Chapter 22: The Great King of Mountain Goblins

  After entering the cave, two mountain cat spirits busily put down the bed boards and sat on the ground, patting their bellies and refusing to move again.

  Xuán Kōng had an idea in his mind and knew he had arrived at the place.

  He looked up at the sky and let out a yawn, pretending to be half asleep and half awake. As he shook his body, all his joints made a series of cracking sounds like firecrackers. A stream of pure energy emanated from his body, sweeping outward in all directions.

  Two mountain cat spirits sitting beside the bed board, self-pitying and self-reproaching, were suddenly overturned to the ground, rolling gurglingly to the edge of the cave.

  Before they could even cry out in pain, they looked up to see Xuan Kong's face right in front of them. Xuan Kong pretended to be angry and said: "You two demon monsters, who gave you the guts to come and tease me, Xuan Kong?" He stretched out his hand and lifted up the tails of the two mountain cat spirits.

  The mountain cat spirit's tail was grasped by Xuán Kōng in his hand, and its body hung upside down, only able to beg for mercy.

  Xuan Kong didn't respond to them, but instead turned his body around and looked up towards the upper part of the cave. At that moment, he saw a gigantic black creature sitting on a sandalwood chair above the cave, staring at him.

  Xuán Kōng was startled by his ghostly appearance and took a step back, shouting angrily: "What kind of monster!"

  On both sides, there were tiger-shaped generals who had become spirits, holding large axes in their hands and staring at the sky, shouting: "This is my master, the Great King of Mount Cui! What are you?"

  Everyone says that the Buddhist "Lion's Roar" is formidable, but Xuan Kong only discovered today that the tiger's roar is also quite powerful. He was stunned by a single roar from the tiger spirit and his hands loosened, dropping the two mountain cat spirits to the ground. The two mountain cat spirits quickly hugged their tails and ran to the corner to hide.

  But before Xuan Kong's mind had even reacted, his hand had already struck out with a firebolt to split the tiger spirit's head.

  This was an instinct developed from his previous life, knowing that as long as he was hit by someone, he had to counterattack at the first opportunity. The old tiger didn't know about Xuan Kong's ferocity and just sneered coldly, holding up his giant axe in front of his chest.

  All that could be heard was a loud "crack" as the tiger spirit, along with his giant axe, was struck by Xuan Kong's fiery thunderbolt.

  Xuan Kong only reacted now, shaking his head to clear his consciousness. Looking at the old tiger spirit flying backwards, he scolded with a fierce face: "You little kitten, dare to provoke your grandfather?" His previous move was just an unconscious thunderclap, and this time he deliberately activated his Xuan Gong to teach this old tiger spirit a lesson.

  That old tiger's body was split open by Xu Kong for over a meter, just as he was about to get up, but suddenly felt his hands burning. Looking again, it turned out that the giant axe used to block Xu Kong's fire and thunder had become scorching hot, and holding it in his hand was a burst of green smoke.

  His hands ached with pain and he could no longer hold on, so he threw the giant axe to the ground. The tiger looked at Xuan Kong in terror as another thunderbolt struck.

  That huge ghost stood up with its body bent, stretching out a hand to cast a misty air in front of the tiger spirit. The thunderbolt flew into the mist and could no longer be sensed; his gaze flashed, turning back to look at the Mountain Goblin King.

  The Great King of the Mountain Goblins was about to speak, opening his huge mouth that was as big as a basin, with sparse teeth over three inches long. As he moved his tongue and made a humming sound in his throat, the loud noise shook the surrounding cave walls: "Young master, please hold back for now, I have something to say."

  "How formidable!" Xuan Kong's eyes flashed as he opened his heavenly eye, seeing that the Mountain Demon King had about a thousand years of cultivation. He didn't dare to be reckless again, but still held onto the Thunder Seal, sizing up the Mountain Demon King from head to toe: "You demon, with a thousand years of cultivation, why don't you go to the outer realm to become a king or ancestor? What brings you to my Cangshan?"

  It was no longer the primordial era of chaos. At that time, there were many legendary figures in the world, each born at the dawn of creation and attaining enlightenment during the Heavenly Emperor's reign, ancient gods who cultivated their powers without regard for time.

  It was not during the time of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's journey to the West, nor during the calamity when the Demon Saints and Demon Kings roamed the earth.

  It's like Yunluo Junzhu before, who cultivated into a corpse Dan. Even a zombie with about 500 years of Dao lineage can dominate one side; if it's the Mountain Goblin King, an alien who has become a spirit, and also has a thousand years of cultivation as an old demon, in the mortal world, it's already rare to see such a thing.

  The reason is unknown even to Xuan Kong, but it's certain that there are few powerful demons appearing in the mortal realm nowadays.

  The Great King of the Mountain Demon waved his giant claws, ordering the Tiger Spirit and the Mountain Cat Spirit to retreat to the back of the cave. When only he and Xuán Kōng were left in the cave, he awkwardly bowed and said: "Let the young master know that I am the Guardian Deity of the White Cloud Temple in the capital city, and I have come to this land with the symbol of authority from the Patriarch of the Ninth Yang."

  "Chongyang Patriarch, are you referring to the Northern Sect's Wang Chongyang Patriarch?" Xuan Kong felt a sense of familiarity. In fact, which martial arts enthusiast from his generation wouldn't be familiar with this name?

  This world, although it didn't follow the historical development of previous lives, still had a considerable number of great gods appear. All the gods and demons that were mentioned by name in previous lives left their mark on this world.

  The Great King of the Mountain Goblins nodded and said: "It is indeed the Ancestor of the Northern Sect!"

  Xuan Kong furrowed his brow, the Jianpai of Cuishan had nothing to do with him for a long time, and even less so with the Southern and Northern Sects. But why did Wang Chongyang suddenly send the Guardian Deity of Cuishan Mountain? Knowing Xuan Kong's suspicions, Shan Gui Da Wang reminded: "I have received the order from the current master of Baiyun Temple, and I have come specifically to protect Commander Nie of the Brocade Guard."

  "Nie Xiaoqian's father?" Xuan Kong still didn't know the name of the hunter with the surname Nie, but when he mentioned him, Xuan Kong vaguely understood something.

  As a high-ranking official in the capital at that time, it's not surprising that Nie Xingyuan and the master of Baiyun Temple had some connections. The only thing is that I don't know why the master would send such a powerful thousand-year-old demon to protect him. Shan Gui Da Wang looked carefully at Xu Kong's face and said something astonishing:

  "My family's Guanzhu suspects that the Great Song Dynasty's State Preceptor Cihang Pudu Fa Shi is not human, nor a Buddhist disciple!"

  Xuán Kōng Xīn Dào said: "Of course, I know that Ci Hang Pu Du is not a human being. I also know that he is a thousand-year-old centipede who has become a spirit and is about to transform into a dragon." However, his mouth was shut tight, and he only pushed it away, saying: "If Ci Hang Pu Du is not a person, then what is he?"

  The Great King of the Mountain Goblins leaned in, mysteriously and quietly approached Xuankong, and whispered: "Guanzhu suspects that he is a monster!" Although he deliberately lowered his voice, it was still the same to Xuankong's ears, both were deafening.

  The Great King of the Mountain Goblins gazed intently at Xuán Kōng, his attitude would determine how he should treat him next. Just as Xuán Kōng was about to speak, the Great King waved his hand and covered the mountain cave with mist, saying: "Young master, please speak freely, this place has been sealed by my magic, except for you and me, there are no other ears here!"

  Xuan Kong didn't care if he could block the Six Eared Macaque's eavesdropping or not, he just nodded and took a few steps back, his face serious as he said: "Your mouth stinks..." The Great Mountain Goblin King never expected Xuan Kong to come up with such a sentence after being silent for so long. He really wanted to grab Xuan Kong's collar and shout in his ear: "Do you understand the situation? The Great Song Dynasty Master is a demon, he's a demon!"

  ;