From Paper Craftsman to World-Suppressing Immortal

The bustling Peony Town, teeming with people during the day, suddenly falls into a deathly silence after nightfall.

The entire Peony Town was shrouded in deep darkness. Not a sound could be heard, and not a single person could be seen. Only emptiness and eerie silence remained.

Zhang Zhixuan and the others held their breath and sat quietly inside the room, waiting.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

Zhang Zhixuan looked towards the door and asked, "Who is it?"

A high-pitched voice rang out from outside the door: "Gentlemen, I've brought you your dinner."

Zhang Zhixuan did not answer, but instead looked at Pei Shouzhen and Daoist Lingxu and the others.

"The door isn't locked, come in," Master Lingxu said calmly.

"Okay, sure!"

With a creak, the door was pushed open, and everyone saw the short, stout innkeeper standing at the door, urging a thin, small waiter beside him to bring food into the room.

The waiter, with his head bowed and eyes downcast, carried a large tray into the room. On the tray were three dishes: two vegetarian dishes and one meat dish, as well as four bowls of rice.

Whether it was nervousness or lack of strength, the young waiter's two stick-like arms trembled incessantly, making the porcelain plates and bowls on the tray clatter.

Once inside, the young waiter walked step by step to the group, then took the food off the trays one by one and placed them on the table.

Having finished everything, the young man seemed to have accomplished a great feat. He let out a long breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and his tense nerves instantly relaxed a lot.

"You blind fool, get out of here! Don't delay our distinguished guests from having dinner." The short, stout innkeeper stood at the door of the room and cursed a few times, urging the young waiter to leave quickly.

At this moment, the young waiter came to his senses, quickly lowered his head, and bowed as he backed away.

"Gentlemen, please enjoy your dinner. This is all prepared complimentaryly for guests in superior rooms. Please take your time."

As the innkeeper finished speaking and was about to turn and leave, suddenly, with a "bang," his short, stout body crashed headfirst into a huge figure.

The innkeeper cried out and fell on his backside. He was about to curse when he looked up and was nearly scared to death.

The enormous figure blocking his way was over two meters tall, with a face as fierce as Zhong Kui, enough to infuriate Zhang Fei, and even demons and monsters would shake their heads in disbelief. It was none other than Pei Shouzhen.

At this moment, Pei Shouzhen blocked the way like a gatekeeper, staring coldly at the innkeeper and the young waiter with his tiger-like eyes.

The young waiter was timid to begin with, and when he saw Pei Shouzhen's fierce and menacing appearance, he immediately cried out and sat down on the ground.

Its thin, small body trembled like a leaf, and suddenly, with a "bang," a fluffy yellow tail appeared. With another "bang," its limbs turned into yellow claws, and finally, its head revealed its true form—a little weasel.

Without any beating or scolding, the young waiter, having revealed his true colors, immediately slid to his knees, pointing his little paws at the innkeeper: "It was it! It made me do it!"

"Ah! You heartless little brat!" The innkeeper was furious and about to curse when suddenly his collar was tightened and Pei Shouzhen lifted his short, fat body up like a chick.

At this moment, the shop owner realized that he had already revealed his true form in front of these Taoist priests, and he could no longer pretend. With a "bang," he turned back into a round, fat yellow weasel.

The plump weasel, holding its two paws, repeatedly bowed and begged for mercy towards Pei Shouzhen: "Forgive me, esteemed Daoists! I have never harmed anyone. I was forced to attack you today! Spare me! Spare me!"

"If you want to live, tell the truth." Pei Shouzhen's voice was like a thunderclap, scaring the two weasels, one big and one small, so much that they almost wet themselves on the spot.

"It's all that Flower Goddess's fault! She captured us little demons and forced us to take human form and pretend to be human in town! It's not just me; everyone in town selling goods, performing, offering incense—anyone alive—is a little demon in disguise!"

"We were forced into this situation. If even one of us disobeyed, the Goddess of a Thousand Flowers would drain our life essence and turn us into a dried-up corpse! We dared not disobey!"

"So what are you planning to feed us?" Chu Qinghe suddenly asked in a cold voice.

"The food is real! It's just that they added some kind of 'power-dissolving powder'..."

Upon hearing this, Yunmo gently sniffed the aroma of the food, nodded, and said, "I wasn't lying."

"Master, what should we do with these two weasels?" Pei Shouzhen asked Lingxu Daoist.

Master Lingxu flicked his whisk, his gaze drifting towards the window: "Let them go, the real threat is coming."

"Thank you, Master, for sparing our lives! Thank you, Master, for sparing our lives!" The two weasels, one big and one small, kowtowed repeatedly. Pei Shouzhen stepped aside, and the two weasels vanished like the wind in a flash.

However, the two weasels had barely escaped for a minute when they turned back and huddled in a corner of the room, trembling and muttering, "We're doomed, we're doomed, we can't escape!"

At the same time, outside the inn, the temperature in the once desolate town suddenly dropped, gusts of cold wind rose, and large patches of dark, ominous clouds gathered in the sky above the town, completely obscuring the starlight and moonlight.

"Boom!"

A bolt of blood-red lightning suddenly exploded in mid-air, followed by a wailing sound as countless hideous ghosts appeared, and the entire Peony Town was filled with the cries of ten thousand ghosts!

Zhang Zhixuan stood inside the room and looked out the window. He was immediately horrified by the sight outside and turned pale.

Outside the inn, countless ghosts and monsters mingled together, almost crowding the streets and alleys of the entire town. As far as the eye could see, they were densely packed and seemingly endless.

On the street, countless ghosts, unable to squeeze any further, climbed up onto the rooftops on both sides, onto shop signs, and onto lantern poles.

These ghosts and monsters have all sorts of hideous faces. Some have their heads severed and hanging down their necks, while others have huge bloody holes in their bodies, filled with countless white maggots. Some ghosts have their faces turned backward, with a terrifying ghost face on the back of their heads, their mouths stretched to their ears, revealing two rows of fine, sharp teeth.

The monsters were even more varied, including weasels, hedgehogs, snakes, rats, and all sorts of big and small demons, exuding a sinister and malevolent aura.

These ghosts and monsters moved through the streets like a burst dam of the River Styx in the underworld, a dark tide pouring straight down towards the inn.

"Calm your mind and focus! Don't be alarmed or agitated!"

Master Lingxu said calmly, then stepped forward, formed hand seals, and cast an incantation: "Primordial Origin, I pacify all spirits, may the true officials of mountains and rivers, the spirits of the land, the gods of the left and right altars, not be alarmed, return to the righteous path, and bring peace to both inside and outside."

"Imperial Edict!"

Master Lingxu cast a spell, and the entire inn was immediately enveloped in a layer of golden light.

Countless ghosts and demons crashed into the golden light shield and were immediately scorched, wailing and screaming.

Even so, countless ghosts and monsters still charged forward recklessly, as if possessed.

Pei Shouzhen, Chu Qinghe, and Yun Mo also performed the same ritualistic steps, adding divine incantations as they threw fire talismans and thunder talismans into the countless ghosts on the street.

Explosions erupted everywhere, blasting countless ghosts and monsters to smithereens, but in an instant, another wave of ghosts and monsters rushed in.

Zhang Zhixuan summoned paper puppet soldiers, replaced them with exorcising arrows blessed with four talismans, and fired wave after wave of arrows, creating a large vacuum zone. But before it lasted even a second, it was instantly filled by countless ghosts and monsters.

Countless ghosts and monsters screamed and roared, wave after wave, relentlessly assaulting the golden protective shield that enveloped the inn.

Gradually, the golden light barrier set up by Daoist Lingxu could no longer withstand the attack and shattered with a "crack".

As the golden protective shield dissipated, countless ghosts and demons, now without resistance, surged into the inn like a black tide.