Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Xu Si looked up at the sky.

The moon hung directly overhead, motionless.

Xu Si remembered that when he left home, the moon was in the southeast. Now that so much time has passed, the moon couldn't possibly still be directly overhead.

He took out his phone and called Cheng Mo.

Beep beep beep—Connection complete.

"Fourth brother, what else is there?" Cheng Mo's voice came from the receiver, sounding very lazy.

Xu Si asked, "How much longer until you reach the city?"

There was a moment of silence on Cheng Mo's end, as if he was calculating the time: "About half an hour more."

Xu Si whispered a reminder: "Watch your step, something's not right here."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Hey fourth brother," Cheng Mo said with a hint of helplessness in his voice, "I think you guys should go and consult a fortune teller. There are just too many problems."

Xu Si: "..."

"It's over."

The phone hangs up.

Xu San got out of the car and walked over to Xu Si: "Should we have everyone get out and be on guard?"

Xu Si thought for a moment and then rejected the idea: "I don't know if this is a trick or if it pulls us into another dimension. It might be safer in the car."

He then called the company and asked them to send a car to pick him up.

After making the call, Xu Si said into the walkie-talkie, "Everyone, get back in the car and don't get out."

The words had barely left his mouth—

hum!

It felt like a huge bell had been struck in everyone's head, vibrating from head to toe, and their ears were ringing.

The asphalt road has become a bumpy dirt road, the two-lane road has become a narrow path that can only accommodate one car at a time, the poplar trees on both sides have become locust trees with twisted branches, and the fields behind the trees have become waist-high weeds.

The moonlight turned a ghastly white, shining on the ground like mercury, gleaming with a cold light.

Xu Si blurted out, "Damn!"

An older employee leaned out of the car, looked around, and his expression changed drastically: "Fourth Brother, this is a formation!"

He pushed open the car door, squatted down, pressed his fingers to the ground, and closed his eyes to sense for a while: "The Five Elements Trapping Formation has at least three layers. The road is earth element, the trees are wood element, and the moonlight is metal element. The water and fire elements are hidden; I don't know where they are."

Xu Si asked, "Can it be broken?"

The employee stood up: "Give me some time. The person who set up the formation is very skilled; the key point isn't on this path. It will take at least half an hour to find it."

Xu Si was about to speak—

boom!

There was a loud noise behind him.

The door of the armored truck flew off and crashed into a locust tree by the roadside. The trunk snapped in two with a crack, and the crown fell down, pressing down on the weeds and scattering a shower of broken leaves.

Zhao Dezhu jumped out of the car.

The acupuncture needles on his cervical spine were gone; he didn't know when they fell off or who removed them. The ropes and rags covering his body tore into pieces with a casual tug, and they fell to the ground.

Starting with a black line on his forehead, the Zhong Kui mask gradually appeared on his face, as if someone was quickly sketching it with a paintbrush.

Zhong Kui opened his eyes, which were bloodshot, and a strange smile appeared on his lips.

"Ghosts..." the voice squeezed out of his throat, "They're all ghosts..."

He began to mutter, his voice rising and falling, like a spell or a soliloquy: "I was originally a scholar from Zhongnan Mountain, personally appointed as the top scholar by the Tang emperor. But because the emperor disliked my ugly appearance, I committed suicide by crashing into the golden steps and became a wronged ghost—"

When he uttered the words "vengeful spirit," his vital energy suddenly exploded, gushing out like ink from his body and condensing around him into the shape of a theatrical robe.

He now held a sword formed from condensed black energy, about three feet long, with dark red patterns on its blade.

Zhong Kui pointed his sword at the person closest to him: "You've eaten all the ghosts!"

A sword slashed down.

The employee rolled to the side, the sword whistling past his shoulder as it struck the ground, creating a gash.

The employee scrambled to his feet, clutched his head, and squatted down, his face deathly pale: "Fourth Brother, I'm dizzy."

Xu Si grabbed the employee behind him, twisted his hands, reversed his Qi, and forcefully redirected Zhong Kui's sword to the side: "Scatter! Form a circle!"

The car doors opened with a bang, and the employees poured out of the cars, forming a circle back-to-back with the three cars as the center.

Zhong Kui tilted his head, looking at the group of people, his grin widening even further.

He revealed a chilling smile: "Ghosts...so many ghosts..."

He moved with incredible speed, appearing at the edge of the circle in the blink of an eye, his black qi longsword sweeping across.

The two employees hastily parried, but were thrown back several steps by the impact, their faces turning pale and blood trickling from the corners of their mouths.

Xu San raised his hands slightly, and a blue light flashed in his eyes. The two employees who were retreating froze, as if they were supported by an invisible hand and their bodies were stabilized.

Xu Si rushed forward and pushed forward with both hands.

Turning upside down in all directions.

With him as the center, the ground within a ten-meter radius began to rotate, and the dirt road, gravel, and weeds all started to spin, faster and faster, like a giant millstone.

Zhong Kui seemed somewhat surprised by Xu Si's supernatural ability, taking a half-step back and holding his black qi longsword horizontally in front of his chest: "You... are not a ghost..."

"Of course I'm not a ghost!" Xu Si sneered. "I'm sending you back to the underworld!"

Before he could finish speaking, Xu San cut in from the side, raising both hands.

Mind control.

Two pieces of gravel flew up from the ground and hit Zhong Kui on the back of the head.

Zhong Kui didn't even turn his head. His theatrical robe billowed up, and the pebbles that hit it bounced off and fell to the ground.

Several employees acted simultaneously—

One rushed up from the left, his fist wrapped in Qi, and smashed towards Zhong Kui's waist.

One of them went around from the right, holding an electric baton, and stabbed Zhong Kui in the back.

A figure squats on the ground, pressing his hands against the earth. A crack appears in the dirt road, spreading outwards from Zhong Kui's feet.

Zhong Kui suddenly opened his mouth and let out a sharp shriek.

The sound was extremely piercing, like countless needles stabbing into the eardrums at the same time. Several employees with shallow cultivation immediately covered their heads and squatted down, blood seeping from their seven orifices, rolling on the ground in pain.

Xu Si's expression changed: "Cover your ears! Don't listen!"

But it was too late.

Taking advantage of the moment when everyone was distracted, Zhong Kui moved through the crowd like a ghost, and every swing of his black qi sword brought a gasp of surprise.

What's even more terrifying is that anyone touched by his sword will feel a wave of exhaustion, as if a part of their energy and spirit has been drained away, and their whole being will visibly wither away.

Xu Si saw it clearly and shouted, "Don't let him get close! He can drain people's life force!"

Zhong Kui cackled, then turned and pointed his black qi longsword at Xu Si. A chain condensed on the sword and wrapped around Xu Si.

Xu Si crossed his hands, using his Qi to redirect the chain to the side. However, the chain made a turn in mid-air, actually going around in circles and continuing to wrap around Xu Si.

Xu San's eyes flashed with blue light, and he clenched his fists. The chain paused in mid-air, as if being pulled by an invisible force, and its speed slowed down.

Xu Si took the opportunity to retreat and stand side by side with Xu San.

Zhong Kui tilted his head, looking at the two of them, his smile growing increasingly eerie: "Interesting...interesting..."

He flickered and disappeared from the spot once again.

This time, he didn't attack directly, but instead kept wandering around the perimeter of the circle. Every time he appeared, an employee would feel dizzy, as if something had hooked their soul, and their eyes would become unfocused.

Xu Si watched anxiously. Zhong Kui was too fast and his methods were too strange. So many of them were actually suppressed by one person.

"San'er, find a way to trap him!"

"I'll give it a try." Xu San's eyes shone even brighter as he tried to pinpoint Zhong Kui's location with his mind.

But Zhong Kui was too fast. Every time Xu San locked onto him, he would change his position, like a slippery eel.

The two sides reached a stalemate.

Meanwhile, on the highway.

Cheng Mo sat in the passenger seat, Xia He gripped the steering wheel, and the car sped through the night.

"Step on the gas." Cheng Mo's voice was calm. "Feel the friction of the tires and keep your composure."

Xia He was highly focused, his hands gripping the steering wheel, switching between the clutch, gears, accelerator, and brake with incredible speed. The tires screeched against the pavement, and the car traced a graceful arc as it rounded the bend.

Suddenly it was pitch black ahead, and the car headlights couldn't penetrate it.

"Brake!"

The moment Cheng Mo shouted, Xia He had already stepped on the brakes, reducing the car's speed from 100 to 80, from 80 to 60, and from 60 to 40. She steered with her left hand, shifted gears with her right, and finally slammed on the clutch and brakes.

The car came to a steady stop, but half of its front end had already crashed into the darkness.