Wan’en Temple was a century-old famous temple that had endured two dynasties.

The current Wan’en Temple of the Liang Dynasty housed orthodox Buddhist deities and bodhisattvas, bustling with extraordinary liveliness every year on the first day of the fourth month. But a hundred years ago, when Wan’en Temple was first established, its predecessor was merely a wild shrine.

Legend said that several hundred years ago, there was a farming family whose home was ransacked by bandits who killed everyone. All ten members of the household died, except for the master’s youngest son who was brought to safety by a family servant.

That servant also couldn’t continue halfway through their escape, leaving only a five or six-year-old child. During their wandering, they passed by a ruined temple. Hungry and exhausted, nearly at death’s door, the child looked up and saw some kind of deity statue enshrined in this broken temple. He prostrated himself in worship, hoping that the gods and Buddhas in the temple would open their eyes to observe the world’s suffering and ensure that evil people received their karmic retribution.

The child died shortly after this worship. Within a few days, the bandits were captured by government officials. Some people said that the gods and Buddhas in this ruined temple were extremely efficacious, so wealthy merchants contributed money to help recast the statue’s golden body and built a larger temple in the vicinity.

This became the predecessor of Wan’en Temple.

With Wan’en Temple’s flourishing incense offerings, this legend was probably just hearsay passed down through generations, adding some mythical coloring. However, there was indeed an abandoned side hall in the temple that housed a dilapidated deity statue receiving no offerings.

According to the monks in the temple, this statue didn’t belong to orthodox gods and Buddhas—it was left behind by Wan’en Temple’s abbot during the previous dynasty. Later, when the previous dynasty fell, Wan’en Temple was renovated. Fearing it would be disrespectful to destroy the statue, they couldn’t bring themselves to demolish it, but no one offered worship either. Gradually, that dharma hall was abandoned. The monks often used this hall to store fish and turtles for release during dharma assemblies.

The night rain was heavier than at evening, and the mountain temple no longer showed traces of monks or pilgrims. Only scattered oil lamps swayed in the dharma halls, dragging out elongated human shadows.

Two people stood before the abandoned side hall entrance.

Ke Chengxing wiped the water droplets from his face and handed his rain cape to Wan Fu beside him.

Wan Fu took it and passed a bundle to Ke Chengxing.

Ke Chengxing weighed the bundle and whispered instructions to Wan Fu: “Just wait for me outside.”

Wan Fu nodded. Ke Chengxing carried the bundle, pushed the hall door open a crack, and quietly entered the hall.

This dharma hall was already quite old, not as solemn and magnificent as the other dharma halls he had seen in the temple earlier. Having gone uncleaned for a long time, it emanated a rotten, moldy odor.

Ke Chengxing took two steps and nearly tripped over something at his feet. By the dim lamplight, he could finally see clearly that the large and small water vats and bamboo baskets throughout the hall contained turtles, soft-shelled turtles, and loaches for ritual release.

The fishy smell of muddy water mixed with the stale moldy odor was almost nauseating. Very few dharma lamps burned in this hall—not even ten total—barely providing illumination while making the dharma hall appear even more eerie and sinister.

A cold wind blew through, making Ke Chengxing shiver involuntarily. He hastily quickened his pace, suppressed the fishy smell at his nose tip, and hurried to the deity statue at the very front of the great hall.

This was an abandoned deity statue, no longer receiving any offerings. The colored plaster on its body had fallen off in pieces, mottled and dripping. One could vaguely make out a blue-faced, red-haired male figure with a naturally imposing appearance.

Ke Chengxing only glanced once before lowering his head, not daring to look directly again.

After searching for a long time, he finally found a toppled shrine cage at the statue’s feet. He hurriedly righted it, then dragged over a broken meditation cushion and knelt properly.

Finally, Ke Chengxing pulled out a handful of incense from his bundle and lit it with a fire stick.

“Bodhisattva, Lord, Immortal—”

He held the incense and kowtowed in supplication: “Please save this humble one, send down divine messengers to capture that female ghost and prevent her from bringing disaster to the human world.”

Blue smoke curled upward, while the gods and Buddhas lowered their eyes in silence.

Ke Chengxing had come to burn incense.

Wan Fu had somehow learned that in Wan’en Temple, the bodhisattvas in each hall had their respective jurisdictions. One hall managed marriage, one managed academic studies, one managed health, one managed financial fortune.

Some managed offspring, others managed official luck, but only this abandoned side hall’s deity statue managed ghost-catching.

However, this statue received no offerings and was a relic from the previous dynasty, so pilgrims wouldn’t voluntarily make offerings for fear of bringing disaster upon themselves. Wan Fu then suggested that they might as well wait until midnight, sneak into this side hall to offer a few incense sticks, let the gods and Buddhas know his sincere intentions, and they would naturally receive his heart’s desire.

Moreover, that Lu Shi’s ghost had been following him all along. If he could lure her into this hall, she might be trapped by the gods and Buddhas, never able to leave again. Then he could achieve liberation, free from future worries.

Wan Fu told him: “Master, they say the underworld officials are snobbish, and even the human world has the principle of being influenced by bribes. You should prepare more incense offerings to bribe the immortal lords, or even their subordinate servants.”

Although Ke Chengxing felt this method was indescribably strange, he was now thoroughly frightened by Lu Shi’s ghost. As the saying goes, desperate illness calls for desperate remedies. After only slight hesitation, he agreed to Wan Fu’s suggestion.

This was why tonight at the midnight hour, he had brought incense and candles to secretly make offerings in this hall.

Ke Chengxing hadn’t let Wan Fu follow him inside because the content of his offerings to the gods and Buddhas couldn’t be heard by outsiders.

He lit the incense, inserted it in the Buddhist shrine, bowed several times, then took out some paper horses and prayer documents, carefully burning them in an iron basin.

The firelight reflected on his face, making his eyes appear frantic and fearful.

He seemed pitiful, yet his words carried vicious undertones as he whispered softly: “Immortal Lord, Bodhisattva Lord, I have burned incense today, so please save this humble one. That Lu Shi’s resentment is extremely heavy—she may bring disaster and kill people. I beg the Bodhisattva Lord to drive her away, or convert her for rebirth, which would also be a meritorious deed.”

Speaking nonsense, his courage grew somewhat, and he continued: “Although this matter was this humble one’s fault, speaking of cause and effect, it’s also because the Grand Tutor Manor relies on power to bully others. Lu Shi and I were originally a loving couple—how did it come to this point!”

Ke Chengxing’s gaze grew somewhat dark and troubled.

That day in Fengle Tower, after he sobered up and learned that Lu Shi might have been violated, he was extremely furious—he even had thoughts of killing the perpetrator. Hearing that the other party hadn’t yet left, Ke Chengxing angrily went to confront them and met the Grand Tutor Manor’s young master.

That young master didn’t even glance at him properly, absent-mindedly allowing a maid to arrange his belt. When Ke Chengxing came demanding an explanation, a steward-like subordinate beside him simply stuffed a stack of banknotes into his hands.

Naturally, Ke Chengxing wouldn’t let the matter rest. However, the Grand Tutor Manor’s subordinate looked at him and smiled: “This is currently just a misunderstanding. If Master Ke wants to make a big fuss, the Grand Tutor Manor will only lose some face, but Master Ke will find it very difficult to do business in the capital in the future.”

The steward sighed and considerately reminded him: “Even if Master Ke doesn’t think of himself, he should think of the old madam. The old madam is advanced in years—if this kind of thing spreads, the elderly lady probably couldn’t bear the shock.”

Ke Chengxing was left speechless.

Old Madam Ke only cared about the Ke family’s reputation. If they offended the Grand Tutor Manor now, all the merchant houses in the capital would ostracize the Ke family—how could they fare well in the future?

Moreover, they didn’t dare offend the Grand Tutor Manor…

Ke Chengxing had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept it.

He had inexplicably suffered such calamity and hadn’t yet figured out what to do next when the awakened Lu Shi began making a scene.