How did I, who just ascended to heaven, become an evil spirit?

"He can't possibly not understand what we're saying, can he?" Yuan Sou asked in a low voice to the people around him.

After all, judging from the evil spirit's blank reaction, it didn't seem like it could understand what they were saying.

"Imitating others' walks is like trying to walk like someone from Handan. This is probably an evil spirit from ancient times. It's normal that it can't understand me now," Wong Tai Sin replied in a low voice. "But you'd better continue, at least provide some support."

"Then I'll begin." Yuan Sou feigned anxiety, slapping his thigh as if striking a gavel, "The virtues of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the achievements of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties!"

"Yang Erlang, he used to farm for me; Zhang Bairen, he used to wield the big whip for me..."

Old Yuan started shouting at the top of his lungs, reciting the lyrics of a traditional opera he used to recite at the amputation site.

This tactic seemed to work. Yuan Sou's shout made Ma Jiabao look puzzled. He poked his head out from near Shui Sheng's neck, staring at Yuan Sou with curiosity and piercing eyes.

At the same time,

Chi Yue's footsteps drew ever closer behind him, until finally they were only inches apart.

Just as Ma Jiabao was trying to figure out what Yuan Sou was up to, Chi Yue suddenly sprang up and bit Ma Jiabao's neck hard, holding on tightly!

"Let's do it!"

Li Hu drew his longsword and, in the blink of an eye, used the hilt of the flying sword to push Shui Sheng away, followed by a horizontal slash!

bass!

Suddenly, Ma Jiabao seemed to transform into a different person. His beastly instincts spurred him to grab Chi Yue's cheek, preventing her from exerting any force, while his foot, as if made of iron, kicked towards Li Hu's sword blade, producing a clanging sound that should never have been heard.

"Extremely impatient, hehe...hehehehehe."

The monster withstood every attack, both obvious and inconspicuous!

For a moment, everyone froze, staring blankly at Ma Jiabao, who seemed to be a top expert, all somewhat stunned.

Li Hu was the first to react.

But with his longsword already drawn and nothing at hand, he reached for the bronze bell at his waist, a trophy left behind by the red-haired Taoist.

He reached into the bronze bell, tore off a strip of cloth, and shook it.

Suddenly, a piercing bell rang out!

Everyone's vision blurred at that moment, their legs trembled, and they were already having trouble walking, but now even standing was difficult.

"Li Hu! What are you doing!" Qi Yuehong said angrily.

"Give it a try!" Li Hu replied simply, then squinted and looked at Ma Jiabao.

As expected, Ma Jiabao's steps suddenly became unsteady. He released Chi Yue, who had transformed into a weasel, and his face showed a look of panic. His feet seemed to have nowhere to go, and he kept jumping in place, trying to find that feeling of being grounded, like a wild cat caught in stress.

But that's how bells work; when they're shaken, evil spirits and living people alike become unable to see or walk.

Li Hu wasn't much better off, but since he had already experienced it once before, he was somewhat familiar with the bell's effects.

Li Hu looked around and found that Chi Yue was just as flustered as Ma Jiabao, so he probably couldn't count on her. Huang Daxian's little men had also temporarily lost their fighting ability because of the sound of the bell.

So Li Hu, while manipulating the sword, turned his head to look at Qi Yuehong.

"snort!"

Qi Yuehong noticed Li Hu's gaze, so she snorted and turned her head away. At the same time, she stepped out with her left foot and assumed a horse stance, and the Moon Pearl in her hand suddenly shone brightly.

The surrounding light dimmed, and suddenly it was as if he had truly plucked the moon from the sky and was holding it in his hands.

He steadied himself and walked forward with difficulty, like a lantern shining in the dark night. At this moment, the moon pearl also focused its light and shone on Ma Jiabao.

Soon, the mud all over his body visibly froze into a thin layer of ice. As Ma Jiabao moved, chunks of frozen mud kept falling off his body, and the wound on his neck that had been covered up was exposed again, with blood gushing out once more.

"Jia Ma! Jia Ma!" Ma Jiabao muttered something again.

Although he looked pained, he had not completely lost his fighting ability. He walked on his own two legs, his eyes fixed on Qi Yuehong who was approaching.

Seeing this, Li Hu decided to lend him a hand, so he turned around and handed the bell in his hand to Yuan Sou, instructing him:

"Keep shaking, don't stop!"

Then he held the longsword in his hand and took a few steps forward.

It was only at this moment that Li Hu was pleasantly surprised to find that he could walk again. It seemed that the bell had indeed worked and had broken the curse of "trying to walk like someone from Handan".

Seeing that Ma Jiabao was already thoroughly tormented by the bell, Li Hu rushed forward, slipping through Qi Yuehong's cold moonlight.

He swung his hand and slashed!

The power of holding this longsword in one's hand is naturally incomparable to the strength and destructive power of controlling a flying sword from afar.

Li Hu thrust his sword straight at the chest, but the sharp blade pierced through easily with a soft "plop," like chopsticks poking tofu.

The sword tip emerged from the large clod of mud on Ma Jiabao's back, and Li Hu kicked him to the ground, where he rolled several times before the attack ended.

But at that moment, a large amount of white smoke emerged from the hole that had been poked in the clay statue behind Ma Jiabao. The smoke rose up and then quickly dissipated in the air.

Shui Sheng recognized that the white smoke was probably the incense smoke that the clay statue usually inhaled, and it was all being released from the clay mass.

My father would burn incense and make offerings to the clay statue every morning and evening. Over the years, this clay statue must have accumulated a lot of incense offerings, which is also what this evil spirit liked the most.

The incense has already been burned out, which clearly means that the evil spirit's days are numbered.

Finding the right opportunity, Li Hu thrust his sword at the side again, and with a flick of his wrist, he peeled the already shapeless clay statue off Ma Jiabao's back.

The mud ball landed and exploded, releasing a large amount of white smoke. In an instant, it was as if immortals were riding on clouds, and the surrounding area was filled with the pungent smell of decaying incense.

Li Hu transferred the sword to his left hand, waved it to shoo it away, and when the smoke cleared, Ma Jiabao on the ground gradually returned to normal.

With a sword in his throat and another in his chest, he probably won't live for more than a few minutes.

"Father!" Shui Sheng cried out and rushed to Ma Jiabao's side, bursting into tears.

Ma Jiabao still had a sliver of consciousness. He reached out and held Shui Sheng's head, which was nestled in his arms. His gaze was unfocused as he looked at Li Hu and said:

"I was misled by evil spirits and caused trouble for you, young master..." He reached into his robes and pulled out the silver that Li Hu had given him earlier as travel expenses. He handed it over tremblingly, "I couldn't get you to Qingzhou, so I dare not accept this money."

"Young master...you are incredibly skilled, please spare my son's life, I beg you..."

Ma Jiabao reached out and handed over the silver, but before he could straighten his hand, it suddenly fell limply down, his gaze remaining unfocused.

"Father!" Shui Sheng burst into tears upon seeing this, his heart-wrenching cries causing him to have difficulty breathing, choking on himself and then coughing violently.

Wong Tai Sin turned his head away, unable to bear watching this scene.

"Bury him, Yan Yang."

Li Hu gave a signal, and Yan Yang quickly stepped forward, preparing to drag the dead Ma Jiabao into the woods to find a place to bury him.

But Shui Sheng wouldn't give up, clinging tightly to Yan Yang's feet, crying and screaming without stopping.

After all, he was only a five-year-old child, and he could do nothing more.

The noisy crying, combined with the sound of the bronze bell, gave Li Hu a headache. He sensed something was wrong and turned to look at Yuan Sou.

"Stop shaking it, this evil spirit is already dead."

However, Li Hu noticed that Yuan Sou's expression was a bit off. He looked terrified and pressed down hard on the copper tongue inside the bell, but he couldn't stop the bell from ringing no matter what he did.

"I didn't shake it, I didn't shake it, Tiger."

Old Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted, and he looked up at Li Hu, saying, "Master Hu, this bell seems to be unable to stop!"

Seemingly too frightened, Yuan Sou could no longer hold onto the bell, and with a clatter, the bronze bell fell to the ground.

If the bell was ringing before because Yuan Sou didn't realize he was trembling, the sound should have stopped immediately now that the bell has fallen to the ground.

But the group heard it clearly; the bell continued to ring eerily.

"What... what's going on?" The fancy mouse immediately fled far away, keeping its distance to observe the situation.

"Come back here first, and stay away from this bell." Li Hu sensed something was wrong and called out to Yuan Sou.

Yuan Sou had wanted to run away for a long time. He took off running back with all his might, but after only a couple of steps, he stepped on something slippery, stumbled a few steps, lost his footing, and fell down with a thud in front of Li Hu.

He looked back and saw that many earthworms had crawled out of the ground around the bell at some point, wriggling densely.

These earthworms were large and slippery; Yuan Sou had just fallen because he had accidentally stepped on one.

"So...so many earthworms!" Chi Yue exclaimed in surprise. She transformed into human form and approached Li Hu familiarly. "Do you know what's going on?"

Li Hu glanced at her, then shook his head.

"It's normal to have earthworms underground in this forest. When it rains, earthworms will also come out of the ground to breathe."

Wong Tai Sin held his forehead with difficulty, racking his brains, and guessed, "It's possible that these earthworms couldn't stand the sound of the bell either, so they crawled out from underground."

pity.

Things didn't seem to go as Wong Tai Sin had guessed. Almost centered on the fallen bell, a large number of earthworms sprouted from the ground within a radius of more than ten meters.

As if it were sentient, the earthworm not only didn't flee, but instead slowly and faster crawled towards the bell.

"No, they are consciously gathering," Qi Yuehong said coldly.

Everyone saw it clearly: the earthworms on the ground quickly proved him right, gathering around the bronze bell on the ground and slowly wriggling to envelop it. Hundreds of earthworms crawled in and out, making everyone feel nauseous.

Before long, the earthworms gathered in greater and greater numbers until they formed a large pool of slimy substance.

The sound of the bells did not weaken at this time; instead, it became even stronger. The bells tormented the group, causing them headaches and fevers. Meanwhile, the earthworms gathered together faster because of the stronger sound of the bells.

At the same time, because of the bell, their vision became increasingly blurry, and they could only hear a loud laugh coming from the clump of earthworms.

Everyone present, except for Chi Yue, recognized that voice.

That's clearly the Red-Haired Taoist's laughter!

"What's going on? Is he still alive?!" Wong Tai Sin exclaimed in fear. Among the crowd, if anyone was most afraid of the Red-Haired Taoist, it would undoubtedly be Wong Tai Sin.

But no one was willing to answer his question at this moment; they all tried to open their eyes wide and see the earthworm's changes clearly through their blurry vision.

"I'll go up and chop these bugs up!" Perhaps because he couldn't take it anymore, Yan Yang staggered forward, drew his sword, and was stopped by Li Hu.

"Don't move," Li Hu said.

Just as Li Hu finished speaking, the earthworms quickly intertwined and formed a human shape. Because of the sound of the bell, everyone's vision was a little blurry. They only felt a flash before their eyes, and the clump of earthworms turned into the appearance of a red-haired Taoist with dark skin and various bumps.

He had nothing on him except a bell in his hand, his red beard and hair were wet and hanging down his body, and he was facing Li Hu, grinning to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Li Fengcong!"

The red-haired Taoist recited each word slowly and deliberately.

Li Hu was horrified. He had clearly seen the red-haired Taoist being scraped to pieces by the sword energy, so how could he be resurrected?

From the very beginning of their fight, the Red-Haired Taoist kept regenerating, which gave Li Hu a headache for a long time.

He thought that after the sword energy from the sky was unleashed, the scourge would finally be eliminated, but how could this be... Li Hu drew his sword and glared angrily at him, steeling his resolve, and stood facing him with his sword.

"The mysteries of the Xuanmen are beyond the comprehension of petty people like you!" The red-haired Taoist laughed heartily.

"Today, the opportunity has presented itself, Mr. Li, let's have another match!"

He held a bell in his right hand and shook off the remaining earthworms from his body. Li Hu felt a chill run down his spine and had no choice but to step forward to meet him.

This time, dealing with the Red-Haired Taoist's attack was very easy. He only held a bell to block Li Hu's sword moves, so he was particularly tired. Before long, Li Hu cut several wounds on his body.

But just like last time, the wound healed completely in no time.

However, without the clothes to obstruct his view, everyone could clearly see his recovery process. Whenever a limb or head was severed, many scarlet earthworms would grow from the cut surface of the wound. The earthworms would intertwine and turn into a skin-colored appearance. Before long, the wound would completely disappear.

Although Li Hu could easily handle the situation and was always in an undefeated position, he still felt a chill run down his spine whenever he saw this scene.

"No, no!" Old Yuan muttered from afar.

"All life forms are formed through birth, egg, moisture, or transformation. Humans and animals are born from the womb or from eggs, immortals are born through transformation, but evil spirits are born from moisture."

"This man isn't some Taoist priest; he's clearly an evil spirit!"

This statement seemed to awaken everyone, and they all seemed to understand something, starting to speculate.

"I've thought so too," said Wong Tai Sin. "I think he's either an earthworm spirit or a bell spirit."

"fart!"

The red-haired Taoist, who was locked in combat with Li Hu from afar, also heard the discussion. While still exhausted from fighting, he turned around and glared angrily, saying...

"My name is Zong Shanyue, my Daoist name is Mingxin, I am a third-rank officer in the Ghost Suppression Division, and a protector of the Jie Sect. How could I possibly be an evil spirit!"

Seeing the red-haired Taoist struggling in a fierce battle, yet still hesitantly interrupting to explain, the others gradually became certain of their own thoughts.