The woman sat in a dim corner, glanced at Lu Fei, and snorted coldly, "Aren't you people from the Mystic Sect? Don't you even know these basic rules?"
"Living people fear entering a netherworld temple the most because it's not meant for the living to worship. Sleeping with your head covered, pretending to be dead, is the only way to stay safe."
"Is that so? This is the first time I've heard that." Lu Fei didn't believe a word of it.
Since the shrine is not meant for the living to worship, why did they do it before?
"I've never heard of that either! Why would a normal person come to a shrine for the dead?" Jing Jian also said.
"We came in here to shelter from the rain." The woman glared at him.
"Sheltering from the rain, you clearly… " Jing Jian was about to argue back but Lu Fei put his hand on his shoulder.
"If that's the case, you should have made it clear from the beginning. Otherwise, how were we supposed to know there are such rules for the deities here," Lu Fei said deliberately.
"Don't believe me? You can try and see if you can walk out of this shrine now!" The woman sneered.
Lu Fei and Jing Jian exchanged a glance.
Jing Jian, holding the peachwood sword, took large strides to the door, pushed it open, and was instantly dumbfounded.
Outside, it was still the dilapidated temple!
In the dimly lit small shrine, the headless statue sat coldly on the altar.
The layout inside is exactly the same as here, the only difference being the absence of the four of them.
"An illusion?"
Jing Jian frowned and activated his magical power, waving the peachwood sword at the outside, but the scene in front of him did not change at all.
"The Bodhisattva is enraged, and the door to life is closed! Even if you try for your entire life, you won't be able to get out! Stay here and serve as slaves to the Bodhisattva!" The woman sneered coldly, a look of schadenfreude on her face.
"That serious?"
Lu Fei narrowed his eyes, feeling something was amiss, and deliberately said, "Sis, you should have told us earlier. You wanted us to play dead, and we thought you were trying to harm us."
"In this desolate wilderness, we two weak women encountering two big men, it's only natural to be wary. I was even worried you might have ill intentions towards us..." The woman kept a straight face.
Jing Jian immediately said, "Sis, you're overthinking it! Not only are we upright people, but even if we weren't, we'd still choose wisely!"
"You!" The woman's face instantly turned very ugly. "I was going to tell you about how to atone to the Bodhisattva, but now it seems better to just let you die! Dead people can't talk nonsense!"
"Brother Jing, look at what you've said! Sis, don't take him seriously; he speaks without thinking."
Lu Fei smiled, putting on a friendly face.
This woman seemed to know the taboos of this dark temple well. It might be better to hear what she had to say first.
"Didn't you just say that we offended the Bodhisattva and implicated you as well? What can we do to make amends? Just tell us straight away, no more riddles."
"We can't get out now. If we do anything dangerous, we'll all be done for."
The woman turned her head, took a deep breath, and tried to control her emotions.
Then she said, "What else can we do but apologize to the Bodhisattva! Whatever we do next, you must follow exactly, without the slightest mistake!"
"Okay, as long as your method works, we will fully cooperate."
Lu Fei nodded readily.
Jing Jian still had his doubts. Those two women had clearly been worshiping in the dark temple earlier, which meant they had some sort of connection with it. It would be easy for them to cause trouble.
But he knew Lu Fei must have his reasons for doing this, so he didn't say anything, just kept his guard up mentally.
The woman got up and brushed the dust off her clothes.
The woman behind her did the same, remaining silent from beginning to end like a mute shadow.
"Why hasn't she said anything?" Lu Fei made no attempt to hide his curiosity.
That woman was too strange; not asking would have been abnormal.
"My sister is mute and very timid.
The two women, one in front of the other, walked to the altar and lit two white candles, then stood to the right of the statue.
"Aren't you coming over?"
"We're coming, we're coming."
Lu Fei and Jing Jian walked to the left side of the statue and stood one in front of the other, just as the women had done.
The woman looked up, respectfully gazed at the headless statue, its surface cracked, then clasped her hands and silently murmured something. She bowed devoutly, then took a step back.
Lu Fei's heart skipped a beat.
Kneel once, take a step back.
Isn't this the reverse worship?
Only demons and ghosts worship in reverse!
What exactly is this woman up to?
"Hurry up and kneel?" The woman turned her head and urged.
Lu Fei suppressed his doubts and, along with Jing Jian, followed the woman's actions, kneeling once and taking a step back.
The woman was satisfied. She turned her head back, a barely noticeable sneer flashing in her eyes, and continued the reverse worship of the headless statue.
On the second bow, Lu Fei followed suit, but he secretly observed the woman with a sidelong glance.
"What is that on her neck?"
In the dim candlelight, the mute younger sister, who had been silent all along, lowered her head, exposing a section of her neck.
On her pale skin, there was distinctly a thin red line.
The red line encircled her neck, resembling some kind of strange scar.
"Is it her?!"
Lu Fei instantly thought of someone.
No, to be precise, it was not a person, but a parasitic head-creature attached to a human body.
This malevolent creature had used corpse oil to bewitch Liu Fugui, siphoning his yang energy. Later, Lu Fei discovered it and destroyed it.
Lu Fei's heart began to beat fiercely.
He never expected to encounter such a malevolent creature here again!
No wonder she never spoke... then what about her older sister?
Lu Fei secretly observed the woman at the forefront; her neck was perfectly normal, without any red scars.
Through Lu Fei's observation, it could be confirmed that this woman was indeed alive.
The evil creature imitated her movements, could she be the corpse keeper?
At that time, after they eliminated the evil head, they quickly left and encountered the corpse keeper on the road, who used walking corpses to block their way.
Although they had engaged in combat, they never saw each other face-to-face.
What a narrow world it is for enemies to meet!
However, this female corpse keeper should not have recognized him; otherwise, they would have clashed from the very beginning.
What is her purpose here?
To refine powerful corpses, a corpse keeper needs many materials, with the most crucial material being on the zombie.
She must be here to find the zombie.
So it seems there really are zombies here.
And where there are coffin fungi, there must be zombies.
Then conversely, in places where zombies appear, could there be coffin fungi?
The lead provided by Old Man Duan is accurate.
Lu Fei's gaze gradually cleared, and his mood became one of joy instead.
As long as we haven't come to the wrong place, that's all that matters!
But then again, why would a necromancer who practices such unorthodox methods help two strangers?
There is definitely something suspicious about the reverse worship!
The third bow is coming up, and this is the most crucial one.
When demons and ghosts perform the reverse worship to the dark deity, they enter into some kind of pact, gaining power from it to aid in their cultivation.
Lu Fei didn't know what would happen if a living person were to worship a yin god, but it certainly wasn't anything good.
Therefore, for this final bow, Lu Fei was going to do the opposite.