My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

After his excitement subsided, Lü Yang suddenly remembered something, took out a tinderbox from his pocket, struck it a few times, and lit a torch.

The firelight illuminated the surroundings, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere.

Holding a torch, Lü Yang walked triumphantly up to Miao Gui:

"How about it? Can we light the torches now?"

Miao Gui looked at the torch in his hand and subconsciously wanted to say something, but swallowed the words back.

He looked around and saw that none of the eyes were there anymore, and all the ghostly figures had vanished.

The mountain path was deserted, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind.

He opened his mouth, and finally managed to utter a sentence:

"...You order."

Lü Yang chuckled and walked ahead, holding a torch.

Miao Gui followed behind, ringing the bell, but he still felt uneasy.

He couldn't help but look around again—there was nothing there.

Walk a little further, then turn back—and there's still nothing there.

Walk a little further, then turn back—and you won't see a single ghost.

What about those evil spirits?

Where are those evil spirits that were just surrounding us so densely?

They all ran away?

Just because of that one clap of thunder?

Miao Gui felt increasingly uneasy.

He traveled through the Ten Thousand Mountains for three years; what kind of evil spirits hadn't he seen?

Those things are incredibly greedy; once they set their sights on their prey, they won't give up until they achieve their goal.

Even if there were mines, it's impossible for them all to run away, right?

He couldn't help but look at Ye Qingfeng.

The Taoist priest walked at the front, his hands behind his back, his expression indifferent, as if the thunder just now was nothing more than a trivial matter.

Miao Gui suddenly remembered something—

That lightning bolt just now struck with perfect accuracy.

It struck the mountaintop not far away, precisely in front of them.

The lightning illuminated the evil spirits, revealing their true forms and filling them with fear.

More importantly, after the lightning struck, the dark cloud in the sky dispersed, and the moon came out again.

This...this is too much of a coincidence!

A thought suddenly popped into Miao Gui's mind—

Was that thunder really a coincidence?

......

Deep in the Ten Thousand Mountains, about ten miles from that mountain road, there is a temple.

The temple is not large, but it is built quite magnificently.

With its blue bricks and gray tiles, upturned eaves, and a plaque hanging above the door with four large gilded characters, it reads "Temple of the Earth God".

Two large red lanterns hung in front of the door, but instead of candlelight, they emitted a faint green glow, which made the golden characters appear eerily pale green.

The temple gates were wide open, and the air inside was filled with the smoke of incense. One could vaguely see a clay statue with a golden body sitting in the center, holding a cane, with a kind face, which really did resemble the local earth god.

But the smell of those cigarettes didn't quite seem right.

It wasn't ordinary sandalwood or incense, but rather an indescribable fishy-sweet flavor—like blood, or like rotting flesh, all mixed together, making one feel nauseous and uneasy.

The temple was bustling with activity at that moment.

On the altar in front of the statue, there are plates of "offerings".

The plate didn't contain any sacrificial animals or fruits, but rather chunks of bloody meat.

It has hands, feet, internal organs, and some other parts that I can't name.

Blood trickled down the edge of the table, dripping onto the floor and pooling into a small puddle.

Next to the statue of the god, several paper figures stood.

The paper figures were both male and female, dressed in brightly colored clothes, with stiff smiles painted on their faces, standing there motionless.

But if you look closely, you can see that their eyes occasionally move, following the movements on the offering table.

A figure sat beneath the statue.

It was an old man, dressed in a bright red official robe, wearing a black gauze hat, with a long beard reaching his chest and a kind face—exactly like the statue.

He sat cross-legged on a grand chair, holding a piece of arm in his hands, gnawing on it with relish.

That is the "Earth God" in this temple.

——Ghost land.

It is not a true land god, but a malevolent entity that has occupied this land, proclaiming itself as the land god and commanding the demons and monsters of this area.

The earth god's seal, I don't know where it got it from, and it forcibly took it over.

From then on, it began to identify itself as the local earth god and was worshipped by evil spirits.

As for what it eats, it certainly doesn't eat incense or other offerings.

It eats people.

Under the offering table, there was a pile of white bones.

Those bones had turned yellow and black, and no one knew how many years they had been piled up.

Some were still attached to tattered clothes, while others had fallen into pieces, making it impossible to tell whose they belonged to.

Outside the temple, faint cries could be heard, but they quickly disappeared.

After the demon landman finished gnawing on the severed arm, he casually tossed the bone under the offering table, where it landed on the pile of bones with a crisp "crack" sound.

It wiped its mouth with satisfaction, about to say something—

Suddenly, the temple trembled violently.

"Boom—!!!"

The thunder came from a great distance, yet it shook the roof tiles of the temple, causing them to fall off in a rustling sound.

The plate on the offering table jumped up, and several pieces of meat rolled to the ground.

The paper figures all turned their heads in unison, looking towards the direction outside the temple, their smiles freezing on their faces.

The cane in the ghost's hand fell to the ground with a "clang".

It suddenly stood up, its kind face instantly contorted, its eyes wide open, staring at the night sky outside the temple.

It could see that lightning bolt even from ten miles away.

The golden-white light tore through half the sky, majestic and imposing, carrying a chilling pressure that made it feel cold to the bone.

That was heavenly lightning.

how many years?

It has lost count of how many years it has spent in these mountains.

Fifty years? One hundred years?

It only remembered that the last time it saw such lightning was when it had just grown into a powerful force.

That time, a bolt of lightning struck down, shattering its painstakingly formed form into pieces. Only a wisp of its soul escaped into the deep mountains, where it hid for decades before daring to emerge.

From then on, its greatest fear was thunder.

Especially this kind of magnificent, awe-inspiring thunder.

The temple swayed a few more times before finally stabilizing.

The local deity stood there, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty.

After a long silence, it said in a deep voice:

"Someone come here."

From the shadows at the corner of the temple, a dark figure emerged. It was a ghostly soldier, shrouded in black mist, its face obscured, only its eyes gleaming with an eerie green light.

"Go and find out what happened with that lightning."

The ghostly soldiers received their orders and disappeared into the night.

The local deity sat down again, picked up his cane, but had no appetite for food anymore.

It stared at the night sky outside the temple, its eyes filled with apprehension.

These 100,000 mountains have been peaceful for far too long.

Who attracted that lightning?

Which foolish evil spirit has provoked the wrath of Heaven?

Or... has something extraordinary gone into the mountains?

It doesn't know.

But it had a vague feeling that the lightning bolt didn't seem like divine punishment.

too close.

That's incredibly accurate.

Moreover, after the split, the dark clouds dispersed, and the moon reappeared. It was as if someone had done it on purpose.

Can someone summon thunder?

The local deity shook his head.

impossible.

There is no such existence in these 100,000 mountains.

It has lived for over a hundred years and has seen at least eighty to a hundred so-called masters, cultivators, monks, and Taoists.

It can see through people's abilities at a glance.

There isn't a single one who can summon thunder.

But that lightning...

Just as it was thinking this, the ghostly soldier floated back.