Junior Sister is skilled in subduing demons.

Chapter 191 Meeting in Aden
While Tuantuan's business venture with Monkey Laobiao failed, Shen Anzhi, Ge Wensong, Zi Lingxuan, and others also crossed the Five-Colored Pool and arrived at Yading Village.

Dusk came exceptionally early to Yading Village. The leaden-gray clouds pressed down on the snow-capped mountain peaks, making it hard to breathe. Shen Anzhi gripped the demon-refining gourd at his waist, his knuckles turning white from the force.

The distant sound of copper bells from yaks carrying loads mingled with the neighing of horses, creating a cacophony beneath the ancient cypress tree at the village entrance. Zi Lingxuan's Emei dagger flashed a silver streak in the twilight, pointing towards the brightly lit post station in the distance: "The village center is just past that barley field. We need to rest here tonight."

Just as Ge Wensong was about to speak, he saw An Zhi suddenly stop, his gaze fixed on the colorful figure on the hitching post by the roadside. It was a giant tiger covered in scales, lazily licking its front paws, its saddle embroidered with the black bird totem of the ancient Shu Kingdom. The rider was a burly man dressed in animal skins, a bronze dagger hanging at his waist, sipping barley wine from a pottery jar through a bamboo tube.

"The wind-riding figures of Qingcheng Mountain, the beast-taming warriors of ancient Shu, and the shamans of the Ba people..." Zi Lingxuan whispered, counting the figures that brushed past her, when she suddenly heard An Zhi exclaim softly. Following her gaze, she saw three young men in Taoist robes riding cranes across the sky, their clear cries causing the snow on the branches to fall in a flurry.

“What a magnificent steed…” Anzhi murmured to herself, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the bamboo scraps remaining on her sleeve. They were fragments of the collar around Tuantuan’s neck, which she still kept hidden in her clothes. Ge Wensong noticed the melancholy in her eyes and gently touched her shoulder: “After the war is over, maybe Tuantuan can take you flying all over the Shu Mountains.”

Zi Lingxuan suddenly stopped, her Emei dagger pointing straight at the alley ahead: "There's a demonic aura."

Black mist billowed from the ruins of Daocheng outside Yading Village, and the stench of rotting flesh wafted in on the mountain breeze. Shen Anzhi covered his mouth and nose, and saw countless hunched figures emerging from the black mist, their skin as bluish-black as rotten wood, and ghostly green flames flickering in their eye sockets—these were the demon soldiers he had encountered at the Five-Colored Pool, only the leader was exceptionally tall, with a bull's head and a human body, and chains like venomous snakes wrapped around his horns; the sound of his feet crushing the stone slabs was like muffled thunder.

"You've come at the perfect time." The Minotaur Demon General's voice was like two pieces of iron rubbing together. "By order of the Demon Lord, I will take your heads to offer as a sacrifice to the flag." Ge Wensong drew his longsword, but An Zhi grabbed his wrist. She stared at the skull beads hanging from the Demon General's waist and suddenly remembered the words of the old bamboo weaver in the bamboo forest: "Demon soldiers are divided into nine ranks. This is the Plague Demon General, who carries corpse poison all over his body. You cannot fight him head-on."

Before he could finish speaking, the demon general swung his spiked club and smashed it down. Amidst the flying debris, Anzhi grabbed Ge Wensong and rolled on the ground, narrowly escaping death.

Zi Lingxuan's Emei daggers, like serpents emerging from their holes, aimed straight for the demon general's throat, but were repelled by a layer of eerie green poisonous mist the instant they touched his skin. "Watch out!" An Zhi threw out the Demon Refining Gourd, its mouth unleashing a powerful suction that drew in the nearby demon soldiers. The demon general grinned and pounded his chest, and the poisonous mist suddenly thickened several times over, even turning the moonlight into an eerie bluish-gray.

"Amitabha, be careful, benefactor!" Amidst the deep chanting of the Buddha, a golden light cleaved through the poisonous fog. Shen Anzhi looked up and saw a stout monk in a kasaya riding on a staff, descending through the air. The relic embedded at the top of the staff emitted countless golden rays, and wherever it went, the poisonous fog melted away like ice and snow.

"Cihang Temple is open to all benefactors." The abbot clasped his hands together, and the eighteen prayer beads on his wrist gleamed with spiritual light: "This demon can only be cured by destroying its source of poison."

"Make way." A sharp sword whistle came from the left. A swordsman in a green robe rode his sword, the sword light like an inverted Milky Way, it was the "Star Rain Without Trace" from the Shu Mountain Sword Technique.

The demon general's spiked club clashed with the sword light, sparking a shower of sparks. The swordsman sheathed his sword and stood up, the jade pendant at his waist engraved with the three characters "Mo Jianchen": "Uncle-Master Xuanfeng of Qingcheng Mountain has set up the Cleansing Dust Formation. You may take this opportunity to defeat the enemy."

Anzhi then noticed that eight bronze pillars had been erected around them, their surfaces covered with Taoist runes. Zi Lingxuan whispered, "It's the Qingcheng Sect's Bagua Cleansing Array, which can purify evil spirits." Before she finished speaking, the monk Tongda had already swung his staff and struck the demon general's ankle. The demon general fell to his knees in pain. Anzhi seized the opportunity, made a hand seal, and activated the Demon Refining Gourd. A beam of icy blue light shot out from the gourd's mouth, striking the demon general squarely between the eyebrows.

"Ah!" The demon general let out a piercing scream, its body rapidly shriveling up before finally turning into a pool of foul-smelling poison. Anzhi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and then noticed that his left palm had been burned by the poisonous mist, with bluish-black lines appearing on it.

The hearth at the Yading Village post station was burning brightly. Monk Tongda added a piece of pine resin to the fire, and with a crackling sound, he took out a wound medicine and handed it to Anzhi: "Miss, the poison in your palm will take seven days to be removed. During this time, do not use your spiritual power."

"Thank you, Master." Anzhi took the medicine bottle, his gaze involuntarily drifting to the window. The distant snow-capped mountains were faintly visible in the night, and the mountain wind swirled snowflakes against the window paper, making a rustling sound.

Following her gaze, Ge Wensong said softly, "Lingxuan went to scout out the military situation in Qiang City. We'll set off for Shenshan early tomorrow morning."

"Where is Tuantuan now?" Anzhi suddenly asked, her voice as soft as a feather. "It's so naughty, I wonder if it's gotten into trouble again?"

The monk Tongda clasped his hands together and said, “Everything has its cause and effect. You and that Iron-Eating Beast will surely meet again one day.” He pointed to the Demon-Refining Gourd at An Zhi’s waist and continued, “The holder will surely have great fortune. Moreover, that Iron-Eating Beast is the center of the Shu Mountain Alliance. It must go through some trials before it can grow up.”

Anzhi felt a little better after hearing this. Indeed, he had spoiled her too much in the bamboo forest.

At this moment, the curtain was suddenly lifted, and Zi Lingxuan burst in with a chill, followed by a middle-aged man in a blue Taoist robe. "This is Xuanfeng Yicheng of Qingcheng Mountain." She pointed to the man, then turned to Anzhi, "We just discovered the movement of demon soldiers outside the village. They seem to be looking for something."

“The entrance to the sacred mountain.” Xuanfeng Yichen stroked his beard and said, “The aura observation technique I set up at the village entrance shows that extremely strong demonic energy has been gathering towards the snow mountain recently.”

Anzhi gripped the precious mirror tightly in her hand. Suddenly, the reflection of the snow-capped mountains appeared on the mirror's surface, as if an invisible force was pulling her along. Ge Wensong noticed her unusual behavior and gently patted the back of her hand: "Don't worry, once we get the Demon-Slaying Sword, we'll go to Mount Emei to find Tuantuan."

Anzhi glanced at Ge Wensong and slowly lowered her head. She took out a bamboo woven fragment from her clothes. The firelight cast the fragment's shadow on the wall, which vaguely resembled a round outline.

The hooting of owls came from afar. Anzhi looked out the window at the snow-capped mountains and suddenly remembered the last night in the bamboo forest, when Tuantuan hugged bamboo and rolled around in the moonlight. Was the moonlight then as chilling as it is now?