I used my hand to gesture and said, "Look, there's about five kilometers between the Fairy Bridge and the Silent Forest."

"Why didn't the术道群雄 (shudao qunxiong – heroic masters of esoteric arts) who attacked Tiewa Temple back then cross the river from these places? Why did they risk attacking the Four Forbidden Zones?"

"Could it be because of the human-faced snakes in the river?" Yun Chang told me about seeing the human-faced snakes.

I shook my head slightly and said, "Human-faced snakes aren't that scary! If hundreds or thousands of術士 (shushi – Taoist masters) couldn't deal with a few human-faced snakes, wouldn't that be a joke?"

"Let me think this through. Am I missing something?"

I murmured to myself, "Inner demons, Tiewa Temple, the Four Forbidden Zones? What am I missing?"

I sat down on the riverbank and said, "Xu Yulong, how did you receive the invitation?"

Xu Yulong replied, "I've already told you how I received the invitation. There's no need to explain it to you again."

Xu Yulong's attitude was off. He must have been hiding something about receiving the invitation. He wasn't willing to reveal the secret in public.

As I glared at Xu Yulong, Wang Butcher sneered, "Some people! They look decent, but their hearts are rotten to the core. Some people may seem like evil demons, but they might have the heart of a bodhisattva!"

"You can't judge a book by its cover!"

I suddenly realized, "The Four Evil Monks? Tiewa Temple! Eldest Sister, did Old Liu send you here to help me open the Four Dangerous Passes?"

"No!" Wang Butcher shook his head. "He wanted us to challenge the Dangerous Passes and distract Tiewa Temple's forces for you."

I took a deep breath and said, "It seems Old Liu miscalculated too!"

I turned my head and said, "Ye Yang, go back to... No, you and Feng Ruoxing go to the Silent Forest immediately to meet Nie Xiaochun and Qin Xin."

While I was speaking, I touched Ye Yang's hand. Ye Yang suddenly opened his eyes, "Are you sure?"

"Fifty percent!" The signal I gave Ye Yang was "Release them."

He knew that when I said "release them," I meant release the sealed Four Evil Monks.

This was an adventure that gambled with the lives of everyone in Liangjie Hall!

If I lost the bet, at least half of Liangjie Hall would be buried in Tiewa Temple.

Ye Yang looked at me for a long time before saying, "I trust you! Feng Ruoxing, let's go."

Two white shadows disappeared from my sight one after the other. I also looked at Wang Butcher, "Eldest Sister, Lin Zhao, will you accompany me underwater to take a look?"

Lin Zhao exclaimed, "Are you crazy! You can't even cross the Fairy Bridge, and you want to go underwater? Besides, you're still injured. If there's poison in the water, wouldn't you be asking for death?"

"I can't worry about that now. I have to try going underwater." I turned to look at Yun Chang, "Are you sure you'll be okay on the shore by yourself?"

Yun Chang smiled, "I'm not as weak as you think. Which member of Liangjie Hall can't roam the martial world freely?"

I nodded to Wang Butcher. The latter and Lin Zhao immediately spread out to both sides of me, forming a triangular formation as we cautiously walked into the lake.

I had originally wanted Ye Yang and Feng Ruoxing to rush back to the earthen temple to see what was there.

The reason I temporarily changed my mind was that I believed Old Liu would realize the secret of Tiewa Temple before I did. Maybe he had already set off for the earthen temple.

In fact, my judgment was correct.

After Old Liu interrogated Stripped Skin, he began to follow the route we had taken and tracked us to the earthen temple.

Chen Shuyu walked around the earthen temple twice, "Hall Master and the others fought here. Lin Zhao even used the Coffin Secret Technique. Why can't I see who he was fighting?"

Chen Shuyu pointed to the broken roof beam and said, "Grandmaster, look here. This roof beam was obviously kicked in half by Lin Zhao. But I can't find any traces left by Lin Zhao's opponent."

"And here, the target of Ye Yang's sword energy attack should be less than three meters away. But I didn't even see a footprint."

"Could it be that they were fighting enemies they imagined at the time?"

Old Liu shook his fan and said, "Stripped Skin, shouldn't you come out and explain?"

Stripped Skin said with a sob, "I don't know anything! After I returned to Taiqu Mountain, I wanted to enter Tiewa Temple. But I couldn't get through the Four Dangerous Passes. I always felt that if I walked into the Dangerous Passes, I would be reduced to ashes!"

Old Liu opened his folding fan and said, "What's the matter with this earthen temple?"

Stripped Skin said, "This is where the messenger met with us. Every time the messenger arrived, he would send a signal here, waiting for us to come and see him."

Old Liu said in a deep voice, "What did he use to send you signals? Spirit talismans, message incense, carrier pigeons, or telepathy?"

Stripped Skin was stunned for a moment, "Let me think... let me think... Why can't I remember? How did the messenger find us back then?"

After Stripped Skin asked this question, he realized that he was superfluous. The memories of Bone Remover and Flesh Cutter had long been blank, and they didn't even know that they came from Tiewa Temple. How could they remember what happened back then?

Old Liu asked again, "When was the first time the messenger found you? You should remember that, right? Think carefully."