I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 277 - 164: Unpredictable Minds in Front of the Temple_2

Chapter 277: Chapter 164: Unpredictable Minds in Front of the Temple_2

Luo Huaisong, as an old hand in Jianghu, immediately saw through the young man’s thoughts. Hence, he intentionally yielded a step or two, after which the other party indeed hesitated, but stayed behind.

Gu Shanhai, perched on the roof beam, also had a speechless expression. This kid didn’t manage to learn the essence of pride, but he had gotten quite good at being a hypocrite.

"Too young, to believe such words, and to think they would introduce him to a fair and noble young lady, if there really was one, how could it be his turn, a country bumpkin..." Gu Shanhai silently ridiculed.

It was true that nerds could make a comeback, but usually, those kinds of people had extraordinary talents in a certain aspect, something Fan Shi decidedly lacked. Before, Gu Shanhai had thought he might be a phoenix man, but that had overestimated him; a phoenix man is someone capable, not someone who’s useless in every respect.

Fan Shi’s only advantage was having Yu Niang, and now, without her, going to Japan certainly excluded him from the elite. Even as a student abroad, he shouldn’t expect any privileges.

After squatting for an entire morning, all he heard was flattery and Fan Shi showcasing his pretentious ambition and heartbreaking incompetence to the fullest.

"Indeed, being able to brag is truly impressive," Gu Shanhai thought as he watched Fan Shi leave Luo Mansion, drunken and swaggering with pride. Anyone could see it.

Once Luo Huaisong and Gu Nei Zhenren had retired to rest, Gu Shanhai finally left Luo Mansion.

As for gains, he had to admit they were limited; he could only wait and see what Heavenly Immortal and White Cloud had harvested in their drunken state.

"Now, I should head to Yun Niang Temple to find the painting that Xuanwei Sect had sent over," Gu Shanhai thought. He had wanted to go there before, but the timing hadn’t been right.

As for things like the origin of Lady Yun from Hu Mountain Cave, two of his teammates were investigating that. Such details were minor issues.

He suspected that this painting could be the source that kept Qingxian Town in a perpetual cycle of reincarnation, that it might possess some significant mystical power.

He guessed it was probably related to karma, and potentially tied to Three-Life Town. To this day, he hadn’t figured out the true meaning of "three lives," which could be linked to past, present, and future, but without any clear indication, he refrained from making presumptions.

In Gu Shanhai’s view, just the pattern of the reincarnation cycle was difficulty enough to match his own strength.

He ascended Hu Yun Mountain once again without a sound, and on his way, his keen senses picked up on Heavenly Immortal and White Cloud favor-currying with Yue Niang and Yu Niang, likely faring quite well from the sounds of their joyful laughter.

Gu Shanhai didn’t dwell on this and slipped straight into Yun Niang Temple.

"Damn, actually living the high life here..." From afar, Gu Shanhai saw the Old Temple Priest hiding in the kitchen, feasting on a greasy, braised pork knuckle.

From the previous night’s conversation, Gu Shanhai had learned that they usually ate coarse grains like cornbread, even stingy with oil and salt in their vegetables. But the pork knuckle was definitively seasoned with plentiful spices.

So this temple priest had secretly been indulging while making Yu Niang settle for less savory food.

"Really rich, aren’t you," Gu Shanhai remarked sarcastically, postulating that to avoid discovery by Yu Niang, the temple priest probably ate sparingly like that regularly. The private kitchen must be for takeout; otherwise, it would leave traces in the pot.

The regular meals were most certainly not prepared by him, but by Yu Niang.

"Thinking about it, marrying a fool might not be so bad after all." In truth, Gu Shanhai considered that relative to spiritual needs, if one couldn’t even meet material needs, then one couldn’t expect much else.

Of course, that was assuming everything was just as simple and there were no other insidious undercurrents.

Gu Shanhai made his way to the backyard of the temple and effortlessly found the cellar.

He figured such precious items would definitely be stored in the cellar, for safety if they were to be discovered.

"Wow, there’s meat, vegetables, and even a cooking stove; looks like she made this braised pork knuckle herself." Gu Shanhai was also somewhat surprised, going to such lengths to have a private feast.

Apart from that, there were several boxes of gold and silver treasures. When Gu Shanhai opened one up, he even found some account books left behind. It’s hard to imagine what they were thinking; these things should be discarded once you retire.

While browsing through the account books, Gu Shanhai quickly discovered a lot of things. For example, the Hu Mountain Cave was a den of prodigal pleasures, offering all sorts of entertainment, and it was built inside a mountain.

As he flipped through the pages, he also saw that the Hu Mountain Cave was not only involved in entertainment industries but also engaged in robbery, forced prostitution, and various other disgraceful acts.

But the writing was very cryptic; the specifics weren’t mentioned, just a list of incomes and expenditures.

After putting the account books back, Gu Shanhai continued to rummage through boxes and drawers, hoping to find that one painting, but after a thorough search, he found absolutely nothing, which gave him quite the headache.

"No painting, then where did it go? It can’t be in some other place." Gu Shanhai frowned. He had no interest in the gold or jewels and didn’t intend to take them.

The account books were even more useless now, redundant after so many years had passed. If there were still a government agency, one could report them, but the current dynasty was still nascent and had not yet cemented its power.

What was more important was why a disciple of the Xuanwei Sect would deliver a painting to the whitewashed Hu Mountain Cave. It was very likely that someone high up in the Xuanwei Sect had a stake in it. There was no use hoping that the Xuanwei Sect would ensure justice—their approach would only minimize big issues and dissolve the smaller ones, and the person raising the issue might be dealt with.

Getting up from the cellar, Gu Shanhai climbed into the other buildings and continued his search. After making the rounds and finding nothing, he could only focus his attention on the main hall.

As for the kitchen, that would have to wait until the Old Temple Priest had finished eating.

There really wasn’t much in the main hall, aside from a disfigured statue of Goddess Yun.

Gu Shanhai examined it for three minutes and kept searching, ensuring there were no mechanisms or secret doors.

It was also unlikely that the painting was inside the statue of Goddess Yun. The interior was solid, with no signs of cutting, and he had even lifted it up to check underneath.

"It couldn’t really be in the kitchen or carried on the person." The only places Gu Shanhai hadn’t searched now were the kitchen and the Old Temple Priest himself.

"Alright, I’ll just have to go and check." After some thought, Gu Shanhai felt somewhat helpless but knew he’d have to take action.

He would first knock out the Old Temple Priest, then search further. He was even prepared to dig three feet into the ground to see if it was buried below. Then, he would simply disguise the whole thing as a burglary.

There was a reason he didn’t wait for the night. It was naturally because there would be an extra person, Yu Niang, who was definitely a key individual. It was best not to interfere if he could avoid it; if he got involved, things could complicate matters, so it would be better to let two relatively experienced teammates handle it.

Furthermore, there was the rather peculiar Yue Niang; it was unclear if she was human at all. To him, she seemed human, yet it appeared that none of the locals knew of her existence or could see her.

Gu Shanhai even wondered if Yue Niang could actually be the painting itself. It was a possibility, but he would wait until he had turned the Yun Niang Temple upside down before confirming.

No one opens a game of "Fight the Landlord" by throwing the strongest card, the ’joker bomb,’ unless their remaining cards could finish the game in one go, defeating the opponents with a ’spring hand.’

The main issue was that Gu Shanhai truly couldn’t find any difference between Yue Niang and ordinary people. Whether it was her heartbeat or physical condition, everything was normal. She had no energy within her, nor showed any signs of training—just an ordinary person, except for being identical in appearance to Yu Niang.

He had speculated that maybe Yue Niang was actually Yu Niang, maybe part of a cycle of reincarnation or some other extraordinary circumstance. But he lacked data, and without hard evidence, he couldn’t just take action on a hunch.

"Down, down, down!" Gu Shanhai tossed a pill into the mix and after repeating the word ’down’ three times, the Old Temple Priest, who had been gnawing on the pork knuckle, stiffened, rolled his eyes back, and passed out.