Start slaying demons from the proficiency panel.

For example, there are fish demons that live in large rivers and sometimes come ashore to attack people, and wild boar demons and wolf demons that live in deep mountains and sometimes come down from the mountains to catch people.

Fox spirits and snake spirits that hide in the mortal world and feed on men's vital essence.

Fierce Gods: This is quite rare. It refers to those mountains, forests, rivers, and fields that have developed sentience and possess powerful supernatural abilities that are incomparable to those of demons.

They would often use their powers to summon wind and rain, and to drive away clouds and reveal the sun in their own region, which would lead the local people to believe that this was the work of gods.

They worshipped them as mountain gods, forest gods, river gods, land gods, and so on.

These fierce spirits are the most difficult to control. Some are neutral and harmless and will not harm people. As long as you do not provoke them, they will not be your enemies.

Some evil spirits are more ferocious, and the places they inhabit are bound to be filled with yin energy and littered with bones. The areas affected by them are like ghostly realms, devoid of life, and even birds and beasts dare not approach them.

Evil spirits: These are created by ignorant people who, out of fear, worship gods of unclear origin and unknown origin. People's worship generates a kind of will.

Although this power of will is ethereal and intangible, it possesses great strength, causing some non-existent deities to be forcibly given spiritual bodies due to the worship of the people.

These spirits mostly manifest in human form in order to gain the trust of the ignorant masses.

After all, no one would place a statue of a pig or a dog in a temple to worship, but if the gods look mostly like humans, people can feel a sense of familiarity.

Spirits can increase their power by gaining the power of will, so they secretly spread their missionaries and spread their names to loyal followers everywhere.

These spirits are called gods by the people who believe in them, but the Demon Subduing Bureau refers to them all as evil spirits.

Because they are not true immortals, they do not possess the mindset and methods of immortals; their essence is simply to obtain the power of their wishes.

Therefore, driven by their own desires, they are capable of doing anything, making them a threat to the country and its people.

Many people who believe in evil spirits will also obtain evil and crooked cultivation methods from them. These methods are often bloody and cruel.

The entire cultivation practice revolves around harming people's lives, taking their bodies, capturing their souls, and seizing their vital energy. These foolish people were the sorcerers of the early days.

One or two hundred years ago, there were many peasant uprisings in the territory of the Great Shang Dynasty, caused by evil spirits inciting the people to rise up and rebel.

At that time, due to the evil demons under the command of the evil demon, many Iron Horse Demon Subduing Guards were unfortunately killed, resulting in great losses.

The Demon Extermination Bureau then devised a sweeping plan and launched a massive demon extermination operation.

All the gods, immortals, Buddhas, and saints within the jurisdiction that had no origins or ancient records were completely eradicated.

They demolished temples and shrines, smashed statues and burned scriptures.

The execution of sorcerers and the punishment of the ignorant masses were unprecedented in the history of the Shang Dynasty.

Therefore, this operation was also known in historical records as 'The Emperor Subduing Demons'.

"It seems that with the official road blocked, many people have chosen to travel to Yunze Prefecture via this route," Zhengwu said, looking at the new cart tracks of varying depths on the ground.

“Of course. There is a lot of trade between the two states. If the road is blocked for even a day, it will be a losing business. People can’t just die from holding their pee. Even if there is no road, those merchants can surely carve out a path in these mountains and forests.” Ren Qianxing replied.

The four of them walked another five miles. The journey was peaceful and quiet, and Ren Qianxing and Ning Xiu would occasionally exchange information about the Demon Subduing Division.

Monk Zhengwu and Xia Yunsi would occasionally speak up and share what they knew, creating an extremely harmonious atmosphere.

Just then, a loud clanging sound came from ahead, clearly indicating that someone was fighting with weapons.

Large-scale armed conflicts are strictly prohibited inside and outside Chaotiandu, but some grudges and frictions inevitably arise between some chambers of commerce or forces.

It's not uncommon to witness large-scale armed conflicts in the wild.

By this time, the group had traveled nearly 150 miles away from Chaotiandu, and the strict rules could be relaxed.

If the other party is fighting because of some deep-seated hatred, then even as a Demon Slayer, one can simply smooth things over by doing something harmless.

When Ning Xiu and his companions arrived at the arena on their respective beasts, they found the two groups locked in a life-or-death struggle, the battle extremely chaotic.

One of the groups was dressed in exquisite light blue outfits, and each of them had the character 'Li' tattooed on their chest.

The other group looked like disaster victims and refugees, all dressed in tattered clothes and filthy from head to toe.

The only noteworthy thing is that the quality of their weapons is quite good.

All the men dressed in light blue outfits were fighting around the four carriages, refusing to stray even a step away, clearly indicating that they were on the defensive.

"So we've encountered bandits. We've got work to do," Ren Qianxing said immediately.

In this day and age, people live in cities, towns, villages, and townships, and the Demon Subduing Bureau sends people to be stationed and oversee these places.

At the very least, they would be a ninth-rank Iron Horse Demon-Subduing Officer. Many apprentices in the Champion Camp who, upon reaching the age of eighteen, were not selected by the Demon-Subduing Division would be sent to various places to assist the Demon-Subduing Officers in these tasks.

In this world, unless a master lives in seclusion, it's practically impossible for a normal person to dare to live in the wilderness or deep in the mountains and forests.

Even so, bandits and robbers have never disappeared. They built their strongholds deep in the mountains and made a living by robbing and plundering people when they came down from the mountains.

They dared to do this because most mountain strongholds had a sorcerer in charge. The bandits needed the sorcerer's protection, and the sorcerer needed the bandits to go out and retrieve what they needed.

As a result, the bandit group became one of the few groups that could still live peacefully in the wild amidst this chaotic and evil world.

When Ren Qianxing said he had something to do, he meant finding the location of these bandits' stronghold and then arresting the sorcerer behind them.

Xia Yunsi may not be a talkative person, but he is extremely efficient when he takes action.

She leaped off the back of her black tiger mount, drew her two short sticks from their sheaths at her waist, and plunged into the crowd, swiftly and ruthlessly attacking each person dressed as a bandit.

As a martial artist of the seventh rank, Xia Yunsi was quite skilled in the use of the staff, executing it with fluid grace and exquisite control of force.

With each strike, someone would fall to the ground, but no one would be killed.

Soon, as more and more bandits fell to the ground, the remaining bandits, who were still fighting with bloodshot eyes, also noticed the tall woman who had suddenly appeared.

Normally, if they saw a woman with such a figure, they would definitely be tempted by lust, but when they saw the black silver chainmail on Xia Yunsi's body, everyone's expression suddenly changed.

Demon Slayer!

On the other hand, the burly men in tight-fitting clothes with the character "Li" on their chests couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw the arrival of the Demon-Subduing Commander.

Everyone knew there was no need to fight anymore; no matter how many of these bandits there were, they were no match for the Demon-Subduing Commander.

"withdraw!"

It's unclear which bandit leader shouted, but all the bandits turned and ran, intending to disappear into the nearby forests, where they knew the paths better than anyone.

Once they enter the mountains, even the Demon-Subduing Guard can't do anything to them.

Unfortunately, these bandits encountered not just one Demon-Subduing Officer today, but four.

boom!

Having anticipated this, Ning Xiu was already standing under a tree with a hammer in hand. With a swing of his hammer, the bottom of the tree instantly broke, and it quickly tilted to one side.

The direction in which the tree fell was right at the entrance to the mountain, which immediately frightened a large number of bandits who wanted to escape, causing them to retreat hastily. If they went any further, they would probably be crushed to death by the tree.

Escaping is important, but life is more important than anything else.

Before the large tree could fall to the ground, Ning Xiu went to other trees and smashed them with his hammer, repeating the process over and over again.

Before long, the trees on the hillside fell one after another, forming a wall that completely blocked the bandits' path into the mountains.

Ren Qianxing's two puppets ran over at this moment, and their palms automatically separated, revealing a square notch.

Immediately, a large number of strong rope nets shot out from them, covering the entire area and wiping out the bandits who were crowded together.

As a seventh-rank Buddhist and Taoist master, Zhengwu's efficiency in subduing bandits was in no way inferior to Xia Yunsi's, although his method of subduing them one by one with a single blow differed from Xia Yunsi's.

Whenever Zhengwu places his hand on a bandit, the bandit immediately becomes immobilized, frozen in place and unable to take a single step.

This is quite similar to the acupoint striking technique in Ning Xiu's memory.

With the combined efforts of the four, all the bandits were subdued, and none of them managed to escape into the mountains alive.

The whole process was swift and efficient, leaving the bandits with no chance to resist.

The sight of this made the burly men in their tight-fitting clothes secretly marvel: "No wonder he is the Demon-Slaying Commandant."

After all the bandits were subdued, a woman in a green dress slowly stepped out of one of the carriages.

She looked to be around twenty-five, with a slender figure, possessing both the looks of a young girl and the demeanor of a mature woman. She walked directly to Xia Yunsi, who had put away her staff, and bowed, saying, "Greetings, esteemed Demon-Subduing Commanders. I am truly grateful to you all today. Without your intervention, I fear we would have suffered heavy losses in driving them away."

"No need," Xia Yunsi said righteously. "We should help those in need, and the fact that bandits are harming the people is also within our protection scope."

"Where in Yunze Prefecture are you gentlemen, Demon-Slaying Commanders, headed this time? If your destination is on the same route, why don't we travel together?"

"I've brought plenty of delicious food and wine in my carriage. I'll cover all expenses once we reach the town, so you gentlemen won't have to endure the hardships of the journey," the woman in the green dress said, extending a friendly invitation.

The meaning behind her words was not hard to understand: this road only leads to Yunze Prefecture, and if Ning Xiu and the others could be brought along, the journey would be a hundred times safer.

Bandits and evil spirits are no match for us; we can rest easy now.

But since Ning Xiu and his companions had captured the bandits, they naturally had to go to the bandits' lair first to deal with the demon who was protecting them, so they couldn't possibly accept the invitation from the woman in the green dress.

Ren Qianxing refused, saying, "We cannot continue on our way right now. We need to go to the nearby mountains to destroy the bandits' stronghold."

The woman in the green dress showed a hint of disappointment in her eyes. Her Li family's caravan was in a hurry to deliver some important goods to the prefectural capital of Yunze Prefecture, and they could not afford to waste time on the road.

Unable to wait for Ning Xiu and the others to return from suppressing the bandits, the suggestion to travel together had to be abandoned.

The woman in the green dress could only say, "Then I wish you all peace and good fortune."

After saying goodbye to Ning Xiu and the others, she returned to the carriage, and the Li family caravan set off again, slowly departing.

“Let’s go too. Hurry up and deal with the demons. Each of you take one and interrogate each other. Make sure you find out the true location of the stronghold.” Ren Qianxing picked up a demon who had been knocked unconscious by Xia Yunsi and dragged him back onto Hei Feng’s back, intending to wake him up and force him to reveal the location of the stronghold’s lair.

As for the remaining bandits, those who had already fainted could be ignored. Xia Yunsi and Monk Zhengwu went over to finish off those trapped in the rope net, either knocking them unconscious or immobilizing them with pressure points.

This was to prevent these people from running back ahead to warn the sorcerer and letting him escape.

The biggest advantage of mythical beasts over ordinary horse mounts is that they can easily travel to terrains that horses cannot.

For example, forests, slopes, mountains, etc.

After grabbing a bandit who had been pinned to a burrow, Ning Xiu sat back on the back of the Iron-Eating Beast and urged it to walk into the nearby forest.

【046】Taking shelter from the rain at a Buddhist temple

Yunze Prefecture is characterized by numerous mountains and rivers, and its climate is extremely unpredictable.

Sometimes you're walking on a dry road one step, and the next a torrential downpour starts. After you've spent some time finding shelter, the weather might just clear up again.

Boom!

Dark clouds gathered, and even the wind picked up considerably.

As a bolt of purple lightning flashed within the largest cloud of darkness, a startling thunderclap resounded throughout the land.