Elsewhere

Li Qi looked at everyone and stated his idea, "Although that thing can't hurt us for now, this is a slow death. By the time we're all exhausted, we won't even have the strength to escape."

"I know a sorcery, you've seen it before, it can give me the strength of an ox. Combined with my original strength, I have a massive force of 6,800 jin. It can also boil my qi, preventing this black mist from getting close. I'll go in and fight, you all support me from behind. If I'm at a disadvantage, you step forward, clash your weapons, sing, and drive it away!"

"This way, not only can we inflict damage on the monster, but I'll also be in an invincible position. As long as we can drive this monster away before we're exhausted, we can live."

"It's better to fight for it than to wait here to die. Those who are willing, nod. Those who are not, shake your heads." Li Qi said to everyone.

After speaking, he picked up the kettle, took a sip of water to moisten his throat, and sang for an hour. Even though the people in this world had excellent physical fitness, they were already dry-mouthed and their throats were burning.

As soon as he said this, everyone looked at each other blankly.

Li Qi ignored them and continued with his own tasks, drinking water and eating rice cakes to recover his strength.

However, he stood straight with his chest out and his head held high, exuding an air of confidence, as if he wasn't afraid of the surrounding black mist at all.

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

Even to show his agreement, he stopped singing and began to rest, saying, "I also agree with Brother Li. This isn't working. We need to take the initiative. Let's all stop and wait for that son of a bitch to come!"

The merchants exchanged glances. Finally, the big guy, who was the first to stand up and try to teach Li Qi a lesson, and who had also warned Li Qi earlier, the strong man, nodded first.

After he nodded, the others reached a consensus.

Under crisis, indecisiveness was not an option, and these merchants understood this.

So, one of the big men prepared himself, and his two companions sped up their actions, taking over the rhythm of his chopping with their knives, allowing him to break free without changing the overall melody.

"I'll go with you! I see you're a man, and I won't hold what happened during the day against you. After this ordeal tonight, I'll treat you to a drink!" the strong man said as he walked up to Li Qi.

At the same time, he held his cleaver, looking imposing.

"Good." Li Qi nodded in agreement, without saying much more.

With their lives on the line, it was best not to dwell on trivial matters and just proceed.

With everything settled, the merchants almost simultaneously put down their cleavers.

At this moment, the black mist suddenly converged and surged from one direction, like a giant mouth opening, ready to devour these uninvited travelers.

Since everything was decided, Li Qi and the strong man did not hesitate. The two of them immediately rushed out of the crowd! Together, they faced the black mist!

The strong man was charging at the front, seemingly more anxious than Li Qi, and his strides were larger. This reckless fellow raised a cleaver and slashed at the black mist!

The knife seemed to flash with a trace of red light, carrying a fishy smell, and it slashed towards the gaping maw formed by the black mist.

With a dull thud, the knife didn't feel like it was cutting mist, but rather like it had struck a large copper block, emitting a muffled sound.

The strong man was sent flying backward, and his cleaver flew out of his hand. His tiger's mouth was directly torn open, and blood splattered out.

The black mist quickly split into a part, attempting to catch the blood in mid-air before devouring it.

But before the black mist could catch it, Li Qi, who had already activated the Ox-Strength Technique, followed closely behind and accurately punched the separated black mist.

"Hah!" Li Qi roared, putting all his strength into the punch. With 6,000 jin of force and the boiling qi emanating from his body, the separated black mist was directly scattered!

He didn't know what it was, nor did he understand what the black mist was trying to do, but he had profoundly understood a principle through these few encounters: in combat, once the opponent starts to channel, no matter what it is, as long as it's interrupted, it's good!

When the black mist attempted to devour the blood, a progress bar had already appeared.

He timed it perfectly, and before the progress bar was finished, he threw a punch, directly disrupting the opponent's attempt, causing the blood to fall to the ground and soak into the soil.

"This thing is bloodthirsty!" a merchant shouted.

Li Qi's move seemed to have angered the black mist. Before Li Qi could even recover from his punch, more black mist flew towards him, transforming into four or five gaping mouths with sharp teeth, like the mouths of fierce beasts.

The strong man had already fallen to the ground, his cleaver flying away. Li Qi was slightly better off, but he also didn't have time to defend against this attack.

However, the preparations behind him immediately came into play!

A'Du stepped forward first, singing loudly.

The merchants followed closely, standing together, striking their cleavers against each other, creating a rhythmic clashing of weapons.

More than a dozen people stepped forward together, shouting, singing, and clashing their weapons. The black mist instantly dispersed, all the blood-filled mouths scattered, and they were forced to retreat.

Li Qi even vaguely heard sounds of wailing.

"Yes, that's it! We can wear him down!" Li Qi quickly got up, sprinted a few steps, picked up the cleaver from the ground, and threw it back to the strong man who had just gotten up.

"Good! My life is not meant to end tonight!" The strong man also became excited, took the knife Li Qi threw, and gave him a grateful look.

It seemed this method was indeed effective, and he hadn't expected this skinny kid to have such strength! It was completely beyond his expectations.

Since the method was effective, all that was needed was to continue implementing it.

The battle resumed. The merchants and A'Du retreated, letting the black mist in.

While the strong man and Li Qi faced it again! Preparing to wear down this demon or scare it away!

Only by doing so could they escape with their lives.

However, at this moment.

Not far from the black mist, by the roadside, there was a small abandoned temple.

It was a common type of small village temple, dedicated to folk deities, worshipping things like the Great Immortal Huang or the Five Manifestations God. These were not recognized by the government and were mostly products of mountain spirits and wild monsters pretending to be gods to deceive foolish men and women.

There were also some gods who truly possessed divine abilities but did not align with the government's ideology, such as heroes from previous dynasties or enemy generals. After their deaths, they were enshrined in their hometowns, their golden statues were erected, and they received incense offerings. However, after the country was destroyed and conquered by an enemy nation, the legitimacy of such sacrifices would not be recognized, so they would not be included in official sacrifices and were all classified as heterodox worship.

But looking at this small temple, it was just a small dilapidated hut, so it couldn't be the temple of a great general. It was certainly a broken temple where village mountain spirits lured incense.

Yet, inside, there sat a beautiful and delicate woman.

She frowned and looked towards the source of the noise in the distance.

"The sorcery of the Baiyue Great Shaman... Ox-Strength Technique? Is a shaman targeting me?"