"This is terrible! The demonic creature from hell is so formidable and cruel, if it comes to our White Cloud City, won't all the citizens of the city be buried under its evil grasp?"
Suddenly, someone loudly said, "Our White Cloud City's City God and Land Deity are all-powerful and extensive. How could we allow that demon to enter the city? If it comes, it will definitely be suppressed by the City God and its soul will be extinguished in the temple." The person's words had just fallen when someone immediately responded, "Have you forgotten what happened twenty years ago when a ghost ape appeared and the City God manifested to seal it?" As soon as this person spoke, others echoed in agreement, and the tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed. People went back to drinking tea and raising their cups.
"This demon may be formidable, but how can he compare to the vast and mighty White Cloud City's Cheng Huang? If he comes, it will be his own path to death." The white-haired storyteller on stage spoke with a loud and clear voice. Immediately, the audience on stage cheered and applauded, with many people echoing: "If he comes, it will indeed be his own path to death."
"Perhaps everyone still doesn't know, just three days ago, the Qingye of Jiuding Mountain has been ordered to come down from the mountain. The wooden truth of Duochentemple has received the order of Guanzhu, and Mo Xianzi of Guanxing Spirit Sect is in this city. Their trip is only for demon-slaying." The old storyteller's voice was full of energy, his tone rising and falling as he spoke in one breath. After finishing, the audience was silent at first, but then burst into thunderous applause.
However, after the applause, a calm and collected voice asked, "What makes these three think they can slay demons?"
The questioner sat in a corner, two people at a table, judging from their attire, they were not locals. The speaker was one of the young men. As soon as he finished speaking, it was like stirring up a hornet's nest, provoking everyone to glare at him angrily. However, he remained calm and continued with great courage and composure: "I am an outsider, I don't know why these three sages have such great reputations, just mentioning their names makes all of you cheer."
After he finished speaking, the crowd actually calmed down, realizing that he was indeed an outsider and not intentionally looking for trouble. At this point, everyone fell into a unanimous silence, with some half-closing their eyes, slowly picking up the tea on the table, taking a sip, and savoring it on the tip of their tongue, unsure whether they were tasting the tea or the atmosphere.
The storyteller cleared his throat and said to the young man sitting in the corner, "Judging from your attire, you must be from the Baoling area of Jiuhua Prefecture?"
The guests were silent, seemingly often encountering this situation, and it was always the old storyteller who responded.
"Old master has good eyesight." The young man, though young and speaking with a sharp tongue, was also a traveler outside, and his speech, apart from being sharp, was quite decent.
The old man smiled and said, "No wonder the rural guests don't know them. If I were to tell you about their origins in the three sects of Xiandu, it would take until tomorrow to finish speaking. Just remember that the Jiuding Mountain, Duschen Temple, and Guanxingling Sect are the largest sects in Heihezhou, and these three are among the most outstanding disciples. Jiuding Qingye was only ten years old when he eliminated a demon, Duschen Mu Zhen went down the mountain three years ago to rescue people, his magical powers boundless. Mo Xianzi has never left Guanxingling Sect, but countless talented cultivators from various sects have wanted to form a Daoist partnership with her, none of whom did not return defeated and convinced. Now that these three are leading the way in exterminating demons, the talents of each sect in Heihezhou will surely gather, and these trivial demons won't even be able to put up a fight."
The audience in the hall, upon learning that there were people from other provinces listening, now had looks of pride on their faces. Just as the young man was about to say something, an older person next to him patted his hand and smiled at the crowd: "He is truly a divine being with the demeanor of an immortal; one day he will surely be recorded in the register of immortals."
In the hall, the guest's face showed a hint of a smile, yet he seemed to be oblivious, sipping tea and eating dishes as if nothing was amiss. The young man couldn't hold back, suddenly saying in a neither loud nor soft tone: "I wonder how she compares to Ye Qingxue from my Jiuhua Qianluo Mountain!"
The hall fell silent, but this silence was not the carefree and joyful silence of before. It was a silence that yearned to say something, yet found no words to express itself. The young man looked at the guests in the hall, his face filled with excitement. He picked up a bowl of wine from the table, downed it in one gulp, and then set it back down, the sound of the bowl hitting the table echoing loudly in the silence.
"Hehe, this time the demon-slaying is just a small matter. The real big deal is that after slaying the demon, we will head to Jiuhua State to meet with Qian Luo Ye Qingxue." The old storyteller said to the young man.
The young man, however, was slightly taken aback and then loudly said: "If that's the case, I'm sure you'll all personally go to see it. In that case, I'll wait for your arrival in Bashan City." After he finished speaking, he left, and another older man wanted to say something but ultimately didn't open his mouth, following the young man out.
As soon as the young man left, the guests in the hall suddenly became lively, and one by one they eagerly asked if what the old storyteller had just said was true. The old storyteller picked up a blue-green tea cup from the table and calmly said: "If my guess is not wrong, at least one of them will go to Mount Qianluo. Because Ye Qingxue became the leader of Mount Qianluo, according to convention she should have announced it to the world, but she didn't, because she was self-proclaimed and also bore the crime of rebellion."
The old storyteller had just finished speaking when everyone in the hall became excited and began comparing the three of them to Ye Qingxue.
Jiuhua Sect's Thousand Luo Gate was just a small sect, perhaps once prosperous, at most only a medium-sized sect. However, after the sect was destroyed, it became known to people all over the world. Especially Ye Qingxue, after everyone knew her, they would ask her what kind of magic she had, what kind of magical treasure she possessed. But the answer would always be the same: "No magical treasure, no powerful magic or divine ability, only Thunder Magic, which seven or eight out of ten sects in the world possess."
The lightning technique that most sects possess was in her hands like a living thing, at her beck and call, vanishing into thin air.
Chen Jingke was unaware of all this, and he was now sitting in a valley. His complexion wasn't good, but fortunately his body had stopped emitting black smoke, and his flesh had withered away. He clearly knew that after more than 300 years in the underworld's Qin Guang City, his flesh had been completely eroded by the yin spirits' energy. If he stayed there without coming out, it wouldn't be a problem, but once he came out, he would appear like a ghostly body in the mortal world, and could disperse at any moment. Fortunately, he was originally a person of this world, although his skin and flesh had been eroded, they wouldn't completely dissipate.
His five internal organs all had a withered feeling, and when he looked inward at his own body, his skeleton was already dyed a deathly gray. If not for the power of his own Dharma protecting him, he would have long since become a desiccated corpse.
In the pitch-black night, one couldn't see their own fingers when stretching out. In the valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, there were faint sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling in the mountains. A pile of dry firewood had been lit, illuminating an area of about three meters around it. Next to the bonfire lay a tiger, its blood already congealed on the ground, but the smell of blood still lingered in the air as the flames danced. One of the tiger's legs had been brutally torn off and was now being held by a withered, dark hand suspended above the fire, roasting over the flames, the fatty tissue on the tiger's leg sizzling and crackling.
Chen Jing didn't necessarily have to eat the tiger leg meat. After his cultivation reached a certain level, he could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body and no longer needed to eat. He roasted and ate the tiger leg only to remind himself that he was still alive. He had been sitting here for over a month since leaving Xianfu Sect, using his previous experience to finally enter a meditative state and calm down the curse's anger.
It was only when he looked at the water during the day that he scared himself. What was this, no longer a human being, but a corpse with a dark green face like tree bark, red spots all over, like red moss. His eyes reflected from the clear and calm water, giving off an eerie feeling, as if it were accompanied by a bloody smell, matching his facial expression, he himself felt a chill rising in his heart.
"Is this still me?" At this moment, even he himself was confused. He had always thought that no matter what curse he was under or what he did, he would never change, but at this moment his heart wavered.
The aroma wafts and attracts fierce beasts in the mountains to peek from the darkness, but they dare not approach. Their instincts tell them that this place is extremely dangerous.
Chen Jing put the scalding hot chicken leg to his nose and couldn't smell any meaty aroma. He opened his mouth, took a hard bite, and the fatty acids flowed into his mouth.
The sky gradually brightened, and Chen Jing disappeared into the morning mist.
At dawn, a green leaf floated down from the sky, fluttering like a green butterfly. Just as it was about to land, it transformed into a person with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, wearing a green Taoist robe with purple silk trim. On his chest was a subtle pattern of leaves, and a strand of green silk tied back his black hair.
The fire on the ground has gone out, the tiger's corpse is still there, and a roasted tiger leg that had been bitten into was still beside the ashes.
He narrowed his eyes, slightly wrinkled his nose, and thought to himself: "Such a heavy demonic aura, no wonder after walking for at least half the night, the remaining breath can still make the wild beasts in the mountains dare not approach... Suddenly leaving in the middle of the night, could it be that he sensed my arrival nearby?"
A gust of wind blew in, and he suddenly floated up like a thin green paper, drifting down to become a green leaf, flipping and flying away towards the horizon.
Chen Jing had thought of all sorts of dangers before returning to the mortal world, but he never could have imagined that he would be rejected by this heaven and earth where he grew up. Nor did he expect that the place he emerged from was in Hei Fangzhou, although it is adjacent to Jiu Hua Zhou, it is also more than 300,000 miles away.
Fortunately, he felt the distant Xiu Chun Wan's incense and wishes as soon as he returned to the world. In his heart, it was like a guiding lantern that not only prevented him from losing direction but also gave him a sense of coolness when his mind was confused. Although it couldn't suppress the "Wandering Soul Nightmare Curse", Chen Jingming clearly felt its effect. So now, what he most wants to do is to return to Xiu Chun as soon as possible and go to the place where his incense is strongest to see if he can use the incense wishes to drive away this "Wandering Soul Nightmare Curse".
All the way to Chuzhou, there is a thirty-thousand-mile road in between, and he dare not pass by the city. Even in the mountains and rivers, they are all mountain gods and river gods, and he has not done anything to borrow the way. When it's time to return, the way hasn't been borrowed yet, but instead, he was suppressed by the power of the mountains and rivers.
So he flew into the sky when 'Wanghunmengzhoushu' calmed down, and naturally didn't need to borrow from the gods on earth, nor was he afraid of being suppressed by the gods with the power of mountains and rivers.
