I'm invincible once I descend the mountain; the beautiful CEO is forcing me to get our marriage

The group continued deeper into the valley.

Master Zhou, holding a compass, walked at the front, stopping every few steps to mutter incantations, appearing profound and unfathomable.

Grandpa Hu and his family followed behind, barely daring to breathe, their expressions tense as they clutched the yellow talisman tightly.

Finally, Master Zhou stopped in front of an open area.

He pointed to a dark forest ahead and lowered his voice: "This is it, the beast's lair is inside."

He turned around and winked at his two apprentices behind him.

The two apprentices understood and immediately opened the box they had brought.

They laid out things like black dog blood and peach wood swords, and drew a crooked array on the ground.

Master Zhou cleared his throat, picked up the most intricately drawn talisman, walked to the center of the formation, assumed a stance, and began his ritual.

He muttered incantations, his voice rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern.

"Mountain Spirit, heed my command! Xiao Ying, take your place!"

"Dispel all obscurity and obstacles, and swiftly reveal your form!"

He practically roared the last sentence, his voice echoing through the empty valley, startling a flock of birds into flight.

The entire Hu family held their breath, their eyes wide, staring intently at the dark forest.

One second, two seconds…

A minute passed.

The forest was quiet; there wasn't a sound, not even a breeze, let alone a mandrill.

The scene became somewhat awkward for a moment.

The expectation on Grandpa Hu's face slowly turned into doubt.

Master Zhou's forehead was also covered in a fine layer of sweat; he hadn't expected this outcome. According to the pre-arranged plan, his apprentice, disguised as a mandrill, should have jumped out of the forest long ago.

"Ahem!" Master Zhou coughed dryly, forcing an explanation, "This beast is extremely cunning. Knowing I'm here, it dares not show itself! It seems we'll need to use some more powerful methods!"

As he spoke, he took out another talisman from his pocket, bit his fingertip, smeared the blood on it, and shouted again.

"Heavenly thunder decree, earthly fire guide! Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Come out, me!"

This time, his voice was even louder, and his face turned a deep purplish-red.

However, the valley remained deathly silent.

The Hu family members' expressions had changed from confusion to suspicion.

Standing at the very back, Hu Yu witnessed this scene, and the pent-up frustration in his heart finally dissipated. He couldn't help but want to laugh, but he felt the occasion was inappropriate, so he could only desperately hold it in.

Master Guan stood behind Ye An, but his brows furrowed.

Although he knew that Master Zhou was a fraud, he still felt that something was wrong. Logically speaking, such charlatans would do their homework very thoroughly, and it was impossible for such an awkward silence to occur.

unless……

Master Guan's heart skipped a beat.

He glanced at Ye An, whose face was calm, and then, without further hesitation, walked towards the grove where Master Zhou had just shouted.

"Hey! Where are you going!"

Upon seeing this, Master Zhou's two disciples immediately stepped forward to stop him.

"My master is performing a ritual. You cannot go over there and disturb the altar. Can you bear the consequences?"

Master Guan ignored them completely, simply reaching out and pushing the two rather robust-looking young men aside with ease.

"Get out of here."

Master Guan coldly uttered two words and walked straight into the woods.

"you……"

The two apprentices wanted to say something more, but they were so frightened by Master Guan's gaze that they dared not move.

Master Zhou watched Master Guan's retreating figure, his face turning deathly pale.

Old Master Hu also realized something was wrong and quickly followed, asking, "Master Zhou, what... what's going on?"

Master Zhou's lips trembled, and he couldn't utter a single word.

The light in the woods was dim, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves.

Master Guan stopped after walking a few steps.

He saw a dark, human-shaped shadow lying under a large tree.

The shadow was covered in messy fur and wore a mask with blue faces and fangs, just like the legendary mountain demon.

"Playing tricks."

Master Guan cursed inwardly, stepped forward, and kicked the shadow.

"Stop pretending, get up."

The shadow on the ground remained motionless.

Master Guan frowned, bent down, and reached out to remove the mask from the man's face.

The mask was removed, revealing a young and terrified face, eyes wide open and mouth agape, as if the person had seen something extremely terrifying before dying.

The Hu family members who followed them in were so frightened by what they saw that they took a step back.

"Little...Little Six?" Master Zhou followed behind, and after seeing the face clearly, his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.

Master Guan's heart sank, and he reached out to check his apprentice's breath.

She's already dead.

He turned the body over.

"what!"

The women of the Hu family following behind let out a scream.

Between the chest and abdomen of the corpse was a huge hole, and the internal organs had all disappeared, leaving only the mangled flesh and blood.

Master Guan stood up, his face looking very unpleasant.

Looking at the still-shaken crowd, he announced in a deep voice:

"This body has only been dead for a short time, no more than fifteen minutes. The wounds are exactly the same as those of the previous herb gatherer; his internal organs were ripped out while he was still alive."

A quarter of an hour?

These three words were like icicles, piercing the hearts of everyone present.

This means that while Master Zhou was pretending to perform his ritual, the real murderer was in this forest, less than a few dozen meters away from them, silently killing someone.

Upon hearing this and seeing the corpse on the ground that was disguised as a mandrill, Hu Yu's mind went blank, and a surge of anger rushed to his head.

He whirled around, pointed at the deathly pale-faced Master Zhou, and roared at his father, "Dad! Did you see that? This is the master you hired!"

"He hired an apprentice to pretend to be a ghost and swindle money from our family! Now that the apprentice is dead, the real stuff has arrived!"

When his son pointed his finger at him and berated him in front of so many people, Old Master Hu's face turned pale and then red, and he felt utterly humiliated.

He wasn't heartbroken about the money, nor was he unafraid of the aftermath; he simply couldn't accept that after a lifetime of shrewdness, he had been completely fooled by a conman, and he couldn't accept his own misjudgment.

"You bastard! Shut up!" Old Master Hu was so angry that he trembled all over. He wanted to slap Hu Yu, but his hand fell limply halfway down.

"Is this the time to talk about this? It's not your place to tell me how to do things!"

The father and son were at loggerheads, and the scene was chaotic.

Just then, Master Zhou's remaining disciple,

The young man, who had just been so arrogant, suddenly stretched out a trembling hand and pointed into the depths of the forest.

She let out a scream that was completely out of tune.

"Master...Master! What...what is that?!"

The argument stopped abruptly.

Everyone stiffly turned their heads in the direction he was pointing.

A burly, dark figure emerged slowly, step by step, from the shadowy forest.

Its body resembled a giant ape, over two meters tall, covered in a layer of filthy black mane, its fur tangled and stained with mud and dark red blood clots.

Its eyes were not normal circles, but two scarlet vertical pupils that emitted an ominous light in the dim light.

What's most terrifying is its mouth.

The corner of his mouth was torn all the way to his ears, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth. Foul-smelling saliva dripped down from the corner of his mouth, falling onto the fallen leaves on the ground with a soft "sizzling" sound.

It stood there, its scarlet vertical pupils indifferently sweeping over everyone present.

"It really is a mandrill..." Hu Yu's lips trembled, his legs went weak, and he almost knelt on the ground.

At this moment, he finally understood just how terrifying the monkey-like monster his father had described was.

Grandpa Hu was so frightened that he no longer cared about arguing with his son or saving face.

He scrambled to hide behind Master Zhou, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "Master Zhou... Master Zhou! Quick! Quickly subdue this beast!"

Master Zhou looked at the mandrill, his legs trembling like a leaf.

He knew that there was no way to resolve this matter peacefully today.

He was driven to the brink and forced himself to calm down.

He picked up a peach wood sword from the ground and, pointing it at his only remaining apprentice and the few terrified herb gatherers behind him, shouted hoarsely:

"Set up the formation! Quickly set up the formation! Splash it with black dog blood!"

The apprentice and a few of the braver herb gatherers, their survival instincts overcoming their fear, hurriedly grabbed peach wood swords and talismans and rushed forward with Master Zhou.

"Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits! May the Supreme Lord Laozi hasten your decree!"

"Demon! Prepare to die!"

Several people shouted various incantations and, mustering their courage, threw everything they were holding at the mandrill.

However, when faced with these magical artifacts that were considered sacred by mortals, the mountain demon merely tilted its head, its scarlet vertical pupils revealing a hint of human-like disdain.

It let out a low growl from its throat.

The next second, its massive form vanished into thin air.

"ah--!"

The disciple who rushed to the front only managed to let out a short scream before his voice was cut off.

All the people saw was a black shadow flash by, and the disciple's body was easily torn in two like a tattered sack.

Warm blood and internal organs splattered all over Master Zhou.

Blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Before the remaining herb gatherers could react, the dark figure had already rushed in front of them.

The sharp claws slashed across, eliciting a series of screams.

In the blink of an eye, the men who rushed forward all fell into pools of blood, not a single body intact.

This was not a battle at all, but a one-sided massacre.

Master Zhou was stunned by the stench of blood.

He stood there, stunned, staring at the mandrill so close to him, forgetting even to run away.

The mandrill seemed to find him amusing, and instead of killing him immediately, it extended its claw and gently patted him.

"Bang!"

Master Zhou was like a kite with a broken string, sent flying seven or eight meters away, crashing heavily into a big tree before sliding to the ground.

His chest caved in, and he gushed mouthfuls of blood mixed with pieces of his internal organs.

He collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with endless fear and resentment. With his last ounce of strength, he called out haltingly towards the crowd:

"No...no...this isn't an ordinary spirit...it has...entered a higher level..."

"Run...run...or we'll all die..."

Master Zhou's words directly triggered the deep-seated fear in the hearts of the others.

Mother Hu let out a heart-wrenching scream, so shrill that it was distorted.

The scream was like a signal, instantly igniting everyone's fear.

"Run!" someone shouted hoarsely, and the crowd completely collapsed.

"We're doomed... doomed..." A herb gatherer's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, muttering to himself with a deathly pale face.

The mandrill seemed to enjoy the extreme fear on everyone's faces.

Instead of continuing its slaughter, it stood in the pool of blood, excitedly pounding its chest with its fists.

It emitted a series of strange cries of "woo-wah-woo-wah-".

The sound was sharp and piercing, making people's eardrums ache.

The herb gatherers from the Hu family could no longer withstand the pressure and collapsed to the ground screaming.

The remaining people were also ashen-faced and completely devastated.

Cries, pleas for mercy, and desperate sobs echoed through the silent valley, sounding so pale and powerless.

The few herb gatherers who survived by sheer luck turned and ran out of the valley like madmen.

They practically tumbled and crawled, wishing their parents had given them two more legs.

In the chaos, Grandpa Hu was pushed to the ground.

He looked at the demon-like mandrill, and then at the end of the group, at the young man whose expression remained calm throughout.

"Master Ye..."

He grasped at this last straw as if it were his last hope.

They no longer cared about the dignity of the family head or the respect of elders.

He crawled towards Ye An using both his hands and feet, and knelt down in front of Ye An.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Tears streamed down his face as he kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead striking the hard stone ground, drawing blood quickly.

"Master Ye! Immortal Ye! I was blind! I looked down on you!"

"Please have mercy and save so many members of my Hu family!"

Old Master Hu cried out, his voice hoarse, filled with endless regret and fear.

In the courtyard, the once arrogant head of the Hu family, who used to scold his son like a dog, was now humbled to the dust.

Ye An looked at Old Master Hu kneeling on the ground, utterly devoid of dignity, and a faint smile appeared on his lips as he gently shook his head.

"Now you know to beg me?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

Those who were running away slowed down instinctively upon hearing this and turned around to look.

Old Master Hu raised his blood-stained face and pleaded repeatedly, "It's my fault! It's all my fault! I apologize to you! I've kowtowed to you!"

"hehe……"

"When Hu Yu asked me for help, I thought that if you could be more respectful, I wouldn't mind helping you."

Ye An's voice remained calm.

"But not only do you disrespect me, you also want to drive me away. Since you yourselves don't care about your own lives, why should I meddle in your affairs?"