At some point, the heavy rain had stopped.
Both inside and outside the dilapidated temple, there was an eerie silence.
In the dim candlelight, the headless statue, covered in cracks, sat silently. Even though it had no head, it seemed to be coldly watching the people below.
The third bow.
The Corpse Nurturer clasped her hands together, muttered an incantation, stepped back, then bent down to kneel, with both hands touching the ground, showing utmost piety.
Her so-called mute sister behind her followed suit, imitating her movements as if they were copied and pasted.
Lu Fei and Jing Jian exchanged a glance.
This bow was the most critical. Lu Fei had already confirmed the identity of the Corpse Nurturing Woman and knew that she harbored ill intentions, so of course, he was not going to follow her lead.
Lu Fei motioned to Jing Jian, signaling him to follow his example.
Jing Jian understood with a nod.
Instead of stepping back, Lu Fei took a step forward, and then made a slight bow towards the gloomy statue.
This was the most common way of greeting in the Xuanmen Jianghu, not a ritual for worshipping deities.
Jing Jian immediately followed suit.
Since they had already offended this so-called bodhisattva, what did it matter if they offended it even more thoroughly?
As soon as the two finished their bows, the incense in the censer suddenly went out!
The Corpse Nurturing Woman raised her head and, seeing the extinguished incense, was taken aback.
"How did the incense go out?"
She immediately got up and turned around, glaring fiercely at Lu Fei.
"Did you not follow the instructions?"
"I don't know."
Lu Fei shrugged, his face full of innocence.
"You are courting death!" The Corpse Keeper's face darkened, her slanted eyes filled with murderous intent, and it seemed like she was holding something in her hand.
Her mute sister behind her also rose, her hands hidden in her long sleeves.
"I wanted to save your lives, but you have repeatedly ignored my warnings! It would be better to kill you and offer you to the Bodhisattva, that way we still have a chance to survive!"
Offer to the Bodhisattva?
Lu Fei instantly understood the true purpose of the Corpse Keeper.
"What a pretty speech, but I bet you intended to use us as a sacrifice from the beginning! Worshipping the dark deities, offering a living sacrifice, using our lives to fulfill your wish! Huh, your abacus beads are practically flying into my face!"
"So you've been pretending to be a fool all this time, courting death!"
With her scheme exposed, the Corpse Rearing Woman was enraged and flung out both hands.
Three cold glints flashed, charging at Lu Fei with a fierce momentum.
"Be careful!"
Jing Jian hurried forward, his peachwood sword dancing to form a blossoming array of sword light, clinking the cold glints down to the ground.
They turned out to be three silver needles as thin as hair.
The tips of the needles were slightly greenish.
Corpse poison!
Lu Fei's brow twitched slightly.
He had heard that corpse poison was extremely deadly. Once it touched a living person, the toxin would act swiftly, causing them to break out in necrotic spots all over their body, their skin to rot, leaving them in a state worse than death.
"Brother Jing, be careful, this woman is a corpse-raiser!" Lu Fei, holding the ghost-whipping whip, called out as a warning.
"A corpse-raiser?" Jing Jian's eyes changed, "Then her so-called mute sister, is actually a corpse? She can run and move, could it be... a walking dead..."
Before he finished talking.
The mute sister had already rushed to the front of the two.
From within her sleeves, her hands suddenly shot out, revealing two sharp, pale bone knives, aiming straight for the hearts of the two men.
The action was fast and ruthless.
Jing Jian, greatly shocked, swung his peachwood sword to block hurriedly.
With a clear ringing sound, he felt that his peachwood sword hit something like a steel pipe instead of a human arm, not only failing to harm the other party but also causing his own hand to ache slightly from the shock.
"Brother Jing, this evil creature has a body of copper skin and iron bones, hitting its body is useless, the weakness is in the neck!"
As Lu Fei spoke, he had already lashed out with the ghost-whipping whip at the mute sister's neck.
However, at this moment, two cold beams shot over with a whoosh.
Lu Fei hurriedly dodged, and the whip was retracted without hitting its target.
"You even know about these! Who are you exactly?"
The Corpse-Raising Girl's sharp gaze swept back and forth over Lu Fei, her expression filled with suspicion.
Not many people knew the weakness of the human-headed corpse demon.
A few days ago, the best corpse demon she had painstakingly raised was killed by someone.
Could it be him?
"Take a guess."
Lu Fei shook his ghost-beating whip.
"Brother Jing, cover me. Let's deal with that evil creature first, then we'll talk to her slowly."
"Understood!"
Jing Jian immediately rushed towards the Corpse Nurturing Woman.
The human-headed corpse demon swung its sharp bone knife, trying to block him, but was intercepted by Lu Fei with his ghost-whipping whip.
Lu Fei had experience dealing with such evil creatures. He did not engage in a direct confrontation, but instead took out his ghost-script and used it in conjunction with the ghost-whipping whip, looking for an opportunity to attack its neck.
The Corpse Nurturing Woman's expression grew uglier and uglier.
She is adept at nurturing corpses and usually relies heavily on them for all her actions, and is not skilled in physical combat with people.
Although the corpse poison needle is powerful, it is most suitable for ambush; once discovered, it becomes much less effective.
Jing Jian, although just a wandering cultivator, has been mixing in the江湖for many years, and although his swordsmanship does not follow a set pattern, it has its own unique strengths.
Additionally, after absorbing half the power of a demon's core, both his magical energy and movement techniques have improved by twice as much, with every move generating a fierce wind.
When the corpse-nurturing woman engaged in combat with Jing Jian, she quickly fell at a disadvantage and was forced to retreat step by step.
The anthropomorphic corpse was not faring well either, with Lu Fei nearly hitting its neck several times.
The corpse-raising woman was extremely anxious.
If the anthropomorphic corpse were destroyed, she would lose her sole support, and her end would only be death.
Now, there was no time to consider whether to sacrifice or not, she had to save her own life first!
"Bodhisattva, save me!"
She shouted, fired a few silver needles at Jing Jian, and ran towards the headless statue.
After exchanging a few empty moves with Lu Fei, the anthropomorphic corpse retreated, jumping back to her side.
"Brother Jing, we can't let her go!"
This woman is ruthless. If we don't eliminate her now, there will be endless trouble in the future.
Lu Fei and Jing Jian approached step by step.
The Corpse Nurturer glared at the two people with a fierce look, using a sharp bone knife to cut her own palm. Blood dripped down, drop by drop, onto the offering table.
"Offering blood as inducement, I beseech the Bodhisattva for protection! This faithful woman is willing to give three years of her lifespan in exchange for safety tonight!"
However, the headless statue did not show any signs of movement.
"Seven years of my lifespan!"
The headless statue still did not show any signs of movement.
Seeing that Lu Fei and Jing Jian were about to reach her, the Corpse Nurturer gritted her teeth and called out with determination, "Ten years of my lifespan!"
As soon as the words were spoken.
The flames on the two white candles on the offering table suddenly turned a ghastly green.
The sound of nails scratching against stone echoed once more.
Dust and sand fell from the headless statue, and one by one, rough and sharp claws stretched out from the cracks.
So that's where the fingernail sound came from.
Lu Fei's heart tightened, and before those things could emerge, he lashed out with a whip towards the Corpse-Nurturing Woman and the Human-Headed Corpse Fiend.
Slap!
The Human-Headed Corpse Fiend stepped forward to block the whip.
Taking the opportunity, the Corpse-Nurturing Woman quickly hid under the table.
Lu Fei tried to lash the whip again but suddenly felt his body stiffen, enveloped by a cold, formless force. He couldn't move at all.
From the cracks, rough and sharp stone claws extended, reaching for Lu Fei's head.
"Lu Fei, be careful!"
Jing Jian, who was swinging the peachwood sword, also felt his body stiffen and became immobilized.