Demon, come and cultivate for me.

"Fellow Daoist, are you alright?" Zhou Chu shook Chen Xiangzi's shoulder.

"The mountain lord slaughtered the entire village..." Chen Xiangzi gritted his teeth, "These people were all villagers from outside the valley..."

Chen Xiangzi stayed overnight in a village outside the valley.

When the villagers learned that he was a martial artist, they treated him with great hospitality.

To entertain Chen Xiangzi, they all brought out the finest grains they usually couldn't bear to eat, their treasured liquor, and one family even slaughtered a laying hen.

Chen Xiangzi was never picky about food, only seeking to fill his stomach. However, he always enjoyed drinking, and after a few bowls of wine, he felt quite happy.

Taking advantage of his high spirits after drinking, the villagers told him about the harm caused by the mountain tiger.

A few days ago, the villagers in a nearby village were fine during the day, but they all disappeared overnight.

Someone reported the matter to the authorities, who sent people to investigate, but they couldn't find out the reason.

A few days later, villagers from another village disappeared. Only one shepherd, who was returning home late, witnessed a huge tiger in the distance carrying away the villagers who were like walking corpses.

The news caused an uproar in the villages within dozens of miles, and people were filled with panic.

A few days later, all the villagers in a village a few miles away were also abducted by the mountain tiger.

As a result, the villagers began to worry that their village would be next.

Just then, they encountered a martial artist passing by, namely Chen Xiangzi. The villagers, as if grasping at a straw, begged him to kill the mountain lord.

After Chen Xiangzi finished speaking, the villager slammed his fist on the table and immediately agreed to help the villagers get rid of the mountain tiger.

Unexpectedly, just one day later, before he could finish the gourd of liquor the villagers had packed for him when he left, the whole bottle was poisoned by the mountain tiger.

Looking at all those familiar faces, it's no wonder Chen Xiangzi hesitated to make a move.

"The Soul-Suppressing Talisman will cause their souls to scatter, and I truly cannot bear to use it on them," Chen Xiangzi said through gritted teeth. "Only by slaying the Mountain Lord can their souls be preserved. Brother Zhou Chu, would you be willing to lend me a hand?"

Zhou Chu asked, "If we kill the Mountain Lord, will they return to normal?"

Chen Xiangzi nodded and said, "Without the Mountain Lord, there will be no more treacherous spirits, and their souls can descend to the Netherworld and enter the cycle of reincarnation."

"Alright!" Zhou Chu clenched his fist and said, "Forget about helping or not, the mountain lord is cruel and everyone has the right to kill him. I'll go with you."

Chen Xiangzi put the jade pen into his satchel: "There's no time to lose, let's go out and find the Mountain Lord now."

Just as Zhou Chu was about to go into battle, he suddenly remembered that Xie Ning knew the magic of tracking demons. If she could help him, he could save himself the trouble of searching everywhere.

He took Chen Xiangzi to Xie Ning and told her about their plan.

Before Xie Ning could express her opinion, Xie Qi took on the task of searching for the demon.

In fact, Xie Ning's demon-hunting skills were far inferior to Xie Qi's, and at this time, only Xie Qi could accomplish it.

After instructing Xie Ning to stay safely within the formation, Xie Qi went out into the formation with Zhou Chu and Chen Xiangzi.

After Xie Qi extracted a trace of the mountain lord's demonic energy from the cougar, he and Zhou Chu quickly ran towards the hillside.

The ghosts spotted the three and immediately gave chase.

With their mortal bodies, their speed was far inferior to that of the three peak martial artists, and they were quickly left far behind.

Xie Qi used his demon-finding technique based on this trace of demonic energy.

In a short time, they pinpointed the general location of the mountain tiger.

"The mountain lord is hiding at the foot of the mountain, twenty-seven miles to the northeast," Xie Qi said, pointing to the northeast of the valley.

The journey of twenty-seven miles, if it were a flat, main road, would take three peak martial artists less than half an hour to reach.

However, the place where the mountain king resides requires crossing a series of mountain ridges to reach.

"Looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death; crossing mountains and ridges to travel the distance can more than double."

Xie Qi turned around and looked worriedly at the campsite below the slope.

Zhou Chu understood what he was worried about, and said:

"The Nine Palaces Formation can last for at least seven or eight hours. If we kill the Mountain Lord before the formation fails, the siege by the evil spirits will break free on its own."

"It will probably take one or two hours to get there, and if the mountain lord is not easy to deal with..." Xie Qi was still somewhat hesitant.

Zhou Chu interrupted him before he could finish speaking:

"Use the teleportation array, and we'll arrive in an instant."

Xie Qi and Chen Xiangzi were overjoyed to hear this, as using the formation to cross was naturally better than walking the mountain path on foot.

I've heard that teleportation arrays consume a lot of true energy, so we'll probably be one less fighter when we face the Mountain Lord.

They were worried, but Zhou Chu was not.

He now has tens of thousands of years old demonic beasts that can provide him with true energy like fuel.

As long as you control yourself and don't overexert yourself at once, there won't be any problems.

Zhou Chu used the Star Shift Formation to instantly reach the location designated by Xie Qi.

The three stood on the bare mountaintop, looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Is this the location of the Mountain Lord's cave?" Zhou Chu looked around, but there wasn't a cave, not even a single tree or weed.

"Yes, this is it," Xie Qi said decisively.

He once again used his demon-finding magic to locate the mountain lord.

A moment later, Xie Qi drew his sword from his waist and said, "Come with me."

Zhou Chu followed closely behind.

Chen Xiangzi took out a jade pen and a yellow paper strip, and started drawing runes as he walked.

The mountain where the three of them were located was steep and vertical.

The mountain path is rugged and treacherous, and at its narrowest point, only one foot can fit on it.

The three of them moved sideways, step by step, their faces pressed against the hard rock, with a bottomless abyss behind them.

Xie Qi and Chen Xiangzi were relatively normal, but Zhou Chu, who was afraid of heights, was sweating profusely and clenching his teeth, barely daring to breathe, as he walked on this dangerous path with no protection.

Zhou Chu estimated the distance; he had already walked at least two or three miles along this narrow road, but still couldn't see the end.

He wanted to transform into a mandrill, but feared that the narrow path wouldn't be able to accommodate its enormous size, so he had to give up.

In the end, even the narrow path that could barely accommodate one foot disappeared, leaving only the potholes in the mountainside for people to step on.

"So I came here to do free solo climbing?"

Zhou Chu, who had no rock climbing experience, was immediately faced with a hellish difficulty level. He couldn't help but curse Xie Qi for leading the way blindly. Was this a path for humans to walk on?

Not wanting to appear weak in front of the two, he gritted his teeth and didn't say a word, but braced himself and continued to climb down behind them.

"Why aren't you moving?" Chen Xiangzi asked from beneath Zhou Chu's feet.

Xie Qi, who was at the bottom, replied, "There's no way out. The stone wall below is too smooth; there's nowhere to step."

"..."

Zhou Chu was on the verge of tears. Damn it, this is so unreliable! What kind of lousy road is this? Am I going to have to crawl back again?

Chen Xiangzi's resentment was no less than Zhou Chu's, and her voice clearly betrayed her anger: "Did we come all this way for nothing?"

Xie Qi's voice came through: "There's wind down there, the cave entrance is right below, but I can't see it clearly."

The moon had already hidden behind the mountain wall. Chen Xiangzi looked down and saw nothing but darkness; he couldn't see the cave entrance Xie Qi had mentioned at all.

He gripped the protruding stone wall in front of him tightly with one hand, and with the other he pulled a yellow paper talisman from his satchel.

With a gentle shake, the yellow paper talisman spontaneously combusted without fire.

Chen Xiangzi threw the fire talisman into the air, and the flames did not go out for a long time, but instead grew brighter and brighter.

The moment the fire talisman illuminated the area below, Xie Qi let out a gasp.

Zhou Chu and Chen Xiangzi looked down at the same time and were startled by what they saw.

About three zhang below the three people, there is a platform about one zhang square.

Six men dressed as martial artists stood on the platform, looking up and staring intently at Zhou Chu and his two companions on the rock wall.

Their eyes were an eerie grayish-white, devoid of any life.

"They're not just standing here watching us, are they?" Zhou Chu felt a chill run down his spine for no reason.

This is fucking creepy.

Xie Qi recognized the faces of the people below as those of the martial artists who had been killed by the evil spirits when they went up the mountain to pull the crossbeams during the day.

When people were sent up to collect their bodies, they couldn't find them. Unexpectedly, the bodies appeared in this place and became vengeful spirits.

"I'll go down first!"

Xie Qi gritted his teeth, drew his sword, and leaped down, landing precisely on the platform. Without time to adjust, he swung his sword at the vengeful spirit before him.

The martial arts ghosts are not only immortal, but they also possess martial arts skills, making them even more difficult to deal with than the ghosts encountered during the day.

Soon, Xie Qi was entangled and could only use his swift swordsmanship to evade the attack, unable to break free.

Chen Xiangzi pulled out a few paper talismans and leaped off the platform. Before he could even get up, a martial artist's blade came hurtling towards him.

Chen Xiangzi, unsteady on her feet, hurriedly dodged.

Unfortunately, the platform was too small. Chen Xiangzi's left shoulder slammed into the stone wall, and his right arm was cut open by a sharp blade, causing blood to flow freely.