My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

Ye Qingfeng didn't take it seriously. He didn't know anything about this kind of knowledge, so he didn't pay any attention to it.

"Brother Dao, look at those houses over there." Ye Qingfeng pointed to a few houses on the street corner.

Those houses not only had their doors and windows tightly closed, but also had an unusually large number of chicken blood bowls in front of their doors, and the gaps in the windows were all tightly sealed with strips of cloth. Withered mugwort and willow branches were also hanging on the lintels.

"It seems... there's hardly any life in there? Like a home for chronically ill people?"

Upon hearing this, Chi Yangzi glanced at Ye Qingfeng with slight surprise, not expecting that this young man's senses were so sharp that he could detect the faint life force inside the room.

But then I thought, perhaps it's because families with long-term illnesses naturally exude a sense of decline, which can be noticed if one pays close attention.

"Hmm, they're probably infected with evil spirits or plague. The 'trouble' in this town has likely already claimed lives."

His tone was somewhat heavy, although judging from the zombies that had appeared earlier, he knew that the situation near the Wild Boar Forest was not good.

But this situation was still somewhat unexpected for him.

The two were talking in hushed tones when suddenly a suppressed sobbing and a cacophony of voices came from the alleyway ahead.

Several townspeople, their mouths and noses covered with cloths, hurriedly carried a simple wooden stretcher out of a house with mugwort hanging on it.

The stretcher was covered with a tattered straw mat, revealing a pair of stiff feet with an unusually dark complexion.

A woman followed beside them, being supported by others, crying so hard she almost fainted.

What's even more eye-catching is that at the head of the procession walks a middle-aged Taoist priest wearing a blue Taoist robe and a Hunyuan turban.

The Taoist priest had fair skin, a long beard, and held a whisk in his hand. His steps were steady, and he had a somewhat otherworldly air about him.

His expression was solemn, he muttered incantations, and occasionally waved his whisk, pointing at the stretcher.

"This is..." Chi Yangzi narrowed his eyes, sizing up Yunhe Zhenren from afar, and whispered to Ye Qingfeng, "Judging from his gait and aura... Hmph, he's putting on quite a good act."

Ye Qingfeng looked at the Taoist priest and nodded, "His demeanor is quite professional, but I wonder about his abilities. Where are they taking the corpse?"

"We'll find out once we follow them," Chi Yangzi gestured. The two followed far behind, and as the group left the town, they arrived at the abandoned brick and tile kiln to the west.

Master Yunhe directed the townspeople to throw the corpse into the largest kiln, then ordered people to lay down many locust tree branches, and then took a talisman and lit it.

Flames ignited, and smoke rose.

Chi Yangzi watched closely from the side, his nostrils twitching slightly as if trying to discern the scent in the smoke, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

He suddenly snorted coldly and muttered to himself in a volume that only the two of them could hear.

"Locust wood? Extremely yang and strong? What a joke! Besides, this place is filled with yin energy. With this kind of fire technique, the evil energy won't be dispelled; instead, it will add to the yin and turbidity! This smoke... something's not right!"

He frowned, clearly having noticed something amiss.

Ye Qingfeng listened from the side, a thoughtful expression on his face, and replied softly.

"Brother Dao, are you saying that this method of cremating corpses... might be useless, or even harmful?"

Chi Yangzi glanced at Ye Qingfeng, and seeing that he was only asking a question based on common sense, he nodded, his tone carrying a hint of disdain and seriousness.

"It's not just useless! It's practically... adding fuel to the fire! But ordinary people can't see through these tricks. And... there's something fishy about this!"

A hint of understanding appeared in Chi Yangzi's eyes.

Ye Qingfeng said "Oh," and then turned his gaze back to the burning kiln and the gradually dispersing townspeople.

He didn't ask what was strange, but he had already discovered something.

"Let's go back to town and ask around. This town is strange in every way."

The two returned to the town and deliberately avoided the main street, turning into a slightly secluded back alley.

I happened to see an old man wearing a worn-out cotton-padded jacket, squatting in the corner of the wall, basking in the sun, smoking a pipe, with a small stall in front of him selling incense, candles, and paper money.

"May the Heavenly Venerable grant you boundless blessings." Chi Yangzi stepped forward and bowed.

"Old man, we apologize for disturbing you. We were just traveling and happened to pass through this town. We found the scene quite peculiar; every household uses chicken blood to ward off evil spirits, and we also witnessed the burning of a corpse just now. We wonder what is the reason for this in the town? Is it because of some evil spirit?"

The old man selling incense and candles raised his cloudy eyes and looked the two men up and down, lingering for a moment on their Taoist robes.

A mocking smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth as he slowly exhaled a smoke ring.

"Another Taoist priest?" The old man sneered, his tone filled with undisguised mockery.

"You two Taoist priests, you must have heard about the trouble in our Black Mountain Town and came here specifically to 'exorcise demons' and 'make a living,' right?"

Chi Yangzi frowned, but Ye Qingfeng remained calm and listened quietly.

The old man didn't wait for their reply and started talking to himself, as if he had finally found an outlet for words he had been holding back for a long time.

"A few days ago, several groups of people came to town! Monks, Taoist priests, shamans... they all talked a lot of nonsense, and the talisman water and incense ash were sold for more than rice!"

And the result? Utterly useless! People who were destined to die still died, and those who were destined to quarrel still went out for a stroll at night!

Hey, there was a fat monk who boasted that he could summon the Vajra Protector. As a result, a zombie crept up to the window of the inn where he was staying in the middle of the night, scaring the bald monk so much that he wet his pants and ran away before dawn!

There was also an old Taoist priest who set up an altar, performed rituals, and danced with his sword for most of the night. He was exhausted, like a dead dog, but the zombie wasn't even scratched!

He became more and more excited as he spoke, and his spittle almost sprayed onto Chiyangzi's face.

"Later, Master Zhou from our town somehow managed to invite a truly extraordinary person—Master Yunhe! He was a real, incredibly capable immortal!"

They didn't bother with any fancy tricks; they just told us directly that this was a "long-standing corpse plague," which ordinary magical artifacts couldn't harm. But the true master was compassionate and passed on this "chicken blood to ward off evil spirits" method to us, and hey, it really works!

A bowl of chicken blood was placed at the door, and those evil spirits really didn't dare to enter at night! As for those who were infected with the "plague" and couldn't be cured, the master personally dealt with them, sending them to the kiln to be burned clean, preventing any future trouble! See, this is a truly capable person who gets things done!

The old man glanced sideways at Chi Yangzi and Ye Qingfeng, his tone full of disdain.

"I've seen plenty of guys like you these days. They put on Taoist robes and just want to scam food and drink, and maybe scare us ordinary folks out of our money."

I advise you two to save your breath! With Master Yunhe here, there's no place for you to display your "supernatural powers"! Go and fool someone else somewhere else! Hmph!

After saying that, the old man tapped his pipe, squinted at the sun again, and seemed to think that even looking at them would be bad luck.

The old Taoist Chiyangzi was so angry at these sarcastic and taunting words that his beard twitched, but he still had some self-control after years of cultivation.

He snorted and turned to leave.

Ye Qingfeng nodded slightly to the old man, his tone remaining calm.

"Thank you for informing me, sir." He spoke as if the other party hadn't been mocking him. Then he followed Chi Yangzi.

As he walked out of the alley, Chi Yangzi was still indignant: "Utterly foolish! Utterly foolish! I was completely fooled by this charlatan!"

Ye Qingfeng comforted him, saying, "Brother, please calm down. Ordinary people have limited knowledge and have been hurt by the previous swindlers, so it's inevitable that they will be biased and believe what they hear."

Judging from what the old man said, this Master Yunhe seems to be quite popular, and his actions... well, they seem quite methodical.

Upon hearing this, Chi Yangzi became even angrier.

"There are rules and methods? That's just a fancy trick to fool laymen! Young friend, you don't understand the intricacies of this... Sigh, never mind, it's useless to explain it to you."

He waved his hand, feeling that explaining the subtle differences between magic and evil energy to a young man with no cultivation was like casting pearls before swine.

Ye Qingfeng didn't argue, but simply followed his words and asked.

"Brother Daoist, what should we do next? This town doesn't seem to welcome outsider monks and Daoists, especially those like us... who don't look very remarkable."

Chi Yangzi remained calm, tugged at his beard, and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

"I have my own way, you just follow me."