Twenty-Four Ghosts and Monsters

Chen Xuan's back ran cold. In his field of vision, a Bronze Chariot flew out of the small town that had lain abandoned for years. The Four-Eyed Divine Being driving it swung a long halberd covered in green patina and severed the Old Man Chu's head in one stroke.

"Awwooo!"

A lifelike Bronze Horse roared in midair as the chariot tore forward, flying ten feet above the ground at astonishing speed. The scene was utterly shocking.

"It can actually fly?"

Chen Xuan stared dumbfounded. The ultimate obsession of countless ordinary people who yearned to refine qi was—flying through the air!

At that moment, this spectacle of aerial flight abruptly appeared before Chen Xuan's eyes, yet it carried a Great Terror. Blood and fire flowed everywhere.

"Pat!"

Chu Huo Gun's head rolled to the ground, a great deal of blood and fire spraying from his neck.

"Gurgle..."

The Four-Eyed Divine Being raised the old man's ruined body with one hand and drank the hot blood greedily. Its gray, withered, rigid face was filled with intoxication.

"Old Mister Chu still has another trick up his sleeve."

Chen Xuan quickly fled from the clearing into the forest thick with trees, observing from afar the Four-Eyed Divine Being at the town entrance, unsure whether it was a demon or a ghost.

In truth, he did not believe Chu Huo Gun would die so easily. He had not detected any sign of the Small Underworld descending... The Mystic Cat Goddess had yet to arrive!

Besides, Chu Huo Gun's body had been bound by chains. If he had forced himself to help earlier, he would only have exposed himself ahead of time.

"So that is the legendary Immortal Qi?"

Chen Xuan muttered to himself. In the distant snowfield, Chu Huo Gun's battered head was secretly rolling across the ground like a watermelon, rapidly moving away from Peach Town.

No blood flowed from beneath his neck. Instead, a wisp of crimson Immortal Qi coiled around it.

Fire Virtue Red Qi!

"Gurgle!"

The Four-Eyed Divine Being feasted on the hot blood. Out of the corner of its eye, it caught sight of him. Chu Huo Gun immediately stopped rolling, his face taking on an ingratiating look like a sneaky thief caught red-handed. The bronze divine being froze, then raised its rust-covered Bronze Halberd and hurled it violently.

"You mangy bastard! Don't you know to respect your elders and cherish the young?"

Chu Huo Gun could no longer keep up the pretense and cursed loudly. His head then sprang from the ground, a trail of flames streaming from his neck as it traced a parabola through the air before landing precisely at Chen Xuan's feet.

"Bang!"

It happened too quickly. Chen Xuan had been spying with great interest when he was startled to discover the head flying straight toward him. It suddenly bit down on his trouser leg, mumbling and shouting indistinctly:

"Xiao Wang, run!"

"Old Man Chu, don't drag me into this!"

Chen Xuan was drenched in sweat. This old man had none of the dignity of an elder! He took off running and asked, "What are these things?"

Chu Huo Gun bared his sharp teeth and refused to let go of the trouser cuff, muttering, "A bunch of Ancient Demons that have risen from the dead, one of the Twenty-Four Ghosts and Monsters—Demons and Monsters!"

A demon was a kind of mountain-and-marsh ghost or monster.

Ghosts and monsters born from ancient artifacts and ritual vessels, which had developed a spirit, liked to eat human blood at night.

According to legend, there were twenty-four kinds of ghosts and monsters in the human world that brought calamity upon it. The "ghosts" in "Immortals and Ghosts Run Rampant" referred to these Twenty-Four Ghosts.

Chen Xuan had not expected to encounter an Ancient Demon. He felt that his horizons had broadened again and thought, This Four-Eyed Demon is clad in Bronze Armor, holding a Bronze Halberd, and riding a Bronze Chariot. Could it have transformed from a buried soldier accompanying someone in an underground tomb?

"Awwooo!"

The Four-Eyed Divine Being gazed suspiciously into the woods, then waved its hand. At once, a great Bronze Horse broke free of its reins. Golden candle flames shone in its eyes as it chased after Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan's hair stood on end. He sped through the mountain forest, using the trees along the way to obstruct its speed.

"Xiao Wang, what kind of miraculous elixir did you eat last night?"

Old Man Chu suddenly asked in astonishment. He had sensed a wave of scorching blood qi rushing toward him as Chen Xuan ran.

The vigor of this powerful blood qi was absolutely greater than two thousand jin. It was already no weaker than that of an ordinary Feather Transformation Qi Refiner, and had even surpassed the two promising youngsters in his household!

This left Chu Huo Gun stunned. At the same time, he was deeply puzzled. Why had this young man's physique undergone such a earth-shaking transformation after only two days apart?

"Feather Transformation!"

Chen Xuan replied briefly, then told Chu Huo Gun to be quiet and not disrupt his breathing rhythm while he fled.

"What? You only began Feather Transformation last night!"

Old Man Chu immediately cried out. He nearly fell from the trouser cuff, his eyes widening in their sockets. "You mean that when we met at the ruined temple that day, you had yet to undergo Feather Transformation!"

Before undergoing Feather Transformation, a mortal's strength had already approached a thousand jin?

This discovery terrified Old Man Chu. His heart trembled at the thought of such a solid foundation before Feather Transformation. It was practically unlike that of a frail human body.

Moreover, he immediately realized that Chen Xuan's aptitude was exceptional, far beyond what he had imagined. Once Chen Xuan completely finished walking the Feather Transformation Path, his strength might surge to four or five thousand jin!

With the aid of heavenly treasures, he might even rival the most gifted people in Red Crow City!

"People who practice martial arts are just like this. If you keep prattling on, I'm leaving you behind."

Chen Xuan scolded him, finding the old man truly noisy.

He turned to look at the Bronze Horse Demon relentlessly pursuing them from behind, and another nameless fire rose in his heart.

"Putting on a show of gods and ghosts? I've indulged you long enough!"

Even a clay figure had three parts temper, let alone a martial artist!

Besides, Chen Xuan had already discovered that although the Bronze Horse looked frightening, it was not actually impossible to fight. He had even hunted a black bear before. Was he really supposed to fear a horse?

"Bang!"

Chen Xuan stopped holding back. He halted and concentrated all his strength into both fists, smashing through a small tree as thick as a bowl. Then he broke it across with one kick, dragged the nearly two-meter-long log with both hands, and charged straight back.

"Clang!"

The Bronze Horse had been hot on his heels when it saw the figure ahead suddenly speed back toward it. In the next instant, Chen Xuan hoisted the tree trunk and swept it sideways. The collision rang through the forest like the Bronze Bell and Great Chime, sending splinters flying everywhere.

"Awwo."

The Bronze Horse was dizzy and disoriented, shaking its head. In the next moment, Chen Xuan had already thrown aside the broken trunk, grabbed one of its legs with both hands, and unleashed the surging strength in his arms.

"Boom!"

The Bronze Horse was flipped completely onto the ground. A trace of fear finally appeared in its eyes. It roared and struggled to rise, trying to fly out of the forest.

Chen Xuan directly swung himself onto the horse's belly, clenched both fists, and rained down basin-sized, rock-hard punches upon the Bronze Horse's head like a violent storm, striking it dozens of times.

"You like chasing people, huh?"

Each fierce punch carried more than two thousand jin of force. They hammered the Bronze Horse like iron mallets, making its eyes see stars, denting its cheeks, snapping its steel teeth, and knocking its entire lower jaw askew.

"Awwooo, awwooo, awwooo!"

The Bronze Horse howled miserably. Chen Xuan's fists had beaten it senseless. What kind of monster had it provoked? He was far too savage!

"Mangy bastard! Mangy bastard!"

On the other side, Chu Huo Gun was also displaying his might. He frantically tore at the Bronze Horse's rump, wisps of Red Qi spraying from between his teeth. The flames burned the horse's vulnerable hindquarters bright red, almost melting them into molten iron.

Chen Xuan felt the heat behind him and glanced back. He was instantly dumbfounded, utterly bewildered.

Has this old man gone mad...

"Whimper!"

The Bronze Horse was in unbearable pain and felt supremely humiliated. Tears welled in its eyes.

Its intense desire to survive actually drove it to begin begging for mercy.

"You're willing to submit?"

Chen Xuan sensed the pleading emotion and his heart stirred. His palm tightened around the horse's mane.

He then turned and told Old Man Chu to stop attacking the Bronze Horse's rump. It was far too humiliating for a horse.

"You think I wanted to do this? I was fighting for my life!"

Old Man Chu complained unhappily, "Who knew you'd be so good at fighting..."

Qi Refiners who came from martial arts backgrounds were truly different. Their combat strength was frighteningly powerful.

At that moment, Chu Huo Gun felt a shiver of fear when he looked at Chen Xuan. Those fierce, domineering fists landing on a person would create an unimaginably bloody scene. Even a Qi Refiner like him would still be beaten into a pool of flesh.

At the same time, he sternly warned Chen Xuan not to tell anyone about this. An old man relied on his reputation to survive in this world.

"I didn't see anything."

Chen Xuan hurriedly nodded, then asked Old Man Chu in puzzlement what exactly had happened in Peach Town.

Also, where had his granddaughter with the pair of peach-blossom eyes gone, along with his grandson who looked like a consumptive?

"I find this whole matter inexplicable too."

Old Man Chu explained that their group had spent the night in Peach Town. At first, there had been nothing strange about it.

Later, he had stolen his granddaughter's wine gourd in the middle of the night, drunk too much, and fallen asleep.

When he woke up, he had already been hung on a wooden stake outside the town by the Four-Eyed Divine Being.

His granddaughter and grandson were weak. Seeing that things had taken a bad turn, they had fled to find reinforcements.

"Wine and women ruin lives. From today onward, I'm giving up women!"

Old Man Chu earnestly admonished himself, as though he had made an enormous resolution.

Chen Xuan's lips twitched as he listened. He asked, "What are you going to do next? In your current state, how much longer can you live?"

He gestured vaguely at Old Man Chu's head.

With only a head left, yet still able to leap about and act lively, Old Man Chu was quite interesting to Chen Xuan.

"Red Qi can preserve my three souls from dissipating, so I won't die for the time being... Only Immortal Qi can kill a Qi Refiner."

Old Man Chu explained that killing a Qi Refiner through worldly means was extremely difficult and required far more effort.

Chen Xuan suddenly understood. At the same time, he recalled the battle at the Willow Town tavern that day. The middle-aged man whose throat had been cut had risen from the dead, and later Chen Xuan had kicked his entire head and cervical bones apart with a whip-like leg strike before he finally died.

"Xiao Wang, you have to avenge me." Chu Huo Gun suddenly stared straight at Chen Xuan.

"What? Me?" Chen Xuan's eyes widened. Was this old man shameless or what? He practically did not regard Chen Xuan as an outsider at all.

"I won't make you do it for nothing. There'll be benefits."

Chu Huo Gun immediately continued, "Last night, that enormous living creature with the golden eyes emerged from the Southern Wilderness, awakening many demons and ghosts... I suspect a Terrestrial Treasure Tree is about to emerge in Peach Town."

He told Chen Xuan that this small town was still far from the mountains of the Southern Wilderness. With ghosts and monsters appearing here, heavenly treasures must certainly be emerging.

Chen Xuan's spirits lifted at once.

Having stepped onto the Feather Transformation Path, he would benefit even more if he consumed heavenly treasures.

Chu Huo Gun continued, "That mangy bastard must have suspected I wanted to steal its treasure, so it tried to take my life. Since that's the case, we'll go to its lair together and seize the treasure! Hmph, if it suspects I want to steal it, then we'll really go steal it!"

Chen Xuan strongly agreed and immediately said, "As martial artists, we can't stand by and watch filthy things harm people!"

Chen Xuan was a man of action. He immediately dragged over the subdued Bronze Horse's head and began plotting with Chu Huo Gun.

"We need a proper plan."

Mountain Demons looked frightening and possessed certain special abilities.

But once one overcame the initial fear, they were actually nothing special. Qi Refiners were naturally unafraid of ghosts and monsters.

Before long, Chen Xuan held Old Man Chu's head in one hand, gripped the horse's mane with the other, and rode a Bronze Horse with a crooked mouth and lopsided face as it slowly rose from the dense forest.

"Whoa!"

The horse trod upon empty air, bold and imposing, like a poorly equipped general, flying toward Peach Town beneath the evening gloom.