So it turns out I'm the demon!

"Oh no, the master has disappeared!"

Meng Zhen watched helplessly as Jiang Mu's figure disappeared, and cried out in alarm.

The demon slayers around them were also thrown into a brief panic.

Without the protection of Jiang Mu, the god of death, everyone in this eerie, demonic mist felt a chill and fear.

"Jiang Mu!"

Duanmu Li's pretty face changed, and she hurriedly rushed in the direction where Jiang Mu had disappeared.

The thick fog around them had grown even denser than before, a vast expanse of white, with visibility reduced to less than two or three meters. Forget finding anyone, they couldn't even tell which way was which.

"Miss Duanmu, what should we do now?"

Meng Zhen asked in a trembling voice.

According to the rules, he is now the highest-ranking person in the team, and he should step forward to take charge at this moment.

But everyone could see that the girl in black held an extraordinary position beside Jiang Mu, so Meng Zhen instinctively positioned himself as a support. Duanmu Li, feeling anxious, forced herself to calm down.

With Jiang Mu absent, if there really is a powerful demon lurking in these mountains, they simply don't have the resources to confront it head-on with their limited manpower.

She said coldly:

"Let's figure out a way down the mountain first. Without Jiang Mu, if we run into that powerful demon, it'll be very dangerous for just the few of us." "Yes, yes, that's what I thought too!"

Meng Zhen nodded in agreement, then turned to his men and shouted, "Hold hands and stay close to each other. Don't get separated!"

The team slowly made their way down through the thick fog.

After walking for almost the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, we should have reached the foot of the mountain by now, but the surroundings were still gray and white.

Meng Zhen's heart sank deeper and deeper.

He had realized that they were trapped in some kind of maze.

Just as everyone's nerves were on edge, Duanmu Li, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped and put a finger to her lips: "Shh, there's movement ahead!"

Everyone immediately held their breath.

Upon closer inspection, a faint light could be seen emerging from the fog ahead.

Duanmu Li and Meng Zhen walked forward cautiously. The fog gradually thinned, revealing a dilapidated Taoist temple.

The walls of the Taoist temple have mostly collapsed, and the characters on the plaque above the gate are no longer legible.

Only a few beams in the main hall are still barely holding things up.

A bonfire was burning inside the hall.

The orange-red flames flickered on the dilapidated wall.

Duanmu Li gripped the hilt of his sword and gestured to Meng Zhen. The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, led several elite soldiers forward.

Upon closer inspection, everyone was stunned.

Five monks dressed in blue robes sat around the campfire.

Two women and three men.

The five men were all around twenty years old, with wine flasks and several opened packets of dry rations at their feet.

There was no demonic aura about him, so he was clearly a legitimate cultivator.

Several people were chatting and laughing around the fire.

Their auras were all above the third realm. The leader was a handsome man of about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, outstanding temperament, and a faint air of nobility about him.

His realm was the highest, at the sixth level.

The five blue-robed cultivators who were drinking and eating meat were slightly taken aback when they saw Duanmu Li and the others suddenly barge in.

"Oh? Someone from the Demon Slayer Division?"

One of them glanced at the insignia on the Demon Slayers' uniforms, paused for a moment, then chuckled and said, "You've arrived quite quickly." Meng Zhen carefully examined the five men, and seeing their attitude, he couldn't help but feel a bit wary. He stepped forward coldly and demanded:

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

However, the cultivators seemed not to hear Meng Zhen's questioning, continuing to drink or eat their dry rations.

Their attitude was so dismissive that they didn't take him seriously at all.

One of the pretty female cultivators even rolled her eyes dismissively and let out a sneer.

Meng Zhen's expression turned ugly.

He was, after all, an official representing the Great Qing Dynasty. Among these martial arts cultivators, even those from prestigious sects, how many dared to be so arrogant in front of him?

He gave a wink to his men beside him.

The two demon slayers understood, gripped their sword hilts, and strode forward, ready to question them thoroughly.

The young cultivator who had spoken earlier suddenly raised his head and smiled:

"I advise you not to get too close. If you come within five steps of us, you'll be responsible for the consequences."

Upon hearing the threatening words from the other party, the two demon slayers paused in their tracks and turned to look at Meng Zhen with some apprehension.

Meng Zhen's face darkened, and he shouted sternly:

"What are you all standing there for? A few mere martial arts practitioners dare to play tricks on an official of the imperial court! Seize them!"

No matter what, he himself was a hall master at the fifth level of perfection.

They were born from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Although the other side had a sixth-realm leader, both sides were at the Heavenly Star level, and the difference was not so great that it would deter him. It was not enough to intimidate him.

Moreover, they have a large and powerful force.

With a fifth-realm expert like Duanmu Li around, what's there to be afraid of?

The two demon slayers gritted their teeth and walked towards the young man.

However, the moment they stepped within five steps of each other, their bodies suddenly froze at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, they grabbed their own necks.

The two pinched each other with extraordinary force, their ten fingers almost digging deep into the flesh of the sides of the neck.

In just a few breaths, their faces turned purplish-red, and their eyes bulged outwards.

This bizarre scene sent chills down Meng Zhen's spine.

"Whoosh!"

Just as everyone was stunned, Duanmu Li, who was the first to react, swung her knife and slashed at them.

The blade tore through the air with a sharp whistling sound.

Before the blade even arrived, the wind from it had already pressed the campfire almost flat against the ground.

The handsome man gazed at the aloof yet youthful girl with the high ponytail, a look of amazement flashing in his eyes.

Then he gently shook his head and whispered, "What a pity."

"boom!"

A loud bang.

The demonic energy on the blade was shattered and dispersed.

Duanmu Li was thrown backward by the recoil, and only managed to regain her balance after somersaulting in the air.

At this moment, the two demon slayers had already fallen to the ground.

They had snapped their own necks and were completely silent, two lines of dark blood seeping from their bulging eye sockets.

"Who exactly are you people?!"

Meng Zhen pointed the tip of his knife directly at his opponent, his voice trembling slightly with shock and anger.

The remaining demon slayers behind him also drew their swords, but none of them dared to take another step forward.

The handsome man picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and said in a calm tone:

"We're here to exorcise demons. Besides, the deaths of your two subordinates have nothing to do with us. If you're not blind, you should be able to see that we were also trapped here by the demons' traps."

Trapped?

Meng Zhen paused for a moment, then observed carefully.

Only then did they notice that there was indeed a faint ring of dark patterns on the ground around the campfire where the group was sitting.

The dark patterns encircled the five of them, like the boundary of a cage.

Meng Zhenqiang suppressed his anger and asked in a deep voice, "So, which sect do you belong to?"

The handsome man put down his wine glass, smiled slightly, and his expression revealed the arrogance and nobility unique to prestigious families:

"My name is Shang Quan. We are all disciples of the Qishan Sect."

"Qishan Sect?"

Meng Zhen's eyes narrowed, his expression shifting. "So you're a top disciple of the Qishan Sect. No wonder."

There are numerous sects cultivating immortality throughout the world, but most of them are vying for star positions and fortune.

There are actually not many sects that are truly focused on slaying demons and eliminating evil.

The Qishan lineage can be considered one of the most orthodox demon-slaying forces among the prestigious sects.

This sect never participates in conflicts within the martial arts world, nor does it fight for territory or seize resources.

Their sole mission is to exorcise demons.

What truly made the Qishan Sect famous throughout the world was the annihilation war that shocked the world many years ago.

With the combined strength of their sect, they slaughtered the once-powerful Tushan fox demon clan, leaving no one alive, from the clan leader to the cubs. Although rumors circulated afterward that the Qishan sect had secretly allied with the crab-nephew demon clan to exterminate the Tushan clan.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to overcome that tough challenge on their own.

Regardless of the methods used, the fact that they could uproot a thousand-year-old branch of the fox clan demonstrates the immense strength and resources of the Qishan Sect. There are even rumors that they are preparing to target the Qingqiu demon clan.

But Meng Zhen, looking at his men lying dead on the ground with their eyes wide open, was still filled with resentment:

"Since you're a reputable sect, why didn't you explain the danger of this trap clearly? Did you just stand by and watch my men die?"

Shang Quan chuckled:

"My lord, your words are rather unreasonable. My junior brother already kindly warned you not to come within five steps, or you would bear the consequences. You ignored his advice, so who can you blame?"

Meng Zhen was rendered speechless by the rebuttal. His gaze darkened as he stared at the array patterns on the ground, and he asked again:

"Since you claim you were trapped by a great demon's snare, yet you're here drinking, eating, and laughing, showing no remorse whatsoever as prisoners. Isn't this far too comfortable?"

Shang Quan picked up his wine glass and took another sip. The firelight danced on his handsome profile, his expression radiating confidence.

"Because we deliberately stepped into this trap."

Mount Lüxiang has a complex terrain. If we search aimlessly like headless flies, finding the deeply hidden cat demon would be harder than climbing to heaven. So, we decided to use ourselves as bait, deliberately triggering its trap, and sit here waiting for it to reveal itself.

However, since we've met, I advise you to leave here as soon as possible.

This cat demon is strange and difficult to deal with, far beyond what ordinary demons can handle. Even a powerful cultivator at the seventh realm might not be able to subdue it.

"The few of you staying here are just providing it with free food."

Upon hearing this, Meng Zhen frowned deeply.

If what the other party said is true, and even a seventh-level expert might not be able to subdue them, then their group staying here is indeed like lambs to the slaughter.

"If you can't even subdue someone at the seventh realm, how can you possibly subdue them when you're only at the sixth realm at most?"

A clear, cool voice suddenly rang out from the side.

Duanmu Li held the Blood Mad Blade upside down, staring coldly at Shang Quan and asking in return.

Looking at the prickly beauty, Shang Quan confidently replied, "Since we dared to come, we naturally brought the demon-slaying magic weapon bestowed by our sect. We are absolutely certain we can take it down."

"What kind of magic weapon?"

Duanmu Li pursued relentlessly.

Shang Quan shook his head, his smile fading: "Sect secrets, I cannot disclose them."

Duanmu Li sneered:

"I remember that your Qishan Sect is located at the southernmost part of Daqing. Moreover, it is common knowledge that your disciples rarely conduct trials outside the sect. What are you doing traveling all this way to Yunzhou from such a distance?"

"They couldn't have come all this way just to catch demons, could they? Why go to all this trouble to come to Mount Lüxiang when there are so many demons and monsters to kill in the south?"

Shang Quan's smile remained unchanged:

"A strange phenomenon has appeared in Tanzhou City, bringing Jiang Chaoxi a great opportunity. We are here on the orders of our sect to try our luck."

On the way, they heard that there was a cat demon causing trouble on the mountain, so they came here to exorcise the demon.

After all, our Qishan Sect has always taken it upon ourselves to slay demons and eliminate evil; this is also our path of cultivation.

"Yeah?"

Duanmu Li's sneer grew even more mocking as she spoke in a coquettish voice,

"If you came here for an opportunity, you should stay safely in Yunzhou City now, instead of putting yourselves in a dangerous situation where even a seventh-level cultivator could lose their life at this critical juncture."

You should be able to distinguish which matters are more important than the other.

However, since you are so confident that you can take down a monster that you can't even handle at the seventh level, it can only mean one thing... you know this cat demon's weaknesses very well.

In other words, this monster originally came from your Qishan, right? You came here specifically to capture it.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the Qishan Sect disciples changed.

The smile on Shang Quan's face also disappeared.

He gazed at Duanmu Li's beautiful face, remained silent for a long time, and then suddenly let out a sigh:

"Little girl, you are indeed very smart. But it's a pity..."

"What's a pity?"

Duanmu Li tilted her head and asked.

Shang Quan turned to look at the dark mist outside the main hall, swirling his wine cup in his hand, and said softly, "It's a pity you know too much. And now, even if you want to run, it's too late."

As Shang Quan finished speaking, a sudden gust of cold wind swept into the hall.

Along with this chilling wind, a sharp meow, like that of a baby crying, rang out at the same time.

"Meow 1"

Outside the thick fog, Jiang Mu was still stubbornly trying to force his way into the maze like a bulldozer.

He tried several different approaches to break through, but was unable to succeed.

"Damn it, what the hell is this formation? Are they determined not to let me in?"

Jiang Mu was speechless.

Just as he was hesitating whether to fly back to Fazhou City to seek Shui Miaozheng's help, a sudden thought flashed through his mind: Could it be that this fog wasn't specifically targeting him?

Instead...

With a thought, Jiang Mu attempted to shift her star position to [Heavenly Killing Star].

As his star position shifted, his cultivation level also dropped, and he was locked at the sixth realm of perfect perfection.

"Let's try again!"

Jiang Mu took a step into the swirling, thick fog.

Then, he passed through the fog with surprising ease.

It worked!

"Damn, after all this time, it turns out it wasn't to block me as a person, but to block my level."

Jiang Mu was also impressed by this premise.

Fortunately, he had the "magic gauge" cheat code inside him.

For other high-level experts, their star positions would have long been integrated with their divine souls, making it impossible to achieve without a particularly powerful magic weapon.

"If you run into a player like me who exploits bugs, you're out of luck."

Jiang Mu sneered and sped off into the depths of the thick fog.