Chapter 152: An Act of Supreme Filial Piety

Inside the bronze mirror, a dozen or so children were holding torches and carrying tools such as hoes and shovels.

Among them, the oldest was no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, while the youngest was only six or seven.

Even though it was the middle of the night, pitch-black all around, with the occasional howl of wild beasts, they did not seem scared in the least. Giggling and joking along the way, they walked toward the burial forest.

Such a bizarre scene, experienced as the group was, could not help but astonish them, and then make their hair stand on end.

"Could those grave-robbers and corpse-desecrators really be this bunch of kids? Why are they doing such a thing? Are they being controlled by someone?" Du Feng exclaimed.

He subconsciously lowered his voice, as if afraid that if he spoke even slightly louder, those strange children inside the bronze mirror might hear him.

Liu Zhi observed for a moment, then shook his shake, saying, "Do they look like they are being manipulated to you?"

Indeed, they did not look like it at all.

People controlled by demons or ghosts either had stiff movements or dull expressions, resembling a group of wooden puppets.

Yet the children inside the bronze mirror were all full of spirit and even quite excited, as if they were out on a spring outing.

However, who the hell goes on a spring outing in the middle of the night?

And a spring outing to a burial forest filled with graves, no less!

"Old Feng, have the wooden kite fly a circle around the surrounding area." Shang Lu patted Feng Nan's shoulder and instructed.

Feng Nan immediately obeyed, operating the wooden kite to circle and fly around a few times.

However, apart from that strange group of children, nothing else was discovered.

After a brief consideration, Shang Lu ordered, "Let's go. We'll head over and take a look."

The group immediately followed him out of the deserted temple and rode their horses toward the burial forest.

Those bronze mirrors were not put away; held in the hands of Liu Zhi, Du Feng, and the others, they constantly monitored the situation inside the burial forest.

On their way to the burial forest, that group of children had already entered ahead of them.

The burial forest in the dead of night was far more gloomy and terrifying than during the day, but those children showed no fear. They chatted and laughed all the way, occasionally stopping to point at a certain grave and laugh heartily.

As if it were not the middle of the night but daytime, and as if they were not strolling through a burial forest where countless dead people were buried, but rather visiting some scenic tourist spot.

The ones who should have been terrified were not them, but the dead buried within the graves.

Such an abnormal spectacle made the group feel an increasing sense of eeriness.

Fortunately, the official horses were fast, and a distance of over ten miles was traversed in the blink of an eye.

Upon reaching the edge of the burial forest, Shang Lu quickly issued his directives:

"Old Feng, Old Liu, take some men and search the surroundings to see if there are any other developments. Tu Pi, Du Feng, bring your men and follow me into the burial forest."

Feng Nan and Liu Zhi cupped their fists in acknowledgment, each leading several scouts from the detective squad to ride around the burial forest to the left and right for patrols.

Shang Lu led Du Feng, Tu Pi, and the others straight into the burial forest.

Deep inside the burial forest at midnight, the Yin energy was even heavier than during the day.

Shang Lu was fine, but the moment Du Feng stepped inside, he shivered, feeling as though he had entered an ice cellar, and hurriedly circulated his blood Qi to resist it.

This situation left him greatly astonished.

"How on earth did those kids withstand this Yin energy? Even if children naturally carry a bit of fire within them, it shouldn't have zero effect on them."

Shang Lu did not respond, as he was also baffled by this matter.

At the same time, he patted the official horse beneath him.

The official horse indeed understood human nature, immediately grasping Shang Lu's intent by slowing its pace and muffling its sounds.

Seeing this, Du Feng, Tu Pi, and the others quickly followed suit.

Meanwhile, that group of eccentric children had already arrived in front of the half-dug graves that Feng Nan and Liu Zhi had discovered earlier.

They stuck the torches they were holding into the ground around the graves, and then began to scoop dirt and dig the graves using hoes, shovels, and other tools.

Each and every one of them was high-spirited and even cheering with joy.

As if they were not digging graves, but rather doing something extremely interesting and deeply meaningful.

Despite their short stature and lack of thick arms or legs, these children put a considerable amount of effort into their work.

Soon, they dug open one of the graves, exposing the coffin inside.

These children acted as if they had struck treasure, bursting into even louder cheers as they picked up their hoes, shovels, and other implements to smash and pry open the coffin.

The coffin lid was pried loose, and several children exerted their strength together to push it aside.

Upon seeing the decaying corpse inside the coffin, these children felt no fear; instead, they were quite excited.

Immediately, two children jumped into the coffin—one holding the head and the other clutching the feet—and lifted the corpse up.

The children outside all reached out to help, dragging and pulling together to heave the foul-smelling corpse out of the coffin.

"Smash him! Smash him!"

"His flesh and skin haven't completely rotted away yet; we should skin him and strip his flesh first, then smash his bones!"

"Right, right! Skin him and strip his flesh first so that he can achieve complete liberation!"

After dragging the corpse out of the coffin, the group of children clamored over each other with various methods of disposal. Not only were they unafraid, but they were also extremely excited.

One child drew a butcher's knife from his waist and handed it to his companion who had just jumped into the coffin to lift the head of the corpse, telling him to do the skinning and fleshing.

The child who took the butcher's knife prepared to slice down from the top of the head to skin and strip the corpse.

Just at that moment, a powerful wave of resentment burst forth from the corpse, rushing toward the child holding the butcher's knife.

Once struck by this resentment, even if the child did not drop dead on the spot, he would surely go mad or fall severely ill.

Yet, strangely enough, just as the resentment was about to fly out from the corpse, it was restrained by an invisible force.

The force restraining the resentment also originated from the corpse itself.

It seemed that this corpse was unwilling to harm the child who had dug up its grave, unsealed its coffin, and was about to destroy its remains...

The child holding the butcher's knife was unaware that he had just narrowly escaped disaster.

A maniacal, eerie smile appeared on his naive face as he shouted loudly, "Skin the hide and crack the skull, return the soul to heaven and earth, and regain true freedom!"

He gripped the butcher's knife with both hands, raising it high as if performing some kind of ritual, and then viciously thrust it down toward the corpse's head.

"Whoosh—"

Suddenly, a streak of black shadow flew out from the woods, precisely wrapping around the butcher's knife in the child's hand and disarming him with ease.

The event happened too suddenly, and the child had no time to react. Only after his empty hands slammed down onto the corpse's head did he notice that the butcher's knife was gone.

"Where's the knife? Where did the knife go?" he cried out in surprise.

His response was a low shout echoing from the nearby darkness.

"Seize them all! Don't let a single one escape!"

Hearing this voice, the children who were digging graves raised their heads one after another and asked in astonishment, "Who is speaking?"

Then, they saw several figures pouncing toward them like tigers descending the mountain.

These children possessed only the strength and reflexes of ordinary kids, with nothing special about them whatsoever.

In an instant, all of them were subdued, their hands and feet locked in shackles.

"What are you doing? Let us go!"

"Don't be afraid, everyone! The Master will definitely come to save us!"

"Who are you people? Are you human traffickers? Hurry up and release us!"

"My father is a militia member in the county yamen! If you dare tie us up, you'll all be arrested!"

"Open your eyes and take a good look! This gentleman is the County Lieutenant, and we are all bailiffs and county soldiers! Your dad is a militia member? What's his name?"

As Du Feng spoke, he raised his hand and lightly slapped the head of his colleague's son.

This very child was the one who had just held the knife, preparing to skin and crack open the skull of the corpse.

"I want to ask him how on earth he taught his child to run out in the middle of the night to dig up other people's graves and desecrate their remains!"

The child glanced at the uniforms worn by Du Feng and the others, confirming they were indeed bailiff uniforms.

Yet he showed no fear, instead shouting defiantly:

"I wasn't digging a stranger's grave; this is our own family grave! I'm digging my family's grave and destroying my family's corpse—what business is it of yours? What right do you have to interfere?"

Du Feng was startled upon hearing this: "This is your family's grave?"

"That's right!"

The child lifted his chin, puffed out his chest, and said loudly, "My grandfather's grave!"

"This corpse is your grandfather?"

"Yes!"

Du Feng was shocked: "Good grief, you really are a filial grandson!"

"Of course! We value filial piety above all else!"

Unaware of Du Feng's sarcasm in the slightest, the child proudly declared, "The Master said that if you want to succeed in life, filial piety comes first! The very first of the ten great acts of filial piety is to destroy the remains of one's ancestors!"

At this, not only Du Feng, but even Shang Lu was dumbfounded.

"Destroying the remains of one's ancestors—what kind of filial piety is that?"

"How is it not! The Master said that destroying ancestral tombs and slaying one's parents are both acts of utmost filial piety!"

"Absolute nonsense!" Shang Lu could no longer help cursing out loud.

Where on earth did this heretic master come from, and what kind of twisted, wicked doctrines was he teaching!