Journey to the West: Starting with the Hunting of the Three Demons of Twin Fork Ridge

With Jin Chi's death, Li Fa's record of merits was updated once again.

Without hesitation, he directly chose the Five Elements Great Escape technique.

It turns out that this supernatural power can be used for both offense and escape, and it is truly infinitely versatile and has countless wonderful uses.

The only problem is that his function overlaps somewhat with his "entering water and sitting on fire" technique, but that's okay, having more skills is never a bad thing.

Just then, Wukong borrowed the fire-avoiding cover and descended. Li Fa hurriedly threw the old monk onto the bed, blew on it, tidied up the scene, picked up his own wind-chopping pestle, and then used a wood escape technique to hide in a big tree outside the mountain temple.

Wukong covered Tang Sanzang with the fire-avoiding cover, but then went to the Xun position and blew a strong breath, which is what is meant by "the wind follows the fire and the flames fly with the wind".

In the blink of an eye, the Guanyin Temple was burned bright red.

The panicked monks scrambled to move boxes and cages, grab tables and pots, and complained incessantly.

The fire was so large that it alarmed the Black Bear Spirit, who lived twenty miles away.

The old bear indeed rode on a cloud and arrived at Guanyin Temple in an instant.

He originally intended to put out the fire, but suddenly saw the abbot's quarters bursting with rosy light and colorful energy, so he went inside to take a look.

On the table sat a cassock and beside it stood a staff. The black bear spirit neither put out the fire nor fetched water. He simply took the two treasures, transformed into a black gust of wind, and headed into the mountains.

Li Fa watched from the shadows, wanting to see what the Black Bear Spirit's reward would be.

Sure enough, the merit record was updated.

[Target for execution: Black Wind King (Black Bear Spirit of Black Wind Mountain)]

[Karma Assessment: C+/B+ (Monster/Mountain Guardian Deity)]

Success rate of hunting: 40% / 10%

The rewards for killing it are as follows:

C-level reward:

[Optional Reward 1: Five Jiazi of Mana from the "Creating Heaven and Earth Technique"]

[Optional Reward Two: Turning Earth into Steel]

[Optional Reward 3: Spirit Writing]

Reward for B:

[Optional Reward 1: Twenty Jiazi of Mana from the "Creating Heaven and Earth Technique"]

[Optional Reward Two: Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, Central Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner]

[Optional Reward 3: Overturning Rivers and Seas]

[Note: The Black Wind King's original karma was only at the lower level (C). After Guanyin subdued him, he received a divinely ordained boost to his karma, elevating him to the upper level (B).]

Li Fa's pupils contracted; this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

I never expected that the Black Bear Spirit would have two karmic assessments!

Most importantly, when the Black Bear Spirit became the guardian deity of the mountain, his karma actually increased!

It seems the catalog is reminding itself that there is a difference between killing the Black Bear Spirit before it was recruited and killing the Black Bear Spirit after it was recruited.

Most importantly, Li Fa also discovered that a word was mentioned in the footnote below.

Karma is ordained by Heaven!

A thought struck him, and he flipped the catalog to the page with the silver-headed deity.

Sure enough, the Silver-Headed Exorcist is also associated with the concept of predestined karma.

What exactly is this karmic force that is determined on this day?

It's terrifying!

Even immortals would find it hard to escape.

Li Fa dared not think too much about it and could only look at the rewards in the catalog first.

The rewards for C were similar to those for Elder Jinchi, consisting mainly of magical powers and supernatural abilities.

However, Li Fa is not lacking in magical powers.

Then his gaze turned to B's reward.

The first thing that catches the eye is the first item, the magical power of these twenty years of Jiazi (a Chinese sexagenary cycle). Needless to say, if one were to choose the magical power of these twenty years of Jiazi, plus the magical power of the current three hundred years, that would be more than fifteen hundred years.

This blue bar is undeniably profound.

But the second reward immediately caught Li Fa's eye!

The Central Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner is a supreme defensive treasure, the number one in the Investiture of the Gods!

Once this flag is displayed, it is impervious to all magic and all evil forces will retreat; it is truly a divine object that can protect one's life.

As for the third one, Overturning Rivers and Seas, although it is also a great supernatural power, it seems to overlap with the Five Elements Great Escape and is more focused on destruction, so it is not as attractive as the first two.

But when he looked at the success rate of the hunt, Li Faxin's heart sank. Neither 40% nor 10% was a reliable success rate.

In particular, killing the Black Bear Demon (the Mountain Guardian God version) was almost a life-or-death situation.

Li Fa speculated that this might be because after the Black Bear Spirit was recruited, it stayed on Luojia Mountain and rarely came out.

If I were to go to Luojia Mountain to kill the Black Bear Demon, it would be like provoking the Grand Duke Jupiter or lighting a lantern in the toilet—it would be courting death!

Moreover, it wouldn't be easy for Li Fa to kill the Black Bear Spirit he had recruited before. This Black Bear was not an opponent that Elder Jinchi could easily subdue; rather, it was a real demon king who could fight Sun Wukong for dozens of rounds without a clear winner!

Although he possessed over three hundred years of magical power and had recently acquired the Five Elements Escape Technique, the outcome against such an old demon might be only fifty-fifty, or even lower.

But he was really unwilling to give up just like that.

The key is that the reward for killing the mountain-guarding deity, the Black Bear Spirit, is so generous that even Guanyin Bodhisattva would be tempted, let alone Li Fa.

Thinking of this, Li Fa had given up on the idea of ​​directly killing the Black Bear Spirit (monster version). If he was going to gamble, he would gamble big.

Regardless, I'll follow him and see what happens. Once Guanyin takes him under her wing, I'll see if I can find another opportunity to kill the Black Bear Spirit. If not, I'll run away.

Anyway, there are plenty of monsters on the journey to the West. I can kill a few of them first, and when I'm strong enough, I can go directly to Mount Luojia to kill the Black Bear Demon.

The apricot-yellow flag of Wuji will eventually belong to us!

Thinking of this, Li Fa transformed into Xiong Shanjun and followed after him, turning into a gust of black wind.

Meanwhile, the black bear spirit was riding on a cloud ahead when he suddenly heard a voice calling from behind: "Uncle, uncle, wait for your nephew!"

The black bear spirit hurriedly turned around and saw that it was Lord Xiong Shan. He looked surprised and said, "Nephew, why are you so late? Did you receive my invitation?"

Li Fa hurriedly took out the letter from his pocket and handed it to the black bear demon. After reading it, the demon laughed and said, "My nephew, you've finally come! I thought you weren't coming. I was even angry with you the other day!"

Li Fa quickly smiled apologetically and said, "I wanted to let my uncle know that something happened in the mountains, and I was delayed on the way, so I arrived late."

The black bear spirit said, "It's alright, it's alright! But why did you come up behind me?"

Li Fa said, "I originally intended to go straight to the cave, but on the way I saw a fire shooting into the sky. Just as I stopped to watch, my uncle came out of there, so I turned into the wind and caught up with him."

Upon hearing this, the black bear spirit draped his cassock over his arm, slung his staff over his shoulder, and boasted, "Can you see what I'm carrying?"

Li Fa said, "Isn't it just a cassock and a staff?"

The black bear spirit said, "You have good eyesight, but this is no ordinary cassock or staff."

Li Fa feigned doubt and asked, "Is there some other explanation for this?"

The black bear spirit laughed and said, "This cassock is a Buddhist robe, and the staff is an even greater treasure. It just so happens that in a couple of days it will be the anniversary of my mother's passing. I'll hold a Buddhist treasure gathering and invite my friends to celebrate together. What do you say?"

Li Fa cupped his hands and said, "I will leave it to you, Uncle."