Chapter 53: Exterminate the Demon First! Shushan Successor Xu Qingyun!

While Gu Jiangming felt a headache as he stared at the image of Mie Changsheng.

Below Shushan.

An old man wearing a coir raincoat arrived holding a sword.

He reached out and pressed slightly against an invisible barrier; he saw the spiritual bodies within the boundary seemingly roaring as they charged madly toward the outside, yet they could not touch the person beyond the barrier in the slightest.

After many years of cultivation, he discovered that Merit had a subtle effect of extending one's lifespan, but previously his master had only focused on pouring the power of Merit into Esoteric Arts and had never used Merit in this way; even he had only discovered it by accident.

"Strange."

"Master's boundary has no problems."

"Then... where did so many demonic evils and obstacles pop up in this world?" Xu Qingyun's gaze was like a torch, "I originally thought the Shushan boundary had broken, but now it seems that is not the case."

Hundreds of years ago, besides the demon creatures imprisoned in the Hundred Demon Manual, his master had also suppressed many demons within Shushan that could not be completely eradicated and could only be temporarily sealed.

The spiritual bodies of these cultivators were the other seal that permanently suppressed these demons.

The Shushan boundary had no problems, so the origin of the demons that had suddenly appeared in the world was worth scrutinizing.

"Master, oh Master." A bamboo tube suddenly appeared in Xu Qingyun's hand; he performed an Esoteric Art, and a bamboo slip fell to the ground.

【Medium Ominous】

"It seems the path to finding Master's reincarnation is not smooth." Xu Qingyun took a deep breath, "I also don't know why Master would cast such a curse upon us."

Xu Qingyun clenched his fists.

Forgetting his master's name had always been regarded by him as a shame in his heart.

After leaving Shushan, he had never thought of starting a new sect or establishing another mountain, because in his heart, his life had been saved by his master, everything he had learned was taught by his master, and his own name was bestowed by his master.

Even if Shushan had already perished, his Shushan was not dead.

As long as one Shushan Disciple remained, Shushan would definitely still exist.

Since that was the case, how could he commit such an act of betraying his master and ancestors, establishing a new sect, and betraying his master's school?

Just at this moment, Xu Qingyun's gaze turned sharp.

"Who is it?"

A figure emerged faintly from behind a tree in the distance, and a handsome face was revealed before the old man, "It has been a hundred years; I didn't expect you to have grown so old and frail."

"White Tiger?" Xu Qingyun said coldly, "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly, Xu Qingyun's expression changed drastically; the plain robe on his entire upper body burst instantly, revealing a sturdy and powerful physique, and the sword in his hand flew into the air, as if the Flying Sword were going to take the head directly.

Once he started a conflict, he would never hold back.

After all, with a demon appearing at the foot of Shushan, the first thing Xu Qingyun naturally thought of was that this demon had ill intentions and wanted to break the boundary on Shushan.

White Tiger's expression changed immediately, "Real Person Xu, I am like you; I have also come to look for someone, do not misunderstand."

"Looking for someone?" Xu Qingyun laughed loudly, "Coming here to look for someone? I fear you are looking for demons."

White Tiger dared not be careless and immediately revealed his Demon Form; in his half-human, half-demon state, his palms instantly turned into sharp tiger claws, directly clashing with the Flying Sword.

"Not bad, a hundred years of cultivation has indeed given you some Dao practice." Xu Qingyun closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, an extra golden mark appeared on his brow, from which Dharma Image Qi flowed.

Cave Heaven Eye!

White Tiger had always been poor with words, and for a moment he could not think of any defense, so he had to bring up his mistress.

"Real Person Xu, it was your mistress who ordered me to come and look for someone; the purpose is... to find your master's reincarnation."

"Moreover, recently many demons of unknown origin have appeared in the world, so on my way to look for the person, I stopped by to check on the Shushan boundary."

Xu Qingyun sneered, "How can you make me believe you?"

"I have not yet been removed from the Hundred Demon Manual," White Tiger immediately said, "Back then your master let us out of the Hundred Demon Manual, but our names are still on it."

"One of the rules is that we cannot harm Shushan Disciples."

"Look, how would I dare to fight you with all my strength?"

Xu Qingyun stopped his hand and discovered that although White Tiger had revealed his Demon Form, he had been defending with all his might and dared not take the initiative to attack.

Seeing Xu Qingyun withdraw his arts, appearing as if they were in a standoff, White Tiger threw out a portrait and said, "This is a portrait of your master."

"Find his reincarnation, and your mistress will be willing to remove me from the Hundred Demon Manual."

"That is why I am working so hard."

Xu Qingyun glanced sideways slightly and took the portrait.

The two stopped their hands there.

As far as Xu Qingyun was concerned, the explanation White Tiger gave did indeed have points that made sense, but he would not believe it completely and still remained tightly on guard in his heart.

After a moment's pause, Xu Qingyun followed up on White Tiger's previous words to break the ice and diminish the tense atmosphere between the two sides.

Xu Qingyun asked, "You are among the demons; I heard you say earlier that there are more demons of unknown origin in the world. What is going on with this?"

Hearing his question, White Tiger immediately replied, "How would I know? These extra demons are very strange; they seem not to understand our speech, and they don't just eat humans, they also eat demons."

Xu Qingyun's expression tightened slightly, "They even eat demons?"

"Yes, but demons have a long heritage; although they look strange, some demons can still be identified by looking at ancient books."

"And the Demon Power on them is very different from our Demon Power."

White Tiger was equally wary of this matter, "I can quickly perceive the difference."

"For example, not far from here, I smelled a strange Demon Power."

"It should be a demon causing trouble in the water, similar to a water monkey."

"But there is also a water monkey in the Hundred Demon Manual's register, so... after I felt it carefully, there are still some differences."

"I originally intended to go over and take a look at what kind of demon it was after confirming that the problem was not with the Shushan boundary, but I didn't expect to run into Real Person Xu."

"In that case... we will go directly to find your master's reincarnation; there is no need to get entangled with this kind of evil demon."

Xu Qingyun hooked his finger, the Flying Sword landed in his hand, and he sheathed the Flying Sword, turned around, and said calmly, "First, go exterminate the demon."

White Tiger still had something he wanted to say.

Xu Qingyun, who was walking away with his back turned, suddenly turned his head and looked at the White Tiger, who was hesitating to speak, and asked, "Do you have any objections?"

"None."

The White Tiger added, "That monster is something I can handle with my own cultivation; I just feel that for the two of us to join forces to eliminate a single monster is a bit of an overkill."

Meanwhile, inside Leping County.

Assistant Magistrate Li was pacing in the main hall.

In the span of two days, seven people had gone missing in the small Leping County.

At first, with the disappearance of two fishermen, Assistant Magistrate Li thought it might be a long-standing family feud, but he later discovered that was not the case.

By the time the number of missing persons grew, the development of the situation could no longer be contained; the entire Leping County was in a state of panic, and absurd rumors were spreading everywhere.

Magistrate Lu and Assistant Magistrate Li were both sitting on pins and needles, and now neither of them knew how to give the common people an explanation.

Outside the door, a Daoist priest walked over slowly.

Following him inside was Chang An, a constable from the yamen, his face showing a sense of relief.

"Assistant Magistrate Li, I have invited the Daoist priest from White Mountain Temple," Chang An said with a smile.

These days, they, the constables, had been under the most pressure; even the night watchmen refused to take this rotten job, forcing Assistant Magistrate Li to order the constables from the yamen to take over.

Every night of patrolling and watch-keeping made people tremble with fear.

"Please come in, Daoist priest." Assistant Magistrate Li immediately signaled for others to pour tea, and he led the Daoist priest along as they walked in.

"This poor Daoist, Xuanyang, greets the two officials." Xuanyang stroked his beard, looking every bit the immortal sage, and without rushing to drink tea, he calmly asked, "Could you allow this poor Daoist to see that corpse?"

Clearly, Xuanyang already knew about the events that had occurred within Leping County.

Seeing his knowing expression, Assistant Magistrate Li felt much more at ease.

"It is in the back hall; please follow me, Daoist priest."

Xuanyang then took out a bell that looked like it could summon spirits, shaking it with every step he took inside the yamen as he walked toward the back hall.

(End of this chapter)