Elsewhere

Li Qi looked at everyone and voiced his thoughts. "That thing can't hurt us for now, but this is just a slow death. Once we're all exhausted, we won't even have the strength to run."

"I know a spell—you saw it earlier. It can give me the strength of an ox. Added to my own strength, that's a full six thousand eight hundred jin of force. I can also boil my Yang Energy, keeping this Black Mist from coming near me. I'll go in and fight it. You back me up and raise the noise. If I start losing, come forward, clash your weapons, sing, and drive it away!"

"That way, not only can we hurt the monster, but I'll stand in an invincible position. As long as we drive it back before we run out of strength, we can live."

"Taking a gamble beats wasting away here waiting for death. Nod if you're willing. Shake your heads if you aren't." Li Qi said to them.

After speaking, he grabbed his waterskin and took a drink, wetting his throat. They had sung for a Chen already; even with the excellent constitutions of people in this world, their mouths had long gone dry and their throats were smoking.

At his words, everyone looked at one another.

Li Qi paid them no mind and simply went about his own business, drinking water and eating rice cakes to recover his strength.

Yet he held his chest and back straight, his head high and his spirit proud, looking utterly confident—as though he had no fear at all of the Black Mist around them.

Seeing this, A'Du gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

To show his agreement, he even stopped singing and began to rest. "I agree with Brother Li too. We can't go on like this. We still need to take the initiative. Let's all stop and wait for that dog bastard to come over!"

The merchants exchanged looks. In the end, it was still the big man—the burly fellow who had first stood up intending to teach Li Qi a lesson, and who had later warned him—who nodded first.

Once he nodded, the others reached a consensus as well.

In a crisis, there was no room for wavering. Naturally, these merchants understood that.

Thus, the big man made his preparations, while the two companions beside him quickened their movements. They actually took over every beat of his firewood-chopping blade, keeping the overall rhythm unchanged while freeing him to leave.

"I'll go with you! You look like a real man yourself. I won't hold what happened in the daytime against you. Once we get through this, I'll treat you to a drink!" The burly man walked up to Li Qi and said.

At the same time, he carried his firewood-chopping blade in hand, looking fierce and formidable.

"Alright." Li Qi nodded, saying nothing more.

With their lives on the line, there was no point fussing over this or that. Better get moving first.

With everything settled, the merchants lowered their firewood-chopping blades almost at the same time.

At that moment, the Black Mist abruptly gathered together, then surged toward them from one direction like a giant mouth opening wide to devour these uncooperative travelers.

Since they had already agreed, Li Qi and the burly man did not hesitate. Both immediately charged out from the crowd, meeting the Black Mist together!

The burly man rushed at the front, seeming even more anxious than Li Qi. His strides were longer as well. This reckless brute raised his firewood-chopping blade and slashed at the Black Mist!

A faint red gleam seemed to flicker along the blade, carrying a bloody stench as it cleaved toward the great mouth formed from the Black Mist.

Thud! The blade did not sound as though it had struck mist at all, but rather a huge block of bronze, producing a dull boom.

The burly man was sent flying backward, his blade thrown from his hand. The web between his thumb and forefinger tore open, spraying blood through the air.

Part of the Black Mist swiftly split off, reaching through the air to catch the blood and swallow it.

But before the Black Mist could reach it, Li Qi—who had already activated the Ox-Strength Technique—followed close behind and landed a precise punch on the separated Black Mist.

"Ha!" Li Qi roared, throwing all his strength into the punch. Six thousand jin of force, coupled with the boiling Yang Energy around his body, directly blasted the split-off Black Mist apart!

He did not know what it was, nor did he understand what the Black Mist had been trying to do. But after these encounters, he had deeply understood one principle: once your opponent started casting in battle, it did not matter what they were doing—just interrupt it!

When the Black Mist had tried to devour the blood, its progress bar had appeared.

He timed it perfectly. Before the progress bar finished, he charged in with a punch, directly ruining its attempt and letting the blood fall to the ground and seep into the soil.

"This thing thirsts for blood!" one of the merchants shouted.

Li Qi's blow seemed to have enraged the Black Mist. After throwing that punch, before he could even draw back, more Black Mist flew at him, turning into four or five huge mouths lined with sharp teeth, like the jaws of savage beasts.

The burly man had already fallen to the ground, his firewood-chopping blade flung far away. Li Qi was in better shape than him, but he still had no time to defend against this attack.

But the arrangement behind him immediately showed its effect!

A'Du stepped forward first and began singing at the top of his lungs.

The merchants followed close behind, standing together as they struck their firewood-chopping blades against one another, producing rhythmic clashes of weapons.

More than a dozen people surged forward at once, shouting, singing, their weapons clanging together. The Black Mist instantly collapsed; all those gaping, bloodthirsty mouths scattered and were forced to retreat.

Li Qi even vaguely heard wails of agony.

"Yes, just like that! We can wear it down to death!" Li Qi hurriedly got to his feet, sprinted two steps, picked up the firewood-chopping blade from the ground, and threw it to the burly man, who had only just risen.

"Good! Looks like I'm not fated to die tonight!" The burly man grew excited as well. He caught the blade Li Qi had thrown him and gave him a grateful look.

It seemed this method really worked. And that skinny little fellow from before—who would have thought he possessed such strength? It had completely exceeded his expectations.

Since the method worked, all they had to do was carry it through.

The battle resumed. The merchants and A'Du retreated, letting the Black Mist in.

Meanwhile, the burly man and Li Qi met it once more, prepared to wear this demon down to death or frighten it away!

Only then could they carve out a path to survival.

However, at that moment—

Not far from the Black Mist stood an abandoned little temple by the roadside.

It was the sort of small mountain-village shrine one often saw, a rustic heterodox shrine worshipping things like Yellow Great Immortal or the Five Powers Gods. Such things were not recognized by the authorities. Most were Mountain Spirits and Wild Monsters playing god and ghost, swindling foolish men and women out of offerings.

Some truly possessed divine abilities, but their ideals conflicted with those of the authorities. For instance, heroes and martyrs of the previous dynasty, enemy generals, and the like might have temples erected in their hometowns after death, golden statues molded for them, and incense offerings made to them. But once the state had fallen and the enemy nation had conquered it, such worship would not be recognized as legitimate. It would not enter the orthodox rites and would instead be classed as heterodox worship.

Yet this little temple was merely a single ramshackle room. It could not possibly have been the shrine of some great general. It was surely one of those ruined temples where rustic mountain spirits beguiled people for incense offerings.

And yet, inside sat a beautiful, delicate woman.

She frowned and looked toward the distant source of the noise.

"Baiyue Great Shaman's spell... the Ox-Strength Technique? Has a Shaman set their sights on me?"