In the blink of an eye, Little Gray had been back on Mount Dazong for several days. During this time, it seemed that he hadn't left Mount Dazong for almost ten years, and he was still so familiar with every blade of grass and tree here. Every day, Little Gray played and frolicked with Big Yellow, running east and west, and the usually quiet Mount Dazong suddenly became lively again in these few days.

  The barking of dogs and the shrill laughter of monkeys echoed from time to time on the Dazhu Peak, adding a few more touches of vitality.

  Early in the morning, the disciples of Da Zhu Feng walked out of their bedrooms in twos and threes, gazing at a monkey and a dog frolicking and running about on the empty ground outside the Quiet Hall, and couldn't help but reveal smiles.

  He Dazhi smiled and turned back to the crowd, saying: "Since our junior sister got married that year, it's been a long time since we've had such a lively scene here."

  Everyone nodded in agreement, with a hint of emotion, just then, suddenly heard someone coughing from the Guardian Hall, the voice was loud and majestic, everyone was shocked, only to see Tian Bu Yi standing there, hastily stepped forward to pay respects, greeting his master.

  Tian waved his hand casually, dismissing the crowd. His gaze was then drawn to the two dogs, Da Huang and Xiao Hui. After watching them for a while, he snorted and said, "Two ignorant beasts, making such a ruckus at dawn as if they've gone mad, honestly not letting people sleep."

  The disciples were stunned for a moment, but they didn't dare say more due to the master's dignity. Tian Bu Yi cursed again and said that it was a waste of time raising this stupid dog for so many years, and in the end, he still couldn't beat a silly monkey... Everyone thought it was funny, but they didn't dare laugh out loud.

  But in a short while, the big yellow dog that was originally playing and frolicking in the distance suddenly let out a loud bark towards Tian Nayei at the Shou Jing Tang.

  "Woof woof woof, woof woof...!" A loud and piercing sound of a dog barking echoed in the early morning. The big yellow dog looked fierce, with its tongue hanging out, seemingly dissatisfied with Tian Naiyi, as if it had heard his curses and was harboring resentment.

  All the disciples secretly thought, could it be that Da Huang has indeed made some progress in his Taoist practice? Otherwise, even if he had the keenest ears of a dog, he wouldn't have been able to hear so clearly from such a great distance. However, if he were an enlightened old dog, then that would be a different story altogether.

  Everyone in the crowd was secretly guessing, but Tian Bu Yi was suddenly caught off guard by Da Huang's sudden attack and his face turned red with anger. "Rebel, rebel! Now even dogs dare to jump out and bark loudly!" he shouted at Liu Yu.

  Du Bishu, standing among the crowd, suddenly shuddered and jumped in fright, hastily stepping forward to say:

  "Master, your disciple is here, what are your orders?"

  Tian Buer seemed to be furious, pointing at the distant Da Huang and Xiao Hui who were still barking loudly, and shouted: "This noon, you will slaughter that stupid dog for me, and stew a pot of dog meat for me to eat!" After finishing speaking, he turned around with hatred and entered the Shou Jing Tang.

  Du Bi's eyes widened and he stood frozen in place, cold sweat dripping down his face as he stuttered: "What? Master, this..."

  Before the words were finished, Tian Naiyi had already disappeared into thin air. A moment later, the people behind Du Bishu burst out laughing, and Song Daren and the others laughed so hard they almost choked to death. Du Bishu was anxious and flustered, saying: "What are you all laughing at? This is an order from Master, what can I do?"

  Song Daren stepped forward, collecting his smile, although his eyes were still full of laughter, but his face was solemn and serious, patted Du Bishu's shoulder, and said seriously: "Younger brother, this is a heavy responsibility entrusted to you by our master, you must complete it well."

  Du Bi Shu burst into tears and said urgently, "Who are you trying to deceive? Everyone here knows that Master's favorite is the big yellow dog. Not only can't we slaughter it, even if we just pull out one of its hairs, Master won't give us a good face. Now, if I really take Master's orders and later Master regrets it, will I still be alive?"

  Song Daren smiled and turned to leave, while his second disciple Wu Dayi walked over and nodded heavily at Du Bishu, saying: "Old Six, you indeed are a clever person, understanding Master's true intentions. In that case, you don't have to follow Master's orders."

  He Daizhi looked up at the sky and slowly walked away, muttering to himself: "But I've heard that Master hates it the most when we disciples disobey his orders. If Master finds out that Lao Liu dared to ignore his words, this..."

  His laughter drifted away with the wind, but he himself had walked far off. Du Bi Shu was like an ant on a hot skillet, turning around in circles on the spot. He turned his head to look back, only to see that everyone had already headed towards the kitchen. He couldn't help but loudly shout at the backs of those senior brothers: "You guys without any sense of justice will eventually get your retribution!"

  His voice had passed, and it was unknown whether Song Daren and others heard or not. Far away, only saw Song Daren's head did not turn back, but stretched out his right hand in mid-air and waved it once, faintly, as if their laughter also came...

  ※※※

  "Silly dog, stupid dog, dead dog..."

  "Woof woof woof, woof woof!"

  "What, you actually dare to yell at me!" Du Bishu gritted his teeth and scolded the large yellow thing tied to the tree trunk, "It's all because of your meddling that I got assigned this ghostly task by Master."

  Around noon, Du Bishu finally caught the big yellow dog that was running wildly all over the mountain under the gaze of his fellow disciples who were gloating at his misfortune. He tied it to a tree stump in front of the kitchen door, while Xiaohui hung from a branch with its tail, seemingly also puzzled by what Du Bishu was doing, swaying back and forth on the tree, watching the humans and dogs arguing below.

  As for Da Huang, he obviously didn't have a good impression of Du Bishu at this moment. With a fierce dog face, he barked incessantly at Du Bishu.

  Du Bishu scolded Dahuang nonstop, but he didn't dare to really kill him and stew his meat like Tian Nanyi said. However, this master had a strange temper, and it was unpredictable whether he would take out his anger on him when he saw Dahuang here. Thinking of these things, Du Bishu's heart was truly worried, not knowing what to do.

  Dà Huáng was clearly dissatisfied with being tied to the tree stump, his dog mouth wide open, revealing sharp fangs, and he loudly barked at Dù Bì Shū. Dù Bì Shū felt annoyed and frustrated, glared at Dà Huáng, shook his head, and muttered to himself: "Forget it, forget it, anyway I'm just unlucky, let's go cook first. Hope Master is in a better mood later."

  As he spoke, he turned around and walked towards the kitchen, his face filled with worry and distress, no longer paying attention to Da Huang. By the time he entered the kitchen, Da Huang's barking had stopped, probably because it was just a solo bark, not very meaningful, and soon quieted down.

  To cater to Tian's difficult temper, Du Bishu cooked this meal with great care and dedication. He was completely focused on his work, occasionally hearing the loud barking of Da Huang coming from outside the kitchen, followed by a low "woo woo" sound. Du Bishu didn't pay much attention to it, concentrating solely on stir-frying and cooking.

  Anyway, at this moment, all of you masters and parents won't come here, he's happy with the peace.

  Finally, after cooking a delicious meal, Du Bishu let out a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat with a towel and walked out of the kitchen. But as soon as he came out, he was stunned to see that only a piece of rope was left on the tree stump, while Dahuang and Xiaohui were nowhere to be seen. Du Bishu's heart sank, looking around but not seeing any trace of the monkey or dog, thinking to himself if one of his fellow disciples was playing a prank on him at this time?

  He hastily ran towards the bedroom where his younger brothers were, one by one asking them what had happened, but unexpectedly everyone was completely unaware, with some even teasing him. But at this moment, Du Bishu didn't have any mind to joke around, his head spinning with confusion. Just then, suddenly a loud dog bark came from afar, everyone was startled, and Du Bishu was the first to rush out, carefully identifying the source, only to find that it was coming from Zhang Xiaofan's old room.

  Du Bishu hastily rushed to that room, and the other disciples of Dazhu Peak also came one after another. When they entered the door, they only saw Da Huang standing in the courtyard, barking loudly at the sky, while Xiao Hui was nowhere to be seen.

  Everyone looked up at the sky, but only saw the blue sky high and endless, without any unusual signs. Song Daren and others searched hastily, but unexpectedly, after searching all the rooms, they still couldn't find Xiao Hui's shadow. Just like how it came mysteriously, this monkey Xiao Hui disappeared mysteriously once again.

  Somehow, amidst Da Huang's barking, everyone seemed to have lost something.

  That noon, when Du Bishu was nervously awaiting lunch, only Su Ru appeared before the crowd of disciples. Everyone was surprised, but Du Bishu was overjoyed, yet still asked with concern:

  "Master's wife, why hasn't Master come?"

  Su Ru gave him a glance, but didn't bother to respond, and instead turned her head slightly towards the direction of Shou Jing Tang. Her face had an unusual expression, and after a moment, she said: "Your master... has some thoughts on his mind, he's not in a good mood, and doesn't want to eat today."

  Everyone was stunned, but when they looked at Su Rou's face, they didn't dare ask more questions.

  On top of the bamboo peak, it seems to have returned to its usual calmness, except for the occasional loud barking of Da Huang towards the sky, as if nothing had happened.

  ※※※

  A figure emerged from the depths of the Qingyun Mountains, floating down with a light and mysterious aura, as if it were a legendary mountain spirit. As the figure swept to a certain spot at the foot of the Qingyun Mountains, it suddenly came to an abrupt halt, its original rapid speed producing a low, soft whistling sound in mid-air before coming to a complete stop, causing the grass and flowers beneath its feet to rustle with a soft "shhh" sound.

  At once, they were all blown forward by the wind.

  It turned out to be Gui Li.

  No one knew where Gui Lie came from in Qingyun Mountain, but on his shoulder, Xiao Hui was lying on his shoulder again, reuniting with his master. Xiao Hui was obviously very happy, his long tail curled up and wrapped around Gui Lie's arm. Especially at some point, the large wine bag on Xiao Hui's body had inflated again, emitting a strong aroma of wine. Xiao Hui was even more delighted, hugging the big bag tightly, not letting go, occasionally opening the bag to take a sip, with a satisfied expression.

  However, Gui Li apparently wouldn't be like Xiao Hui, his face was pale and his eyes scanned the surroundings, only to see the dense forest around him, a silence, with only a faint bird call coming from afar.

  The demon's face suddenly turned cold as he sneered and said faintly, "Come out."

  No one answered, and Gui Li also stopped speaking. He slowly turned around, standing quietly in a certain direction. After a while, someone suddenly sighed, "It's only been a few days, I didn't expect your skills to have improved so much, it's truly astonishing!"

  A figure flashed by, and a man in black walked out of the depths of the forest. It was Mr. Gui.

  This person has always been mysterious and unpredictable, forever appearing in places where no one expects him to be.

  He looked at him with a faint gaze, his eyes slightly cold, though not showing much disgust, but obviously not having a good impression of this person either. "You're waiting for me here, what's the matter?"

  The ghostly gentleman's gaze wandered, first looking at the small grey on Ghost Ji's shoulder, especially staring at the third eye on Xiao Hui's forehead for a while, before turning to look at Ghost Ji and saying: "What, Vice Sect Master doesn't want to meet with me?"

  The ghost let out a cold hum and didn't say anything.

  The ghost gentleman nodded and said: "This is up to you, but this time it's not that I have something to say, but rather the Ghost King, our sect leader, sent a message to me a few days ago, asking me to pass on some words to you."

  The ghost frowned and said, "What's going on?"

  "Ghost King Sect Master heard that you were injured in front of the Qingyun Mountain Huan Yue Dongfu and was very concerned. He ordered those hiding in the Central Plains to find you and pass on a message. If they found the Deputy Sect Master, if the Deputy Sect Master's body is weak and injured, he can return to the Barbaric Wastes for recuperation, as his health is important; if fortunately the Deputy Sect Master has no major issues, then there is another matter that requires the Deputy Sect Master's trouble."

  The ghost was silent for a moment, then said, "You speak."

  Master Gui smiled faintly behind the black veil, his voice low and solemn: "The Ghost King Sect Master already knows that the Beast God retreated in defeat from this battle of Qingyun. This beast slaughtered countless members of our Holy Church, making it an arch-nemesis that we cannot coexist with. Now is a rare opportunity to slay this beast. It must have escaped to the southern border, which it is familiar with. Only the Deputy Sect Master is familiar with the southern border in our church. I hope the Deputy Sect Master will go to the southern border to hunt and kill, which would be a great deed for our Holy Church."

  The demon nodded silently for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll go."

  Mr. Gui nodded slightly, but suddenly took a few steps forward, came to the front of Gui Lie, lowered his voice and said: "However, on this trip, the sect master specially privately entrusted me to tell you that chasing and killing the beast god is important, but there is another matter that is even more important."

  The ghost's expression changed, and he said, "What?"

  Master Gui's eyes flickered, and he said in a low voice: "The Patriarch has ordered that there is a ferocious beast, Taotie, beside the Beast God. No matter what, even if the Beast God escapes, this ferocious beast, Taotie, must be captured alive and brought back to the Barbaric Land."

  "This matter is of great importance, Vice Sect Master, remember, remember!"

  The ghost frowned and looked at Mr. Gui deeply, saying: "What does the patriarch want to do?"

  Mr. Gui stood up straight, his tone returned to normal, and said faintly: "This is no longer something I can know."

  He stared at Gui Li for a long time, then suddenly turned around, without looking back, his figure flashed like lightning, and in an instant he had swept away, disappearing from sight. Only Mr. Gui was left standing on the spot, staring in the direction where Gui Li had gone, after a while, he muttered to himself:

  "It's strange, how can he improve so much in such a short period of time?"

  "Who were those black-robed men who saved him that day?"

  Soft whispers, drifting with the wind, quietly echoing in the dense forest, finally disappearing.