I have Taoism and can understand other worlds

Chapter 698 Exorcising Demons and Destroying Evil
The Flower Snake King's vertical pupils suddenly contracted, and his lazy aura vanished, replaced by a chilling, piercing demonic energy.

The demonic aura spread like a tide, making the foolish women tremble and even suffocating Zhou Fu.

He stared intently at Jiang Wen, who had appeared out of nowhere, his voice hissing at the end: "Who are you? How dare you sneak into my cave!"

Jiang Wen slowly returned to his original appearance, his green robe fluttering, his expression calm and undisturbed: "A Taoist from the mountains, I traveled here and saw a demonic aura rising to the sky, so I came to slay the demon and eliminate evil."

"Arrogant!" The Flower Snake King flew into a rage. He had been tyrannical in Jiangling County for a long time, treating living beings as worthless grass. He had never been so despised.

He let out a piercing shriek, and suddenly sprang up from the bone throne. A dense blue light burst forth, and his body rapidly expanded and lengthened in the air!

In an instant, a giant snake, several dozen feet long and as thick as a water bucket, coiled up in the palace.

Its entire body was covered in dark blue scales, its head was ferocious, and its pair of pale gold vertical pupils were full of cruelty and violence. Its scarlet tongue flickered, emitting a nauseating fishy smell.

The thick snake tail, carrying immense force, swept fiercely towards Jiang Wen's waist, the gust of wind howling as if it would tear the very fabric of space apart.

Faced with this terrifying attack, Jiang Wen didn't even move a step. He pointed his fingers like a sword and shouted softly, "Hurry!"

The Heavenly Sword, suspended at his side, let out a clear and melodious dragon's roar, transforming into a dazzling golden streak of light that arrived first despite being behind, meeting the sweeping giant tail head-on.

The sword light was not vast, but it was extremely refined, containing pure Yang energy that could destroy evil and vanquish demons.

"laugh--!"

There was no earth-shattering collision, only a soft sound like a sharp blade cutting into rotten wood.

A golden light flashed, and the seemingly indestructible blue snake tail was severed at the root.

The cross-section was as smooth as a mirror, and dark purple demon blood gushed out like a waterfall, instantly staining a large area of ​​the carpet red!

"Ouch——!"

The Flower Snake King let out a shrill, painful howl. The pain of losing its tail caused its massive body to writhe wildly, crashing against the surrounding white bone walls, causing them to crumble and fall.

For the first time, horror appeared in its eyes, and it opened its mouth to spew out a thick, black, foul-smelling cloud of poisonous mist. At the same time, it turned its ferocious head, opened its blood-red maw to reveal dagger-like fangs, and lunged at Jiang Wen with lightning speed.

Jiang Wen frowned slightly, seemingly disliking the filth of the poisonous fog.

With a casual flick of his sleeve, an invisible breeze swept out, and the thick, poisonous fog, strong enough to corrode metal, instantly dissipated and disintegrated, like ice and snow meeting the sun.

At the same time, the golden light transformed from the Heavenly Sword drew a mysterious arc in the air, like a thunderbolt from the heavens, and with a speed beyond visual perception, it pierced into the giant snake's open mouth and then pierced out from behind its head.

The giant serpent's massive body, which was charging forward, suddenly froze in mid-air, and the light in its pale golden vertical pupils quickly dimmed and dissipated. On its hard skull, a hole that was translucent from front to back was hissing and emitting blue smoke.

The next moment, the enormous snake body crashed to the ground with a thud, causing the entire palace to tremble slightly before falling silent.

As the blue light flashed, the giant snake's corpse shrank back to its human-headed, snake-bodied form, though the fatal hole in its head remained a horrifying sight.

Jiang Wen reached out and grabbed, and a dark blue-green demon core the size of a pigeon egg flew out from the corpse of the Flower Snake King and landed in his palm.

He didn't even glance at Zhou Fu, who was slumped on the ground, but simply pinched his fingertips hard. The demon core shattered instantly, turning into a pure yet impure life essence.

With a flick of his finger, the essence dispersed into countless tiny streams of light, sprinkling down like spring rain onto the women in the hall whose eyes were vacant and whose vitality was greatly depleted.

As the vital energy flowed in, a trace of color gradually returned to their pale faces, and their dull eyes slowly regained focus. Although they were still weak, the deathly stillness that had been drained of their vital energy gradually dissipated, replaced by a sense of bewilderment at surviving a catastrophe and a faint glimmer of life.

"Immortal, spare me! Immortal, spare me! That demon forced me to do it! I had no choice!"

Zhou Fu only then realized what was happening, and he scrambled to Jiang Wen's feet, tears streaming down his face, kowtowing repeatedly.

Jiang Wen looked down at him, his eyes indifferent and devoid of any emotion: "Acting as an accomplice to evil, harming the people, and sacrificing the souls of the living, his crimes deserve to be punished."

Before he finished speaking, a spark of true fire shot from his fingertip and landed on Zhou Fu.

Zhou Fu didn't even have time to scream before his obese body was instantly engulfed by the orange-red flames. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a small pile of charred ashes, his soul burned to ashes.

After dealing with the two, Jiang Wen's gaze swept over the palace of bones.

Behind the Flower Snake King's throne, which was made of skulls, he found a hidden compartment. Inside, he found several items.

A small black banner depicting a distorted image of a god, and a register made of human skin.

Upon opening the register, one finds a list of gifts to be presented to the Wolf Lord. Besides ordinary treasures, the most eye-catching items are "100,000 living souls" and "100 primordial yin vessels that have not been lost," which makes Jiang Wen's gaze even colder.

As for the small black banner, Jiang Wen could immediately recognize its connection to the God Worship Association. Thinking of the demons within the association, he understood that the evil spirits of Jiangling County were likely inextricably linked to them.

"The God Worship Society is truly a scourge," Jiang Wen muttered.

He probed further with his divine sense and discovered a hidden staircase leading downwards in the deepest part of the palace.

Descending the steps, one arrives at a small stone chamber, in the center of which lies a blood pool several meters in diameter.

The viscous blood in the pool had not yet completely congealed, and it was bubbling and churning, exuding a soaring resentment and a bloody stench. It was unknown how many lives had been taken to gather here.

Jiang Wen frowned and took out a withered and dull locust tree branch from his storage ring.

The branch appeared lifeless, but when he threw it into the pool of blood, a strange change occurred.

The tree branches, as if alive, greedily absorbed the filthy blood and tangled resentment from the pool, and their originally dry bark even faintly revealed a barely perceptible dark sheen.

As the blood pool was drained, Jiang Wen closed his eyes and carefully sensed the connection between the locust tree branch and his soul.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, a look of seriousness flashing across them.

He did indeed sense Zi Yun's extremely faint aura, but she seemed to be in poor condition, currently in some kind of slumber. Unfortunately, the direction from which this sense came was vague and distant, seemingly separated by thousands of miles, making it difficult to pinpoint her exact location.

"It seems we need to settle the current matters concerning the worship ceremony and the wolf lord before planning anything else."

Jiang Wen thought to himself as he carefully put away the locust tree branch that had absorbed the darkening color.

Back in the upper palace, Jiang Wen used magic to awaken the women who were already mentally clear but extremely weak. After explaining the situation, he led the hundred women who had survived the ordeal away from the demonic cave.

Emerging from the secret passage and returning to the brightly lit Rouge Lane, Jiang Wen waved his sleeve, unleashing a surge of overwhelming spiritual power.

Rumble——!
With a deafening roar, the filthy pavilion shook violently, its beams and pillars snapped, and its bricks and tiles crumbled, turning into ruins in the blink of an eye.

The courtesans, pimps, and thugs inside the brothel fled in panic. Seeing the building collapse, they stood frozen in shock. Jiang, upon hearing this, said that the brothel was destroyed, and all contracts of servitude were null and void. He dismissed everyone, sending them home.

Back at the county office, Jiang Wen told Jiang Su and Dan Chen everything that had happened that night.

Upon hearing that the Flower Snake King actually intended to sacrifice 100,000 living souls, Dan Chen turned pale with anger and roared, "Such an evil deed is intolerable to Heaven!"

He then bowed to Jiang Wen and said, "Senior, you have acted on behalf of Heaven. We, the disciples of Tai Shen Palace, thank you."

Jiang Wen waved his hand to indicate that there was nothing wrong, and the three continued to discuss the follow-up.

Jiangling County cannot be without a leader for even a day, and someone is needed to appease the people and handle the resettlement of refugees and the rescued women.

Jiang Wen then took out a specially made piece of yellow paper, sketched it with his fingertips, blew on it, and the paper figure landed and transformed into an identical appearance to Zhou Fu.

Although his expression was dull, he was able to follow orders and temporarily maintain the operation of the county government and stabilize the situation.

"Dan Chen, you will stay here for now and assist this paper-figure magistrate in settling the refugees and helping those women return home. Once the affairs of Weizhou are settled, send a message to the sect or the prefecture to send a reliable person to take over," Jiang Wen instructed.

Dan Chen solemnly accepted the order: "Senior, rest assured, this disciple will do his best!"

Jiang Wen nodded and exchanged a glance with Jiang Su: "Since the Wolf Lord can make the Flower Snake King offer such a generous gift, he must be no ordinary person, or perhaps he is closely related to the God Worshiping Society. Let's go to the Double Camel Hump listed in the gift list to find out more and meet this fiend."

The plan was finalized, and the next morning...

Jiang Wen and Jiang Su quietly left Jiangling County, their figures transforming into two streaks of light as they headed north towards the mountain peak that resembled two camels.

(End of this chapter)