Chapter 356: Five Methods of Beichen

After traveling dozens of miles, they met another group of people.

Lin Jue sat on the back of the white egret and looked down, first seeing the Southern Heavenly Master, Monk Yun Chan, who was walking behind, and An Boxi, who had fought Monk Da Zu in the palace. The white egret flapped its wings a few times, and a group of Daoist priests appeared on the official road in the forest below.

Daoist Qingxuan, Daoist Jiang, and Junior Brother Ma were walking in the front.

Lin Jue patted the neck of the white egret, and before he could speak, the white egret already understood and flew down.

"Daoist Brother Qingxuan, Daoist Friend Jiang."

The Daoist got off the white egret and said to them.

"Daoist Friend Lin is here!"

Daoist Qingxuan was somewhat surprised.

"Daoist friend, you went back to Huizhou, but you stayed long enough." Daoist Jiang said lightly.

"The mountains are peaceful, and I stayed without knowing the time." Lin Jue said, "I discovered that you burned the Chen Niu talisman, so I came immediately."

"Thank you for your trouble, Daoist friend." Daoist Jiang said.

"Is Daoist Friend Lin also determined to go with us to deal with the Jin Hua King?" Daoist Qingxuan asked.

"Naturally." Lin Jue saluted, "Since the Daoists of Yushan are not traveling with you this time, then I will make up for this part."

"Only Daoist Friend Lin alone?"

"Lord Luo, Daoist Friend Wan, and others are still behind." Lin Jue said, "However, my junior sister is still staying at Mount Yishan, otherwise, her ability is not weaker than mine, and she would also be a great help."

"Then shall we travel together?"

"Does Daoist Brother know the situation ahead?"

"I know a little, but not much. I only know that after the Leopard King suffered a setback last year, it hibernated in its cave for a year, and a few days ago it suddenly came out of the mountains, bypassed the garrison, and suddenly plundered many people from Hansong County, and then took these people back to the Leopard Forest." Daoist Qingxuan sighed, "And this was even told by the local Earth God in a dream."

"This cannot go on."

"Who says it can?" Daoist Qingxuan said, "It is a pity that the Daoists of Yushan went to Yunmeng County, otherwise, with Daoist Friend Lin, we could try to break it in one fell swoop."

"Why not give it a try?"

"Daoist friend, you mean..."

During the conversation, the Southern Heavenly Master's group behind also caught up, and more and more people gathered behind.

When the crowd saw Lin Jue, they were stunned at first, and then there was clearly a bit more hope in their eyes.

"True Man Lin..."

"True Man Lin is here?"

"Where did True Man Lin come from?"

"Is there hope now?"

Then they heard True Man Lin ask how many soldiers and generals the Leopard King had, and what abilities they had.

The Southern Heavenly Master had been confronting the Leopard King in the northwest for several years, and upon hearing this, he rode his horse out and replied:

"The Leopard King originally had four great yaoguai generals under its command. One was beheaded by the divine being invited by Master Fan Tian, but it was later replenished. Last year, one was beheaded by Daoist Friend Lin, and one was seriously injured. I do not know if they have been replenished. And the yaoguai soldiers under its command number in the hundreds or thousands."

The Southern Heavenly Master paused:

"These yaoguai soldiers are nothing. In the past, even without the help of the Zhen Jian Gong and the Celestial Soldiers under the Celestial Fire Divine General, we and the Daoists of Yushan alone could eliminate quite a few.

"Although the Leopard King's ability is high, if it were alone, it would not be able to plunder too many people, and it could not eat much on the spot. Since the divine general helped, the yaoguai king has been watched by the divine general, and we prevent it from plundering the people, and have killed many yaoguai that had just attained the Dao. Even going into the Leopard Forest to kill, we have killed quite a few.

"But if you go deep, you reach the yaoguai king's cave. Once there, everywhere is the yaoguai king's 'soldiers and generals.' Anything can come alive to be your enemy, and in a single breath, it can reverse the sun, moon, yin, and yang, making the day dark. It is hard to deal with even with thousands of troops and horses.

"And the Leopard King comes and goes like the wind, with infinite strength. Previously, even the Celestial Fire Divine General found it hard to confront it."

Lin Jue listened and pondered.

It seems that the abilities of General Wolf and General Baodeng were passed down from this yaoguai king.

Such magic is really hard to deal with.

Especially the Soul-Shifting Technique. Traveling outside, this magic might be inconvenient, but if one has one's own mountain gate, cave, palace, or temple, and has enough time to prepare statues and slowly refine them, one can completely build a fortress with thousands of troops and horses.

Even the Leopard King passed this magic to other yaoguai, and those yaoguai could continue to build statues and refine them for it.

No wonder the divine general and the Celestial Soldiers could not break it.

"At the end of last year and the spring of this year, temples of Lord Yi Li and the Celestial Fire Divine General were built in several counties around the Leopard Forest, and the people in several counties mostly worshiped sincerely. The divine power of the divine general here has increased. This time, we might be able to break into the Leopard King's cave. Even if those plundered people are already dead, we must snatch them back. If we cannot snatch them back, we must burn them, so as not to become the cultivation of these yaoguai." The Southern Heavenly Master said, "Is True Man Lin willing to help?"

"If I were not willing to help, why would I come here?" Lin Jue said decisively, "Since you are not clear about the situation in the Leopard Forest at this time, then I will go and scout it for you first."

After speaking, he did not hesitate, took out a Chen Niu talisman for Daoist Jiang, and rode the egret away.

Ahead is the Leopard Forest.

This is a vast mountain forest, and like the Leopard Spring deep in the forest, it is named after the many leopards.

Although named after the forest, it is actually very large.

Deep in the Leopard Forest is the Leopard Spring, which is where the Leopard King's lair is located.

In the past, the strange people and experts of the Ju Xian Fu and the Daoists of Yushan mostly guarded outside the Leopard Forest, using several Husheng Husheng Zhenjun temples as guards to prevent the yaoguai in the mountains from coming out to harm people. If there were small yaoguai, they would eliminate them, and if they encountered big yaoguai, they would hide in the Husheng Husheng Zhenjun temple or gather to resist.

Anyway, it was quite bitter.

It was only after the Zhen Jian Gong came to the capital that it improved.

However, even the True Gods of the Nine Heavens, who are not Earth Gods, cannot come and go to the ends of the world in a single thought, nor are they omnipresent. Only in places with divine statues and sincere believers can divine beings use the spiritual rhyme and mystery in the divine statues to come and go instantly. If there is no divine statue, they have to rely on flying or even walking. That is why there are stories of people in the world meeting immortals traveling together, and why some people see newly appointed Earth Gods walking over.

The divine power of divine beings is not so powerful everywhere, but the further away from the temple and divine statue, the weaker it becomes.

That is why there is a need to open mountains, build temples, and expand faith.

Last year, the Leopard King was defeated and retreated to its lair. The Zhen Jian Gong did not stay idle, but took the opportunity to build temples and divine statues in several counties outside the Leopard Forest, spreading faith among the people. That is why the Southern Heavenly Master said that the previous Celestial Fire Divine General could not beat it, but now the power of the divine general has increased here.

Lin Jue sat on the white egret and flew closer, looking down, and found that this was not the yaoguai mountain full of yaoguai aura, magic, and corpses that he had imagined, and the scenery was unexpectedly beautiful.

It was autumn, and looking down from a high place, there were lush mountain forests and red leaves below, as well as golden reed clusters and meadows. A small stream passed through the mountains, and each section had a different color, some emerald blue, some translucent green, and the same section also had differences in depth between the edges and the middle. Looking into the distance, one could see many small lakes, like gems of different sizes and colors, embedded in the red and yellow mottled mountain forests, and gradually becoming invisible in the mist.

"It is indeed a blessed land."

Lin Jue did not dare to fly forward anymore.

Although Daoist White Egret was close to attaining the Dao, it was ultimately just a white egret. If there were yaoguai that could fly, or if it encountered a bird of prey, there might be danger, and if he fell, he was afraid it would be ominous.

Soon the Daoist landed in the forest and turned into his original size.

Looking around, it was different from what he saw in the sky.

He saw that all around were heavy dense forests, with lush branches and leaves, and the sunlight could hardly penetrate. The ground was also full of weeds and thorns, making it difficult to walk.

A white shadow flashed on the forest.

A fox carrying a bag jumped over, as if afraid that the weeds and thorns on the ground would mess up its fur. It stood sideways on a tree trunk and tilted its head to look at Lin Jue.

"Thank you for your trouble." Lin Jue said to Daoist White Egret, "This place is dangerous, you should go outside and wait for us."

Please... collect_ (!)

"Ah~"

The white egret cried, flapped its wings, flew out of the forest, and went into the blue sky.

"You have worked hard too."

Lin Jue unloaded the small bag from the fox's back, and the fox cooperated obediently.

"The Leopard King's lair is deep in this dense forest. Now that it has come out to cause trouble again, if you tell me there are no yaoguai or ghosts in this forest acting as scouts, I won't believe it." Lin Jue said to the fox, "In this regard, I am not as good as you. We have to find one or two out."

The fox did not answer, just yawned lazily.

A long sword appeared out of thin air and was held in Lin Jue's hand. His other hand pinched a few beans, and while vigilantly looking around, he carefully walked forward.

The fox still refused to land, jumping on the tree trunk, stepping on the vertical tree trunk as if on flat ground.

After walking not far, the fox turned its head and looked in one direction.

But it immediately showed confusion.

That side was empty.

And that place was not only not a dark place with lush grass and trees, but a place where the branches and leaves of the forest were relatively sparse. In other places, one could not see sunlight, but there were beams of light passing through the forest branches and leaves, hitting the ground in spots, which was even more conspicuous in the dark dense forest.

"What?"

Lin Jue noticed the fox's abnormality.

"Strange~"

The fox stood sideways on the tree, tilting its head and looking at that side.

"The world is vast, the spirits here listen to my command! The spiritual light is like washing, illuminating the ancient dark realm! Yaoguai and ghosts come, do not hide your shape and avoid the light! The three realms of yin and yang, my spell appears to show your shape!"

Lin Jue did not hesitate and recited the Manifestation Spell that he had not recited for a long time.

But there was no reaction from that side either.

The fox still tilted its head, staring at the light spots on the ground, then looked up at the sun in the sky, looking at the light passing through the forest and shining down, outlined by the dust and spores in the air. Suddenly, it jumped a tree distance to that side, still sideways, opened its mouth to the sky and spat.

"Hu!"

A black smoke spat out, staying at the half-tip of the tree, just covering the sunlight shining down from the sky.

A wonderful thing happened—

There was no light shining down from the sky, but there were still spots of sunlight on the ground, irregular in shape, different in size, glowing, and even more conspicuous in the increasingly dark dense forest.

The yaoguai there seemed to notice something wrong and suddenly moved.

Only then did Lin Jue see that it seemed to be two sika deer.

These two sika deer were slightly different from ordinary sika deer. Their bodies were the color of withered grass, and there were patterns, exactly the same as the weeds on the ground. The deer antlers had completely turned into withered branches, and the golden spots on their bodies were glowing like sunlight shining down. The abilities that ordinary sika deer had naturally became supernatural powers here.

Two pairs of eyes looked at Lin Jue and the fox.

In the originally silent forest, with a sound! The sika deer suddenly stood up and ran away!

But they were fast, and the fox was faster.

Lin Jue's flying sword was also fast.

The grass clippings in the forest had just swung up, and the light spots on the sika deer had just dimmed, when a flying sword pierced the hind leg of the sika deer behind, and the sika deer in front was pressed down by the five-tailed white fox.

"Boom..."

The two sika deer fell to the ground one after another, crushing many weeds.

The grass clippings flew up again, and birds in the forest also soared.

Just like the hunting of the best hunters in the forest, the escape and pursuit, to the final hunting, only in an instant, and the silence of the dense forest had been broken.

"You~~"

The sika deer kicked its legs and screamed.

With a slap! The fox slapped it backhand!

"If you scream again, you will die."

It was just like "persuading the gentleman to frown."

The forest immediately became quiet.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 357 =====