Slaying demons and eliminating evil, a martial saint among mortals.

The sky grew completely dark.

Before long, the entire Qing Shi Post Station fell silent.

The only sound in the yard was the rustling of the wind through the weeds, and occasionally the howls of wild animals could be heard from the distant mountains and forests.

Qin Lie did not sleep.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, circulating the Zhenyue Tiangong technique over and over again.

The Qi and blood flow continuously along the meridians until several cycles are completed, at which point the surging Qi and blood in the body gradually calm down.

Qin Lie slowly exhaled and opened his eyes.

It was still very quiet outside.

The formation set up by Gu Qianji did not react at all.

Just as Qin Lie was about to rest for a moment and continue his cultivation, a very light footstep sound suddenly came from the courtyard.

The footsteps paused halfway through their journey, then continued forward.

Qin Lie frowned slightly, reached out and grabbed the Snow Shard Blade that was placed beside him, walked quietly to the window, and peeked outside through the crack.

There was a person standing in the courtyard.

It was Zhao Tieshan.

He was carrying an oil lamp in one hand and a wooden tray in the other.

On the wooden plate was a bowl containing the leftover noodles.

Zhao Tieshan first glanced in the direction where Qin Lie and the others lived.

After confirming that there was no disturbance, he picked up the oil lamp and limped toward the back of the post station.

Looking in that direction, Qin Lie knew it was the small house that had been locked during the day.

It seems there really is a problem here.

Qin Lie remained silent and continued to observe through the crack in the window.

Soon, Zhao Tieshan arrived at the door of the small house.

He pulled a key from his pocket and skillfully unlocked the door.

With a soft sound, the door was slowly pushed open.

Zhao Tieshan carried the oil lamp inside and then closed the door again.

Having seen this, Qin Lie was ready to set off.

Just as he was about to push open the window and climb out, a figure suddenly appeared beside him.

Qin Lie almost instinctively drew his sword.

Only after recognizing the person did he withdraw his hand.

"Could you make some noise when you walk?"

Xu Qinghe stood to the side, her face calm.

"What if we make some noise and Zhao Tieshan notices?"

After she finished speaking, she glanced in the direction of the hut.

"Stop talking nonsense and go take a look."

Qin Lie nodded.

The two gently pushed open the window and climbed out of the room, making almost no sound throughout the entire process.

With their current strength, as long as they deliberately conceal their aura, an ordinary person would have no chance of discovering their presence.

The two tiptoed and soon arrived outside the small house.

The night breeze blew through the courtyard.

The light from inside the house shone a dim yellow light through the crack in the door, and the people inside were clearly unaware that two uninvited guests had appeared outside.

Not long after, Zhao Tieshan's indistinct voice came from inside the house.

"A total of three people came today: an old man and two young people."

"That old man loves to drink just like you, Master. He drank most of the half-full jar of wine in no time."

"There was another young man who was very wary and kept doubting me, but that's normal. Anyone would be scared if they saw me like this."

Upon hearing this, Qin Lie's brows slowly furrowed.

The only sound in the room was Zhao Tieshan's voice; no one else responded, and it sounded like he was talking to himself.

Xu Qinghe raised her finger and gently tapped it on the window paper.

A small hole immediately appeared in the window paper, and the two looked inside through it.

There was no table or bed in the room, only an altar.

There were more than a dozen wooden plaques on the altar, each engraved with a name, and several empty old bowls in front of them.

Zhao Tieshan put down the oil lamp and placed the bowl of noodles in front of the offering table.

"There's not much noodles today, so please make do with this. There are also a few pieces of dried meat in it, which I chopped up so you won't have trouble chewing them."

After he finished speaking, he sat down on the ground, took out a small wine flask from his pocket, unscrewed the lid, and slowly poured some wine onto the ground.

"Six years have passed, and Qing Shi Yi is still the same. No one from above has come, and no one has told me whether this place should be closed down or not. But as long as no one tells me to leave, I will continue to guard it."

"Although there are hardly any people on the road anymore, military reports still occasionally pass by. If the post station is completely lost, those messengers won't even have a place to drink water and rest."

Zhao Tieshan kept his head down, his cloudy right eye fixed on the wooden plaque in the very center.

"Master, you used to say that I was slow-witted and couldn't do anything great."

"But look, I've been guarding this place for six years, and nothing has gone wrong during all that time."

"This place is getting more and more dilapidated, and I can't manage it all by myself. I'll try to fix the roof next spring, and it should last a few more years then."

As he said this, he raised his hand and wiped his cloudy right eye, then sat there and said nothing more.

Qin Lie stood outside the window, his doubts now resolved.

There was nothing shady hidden in this locked room; Zhao Tieshan simply left the memorial tablets of these people here.

The extra bowl was clearly prepared for those who had already died.

Qin Lie gently patted Xu Qinghe's hand, signaling her to leave first.

The two walked quietly for a while before Xu Qinghe stopped.

"Are you relieved now?"

Qin Lie did not answer, but only glanced back at the small house with the light on.

"Do you think the scars on Zhao Tieshan's face and body might also be from six years ago?"

Xu Qinghe nodded.

"It should be. Those wooden plaques all had their times of death engraved on them, and they all died six years ago."

"Judging from this, something very serious must have happened at Qing Shi Yi six years ago, and only Zhao Tieshan survived."

Qin Lie nodded after listening.

By this time, his suspicions about Zhao Tieshan had diminished considerably.

This person is indeed hiding a lot, but judging from the current situation, he should have nothing to do with the demon spies.

Just as the two were about to return to their room, the array outside the inn suddenly lit up.

The light was very faint and disappeared after only a moment.

Qin Lie immediately stopped and placed his right hand on the Snow-Shattering Blade.

"The formation is reacting."

Xu Qinghe turned her head and looked at the woods outside the courtyard wall.

The next moment, a low growl suddenly came from afar.

Immediately afterwards, a second and a third sound rang out, the sound growing louder and rapidly approaching.

The branches and leaves in the woods swayed constantly, as if a group of things were rushing towards Qing Shi Yi.

At this moment, Gu Qianji also came out of the house, still holding the wine bowl in her hand.

He walked to the center of the courtyard and looked down at the ground beneath his feet.

There is indeed something underground.

The slight tremor had stopped, but the noise outside the post station had not disappeared.

The sounds from the woods grew louder and louder, a cacophony of noises that made one feel very uncomfortable.

Qin Lie gripped the Snow-Shattering Blade tightly and glanced outside the courtyard wall.

"Will these things break in?"

Gu Qianji squatted down, put two fingers on the ground, and shook his head after a while.

"Probably not. They're not coming for us; they're just running for their lives."

Qin Lie frowned.

"Run for your life?"

Gu Qianji closed his eyes and gently moved the two fingers that were pressed to the ground a few times.

"Something has woken up down the mountain behind us. The wild animals nearby sensed the danger and are all running away."

At this point, he looked up at Zhao Tieshan.

"Is there an abandoned mine shaft on the back mountain of your area?"

Zhao Tieshan stood there for a moment and then nodded.

"Yes, it's about three or four miles behind the post station. That mine used to be used for mining bluestone, but it collapsed several times, killing many people. It was sealed off a long time ago, and nobody usually goes in there."

He paused here, as if he almost said something wrong.

"When I first arrived at Qingshi Post Station, the previous post station manager specifically reminded me not to go near that area."

Gu Qianji withdrew his hand, casually flicked the dirt off his fingertips, and then finished the rest of the wine in the bowl in one gulp.

"We have no choice but to get closer now; we must go and check it out tonight."

Qin Lie frowned even more deeply.

"Go now? Can't we wait until dawn?"

Gu Qianji stood up and glanced at him.

"Waiting until dawn isn't impossible, but I'm afraid that by then, the thing down there will be fully awake. In that case, we won't need to go anymore, and the entire Qing Shi Yi might be gone."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tieshan's expression immediately changed.

He turned and ran towards the small hut next to the kitchen. A short while later, he came out carrying a nicked machete and a bunch of keys hanging from his waist.

"If you want to go, I can show you the way."

Qin Lie looked down at his left leg.

"Are your legs okay?"

Zhao Tieshan gripped the machete tightly in his hand.

"I've walked that road so many times, I wouldn't get lost even with my eyes closed."

Gu Qianji did not refuse and simply put the empty wine bowl aside.

"Then you lead the way."

Gu Qianji first re-examined the array set up around the post station, and only after confirming that there were no problems did he allow the group to leave the post station.

The woods outside were in complete chaos. The group had not gone far from the post station when they saw a fox dart past them.

Normally, this fox would avoid people, but today it acted as if it didn't see them at all, darting past them right next to them.

Immediately afterwards, several more rabbits emerged from the grass. One of them had dark red eyes and its teeth were much longer than those of a normal rabbit.

It looked a bit like the rabbit Zhao Tieshan had been holding that evening. However, this rabbit didn't seem to be attacking them; it just kept its head down and ran outside.

Are these beasts all turning into monsters?

"You're right, these beasts are indeed turning into demons, and the demonic aura gets stronger the closer you get to the back of the mountain."

The group continued walking forward, and the closer they got to the back of the mountain, the more unpleasant the smell in the woods became, with a rotten odor mixed in with the soil.