Chapter 152: A Man Like a Mystery

"Boss Tang, are you scared too?" Yang Wuchan asked softly, watching Tang Long in his heavily armed state.

Tang Long rolled his eyes and retorted, "I'm not the King of Heaven, is it strange to be scared? Just like you are considered a goddess in the eyes of others, does that mean you don't have to eat, sleep, shit, or think about men?"

That single sentence made Yang Wuchan's face turn extremely awkward. Vulgar, this man was beyond vulgar. If he were one of her subordinates, she would have slapped him to death eight times over.

"Um, Junior Martial Uncle, are these things useful?" Bao Hu had one hundred and eight large Buddhist prayer beads looped around his neck. The material was unknown, but they were quite large, matching his hefty build well. Tang Long had fished them out of his bag and draped them straight around his neck.

When Bao Hu first started calling Tang Long "Junior Martial Uncle," it was somewhat of a joke, but after saying it a few times, he seemed to have grown quite used to it.

Tang Long said with a straight face, "Better safe than sorry!"

As for whether they were useful, who could he ask? When encountering such eerie and uncanny things, nothing was certain. If they were useless, so be it, but what if they worked? Then it would be a stroke of luck. Blocking danger once counts as once. Everyone was just a human, raised on grains, so there was no need to brazenly lock horns with those malevolent entities.

The team continued forward, and their pace increased quite a bit. Imperceptibly, Tang Long's prestige within the small squad had risen significantly.

Everyone knew that this tender-skinned young man was seemingly not simple. Aside from anything else, one could tell from the captain's respectful gaze and the occasional unbearable tenderness in Leopard Print's eyes!

Tang Long didn't offer much explanation regarding the "Hundred-Face Fiend," nor did he explain why he was able to save Leopard Print. He simply told everyone that if they felt any physical discomfort, they must notify him immediately, as there were times when even he might miss something.

They walked through the night. After dawn, Bao Hu called for a halt!

"Junior Martial Uncle, we've walked all night. Let's rest for a bit!" Bao Hu said to Tang Long. Coincidentally, there was a small stream nearby where they could wash up.

"Alright!"

Tang Long nodded, lowering the military rucksack he had been carrying. It weighed dozens of catties, and who knew what strange things made it so heavy.

He stretched his shoulders, walked over to the stream to splash some water on his face, stood up to do a couple of chest expansions, and looked up at the surrounding mountains.

He had visited the Qinling Mountains a few times, and every time he entered them, Tang Long felt differently. The mountains held too many profound connotations, bearing thousands of years of wind, frost, and mystery. This was truly the undisputed dragon vein of China!

"Thank you!"

Yang Wuchan walked up behind Tang Long, hesitated for a moment, and said softly, "I apologize to you. I shouldn't have blamed the matters concerning General Yang on the villagers of Yutou Village."

Tang Long was stunned. He turned around, looked at her, and suddenly asked with a wicked, mischievous grin, "Has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like a Clydesdale?"

Me looking like a Clydesdale?

At first, Yang Wuchan didn't understand what Tang Long meant. Once it dawned on her, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him and said softly, "Can't you be serious for once? I... I came here to apologize to you, you know!"

The more she interacted and came into contact with Tang Long, the more she felt that while he was flippant and unserious, he was also unfathomable and impenetrable—deep as a mountain, a man of complete mystery.

Tang Long grinned mischievously and said, "Fine, what's wrong with that? I accept your apology, um... Clydesdale!"

Furious, Yang Wuchan turned around and stormed off. It was the first time anyone had dared to compare her with such a term. She admitted that her frame was a bit large, but no one had ever dared call her a Clydesdale to her face!

...What a bad guy!

Tang Long took out his mobile phone to check it and found that there was no signal left. The group hadn't moved slowly last night and had already penetrated deep into the Qinling Mountains, so losing signal was normal. The Qinling Mountains possessed a special magnetic field and constituted a unique region where even the satellites overhead could not accurately locate them. The images captured from the sky showed layers of clouds and mist, with the fog rarely clearing throughout the four seasons.

Hesitating for a moment, he powered down the phone and put it away. It would probably only be turned back on once they came out.

They rested for about an hour, ate some food, and shouldered their packs to continue onward. Their pace was even faster than it had been at night.

Time was tight, and the team members didn't have any major issues with physical stamina.

"Boss Tang, are you an exorcist?" Leopard Print asked, following close behind Tang Long.

Leopard Print had a quarter European ancestry, possessing several mixed-race traits, such as her physique and her eyes.

"An exorcist?"

Tang Long shook his head with a smile and said, "No, China doesn't have exorcists, only Buddhist monks and Taoist priests."

"Then are you... a Taoist priest?" The corners of Leopard Print's mouth curled up into a trace of a smile. It felt as though she hadn't smiled in a very long time, because there was nothing in her life that felt amusing.

Monks were bald, and this man clearly was not, so he definitely wasn't a monk!

Unable to laugh or cry, Tang Long shook his head and said, "No, I'm neither a monk nor a Taoist priest, nor am I an exorcist. I just happen to know a few minor tricks for drawing talisman seals to ward off evil. As for you, you're fine for now, but whether you'll be affected once we enter the Ancient God Temple, I can't say for sure."

He couldn't even be certain whether the pair of eyes the others mentioned belonged to the "Hundred-Face Fiend."

It might be, or it might not be. There were simply too many mysterious things on Earth. Putting aside ancient history, within the past few thousand years, there had been thousands of various malevolent deities recorded by people, appearing in every era. Some were fake and spooky, while others were genuinely eerie.

"I think you're very special!" Leopard Print said.

She was usually rather aloof and rarely took the initiative to chat with people, but today, even she didn't know what had come over her—she just wanted to talk to this man.

The other squad members nearly popped their eyes out of their sockets. Such a rare sight was truly blinding to witness. Many of them had known Leopard Print for a year or two, and they only knew this sister as exceptionally ruthless; if you provoked her, you would easily find yourself bedridden for ten days to a half month.

Gentleness? Gentleness was completely out of the question!

Bao Hu led the way at the front. At first, everyone would still exchange a few jokes and laughs, but as they got closer and closer to their destination, everyone's nerves grew taut, and the sound of chatter and laughter gradually faded away.

They only stopped again when darkness fell!

After marching at a grueling pace for a day and a night, they had covered dozens of kilometers. Mountain roads were treacherous, and their rate of progress was definitely not slow.

"If we press on at our current speed, we should arrive late tonight!"

Bao Hu thought about it and said. He couldn't be certain of the exact distance and could only make a rough estimate, but the closer they got to the front, the heavier he felt in his heart.

That was the origin of his nightmares, a place he could never shake off.

Tang Long furrowed his brow slightly. After a forced march day and night, everyone was exhausted. If they continued walking through the night, their physical strength and mental endurance might not hold up.

"Let's rest for the night!"

Tang Long looked at Yang Wuchan and spoke. After all, she was the leader of this squad, and regarding the situation with General Yang, she must be more anxious than anyone else right now.

Yang Wuchan looked at Tang Long. In truth, her own thought was to rush to the entrance of the "Ancient God Temple" as soon as possible before resting.

However, since Tang Long brought it up, she found it hard to refute him. Hesitating for a moment, she nodded and said, "Alright, let's rest for the night and set off early tomorrow morning!"