A Gentleman Keeps His Talent Hidden

Qi Wu and the others watched the scene before them in disbelief: the clay Mountain God had actually come to life, wielding a sword to eliminate a Yao!

"The Mountain God has manifested!" A Yue said blankly.

Qi Wu reacted the fastest: "No, someone is hiding inside the Mountain God statue!"

Indeed, during the battle between the sword-wielding Mountain God and the Tiger Demon, chunks of clay fell to the ground, revealing the true appearance of the person hidden inside.

It was Lu Yang.

"You son of a bitch, after waiting for five days, I've finally caught you! I didn't spend five days pretending to be a statue for nothing, eat my sword!" Lu Yang said fiercely, kicking out with his foot.

A person as quick-witted as him liked to travel around and couldn't sit still. This time, in order to avoid being discovered by the Tiger Demon, he had been hiding motionless inside the statue for five days, which was truly unbearable.

Before everyone could react, the civil and military Mountain God statues also came to life: "Lu Yang, we two will lend you a hand!"

Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu broke free from the clay sculptures, each displaying their Spiritual Power to eliminate the Tiger Demon.

Five days ago, three uninvited guests arrived at the Mountain God Temple. They consumed Grain Abstinence Pills, hollowed out the Mountain God statues, and climbed inside.

The Mountain God statues were several times larger than ordinary people, more than enough to accommodate a person.

"Are you sure this method will work?" Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu looked at Lu Yang suspiciously.

"Combining the information provided by Brother Man Gu, we can only wait for the rabbit to come to the tree, waiting for the Tiger Demon to come and feed... Let's go inside first."

Man Gu was thoughtful. Could this be what the books meant by a gentleman concealing his talents?

"Exactly, exactly, it must be what it means. As expected, reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles." Man Gu was overjoyed. He had never understood the meaning of this sentence when he read it before, but now he had gained so much just by going on a mission with Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

His master was right. If you want to learn well, you must first find a good role model!

The three chose their respective statues, entered, and maintained the same posture as the statues, revealing only their eyes.

"Hey, hey, can you hear me?" Lu Yang used the Mind Sense Technique to speak in his mind.

The Mind Sense Technique was a spell that the three had just learned on the road. At extremely close range, it didn't require spiritual power; it relied on thoughts to communicate. It was simple to learn, and with a little practice, one could use it with their thoughts.

"I can hear you," Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu replied.

"Is the carriage okay?" Meng Jingzhou was worried about his carriage and old horse.

In order to avoid being noticed by the Tiger Demon, they had entrusted the carriage to a hotel in Yanjiang Commandery for care.

"We know too little about the Tiger Demon. What we can currently confirm is that this Tiger Demon's realm is between Foundation Establishment Early Stage and Core Formation Early Stage. It is cunning and cautious, and it is worried that hurting cultivators will cause trouble, so it only eats mortals and not cultivators. If cultivators search the mountain, it will hide somewhere, and no one will be able to find it."

"In other words, it will definitely not conflict with cultivators, avoiding them whenever possible, hiding whenever possible."

The reason why the Tiger Demon has been able to occupy Songshan for so long without being discovered by cultivators is because it doesn't fight or compete.

"So we need to hide in advance, wait for the Tiger Demon to come, and eliminate it in one fell swoop!"

"Tiger-like Yao Race are more sensitive to spiritual power, so we must not use spiritual power while waiting."

That's why they chose the Mind Sense Technique, which doesn't require spiritual power to activate.

Five days later.

"Good lord, after waiting for so many days, someone has finally come."

"Looks like a merchant?"

"Wait, why is there an old hunter? Didn't they say that all the hunters in Songshan have left because of the Tiger Demon?"

They had carefully investigated Songshan, and the locals said that the hunters on the mountain had all left, and it had been a long time since they had heard of any hunters coming down the mountain to sell leather.

Ghoul!

The three communicated with their minds and instantly came to the same conclusion. This was not an old hunter leading the way at all, but a Ghoul leading people over!

They had been skeptical about the Tiger Demon, but now that they saw the Ghoul, there must be a Tiger Demon on this mountain!

"Did you hear what the old hunter said? He lives with several other hunters. The merchant leader found the old hunter there. It shouldn't be a lie."

"It is very likely that those hunters are also Ghouls, pretending to be normal people, tricking passers-by together, so that it seems convincing, to avoid anyone suspecting that they are Ghouls!"

"Should we take action now to eliminate the Ghoul?" Meng Jingzhou was eager to try.

Lu Yang told Meng Jingzhou to hold back and analyzed: "Don't startle the snake. Did you hear Qi Wu say that he wants to seek help from the Five Great Immortal Sects? With the Tiger Demon's cautious nature, it will definitely come to deal with them. Let's wait quietly. Once the Tiger Demon appears, I will take action, and you will cover me, while keeping these merchants away from here."

"Okay."

"Well, did you hear the footsteps outside the temple? It shouldn't be the Tiger Demon."

Hearing that Qi Wu and the old hunter were going to drive away the blue-clothed girl, Man Gu couldn't help but mutter: "How foolish. With this female cultivator here, the Tiger Demon will not come to kill people. The Tiger Demon is worried that its existence will be known. If it kills her, the sect behind the female cultivator will come looking for it. If it doesn't kill her, the female cultivator will bring her sect. Either way, it's a dead end. The only way is to send the female cultivator away."

"See, I was right, the Ghoul sent her away."

Lu Yang was more calm: "Thinking about it the other way around, the Tiger Demon will not appear if the female cultivator is here. How long will we have to wait?"

Meng Jingzhou gave a light "eh": "Did you notice the jade pendant on the blue-clothed girl's waist?"

"What's wrong with the jade pendant?" Lu Yang and Man Gu knew that many jade pendants were symbols of identity, but they didn't know exactly how they symbolized it.

"That is a jade token from Moon Laurel Immortal Palace."

Moon Laurel Immortal Palace, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects.

Between the Central Continent and the Far North lies a continuous east-west mountain range covered in snow all year round. Clear days are rare. The snow mountain is known as the highest peak in the Central Continent, closest to the moon.

Within the snow mountain, there sits a beautiful immortal palace, the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace.

"She should be at the Foundation Establishment Realm. When we fight the Tiger Demon later, let's try to make a big commotion so she notices and sees if she's willing to help."

The person is definitely not at the Golden Core Stage. A Golden Core Stage cultivator from an immortal sect would see through the old hunter being a Ghoul at a glance. They wouldn't be so easily fooled like this.

After some time, the three watched Qi Wu and the others fall into a sweet sleep, making them sleepy as well.

Man Gu recited the words of the sages, using his willpower to dispel drowsiness: "The sage said I examine myself thrice daily. Are you sleepy? I am not sleepy. Are you sleepy? I am not sleepy. Are you sleepy? I am not sleepy..."

"Stop chanting, you're making me sleepy even though I wasn't," Meng Jingzhou said, telling Man Gu to recite silently. He couldn't help but yawn.

"But I am reciting silently now," Man Gu replied using Mind Sense Technique.

"Listen carefully!" Lu Yang ignored the conversation between the two idiots and forced himself to concentrate, constantly aware of any movement outside.

"There's a sound of something stepping on the weeds... The Tiger Demon is here!"

Hearing Lu Yang's reminder, Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu stopped bickering and immediately perked up, ready for battle.

"Finally, we've waited for this beast!"

Lu Yang stopped concealing his aura. He shook his body, shattering the Mountain God statue, and held the Qing Feng Sword, its light illuminating the entire temple.