time to say a word.
She looked hesitantly in the direction where master disappeared, then at the back of the eldest senior brother leaving, and gritted her teeth.
She directly lifted her legs and ran in the direction where master disappeared.
The one who could quietly carry away master must not be an ordinary character.
Niannian really couldn't just sit there and wait for the eldest and third senior brothers to come back before looking for master.
She thought it was better to go and take a look herself.
Anyway, the fierce and resentful ghosts gathering in the back mountain were all small fry to her.
A few punches would be enough to send them to eternal perdition.
Except for the big trouble that carried away master, no one in the back mountain could pose a threat to her.
The bold little girl darted into the deep mountains in a flash.
No one caught sight of her.
As she shuttled through the woods, not long after she started running, the little girl felt a cold and terrifying aura enveloping her.
After running about a thousand meters, Niannian found master's soul - summoning flag.
There were two soul - summoning flags, a mother flag and a child flag.
The child flag attracted ghosts, and the mother flag controlled the child flag.
And the one that had fallen on the ground was the mother flag that master should have held in his hand to control.
This must have been dropped by master.
So she was on the right track!
The little girl stared fixedly ahead. All she could see in front of her were trees that looked exactly the same.
When she looked back, she didn't know when a fog had risen in the woods, obscuring the way she came.
The white mist spread out, like a mysterious and eerie realm, making it hard to tell the direction.
The little girl stuck the soul - summoning flag she was holding into the ground.
If the eldest senior brother found the third senior brother and they chased in this direction later, they might be able to see this flag.
Maybe they wouldn't get lost then.
She pressed the flag deeper into the soil to make sure it wouldn't be blown away by the wind, then Niannian continued to climb up in the same direction.
This mountain was quite big. After climbing for more than ten minutes, she had only reached the middle of the mountain.
Fortunately, Niannian had a strong natural spiritual sense and a good sense of direction, so she didn't get lost here.
As she climbed up, she didn't see anything else belonging to master.
But she did find an ancient - looking building hidden in the dense forest.
From afar, it was faintly visible, and it was hard to see clearly.
The uneasiness in her heart grew stronger and stronger.
It seemed that she was getting closer and closer to the danger in the woods.
Niannian was a little scared.
She didn't know what she was going to face next. She was just holding on because of her worry about master.
After all, Niannian was just a six - year - old child.
She was a child who had never been away from the care of adults.
It was only natural for her to be afraid when facing such danger alone for the first time.
Not knowing what to expect made her feel panicked, but master was most likely up ahead.
The little girl didn't allow herself to be timid.
"Niannian is not afraid. Niannian is the bravest child in the world! Niannian is very powerful. No ghosts or demons can defeat Niannian! Mm! Master is waiting for Niannian to save him. I can't be afraid!"
She stood there, took a few deep breaths, and murmured to herself to cheer herself up.
Her palm - sized little hands were clenched into fists. She didn't know if it was because of the wind or fear, but her little chubby face was all flushed.
She lowered her head and took out the things in her small satchel one by one.
Soon, there was a whole pile on the ground.
Magic tools, talismans, jade stones...
She put all the things that might be useful on top.
The useless ones were all at the bottom.
After organizing her belongings, Niannian summoned up her courage and walked towards the building not far away.
This time, she didn't walk quickly or run.
Instead, she took each step extremely carefully.
She was afraid of disturbing anything.
When she got closer, Niannian blinked as she looked at the tall and imposing gate in front of her.
It turned out to be a temple.
The sun had completely set at some point.
The moon was hanging high in the sky. Against the backdrop of the night, this solemn and majestic temple actually looked extremely gloomy and terrifying.
The gate was ajar. She didn't know if it was opened specially to welcome her or if it just hadn't been closed properly.
The little girl squeezed through the crack in the door.
Niannian, who had been prepared for a fierce battle, didn't expect that as soon as she stepped into the temple, what she saw was an extremely ordinary young novice monk.
The young novice monk didn't look very old, probably only seventeen or eighteen years old.
There was a gentle smile on his face. When he saw someone coming in, especially a child, he was slightly stunned.
But he quickly came to his senses, put his hands together, bowed, and said, "Amitabha. Little donor, are you lost?"
The young novice monk in front of her seemed very friendly.
There was no evil aura emanating from him.
Most importantly, after stepping into this temple, the fear that had been weighing on her heart and the sense of approaching danger had completely disappeared.
It was as if there were really gods and Buddhas in the sky protecting her.
"My master is missing. I'm here to look for him."
The young novice monk didn't seem like a bad person, so Niannian didn't deliberately hide anything and told him her purpose.
Hearing this, the young novice monk looked back at the empty courtyard behind him and suddenly said, "Oh, there was indeed another donor in a Taoist robe who came here before. I wonder if the little donor is looking for this person?"
"Eh? Have you seen my master?"
Niannian blinked, and her long, curly eyelashes fluttered. She was so cute.
Looking at such a cute child, the young novice monk's gaze softened even more and he said, "I don't know if that donor is the little donor's master. But that donor is now resting in the back courtyard. If the little donor wants to confirm, I can take the little donor to have a look."
"Okay, okay. Thank you, master."
Niannian politely put her hands together and bowed in a Buddhist salute to the young novice monk.
Then she followed him slowly towards the back courtyard.
This temple was quite big. As soon as one entered the temple gate, there was a large Buddha hall. Behind it were four medium - sized and small Buddha halls. Further back were the guest rooms and the places where the monks lived.
Niannian looked around curiously.
The temple looked peaceful and ordinary, but strangely enough, all the houses and buildings she saw had their doors tightly closed.
Except for the young novice monk, she didn't see a single other monk.
When passing by the back courtyard where the monks lived, she could still see the clothes hanging outside.
There were quite a few clothes.
Roughly estimated, there should be at least a dozen monks living in this temple.
The whole temple was completely quiet. There was not a single sound.
It was just the beginning of autumn.
In a mountain forest like this, one could always hear the chirping of cicadas and birds.
But since entering the mountain forest, not only had she not heard the chirping of cicadas and birds, but she hadn't even seen an ant.
Moreover, this temple was not small. Usually, a temple of this size needed the support of pilgrims.
To put it bluntly, a temple of this size needed to make money to maintain itself.
Built deep in the mountains, not to mention pilgrims, it was probably hard to see even a ghost.
Who would be so bored as to build such a big temple here?
But Niannian still trusted her intuition.
Since her spiritual sense didn't sense anything wrong, she didn't think too much about it.
No matter how strange this temple was, as long as she could find master and get out of here safely with him, that would be fine.
"Here we are."
The young novice monk stopped. In front of them was a not - very - big side room.
He pushed open the wooden door, and the old wooden door made a creaking and ear - piercing sound, which sounded like it hadn't been maintained or repaired for a long time.
As soon as she entered the door, Niannian saw her master lying on the bed with his eyes closed, as if in a coma.
Afraid that master would go crazy again like before, the little girl rushed over in a hurry.
"Master! Master! Wake up!"
The little girl cried and shouted while shaking master's shoulder.
Abbot Qingyun's head was shaken from side to side.
When he opened his eyes groggily, he felt like he was going to vomit.
He felt extremely uncomfortable all over.
"Ouch, little disciple, stop shaking. Stop shaking. Your master is about to die. If you keep shaking, I'll fall apart!"
Abbot Qingyun quickly woke up and stopped her in time.
All the bones in his body felt as if they had been crushed, and it hurt badly.
After being shaken around like this by the little girl, it felt like he was going to fall apart the next second.
Hearing master's response, the little girl's crying suddenly stopped.
She tilted her head and looked at master, whose eyes were now fully open, and broke into a smile through her tears: "Master, you're awake. You scared me to death."
"I'm fine."
The little disciple really cared about him. Abbot Qingyun could feel it.
Looking at Niannian's a bit dirty Taoist robe and little face, he felt both heartache and gratification at the same time.
Raising a daughter was really great!
She was just like a considerate little cotton - padded jacket.
But why did Niannian make herself so embarrassed?
Abbot Qingyun looked around, and without thinking about why he was in such a strange and unfamiliar environment, he opened his mouth and asked, "Why are you the only one? Where are your two senior brothers?"
"Ah, the eldest senior brother went to look for the third senior brother. He said that after finding the third senior brother, they would come up the mountain together to look for you. I was worried, so I came first. Hehe, master! ~ I found you."
The little girl beamed as if showing off her achievements.
Her watery eyes were extremely bright, like a shining gem in the dark night.
Abbot Qingyun reacted for a while, pinched his waist, and scolded, "Those two little brats can't even take care of a child. How could they let you come looking for me alone? Don't they know how dangerous the back mountain is? Did you tell them when you chased after me?"
Realizing that master was a bit angry, the little girl suddenly became flustered.
She counted her fingers, twisted her clothes, and lowered her head and said, "I was in such a hurry that I didn't have time to say."
Hearing this, Abbot Qingyun got even angrier.
His memory of the time when he was carried away hadn't disappeared.
At that time, he was suddenly enveloped by a mass of black shadow. It was really unexpected. When he came to his senses, he found himself lying on the backs of five ghosts.
Those five ghosts crawled on their stomachs and carried him on their shoulders, running frantically towards the back mountain.
For some reason, he couldn't break free from the restraint of the five ghosts at all and could only let them carry him.
He had also thought that his disciples would definitely come to look for him, so when he was halfway up the mountain, he deliberately threw the flag in his hand on the ground as a signal.
But he never expected that the eldest and third disciples would let their little junior sister go up the mountain alone.
This deep mountain was extremely strange. After the five ghosts carried him to the temple, they disappeared without a trace, and then he fainted.
In such a dangerous environment, how could he feel at ease with the little girl going up the mountain alone?
Fortunately, Niannian seemed okay and in good spirits.
If something had gone wrong on the way, he would definitely skin those two little brats alive.
Abbot Qingyun was angry that the two disciples had let Niannian act alone, but he had no complaints about Niannian at all.
Seeing the little girl so nervous, his heart immediately softened.
He quickly comforted her gently, "Oh, Niannian, be good. Don't be sad. Master isn't scolding you."