I, the Lord of the Fifth Throne, am the source of all things!

"Thank you, immortals and fairies, for saving this old man."

The elderly man, regaining his senses, immediately became emotional and thanked the man and two women in front of him.

As for the strange clothes the other person was wearing, the old man simply assumed they were clothes worn by immortals and didn't show much curiosity or concern.

The three of them, including Duanmu Lian, did not respond; they all looked at the cave in front of them without prior agreement.

Boom! !

The next moment, the mountain suddenly shook violently, and many rocks fell down. Strange noises also suddenly came from the cave.

Kurumi Tokisaki fired her gun, shattering the rubble that was about to fall on the old man's head.

Woohoo! Woohoo!!!!

A strange noise suddenly came from inside the cave, and a cloud of white mist drifted out from it.

In an instant, the old man shivered, feeling the temperature around him plummet to a level colder than winter, with ice forming on the ground.

Feeling the incredibly cold demonic wind, Duanmu Lian opened her arms, and the electric light from the magnetic field effect began to flash and radiate outwards.

The scorching heatwave directly dispersed the icy demonic aura in front of them.

Duanmu Lian also clearly saw that amidst the overwhelming demonic energy, two beams of demonic energy escaped underground and traveled hundreds of miles away.

"W-What's going on!?"

The old man was utterly shocked by the sight before him, because apart from their place, the rest of the world seemed to have entered winter, turning into a world of ice and snow.

"A monster has emerged."

Duanmu Lian took out five purple demon-subduing talismans from her spatial ring and handed them to the old herb gatherer, saying, "Old man, hurry home. Keep these talismans at home and on your person. Don't go out for the time being."

"Thank you, Immortal."

Upon hearing that a demon had appeared, the old man knew he couldn't be of much help, so he accepted the talisman from Duanmu Lian and nodded his thanks.

Duanmu Lian waved her hand, and the previous clouds and mist condensed again at the old man's feet.

To the old man's astonishment, the clouds carried him away, allowing him to safely leave the cliff face.

"It seems that Lord Duanmu... is very friendly towards that old man."

After glancing at the departing old man, Liu Zi tilted her head slightly and looked at Duanmu Lian.

In her memory, Duanmu Lian was never a kind and helpful person; cold and aloof was his true nature.

"I'm just being kind to my past memories."

Duanmu Lian shook her head helplessly at Liu Zi's question.

He wasn't exactly a helpful person, but this world reminded him of some of the few happy memories he had from his childhood.

Therefore, he was not treating the old man kindly, but rather his own past.

"I didn't expect the monster to run away so soon after we arrived. Is it because of us?"

Kurumi Tokisaki looked at the cave in front of her. She didn't know why the ground had suddenly shaken so violently earlier.

"No, not because of us, but because of an unlucky pangolin."

The Book of Omniscience, floating beside Duanmu Lian, emitted a sound that left Honjo Nia speechless.

Previously, she had read the history and information of this world and learned about the origins of the monster suppressed in Calabash Mountain.

In the past, a snake demon and a scorpion demon lived here, and they did all sorts of evil things.

Because these two monsters wreaked havoc in all directions, they angered the gods of this world, who transformed thunder and lightning into a divine gourd and put them inside.

The demons have been suppressed for 9,999 years. Once 10,000 years have passed, their souls will be scattered and they will turn to ashes.

However, in this last year, an accident occurred.

"Help! Help!"

Inside the cave, after listening to Nia Honjou's story of Calabash Mountain, Tokisaki Kurumi and Ryuuji both stared at the talking pangolin stuck in the rock in front of them with a smug look.

Well, after hearing the history of Hulu Mountain, regardless of whether the pangolin did it intentionally or unintentionally, it deserves to die.

It released the monsters, and who knows how many living beings will suffer from their calamities.

"Brother, ladies, please help me!"

The pangolin looked at the three people in front of it—one man and two women—who were staring at it with apathy, and spoke in human language, anxiously pleading for help.

The three exchanged glances, and finally Duanmu Lian spoke in a cold tone:

"So it was you who released the fairy?"

"Uh...yes, I really didn't mean to..."

Upon hearing this, the pangolin covered his face with his hand, somewhat embarrassed, as he had indeed made a serious mistake.

After all, Hulu Mountain was about to kill those two monsters, but it let them escape.

Kurumi Tokisaki looked the talking pangolin up and down with a suspicious gaze, and said in a doubtful tone:

"You didn't come here specifically to rescue those two monsters, did you?"

"It looks like a little monster that didn't have time to escape."

Liu Zi nodded in agreement without expression; she also felt that this pangolin was a bit strange.

Upon hearing the two women in front of him say that he was a monster, the pangolin immediately became agitated and said, "I am not a monster. Only those who have harmed or eaten people are monsters. I am just a mountain spirit or wild monster!"

Duanmu Lian's eyes flashed, and she used her magnetic field power to read the pangolin's memories, realizing that the other party was not a monster.

In this world, monsters have a very clear definition.

Some animals, after gaining intelligence, are considered mountain spirits and wild monsters.

Only those mountain spirits and wild monsters that have harmed or eaten people can be considered monsters.

Because humans are the most impure beings in the world, eating them will pollute you with their impure energy, and killing them will pollute you with the resentment they generate.

At that time, the pure spiritual energy of the mountain spirits and monsters will be corrupted into demonic energy.

"Okay, even if you're not a monster, do you know anything about Calabash Mountain?"

Kurumi Tokisaki expressionlessly took out her gun, pointed it at the pangolin in front of her, and asked in a cold tone.

"Know, know."

Pangolin, sensing the overwhelming sense of dread from the gun in the woman's hand, honestly told the truth.

Upon hearing this reply, a sharp scythe extended from beneath Liu Zi's skirt, resting on the pangolin's head, and she said coldly:

"You knew that, yet you still came here to dig a hole?! Those two monsters were only a year away from being wiped out, and you had to dig a hole in this very year?"

Kurumi and Ryuu were already thinking about killing the pangolin in front of them.

Regardless of whether the other party is a monster or not, what is their intention in digging a hole knowing that there is a monster being suppressed in Calabash Mountain?

"I...I...I...I've been digging a hole in the mountains the whole time, I've never come out to look around, and I had no idea I'd dug my way to Calabash Mountain!!"

Pointing a gun at him and holding a sickle to his head, feeling the barely concealed murderous intent of the two women in front of him, Pangolin burst into tears of remorse.

It knew that what it had done was inhuman.

But it swore, it guaranteed, that it really didn't do it on purpose.

It kept digging holes in the mountains, completely unaware that it had dug its way to Hulu Mountain.

If he had known, he wouldn't have come here.

"Alright, alright, it's true."

Duanmu Lian raised his hand and pushed the pangolin away. Then, his [Heavenly Eye], cultivated with the power of the Marrow Cleansing Sutra, saw the karmic karma on the pangolin's body and said calmly:

"Those two monsters went out to wreak havoc on the human world, and you also bear some of the blame for the evil and calamity they caused."

Therefore, it doesn't matter whether we kill this pangolin or not.

Duanmu Lian had already seen the faint signs of death on its body.

"Thank you, brother. I know I have committed a terrible crime and deserve to be punished, but in order to prevent those two monsters from harming innocent people, we must bring out the magic gourd seeds. Please come with me."

The pangolin nodded his thanks to Duanmu Lian with deep remorse, and then he said with a firm look in his eyes that he would make amends for the sins he had committed.

It gestured for the three to follow it, and then headed directly into the dark cave in front of it.

Duanmu Lian and the other two immediately followed the pangolin, navigating the intricate road ahead.

The scenery along the way is incredibly bizarre, wonderful, and dazzling; one could easily get lost in it.

Without the pangolin leading the way, Duanmu Lian and the others would have had to expend a lot of effort.

Half an hour later, led by the pangolin, the three arrived at a cave that emitted a seven-colored light.

The temperature here is extremely hot, and in the very center of the cave, there is a lotus platform.

On the lotus platform sat a glowing gourd, surrounded by blazing flames that constantly changed color.

"That's the treasure gourd seed in this cave, the one that suppresses demons. Monsters fear it the most. As long as we... Wait! Big brother! Danger!!!"

The pangolin pointed to the scorching hot gourd in front of it and was introducing this demon-suppressing magic weapon.

But before it could finish speaking, it was horrified, for Duanmu Lian had already stepped past it and entered the flames enveloping the gourd.

In an instant, an incredibly powerful burst of flames erupted, scorching countless stones and shooting them towards Duanmu Lian.

Originally, green leaves and soil were needed to quell the flames around the gourd seeds, but Duanmu Lian was not afraid of the flames.

Could this flame be stronger than his Ten Yang Sacred Flame?

"suck---!"

Duanmu Lian opened his mouth and inhaled sharply, swallowing the flames surrounding the gourd seed in front of him and easily refining them.

Then, to the pangolin's astonishment, Duanmu Lian ignored the high temperature emanating from the gourd, took it in her hand, crushed it, and released the gourd seeds into her palm.

"These are the seeds of the magic gourd?"

Liu Zi and Tokisaki Kurumi came to Duanmu Lian's side and looked at the round seed the size of a bullet in the other's palm.

At this moment, the gourd seed was trembling in Duanmu Lian's palm, seemingly trying to break free from his magnetic field binding it.