Chapter 239: Paying Homage at the Yin Temple

　　The deep mountains were silent and pitch black.

　　The darkness stretched boundlessly like an ocean.

　　A faint light shone through the gaps in the layers of leaves and branches.

　　The light swayed with the wind, flickering between brightness and dimness.

　　Lu Fei and Jing Jian exchanged a glance, both seeing shock and doubt in each other's eyes.

　　In this desolate and uninhabited deep mountain, seeing a glimmer of light was even more unbelievable than seeing a ghost.

　　Moreover, the light swayed with the wind, not like a flashlight, but like a flame.

　　Since it was a fire, there must be someone who lit it.

　　But could they really encounter another person in such an eerie place?

　　Could it be a ruined temple?

　　"Anyway, we haven't found anything else; let's go take a look." Lu Fei covered the flashlight with his hand to make its light even fainter, so as not to alert the 'person' by the fire.

　　"Okay."

　　Jing Jian also followed Lu Fei and covered the flashlight.

　　The two of them moved cautiously, carefully making their way through the dense trees, drawing closer to the flicker of firelight.

　　When they were close enough, Lu Fei carefully came to a stop.

　　He turned off the flashlight and, along with Jing Jian, crouched down and hid in the thick bushes.

　　Using the cover of darkness, they squinted their eyes and observed the firelight.

　　It was a small campfire.

　　The dim, flickering light illuminated two figures sitting beside it.

　　"There are actually people here!"

　　Lu Fei was both surprised and uncertain.

　　The firelight cast the shadows of the two people, which swung back and forth on the ground.

　　If there are shadows, it's naturally not a ghost.

　　"There are actually people who come to a place like this. Could it be... they're also here for the coffin mushrooms?" Jing Jian guessed in shock, "Oh no! Will they compete with us for them?"

　　"The coffin mushrooms grow in patches, we only need a small bunch. It shouldn't be that bad."

　　Lu Fei continued to observe the two people and was surprised to find that they were slender, with even somewhat graceful figures.

　　With curves in all the right places...

　　"They're actually two women!" Jing Jian almost exclaimed out loud.

　　"Keep your voice down!" Lu Fei frowned and glared at him.

　　"So what if they're women? Anyone daring enough to enter a place like this is definitely no ordinary woman. They came in before us, so they might know more than we do. Let's see what they're up to first."

　　The two of them held their breath and crouched in the bushes, secretly watching.

　　But the atmosphere around those two women was very strange.

　　He sat quietly by the fire from beginning to end, not saying a word.

　　The only sound around was the faint crackling of the campfire.

　　One of the women was motionless, unsure if she was sleeping, while the other occasionally looked up and scanned her surroundings.

　　Lu Fei and the two others had no fire, and the mountain wind kept blowing down their necks, making their backs feel cold.

　　Lu Fei tightly wrapped himself in his jacket, keeping an eye on the movements of the two women.

　　Time passed, but it was unclear for how long.

　　Jing Jian was almost losing patience when one of the women suddenly stood up, seemingly saying something and staring intently in a certain direction.

　　Although her expression couldn't be seen, it was clear that she was very tense.

　　The other woman, who had been sleeping, also got up.

　　"There's movement."

　　Lu Fei in the bushes also looked in the direction the woman was gazing.

　　Amidst the twisted trees, the outline of a small temple seemed to faintly appear.

　　"A dilapidated temple!"

　　Lu Fei's heart jolted, filled with both surprise and delight, and then he realized what it meant.

　　It turned out that these two women were waiting for the appearance of the dilapidated temple.

　　The leading woman, holding a burning branch as a torch, walked briskly towards the temple.

　　The other woman followed closely behind her, moving in perfect sync, so from a distance, it looked like she had an extra shadow trailing her.

　　How strange.

　　Lu Fei squinted his eyes and observed for a while, unsure of what the women were up to.

　　But it didn't matter.

　　They came to pick coffin fungus, not to enter the temple.

　　The two women, however, seemed to have come for the dilapidated temple. They approached with torches, casting flickering light in front of the temple.

　　The flame flickered, making the temple entrance alternately bright and dim.

　　The woman in the lead paused for a moment, stuck the torch into the ground, then took out an incense stick, lit it, and began to kneel and worship before the dilapidated temple.

　　"Worshiping a dark temple?!"

　　Lu Fei and Jing Jian were greatly surprised.

　　As the saying goes, temples are divided into yang and yin.

　　Yang temples house official deities, such as those enshrined in Three Purities temples or Land God temples, who have been officially recognized.

　　Yin temples, on the other hand, house a variety of beings, including folk legends of wandering immortals and wild spirits, lonely ghosts, and various kinds of monsters.

　　But nine times out of ten, they are the latter.

　　There is usually a plaque in the dark temple that says 'all wishes will be granted.'

　　These temples are extremely efficacious, but this efficacy is not necessarily a good thing, because there is a price to pay for fulfilling one's wishes.

　　Not only might it harm you, but it could even bring calamity to your family.

　　In short, no one in their right mind would worship at a dark temple.

　　And these two women ran into such a dangerous and remote mountain, just to worship at this mysterious and eerie dark temple. What kind of wish could they possibly have?

　　Looking at the two women praying sincerely, Lu Fei and Jing Jian exchanged glances.

　　However, it's none of their business what others do.

　　"Let's leave them for now. The dilapidated temple has appeared, so let's quickly look for the coffin fungus." Lu Fei withdrew his gaze and started quietly searching the surroundings with Jing Jian.

　　After all this trouble, now that there's finally some hope, he didn't want to waste any more time.

　　"As its name suggests, the coffin fungus grows on coffins. Brother Jing, keep an eye out for any graves or tombs around here."

　　"Understood."

　　The forest was too dark, so the two of them no longer cared about being exposed and turned on their flashlights to look around.

　　However, after circling the ruined temple several times, they saw quite a few wild mushrooms in the mountains, but there was still no sign of the coffin mushroom.

　　"How can we not find it! Lu Fei, did Old Duan make a mistake? Is the coffin mushroom not here at all?"

　　"That shouldn't be the case. The eerie temple is already here."

　　Not to mention Jing Jian, even Lu Fei was getting a bit anxious.

　　Could it be that the growth of the coffin mushroom also depends on the season, and they came at the wrong time?

　　After all the effort to come here, and even finding the ruined temple, Lu Fei was not willing to give up just yet.

　　"Let's keep looking!"

　　The two were about to continue.

　　A blinding white light suddenly streaked across the mountains.

　　"Lightning?"

　　Then, with a loud crack, the thunder exploded overhead.

　　Immediately after.

　　Before the two of them could react, a torrential downpour drenched them, making them shiver to the bone.

　　"Quick, find some shelter from the rain!"

　　Lu Fei quickly put on the hood of his jacket.

　　Although the jacket was windproof and waterproof, it couldn't withstand such heavy rain.

　　In an instant, they were soaked to the skin.

　　During a thunderstorm, it's too dangerous to be in the woods. The two of them didn't dare to stay in the forest any longer and ran towards the outside.

　　"Lu Fei, the only place to take shelter from the rain is that dilapidated temple!"

　　"No time to worry about that, let's go there first!"

　　The rain came down too suddenly and oddly, and both of them knew something was wrong, but at the moment, they had no better choice but to run hastily towards the dilapidated temple in the pouring rain.

　　A dim yellow light shone inside the dilapidated temple.

　　Reaching the entrance, despite the sting of the rain hitting their bodies, Lu Fei still pulled Jing Jian to a halt and made a respectful bow towards the temple.

　　"We are forced to seek shelter here, please don't hold it against us!"

　　Then he stepped forward, quickly crossed the threshold, and went inside.