Qi Wu and the others stared at the scene before them in disbelief: the clay mountain god had actually come to life, wielding a sword to exterminate demons!
"The mountain god has manifested!" A Yue said blankly.
Qi Wu reacted the fastest. "No, that's not right. Someone's hiding inside the mountain-god statue!"
That was indeed the case. As the sword-wielding mountain god battled the tiger demon, chunks of clay fell all over the ground, revealing the true appearance of the person hiding inside.
It was Lu Yang.
"Damn it, I've waited five days, and I finally got you! These five days pretending to be a statue weren't wasted. Take my sword!" Lu Yang snarled, kicking out.
A quick-witted person like him loved wandering everywhere and could hardly sit still. Yet this time, to keep the tiger demon from discovering him, he had hidden motionless inside the statue for five whole days. It had been truly unbearable.
Before the others could react, the statues of the Civil and Martial Mountain Gods also came to life. "Lu Yang, the two of us will lend you a hand!"
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu broke free from the clay statues and each displayed their abilities, joining forces to eliminate the tiger demon.
Five days earlier, three unexpected guests had arrived at the mountain-god temple. They swallowed fasting pills, hollowed out the mountain-god statues, and climbed inside themselves.
The mountain-god statues were several times larger than ordinary people, so fitting a person inside was more than easy.
"Are you sure this method will work?" Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu looked suspiciously at Lu Yang.
"Combining the information Brother Man Gu provided, all we can do is wait here like a tree stump for a rabbit, waiting for the tiger demon to come feed... Let's get inside first."
Man Gu pondered this. Could this be what the books mean by a gentleman keeping his weapons on his person?
"Exactly, exactly! That must be what it means. Truly, reading ten thousand books is no substitute for traveling ten thousand miles." Man Gu was delighted. When he had read this phrase before, he could never understand its meaning. Now, after coming out to carry out a mission with Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, he had gained such an insight.
His master had been right. To study well, one first had to find a good study partner!
The three chose their respective statues. After entering, they maintained the same poses as the statues and left only a pair of eyes exposed.
"Hey, hey, can you hear me?" Lu Yang used Mind Communication to speak inside his head.
Mind Communication was a spell the three had just learned on the road. At extremely close range, it required no spiritual power; relying only on thought, they could converse. It was simple to learn, and after a little practice with their thoughts, they could use it.
"I can hear you." Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu replied.
"Is the carriage all right?" Meng Jingzhou was worried about his carriage and old horse.
To avoid drawing the tiger demon's attention to their whereabouts, they had entrusted the carriage to an inn in Yanjiang Commandery.
"We know far too little about the tiger demon. What we can be certain of for now is that its cultivation is somewhere between the Foundation Establishment Early Stage and the early Golden Core stage. It's cunning and cautious by nature. Afraid that harming cultivators would bring trouble, it only eats mortals and never cultivators. If cultivators search the mountain, it hides somewhere, and no one can find it."
"In other words, it absolutely won't come into conflict with cultivators. If it can avoid them, it will; if it can hide, it will."
The tiger demon had been able to occupy Pine Mountain for so long without being discovered by cultivators precisely because it neither fought nor contended.
"So we need to hide in advance, wait for the tiger demon to come, and wipe it out in one strike!"
"Tigress-type demons are comparatively sensitive to spiritual power. While we're waiting, we absolutely mustn't use any spiritual power."
That was precisely why they had chosen Mind Communication, which required no spiritual power to activate.
Five days later.
"Good grief, we've waited so many days, and someone has finally come."
"Looks like traveling merchants?"
"Wait, why is there an old hunter? Didn't they say all the hunters had left Pine Mountain because of the tiger demon?"
They had carefully investigated Pine Mountain. The locals all said the hunters on the mountain had left, and no one had heard of hunters coming down to sell pelts for a long time.
A ghostly thrall!
The three exchanged thoughts through Mind Communication and instantly reached the same conclusion. This wasn't some old hunter showing people the way at all—it was a ghostly thrall that had lured these people here!
They had initially been half-convinced and half-doubtful about the tiger demon, but now that they had seen a ghostly thrall, there had to be a tiger demon on this mountain!
"Did you hear what the old hunter said? He lives together with several other hunters, and the leader of the traveling merchants found him there. It should be true."
"It's very possible that those hunters are ghostly thralls too. They're pretending to be normal people and deceiving passersby together. That makes them seem more convincing and keeps anyone from suspecting that they're ghostly thralls!"
"Should we take care of the ghostly thrall now?" Meng Jingzhou was eager to try.
Lu Yang told Meng Jingzhou to hold back and analyzed the situation. "Don't alert the enemy. Didn't you hear that the one called Qi Wu said they would seek help from the Five Great Immortal Sects? Given how cautious the tiger demon is, it will definitely come deal with them. Let's wait quietly. Once the tiger demon appears, I'll attack, and you two cover me. At the same time, make sure those traveling merchants get away from here."
"Okay."
"Mm. Did you hear those footsteps outside the temple? They probably aren't the tiger demon."
Hearing that Qi Wu and the old hunter wanted to drive away the girl in blue, Man Gu couldn't help muttering, "How foolish. With that female cultivator here, the tiger demon won't come to kill anyone. The tiger demon is afraid that its existence will be exposed. If it kills her, the sect behind her will come looking for it; if it doesn't kill her, she'll bring her sect here. Either way, it's a dead end. The only solution is to send her away."
"See? I was right. The ghostly thrall sent her away."
Lu Yang remained relatively calm. "Think about it the other way around. The female cultivator's presence keeps the tiger demon from appearing. How long are we supposed to wait?"
Meng Jingzhou suddenly let out a soft cry. "Did you notice the jade pendant at the waist of the girl in blue?"
"What's wrong with the jade pendant?" Lu Yang and Man Gu knew that many jade pendants symbolized identity, but they didn't know much about the specifics of how.
"That's the jade token of the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace."
The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects.
Between the Central Continent and the Extreme North stretched a continuous snow-capped mountain range running from east to west. It snowed year-round, and clear days were rare. The mountain range was known as the highest peak on the Central Continent, the place closest to the moon.
Amid those snowy mountains stood a breathtakingly beautiful immortal palace: the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace.
"She should be in the Foundation Establishment Realm. When we fight the tiger demon later, let's make as much noise as possible so she notices us and see whether she's willing to lend us a hand."
She definitely wasn't at the Golden Core stage. A Golden Core cultivator from an immortal sect would have seen through the old hunter's identity as a ghostly thrall at a glance. They wouldn't have been fooled and led away so easily like this.
After some more time passed, the three watched helplessly as Qi Wu and the others entered dreamland and slept soundly. Watching them made the three want to sleep as well.
Man Gu recited the sages' sayings, using willpower to drive away his drowsiness. "The sage said, 'Every day I examine myself thrice.' Are you sleepy? I'm not sleepy. Are you sleepy? I'm not sleepy. Are you sleepy? I'm not sleepy..."
"Stop muttering. I wasn't sleepy, but listening to you has made me sleepy." Meng Jingzhou told Man Gu to recite silently, but he couldn't help yawning.
"But I am reciting silently now." Man Gu replied through Mind Communication.
"Listen carefully!" Lu Yang ignored the two fools' conversation and kept forcing himself to stay focused, constantly sensing the movements outside.
"It sounds like something stepping on the weeds... The tiger demon is here!"
After Lu Yang's reminder, Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu stopped bickering and immediately perked up, preparing for battle.
"We've finally waited for this vile beast!"
Lu Yang stopped concealing his aura. His body shook, shattering the mountain-god statue. With the Greenedge Sword in hand, its dazzling sword light illuminated the entire temple.
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