A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

The flowers bloom brilliantly, and their fragrance is rich and intoxicating.

But this fragrance smells a bit off.

It was sickeningly sweet, and also had a faint, unsettling, fishy smell.

The Taoist temple, which should have been a place of quiet cultivation, was now made even more eerie by the endless yellow flowers.

Solemnity and allure, tranquility and cloying sweetness—two diametrically opposed qualities are crudely blended together, giving people an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

"Entering my Yellow Flower Temple is like becoming a worm caught in a net; a thousand eyes lock your spirit and form, and poisonous fragrance burns away your immortal bones."

The sounds of the Zhou Mu came from all directions, sometimes near, sometimes far, carrying a sticky malice like the sweet fragrance of chrysanthemums:

"Boy, to die in this old man's Yellow Flower Temple, that's... huh?"

He didn't finish his sentence.

Contrary to his expectations, Ji Zuodao did not panic at all; instead, he looked around with great interest.

She even reached out and plucked a petal from the most beautiful yellow flower next to her.

I held it to my nose and smelled it.

Then, she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Tsk."

Ji Zuodao casually tossed the flower petal aside, clapped his hands as if they were dirty.

He raised his head and looked into a certain empty space—the very spot where Zhou Mu's true form was hidden. The mockery in his emerald eyes was almost overflowing.

"Old man."

"Your Huanghua Temple has a rather unique interior design."

"Isn't this fertilizer a bit authentic? It smells like stale corpse oil, and the incense money has a rusty, fishy smell."

"or……"

He grinned, revealing a set of teeth that shone brightly white against the golden background.

"Master Dao, shall I help you renovate?"

"Sharp-tongued and quick-witted!"

Zhou Mu's sticky, laughing voice echoed amidst the boundless yellow flowers, each word imbued with a sweet, bloody murderous intent:

"In a moment... I'd like to see how many words you can utter with those sharp teeth."

As soon as the words fell—

"boom--!!!"

The earth trembled, and yellow flowers danced wildly!

A colossal Dharma image rose from the ground!

His dark robe was as black as ink, billowing like dark clouds that blotted out the sky!

The golden crown is majestic, and the red stripes on it move like a centipede with a hundred legs!

His face was blurred, but his eyes were as cold as an ice cave.

From his collarbone to his waist and abdomen, and from his ribs to his spine, there were countless vertical pupils the size of copper bells!

The pupils may be tightly closed like cracks, slightly open with a slit showing, or wide open in a furious glare...

Each one emanated an eerie, cold, dark golden hue, like countless slumbering beasts lurking in the shadows.

The Dharma Form of the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord!

"open!"

Zhou Mu chuckled softly.

"Buzz buzz buzz buzz—!!!"

The hundreds of dark golden vertical pupils beneath the Demon Lord's Dharma Image suddenly opened simultaneously!

Like a thousand dusty golden windows suddenly bursting open in an instant!

Deep within each pupil, a golden light shimmered, bursting forth with intense golden radiance, yet it did not scatter and shine randomly, but rather intertwined and condensed rapidly in the void.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A series of deep, muffled sounds followed as seven or eight solid, dazzling golden light shields surrounded and descended upon him from all directions!

Ji Zuodao moved like a ghost, dodging and weaving amidst the golden light, with dark energy following him like a shadow, carrying him narrowly as he brushed past the gaps in the light barrier.

Finally, a golden light shield predicted the direction of his sideways movement and precisely covered his left ankle!

Ji Zuodao didn't even look down.

With a thought, the dark energy surrounding him instantly condensed into a thin, black blade, as thin as a cicada's wing, and gently sliced ​​along the edge of the golden light shield—

"laugh."

The left foot was severed at the ankle.

The cut was clean, and strangely, there was no blood splattering, only wisps of black smoke dissipating.

The severed foot remained inside the golden light shield, twitching slightly twice.

Ji Zuodao levitated on one foot, supported by dark energy. He looked down at the foot inside the shield that had quickly stopped moving, and then looked up at the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord's Dharma Image in the distance with its thousand eyes wide open in anger.

That's strange.

He tilted his head, a hint of genuine confusion flashing in his blue eyes.

"Your golden light... doesn't seem to have any offensive power. Is it just for trapping people?"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and waved it, and a condensed dark energy shot out like a javelin, piercing straight into the Dharma Image's chest.

"clang--!"

Another bell tolled.

A golden shield appeared out of thin air, precisely blocking the path of the dark javelin.

The energy collided, but the golden shield remained completely still, without even a ripple, while the dark javelin vanished without a trace, like a mud ox sinking into the sea.

"Oh, its defense is not bad." Ji Zuodao raised an eyebrow.

"Hehehe..."

The laughter from the next round came from all directions, carrying a sense of cat-and-mouse schadenfreude.

"Boy, let alone you, even if it were Sun Wukong, who once wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, personally entering my Yellow Flower Temple and being enveloped by this golden light, he would be trapped obediently for several hours, unable to move forward or backward!"

"Wow, they've even brought out Sun Wukong?"

Ji Zuodao chuckled, but didn't hold back, saying, "Old man, can't you at least write a draft before you brag?"

"So, after all this time, your supernatural ability is just a giant bear trap? And the kind without blades at that?"

"Going through all that trouble just to trap your opponent and make them stand there as punishment?"

Despite the barrage of sarcastic remarks, Zhou Mu remained unperturbed.

The golden light shields that had been chasing them all suddenly stopped and floated quietly in mid-air.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord's Dharma Form, with its thousands of golden eyes, all "stared" at Ji Zuodao, who was standing on one leg, with cold eyes, as if looking at a corpse that was about to turn cold.

"Kid."

Zhou Mu's voice returned to calm, even carrying a hint of pity.

Do you know what the Yellow Flower Temple is?

"What you step on, what you see, what you smell... all these yellow flowers are the manifestation of my supernatural powers and the condensation of my malevolent energy."

"They are indeed not good at brute force, nor are they skilled in killing."

"They only do one thing—"

Ji Zuodao's smile froze slightly.

He suddenly felt a tickle in his throat.

It was as if something, following the sweet floral fragrance, had quietly crept in, attached itself to the lungs, and was slowly taking root and sprouting.

"—Let the creatures trapped here slowly wither away."

"puff--!"

Ji Zuodao suddenly bent over, and a large mouthful of thick, black, and chilling blood gushed out without warning, splashing onto the golden petals at his feet and making a slight "sizzling" corrosive sound.

He braced himself on one hand and coughed violently, each cough bringing up more black blood.

The once radiant skin began to lose its luster at a visible rate, turning an ominous yellowish hue.

Like a flower that is rapidly withering away.

"Wow."

Ji Zuodao wiped his mouth, his fingertips stained with black, filthy blood, and actually laughed:

"Old man, your Yellow Flower Temple..."

"The formaldehyde levels are too high?"

Journey to the West, the Hundred-Eyed Demon King, and the Yellow Flower Temple.

Oh right, I remember now!

In the original Journey to the West, the centipede demon, besides using golden light to trap people, used the most insidious trick of brewing a strange poison from bird droppings.

It is said that a single cent can kill a mortal, and three cents can harm a celestial being; it is impossible to guard against.

Apart from the alert Monkey King, the other three simpletons in the westward journey team were all taken down.

"I see……"

Ji Zuodao licked the remaining black blood from the corner of his mouth, savored the taste, and instead of panicking, he revealed a strange smile that said, "I've found a kindred spirit."

"Good grief, are they stacking debuffs here?"

"The golden shield is for controlling the situation."

"This fragrance of flowers causes continuous damage and weakens the user."

"Control them, apply poison, slowly whittle them down. High attack speed, a slow, devastating kill strategy..."

"Damn it, that's filthy, it's like a tactic from the underworld, it's utterly immoral, old man."

As he spoke, he spat out a small mouthful of black blood.

The blood fell to the ground, making a soft "sizzling" sound, corroding a small pit, and emitting a wisp of smoke with a sweet, fishy smell.

Judging from the scene alone, anyone would think that he was at his last gasp and deeply poisoned.

But the light in Ji Zuodao's emerald eyes grew brighter and brighter, even carrying a hint of eager excitement.

"What a pity, just an old coffin stuffing."

He raised his hand and wiped his mouth haphazardly with his sleeve.

"When it comes to underhanded tactics, poisoning, and other shady methods that can't be brought to the table..."

"I, Daoist Master, am your ancestor."