After the ghost-hunting master descended the mountain, his fame spread throughout the capital.

As midnight approaches, yin and yang alternate.

Willow Village was shrouded in an eerie silence.

There were no suonas, no gongs or drums, not a single festive sound.

Only the whistling sound of the night wind passing through the hollow of the old willow tree at the village entrance resembled a woman's weeping.

Several villagers quietly gathered in an open space in the village.

They held up a few scattered red lanterns, which swayed in the night wind, casting eerie shadows.

Several burly men carried a simple red sedan chair to Huang Aman's house.

The "bride," whose head was covered with a red veil, was helped out by Huang Aman and sat in the sedan chair.

The group began moving towards the mountain god temple at the foot of the mountain behind the village.

The lantern's glow was dim and pale, illuminating only a small patch of ground beneath one's feet.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it was suffocating, as if it weren't a wedding procession but rather the escort of sacrificial offerings to a terrifying altar.

Finally, the mountain temple, which resembled the shadow of a crouching behemoth in the night, appeared at the edge of the field of vision.

The temple gates were wide open, dark and gaping, like a giant mouth waiting to devour everything.

The procession stopped in the open space in front of the temple, and the sedan chair was gently lowered.

One of the men carrying the sedan chair whispered, "Sister Lian'er, we've arrived at the Mountain God Temple. We'll be going now."

In the blink of an eye, only a simple sedan chair swaying slightly in the night wind remained on the open ground of the mountain god temple.

Inside the sedan chair, Xie Jinchen was about to lift a corner of the curtain to observe the outside world.

However, an unexpected change occurred.

A gust of wind carrying a fishy smell suddenly swept in, with a sticky dampness and a certain slippery feel, instantly enveloping the entire sedan chair.

The sedan curtains were blown wildly.

Through the crack, Xie Jinchen saw a cloud of black mist appear out of thin air on the open ground of the temple, quickly condensing into a human-shaped outline.

It was a man dressed in a wide black robe, with a pale, effeminate face and strangely dark purple lips.

A wicked smile played on his lips, his gaze like a cold, slippery snake's tongue, seemingly penetrating through the thin sedan curtain, lingering and licking Xie Jinchen's body.

He didn't immediately lift the sedan chair to grab the person. Instead, he seemed to have discovered some extremely interesting prey, his nostrils twitching slightly as if he were sniffing some unique scent in the air.

Then he chuckled softly, a sound soothing and slippery, like a venomous snake slithering across a withered leaf:

"It's a man? Interesting. I thought that in this remote and impoverished place, they would only send the souls of weak women, something better than nothing. But I didn't expect..."

His gaze seemed to pierce through the sedan curtains, landing on Xie Jinchen. "He's actually a Yang Sha Body, imbued with purple aura and surging with murderous intent?"

"Wonderful, truly wonderful! This is a rare and highly nourishing substance, worth hundreds or thousands of ordinary ghosts!"

Xie Jinchen's gaze suddenly sharpened, and a chill ran through him.

He could clearly see that behind the man in the black robe, the thick black mist had not completely dissipated, and a faint phantom of a thick tail covered with dark scales was visible, swaying gently.

Human form... snake body!

This isn't a ghost, it's a demon!

Without any hesitation, Xie Jinchen suddenly gathered his breath and shouted loudly the moment the other party finished speaking: "Jiang Dusheng".

The sound pierced through the sedan curtains and exploded in the silent mountains.

Almost simultaneously, a figure flew down from the top of the mountain god temple.

Holding Buddhist prayer beads, with spiritual light swirling around his fingertips, Jiang Dusheng stood without hesitation between the sedan chair and the snake demon.

When the snake demon man saw Jiang Dusheng, he was not alarmed at all; instead, the greed in his eyes intensified, as if he had seen an unexpected delicacy.

He licked his lips and hissed, "One yin, one yang... marvelous! Marvelous!"

"I thought I'd only caught a rare, malevolent fish, but I've got an unexpected surprise! Such pure spiritual energy, yet it carries the aura of a living being... Is it a cultivator? Haha, heaven is on my side!"

He spread his arms, his black robe billowing in the wind, his demonic aura surging ever stronger, and his voice growing even more shrill with excitement:

"Tonight, if I can devour your two souls and absorb the power of the most yang and the most malevolent, and the purest yin spirit, then yin and yang will merge, and dragon and tiger will harmonize..."

"Not to mention completely stabilizing my transformed body, I'm absolutely confident I can safely overcome the Ninefold Dragon Transformation Tribulation in the future! Hahahaha!"

Amidst his maniacal laughter, his black robe billowed violently, and with a sweep of his arms, a dense, dark green demonic aura burst forth, instantly spreading outwards.

It not only covered the entire open space of the mountain god temple, but also, like an inverted bowl, enveloped Jiang Dusheng, Xie Jinchen, and their sedan chair.

A barrier was formed, isolating the inside from the outside. The light dimmed abruptly, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench.

The snake demon grinned maliciously and was about to pounce.

Just then, "Glug...glug...ugh!"

A strange sound suddenly came from the snake demon man's abdomen, as if something was struggling violently inside.

Immediately afterwards, a clear yet tearful and angry little girl's voice came muffledly from his stomach:

"You filthy snake demon! You wicked snake demon! Let me out! Do you know who I am?!"

Her voice carried the fear of imprisonment, but even more so, the anger of being offended. "I'm telling you! I'm someone important! Let me go!"

"Otherwise, once my natal soul jade cracks and my Uncle Shen Tu comes looking for me, he'll definitely capture you, you big bad guy, bind you with the Soul-Binding Chains, and throw you into the deepest level of the eighteenth level of hell, so you'll never be reborn! You'll be roasted by karmic fire and frozen by ice every day!"

She seemed to become more and more aggrieved as she spoke, finally breaking into a sob: "Waaah...please let me out! It's so dark, smelly, and sticky in here, it's awful!"

The snake demon man's face stiffened, then he coldly snorted, impatiently pressing his abdomen as if suppressing internal turmoil, and hissed:

"Shut up! You little brat, I don't care who you are. Once you're inside my Soul-Dissolving Pouch, you'll turn into a puddle of pus in less than five hours, and even your soul will become a part of me!"

In that brief moment, the sedan curtain was suddenly lifted, and Xie Jinchen, dressed in a wedding gown and holding a long sword, stepped out and stood side by side with Jiang Dusheng.

As Jiang Dusheng listened to the little girl's cries and the snake demon's words, clues flashed through his mind.

This snake demon cultivates by absorbing the souls of women, which then attracts the attention of the Heavenly Dao. It is about to face a tribulation of lightning, so it urgently needs a powerful tonic to enhance its strength in order to resist the might of Heaven.

The Uncle Shen Tu that the little girl was talking about…

When Meng Po appeared yesterday to ferry Jiang Shuangjiang, she also complained irritably, "It's all Shen Tu's fault, why did he have to take her to play the Wheel of Time?"

Yes!

Jiang Dusheng's heart jolted, and a memory surfaced from the depths of his mind: it was recorded in the ancient book "The Records of the Netherworld":

Shen Tu is the Ghost Emperor who guards the Eastern Gate of Hell. He is in charge of the entry and exit of all ghosts and holds a high position of power. Even ordinary ghosts and gods must bow down to him.

The fact that this little girl can directly address the Eastern Ghost Emperor as "uncle" makes her identity almost obvious.

She is either the supreme ruler of the Netherworld, the daughter of the Great Emperor of Beiyin Fengdu!

She is either the daughter of the Emperor of Mount Tai, who governs the order of Yin and Yang!

Whichever one it is, they are absolutely the little ancestors of the underworld who can cause ripples in the River of Oblivion with a stomp of their feet.

This snake demon is incredibly audacious, daring to devour and refine even an existence of such high status.