Chapter 283

The two men and the fox waited at the temple entrance for a while, waiting for the first people to ascend the mountain besides themselves.

However, they were not the commoners coming to offer sacrifices to this demon, but three Daoists.

The morning mountain mist had not yet completely dissipated when the three Daoists walked out from between the withered branches and weeds; the first thing that caught their eyes was a flash of golden yellow, which were two Daoists wearing yellow precepts robes. One of them, even wearing a loose Daoist robe, still looked slender, and even more so, while the other filled out the robe; behind them was a Daoist wearing a blue de-luo robe, gradually becoming clear from a blur.

At first glance, they felt unfamiliar, but upon closer inspection, all three were acquaintances.

The two Daoists in front wearing yellow Daoist robes were none other than Daoist Jiang and Daoist Qingxuan, and the one behind wearing the blue Daoist robe was Ma Ma Shidi.

"Eh? Daoist Lin Jue? Luo Gong?"

Daoist Qingxuan spoke first, very surprised.

"Daoist Lin," Daoist Jiang also bowed and greeted, "Long time no see."

"Daoist Ma Shidi Lin!" Ma Ma Shidi bowed.

"Daoist Ma Shidi Qingxuan, Daoist Jiang, Ma Ma Shidi," Lin Jue was also very surprised. "Why have you come here too?"

"Recently, some women in the capital have met with misfortune for no reason, and many of their families have come to our temple to seek help. We inquired and discovered it was related to an evil god here; it just so happened that the Star Gazing Palace and the Gathering Immortals Mansion had no movement for several days, so we came to take a look," Daoist Qingxuan looked at them. "Are you here for this too?"

"The same," Lin Jue replied. "Thanks to Daoist Jiang's letter of introduction, we are now affiliated with the Gathering Immortals Mansion. The recent incidents of women meeting with misfortune have caused quite a stir in the capital, and the Gathering Immortals Mansion had no one to use, so I was just pulled over to investigate after returning to the capital from my Xiao Xiao Shimei's Feng Mountain."

"We really are fated," Daoist Qingxuan shook his head. "We could run into each other while eliminating demons in Huizhou, and we can run into each other while eliminating demons in the capital."

"Indeed."

Saying they were fated, in reality, neither side had much joy, but instead felt helpless, even so helpless they wanted to laugh.

It was fine when they were in Huizhou; there were only two famous immortal mountains in Huizhou, one was Qiyun Mountain, one of the four famous mountains of the Talisman Sect, and the other was the reclusive Yishan Mountain; the rest were all Jianghu wizards and sorcerers. If they encountered a slightly more powerful demon, wouldn't it have to be Qiyun Mountain and Yishan Mountain that stepped forward?

It was not surprising to run into each other.

But they were in the capital now.

Inside the capital was the Star Gazing Palace, outside was Jade Mountain, and the Gathering Immortals Mansion raised thousands of strange people and talented individuals, which was several times more than all the Daoists of Qiyun Mountain, Yishan Mountain, the Talisman Sect, the Spiritual Method Sect, and even the Danding Sect combined. If there were just a few more usable people, a few more capable people willing to eliminate demons, it wouldn't have been their turn to meet here.

"Sigh, Daoist Lin is affiliated with the Gathering Immortals Mansion; the Gathering Immortals Mansion can finally be considered to have a capable person in the capital," Daoist Qingxuan sighed and asked, "How are Daoist Lin and Luo Gong's investigations going?"

"We also just arrived not long ago, at most a quarter of an hour before you. We haven't found any clues or traces of the demon's origin in the temple; we only discovered that the temple has no name and the statue has no spirit, as if it had long anticipated that one day it would be visited by the Star Gazing Palace or you all."

Lin Jue said, pausing for a moment:

"We did find two talisman papers, one eye talisman and one ear talisman, which are quite spiritually resonant and interesting. However, just as we wanted to use them to converse with the demon, the two talisman papers burned up."

"Eye talisman? Ear talisman?" Daoist Qingxuan himself was one who worshipped gods and drew talismans, so he was naturally very sensitive to this. "The statue has no spirit, proving it doesn't absorb the aura of incense and hasn't followed the path of incense and divinity. Is it using these two talismans to monitor and eavesdrop on the movements in the temple?"

"I suspect the same..."

"What do the talismans look like roughly?"

"Roughly..."

Lin Jue roughly described the appearance of the talisman papers to them; knowing they were from the Talisman Sect, it was just the right time to ask for advice.

"It doesn't sound like an orthodox talisman; it should be a talisman bestowed by some monster with such abilities of peeping and eavesdropping and high cultivation, or it could be a talismanic magic script privately bestowed by a deity in heaven, which the demon uses to borrow the spell-casting abilities of this monster or deity," Daoist Jiang said lightly.

"That one has quite a temper and is unwilling to converse with us," Lin Jue said. "I wonder if the people from the Gathering Immortals Mansion angered it before."

"Hmm..."

Daoist Qingxuan nodded repeatedly, his face showing contemplation: "Have you two found anything else?"

"No," Lin Jue shook his head. "However, Luo Gong believes that this matter cannot be completely determined to be its doing for the time being."

"Why?"

"First, Luo Gong thinks that this demon has been here for a long time but has never harmed human life; second, when this demon extracts human fat, it doesn't distinguish between men and women, but all the victims are women," Lin Jue said with a laugh. "To tell you the truth, we have encountered similar things and have been fooled once before."

"Makes sense," Daoist Qingxuan nodded and laughed again. "Luo Gong was once the County Commandant of Changning and was skilled at solving cases back then. Even if it sounds unreasonable, I am willing to believe Luo Gong."

Everyone loves to hear compliments; Luo Gong stood beside Lin Jue and couldn't help but raise his hand, cupping his fist to indicate he couldn't take it.

"Listening to what you said earlier, that demon must already know you've come," Daoist Jiang spoke again. "People from the Gathering Immortals Mansion have tried to make things difficult for it here before, and it has never retreated; it shouldn't be a weak character. I guess it's already on its way here."

"Is that so?"

As the words fell, the fox had already raised its head, stretched its neck, and looked toward the mountain forest in the distance.

Everyone followed its gaze.

They saw the spring grass and forest were deep, and the white mist was thick; although they could vaguely hear some rustling sounds, it was hard to distinguish whether it was the wind blowing through the grass or something rushing toward them.

While a few were on guard, they suddenly saw two tall figures appear on the right, and their hearts were suddenly startled.

That was truly an evil ghost with a green face and fangs, over a zhang tall, bare-chested, as strong as an ox, with curved claws like golden hooks, dense teeth like sharp swords, and holding a huge steel fork in its hand; its eyes were like lanterns, flashing with fire, staring straight at them, striding and crashing through the forest and bushes as it ran over.

They were clearly two Yaksha ghosts!

When they suddenly saw them, it was as if they had turned a corner in the forest and suddenly saw two elephants charging toward them, bringing a huge psychological impact.

For a moment, all their attention was attracted by them.

Even the always-alert fox was no exception.

Just then, they suddenly heard several sounds of breaking through the air.

More than a dozen sharp arrows shot out from the grass and forest on the other side, shooting rapidly toward the crowd.

"Shu, shu, shu..."

These arrows came too fast and too hidden, and because their attention was entirely on the two Yakshas, by the time Lin Jue reacted, it was too late to use spells.

In any case, he hurriedly used the Stone Transformation Spell.

Fortunately, Luo Gong was standing on his left.

They saw Luo Gong raise his hand holding the sword, flick it to the right, and turn his wrist, the scabbard spinning like a flower.

Pa, pa, two sounds!

It was hard to tell whether the Daoist turned into stone first or the scabbard hit the arrows first; everything happened in a flash. In any case, the two flying arrows were intercepted by the scabbard one after another, and Luo Gong's left hand grabbed another arrow shooting toward him; the whole process was incredibly easy.

The fox beside them also immediately burrowed into the ground.

Then there were a few more clanging sounds.

Lin Jue turned back into human form and glanced with his peripheral vision—

Daoist Qingxuan and Daoist Jiang were both flesh and blood, but since they dared to come here, they were naturally prepared and had invited the Jin Guang Body Protection Talisman in advance. At this moment, golden light suddenly bloomed on their bodies, blocking these flying arrows for them.

"Shu, shu, shu..."

Another burst of arrows shot over.

This time, Lin Jue was prepared.

With a thought and a wave of his sleeve, a fierce gale was unleashed, hitting forward like a wall.

More than a dozen arrows shot over and hit the gale head-on, immediately shaking violently like willow leaves and withered grass in the wind; they were either blown back or lost their aim and fell to the ground.

Boom!

The mountain forest on the left and right shook.

The two Yaksha ghosts on the right ran in large strides, directly crashing through the branches; for a moment, they seemed even more terrifying than the Yaksha Lin Jue had once encountered in the Qingdimiao.

Running from the left were more than a dozen vine-armored soldiers, also shiny and oily, all with wolf heads, moving nimbly and jumping over bushes and thorns.

Lin Jue did not hesitate and reached out to throw.

"Hua..."

A handful of beans were scattered into the sky, growing with the wind.

Half turned into twelve armored soldiers, landing with a bang, their armor clashing with a neat and heavy sound.

Half turned into twelve flying swords, bright and crystal clear, circling in the air following the incantation.

Just finished forging the flying swords, let's test them on you!

"Three Daoist friends, no need to worry, leave it to me," Lin Jue said. "Luo Gong, please protect me."

"Can you handle it, Daoist friend?"

Daoist Qingxuan looked at the surroundings with some shock, having already drawn the long sword from his waist and taken out two talisman papers to hold between his fingers; in his memory, Lin Jue didn't have such abilities.

"Good!"

Luo Seng replied calmly, and with a "chi" sound, he also drew the long sword from his waist.

As soon as the long sword left its scabbard, a wave of heavy malevolent energy arose; even Daoist Qingxuan, who had no cultivation, felt a chill and couldn't help but have his hair stand on end.

He turned his head to look at Luo Gong, then looked left and right.

He saw a group of armored soldiers wearing heavy armor rushing toward the left, some holding swords, some holding spears, directly crashing into the group of vine-armored soldiers. But as the two sides collided, it was obvious that whether it was size, strength, or the solidity and weight of their armor, the bean soldiers were superior—

Some vine-armored soldiers were pierced through, some were directly knocked flying, and some had half their bodies cut off by a sword; the archers of both sides shot at each other, and in just an instant, the battle became incredibly intense.

More arrows shot toward Lin Jue, but were easily blocked by Luo Gong.

Suddenly, Daoist Qingxuan's pupils shrank as he saw a vine-armored soldier who had been cut in half suddenly shrink and flatten, appearing to have become a cut-open paper figure.

And on the right, the two Yaksha ghosts as big as oxen, one in front and one behind, had already run close, holding steel forks; looking at their ferocious and terrifying faces and their unstoppable momentum, even immortals would have to retreat three zhang.

"Yakshas don't come out during the day; these Yakshas are strange, Daoist friend, be careful," Daoist Jiang reminded from the side.

But they only heard a burst of incantations.

Accompanied by the incantations, there was a sound of breaking through the air in the sky.

The twelve flying swords were divided into two parts; four shot rapidly, directly stabbing toward the eyes of the Yaksha ghost in front, faster than arrows, while the remaining eight rotated continuously in the air, the sword bodies reflecting the morning light, cutting past the sides and necks of the Yaksha ghosts.

"Chi..."

How sharp were the newly forged flying swords? The power and speed of the object-controlling method were also several times stronger!

For a moment, they didn't hear roars or wails, but they saw the eyes of the leading Yaksha ghost being directly stabbed and exploded by the flying swords, and its body was continuously cut with wounds by the flying swords, only no blood flowed out.

After running forward only two steps, this Yaksha ghost collapsed to the ground with a bang.

At first, it maintained the weight of its body, collapsing with a bang and sliding forward, flattening the green grass in the mountain and pushing away the mud, but after sliding for a distance, it lost its weight and became a huge piece of paper.

The flying swords stuck in its body also fell to the ground.

Lin Jue watched this scene, his eyes slightly narrowed, his mouth chanting incantations non-stop, but with just a thought, all the flying swords changed direction, and even the flying swords that had fallen to the ground immediately flew up again, shooting toward the Yaksha ghost behind that still didn't know fear and was still running toward him.

At the same time, a voice came from beside him:

"This is the paper figure method, which fears water and fire; Daoist friend, you can try using fire-element spells to deal with them."

It was also Daoist Jiang's voice.

Lin Jue did not spit fire, but instead spat out a breath.

"Hu..."

It was like an east wind, just right for the season.

The huge Yaksha had nowhere to hide and collided head-on with this east wind; but facing this breath, it not only had no ability to dodge, but also had no power to resist, and in the blink of an eye, flowers bloomed all over its body.

Lin Jue thought to himself, "As expected"—

Since this Yaksha was made of paper, it was like the mountain stone giant summoned by the "Gathering Stone into General Method," a body condensed and transformed by magic power, and "Flowers Blooming in an Huakai Qingke" had a miraculous effect on breaking magic power.

It was also the nemesis of this type of spell.

Instead, the fox listened to Daoist Jiang's words and spat out a mouthful of True Sun Fire; although it caused some damage to this Yaksha, it was not as great as imagined, making Daoist Jiang frown.

In the end, this Yaksha only ran two steps further than the one in front before it couldn't hold on anymore; when it was still a few zhang away from Lin Jue, its body began to tilt forward, but the difference was that "Flowers Blooming in an Huakai Qingke" had already extracted the magic mystery from its body, and before it hit the ground, it had turned back into paper.

The bean soldiers on the other side were also extremely fierce, and with the help of the fox, they soon slaughtered all the vine-armored soldiers.

The battle ended in just a moment.

"Paper Yakshas? Paper soldiers and generals?"

Lin Jue frowned and chanted, and with a wave of his hand, all the flying swords flew back, turning into beans and falling into his hand.

This test of the swords was over, and he was satisfied with the combat power of the new flying swords.

"That's right, this is the paper figure method," Daoist Jiang, who was clearly knowledgeable, said. "There are many such spells; this should be the paper soldier and general and paper Yaksha method. The soldiers and Yakshas transformed by this type of spell can be as tall and strong as normal soldiers and real Yakshas, with infinite strength, but they have one weakness: they fear water and fire. Normally, let alone spiritual fire, even ordinary mortal fire could burn a powerful Yaksha into ashes. If one doesn't know this weakness, even a team of elite soldiers would find it hard to deal with one Yaksha, but if one knows it, it's very simple. I just don't know why these ones aren't afraid of fire."

"As strong as real Yakshas?"

When Lin Jue heard this, he was a bit dazed.

Back then in the Qingdimiao, when he and his Xiao Xiao Shimei encountered that Yaksha attack, they had exhausted who knows how much effort and had barely managed to defeat it. But now, when two Yakshas attacked at the same time, he hadn't even used the weakness they feared of water and fire, and he had easily defeated them.

They hadn't even had time to get close to him.

"Heh..."

Lin Jue couldn't help but laugh.