Chapter 182: Gourd Demon

The mountain ridge where Sha Lifei and the others were located was not high.

Yuan Zhetian and Xiaoyue the monk, one after the other, occasionally changed directions to prevent arrows from above, and the distance closed quickly.

But faster than them were those big hornets.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The roaring sound of wings soon reached the ears of the few.

Lu San frowned. "Not good, these poisonous bees have been refined by someone, they are very irritable, I cannot drive them away."

"Leave it to this Daoist!"

Wang Daoxuan didn't hesitate. The yarrow stalks in his hand twined, and he pinched the formula and chanted the incantation: "Nuogao, left carrying three stars, right carrying three prisons, heaven turns and earth flips, nine paths are all blocked, making you lose your mind... hurry, hurry as the law commands!"

It was exactly the Thousand Gold Protective Curse.

Once the curse was cast, a fierce momentum rose violently.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The originally approaching big hornet swarm was suddenly in chaos, no longer attacking the few, but flying around everywhere.

"Protective Curse?"

Below, Bao Daoist sneered disdainfully, took another yellow talisman from his bosom, stepped on the Gang steps, muttered incantations, and slapped it onto the gourd.

One didn't know what was hidden inside the gourd. After the yellow talisman was pasted on, it immediately shook left and right, and even made a squeaking sound, as if in great pain.

Bao Daoist's eyes were full of brutality. "Still daring to resist!"

After saying this, he bit his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood onto the yellow talisman.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The hornet swarm in the sky also gathered again, actually resisting the fear of the Protective Curse and attacking the crowd once more.

Above, Wang Daoxuan also felt a tightness in his chest. Simultaneously, he bit his fingertip, picked up the Soul-Suppressing Bell beside him, quickly drew a talisman, and cast the Thousand Gold Protective Curse again.

This was an inspiration he had gotten from Li Yan.

Using the Soul-Suppressing Bell to cast it, the power was even greater.

Many big hornets hadn't even gotten close before being intimidated by the bell sound, falling to the ground with a "plop," flapping their wings and struggling, dizzy and confused.

"Hurry, interfere with the sorcery below!"

Wang Daoxuan could clearly feel the strain, knowing that the sorcerer below had a higher Dao practice than himself and should have reached the third floor, so he would lose his defense sooner or later.

"Too late!"

Lu San stood up and drew his bone-mace.

It was because Yuan Zhetian and Xiaoyue the monk had already reached the mountain, less than fifty meters away, and would soon attack.

"Damn it, what's the rush!"

Sha Lifei saw this and immediately gave up on connecting the fuse.

Their idea was good, but the temporary preparation was ultimately too late.

Seeing this situation, Sha Lifei simply lit the Fire Caltrop directly, held the iron chain on it, swung it twice like a meteor hammer, and threw it out with a whistle.

This was the true use of the Fire Caltrop.

According to the "Wu Jing Zong Yao," this thing was a city-defense weapon.

When ignited, a burning iron cone would burn through it, making the fire ball ignite, and it would be shot to the key points where enemy cavalry must pass by a catapult, using the explosive force to burst out iron caltrops to injure horse legs and feet.

While waiting in the village outside Chang'an, there happened to be a kiln. Sha Lifei had prepared some gunpowder beforehand and wanted to restore this thing.

Of course, this Fire Caltrop of his wasn't the complete version.

The military version was an iron ball, while he used an earthenware jar instead, then stuck sharp iron pieces on it, and the size was also reduced accordingly.

Dealing with martial world disputes was already enough.

Yuan Zhetian was a brute and had never read the "Wu Jing Zong Yao." Seeing that thing fly over, he thought it was a meteor hammer.

He gave a cold sneer, reached out to grab it, used a clever force, and directly pulled the Fire Caltrop, wanting to throw it back.

But when he got it in his hand, he already sensed something was wrong.

Boom!

A muffled sound, smoke rose, and Yuan Zhetian was blown backward directly, falling to the ground, with sharp iron pieces and ceramic fragments embedded in his face, chest, and abdomen.

Blood seeped out, and the whole person looked like a bloody gourd, lying on the ground, motionless.

"Hahaha!"

Sha Lifei couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.

Of course, he couldn't bother to mock him.

On Wang Daoxuan's side, he was almost unable to hold on, so the most urgent thing now was to interrupt the sorcerer's spellcasting below.

Sha Lifei hurriedly took out the Bamboo Thunder Arrow again.

At this distance, the flintlock firearm couldn't hit anything, and the Bamboo Thunder Arrow's power was also limited, but the biggest taboo in spellcasting was being startled.

If the Qi was chaotic, the sorcery might even backfire.

But just then, the one-eyed monk Xiaoyue gave a loud roar and rushed out, his left hand pinching the Buddhist Fearless Seal, while simultaneously chanting: "Jiedi Jiedi, Boluo Jiedi, Boluo Seng Jiedi..."

The three heard the sound, and their bodies stiffened.

They couldn't help but look at Xiaoyue the monk, attracted by his pale one-eyed eye. The Buddhist chanting sound around them grew louder and louder, and their minds were also confused by the one-eyed eye.

"Not good, Soul-Bewitching Sorcery!"

Wang Daoxuan bit his tongue fiercely, was the first to wake up, desperately shook the Soul-Suppressing Bell, and cast the Thousand Gold Protective Curse.

One was to block the hornet swarm, and the other was to wake everyone up.

However, Bao Daoist had the Dao practice of the third floor, and Xiaoyue also had the second floor. With his own strength alone, he couldn't block them at all.

Xiaoyue the monk chanted while moving forward, soon only a few meters away from the crowd, and raised his convenience shovel with a ferocious grin.

Bang!

Just then, the sound of a gun rang out again.

Only to see that in Sha Lifei's hand, the flintlock firearm had already been raised, and the smoke from the muzzle hadn't dissipated yet.

Looking at his eyes again, they were full of cunning, without any sign of being bewitched.

"You..."

Xiaoyue the monk was full of disbelief, looking down at his chest.

Blood surged from his heart, and his monk robe was soon dyed red.

Lu San had also recovered at this time, and a flying shuttle appeared in his hand, which he threw out violently.

This was his common weapon. Before, it was a flying shuttle combined with a dagger, and now he had added a bone-mace, practicing the usage every day.

Pfft!

Xiaoyue the monk was pierced by the flying shuttle, didn't even groan, and fell straight to the ground, losing his breath.

"Damn it, luckily Brother Yan gave me this."

Sha Lifei breathed a sigh of relief and pulled an object from his collar.

Lightning-struck wood dharma plaque, gold thread carved with dense talismans and divine images.

It was exactly Xiong Baodong's Six Ding and Six Jia Amulet.

Li Yan wasn't a kind person. When he twisted Xiong Baodong's head off, he had taken this treasure along the way.

This treasure was indeed extraordinary, but they were all sorcerers, and wearing it would affect their spellcasting, so it was handed to Sha Lifei.

With this item, combined with the firearm, Sha Lifei was able to show off his power in this battle.

Carefully calculating, most of the enemies had actually died at his hands.

At the same time, Wang Daoxuan also stopped casting the Thousand Gold Protective Curse and collapsed to the ground, his face pale, his forehead full of sweat.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The hornet swarm around gathered again and headed down the mountain.

Only to see below, Li Yan had already come out of the tomb, beheaded the bandits who were releasing poisonous smoke, and taken the opportunity to touch the front of the two sorcerers.

The Gu-woman "Silver Flower Snake" was pierced by a flying knife and lay on the ground without breath, while the Bao Daoist was full of panic, waving burning yellow talismans, controlling the hornets to return to guard him.

Li Yan wasn't in a hurry, even standing in place waiting.

His purpose was to help Wang Daoxuan and the others out of the siege.

Bao Daoist naturally understood this, but how could he not panic when a master who could easily kill Transformation Realm experts got close? While summoning the hornet swarm back, he drew the precious sword from his waist with a "clatter," performed a sword flower, lowered his body, and pointed his sword at Li Yan.

His footwork didn't seem that fast either...

Bao Daoist was suspicious in his heart, but just as he wanted to raise his sword to block, the sound of chains rang in his ears, and his body stiffened.

He had awakened the Ear Perception, which was why he could dodge Li Yan's sneak attack and hear the sound of the Soul-Hooking Chain.

However, everything was too late.

The moment his soul was suppressed, Li Yan had already brushed past him, waved his long knife, and the white-haired Daoist's head flew off directly, rolling to the ground.

This was the power of the False False Yin Si supernatural ability.

Ordinary Six Yang Root supernatural abilities could only be used for investigation.

Most sorcery required preparing materials, stepping on Gang steps, chanting incantations, and pinching formulas. The greater the power, the longer the preparation time.

!.

And the False False Yin Si supernatural ability could be cast directly.

Combined with martial arts, it already allowed Li Yan to occupy a huge advantage at the current stage, and by taking people by surprise, he could even behead experts.

Whoosh~

After Bao Daoist died, the yellow talisman on the gourd burned spontaneously.

Only to see that gourd like a living thing, shaking twice in place, and the dense hornets swarmed down, circling around it, as if warning Li Yan not to get close.

Li Yan sniffed, his eyes full of interest.

"Demon? Interesting..."

Wang Daoxuan pointed the Bagua mirror toward the distant gourd, dipped yellow paper in water, pinched the dharma formula, and pasted it on the Bagua mirror.

Looking at the patterns gradually appearing on it, he said in surprise: "This thing... it really is a demon!"

The Bagua mirror is also a demon-reflecting mirror, which can reflect the original form of demon objects.

But strangely, the pattern that appeared was a gourd, and inside there was something like a beehive.

Sha Lifei on the side was full of excitement. "I heard the storyteller in the teahouse talk about the Investiture of the Gods, in which there was a gourd that could release poisonous hornets. Could it be this treasure?"

Wang Daoxuan laughed dumbly: "That's a dharma treasure, and it was compiled by later generations, having nothing to do with this thing. This thing is a demon!"

"Demon?"

Sha Lifei looked at the big gourd surrounded by poisonous hornets, full of doubt. "Can a gourd also become a demon... could it be like the Pipa Spirit?"

"Two different things!"

Lu San's expression was solemn. While making strange sounds with his mouth, he slowly approached the gourd.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The surrounding hornet swarm immediately became irritable and uneasy.

Lu San hurriedly stopped, the strange sounds in his mouth continuous, like singing, desolate and ancient, and with dense tongue-popping sounds.

Li Yan found it familiar, and suddenly his brain lit up.

"Upper Language!"

"That's right, it's Upper Language." Wang Daoxuan also nodded and smiled: "I didn't expect Brother Lu to know this too."

"What's called Upper Language?" Sha Lifei was full of doubt.

Wang Daoxuan pondered for a while and explained: "Many spirits and demons are spirits born by chance. They naturally know Upper Language."

"It is rumored to be the secret art of ancient shamans and shamanism. Northern Border disciples, because they often come into contact with Hu, Huang, Bai, and Liu, also know this language. Brother Lu San's inheritance might be related to shamanism..."

Just as he was speaking, there was another movement over there.

Those hornet swarms were no longer irritable, and at the same time, the gourd shook, and clucking sounds also came from inside, which was also Upper Language.

Lu San listened sideways over there, nodding from time to time.

After a while, he stood up and said to the three: "The origin of this demon has been clarified."

"It was originally a heavenly spiritual treasure nurtured by Laoshan. Later, wild bees built a nest and gave birth to spirituality. It was originally supposed to belong to the Laoshan Mountain God and enjoy the incense of one side, but it was plucked by Bao Daoist, breaking its Dao practice, and it could only become a demon."

"Bao Daoist used a demon-forbidding method and often drove it to harm people. It is now unable to move and is very afraid, begging us not to destroy it..."

Li Yan and the three were amazed.

Sha Lifei remembered the danger just now and was even more itching with impatience, suddenly saying: "Brother Lu, you can tell it that sparing it is fine, but it almost took our lives just now, so it must serve you as its master!"

"This..."

Lu San was somewhat tempted but felt a bit embarrassed.

He knew what Sha Lifei meant, but to him, the animal spirits between heaven and earth were no different from people.

Doing this always felt a bit like taking advantage of someone's precarious position.

Wang Daoxuan saw this and laughed, stroking his beard: "Brother Lu doesn't need to be embarrassed. Others can't understand its words, and it can't move. If it accidentally hurts someone in self-defense and is caught by the Profound Heaven Sect, I'm afraid it will be burned to death."

"Following you, at least it won't harm the common people."

"Hmm."

Wang Daoxuan's reason was very powerful, and Lu San no longer hesitated, stepping forward and saying a lot of gibberish.

Facts proved that he had thought too much.

This precious gourd agreed immediately, the only requirement being daily incense offerings, and feeding it some honey and fruit.

And this treasure had another characteristic: it loved to eat Gu-insects.

The precious gourd made some gibberish sounds, and Lu San immediately came to the Gu-woman's corpse, found several bamboo tubes, and poured the strange-looking insects inside onto the ground.

Buzz buzz buzz!

Before those Gu-insects could escape, the hornet swarm swarmed up, ate them clean, and then all drilled into the gourd.

Only then did Lu San step forward, plug the gourd lid, carry it in his hand, full of joy, and couldn't put it down.

Chirp—!

Accompanied by the crisp cry of an eagle, the falcon in the sky also flapped its wings and landed, standing on Lu San's shoulder and grooming its feathers.

Sha Lifei watched with envy. "Brother Lu San, you have to look after me in the future."

Lu San was embarrassed and scratched his head. "That... you're actually quite powerful, you have a talent for playing with firearms."

"It's just... you talk a bit too much."

"Heh, what do you mean talk too much? You really don't know how to speak!"

Sha Lifei immediately clamored, wanting to pat Lu San's shoulder, but was almost pecked by the falcon, which made him furious.

Perhaps it was because he got a treasure, Lu San, who was always wooden-faced, finally revealed that child-like smile again...

Two days later, the few set off again.

Li Yan wanted to stabilize his Dao practice after practicing the "Northern Emperor Yin Mountain Method," while Sha Lifei and the others handled those corpses.

After all, they had used quite a bit of gunpowder, so some traces had to be eliminated as much as possible, and the dead bodies were piled together and burned completely.

Of course, the spoils of war obtained were not few.

The precious gourd went without saying.

The Gu-insects on the Gu-woman were swallowed clean, and there were some strange dry grass, mushroom powder, and other

There is naturally no need to mention the treasure gourd.

The Gu insects on the Gu grandmother had been completely devoured, and there were other oddities like dried grass and mushroom powder that they couldn't identify, so they simply packed everything up in a heap to sell to someone who knew their value after reaching Mount Hua.

As for the lecherous monk, Monk Xiaoyue, who specialized in soul-bewitching arts, the string of beads hanging around his neck was made from human bones and also contained some aphrodisiacs; they threw it all into the fire and burned it to ashes.

As for the treasure Daoist, the yellow paper, incense, candles, and precious sword he used for making talismans were all handed over to Wang Daoxuan to handle.

There were also those blade bandits; several gunpowder packets that hadn't exploded were dismantled by Sha Lifei, who carefully sealed the gunpowder away.

Of course, more importantly, they had searched over ten thousand silver notes from the three of them, plus the ninety thousand taels obtained from selling the quota tokens, along with their previous savings.

The squad's funds had reached over one hundred thousand taels.

However, Li Yan and Sha Lifei felt not a shred of excitement.

The things they had to do

on this trip up Mount Hua were simply too many...

Not in a good state, still two updates today, three tomorrow.

(End of Chapter)