The crooked way can also lead to heaven

Ye Ran glanced at the Bodhisattva in the temple. It was just an ordinary clay sculpture without any Buddhist charm.

"Old man, I want to ask you something. Where is the City God Temple here?"

"Also, has anything strange happened in your village recently?"

It was indeed not polite to ask like this. After all, this was in the Bodhisattva Temple, but Ye Ran didn't care so much. People who lived in the temple all year round knew more news than others.

The old woman sat on the stool and did not show any dissatisfaction. Instead, she said very patiently: "Young man, if you want to worship the Bodhisattva, it's best to do it here. The City God Temple has been restless recently. You young people, don't go there casually."

"It's okay, I'm just curious, old man, just tell me." Ye Ran took out two hundred yuan from his pocket and put it on the table and handed it over.

The old woman just shook her head and pushed the money back, not wanting to take it, and responded: "No need to pay. If you really want to go to the City God Temple, go to the opposite side of the mountain. The City God Temple is by the river in the village below. You can see it on the slope when you go straight forward after leaving the temple."

Ye Ran nodded, and did not take back the two hundred yuan. He stood up and planned to leave.

The old woman also spoke at this moment: "Young man, you must leave the City God Temple before dark, and don't stay. There are monkeys in our place at night, and they will eat children."

Ye Ran raised his eyebrows slightly: "I am not a child."

The old woman smiled and said: "I know you are not married at first sight. If you are not married, you are not a child. Listen to your mother-in-law, don't stay too long, leave quickly when it's dark, if you really have nowhere to go, you can stay here for one night."

Ye Ran smiled and said, I know, turned around and left the temple.

Following the old woman's instructions, he kept walking forward. Sure enough, there was a long downhill slope. There was a not very wide river next to the village below, and a lonely building stood on the shore.

On the way down, he happened to meet a few young people who had just come to burn incense.

Ye Ran walked behind them calmly and listened carefully to the topic they were discussing.

I saw a woman in a pure white down jacket, eating melon seeds and saying: "This is what happened last night. I didn't expect there would be a monkey!"

The man next to him also scratched his head: "I thought my grandfather was lying to me. When I was a child, he always said that there were monkeys catching children. At first, I didn't believe it."

"That's right. Last night, Aunt Wang's child came back late because he was too playful. As soon as he got home, he said that he saw a person in the field and he kept waving at him."

"Oh, I was scared after hearing this news. I didn't dare to show my head under the quilt all night."

"Tsk, I don't believe in such things. What era is it now? Don't be so superstitious. If you are really scared, why don't you leave the village?"

"Are you sane? This is my home. Can I leave when I want to?"

"That's right. Several of us have lived here since we were young. We finally came back on vacation. Before we can even warm up our butts, you call us to leave?"

"..."

Several people had their own arguments and argued endlessly.

Ye Ran listened to all the words, but he had never heard of what kind of species this horse monkey was.

When they came to the foot of the mountain, several people went their separate ways from the small path.

Ye Ran came to the City God Temple by the river. This temple looked relatively new and should be maintained regularly.

An old man in the temple was kneeling in front of the clay statue of the City God and praying, muttering something.

"Please bless my grandson with safety, and I will slaughter chickens and ducks to offer to you in the future."

The old man kept talking, and kowtowed every time he said a word.

Ye Ran stood behind him, scanned the internal environment, and finally fixed his eyes on the clay statue of the City God.

This clay statue was lifeless and had no charm at all. There were many incense offerings here. If the City God was really there, it would not be like this.

Ye Ran took out the messenger token and drew an imperial decree according to the method given by Zhou Wuyuan.

The token emitted a faint red light, like a wave, surging around.

The candles lit on the tribute platform flickered constantly, and the old man thought that the City God had really shown his spirit, so he kowtowed even harder.

Ye Ran was observing the clay sculpture, which was wrapped in a faint layer of Yin Qi, which meant that the City God had been away for a while and the Yin Qi was almost gone.

The old man who was kowtowing finally noticed someone behind him, and turned his head to stare at Ye Ran with a look of surprise.

But he didn't understand what Ye Ran was doing, because ordinary people couldn't see this aura.

"Kid, what are you doing?"

Although the old man didn't know what Ye Ran was doing, from the fact that his two fingers were put together and swung randomly in front of his eyes from time to time, he looked like a Yin-Yang master who knew something.

"Nothing, you continue to kowtow." Ye Ran responded lightly.

But after several attempts, Zhou Wuyuan's tracking technique was useless. The aura was cut off as soon as it left the City God Temple, as if it was blocked.

Judging from the current situation, the City God was most likely captured suddenly, and a formation was set up here to isolate the aura.

"Excuse me, I heard that you have a horse monkey here. Has it appeared before?" Ye Ran put away the token and looked at the old man in front of him.

The old man had already kowtowed, stood up and shook his head: "Since the City God Temple was built in our village, it has never appeared again. I don't know what happened, this horse monkey popped out again."

Ye Ran took a deep breath, pondered for a moment, and then continued to ask: "About when did it start to appear?"

Seeing Ye Ran constantly asking about this topic, the old man thought that the young man in front of him must be a Yin-Yang master. After thinking for a while, he responded: "It should be half a month ago. A kid in the village saw a horse monkey. Alas, it's a pity that the person is dead."

After saying this, he showed regret again, and a trace of grief and anger appeared in his eyes.

Ye Ran didn't say anything. Half a month ago was about the same time as Zhou Wuyuan gave.

The old man said that after the City God Temple was built, the horse monkey never appeared again. Now that the City God was lost, it immediately jumped out.

Is there really such a coincidence?

"Please explain, what kind of species is the horse monkey?"

After finishing his thoughts, Ye Ran wanted to find out the specific information of the horse monkey. Maybe this thing can become a breakthrough.

"Are you a Yin-Yang master?" The old man asked.

Ye Ran nodded: "Yes, but not completely."

After receiving a positive answer, the old man quickly said: "You don't know, the horse monkey will eat children!"

"Any child who has seen the horse monkey will be targeted by it, and my child has suffered!"

"We don't know what the horse monkey is exactly, but it will put on human skin to seduce the child. If it doesn't eat the child at that time, it will follow the child home and will not stop until it eats the child!"

"You are a yin and yang master, please save my child!"

The old man knelt down and his voice was a little trembling.

Ye Ran said calmly: "I want to see your child, can you lead the way?"

"Okay, this way." The old man cried with joy. Fortunately, he met the yin and yang master today. If something happened to the child, he didn't know how to live and how to face his children.

Little did he know that Ye Ran had no intention of caring about such trivial matters. He just wanted to ask the child more about the horse monkey. After all, as an eyewitness, the child's description would definitely be more accurate than that of the old man.