Li Mingyao handed over some things and then asked Old Man Hong for a rooster. We tied up the rooster and put it in a black sack.

  Then the three of us wiped away our tears and headed in the direction that Old Man Hong had pointed out to the charity house.

  Although Old Man Hong and the others did not find that monster in the Righteous Manor, it cannot be said that the monster is not in the Righteous Manor. On the contrary, the most likely place for that monster to be is this Righteous Manor, after all, the heaviest yin energy nearby belongs to this Righteous Manor.

  It's normal that they can't find us, even if they found and killed the monster, what's the point of finding us?

  The three of us walked to the back of the village. Behind the village was a large bamboo forest, and between the bamboo forest and the village was where the Yi Zhuang was located.

  This temple is very old and dilapidated, with spider webs all over the signboard and a thick layer of dust.

  The three of us walked into the mourning hall and took a look inside. The mourning hall was pitch black, but fortunately we had rubbed away our tears and opened up the underworld, so we could see clearly what was going on inside the mourning hall.

  The charity house is quite large, a square shape, I estimate it's over 200 square meters inside. There are five old coffins placed in the middle of the charity house, these five coffins look like they've been there for many years, the varnish has almost all worn off. The coffins and the floor of the charity house are covered in dust.

  "It's really dirty here." I slightly furrowed my brow, Li Mingyao nodded, then squatted down, wiped some dust from the ground with his right hand, and sniffed it beside his nose.

  "What's wrong with you?" I curiously asked.

  Zhao Shenyu beside him said: "He's sensing demonic energy."

  "Can you smell the demonic aura too?"

  Zhao Shanyu explained to me that the disciples of major sects like Maoshan and Longhushan are mostly cultivated from a young age. They learn a skill called "hearing the aura of monsters" from their early studies, which is mainly used in unclear situations when they don't have a compass with them, to identify if there are any monsters around through the aura.

  The aura is odorless and difficult to identify, unless you've been studying it since childhood, otherwise you can't master this skill.

  I looked at Li Mingyao who was frowning and sniffing the ground, nodded, this Maoshan Daoist is indeed different from us half-baked Yin Yang masters, after all, one is taught by a sect, while the other is self-taught ghost catcher.

  After a moment, Li Mingyao nodded and wiped the dust off his fingers, saying: "Indeed, there is a demonic aura. That demon must have been to this righteous village, but it didn't stay for long. However, it should still be around here somewhere."

  I looked around, but there was nothing going on, it was quiet to the point of being eerie.

  "Nothing found." Li Mingyao pointed to the spider webs on top of the temple and said: "There are so many spider webs here, but not a single spider can be seen, nor even ants like that."

  He said that, and I felt it was true. In the countryside, even at midnight, there would be some sounds of animals or insects around, but this righteous village was quiet to the point of being eerie.

  Li Mingyao smiled and said confidently: "You and Zhao Shanyu go to the side to watch the show, see how I deal with this snake demon."

  "Are you really going to take it on alone?" I frowned and said: "Don't be reckless, kid."

  Li Mingyao ignored me and moved a small table from the corner of the Yi Zhuang to its entrance. He then covered it with a yellow cloth and began to set up an altar.

  Li Mingyao placed a small cauldron in the middle of the Taoist altar, then placed a peach wood sword on the left side of the cauldron and a stack of already drawn talismans on the right side.

  He took out an incense stick, lit it with a lighter, and bowed in the four directions of east, south, west, and north. He said, "Li Mingyao, a disciple of Maoshan, is here to subdue demons. I hope all ghosts and gods will not disturb."

  After finishing speaking, he took out a stack of paper money from his backpack and scattered it around the temple.

  Li Mingyao did this thing called Qingchang.

  In rural villages, there are often wandering lonely souls and wild ghosts. Generally speaking, Mr. Yin Yang will exorcise demons and eliminate evil in such places, or drive away corpse craftsmen, all of which follow a certain procedure, otherwise they fear that when fighting against monsters and ghosts, some lonely souls and wild ghosts will cause trouble again.

  In ancient times, corpse handlers would often encounter lonely ghosts and wild demons while transporting corpses, causing their own joy god to run amok.

  Li Mingyao took out the rooster he had asked Old Man Hong for earlier and wrote his birthdate on a piece of paper, sticking it to the rooster's back. Then, Li Mingyao cut open a small wound on his right index finger, pried open the rooster's beak, and dripped a drop of blood inside.

  Li Mingyao then ran into the temple, closed all the windows inside and untied the rope that bound the rooster before throwing it inside.

  "What's this?" I curiously asked.

  "Using my birth eight characters on this rooster's body, and then the first drop of my blood, can make that snake demon mistakenly think this rooster is a 'human'. Plus snakes originally like to eat chickens, I believe smelling this smell will come over."

  Then I pulled Zhao Shenyu to a corner of the hospital and squatted down. Since Li Mingyao said not to help, he must be very confident in himself.

  At this time, Zhao Shenyu crouched beside me, furrowing his brow and saying: "This snake demon is not simple, perhaps I still know it."

  "Do you know him?" I looked at Zhao Shenyu in surprise.

  "It probably isn't it, I might be overthinking."

  I saw Zhao Shenyu say so and didn't ask much, then quietly waited.

  Li Mingyao also sat down cross-legged at the entrance of the Yi Zhuang and closed his eyes.

  Time passed bit by bit, probably about ten minutes had passed, my legs were almost numb from squatting. Just as I was thinking of standing up to stretch a bit, Zhao Xinyu grabbed my arm and made a "shh" gesture, whispering: "It's coming."

  As soon as I heard it, I looked towards the window two meters away from me and cold sweat almost broke out on my back.

  This window was made of wood in ancient times, with a paper-pasted window. At this time, two fist-sized eyes are looking inside from outside the window. Those two eyes were bright red, like two light bulbs in the middle of the night.

  Damn it, is this a monster? This damn thing is a beast!

  Bang.

  A faint sound, the paper-pasted window was broken by this snake demon, and a huge snake head stretched in from outside. The snake head alone was half a meter wide, looking particularly shocking and numb, like a python disaster?

  The scales of this snake demon were pitch black, one by one, emitting a strange glow in the darkness.

  "Hiss."

  The snake demon's head came in and didn't notice me and Zhao Shanyu, or rather, its gaze wasn't placed on me and Zhao Shanyu at all. Its eyes were fixed intently on the rooster that was still flapping around on top of those coffins in the mourning hall.