A Scroll of Infinite Glory

In the inn's bedroom, an oil lamp was lit.

Towels hung on the washbasin stand, not very neatly arranged, with water still dripping from one corner of each towel.

Tick, tick, tick...

Wei Dinggong sat cross-legged on the bed, quietly turning a string of prayer beads in his hand.

tick, tick...

Wei Dinggong suddenly opened his eyes. The doors and windows were tightly closed, but a strange bird with green feathers and yellow claws with a large beak had appeared on the washbasin stand.

"Master."

The green-feathered bird cackled, "Whether you're a Taoist priest or a monk, chanting scriptures, worshipping Buddha, or practicing magic, you should at least have a calm mind. But your mind seems even more restless than this dripping copper basin!"

Wei Dinggong snorted coldly: "Isn't it because you were too careless? You made a solemn promise that you would handle Jiu Ying, Jiu He, and Qiu Shi, but what happened? Qiu Shi is still safe and sound in the Zhenwu Temple, and Jiu Ying is just missing."

The green-haired bird tilted its head and said, "Jiuying is indeed a great surprise to us. We thought he only got the position of host because of his composure and seniority, but we didn't expect him to be so cunning."

"But given his injuries, he will definitely be on the verge of death in the next seven days. Even if he survives by sheer luck, he will have no chance of disrupting our plans."

"As for Qiu Shi, humph, they only managed to kill my advisor by hiring a martial artist to help them. When the time comes, I will personally deal with that swordsman, break his limbs, put him in a skin, and make him my dog."

The strange bird's voice was originally hoarse, but if it spoke a sentence for a while, it would gradually become high-pitched, approaching the tone of its owner's voice.

Wei Dinggong said with dissatisfaction, "What about Jiuhe? You clearly killed him, yet you didn't destroy his body. Those few young Taoist priests have already set up a soul-summoning ritual, hoping to use that corpse to guide Jiuhe's soul to return for the first seven days."

"You're wrong. When he died and fell into the water, the fourteen spells we cast were all meant to destroy his body. However, the current was too strong, and he disappeared for a while. He was lucky enough to be found by the people from the Commander's Office downstream."

The strange bird stared at Wei Dinggong, "You don't need to worry about this. Even if he comes back to life, what can he say? At most, he'll know that I've returned to seek revenge."

"Perhaps some clever people will suspect that we are going to cause trouble during the Ghost Festival ceremony, but our plan is intricately linked and tightly paced. They simply don't have time to verify it and can only be swept along by the situation until everyone is silenced and the situation is settled."

The strange bird blinked, just like the eyes of a living person.

"I know that we failed back then, defeated by Jiu Ying and Jiu He, so you still have lingering fears about everything at Zhenwu Temple."

"But you shouldn't just focus on the enemy; you should also look at ourselves. We are no longer just the water bandits of the Five Prefectures back then."

Upon hearing this, Wei Dinggong's slightly flickering eyes suddenly sharpened, and the prayer beads in his hand stopped turning.

He took a long breath, his face beaming with excitement, and murmured, "That's right, I forgot. We're not like we used to be, all alone and vulnerable. Now we have someone to rely on."

The green-feathered bird reminded them, "They're allies."

"Excellent, excellent, they are allies."

Wei Dinggong was satisfied and said, "Since you are so certain, you must have already received a definite reply."

"Even the specific dates for each step have been agreed upon."

The strange green bird flapped its wings and flew up from the washbasin stand, circling the room. "Just focus on doing your job well. No one will forget your rightful place! Go, go and prepare!"

Amidst the cacophony, the strange bird suddenly crashed into the corner where the wardrobe was and disappeared.

The two monks guarding the door rubbed their eyes and yawned. They knew nothing about the conversation that had just taken place inside the room and hadn't heard a sound.

However, a burly man with a thick beard burst in, completely waking the two monks.

The burly man entered Wei Dinggong's room and whispered a few words to him.

Wei Dinggong looked slightly surprised: "Are you sure you've figured it out?"

"Don't worry, Master. I'm not bragging, but in this area, my nose is far more sensitive than any orthodox Taoist sect."

The burly man with the thick beard said confidently, "They were on high alert, but I could smell the scent from a hundred feet away. Throughout the entire ritual, not a single ghost went up the mountain."

Completely relieved, Wei Dinggong calmed down and began to move the prayer beads again. This time, he moved each bead exceptionally slowly.

"It actually failed, good, good."

………………

"There was no failure."

Inside the Zhenwu Temple, a group of Taoist priests surrounded the mourning hall.

Looking at the seven extinguished oil lamps, Qiu Shi said calmly, "The lamps were so bright, yet they burned out the oil in an instant. This not only shows that my soul-summoning ritual was successful, but also that Uncle Jiuhe actively strengthened his response in the underworld, which is why this strange phenomenon occurred."

Qiu Liang was puzzled: "So, Uncle-Master's soul is clear, and he might be doing quite well in the underworld. But he only has one chance to return to the mortal realm. Since he can respond to the human world, why doesn't he return to the Zhenwu Shrine? Is there some other place that's more worthwhile for him to waste this one and only opportunity?"

Qiu Di's eyes lit up: "Yes! Master."

Many of the Taoist priests around agreed with this, nodding in agreement.

Qiu Shi shook his head and said, "Ghosts aren't omnipotent. When a ghost returns, its consciousness is mostly fragmented and confused. Even if my uncle can remain conscious, he can only go to places he knows the exact location of. How could he possibly know where Master is right now?"

The excitement on Qiu Di's face faded, and her brows furrowed.

Everyone was completely baffled.

After a moment, Qiu Shi said with relief, "Sigh, when our Uncle was alive, we couldn't guess what he was thinking. It's really too arrogant to think we could guess him after he died. But after this, at least we can be sure that our Uncle's soul was not harmed, which is a great blessing in disguise."

Qiu Di remained indignant: "But without any clues about our martial uncle, where are we supposed to take revenge? Where are we supposed to find our master?"

Guan Luoyang, who knew nothing about magic and had remained silent all along, finally had a chance to speak on this issue and reached out to pat Qiu Di.

"Don't forget, this group's target for revenge also includes your senior brother Qiushi. They won't just give up and disappear. They may even have some bigger plans. In the near future, as long as we pay attention to any unusual movements, we will definitely be able to catch them red-handed."

The tasks issued by the Main God Space, such as the battle between Taoist and Buddhist magic, and the prevention of war, can also be seen as providing some clues for Guan Luoyang from another perspective.

After all, the mission has a time limit of only three months. If there is no battle between Taoism and Buddhism or no opportunity for war within three months, then these missions cannot be established.

Let's go a step further and speculate that all the missions are closely related. So, this undercurrent of plotting murder is very likely a thread connecting all the missions.

Guan Luoyang thought to himself: If the time limit is really three months, these people will probably have a very tight schedule for doing things.

The events of the next day confirmed Guan Luoyang's suspicions.

Shortly after returning to the Zhenwu Temple after sending off Master Jiuhe to his burial, the group began to bring up old matters again, talking about the Ghost Festival Grand Dharma Assembly.

This time, it wasn't under the guise of discussion.

But...

"The disappearance of Daoist Jiuying and the passing of Daoist Jiuhe are certainly a great loss to us, but with the Ghost Festival ceremony just around the corner, we have no choice but to mention them."

The burly man with a thick beard who spoke these words was named Da Duo. He stood in the hall and bowed to the four people present.

"The Zhenwu Temple is clearly no longer fit to preside over this ceremony. The imperial jade talisman for the Grand Master was explicitly stated to be held by a virtuous person. Shouldn't we re-select someone to hold the talisman and preside over the ceremony?"

There aren't many sects in Chengyin Prefecture that truly understand magic, but in order to pay their respects to Daoist Jiuhe, temple leaders and skilled sorcerers from various prefectures such as Jianping, Xin'an, Fenghua, Qinghua, and Yanzhou have come to pay their respects during this period.

There are now more than three hundred people gathered here.

As soon as Da Duo spoke, some people, out of consideration for their relationship with the Zhenwu Temple or out of pride, refused to agree.

But as a small group of people voiced their agreement, this opinion quickly became the mainstream, and others, even if they did not express their agreement, were taken as having tacitly agreed.