Start slaying demons from the proficiency panel.

The skin was torn open, but beneath it was not flesh, but a white, paste-like body. Numerous white shoots grew from the body of the old man.

"This..." Pang Chao looked suspicious, but dared not say anything more.

Fengmeng Village once had another shaman, but Pang Chao was replaced as the new shaman halfway through the process.

The reason for all this can be traced back to the shaman. Years ago, the shaman became entangled with a willow tree in the mountains and used the power of the willow spirit to protect Fengmeng Village, thus saving Fengmeng Village from the invasion of water demons.

But for some unknown reason, one day, the Willow Tree Fairy suddenly disappeared, along with the former shaman, who vanished without a trace, without even saying goodbye to the villagers.

Fengmeng Village lost its shaman, and the already impoverished villagers became even more hopeless. Just then, Pang Chao, who had no talent, was chosen by the suddenly appearing Mountain God, who was willing to form a bond with him and support Pang Chao as the shaman of Fengmeng Village.

In order to help the villagers escape their endless days, Pang Chao was willing to follow the mountain god and do all sorts of bad things in exchange for bringing good fortune to the village, thus embarking on a path of no return.

Over the years, Pang Chao still has no idea what kind of monster the Mountain God is.

Seeing the condition of Grandpa Shan's back only deepened Pang Chao's doubts.

Following the mountain spirits all the way to the inside of the stone temple, a spacious hall came into view.

In this hall, there were several braziers burning with blue flames, and above each brazier hung a human corpse whose features were indistinguishable.

Because the body was being roasted by flames, drops of oil seeped from it and fell into the fire pit, thus intensifying the fire.

Even though Pang Chao and his gang had done many bad things, they couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines upon seeing this scene.

In the center of the hall, there were many headless skeletons, piled up there like garbage, which only added to the feeling of a hellish place.

"Grandpa Shan, what brings you here? There are still things in the village that need my attention, and I can't stay away for too long," Pang Chao asked hesitantly.

"You have served the Empress faithfully over the years, and she is very pleased with you." The old man stared at Pang Chao and smiled, "Today, I will let you see the Empress's true face."

Normally, Pang Chao would be overjoyed to hear Grandpa Shan say that, but the current situation gave him a strange sense of unease.

Before this, let alone meeting that mysterious goddess, the mountain god wouldn't even let them enter the stone temple gate. Now that things are acting strangely, there must be something fishy going on.

As Grandpa Shan clapped his hands, one wall of the hall suddenly opened automatically, revealing another space behind it.

A black ancient tree, with no treetop or roots visible above and only a section of trunk in the middle, appeared before everyone.

Upon seeing the ancient tree, everyone, including Pang Chao, instinctively took a step back, their expressions filled with terror.

On the surface of that ancient tree, there were countless children's faces, clustered together, numbering at least a hundred.

These faces, whether crying, laughing, frowning, or quirky, are undeniably terrifying to look at.

"Grandpa Shan, this, this is!" Pang Chao asked, his voice trembling.

Although he had previously thought that the Mountain God and that mysterious goddess were not good demons or immortals, he never expected that the goddess would look like this. This was too eerie.

"Pang Chao, Fengmeng Village has really benefited from you all these years," the old man said sinisterly.

"Hearing that tone of voice, you...!" A thought suddenly flashed through Pang Chao's mind, and he said incredulously, "Could it be that you are!"

[104] Lady Yin Liu

As the new shaman of Fengmeng Village, Pang Chao has a much deeper impression of the previous shaman than anyone else.

I remember that he was an elderly man with a straight posture, whose back was not hunched at all even though he was eighty years old.

Throughout Fengmeng Village, the old man's origins are shrouded in mystery. For instance, most of the villagers are related by blood for generations, and they can all be considered connected to each other.

But the old shaman appeared very mysteriously. Some said he was a migrant from elsewhere, while others said he was a distant relative of one of the villagers.

People called this old shaman "Uncle Chen".

Even when Pang Chao was young, he knew that Uncle Chen loved children very much. Many children in the village liked to run to Uncle Chen's house and ask him for candy.

Whenever a child has a persistent high fever, the villagers would go to Uncle Chen and ask him to prescribe some medicine or perform some witchcraft, and the child's condition would be brought under control quickly.

Having served as a shaman for decades, Uncle Chen has always been deeply loved by the villagers of Fengmeng Village.

But one day, Uncle Chen suddenly disappeared from his home, and the willow tree spirit that the village had always worshipped also vanished.

Without the protection of the shamans and the demons, Fengmeng Village was like a piece of duckweed in a storm, on the verge of collapse.

A year or two later, Grandpa Shan appeared.

He took the initiative to contact Pang Chao, taught Pang Chao to be a shaman, and with the help of the Earth Immortal, he could get Fengmeng Village back on the right track.

Furthermore, the Mountain God possesses an ability that ordinary earth immortals do not have: the ability to change one's luck.

Although the underlying principle is unknown, ever since Pang Chao was willing to suppress his humanity and do those dirty deeds for Master Shan, the fortunes of all the villagers in Fengmeng Village have indeed improved at a visible speed.

Every year, the villagers can make a fortune, easily affording to wear gold and silver, repair their houses, buy horses and cattle, and live a life far better than the surrounding fishing villages.

But no one knew that this apparent prosperity was actually obtained by Pang Chao secretly trading innocent children with the mountain god.

“Uncle Chen…” Pang Chao asked hesitantly.

"Good boy," the old man said with a sinister smile.

This answer confirmed Pang Chao's guess, leaving him utterly shocked. Pang Chao still couldn't understand why the tall and imposing shaman had turned into this inhuman and ghostly figure before him.

It's a world of difference.

Why did Uncle Chen suddenly leave Fengmeng Village back then? And why did he change his name to Shan Taiye and approach me to support me as the shaman of Fengmeng Village?

What was the connection between this stone temple and the mysterious goddess? At this moment, Pang Chao's heart was filled with endless questions.

The old man from the mountain reassured him, "Don't worry. I brought you here today to answer all your questions and clear up any doubts you may have. Come, first pay your respects to Lady Yin Liu."

Pulling Pang Chao by the clothes, they arrived in front of the ancient black tree. Pang Chao knelt down, somewhat puzzled but still obediently following the instructions of the mountain elder, and kowtowed several times to the ancient tree.

The villagers who had followed Pang Chao to this place had no choice but to comply, but they were now filled with immense panic, as everything here was far beyond their expectations.

puff puff!

Just as the villagers were kowtowing, a large number of sharp willow branches suddenly emerged from the ground of the stone temple beneath them, instantly piercing through their foreheads.

At the same time, numerous new branches sprouted from the surface of the willow twigs, transforming into a dense network of new willow branches that emerged from various parts of the villagers' bodies and pierced through them.

There was absolutely no reaction; all the villagers died instantly, their faces still bearing the expressions they had before death.

"You!" Pang Chao turned around at the sound and saw this scene. His expression instantly turned to shock. However, before he could get up, the old man had already grabbed him by the neck with both hands.

Then, a large number of white branches grew from Shan Taiye's arms and burrowed into Pang Chao's body. A large amount of blood flowed out of Pang Chao's body and all of it entered Shan Taiye's body.

Before long, the white liquid in Grandpa Shan's body flowed into Pang Chao's body, and the two began exchanging blood.

"You burned that shaman's corpse, and the clues have fallen on you. For the sake of my and Lady Yin Liu's cultivation, your life can no longer be spared. It just so happens that the cultivation method of Yin God is not easy, and my body is nearing its end. I will use your body to prolong my life, so that all the effort I have put into raising you over the years will not have been in vain." Old Master Shan embraced Pang Chao's body, and more and more willow branches grew from his body, all of which entered Pang Chao's body, exchanging blood with Pang Chao.

Although Pang Chao wanted to struggle, his entire body was completely rooted in willow branches, leaving him with no strength to resist. He could only watch helplessly as his life force drained away faster and faster, knowing that if things continued like this, he would die sooner or later.

……

"Is this it?" Ning Xiu and his group followed the few ground squirrels that were leading the way and quickly moved forward. Soon, the huge stone temple hidden in the mountains came into view.

Even Hu Taigu and Mangqiu Liu showed surprise at this moment, clearly they did not know that there was such a temple in this place.

The entire temple exuded a strong sense of yin and evil, making it clear that evil spirits were lurking there.

"My Python Sect Cave has been completely unaware of the situation here all along," Mangqiu Liu said with great doubt.

“Those people forcibly burned Granny Ma’s body to prevent the seventh-day resurrection spell from being performed, and now they’ve come here. This must be where the mastermind is hiding,” Chang Fenghai said.

"Let's go take a look." Ning Xiu didn't hesitate and immediately walked towards the stone temple.

Since the purpose of this trip into the mountains was to pursue the enemy, and the dragon's size was too large, making it difficult to move and likely to cause a huge disturbance, Ning Xiu decided to leave it outside the mountains instead of going in.

Since swallowing the Thunder and Purple Lightning Hammers, the dragon has shown no intention of spitting them out again, leaving Ning Xiu to fight awkwardly with his bare hands.

Fortunately, after activating the Heavenly King state, his physical strength was not low. Even without a weapon, he could still unleash tremendous power with the power of the Black Heaven Floating Pagoda Supreme Body alone.

As the group approached the stone temple, the ground appeared dim and gloomy due to the dark clouds overhead.

On several broken pillars next to the stone temple, there are mummified corpses that have been dried for many years. Even though the appearance of the mummified corpses cannot be seen clearly, you can still feel the despair and pain of these people from their struggling and twisted body postures.

Among the demon immortals, there are those like the Python Clan Cave and the Hu Clan who are willing to cultivate properly and live in harmony with the human people, as well as evil demon immortals who kill and harm people, using them as sacrifices to cultivate their own strength.

The former was tacitly tolerated by the Demon Subduing Division, but the latter was universally condemned. Hundreds of years later, all kinds of monsters that ate or enslaved people, or were used for sacrificial purposes, were ruthlessly eradicated by the Demon Subduing Division, which gradually improved the atmosphere within the Great Shang territory.

However, it is clear that there are still evil demons hiding in the shadows and committing atrocities!

Seeing Ning Xiu's gloomy face, Hu Taigu and Mangqiu Liu were also in a bad mood. The thing that good demons like them feared most was that other evil demons would do evil, which would cause the Demon Subduing Division to consider the impact and stop distinguishing between good and evil, and directly use a one-size-fits-all approach to demons.

This suffering is especially afflicted by these demons who cultivate through incense offerings and have never committed any evil deeds.

Even without Ning Xiu's personal intervention, Hu Taigu and Mangqiu Liu would definitely take action to eliminate this evil demon in order to prevent future troubles.

As the group arrived at the foot of the steps outside the stone temple, a series of ghostly wails and howls suddenly rang out nearby. Then, a large number of white figures emerged, transforming into evil ghosts and vengeful spirits that rushed towards Ning Xiu and his group.

These are all wandering ghosts formed from resentment, with terrifying appearances. If ordinary people encountered them in the wild, they would definitely die. However, in front of extraordinary beings like Ning Xiu, these wandering ghosts are not much of a threat.

Mangqiu Liu stared at the approaching evil spirits with his narrowed eyes, then spat out a large mouthful of breath. A huge python shadow appeared and bit down on the evil spirits, swallowing all the evil into its belly.

After doing this, the python's shadow disappeared.

"Gentlemen, we'll leave you here. We're sorry, but we can't interfere with what happens next," said the gophers who had led the way.

"It's alright, this is fine. Here are three golden herbs that emit a strange fragrance. I made an appointment with your husband, so please pass them on for me." Mangqiu Liu took out three golden herbs that emitted a strange fragrance and handed them to the ground squirrels.

The groundhog carefully cradled the snake saliva grass in its arms, nodded, and then quickly scurried away.

“Lord Ning, as one of the three major demon factions in Donghai Prefecture, my Python Sect Cave has failed to manage the demons in this area, allowing them to commit evil deeds in secret. I am truly sorry. Today, I, Mangqiu Liu, will bring this demon to justice. I beg you, Lord Ning, not to take your anger out on the other demons in Donghai Prefecture. They have always been honest and law-abiding, cultivating with incense and helping the local fishermen of Donghai Prefecture live peacefully. I beg you, Lord Ning, to understand.” Mangqiu Liu walked up to Ning Xiu, clasped his hands, and bowed as he spoke.

Upon seeing this, Aunt Hu immediately stepped forward and said, "Lord Ning, please calm down."

"Let's put that aside for now and go inside to see what kind of audacious evil spirit dares to kill innocent people like this within the territory of the Great Shang Dynasty." Ning Xiu took the lead and walked directly into the stone temple gate.

Aunt Hu and Mangqiu Liu hurriedly followed, close behind.

……

Pang Chao's body gradually aged, and wrinkles from years of hardship appeared on his face and neck. At the same time, his eyes became cloudy, making him no different from an old man who was like a candle flickering in the wind.

On the other hand, the old man lying on him had regained his youth. His skin, which was originally pale and covered with age spots, had now recovered to be no different from that of a grown man. At the same time, his body had become tall and strong, and he was completely renewed.

"This is the power of life, it's truly wonderful." After retrieving all the willow branches from Pang Chao's body, Grandpa Shan stood up and smiled with lingering relish.

Just then, the countless human faces on the surface of the ancient black tree spoke up at the same time: "Someone has arrived, and they are all very powerful."

Now that the mountain spirit had regained his youth, his abundant energy made him incredibly confident. He simply said nonchalantly, "Are they those demons and immortals from the mountains?"

"A giant snake from the Python Clan, a fox from the Hu Clan, and a martial artist—what trouble have you gotten yourself into lately? Why have they come looking for you here?" Yin Liu Niangniang asked in a very unfriendly tone.