Chapter 8: Put On An Act for the Tiger

As Ji Yuan was still recovering from the fatigue and dizziness caused by the effort of sitting up, a voice suddenly sounded from outside the temple.

“Brother Shilin! Brother Shilin!”

The people in the temple suddenly became excited.

“It’s Xiao Dong! Xiao Dong is back!”

Sure enough, Wang Dong’s figure could be seen quickly running into the mountain temple. He was immediately surrounded by a nervous Zhang Shilin and his group.

“Xiao Dong, why are you alone? Are Lao Jin and the others all right? Where’s the scholar? Did you hear the beast’s roar just now?”

Zhang Shilin asked a series of questions, eager to get answers from Wang Dong.

Wang Dong was gasping for breath, with a somewhat unnatural expression on his face. He refused the bowl of water that was offered to him.

“Lao Jin and the others were with Mr. Lu, and the digging of the ginseng was going well, but…”

“But what? Oh, Xiao Dong, you’re usually so talkative, why are you so hesitant now!”

“Don’t interrupt!”

Zhang Shilin roared and looked back at Wang Dong, whose face was somewhat pale.

“Xiao Dong, go on.”

“Well, the mature ginseng was on a steep slope. But just as we dug it out, we heard a tiger roar in the distance. It was so scary. As a result, Lao Jin, Scholar Lu, and Liu Quan were so frightened that they lost their balance and slipped off the edge!”

Hearing what Wang Dong, with his head lowered, had said, Zhang Shilin and the group felt very anxious.

“What? They fell down?”

“Are Lao Jin and Liu Quan okay?”

“Was the fall high?”

“Xiao Dong, tell us!”

Zhang Shilin anxiously grabbed Wang Dong’s arm and asked.

This shaking seemed to wake Wang Dong from his stupor, and his speech became more fluid.

“The slope was not too high, nor was it too steep. Lao Jin and the others are all right, but their ankles are badly sprained. Lao Jin asked me to come back and find two or three people to help bring them back. Li Gui is taking care of them there. Who can come?”

“Then what are we waiting for? let’s go!”

“That’s right!”

“Count me in!”

Since it seemed that the others had not encountered a beast, everyone felt a lot more at ease, and expressed a desire to help.

The same was true for Zhang Shilin.

“This time, I will take Xiao Du and A Hua with me to follow Xiao Dong and help the others. Everyone else will stay in the temple and keep watch.”

While they were talking, Zhang Shilin and the merchants around him had already taken out and lit a few more torches.

Ji Yuan’s hands and feet felt cold, and bursts of shivers ran straight to his scalp.

He recognized the voice of the young merchant, but apart from his voice, Ji Yuan couldn’t hear his footsteps at all.

Moreover, when Ji Yuan looked over at the gathering with his gray eyes, he could see two images of Wang Dong in his blurry vision: one was normal, but the other showed his neck twisted off and resting at a crooked angle, still twitching every so often.

Ji Yuan’s goosebumps refused to subside at this scene.

But Zhang Shilin and everyone else were completely unaware.

This man was no longer human!

As he thought back to the sound of the tiger roaring earlier, Ji Yuan suddenly realized something.

He was naturally afraid of dying, but when he heard that Zhang Shilin had planned to take a group of people outside to follow this ghost, he couldn’t care less. Other than not particularly wanting Zhang Shilin to die, he also realized that having only 5 people left in the temple was dangerous.

Zhang Shilin and his group lit their torches began to depart in a hurry.

“Let’s go! Xiao Dong, lead the way, we…”

“Wait!”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice shouted. Everyone startled, nervously looking for the sound, only to find that it was the beggar who had spoken. They didn’t know when, but they saw he had pushed himself up on the side of the mountain god, leaning on the statue and looking in the direction of the temple entrance.

Ji Yuan’s current voice was quite different from his apparent physical state, and his words were clear, calm, and concise.

“Zhang Shilin, there’s a problem with Wang Dong, don’t follow him!”

In Ji Yuan’s eyes, he saw Wang Dong to turn his head very stiffly at the sound of his voice, and the back of Ji Yuan’s head went numb.

“Beggar, what nonsense are you spewing? Brother Shilin, let’s go, Lao Jin and the others are still waiting!”

“Okay.”

Between believing in one of his companions or believing in a sickly beggar, he would obviously choose the former without much thought. Zhang Shilin stepped outside the temple gate.

“Stop! Wang Dong is already dead!!”

This roar immediately stopped Zhang Shilin and the group in their tracks, and they subconsciously glanced at Wang Dong. He stood outside the temple facing back at them, the darkness of the night casting a shadow that covered his face.

“Brother Shilin, let’s go, Lao Jin and the others are waiting for us. Don’t listen to this beggar’s nonsense. Don’t you believe me?”

Wang Dong took a single step closer, and the light of a torch illuminated the bottom half of his face. His smile was stretched into an attempt at a grin, as if his unnaturally pale skin had split open.

Something was very wrong!

Every merchant felt a chill rising up their spine, and the few people who were about to follow subconsciously shrank back.

Zhang Shilin swallowed and looked at Wang Dong, then back at the beggar.

“Xiao Dong… You… are you really okay?”

But before Wang Dong could speak, Ji Yuan, who was still sitting inside the temple, said coldly.

“He’s working for the tiger! Wang Dong is already a ghost, just like Scholar Lu before, he is trying to lead you to the tiger to be eaten! If you go with him, you won’t be able to come back!”

“A ghost!”

Zhang Shilin and the others were so frightened that they took a few steps back. As they recalled the roar of the tiger, and what had almost happened after Wang Dong came back, the travelers’ scalps went numb.

“Brother Shilin, don’t believe him. Lao Jin and the others are still waiting.”

Wang Dong slowly walked towards the temple gate, but his voice showed no emotion.

“Xiao Dong, don’t come any closer!”

Zhang Shilin raised his torch in front of him, and Wang Dong stopped.

He stared blankly at the people gathered at the entrance of the temple, and the group in the temple stared back. Everything was silent. Then everyone almost choked as the figure of Wang Dong suddenly blurred, and turned to smoke, floating away into the night sky outside the temple.

“Plop…”

A hatchet fell to the ground, and two of the merchants collapsed in fright.

“A ghost, a ghost!”

“Ah!!”

“Oh my god!”

“Enter the temple! Enter the temple!!”

“Yes, yes, yes, fast, go into the temple! Grab everyone, grab everyone!”

The remaining eight merchants fled back into the mountain temple in a hurry, all subconsciously huddling around the mountain god statue and the beggar.

Zhang Shilin was still a little out of breath. He looked at the dark night outside the temple and then at Ji Yuan.

“This… master, you…”

Before Zhang Shilin could finish speaking, Ji Yuan raised his hand to stop him. Ji Yuan’s ill face looked very bad, and his lips were trembling slightly, but the room was dark, so the others couldn’t see his expression clearly.

“Swish… Swish…”

The wind grew stronger, and the grass and trees in the forest swayed drastically.

In his ears, a series of steady and powerful footsteps approached. A beast’s growl and a low hissing sound came from outside the temple, occasionally punctuated by a low roar.

Ji Yuan swallowed and stared nervously towards the entrance of the temple. In just a few seconds, a cold sweat soaked his back.

“Stop talking… it’s coming…”