Start slaying demons from the proficiency panel.

...

After a few blows, the ground was covered in corpses and blood; no one survived.

Using his spiritual eye technique to scan the area, he saw that the corpses lying on the ground all looked like zombies, with withered and bony faces, and hairy and clawed bodies, all of them neither human nor ghost.

"I hope Ren Qianxing and Zhengwu haven't been killed yet." Ning Xiu turned around and ran quickly into the village.

Not long after Ning Xiu left, eyes of different sizes opened up on the ground along the path he had walked.

It seems that something had already discovered his presence.

[052] The Evil God of Jinzhao Temple

The further you go into the center of Peach Blossom Village, the more complex the terrain becomes.

When Ning Xiu, carrying the Thunder Hammer, strode in with murderous intent, the villagers who had been standing kindly at their doorsteps instantly changed their expressions.

They surged toward Ning Xiu with crazed expressions, looking like a zombie army. If someone weaker were caught in their midst, they might end up being devoured alive and reduced to a skeleton.

Upon seeing this, Ning Xiu's complexion quickly turned red, and white smoke drifted from his seven orifices with each breath. In addition, he was protected by a golden bell around his body, making him look no different from the immortals in folk tales.

If Ning Xiu were to activate his Heavenly King state again, revealing the golden sun pattern on his back, wouldn't he be a living Heavenly King?

As the crazed villagers drew ever closer, Ning Xiu slammed his hammer down on the ground with tremendous force, unleashing a triple burst of power in an instant.

The ground simply could not withstand such force. Centered on the point where the Thunder Hammer struck, a powerful shockwave spread out, carrying Ning Xiu's Crimson Flame Inner Force and scorching every villager who approached.

In just a moment, the villagers were engulfed in flames, rolled on the ground, and lost all movement within a few breaths.

[Defeat evil spirits to gain +500 general proficiency]

[Defeat evil spirits to gain +300 general proficiency]

[Defeat evil spirits to gain +600 general proficiency]

...

The evil spirits that surged forward fearlessly were instantly transformed into general proficiency on Ning Xiu's panel.

After clearing out the villagers, Ning Xiu, who had intended to continue deeper into the area, stopped in his tracks when he noticed an object on the body of a charred corpse on the ground. He quickly walked over, reached out, and picked up the object to examine it.

It was a string of yellow prayer beads with a touch of red. Judging from its appearance, it should be considered quite rare, so it was easy to leave an impression.

Ning Xiu had seen this item on the monk Zhengwu before; the monk also had a string of Buddhist beads exactly the same as this one.

There's no way such a coincidence could happen in the world. Ning Xiu's heart sank. Could those two guys have already been killed?

Using his spiritual vision technique to look around, he saw a patch of black clouds in the sky deep within the village, so black it looked as if ink could drip from them.

That place was also the area with the strongest evil aura in the entire Peach Blossom Village.

The scene before my eyes quickly shattered and then returned to normal.

"It's difficult to find those two in a short time, so I might as well go there and take a look. Maybe they're there too." Ning Xiu thought to himself as he put the Buddhist beads into his pocket and then quickened his pace.

……

"drink!"

In the very center of the village, under a huge peach tree, a large number of tables and chairs were set up. Many men, women, and children in different clothes sat around the tables, all drinking wine with smiles on their faces.

At one of the tables, Ren Qianxing and Zhengwu were toasting each other with two wine bowls in hand. Judging from their flushed faces, they had clearly drunk quite a bit.

His drunken state suggests he's not far from being intoxicated.

"Hey, you know what, the peach blossom wine from Peach Blossom Village is really delicious. It's smooth on the palate and has a sweet aftertaste. I never knew there was such a fine wine in the world before," Zhengwu said, holding up his wine bowl and choking back tears.

"Zhengwu, as a monk, is it really alright for you to drink so much this time?" Ren Qianxing asked, his eyes glazed over.

"Hey, this fine wine goes through my intestines and won't be in my body tomorrow. Buddha can't blame me, can't blame me," Zhengwu shook his head and said contentedly.

At the tables next to them sat people dressed in all sorts of different clothes.

Some looked like wandering Taoist priests, some like traveling merchants, some were dressed in fine clothes and had a distinguished status, while others were dressed in tattered clothes and were probably beggars.

So many people, clearly not locals from this Peach Blossom Village, gathered under this giant peach tree; one can only imagine what's going on.

Unfortunately, Ren Qianxing and his companion were both quite drunk and barely had time to take care of themselves, let alone investigate the true situation of the place.

While these people were drinking, they did not notice that wisps of vital energy were constantly escaping from their bodies and flowing directly into the giant peach tree.

This makes the peach tree leaves even greener and its vitality even more vigorous.

boom!

The two clinked their wine bowls together and continued to drink heartily.

There were three large wine jars on their table, and more than a dozen more piled on the ground, enough for the two of them to drink until they passed out.

In the words of the villager who led them here, it can be summed up in two words: plenty to eat!

Following the dark clouds, Ning Xiu advanced with unstoppable momentum. Any evil spirits that dared to show themselves in his way were instantly smashed to death by Ning Xiu with a single hammer blow, leaving them no chance to retaliate.

With his current martial arts level of fifth grade, even if a sixth-grade evil spirit tried to stop him, it wouldn't be able to withstand Ning Xiu's full-force hammer blow.

Soon, Ning Xiu gradually approached the huge peach tree, which was laden with fruit and emitted a wonderful fragrance.

When he got closer, Ning Xiu used his spiritual eye observation technique to see clearly that what was growing on the peach tree were not peaches at all, but human heads with different appearances.

These human heads now had their eyes closed, their faces contorted in a ferocious grin, their gaping maws sprawling out long tongues that dangled to the ground and were inserted into the wine jars containing peach blossom wine.

Pink liquid would occasionally seep out from the long tongue and then slowly flow into the wine jar.

In other words, what those people were drinking wasn't peach blossom wine at all, but clearly the saliva from the mouths of those human heads that grew on the tree.

Ning Xiu clicked his tongue in disgust, feeling a mix of emotions and an inexplicable nausea.

The look in their eyes as they gazed at the drinkers under the tree turned pitiful; they were all a bunch of unlucky bastards.

Just then, Ning Xiu noticed Ren Qianxing and Zheng Wu among them. Seeing the two of them clinking glasses and drinking happily, Ning Xiu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, both of them were still alive, and the worst outcome Ning Xiu had predicted did not occur.

Just as Ning Xiu was about to go over to find the two guys, the ground in front of him suddenly trembled, and then a tree root as thick as an adult rose up.

On the tree roots grew numerous eyes and an aged face, which stared intently at Ning Xiu and said in a sinister tone, "I have never met you before, and we have kept to ourselves. I will spare your life, so leave quickly and do not ruin my cultivation."

"Are you the original owner of Jinzhao Temple?" Ning Xiu asked.

"This has nothing to do with you. I'm giving you one last ultimatum: leave now, or you'll be dead."

"I am the Demon Slayer, and I shall slay any evil spirits I encounter. Today, I shall see for myself how you describe this dead end." Ning Xiu grabbed the tree root, and crimson flames erupted from his hand, instantly burning the root to charcoal.

The old man's face was contorted in the flames, and he roared furiously, "Stubborn fool! I will make sure you suffer eternal damnation!"

Rumble!

Suddenly, a thunderous sound resounded from beneath the earth, as if something was about to burst forth from the ground.

In an instant, all the heads attached to the tree extended their long tongues from the wine jars and each entangled a person sitting under the tree drinking.

Ren Qianxing and Monk Zhengwu were not immune to the fact that there was definitely something wrong with the so-called peach blossom wine. After being entangled by the tongue, the two of them did not resist at all.

Instead, they were easily entangled by the long tongue of the human head, and then slowly lifted up and pulled into the air.

As everyone was lifted up by the long tongue, the giant peach tree trembled violently, causing the ground to crack open and reveal thick roots struggling to emerge from the ground, raising clouds of dust.

The scene resembled the end of the world. Although the entire underground landscape was not clearly visible, it was possible to vaguely determine that a giant creature was about to emerge from the ground and reappear in the light of day.

Sensing the terrifying aura emanating from underground, Ning Xiu's expression gradually became serious.

This formation, this imposing presence—this impending evil spirit is probably the most powerful one I've encountered since joining the Demon Subduing Division.

Without hesitation, Ning Xiu immediately took off his Xuan Yin Chain Armor and the innermost tight-fitting clothes. Facing such a powerful evil spirit, he had no choice but to activate his Heavenly King state.

"Roar!"

The earth was divided into countless fragments, which were then lifted up one by one. Under Ning Xiu's gaze, a huge figure crawled out from under the earth.

It had human-like limbs and torso, but its entire body was wrapped in tree roots. The giant peach tree was rooted on its head, becoming one with the thing.

Including the height of the peach tree, this evil spirit was already over seven zhang tall, making it a colossal creature.

"I didn't want to kill you, but you brought this upon yourself!" The tree demon roared like thunder, raising its hand and slapping heavily down on Ning Xiu's location.

Instantly, Ning Xiu's size also began to expand, soaring to a height of one zhang.

Heavenly King state, activated.

Although it is still not as huge as the tree demon, it has reached its current peak strength.

Holding the hammer in one hand, Ning Xiu smashed it with all his might towards the tree demon's giant hand.

To outsiders, Ning Xiu's behavior of not dodging but instead confronting the attack head-on was no less than an ant trying to shake a tree. But in the next instant, the tree demon's palm collided with the Thunder Hammer.

Its palm exploded open, and a pillar of fire shot out from the back of the evil hand, burning a hole in it.

"Nothing special." Ning Xiu leaped out of the hole, stood on the back of the tree demon's hand, and looked up at it.

The golden sun pattern on his back shone even more brilliantly against his crimson skin, radiating a fierce and scorching aura.

At this moment, Ning Xiu was like the god of fire descending, with every move accompanied by crimson flames.

shhhhhh!

Suddenly, a large number of vines sprouted from the back of his hand, covering Ning Xiu and wrapping around his body.

Even with the scorching flames, the vines could not withstand the constant covering and suppressed the fire, preventing it from reaching the outermost edge.

Under the control of the tree demon, all the vines twisted and turned frantically, trying to forcibly crush Ning Xiu's body.

With so many vines, the combined force they generate is no small feat; it could even shred a mountain.

But at that moment, a golden bell burst forth from Ning Xiu's body. No matter how powerful the vines were, they couldn't stop the golden bell from pushing them away, and they were all pushed several feet away from Ning Xiu.

It was like a protective shield, isolating all the vines and not giving them any chance to get close to Ning Xiu.

At the same time, Ning Xiu made a move.

Using the tree demon's arm as a ladder, he raced along the arm, heading straight for the tree demon's head.

Eliminating evil spirits requires swift and decisive action; delays are unacceptable. Otherwise, once the evil spirits have figured out your weaknesses, it will be much more difficult to defeat them.

Seeing Ning Xiu getting closer and closer, the tree demon hurriedly raised its other hand to grab Ning Xiu, but Ning Xiu used his explosive power to easily dodge the tree demon's grab with a few quick movements, and soon he was on the tree demon's shoulder.