Chapter 65: Original Appearance

"Haha!" With a hearty laugh, the chains binding Su Yuanshan snapped section by section, and the Dragon Whisker Grass hood covering his head shattered and fell away, revealing a different appearance—the fox demon visage Su Yuanshan had deliberately conjured. Although his head bore fluffy ears, the fur was flawless and white, and his entire being exuded an ethereal, immortal aura.

Su Yuanshan, presenting himself in the form of a fox demon, bowed slightly with a smile and introduced himself.

"I am Hu Junfu, a messenger under the command of Lord Baie Hou, Marquis Baihouye. I have come here today by order to discuss the matter of the birthday celebration. I happened to see the toad spirit patrolling the mountain and felt a sudden impulse to test whether the mountain's defenses were tight. Unfortunately..."

However, Huo Jun did not utter a word, merely staring at him fixedly with those strange eyes that seemed capable of seeing through a person's heart. Just as Su Yuanshan wondered if he had revealed some flaw that Huo Jun had noticed—

The red-haired Huo Jun finally smiled and asked indifferently.

"A messenger under the command of Lord Baie Hou, Marquis Baihouye? How is it that I have never seen you? You are quite a new face!"

Su Yuanshan smiled slightly.

"I have been cultivating in my cave and only recently came out to join the Marquis's command. It is normal for Huo Jun not to know me."

Huo Jun nodded with an ambiguous smile.

"So that is how it is!"

He raised his hand and said loudly.

"Someone, bring wine! Let us welcome Master Hu!"

Before long, two minor demons with heads the size of mountains and animal skins wrapped around their waists carried over a large vat of wine with a 'heave-ho' sound, then dropped it in front of Su Yuanshan with a 'bang'.

Su Yuanshan had originally breathed a sigh of relief, but seeing such a vat of wine, he could not help but frown.

Fortunately, Huo Jun did not seem to force him to drink immediately, but instead began to chat about trivial matters.

"Since you have come by order, Master, I wonder what instructions Lord Baie Hou has for me?"

Su Yuanshan smiled and said.

"Nothing of great importance. The Marquis simply wants to know how you are preparing for the birthday celebration! And as for that other one, how is the matter proceeding?"

"I have naturally prepared almost everything on my end! As for that other one..."

Huo Jun drank a cup of wine to himself, wiped his mouth, and said with an amused expression.

"Why don't you go ask him yourself?"

Su Yuanshan had wanted to extract more information, but to his frustration, Huo Jun's words were completely watertight.

Seeing Huo Jun inquire, Su Yuanshan laughed.

"Without the Marquis's decree, how could I rashly go there?"

"Hahaha!"

Unexpectedly, Huo Jun suddenly burst into wild laughter. Just as Su Yuanshan was feeling puzzled, a sudden, ominous premonition rose in his heart. Without a second thought, he leaped backward.

With a 'boom', the wine vat suddenly exploded, wine splashing everywhere and flames roaring, frightening the young boys and girls into shrill cries for help.

At this, Huo Jun's face darkened, and he shouted coldly.

"Who are you? You put on a good act, but unfortunately, there is no such messenger under Lord Baie Hou, and no one has ever addressed him as Marquis Baihouye!"

Su Yuanshan channeled his spiritual power and waved his hand.

With a 'whoosh', a gale swept past, extinguishing the flames entirely. The children huddled in the corner, terrified, and the minor demons seemed stunned as well. When they finally came to their senses, they grabbed their weapons and surrounded Su Yuanshan.

Since he had been exposed, Su Yuanshan simply stopped pretending and instantly restored his original appearance.

Seeing this, the Jing River Water God was filled with excitement and cried out involuntarily.

"City God! You... how did you come here!"

"You should not have risked coming here..."

It went without saying that the reason Su Yuanshan had risked coming here was clearly for the sake of these deities and the children.

"What?"

"The City God? The City God?"

"Ah, the City God is here? This is truly wonderful!"

For a moment, the mountain gods, land gods, kitchen gods, and water gods were all moved to tears, telling one another the news.

In particular, the female water god stared unblinkingly at the fluttering robes of Su Yuanshan, as if he were her guiding light.

Huo Jun's expression, however, was not so pleasant. He stared at Su Yuanshan and asked in surprise.

"So it was you... you are actually the City God?"

At this moment, his gaze began to burn with intense fighting spirit.

"Good, very good. I was just fretting about not being able to find you, and you have delivered yourself to my doorstep, saving me the trouble!"

Su Yuanshan said indifferently.

"That is what I should be saying. You vicious spirit and savage demon, cruel and devoid of Dao, attacking and harming my subordinate deities, poisoning the common people, and using my subjects to refine pills just to curry favor with the Great Demon Baie Hou."

Su Yuanshan pointed at the thinly-clad, weeping children, his expression turning cold as he shouted sternly.

"The oldest among them is no more than seven or eight, the youngest only three or four. Which one of them was not raised by parents? Which one was not a treasure in their palms? You have extinguished all humanity and acted recklessly; it is simply intolerable to heaven and infuriating to gods and men alike.

Do you know your crimes?"

"Know my crimes?" Huo Jun seemed to have heard something hilarious and could not help but burst into loud laughter.

"I am a demon by nature; don't lecture me on heavenly laws. If you have the ability, defeat me; otherwise, you are just providing amusement. I did it because I was happy to, it's that simple.

As for your subordinates being slaughtered and captured by me, blame them for being too cowardly and weak. How can you blame me? How ridiculous!

Don't try to scare me with the banner of the City God. I was not raised on fear. You are not the first City God to die at my hands, nor will you be the last!"

Su Yuanshan narrowed his eyes, his expression growing colder. "Since you are so incorrigible, I have nothing more to say to you!"

A land god whispered a warning to him.

"City God, this demon is a descendant of the Yaoshen Huodou. He is powerful and possesses vast supernatural abilities. Even the City God and the Judge of Lin County fell into his hands. I implore you to be careful."

A mountain god nearby said with a look of shame.

"The land god is right. To my shame, the stream god and I together were not a match for even one of his moves.

His demonic arts are extremely strange; you must not be careless, City God."

However, the Jing River Water God said.

"Do not inflate the morale of others and dampen your own spirits; how could the Chenghuangfu Lord be someone you or I can compare to?

But in this god's view, although this demon is formidable, it is not the match of the Lord; do you all still remember the centipede spirit under the command of Baie Hou some days ago?

He was originally one of the Three Blood Slaves under Baie Hou, savage and fierce; countless Yinchai and well gods died at his hands, and his arrogance was boundless for a time, yet in the end, did he not become a ghost under the Lord's sword?

Even if this Huo Jun is powerful, could it be more troublesome than that centipede spirit?

The Lord's methods—are they something you or I can presume to guess?"

He thought to himself, it is rumored that even Guangwang Shenjun personally recommended him to the daughter of Dongting Longjun as a husband; the Lord's hidden identity can be imagined, it is definitely not as simple as just being a county Chenghuang on the surface, I fear he has a great background.

A deity with such a background, how could he be ordinary?

This Huo Jun is certainly extremely powerful, but this time, I fear it has kicked an iron plate.

Although that female water god did not speak, she was deep in thought while looking at Su Yuanshan's back.

"He is so calm and composed, he must have victory in his grasp and be full of confidence; I hope the Lord displays his divine might, wipes away our past shame, and completely eliminates this scourge that plagues the human world!"

Thinking of Huo Jun's methods still makes her heart tremble with fear; her companion, a small sparrow spirit, was swallowed alive by Huo Jun simply for helping her, the methods were incomparably cruel.

Suddenly, she realized a serious problem....