“The reason I was dissatisfied just now was because you weren’t reverent enough toward the Dao Ancestor. How could you try to fool the Dao Ancestor?”

David Carter kept smiling apologetically. He took out a small wine jar and asked, “I’ve already given up chicken, fish, and meat. But does the Dao Ancestor want some wine?”

Samuel clasped his hands and bowed to the statue of the Dao Lord: “Blessings from the Supreme Celestial Venerable. Monks aren’t good at drinking.”

“Take me for example. At most, I can drink about two taels. Any more and I get drunk, so just leave a cup or two for the Dao Ancestor.”

David Carter, who was about to put away the wine jar, paused for a moment, then simply set the whole jar down.

Samuel secretly gave him a thumbs up: This old brother has found his way back; his path has broadened.

The three oil-paper packages David Carter put down contained braised pork, roast chicken, and fried fish.

The pork was tender, the roast chicken glistening with oil, and the fried fish golden and crisp.

No matter which dish, the flavor was impeccable and the aroma mouthwatering. However, there was a faint scent of incense mixed in, which slightly affected the taste.

But it didn’t affect his appetite.

He saw David Carter out the door.

The two waved goodbye—one heading down the mountain, the other returning for a second round of food.

He happily walked back to the Daoist temple, but happened to spot a cane.

It belonged to David Carter.

He picked up the cane and hurried to chase after David Carter, but when he looked down the mountain path—

It was completely empty!

The afterglow of the setting sun painted the rugged, narrow mountain road blood red. Only the mountain wind made the wild grass sway chaotically; there wasn’t even a bird in sight.

Let alone a person!

Where did David Carter go?

As soon as this thought arose, Samuel shuddered.

He suddenly recalled the scene when David Carter first appeared. When the other man showed up carrying a ghost, he’d already felt something was off.

Connecting this with David Carter’s sudden disappearance on the mountain path, he finally realized what was strange:

David Carter and the old ghost had appeared far too abruptly!

Just before they showed up, Samuel had been standing on a table by the door, looking for some dried meat.

At that time, he’d looked out into the distance but hadn’t seen a soul.

Then, in the brief moment he returned to the main hall, David Carter appeared.

He thought back further, recalling the coldness he’d felt from David Carter’s arm when helping him.

At the time, he’d assumed it was lingering yin energy from the old ghost, but now he wondered if David Carter himself was cold?

Analyzing today’s events, Samuel calmed down.

Once calm, his habitual thinking shut off, and his intelligence took over.

Previously, guided by habit, after discovering the old man David Carter was carrying was a ghost, he’d assumed David Carter was someone haunted by a ghost.

But what if David Carter was also a ghost?

Samuel continued to ponder.

If David Carter had already become a ghost, then the incense money he donated to the temple should be paper money, right?

And the gold bars he gave should be made of gold foil paper, right?

As everyone knows, in the Central Plains, there’s a long-standing folk tradition of folding gold foil paper into gold bars and burning them for the dead.

To verify his suspicion, he quickly went to open the merit box.

The gold bars were sitting there obediently.

Samuel picked one up and examined it. The color and feel were fine; though it didn’t look big, it was heavy—probably weighed a full jin.

He poured wine over it, and the liquid slid right off.

He lit a fire striker and tried to burn it with a flame, but the color of the gold bar didn’t change at all.

Obviously, there was nothing wrong with the gold bar.

Seeing the gold bar reminded him of the silver coins he’d received after destroying the old ghost, so he took out a white one and blew on it.

The silver coin instantly turned into a green banknote.

It was a type of currency he’d never seen before. The paper felt like leather, and the writing and images were arranged vertically, not horizontally as he was used to.

On the front, the four sides were bordered by images of swords, spears, sabers, and halberds. In each corner was a character, together reading ‘Grand Marshal’s Bounty’.

In the center was a large line of characters: ‘Redeem this note for ten taels of foreign silver’, with a smaller line beside it: ‘Payable on presentation, no errors allowed.’

The back was printed with a series of flags—roughly a dozen, each one different.

Looking at this utterly unfamiliar banknote, Samuel felt a sinking feeling: “This is bad. What era have I transmigrated to?”

He put away the banknote but returned the gold bar to the merit box.

The banknote was a reward from the treasure-collecting silver coin for absorbing yin energy, so it belonged to him. The gold bar, however, was incense money from David Carter’s friend for the temple.

Strictly speaking, he wasn’t really a Daoist priest of the temple, so he wasn’t qualified to keep the gold bar.

Not greedy, knowing his place—this was Samuel’s family teaching.

The gold bar was fine, so from another angle, he figured that even if there was something wrong with David Carter, the wine and meat he left behind should be fine.

So he continued eating—right now, eating was the top priority!

He was truly starving.

In the next few minutes, he ate a chicken leg, two chicken wings, three pieces of braised pork head, and four fried fish.

Eating and drinking, he swept through the food like a whirlwind.

Still not full...

He was happily eating when he happened to look up and saw the Dao Lord statue in front of him staring at him with clear disapproval.

Samuel thought about it—the Dao Lord only had a few sticks of incense, while he was feasting on meat and wine. It really wasn’t appropriate.

So he packed up the wine and meat, planning to eat in his room instead.

Out of sight, out of mind.