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

After Li Hu asked, the man didn't respond.

Seeing the dagger knocked away, he threw a series of punches, trying to force Li Hu back.

Li Hu hadn't figured things out yet, and didn't dare to really hurt this person who looked exactly like him, so he only retaliated with his fists and feet.

The two were vastly different in martial arts skills. Li Hu let out a couple of "heh ha" sounds and subdued the man in black in just a few rounds.

Li Hu put his hands behind his back, restrained him with his left hand, and pressed the man firmly to the ground with his right hand.

"Who are you?!" Li Hu shouted angrily.

He was fairly certain that this person was not one of the Three Corpses, because not only was his martial arts mediocre, but it was also completely different from his own style. He wondered where this wild cultivator had come from.

The man didn't reply, but just chuckled twice in a high-pitched voice. Suddenly, he turned into a cloud of black mist and vanished from under Li Hu's grasp.

"You cowardly rat, since you bear my face, why are you so timid?"

Li Hu also got up from the ground. He knew that the person hadn't gone far, so he looked around.

The current location is in a small grove of trees, with a few houses in the distance. There are hardly any people around, and the moon is out, so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face.

However, Li Hu could still notice with his keen senses that there were some rustling sounds around him. The sounds were all around him and there was more than one place. They seemed to be gradually enveloping him.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from behind a tree, bearing the face of Li Hu, exactly the same as the previous person.

Then more people emerged, each carrying a dagger, and all of them looked exactly alike.

Li Hu glanced around and saw about thirty people, all dressed in black and wearing their own faces, staring straight at him.

The dark and windy night was somewhat eerie.

Li Hu didn't quite understand why this was possible, but he could tell that these things were definitely not his three corpses.

Thinking this, Li Hu no longer held back, drew his longsword and thrust it at those people.

At this moment, those people launched a group attack, surrounding Li Hu completely. Li Hu's sword moves were dense and precise, and no matter how many people came, they were just an extra.

Before long, they had cut down a group of men in black.

The men in black who were killed on the spot fell to the ground instantly, but after a few breaths, their corpses turned into a cloud of black mist and disappeared.

Meanwhile, from the surrounding woods, an identical person would simultaneously emerge and rejoin the battle to besiege Li Hu.

"broken."

Li Hu sensed something was wrong. This man's martial arts skills were mediocre, but he was full of fighting spirit. It turned out he had some strange tricks up his sleeve.

Li Hu snorted coldly, showing no fear whatsoever, and his longsword cut down a group of enemies with each strike.

Unfortunately, after the corpses turned into black mist, another one would always emerge from the surrounding woods, and Li Hu had no idea when the killing would end.

"Tiger Master, I'm here to help you!" Li Hu heard Yuan Sou's voice from afar.

He was followed by Wong Tai Sin, Qi Yuehong, and even Ji Heng, as well as a group of constables.

Yuan Sou was originally on guard with Li Hu, while Huang Daxian and Qi Yuehong were assigned by Li Hu to guard other places. Unfortunately, when they discovered the man in black, Yuan Sou was asleep, and Li Hu felt there was no need to call him. Now that he probably realized Li Hu was not there, he called for reinforcements.

Upon arriving here, the group was immediately taken aback.

"How...how could these people look exactly like me?" Wong Tai Sin exclaimed in astonishment.

"Exactly the same as you?" Old Yuan asked in confusion.

"That's not right. The people who attacked Tiger looked just like me."

"That's strange!"

After discussing it among themselves, and even asking Ji Heng and a few constables, they discovered that everyone was in the same boat.

Anyone who sees the faces of those men in black will find that they look just like themselves. The men in black in front of you don't even have their own faces; they only present a different face depending on who is observing them.

"This...this..."

Ji Heng was completely disoriented. After witnessing such a bizarre thing, his legs trembled uncontrollably, and he couldn't move an inch.

Yuan Sou saw Li Hu fighting with the men in black from afar and gradually understood Li Hu's current situation.

Then, with a quick thought, he comforted Ji Heng, saying, "Young man, don't be afraid. Our master's kung fu is the best in the world."

"That's right, that's right."

Ji Heng forced a smile. "I noticed it too."

Seeing that Yuan Sou showed no fear whatsoever, Ji Heng thought to himself that these new gentlemen were indeed all strange creatures, so he cupped his hands in a fist and asked:

"May I ask, Master Yuan, where do these strange, black-clad thieves come from?"

Yuan Sou had been waiting for these words, so he stroked his chin, pinched it with his right hand, and said in a mysterious manner:

"An ancient text says, 'Those that manifest in form are formless demons.'"

"It appears naturally with people, like a shadow following a form. Only the perfect person has no self, the divine person has no merit, and the sage has no name. Therefore, one cannot violate the form that responds to them."

With a flick of his sleeve, Yuan Sou began to speak, “Yes, the monster in front of us is called the Mirror Demon. Its kung fu is just average, but it has an unpredictable appearance and countless indistinguishable clones, which often allow it to defeat an elephant with the body of an ant.”

"Then... in that case, how can we execute him on the spot?" Ji Heng, clearly believing Yuan Sou's words, nervously gripped the hilt of his sword and asked.

"It's not difficult."

Yuan Sou knew the most crucial moment had arrived, and chuckled, "Do you see all these mirror demons? If you only hit the fake ones, they will just turn into a cloud of smoke. But if you hit the real mirror demon, these fake clones will collapse on their own."

Ji Heng nodded as if he understood, but still looked somewhat doubtful.

Wong Tai Sin echoed at this moment:

"I know a little about this matter. Years ago, my grandfather went up the mountain to chop wood and encountered a master fighting with a mirror demon. Under my grandfather's guidance, he discovered the mirror demon's true form and finally killed it."

"But how to discover the Mirror Demon's true form, I don't know," Wong Tai Sin shook his head, feigning distress, and asked Old Man Yuan.

"Hey? Do you know Yuan Sou?"

"It's hard to say. Let me think about it for a moment." Yuan Sou also frowned and pondered, unsure which one he should choose to convince Ji Heng.

Under the combined influence of the two, Ji Heng was clearly convinced. As the saying goes, "three men can make a tiger," so Ji Heng frowned and looked in the direction of Li Hu and the group of mirror demons.

Li Hu's swordsmanship was unrestrained and his aura was overwhelming, making it impossible for ordinary men in black to get close to him.

They would often be killed in a single encounter, turning into black mist, and no matter how the surrounding men in black attacked, it was useless.

Suddenly, Ji Heng seemed to notice that on the farthest side from him, a mirror demon was hiding behind a tree, motionless, with only half its head showing, looking in Li Hu's direction.

"Master Yuan, do you think that thing hiding behind the camphor tree and not attacking might be the Mirror Demon in its true form?" Ji Heng nudged Master Yuan with his elbow.

Old Yuan feigned surprise, squinted, and peered into the distance. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh and exclaimed with delight:

"Young man, you have sharp eyes! My old eyes are failing me! What else could be standing there motionless, afraid to approach, but the real thing?"

"Good eye, good eye indeed!" Wong Tai Sin didn't hold back his praise at all, making Ji Heng scratch the back of his head a little embarrassed and smile shyly.

If that's the case, even if the thing in front of him isn't a mirror demon, it is.

Even if the mirror demon hiding behind the tree wasn't the real thing, it was still him.

So Yuan Shou shouted at the top of his lungs, "Tiger Master, to the southwest, behind that tree!"

Li Hu was also listening intently to Yuan Sou's conversation. When Yuan Sou pointed out the location, he understood immediately. He swung his sword and cleaved a space for himself to move around in the mirror demon. With a somersault, he passed a large group of men in black and headed straight for the mirror demon hidden behind the tree.

At first, the mirror demon tried to hide behind a tree, but Li Hu cleaved the tree in two with a single sword strike from above. Then, he reached out and grabbed the man by the neck from the forked trunk of the camphor tree.

Li Hu then saw a face that looked exactly like his own, filled with utter horror, as if he had encountered something unbelievable.

At that very moment, the remaining thirty-odd men in black all turned into mist and vanished completely.

The dense, impenetrable forest finally fell silent.

"Tell me, if you're not me, then who are you?" Li Hu threw the man to the ground, where he was thrown around in a daze.

Li Hu's cold sword tip pressed against his throat, but the man's face was full of disbelief, as if he still didn't know how he had lost.

"What kind of tricks are you using?"

"You don't need to know. Tell me, what are you?" Li Hu said threateningly, brandishing his longsword.

The man swallowed nervously, his eyes darting around suspiciously, before finally speaking, "I am a lowly demon under the command of the Queen Mother of the West, and I am here on her orders to distribute rice to the poor."

Li Hu didn't quite understand what the Queen Mother of the West was, and he wasn't entirely satisfied with her self-introduction either, so he continued to ask:

Don't you have your own name?

"You might as well just call me Mirror Demon, it makes no difference anyway," the little devil replied.

"What kind of thing is the Queen Mother of the West? Why is she distributing rice?" Li Hu asked again.

"You don't know the Queen Mother of the West?"

The mirror demon was somewhat surprised, and cupped its fists towards the distant sky beside it, saying, "The Queen Mother of the West is the Old Mother of the Jade Pool in the Jade Capital, commonly known as the Queen Mother Goddess."

"The poor need rice, so the Queen Mother of the West sent me to rob the rich and help the poor. It's that simple."

Li Hu nodded upon hearing this, but the more he listened, the more unsettling it became, so he asked, "How can I be sure you're telling the truth?"

"Believe it or not, kill me or torture me as you please, my mission is complete anyway." The mirror demon turned its head to the side and closed its eyes.

Seeing his demeanor, Li Hu didn't dare to actually attack him, so he sheathed his sword, glanced at him, and said:

"You can leave now."

The mirror demon was equally ruthless, showing no intention of getting close to Li Hu whatsoever. It turned around and immediately ran away, disappearing in just a few steps.

Li Hu was indeed hesitant to make a move. On one hand, this person hadn't done anything wrong, and on the other hand, he didn't know what kind of monster the so-called Queen Mother of the West was. If he acted rashly, he might attract something like a sword aura, just like when he encountered something he couldn't handle.

Since these weren't his own three corpses, the trip was over, and he hadn't gained anything. Li Hu touched the three copper coins, and couldn't help but mutter to himself:

"Don't mess with me, bro. People are just doing good deeds, and I'm just causing trouble."

So Li Hu shook his head and prepared to go back.

"Tiger, did that guy hurt you?" Old Yuan ran over with a chuckle and a mischievous grin.

"Thanks to you this time," Li Hu said with a smile.

"Master, Master, I was the one who discovered the mirror demon's true form first." Ji Heng rushed in to claim credit, his face beaming with smiles, as if afraid that Li Hu would forget his contribution.

Seeing his appearance, everyone smiled but said nothing.

"Haha, you deserve credit for that too," Li Hu laughed.

The next day, Li Hu arrived at Master Zhou's house as promised to collect the tax money.

His intuition told him that this matter was not over yet. Since he had found clues about the Queen Mother of the West by following the clues from Master Zhou's house, he might be able to find the two corpses by following the clues from the Queen Mother of the West.

Meanwhile, the five demons that were transporting energy within Zhou Gongzi's stomach had not yet been eliminated, so the matter was likely not over.

So Li Hu kicked open the door of Master Zhou's house.

"Give me the money!" Wong Tai Sin burst in, shouting as he entered.

His burly, imposing appearance is clearly more suited to boosting morale.

As expected, Master Zhou was in the courtyard. When he saw that it was Li Hu who had come in, his face immediately showed a look of disgust.

"Let's keep things separate. Put the tax issue aside for now. I've invited a master to exorcise the evil spirit from my son. Don't come and disturb me at this time. If my son suffers, I will not let you off easily!"

Master Zhou quickly stopped the group of people who wanted to rush in, and threatened them.

Hearing this, Li Hu became interested and casually asked, "Where did this master come from? I'd like to pay him a visit and get to know him; it might be useful when I'm dealing with pests in the future."

Master Zhou seemed not to understand the implied meaning in Li Hu's words. He only hummed twice and said, "Master's secular name is Zong Shanyue, his Taoist name is Mingxin, he is a third-rank officer of the Ghost Suppression Division and a protector of the Jie Sect."

"Do you know what the Jiejiao (劫教) is?"

Master Zhou, getting a little too cocky, said, "This is the state religion of the current dynasty! It's not something that some wild Taoist priest can compare to."

"My son's recovery depends entirely on this Venerable Master Mingxin."

After saying this, Master Zhou seemed a bit anxious again, pacing back and forth in the courtyard. He wanted to push open the door and go into the kitchen to see how the Taoist priest was treating his son and exorcising evil spirits, but he was also afraid that the master would blame him.

So he could only put his hands together, curl up, pace back and forth, and mutter prayers to God.

Li Hu felt uneasy from the moment he finished speaking. He seemed to know the person Zhou Yuanwai mentioned, and they had a deep connection with him, almost like a persistent ghost.

Gradually, Li Hu's whole demeanor became somewhat ferocious. He then gripped the hilt of his sword and pushed aside Zhou Yuanwai and his group of servants who were blocking his way.

With a wave of his hand, he punched open the kitchen door.

The man inside had red hair and beard, a dignified and imposing appearance, and an air of otherworldly grace. He held a copper coin sword in one hand and made a spirit official incantation with the other. His sleeves billowed as he performed a ritual to exorcise evil spirits.

But the five-year-old boy behind the red-haired Taoist priest caused an even greater upheaval in Li Hu's heart.

What's Shui Sheng doing here?!