Chapter One Hundred Twenty-One: The Demon Cloud

The incident occurred at two o’clock in the morning. The boatman’s name was Jiang Huaiwen. When he got up during the night, he saw a man walking alone by the riverbank. Suddenly, a woman in drenched white clothing emerged from the water and pulled him in.

Jiang Huaiwen rubbed his eyes, and when he looked again, the river surface was calm. He jumped into the water but found nothing.

So, Jiang Huaiwen thought he had imagined it—until today, when a corpse was dredged from the river.

After learning all the details, Hu Xiong waved his hand, telling the boatmen to go back and rest.

“Looks like a water ghost’s doing, looking for a scapegoat,” Hu Xiong remarked, lighting a cigarette as he stared at the corpse not far away. Shaking his head, he said, “I’ll leave this to you. It’s a good opportunity for you to get some practice.”

Water ghosts harming people weren’t a major problem.

Li Changqing gazed at the vast river and asked, “How am I supposed to find that water ghost here?”

Hu Xiong went over to the corpse and searched it, quickly finding a waterlogged phone.

He tossed it to Li Changqing. “At midnight, you go to the riverbank holding his belongings and take a walk. He’ll come to you, then you just use a ghostly strike to destroy him.”

Soon, the federal police took the corpse away. Hu Xiong stretched lazily. “Old Bai, you handle this kid. I’ve been listening to alarms all night—I'm dead tired.”

Yawning, he went home to rest.

The once lively riverbank suddenly became quiet.

Li Changqing glanced at the time; it was only ten in the evening.

Midnight, or the “zi hour,” falls between eleven at night and one in the morning.

He looked around. Not far off, the boatmen’s houses were still lit.

Knock, knock, knock.

Li Changqing approached the nearest house and knocked on the door.

The door creaked open. It was the boatman named Xie from before.

“Hello, Mr. Xie. May we come in for a bit?” Li Changqing asked with a smile.

Xie had taken off his bamboo hat and raincoat, now wearing a black T-shirt and faded jeans.

“Make yourself at home,” Xie said, turning and walking inside.

Inside, the room was simply furnished: a bed, wooden table, wardrobe, and stove.

Xie sat on the edge of the bed, calmly gazing out the window.

Li Changqing and Bai Chuan found chairs and sat down.

The room was warm. After sitting, Li Changqing looked at the boatman curiously.

Despite his strong physique, why was Xie working as a boatman here?

“Master Xie, how long have you been ferrying here?” Li Changqing asked.

Xie’s eyes remained fixed outside. “A long time.”

“You’re strong and healthy; surely other jobs would suit you better than being a boatman,” Bai Chuan chimed in.

Xie withdrew his gaze. “Ferrying people lets me see all kinds of characters. It’s quite interesting.”

Time passed slowly until it neared eleven at night.

Midnight had arrived.

Li Changqing and Bai Chuan took their leave and stepped outside.

They reached the riverbank.

“Let’s begin,” Bai Chuan said.

Li Changqing nodded, holding the deceased’s phone as he walked along the river.

The water churned and splashed against the shore.

...

At night, Tongxin Temple was very quiet, absent the daytime chanting.

Abbot Tongdeng carried an oil lamp, entering the monks’ quarters for inspection.

“Has Jinghui gone out for alms again?” Seeing Jinghui’s empty bed, Tongdeng shook his head, closed the door, and went to the temple gate. After a moment’s thought, he left the door open for Jinghui.

Turning back to his quarters, suddenly black clouds rolled overhead.

Tongdeng looked up, furrowing his brow. Sensing danger, he hurried back to the monks’ living quarters.

From within the black clouds emerged countless demons.

They swiftly reached Tongxin Temple.

A tiger-headed, human-bodied demon more than eight feet tall grabbed Abbot Tongdeng by the neck and slammed him to the ground.

Tongdeng gritted his teeth, enduring the pain.

“Fiends! What do you want?” the abbot trembled as he got up.

Meanwhile, the demons gathered the monks in the temple square.

The tiger demon’s eyes gleamed with bloodlust. In a deep voice, he demanded, “Old monk, where is the woman who fled into your temple?”

Tongdeng was stunned. Was this because of Shen Qingdai?

He clasped his hands and said, “No such female devotee has ever come here. You must be mistaken.”

“Don’t play coy.”

The tiger demon turned, opened his blood-red maw, and bit off a monk’s head amidst his screams.

Blood poured onto the ground.

The other monks trembled in terror. Though they had cultivated their Buddha nature since childhood, they were now utterly shaken.

“You!”

Abbot Tongdeng, seeing the demon kill, pointed trembling fingers at the tiger demon and scolded loudly, “This is sacred ground of Buddha. To kill here is to invite heavenly punishment!”

The demons burst into laughter.

“Heavenly punishment? Old monk, have you read your scriptures wrong?” the tiger demon sneered, threatening, “I’ll give you one last chance. If you don’t tell me, I’ll slaughter all the monks in this temple!”

“Amitabha! Devotee Shen has been gone for many days. I do not know her whereabouts,” Tongdeng replied.

The tiger demon snorted coldly. “Still won’t talk?”

He stepped forward and snapped another monk’s neck, glaring icily at Tongdeng.

The abbot sat cross-legged on the ground, took a deep breath, removed his prayer beads, and softly chanted sutras.

He disregarded the demon’s threats.

At that moment, the Buddha statue in the temple hall shone with golden light.

Where the light touched, demons instantly charred.

“Ah!”

The demons screamed in agony.

“Dare to die!”

The tiger demon, suffering under the divine light, charged forward and struck the abbot’s chest with a palm.

Tongdeng was sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground, and the golden light vanished instantly.

“Kill all these bald fools! Search everywhere! If you can’t find what you want, go to that detective!” The tiger demon’s eyes reddened as he glanced up at the dark clouds above.

...

“*Hic*,”

Jinghui, half drunk, staggered back to the temple holding a half-eaten chicken leg.

“Hey, there’s a fire over there! Whose bad luck is that?”

“Not good!” Jinghui sobered up halfway. That was the direction of Tongxin Temple!

He quickly dropped the chicken leg and ran toward the temple.

By now, the entire Tongxin Temple was engulfed in roaring flames.

“Master! Senior brother! Junior brother!” Jinghui rushed into the blaze in panic.