Lin Wu was surpassed by Shirong's words and didn't think that they were here to kill someone. Still, it was not really a concern of his and all he could do right now was to observe.

As soon as Shirong gave the order, all of them jumped down from the roof and entered the old temple. The doors of the temple were already open and seemed like they were never even closed. But looking at it closer, Lin Wu could tell that the reason was simply because they were broken from the hinge and were simply left like that.

Shirong looked around and scanned the area with his spirit sense only to find that the priest that he was looking for was right to the corner. Lin Wu also got to take a look at the temple due to this and saw that there were actually three statues placed in the center of the temple.

There was a circle in the center, and around it, the three statues were erected in a triangular pattern. Although the rest of the temple was rather deteriorated, the statues were still relatively well maintained. The three statues were each of a beast.

The statue at the top of the triangular formation was that of a turtle, the one to the left of the triangle was a tiger, and finally to the right was the dragon. Looking at them, Lin Wu was reminded of the three guardians of the Ming Dao world.

"Hmm, I think I read something about this, didn't I?" Lin Wu muttered and tried to remember.

A moment later he remembered the importance of the three statues. The temple that Lin Wu was in was called as the temple of the three guardians and was the biggest religion of the Ming Dao world. Each and every clan and sect in this world worshiped the three guardians beasts.

Even if there were other religions in this world they did not really conflict with the religion of the three guardians, so nearly everyone was fine with it. Though there were certain exceptions, such as the unorthodox cultivators and cults that would worship evil gods and deities.

Lin Wu knew that in a cultivation world like this, while religion seemed a bit strange as there were people that were literally 'gods' they still had a certain value. At least in terms of the religion of the three guardians, they seemed to provide some actual blessings to people.

Lin Wu wanted to take a deeper look at the detailed information, but realized that he should focus on what was going on in front of him right now.

"There he is!" Bei Wen pointed.

The priest who had been kneeling all this time in the corner opened his eyes. The priest looked like he was in his sixties and had wrinkles on his face. He was wearing some old but clean robes that depicted the three guardian beasts on the back.

"Ah seems like some fellow Daoists have come to visit this old temple." The priest spoke with a calm voice.

Shirong did not reply and simply gestured with his eyes. The three men that were under their control moved forwards at a great speed and surrounded the priest. The priest seemed shocked by this and could not really react before the three men made a move.

~Shing~

~Splatter~

Each of them had stabbed a dagger through the body of the priest. One of them entered from his left side of the body into the heart, the second one did the same but from the right side and then the third one from the very center of his chest.

~Cough~

"Wha-what did this old priest do to warrant this? We have nothing of value here…" The priest uttered with difficulty before falling silent.

His eyes rolled back into his head and he took his last breath. In that moment, Lin Wu was able to sense that the three men who were being controlled were actually all core condensation realm cultivators! Even the priest that died was a core condensation realm cultivator.

"What are they doing? Why would they randomly kill that guy?" Lin Wu wondered.

Shirong then looked at Bei Wen and Ye Dai.

"Are they ready?" He asked.

Both of them held their respective communication jade slips and closed their eyes for a moment before answering.

"The ceremony has not started in the main temple. The men will act when it reaches the correct moment." Both Ye Dai and Bei Wen spoke.

"Good," Shirong said as he nodded his head.

He then started making certain mudras and formation runes appeared in the air. Ye Dai and Bei Wen stood to the side and did not dare to interfere in whatever their young master was doing. The three men who were being controlled had been ordered to stand in front of the statues instead.

Shirong kept on making more and more mudras, controlling the runes that were floating around. The runes would attach to the walls of the temple, while some of them would simply float around in the air. Five minutes passed and by now a complex formation array had been set up.

Ye Dai and Bei Wen were a bit dumbstruck by seeing this, as the entire formation array was set up without the use of any additional components.

"Young master's attainments in formations are simply outstanding." Ye Dai praised.

Shirong finally stopped setting up the formation array and wiped the beads of sweat that had appeared on his forehead.

"Nows the most sensitive time, how's the ceremony progressing on the other end?" Shirong asked.

Bei Wen checked and furrowed his brows.

"They have still not started for some reason." He informed.

"Did they suspect something?" Ye Dai asked with concern.

"Doesn't matter, we already have the scapegoats. Even if they find us, we shouldn't have much problem." Shirong replied.

They then waited for about eight minutes, after which Bei Wen suddenly spoke.

"They've started the ceremony!"

"Get in positions," Shirong ordered, making Bei Wen and Ye Dai move to each of the controlled men.

Shirong stood in front of one of the controlled men as well and took out a dagger. This was mirrored by the two followers as well.

They stood still for a moment and then stabbed into the hearts of the three controlled men at the same time.