"Strange, how come Brother Zhu is here?" Luoyong stared with wide eyes, looking puzzled. Fatty and I were also a bit baffled. I didn't dare to show myself and kept a distance, watching Zhu with a group of strong men circling around Xuanming Temple, sharing a few cigarettes, appearing quite familiar with each other. It didn't take long before they started using rulers and binoculars to observe the surrounding terrain; looks like they weren't ordinary tourists. Moreover, ordinary tourists wouldn't come here in the first place.
"Could it be that Zhu has turned against us?" Fatty tugged at my arm, asking in confusion. I nodded, thinking it was possible. Zhu was a businessman, and although he had given us the impression of being righteous before, a businessman's first consideration was always money. Fatty and I might have the potential for success, but we still couldn't match the benefits of those competitive experts outside. It wasn't out of the question for Zhu to team up with his friends from outside to explore Xuanming Temple. Of course, it was also possible that these few were high-level experts sent by the Ling Family, and Zhu brought them here to observe the terrain.
"Fatty, do you have cigarettes on you?" I asked, and Fatty immediately nodded, thinking I wanted to smoke, and took one out. But I shook my head and said, "Be prepared, we'll go over and say hello. If they are amiable, offer them a cigarette. If not, then you watch my back."
Xuanming Temple was discovered by Fatty and me first, and to be honest, I had always considered it to be our territory from the start. It wasn't courteous for others to come and explore our territory without informing us, so we, as the masters here, should go and pay them a visit at the very least.
Standing up, I walked over with Fatty and Luoqiong in long strides. They didn't notice our presence at first, and were talking to a brawny man.
"Brother Zhu, are you here to scout out Xuanming Temple so early in the morning?"
My voice suddenly came from behind Zhu, and I saw him slightly surprised and shook his shoulder, then turned around to look at me. People often reveal their true feelings in an instant when they are unprepared. In the moment Zhu turned around, I saw the panic in his eyes. Obviously, he didn't expect us to appear, and there must be something he was hiding from us.
"Oh, Xiao Shan, why are you here so early?"
Zhu quickly adjusted and soon resumed his normal self, smiling and saying.
"Brother Zhu, why don't you introduce us? Where are these guys from?"
Fatty smoothly redirected the conversation to the brawny men.
"Oh, chatting and forgot to introduce. These are friends from the Lingjiong sect sent by Lingjiong. This one next to me is the leader, named Gu Yu. Gu Yu, these are the people I mentioned to you earlier who first found Xuanming Temple, Ba Xiaoshan, Cui Zhen, and the one standing behind is Luoqiong."
I hadn't heard of this name Gu Yu before, of course, I wasn't familiar with these people on the road. So, it was normal not to have heard their names.
"Hello."
I nodded to Gu Yu. This person didn't seem easy to deal with. Everyone has a different demeanor, some look like scholars at first sight, and some look like rogues. Gu Yu in front of me exuded a sense of competence, more like a soldier, but seemed to lack some seriousness of a soldier, and had more of the aura of a ruffian. He smoked, and because he was taller than me, he glanced at me from the corner of his eye.
"You are Ba Xiaoshan, I am Gu Yu, behind me are my two brothers who have been through thick and thin with me. The one wearing glasses is Dai An, the other is Wei Changping. The three of us have been eating with San Mountain Master."
As he spoke, he reached out and shook hands with me, and at the moment our palms touched, I suddenly felt as if I were caught in a tiger's grip, my palm stung, and my whole hand turned red in an instant.
I furrowed my brow suddenly, Fatty behind me sensed that something was wrong and hurriedly came forward and shouted, "What are you doing! Let go!"
As he scolded, Dai An and Wei Changping behind Gu Yu immediately frowned and surrounded us from behind, their hands reaching into their clothes, as if they were feeling for weapons. On our side, Luoqiong, this kid from the mountains, although not very good at understanding human affairs, was more sensitive to danger than anyone else. Grabbing the three-edged spike at his waist, he looked at Gu Yu with hostility in his eyes, as if he were a wild animal on alert.
The two groups met for the first time, and within three minutes, both sides entered a tense state of hostility. Zhu, watching from the side, also looked unsightly and hastily said, "We are about to cooperate soon and get rich together in the future. Why make it so tense, haha..."
However, Gu Yu did not release my hand at all and slowly leaned over and looked at me, saying, "When I was your age, I didn't know any better until someone cut off one of my little fingers, and I realized that I didn't have the capital to be cocky. If you're willing, I can cut off your little finger and let you understand this lesson sooner."
As he spoke, he suddenly turned his hand over, and at the same time, he drew a steel-bladed dagger from behind and was about to cut my little finger. Before the blade fell, he suddenly stopped, Zhu shouted in alarm, but then heard me say coldly, "Try cutting one."
Gu Yu didn't dare to move, because a three-edged spike was already pointed at his armpit, as long as he dared to cut my hand, I would immediately pierce a hole in his body.
Both sides fell silent again, as if there were countless powder kegs all around us, ready to explode at a spark.
"Haha..." unexpectedly, in the end, Gu Yu burst into laughter and said, "Interesting, you've learned kung fu, fast reaction."
As he spoke, he slowly moved the knife away, and finally, we both let go of each other's hands and stepped back.
Actually, I didn't have any kung fu, but this move was taught to me by Fatty's grandfather. In the old man's words, if you just want to learn a few self-defense moves, then learn the simplest and most effective movements. The armpit, the part near the back, is the most difficult to defend and the easiest place to hit. As long as you have confidence, when you take action, you must attack the armpit, and the hit will be successful.
Gu Yu thought I was pretty skilled, but I knew my own ability.
"Three days later, at 3 p.m., we will meet here. Don't be late, let's go..."
Gu Yu set a time and waved to beckon two other people before swaggering away.
After they left, I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Zhuzi. Zhuzi shook her head with a hint of guilt and said, "Gu Yu arrived a few days ago and looked for me first. He wanted to shake you guys off and explore the Xuanming Temple before you found out. I've been stalling, and only brought them to scout today, but didn't expect to run into you guys. Sorry..."
How much of what she said was true and how much was fake, perhaps only Zhuzi herself knew. I put away the triangular thorns, smiled and said, "It's okay, we understand. Did you gain anything from this scouting trip?"
Seeing that I didn't get angry, Zhuzi seemed to relax a bit. She waved and led us to the side of the back wall of the Xuanming Temple. The sturdy wall that was intact on previous visits now had a strange hole in it! The hole was quite large, big enough for even the fat guy to climb through easily.
"How could there be a hole?"
I furrowed my brows in confusion.
"Take a look again."
Zhuzi pointed to the side of the cave. I leaned in and saw some dark red marks on the cave wall. I couldn't help but furrow my brows. What were these dark red marks? Looking over my shoulder, Luoyong suddenly said, "It looks like blood."
He was used to seeing such traces in the mountains. Upon closer inspection, he nodded and said with certainty, "It's blood, and it should be from an animal. Considering there are no large wild beasts on this side of the coast, it should be from a pig, wild cat or dog."
The Pale-faced Man had eaten dead cat meat in the graveyard before, so it's likely that there's more than one of them in the underground river. Perhaps during the time we went to the Great Black Mountain, something else crawled out from the underground. Judging by the extent of the damage to the temple, it might be something even more terrifying than the Pale-faced Men.
"I have some pictures, take a look." Zhuzi took out a few photos from her pocket and handed them to us. "During the time you went to Nuerhutiger Mountain, I came to scout with the camera every few days. These were taken one night..."
As I took the photos and glanced at them, the first thing I noticed was a pair of glowing eyes in the photo!