I defeated the saint with a parry.

Li west frowned slightly as she watched the door being pushed open and then closed again, as if she had something on her mind.

Hou Le: "Young master, there's no need to worry. He's even more cunning than the little ones in my clan. He wouldn't be foolish enough to throw his life away. Besides, he has the top-grade pills you gave him. Even if he's injured, he'll be able to come back."

Li west shook his head: "I'm not worried about him, just a little strange. Elder Hou..."

"Um?"

"Before, I just thought he was a brave person, but now I think he's simply fearless. Have you ever seen such a reckless Body Tempering Realm cultivator?"

"No, not at all." Although Hou Le looked down on some of Xu Ling's behavior, he had to admire him. If he were Xu Ling, he probably wouldn't have the guts to take the jade pendant out to lure the enemy.

He had already mentioned the function of the jade pendant: as long as Xu Ling carried it on his person, the other party could perfectly pinpoint his location.

This is a common practice among aristocratic families, and it's not exactly a secret.

Unexpectedly, Xu Ling was delighted instead of surprised after hearing this, which was truly unconventional.

Hou Le finally managed to say, "Perhaps he has some methods we don't know about."

As for methods, of course, there are.

Xu Ling's system is not just for show; with the system's reminders, he is least afraid of being ambushed.

Whenever someone attacks from behind, there will be a notification to assist in deflecting and parrying. It doesn't have a minimap like in games, but it's sufficient.

The enemy's miasma was exactly what he needed to use.

Xu Ling stepped out of the courtyard and immediately saw several men in black standing blankly on the wall. They all had empty eyes and lewd expressions, and showed no reaction to their surroundings. They were obviously under the influence of the Peach Blossom Miasma.

Logically, he could have assassinated him directly, but there was some commotion outside the courtyard.

The two men in black who were leading the group were not affected and were currently feeding their subordinates drugs.

If the assassination attempt involved bloodshed, it would inevitably be discovered. Xu Ling knew he couldn't miss this opportunity, so he climbed over the wall to the neighboring yard and, without alerting anyone else, quickly headed towards the village center.

Before entering the village, he watched the procession complete the ceremony, and finally stop inside the village's ancestral hall.

Now, the pink mist serves as a natural barrier, allowing Xu Ling to navigate it with ease without fear of being ambushed. He quickly arrived at the building in the village by relying on his memory.

Xu Ling sneaked into the ancestral hall with the jade pendant, and almost cried out the moment he stepped through the gate.

It was packed with people, with no space left at all.

All the villagers are here.

Bathed in the miasma of peach blossoms, their faces radiant with happiness, they moved instinctively like worms, squeezing into the already limited space with those around them...

Even Xu Ling, a young man from the 21st century, had never seen such a scene before.

On the high platform for worship, there was a huge mask worn in the village's ceremonial procession, as well as various other masks of the same type in different sizes.

In front of the central mask stands a black statue with the body of a child, the face of a demon, horns on its forehead, and teeth in its mouth.

"He's definitely not a good god."

As for the scene here... a bit of chaos is good, the more chaotic the better.

Xu Ling leaped up and jumped onto the roof beam, quickly crossing over the villagers to reach the top of the platform. He deliberately placed the jade pendant under the statue of the deity, and without lingering, jumped back onto the roof beam. Just as he was about to leave, people from the ancestral hall arrived.

"It's him?"

"That little monk?"

The figure walking in from outside the door was beyond Xu Ling's expectations.

He initially thought the man in black had come here using tricks to find the jade pendant, but unexpectedly he saw a familiar face: the cowardly monk from the Temple of the Human-Faced Tiger.

The young monk walked into the ancestral hall, seemingly oblivious to the situation there. Moreover, his expression was clear, clearly unaffected by the peach blossom miasma, unlike the villagers.

"Interesting, so interesting!"

There's only one explanation for why an ordinary person like him wasn't affected by the Peach Blossom Miasma.

This young monk knows the person behind the scenes and knows how to evade them.

In that temple, after Xu Ling killed the man-faced tiger, he neither agreed to leave the demon core to the monk and his disciple nor saved them, intending to let them fend for themselves. After all, the two monks and their disciple had always intended to feed them to the tiger, and leaving them in the temple to die was a form of punishment.

Since the young monk survived, the old monk must have survived as well, and must be in the village as well.

"I was right, that old monk is definitely a cultivator."

Xu Ling then understood the key point: "The temple and the human-faced tiger are both the old monk's tricks, and so is this village."

Xu Ling held his breath and lay prone on the roof beam, silently moving to the corner of the eaves, completely hiding himself in the darkness. With the peach blossom miasma and the night as cover, even if the little monk looked up, he would not be able to see him with the eyesight of an ordinary person.

Despite having reached the ninth level of body tempering and possessing the peak of mortal senses, he was able to see the entire situation inside the ancestral hall.

Unlike Xu Ling, Little Dog Egg raised his hand and shot out a "mechanical claw" from his sleeve, grabbing a pillar and "flying" over the crowd to the ancestral hall.

He raised his hand, holding the jade tablet in his palm: "Master, I've arrived at the ancestral hall. What's next?"

A voice came from the jade tablet: "There is a cellar beneath the altar. The entrance mechanism is on the stone brick behind the altar that is engraved with the character '宗' (Zong).

After following the voice's instructions to the altar, Little Dog Egg was unaware that a pair of eyes were watching him from above.

Each brick behind the altar has an inscription indicating the generational ranking of the villagers of Taoyuan Village.

The little dog Egg stepped on the character "宗" (Zong), and the mechanism made a sound from below. The altar began to move, revealing a hole about half a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) wide.

Dog Egg went down into the cave without closing the entrance.

After a moment's thought, Xu Ling also jumped down, took out the jade tablet from under the statue, and then crawled into the cave.

This time he didn't hold back and quickly caught up with Little Dog Egg.

The cellar was large, a naturally formed cave. Stone steps had been carved out around the cave, allowing one to descend step by step. There was still kerosene on the stone walls, which reignited automatically after Little Dog Egg came down.

Looking down the stone steps, there is a pool of water ten feet deep.

That is the source of the peach blossom miasma.

By the light of the fire, Xu Ling saw many man-made talismans around the pool. Many of them had been submerged, while the rest extended upwards along the pool, reaching into the entire natural cave.

What attracted Xu Ling's attention even more was a coffin suspended above the cave by nine iron chains above the pool.

The coffin was only half the size of an ordinary adult's. Xu Ling immediately thought of the statue on the altar and the formation that caused the peach blossom miasma.

The little dog's face was filled with fear, but even so, he still hurried down the steps at the old monk's urging.

During this time, Xu Ling accidentally kicked a stone, and the noise it made when it fell into the pond almost scared Xiao Gou Dan to death.

It was only after the old monk on the other end of the jade tablet said that it was normal for rocks to fall into natural caves that the little dog, Egg, was calmed down.

When the young monk arrived at the edge of the pool, the peach blossom miasma that had been blocking his view disappeared. He then saw clearly that there was a stone lotus seat in the center of the pool.

"Master! I see the lotus platform."

The little dog Egg said to the jade tablet, "But why is this lotus seat black and red?"

"You don't need to worry about that, just do as I say. Whether your master can take that step depends on you. You want to cultivate too, right?"

The old monk Xumi's voice echoed in the cave, his tone sounding like that of a child trafficker from a past life: "You were born with a weak constitution; at eighteen, your body is weaker than a seven-year-old's, and you can't even cultivate your qi and blood. If you don't take this path, you'll have no hope of cultivation in this life. Your master is doing this for your own good; this path is indeed a bit arduous... If you don't want to, then come back."

The young monk looked at the pool in front of him. Below the pool was a flat platform, also engraved with talismans like those on a stone wall. He stepped onto the platform, and the water was only knee-deep, crystal clear.

Following the sound of Sumeru, Little Dog Egg glanced at the hanging coffin above his head, and then at the lotus platform in the center.

The icy water brought him back to reality, and the young monk's eyes shifted from blank to determined: "Don't worry, Master, I'll go up right away."

"good."

A suppressed voice came from Sumeru: "Sit cross-legged on the lotus platform and recite the Buddhist scriptures I taught you."

As the little dog Egg climbed up the platform to the lotus throne, he flipped over and scrambled up. Just as his clothes were all bunched up together, a jade pendant shot out from behind and landed safely in his sleeve pocket.

He felt his clothes fluttering, but assumed it was because he was pulling on them and didn't think much of it. He just sat on the lotus platform with his mind full of thoughts. After sitting cross-legged, he began to chant, just like his usual morning prayers.

After throwing away the jade pendant, Xu Ling planned to run towards the entrance, but before he could even take a step, the iron chain above his head started rattling.

The voice of the man in black also came from above.

There was the sound of chanting in front, a coffin and a formation above, and men in black chasing after them.

"Fine! What's the point of running now?"