The three young Taoist priests were as pale as sheets of paper.
Upon hearing the words 'eating people,' Hu Zi nearly lost control of his expression.
"We were all deceived by the Master. On the surface, he was a good person, taking in orphans like us who had no parents, but in reality, he was raising us like pigs."
"He provided us with good food and drink, and even gave us traditional Chinese medicine to adjust our bodies, then once we were well-nourished, he would take us to the back mountain to slaughter one of us."
"Those who followed him to the back mountain never returned. Once, we secretly followed him and saw him... he was biting into the flesh of our Third Senior Brother..."
The young Taoist could not continue.
There was an oppressive silence in the room.
Cannibalism did occur during times of famine, but that was due to extreme circumstances.
The Taoist temple was prosperous, yet the Taoist treated the young Taoists like pigs, consuming one every so often. Could he still be considered human?
Huzi shivered and asked, "Why does he eat people, is he a monster?"
"We don't know..." The young Taoists shook their heads in fear, "But we found out that every time he eats someone, he becomes younger."
"Oh? Becoming younger!" Lu Fei raised his eyebrows, suddenly thinking of something, "Did he ever give you Lingzhi meat to eat?"
"How did you know?"
The young Taoist boys widened their eyes.
"After eating the spirit fungus, did your bodies change?" Lu Fei didn't answer but continued to ask.
"Every seven days, Master would give us a piece of spirit fungus. We felt our bodies getting better and better, but if we didn't eat it on time, we would become extremely thirsty and die of thirst."
"That's how our eldest senior brother and eighth junior brother died!"
The young Taoist boys shivered, their eyes filled with deep fear.
"We were very scared and thought about running away, but if Master found out, it would be even worse—our bodies would turn into a pool of muck..."
"That time, our second senior brother kept the spirit fungus that was supposed to be for the guest and tried to escape through the back mountain, but Master still found out..."
"His body turned to mud, and we had no choice but to bury him there..."
Lu Fei immediately asked, "What about the spirit fungus he took?"
"We didn't know where he hid it. A group of students came to the mountain at that time, and we didn't dare to search too much. Anyway, the flesh ganoderma spoils quickly without water, so the Master didn't bother with it." The young Taoists sighed deeply.
Lu Fei and Hu Zi exchanged glances.
That's why Zhihao encountered the flesh ganoderma.
However, Lu Fei thought that a normal adult wouldn't just pick up and eat something outside randomly.
He felt that it was more likely the flesh ganoderma crawled into Zhihao's mouth for survival.
Because he had seen that kind of flesh slice, and it was alive.
But there was another problem.
Lu Fei asked again, "You have received so many guests, why did they not have any problems after eating?"
"The Master adds a seasoning to the Ling Shou soup he gives to the guests, we don't know what it is, but the guests don't need to eat it once every seven days like we do."
"So that's how it is," Lu Fei couldn't help but feel a chill.
The situation is basically clear now.
His previous guess was correct.
The Lingyun Daoist Master was indeed using the young Daoists to cultivate flesh-reishi, and what he had been consuming should not have been human, but the flesh-reishi grown from living humans.
By using such an evil object to increase his cultivation and longevity, achieving the purpose of rejuvenation or even immortality, no wonder the Lingyun Daoist Master's face looks young, yet his eyes are very old!
This person is a real demonic Daoist!
Seeing that they looked grim, the young Daoists thought they were frightened and hurriedly knelt down to plead.
"Please, help us!"
"There were nine of us when we first came, now, only the three of us remain."
"One day, it will be our turn!"
"We don't want to die!"
Hu Zi felt very sympathetic towards these poor young Taoists, but he did not dare to express his opinion as his boss had not given any instructions.
"Don't worry, get up first."
Lu Fei helped them up, his expression calm.
"How do we save you? You have Rou Lingzhi inside your bodies; even if I take you out of Lingyun Temple, it would be useless."
"The meat we eat is cut from the large one. As long as the large one is destroyed, the meat in our bodies will also dissolve."
Seeing that he did not outright refuse, the young Taoists' eyes filled with hope, and they spoke earnestly.
"But we cannot get close to the large one, or else we would immediately turn into a pile of mush... Today, our Seventh Junior Brother died like this..."
"Only someone who has never eaten Rou Lingzhi can go without being detected by our Master."
"Actually... I remember you! You came to Lingyun Temple, but you didn't eat Rou Lingzhi; instead, you quietly took some away."
"I knew you weren't ordinary people!"
There was a young Taoist who watched Lu Fei closely.
Lu Fei was slightly surprised and looked at his face carefully, then remembered that this young Taoist was the one who had received them and Su Liguo's daughter back then.
"So it's you!"
"So many people came, but only you didn't eat the Spirit Fungus. I remember it very clearly, and I was hoping that you would discover the problem with the Spirit Fungus! So, I recognized you right away when I saw you outside just now."
The young Taoist grabbed Lu Fei's arm and pleaded with red eyes.
"You must have come because you found out there was something wrong with the Spirit Fungus, right?"
"Besides you, no other outsiders have come to the backyard... We can't find anyone else to help us..."
No wonder these young Taoists took such a big risk to save them.
Even Hu Zi couldn't help but speak up for them.
"Boss, how about..."
Lu Fei waved his hand and asked, "Where is the Rou Lingzhi?"
"Master usually keeps the Rou Lingzhi in a water jar. He only takes it out when he needs to feed on someone, and he takes it into the mountains with him."
"Sometimes he hides it. I've secretly watched and know where he hides it."
The young Taoist priests cautiously looked out the window.
Even though there was no one outside, they instinctively lowered their voices.
"It's under his house."
"There's a cellar?!"
Lu Fei suddenly understood.
No wonder they had seen Master Lingyun leave the house empty-handed but couldn't find the Rou Lingzhi inside; it was hidden in the cellar.
"Every night when the moon is bright, Master goes to the roof to meditate and practice. This is the best time to steal the Rou Lingzhi," the young Taoist priests added.
"The moon?" Lu Fei frowned slightly.
Spirits love to absorb the essence of the moon for cultivation. After consuming so much blood spirit mushroom, nourished by living people, this demonic Daoist is probably no longer human.
Pretending to be a good person on the surface and adopting orphans, while secretly indulging in cannibalism, the actions of this demonic Daoist are truly abhorrent to both humans and gods.
If we can destroy that flesh spirit mushroom, it would be ridding the people of a menace.
"Master takes at least an hour for each cultivation session. When the time comes, we will keep an eye on Master, and you go find the flesh spirit mushroom. As long as you destroy it, we won't have to fear him anymore,"
The young Daoists looked at Lu Fei and his companion with hope.
"We can help. But you need to think it through. If we fail, we can retreat unscathed, but for you, there will be no turning back." Lu Fei's expression was serious.
The young Daoists exchanged glances, revealing a sorrow and bitterness that did not match their age.
"Death is death, what's the difference?"
"Being turned into ground meat is still better than being eaten by him!"