Chapter 45: The Ceremony Ends

Wu Chang stared at his attribute panel, repeatedly confirming the side quest.

"Hidden Side Quest: Find the Source of the Demonic Qi in Huai Valley Village."

Although when triggering the hidden quest, Seeing Chiyuan had handed him the Purifying Soul Banner, instructing him to locate and eliminate the source of demonic qi,

the side quest description did not say so.

Like Third Roommate Gao Xuezhang said when he was dieting but sneaked fried chicken—what's not stated is zero calories!

If the quest completion condition isn't written, then it doesn't exist! That means the main quest and the hidden side quest can coexist.

"Main Quest Two: Protect Huai Valley Village and Complete the Exorcism Ceremony."

The main quest requires protecting Huai Valley Village and completing the Exorcism Ceremony.

The requirement to protect Huai Valley Village has multiple interpretations.

Does it mean preserving the village's continuity, safeguarding the villagers' safety, or merely guarding the land itself?

Guarding only the land and buildings would be easy.

Demonic entities' powers target people; their impact on structures and terrain is minimal. The only thing to guard against is fire sparked during battle, which could reduce Huai Valley Village to ashes.

But the Four-Sided Eternal Flame Lanterns can control fire, so there's no need to worry too much.

If protecting the villagers or the village's continuity was the intent, he already had a clue.

After a brief hesitation, he did not attack the demonic entity further; instead, he raised his rifle barrel and aimed it at the massive eternal flame lantern above the open ground.

A gunshot rang out—the eternal flame lantern shattered, plunging the cavern into darkness.

Without light, the forty-nine locust trees encircling and sealing the demonic entity groaned like decaying wood bending under strain.

Wu Chang raised his torch and saw the locust trees wither, die, rot, and crumble into ash in an instant.

He whispered to the demonic entity, now freed from the Exorcism Array's restraint: "Go. When will the cycle of vengeance end? Remember: cut the grass and uproot it."

A deep rumble echoed from the red clouds, as if answering Wu Chang, then surged toward the surface.

In the darkness, Wu Chang swung his torch and asked behind him: "If I had continued exorcising it just now, what would you have done?"

"I would have stopped you at all costs."

A slender figure stepped out of the darkness—it was the village guardian of Huai Valley Village.

More precisely, he was the only remaining villager of Huai Valley Village within the valley at this moment.

Around the village guardian floated several dark shadows—the Mountain Guard Beasts that had escaped during the chaos.

Wu Chang shook his head and said: "This isn't your burden to bear. If I were you, I'd run away immediately—without looking back."

"I heard you tell Liu Wu you could communicate with vengeful spirits. I believe you're a good person who will stand with us," the village guardian boy said earnestly.

Wu Chang: "I remember we agreed you wouldn't spy on me when I went into the Wailing Woods. Good children don't lie."

The village guardian boy grinned slyly. "I've been lying since I was a child. I've never been a good kid."

Wu Chang walked beside the village guardian, stroked his head, and spoke softly: "Don't worry. After tonight, everything will be over."

The village guardian froze—he seemed to understand something, tears streaming uncontrollably down his cheeks.

Feeling the tears, his body instinctively trembled; he frantically wiped his face with his hands while forcing a foolish, dumb smile.

Wu Chang seized the village guardian's hands and shook his head. "It's no longer needed."

After a brief silence, a heart-wrenching scream tore through the cavern.

Emotions long suppressed erupted with the force of a mountain collapsing and the sea roaring.

After a long while, the village guardian boy regained control of his emotions.

Seeing the village guardian boy had calmed, Wu Chang asked: "You entered the cavern—do you know other paths to the surface?"

The village guardian boy nodded and pulled a pangolin from his pocket. "It can lead us out."

"Let's go. We've got another debt to settle."

The hollow mountain's bottomless cavern formed because of the earth dragon's upheaval five years ago.

Beneath the cavern lay a labyrinthine maze of tunnels; ordinary people could never find the exit.

But precisely because the underground routes were so complex, once you mapped them, you could reach the cavern from any mountain surrounding Huai Valley Village.

Wu Chang followed the Mountain Guard boy through the tunnels until they emerged from a cave, pushed aside the tangled grass at its mouth—and found themselves on Spring Come Mountain.

He took a small packet from his spatial backpack and handed it to the Mountain Guard. "The village is too dangerous. No matter what happens today, you shouldn't stay here. I've left Liu Wei and Liu Wu's horses outside the village—walk east a bit and you'll see them."

"These are the incense spices I had left over. Find someone who knows their value, and you can trade them for gold of equal weight. Keep them—they'll come in handy," the Mountain Guard boy held the packet, speechless.

Wu Chang smiled. "Among all the figures I know, those who spent years pretending to be mad and foolish, enduring humiliation to seek revenge, all became legendary figures. I believe you won't be any less than them! Go."

The Mountain Guard boy wanted to say so much but couldn't find the words—he bowed low and slammed his forehead against the ground in a deep kowtow.

"Master Wu, please take care of yourself."

After seeing off the Mountain Guard boy, Wu Chang extinguished his torch and quietly slipped back into Huai Valley Village.

He found a high vantage point and observed the village's current state.

Soon he spotted Liu Shan.

After he'd ambushed and knocked the old bastard into the cavern, he dropped all pretense.

Now Liu Shan looked twenty years younger—wearing black leather armor, silver clawed gauntlets on his hands, moving like the wind, his palms shattering stone and splitting rock with every strike.

The former chief's return ignited the bandits' bloodlust.

Of the two Year-Exorcism People controlled by demonic qi, one was already dead—his head torn off by Liu Shan's bare hands.

The other was barely alive; his scales, once impervious to ordinary blades, crumbled like paper beneath Liu Shan's eagle claws.

Eight or nine fist-sized blood holes gaped in the Year-Exorcism Person's chest and abdomen, bones and organs exposed—his death was merely a matter of time.

Yet Liu Shan had slain both Year-Exorcism People using only one hand.

His other hand held aloft the Four-Sided Eternal Flame Lantern, its blazing eternal flames crushing the escaped demonic red clouds into submission.

Liu Shan extended two fingers like a blade, piercing the final Year-Exorcism Person's chest, tearing out his heart and stuffing it into the Four-Sided Eternal Flame Lantern to be turned into lamp oil.

The New Year Guardians had already been dealt with. Liu Shan looked up at the crimson clouds overhead and said with a savage expression:

"I offered to enshrine you as Mountain Gods, and you refused—you had to become vengeful ghosts that bite down and won't let go! Very well then—today I'll turn you into lamp oil, so your souls are utterly destroyed and you can never reincarnate for all eternity!"

The evil entity had split part of its power into the three New Year Guardians, and had then been gravely wounded by Wu Chang's Soul-Cleansing Command Banner; at this moment it was in a weakened state.

Meanwhile, Liu Shan had converted the evil Qi of two New Year Guardians into lamp oil, and the four-directional Year-Fire lamps were burning fiercely.

As one side weakened and the other strengthened, the towering Year Fire swept through the blood clouds, and showed signs of refining the evil entity away.

Just as the evil entity was nearly unable to withstand the Year Fire's burning, the great gates of Huaigu Village were smashed open by tremendous force, and three monsters roared as they charged into the village.

The three monsters were all old acquaintances—they had all appeared in the vengeful thoughts of the dead from Chen Family Village.

One was an ape wreathed in flickering yellow light, with a ghost-face on its body; one was a tree demon whose roots served as feet and whose branches were like swords; one was a snake demon whose entire body was made of refined iron, its scales emitting the sound of metal scraping as it slithered.

The three monsters charged into Huaigu Village and, just as they had done when attacking Chen Family Village that day, began a slaughter.

Among them, the strongest fighter—the Mountain Tusker—locked onto Liu Shan the moment it arrived.

Man and demon tangled into one brawl.

Liu Shan's claws were sharp enough to easily pierce scales and hide armor, making them devastatingly lethal against humans and humanoid demons.

But the flaw of claw techniques lay in their short kill-range and small area of effect.

"An inch shorter, an inch more dangerous"—claw techniques that were perilously unpredictable against humans now seemed almost laughable when facing a four-meter-tall Mountain Tusker.

Setting aside the fact that his claw techniques couldn't break through the Mountain Tusker's armor—even if he sank his entire hand into the Mountain Tusker's body, how much damage could that do to such a massive frame? Liu Shan's iron claws against the Mountain Tusker were like a scrape-massage, but the Mountain Tusker's fists against Liu Shan—any direct hit meant death, any glancing blow meant injury.

After a few exchanges, Liu Shan realized there was no chance of winning, turned, and fled.

The title "Flying Cloud Eagle" was no empty reputation—once he unleashed his movement technique, even the Mountain Tusker couldn't catch up.

In a few bounds he shook off the Mountain Tusker and fled into the mountains.

Seeing it couldn't catch up, the Mountain Tusker could only give up the chase in frustration, snarl helplessly twice at Liu Shan's retreating back, then turn around and rush back to slaughter in Huaigu Village.

In the mountains, the Mountain Tusker's figure had already vanished completely from sight.

Liu Shan had shaken off the Mountain Tusker and was just about to stop and catch his breath, when suddenly a tremendous bang rang out from his side.

Boom! Liu Shan's body jolted. He looked down and saw a blood-hole had appeared in his abdomen.

He felt his strength draining away at tremendous speed through the wound—no matter how he pressed his hand against it, he couldn't stem the flow.

Just as he pulled a wound-healing medicine from his pocket, trying to first stop the bleeding, a voice reached his ear that should never have been there.

"Please answer the question: as a villain, what kind of laugh best fits the character?"

(End of this chapter)