Chapter 512: Master and Third Shixiong Xiao Shimei Fuyao are definitely not here!

It was supposed to be a sunny day in Maowei Village, but for some reason, a dark cloud suddenly appeared in the sky by the afternoon, yet it refused to rain.

Outside the village, in a deserted spot, two people were leaning against withered trees in the mountains, bent over and vomiting incessantly. One long sword rested against a withered tree, while the other had fallen to the ground.

"Ugh~~"

_co

It felt as if their internal organs were about to be vomited out.

"Third Third Shixiong... drink some water..." Pu Mei, who was a bit older, took out a water canteen. "Otherwise, we'll be eaten by yaoguai tonight."

"My legs are so weak..."

"Me too..."

"What are we going to do tonight?"

"Don't worry, Master's divine soldiers and generals are incredibly powerful... When I went out to gather tiles before, I had no magical power and knew no spells; I just needed to recite the incantation," Pu Mei shared his experience.

"It's a good thing we have Master's soldiers and generals!"

"Indeed..."

The two leaned against the withered trees, their stomachs still churning.

Yet, a small brown-clad ghost drifted slowly toward the middle of them, its face solemn, tilting its head to stare at them from below.

Once the two saw it, it immediately stretched out a finger and pointed at the nearby village:

"Go this way!"

"Third Third Shixiong Chen Niu..." Xu Yi said with difficulty, "We feel so unwell, please allow us to rest a while longer."

"..."

The small ghost's expression remained solemn. It turned its head to look at Xu Yi, then at Pu Mei on the other side, and actually fell silent, lowering its hand as well.

It was silent for several breaths of time.

After a few breaths, it raised its hand again with a *swish*:

"Go this way!"

The two looked at each other, helpless, and had no choice but to stand straight while leaning on the withered trees. They picked up their long swords, used them as canes, walked two steps, and then fished paper donkeys out of their robes.

"Donkey, manifest..."

"Donkey, manifest!"

Walking was out of the question; their legs simply wouldn't obey, and even climbing onto the donkeys' backs was a struggle.

They managed to climb up, and following Chen Niu's guidance, the two sat on the paper donkeys, swaying as they headed toward Maowei Village.

The village culture here was not as developed as in Huizhou, and this village was not large, with only a few dozen households scattered about, not clustered closely together. Due to previous wars and the harsh governance at the end of the previous dynasty—which was fiercer than tigers—this village was more than half empty, and now there were fewer than twenty households.

The two wore Daoist robes, rode donkeys, relied on their long swords, and swayed their bells as they arrived, possessing quite a bit of the Daoist demeanor.

They looked exactly like Master and the Junior Uncle from back in the day.

Hearing from the remaining villagers that yaoguai and ghosts haunted the place every night, and in great numbers, the two looked at each other in dismay.

The Junior Third Third Shixiong was young, and his physique, strength, and courage were not as good as the Third Shixiong Xiao Xiao Shimei's, but he was clever and not afraid of hardship, so he remained silent, listening to the Third Shixiong Xiao Xiao Shimei converse with the villagers and learning in secret.

Night slowly descended, and every household locked their doors tight.

Ordinarily, in this day and age, if there were no weddings or funerals, the village should be pitch black at night, but there were faint, eerie green lights in the village.

Only two teenage Daoists stood in a dilapidated house, holding their long swords and looking outside.

Those were big-headed dolls painted with facial features, like the bamboo-framed, paper-pasted lanterns held by people dressed as ghosts and gods during *nuo* plays in the city. Inside, they glowed with an eerie green light, wearing strange, festive smiles, their cheeks painted with round rouge, floating in the air with the wind or bouncing along the ground.

It was Xu Yi's first time seeing them, and he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

His mind recalled what the villagers had said today—

"I don't know if these things are yaoguai or ghosts. At first, they floated out from the wealthiest household in the village, because someone in that family liked to carry such things. But later, during the war, their whole family was killed by bandits taking advantage of the chaos. I went into the mountains to hide, and when I returned, I discovered these things... I heard there was only one at first, but it killed many people, and every time it killed someone, another one would appear..."

It sounded very powerful and very terrifying.

"Se-Third Shixiong Xiao Shimei, you say, we are exorcising yaoguai, will Master be secretly following us from the sky, watching us?"

"I don't think so. Before I was apprenticed to Master, I had gone out to exorcise yaoguai and ghosts many times; Master won't follow us."

High in the clouds, the two looked at each other.

"Th-then, will he let Third Shixiong Xiao Shimei Fuyao follow us?"

"Neither will she!"

Above the thunderclouds in the moonlight, a white fox's expression froze; it felt its trust had been misplaced.

"Third Third Shixiong, don't be afraid, I have experience. Master once said, 'Yaoguai arise from people.' The more afraid you are, the bolder and more powerful they become; if you are not afraid, they are the ones who will be afraid." Pu Mei whispered to her Third Third Shixiong, "We just need to follow the plan from the daytime—after those things gather, we will lure them into this house. First, we'll stall them; you breathe out fire, remember to breathe out *yang* energy, and I will use my long sword. I learned sword techniques from Third Shixiong Xiao Shimei Ziyun and the Junior Uncle for a while recently. Once they all come in, we'll close the door and summon the soldiers and generals."

"Okay!"

"Speak softer, they can hear."

"Okay..."

"Oh no! They're here!" Pu Mei hissed and drew her long sword. "Are your legs still weak, Third Third Shixiong?"

"Not anymore!"

With a *bang*, the already dilapidated door was knocked open by a cold wind.

The first lantern glowing with eerie green light was blown in by the wind. The stiff smile painted on it was truly hair-raising. Behind it were many more points of light, some blown by the wind, some bouncing on the ground, surging into the fenced yard of this dilapidated house and then rushing toward the main door.

"So many!"

"Third Third Shixiong, if you're afraid, grit your teeth and curse! Turn fear into anger!"

"Understood!"

Pu Mei lowered her body and swept her precious sword.

*Swish! * The first lantern was actually slashed horizontally in half!

Looking closely, inside was empty, save for a ball of eerie ghost fire, yet it emitted a sharp, ear-piercing scream!

The lanterns behind all paused!

It seemed they were not as fragile as they looked; ordinary blades could not have slashed them so easily. They had not expected that the long swords in the hands of these two little Daoists were actually obtained from powerful yaoguai by a high-level expert with deep Daoist practice, who was close to becoming an immortal and was traveling the world in search of ingredients for immortal pills. Not only could they cut through metal and jade with ease, but exorcising yaoguai and ghosts was also not difficult.

However, as the cold wind blew, the lanterns continued to come one after another.

The house seemed to be getting colder and colder.

Xu Yi opened his mouth to inhale, then suddenly exhaled.

"Hoo..."

A ball of flame suddenly rushed out, lighting up the dark room and instantly becoming much warmer.

Those big-headed dolls seemed to truly be paper lanterns, fearing the flames. Once the flames appeared, they floated backward; once the flames dissipated, they gathered again.

The two slowly retreated, shrinking into a corner to defend.

The big-headed dolls gathered in greater numbers, even beginning to consciously avoid Pu Mei's long sword. Surrounding them, the stiff facial features painted on the lanterns finally changed, opening their blood-red maws to reveal dense, hook-like teeth inside, constantly testing them from the sides to bite their legs.

The two were naturally under immense pressure, struggling to stall them.

Some of the larger big-headed dolls even spat out cold air and eerie winds from their mouths. If they didn't also breathe out *yang* energy to counter them, they would feel their entire bodies freezing up.

Before they knew it, dozens of big-headed dolls had gathered in the room.

If viewed from high above, the village is mostly silent, bathed in cold moonlight, save for one abandoned house that is somewhat noisy, emitting a green glow, with firelight constantly shining through the cracks in the windows and walls.

"There are no more behind!"

"Good!"

Xu Yi inhaled sharply, and a large mouthful of flame sprayed from his mouth, almost exhausting all the air in his lungs, forcing the crowd of big-headed doll lanterns to scatter. Pu Mei, while waving her sword wildly, moved forward, actually pushing through these yaoguai and ghosts to reach the door. Holding her breath, she quickly grabbed the door.

The two cooperated perfectly, and the door slammed shut.

Turning back, she exhaled sharply—

A big-headed doll lantern with stiff facial features was almost face-to-face with her, its mouth already open, its dense, eerie teeth and ghost fire clearly visible, about to bite her.

It was precisely that mouthful of *yang* energy she had been holding that was exhaled right into the big-headed doll's mouth, directly extinguishing the ghost fire inside.

Only then did she turn around and quickly insert the bolt.

Turning around again, countless lanterns were already surging before her, their eerie green light illuminating her face, clothes, the door behind her, and the walls in a ghostly green.

"Beans fall, wind rises, soldiers and horses manifest!"

A bean flew out, suddenly grew larger, and transformed into an armored soldier.

The ghost fire flickered for a while. Amidst the rippling green light, a long saber slashed horizontally, and the *qi* and *gang* wind brought up by the blade alone shredded a large area of lanterns in front.

"Ah!!"

A chorus of screams erupted in the dilapidated house.

Those big-headed doll lanterns seemed to have spirits, able to distinguish strength from weakness. Seeing Xu Yi and Pu Mei, they were excited and gathered to devour them, but upon seeing this armored soldier, they were filled with infinite fear, retreating regardless of anything else, and were scared out of their wits looking at the long saber in the soldier's hand, which had no idea how many yaoguai, ghosts, celestial soldiers, and divine beings it had slain.

Pu Mei, accustomed to this, guarded one window.

Xu Yi guarded the other. Although it was his first time witnessing such a scene with his own eyes, he didn't feel surprised.

And in the clouds, both looked down at the scene below.

"Pu Mei has great courage."

"Just like the Xiao Xiao Shimei." Lin Jue said, "Look at the two of them, don't they look a lot like us back then?"

"Not much difference." The Xiao Xiao Shimei said, "In a while, I'll just have Ziyun follow them to exorcise yaoguai."

"Isn't that perfect? Let her earn her own pill ingredients, so the Xiao Xiao Shimei doesn't have to be so busy and worry about the disciples' cultivation expenses. And according to my personal test, disciples honoring their master's orders to subdue demons and exorcise ghosts can also accumulate merit for the Xiao Xiao Shimei."

Lin Jue said, but suddenly frowned, pondering in his heart.

"Am I as lazy as Third Third Shixiong? Besides, my merit is already enough."

"Merit is the kind of thing that is always better the more you have."

Lin Jue was still pondering in his heart.

And at this moment, the green light in the house below had completely disappeared, merging with the night, with no light other than the moonlight.

Yet a woman holding a long sword climbed onto the roof, looked around, and saw a larger lantern in the distance. As she stretched out her long sword and pointed in that direction, saying something, the youth who climbed up right after her immediately held up the token in his hand and shouted loudly.

"Rumble..."

The thunderclouds in the night suddenly grew larger, spreading out over a hundred *zhang* in length and width, enveloping the entire village.

Blinding cyan-white lightning crisscrossed and descended, shattering the fleeing big-headed doll lanterns.

"These two are indeed clever..."

The Xiao Xiao Shimei couldn't help but say, then turned to look at her Third Third Shixiong.

"Eh?" She was also puzzled, "The yaoguai here have been exorcised, why is Third Third Shixiong frowning?"

"I don't know..."

Lin Jue suddenly felt a strange sensation in his heart, faintly hearing someone calling. It should be some kind of mysterious induction after becoming an immortal, not knowing where it came from.

After all, he was not a Daoist skilled in divination.

But thinking carefully, he gradually caught a trace of it.