Sure enough, as the sixth stroke of the wooden fish sounded, the chanting in the shrine grew louder.
Lao Han and Luo Ping's eyes were now somewhat red, and their entire bodies radiated a ferocious aura as they panted heavily.
They were still better off, having gone through the gradual process.
But...
Lin Nan did not. He had been comfortably lying on that special section of flooring, and the sudden blast of chanting nearly made his head explode.
His face instantly turned pale, and he let out a muffled groan as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The blood landed on the floor and quickly disappeared without a trace.
As Lin Nan grew increasingly irritable, he gritted his teeth and took out a vajra from his bag, gripping it tightly in his hand.
Rays of golden light emanated from the vajra, slowly restoring his calm.
But seeing that the three men were obviously at their limit and could follow the middle-aged woman's fate at any moment, Lin Nan clutched the vajra with a gloomy, uncertain expression.
He had caught a vague glimpse of something about this shrine in an ancient text, but only half a tattered page remained, very unclear.
But now the situation had forced him to gamble.
Staggering over, he carefully circled Xiao Si and looked at the reclining Buddha statue, the dazzling light from the vajra in his hand aimed straight at the statue's head as he smashed it down forcefully.
From that half-page remnant, he could vaguely guess that the key to breaking this plight lay with the Buddha statue, but he couldn't be sure of the exact method, so he could only try brute force for now.
As the vajra came down, the statue's surface shimmered with a layer of blood-red Sanskrit that blocked it outside.
The backlash sent Lin Nan flying back to heavily crash on the ground.
Even the vajra had fine cracks along its surface.
Wrong?
Looking at the statue, Lin Nan felt a trace of despair.
Wang Ye watched this scene unfold with composure, gaining a general understanding of the shrine.
Keeping his body firmly grounded, he controlled Xiao Si to return to his side and used the zafu to cover the first row of spirit tablets.
The energy fluctuations on the tablets gradually faded away, and the zafu remained still.
After doing this, Xiao Si went to Lao Han's side and stiffly extended his hand.
Lao Han paused for a moment, then cautiously backed up two steps despite the pressing chanting, still trying to be greedy.
Wang Ye was a little speechless. The next moment, Xiao Si flashed next to Lao Han and took an incense burner from his bulging pocket.
The burner still had ash inside, emitting a faint fragrance.
Ignoring Lao Han's nervous gaze, Xiao Si brought the burner to the Buddha statue at the back hall with Wang Ye controlling him.
If not for still needing these cannon fodder to explore ahead, Lao Han, Luo Ping, and even Lin Nan would already be dead by now.
Keeping these guys around could still make use of their residual worth.
But the one Wang Ye was most wary of among them was the one wearing his face.
He still wasn't sure where this guy came from.
Ever since entering the shrine, he had just stood motionless in front of the spirit tablet.
Even when Wang Ye deliberately approached him several times to give him a chance to make a move, he just ignored it.
With an imperceptible glance at the figure, Wang Ye controlled Xiao Si to lift the incense burner and gently tap the Buddha statue's left eye.
The left eye's color was slightly darker than the right one. After finding it odd, Wang Ye had examined the statue many times before noticing something off.
It seemed like the left eye's pupil bulged out a little more, and was also slightly different in size.
As Xiao Si moved, the statue's surface shimmered with blood-red Sanskrit again, illuminating the entire back hall in red.
But the incense burner floated through weightlessly and touched the left eye's pupil.
With a soft sound, the pupil contracted, and the statue shook slightly as its belly suddenly split open to reveal a hole.
The chanting in the shrine also gradually faded away.
So the incense burner was needed after all.
After controlling Xiao Si to store away the burner, Wang Ye imitated the ghost's stiff gait and went to the hole, standing motionless before it.
Seeing everyone else harboring the same thoughts, Wang Ye's empty gaze settled on Luo Ping in the corner.
Luo Ping's expression changed, seeming to guess Wang Ye's implied intention, but his feet appeared to have taken root as he didn't move.
Oh? Trying to hide?
Wang Ye sneered internally. He controlled Xiao Si to go next to Luo Ping.
Luo Ping looked a little gloomy but finally went to the hole without a word and was the first to crawl inside.
Next, Wang Ye's gaze landed on Lin Nan.
Lin Nan was quite decisive, boldly going in.
Before Wang Ye could signal him, Lao Han followed closely behind Lin Nan.
After the three cannon fodder went in, Wang Ye's gaze vaguely settled on the figure.
This guy had been mysteriously copying Wang Ye's appearance the entire time, and Wang Ye didn't want to provoke him recklessly.
But leaving him outside made Wang Ye uneasy.
Seemingly sensing Wang Ye's gaze, he finally shifted his eyes away from the spirit tablet to look coldly at Wang Ye, the two locking eyes from afar.
Finally, he entered the back hall under Wang Ye's watch and stepped into the hole in the Buddha's belly.
Wang Ye was slightly relieved. This guy was just too mysterious, unaffected by the spirit tablet, so by reason should be a ghost.
Yet he didn't have a trace of ghostly energy on him. Aside from the slightly stiff walking manner, he looked completely normal.
With some caution, Wang Ye followed behind Xiao Si and crawled in.
Inside the hole was a curved staircase that extended downwards without end.
The nauseating smell of blood permeated the air, making Wang Ye frown slightly.
The cannon fodder were already out of sight, likely at the very front, while the other Wang Ye unhurriedly walked ahead of him.
As they continued down, their surroundings gradually grew darker.
In the darkness, it was as if countless eyes were sizing up Wang Ye. He could vaguely hear cunning laughter in the air.
Finally...
After walking for who knows how long, a ray of light faintly appeared up ahead.
Arriving?
The figure walking ahead entered the light first, and Wang Ye followed closely behind.