Chapter 122

"The black fog and death energy have entered the village; we must light the divine lamp for the people," Daoist Qingxuan said, asking for instructions, but actually looking at Daoist Jiang Ning.

The two middle-aged Daoist priests also looked at Daoist Jiang Ning.

Daoist Jiang Ning nodded.

Only then did one of the middle-aged Daoist priests take out a golden oil lamp from the bundle beside him, holding it respectfully in his hands, but he didn't light it; instead, he chanted an incantation:

"Bright sun and moon, long and distant heaven, respect to the Lord, please light the spiritual light."

The oil lamp immediately lit up with a spark of fire.

The bean-sized light swayed, barely illuminating the ancestral hall, but wherever the light shone, the black fog disappeared and the death energy dissipated.

"This is the lamp on the Lord's desk, which is meant to prevent this step," Daoist Qingxuan explained when he saw Lin Jue and his companion staring at the lamp. "Although the divine lamp doesn't have much effect, as long as it is placed here and the lamp flame is guaranteed not to be knocked over or extinguished, it can also isolate a patch of black fog and death energy."

Lin Jue nodded, then frowned and asked:

"What is the origin of this Demon King?"

Wasn't it said that this Demon King was originally just an ordinary great demon, who was lucky enough to get an opportunity and only became a Demon King in the last twenty or thirty years? Shouldn't his foundation be unstable?

"This Demon King was originally a fierce tiger in the mountains, but it didn't become a spirit during its lifetime! It is rumored that it also practiced peacefully during its lifetime, having practiced for decades and was about to attain the Dao, but it was surrounded and killed by hunters and villagers in the mountains; unexpectedly, out of obsession and resentment, it actually attained the Dao the day after its death, so some people call it the Corpse Tiger King, and others call it the Corpse Underworld Demon Lord."

Daoist Qingxuan clearly heard Lin Jue's confusion, so he explained:

"Fellow Daoist must know that demons are different from people!

"People, whether they are from the south or the north, whether they are royalty or commoners, are essentially not much different: if they fight with strength and swords, it only depends on their strength and technique; if they fight with Dao and spells, it only depends on their attainments in spells and Dao practice.

"Demons are different!

"Even if a fox becomes a spirit, it still fears fierce domestic dogs when its Dao practice is shallow; if a rabbit becomes a spirit, even if it has a hundred years of Dao practice, it is still easily caught by hunters in the mountains if it is not careful; if a rat becomes a spirit, it is difficult to fight with a brave ordinary teenager; but some animals, like bears and leopards, are extremely fierce before becoming spirits. If a rabbit or wild deer with a hundred years of Dao practice has no other skills, it is difficult to fight them, let alone after attaining the Dao.

"And a fierce tiger can roar and gather a mountain forest before becoming a spirit, and is honored as a Mountain Lord. If it lives long enough, it naturally has the ability to control the wind, shake souls, and command ghost servants—there are many powerful mountain demons in this world, but how many dare to fight an ordinary tiger? There are few martial artists with superb skills who dare to easily go to the tiger mountain. Such fierce beasts, after attaining the Dao, are naturally far more powerful than ordinary spirits.

"Moreover, this Demon King's Dao practice is just unstable, and it has entered the evil path, but it was already a great demon before obtaining the food-silver ghost, which is enough to show that its talent is extremely high. It has been able to hide for so many years, stealing silver and money by taking advantage of the situation, which shows that its character and courage are extraordinary!"

Lin Jue nodded when he heard this.

It sounds like its Dao practice is unstable, which makes its Dao practice inferior to ordinary Demon Kings, but it was born a fierce tiger, naturally fierce, and was already a ruler, which made up for this point.

In addition, attacking a city is always harder than defending one, so for the sake of safety, it is understandable that the three Lords under Emperor Yu Jian descended to the mortal realm together.

However, beyond its miraculous powers, this Demon King's secret practice, development of power, hidden death energy, and even its release at this time, all exceeded ordinary people's expectations.

The situation is critical at this time, so it is not convenient to think too much.

"What now..."

Before he finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly pierced from the sky in the distance like an arrow.

Lin Jue just saw it and reacted, but human reaction is limited after all; he only had time to turn and dodge, but it was too late to draw his sword.

On the contrary, the fox on the ground seemed to jump instinctively, leaping high, and while still in the air, it had already opened its mouth and stretched out its right claw, pouncing and biting at the black shadow.

With a swoosh!

The black shadow turned nimbly, avoiding the fox.

"Awoo~"

The fox bit the air, landed again, and smacked its lips.

The black shadow flapped its wings a few times after leaving, and only then did they know it was a hawk from the mountains.

Lin Jue narrowed his eyes and looked.

"This is an ordinary hawk from the mountains, but it has been affected by the Demon King's death energy and has become an evil object, and this mountain..."

There was no need to finish the words; everyone knew the deep meaning behind them.

At the same time, several black shadows had appeared on both sides of the alley outside the ancestral hall, walking slowly in the black fog. When several Daoist priests went out to look, these people were dressed as villagers or yamen runners, mostly commoners and runners who had been harmed by the tree demons when entering or leaving the forest before; at this time, they were invaded by death energy and evil energy, becoming evil corpses.

One could see their expressions were ferocious, their eyes were scarlet, and they had already grown fangs and sharp claws.

The Daoist priests of Qiyun Mountain reached out to touch their talismans.

But Lin Jue and his companion were faster than them.

"Bang!"

Lin Jue directly threw the Mountain Yili Shenjun Token with his hand, smashing it into a "villager."

The villager immediately fell to the ground and stopped moving.

With a short incantation, the token flew back automatically.

Xiao Shimei drew her sword and went, one sword for each.

The movements of the Daoist priests of Qiyun Mountain stiffened, and they withdrew their talismans.

Lin Jue and his companion also retreated.

One could see the black fog around the village was thick; for the time being, one couldn't see any black shadows, but one could hear more and more movement, and several people couldn't help but panic.

"The death energy has already spread, and you don't need to go to suppress it anymore. Now you can't stay here any longer; you must take the people and rush out."

After Lin Jue finished speaking, he looked out.

It should be dawn outside, but the black fog was becoming thicker and thicker, spreading who knows how far, making the whole world dim.

He also saw a large tree beside the ancestral hall, which didn't know how many hundreds of years it had grown, tall and large; he exerted force under his feet and immediately rushed toward the tree, climbing up by the rough surface and branches of the trunk, and then climbed from the tree to the roof.

As soon as he stood firm, he waved his sword.

With a swoosh!

The hawk that was shooting at him was cut into two pieces.

Lin Jue had no time to pay attention to it, and looking around from the high place, he didn't know how many things were moving in the darkness.

In the thick black fog in the distance, there seemed to be human shadows in the alleys, and shadows of animals, and even the swaying of branches and leaves could be faintly seen, as if even the trees had become spirits and were pouring in. What surprised Lin Jue even more was that he saw the stone lions under the archway at the entrance of the village stand up, shaking their bodies.

What kind of miraculous power does this Demon King have? It's actually so terrifying?

Immediately, he felt in his heart—

They couldn't rush out.

To be precise, they couldn't rush out with the common people.

He and his junior sister were very likely to be able to.

Although there are many evil objects catalyzed by this death energy, they don't have much Dao practice, and their combat power depends entirely on the size of their original bodies. He and Xiao Shimei have Dao practice and magical power to protect their bodies, and they can persist for a while in the black fog and death energy; this time they brought Divine Travel Pills, and after eating them, their speed will be very fast, and it won't take long to travel dozens of miles, and the medicinal effect of one Divine Shen Xing Dan can also hold on.

I don't know what kind of skills the fellow Daoists of Qiyun Mountain have.

"Whoosh!"

Lin Jue dodged to the side, stepping on a few blue tiles, and avoided a bird; seeing more and more birds in the sky, even he didn't dare to stay long, so he hurriedly jumped onto the large tree and jumped down by stepping on the branches.

"How many talismans do you still have?"

As soon as the words fell, he saw the large tree he had just stepped on move; the leaves withered and fell quickly, and the branches shook.

"!"

This tree was not a pear tree, but a large tree that could be hugged by two people and was taller than the highest horse-head wall; if it moved, even if it just fell, it could crush a wall of the ancestral hall.

Lin Jue turned his head and looked, with shock in his eyes.

He hurriedly threw the token in his hand.

"Bang!"

The token hit the tree, the death energy on the tree was immediately shaken away, and the moving tree stopped.

The Mountain Yili Shenjun Token is still easy to use.

Lin Jue still couldn't help but feel terrified.

This was already far beyond the power he could contend with.

Not referring to this tree, but the Demon King's death energy.

What did that Demon King want to do?

Turn dozens of miles around this place into a demon land, and kill all the common people? Or did he discover that among the Daoist priests who came here, there were those valued by the Lord, and he wanted to use this to distract the Lord?

"There are two Li Fire Divine Talismans bestowed by the Lord in total, and there is one left. There are two Yi Thunder Divine Talismans in total, which haven't been used yet and can be used to deal with demons with deep Dao practice. There is also a Jin Guang Protecting the World Divine Talisman. There are also some ordinary powerful talismans," Daoist Qingxuan also looked at the large tree in shock and answered quickly. "If they are used up, we have to invite the gods."

"Don't wait until they are used up, hurry up and invite the gods!"

"The fellow Daoist is right; even if they aren't used up, we must report to the gods," Daoist Jiang Ning said in a deep voice. "If the gods don't come, dozens of miles around will become a dead land."

"Speed it up."

Lin Jue echoed: "We will protect you!"

After saying that, there was no time to do anything; he and Xiao Shimei looked at each other and stood outside the ancestral hall.

There was a large open space in front of the ancestral hall of Gong Village, and in front of that was a stream of water that had been diverted in, with roads on both sides; at this time, evil objects catalyzed by death energy had already arrived in front of the ancestral hall.

First were a few village dogs, their eyes already scarlet, their mouths drooling, crazily pouncing on them.

Xiao Shimei raised her sword and was about to go forward.

But just as she took a step forward, she felt her back collar grabbed by her Third Shixiong and pulled back.

Then she only saw her Third Shixiong throw out the Mountain Yili Shenjun Token and chant in a low voice.

Xiao Shimei didn't have any expression, nodded secretly, thinking that her Third Shixiong wanted her to protect him, so she stood beside her Third Shixiong with her sword, ready for battle, and didn't rush out again.

"Bang!"

The token smashed toward a village dog.

The dog was originally somewhat agile, but at this time it seemed to have lost its sanity, only knowing to rush toward the two of them, regardless of anything, and was immediately hit by the token.

The token had the divine power of the Mountain Yili Shenjun of Yishan; once it touched, it shook away the death energy on its body, and the token was heavy, smashing it until blood splashed everywhere.

The village dog immediately fell to the ground.

The token didn't land or return, but moved quickly around under the urging of the incantation; although it wasn't as smooth as the gray-robed man back then, it was enough to hit these village dogs that didn't know how to dodge.

There was no need for force; touching it would shake away the death energy.

I don't know if these village dogs were dead or alive before being contaminated by death energy; at this time, once the death energy was gone, they couldn't live either.

Occasionally there were fish that slipped through the net, and then he saw a roar of flames beside him, spiritual fire rushing over, instantly wrapping the whole village dog and burning it to death on the ground.

Or a long sword, or a white fox.

Xiao Shimei was very serious about protecting him.

The fox was also very serious.

Glancing back in a hurry—

Several Daoist priests used the tables and chairs ready in the ancestral hall, quickly untied their bundles, one took an incense burner, one arranged offerings, and one took incense to light it; in just two or three breaths, there was a simple divine altar.

More and more evil objects were arriving.

It was still Lin Jue using the Mountain Yili Shenjun Token to suppress them, which could knock down the vast majority of evil objects, while Xiao Shimei and the fox protected him from the side, clearing out the ones that slipped through the net.

Lin Jue also invited out three bean soldiers, but didn't let them rush in to kill the enemy; instead, he kept them by his side for defense.

Because the evil objects constantly pouring in from the alleys couldn't be killed, and among them were tree demons and cow corpses; even bean soldiers made of dan-fruit wood would likely be broken if they fell into them.

"Fellow Daoist! We are here to help you!"

With a loud shout, the two Daoist priests Chongqing and Chongming also came to their side, holding long swords.

"Heaven and Earth Profound Sect, the root of all energy. Cultivate for ten thousand kalpas, prove my miraculous power. Guards of the three realms, welcomed by the five emperors. Ten thousand gods bow in worship, commanding thunder and lightning. Golden light appears quickly, covering and protecting my body!"

The two Daoist priests were also chanting incantations.

Lin Jue had heard of this incantation; it is one of the common protective incantations for Fulu Sect Daoist priests. Essentially, it is to seek divine power from the gods between heaven and earth through incantations to protect the body, which can block demons and evil spirits; it is one of the methods that can be used in a hurry to protect the body, and can compensate for the weaknesses of the Fulu Sect to a certain extent.

But at this time, after the incantation was finished, no golden light radiated from their bodies, and the two Daoist priests couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

It was clear that the god responsible for responding to this incantation was fighting and had no free time.

The two middle-aged Daoist priests had solemn expressions, but they also had bloodiness; they only tried once and didn't try again, but they didn't retreat, instead continuing to move forward.

They just took out a talisman, put it on the sword, shook it to light it, and like Xiao Shimei, fought with the evil objects rushing over with their swords.

Then there was the sound of chanting behind them:

"The Dao is learned from the heart, the heart is transmitted by incense. Incense fills the jade furnace, the heart resides before the Emperor. True spirits look down, the immortal seat descends to the pavilion. The minister reports, reaching the nine heavens.

"Disciple Jiang Ning, the twenty-eighth generation descendant of the Xuantian Temple on Qiyun Mountain, reports to the Lord that death energy is leaking here, and the land of fish and rice will become a dead land and an evil kingdom; I hope the Lord will make a decision early and send troops to help!"

It was the voice of Daoist Jiang.

One could imagine that it must be Daoist Jiang praying, with Daoist Qingxuan protecting him on the side.

They naturally had to carry this disaster first.

Lin Jue was not sure in his heart.

Even if Lord Yi Li heard it, he would face two difficult choices: abandon the Demon King he was currently suppressing, or abandon the common people in these dozens of miles?

It is also somewhat wonderful to say—

Although he didn't personally participate in the Emperor's process of suppressing the Demon King, and was even hundreds of miles away, he felt as if he had witnessed it with his own eyes.

The battle to suppress demons is not just about fighting.