Battle at Plum Blossom Pond

The Canine Demon nearby didn't hesitate and charged forward, its front claws slashing and its bloody maw opening to bite.

But it wasn't Xu Yuan who appeared, but an Outer Pill.

"Crack!"

The Outer Pill exploded, and a large net descended from above, trapping the Canine Demon. The spiderweb then rapidly tightened, binding the Canine Demon into a ball before smashing its head heavily onto the ground.

Thump— Crash... The Canine Demon slid three to four zhang away.

The other two immediately charged over, but right after, a figure burst out of the water with a splash!

After leaping from the water, it directly spat out: Pfft!

A Gold Pellet shot out, hitting one of the Canine Demons in the waist.

Crack!

The Canine Demon's spine snapped on the spot.

The Canine Demon let out a scream and fell to the ground, its front claws desperately scratching, carving two deep gouges in the earth.

The last remaining Canine Demon became ferocious, turning to pounce at Xu Yuan.

It leaped ten feet high, its mouth opening impossibly wide like a snake's, capable of swallowing Xu Yuan whole.

Xu Yuan remained still, perhaps too stunned to move.

Just as the Canine Demon was overhead, Xu Yuan suddenly opened his mouth and blew out a stream of fire.

Whoosh—

The stream of fire surged into the Canine Demon's mouth, and in an instant, erupted from its eyes, nostrils, and rear.

In the blink of an eye, the Canine Demon was burned to nothing inside!

Plop!

The Canine Demon fell to the ground. Xu Yuan didn't even look, quickly moving to deal with the other two.

One was trapped in the spiderweb, the other had its spine broken.

Xu Yuan used Outer Pills to smash their heads, then gathered his belongings and cleaned up the traces on the ground: "Come out."

The tree hollow reappeared, and two furry little heads poked out.

After a moment of confirmation, the two heads instantly transformed into beautiful faces, smiling and praising, "Little brother is amazing!"

The sisters emerged, their bodies those of yellow-haired foxes, but topped with beautiful human heads, an indescribably eerie sight!

With a press of their four paws, the sisters leaped into the water.

The sweet laughter of maidens echoed over the water again. The sisters twirled in the water, and when they emerged again, they were fair-skinned and voluptuous, with hair like waterfalls and feet like carved jade.

Xu Yuan, knowing their true forms, couldn't help but look a couple more times before retreating back into the tree hollow.

Saint Aunt and her party were more than ten li behind the four Canine Demons. Hearing the roars of the Canine Demons ahead, they immediately quickened their pace.

But before they could catch up, they heard a few screams, and then everything went quiet.

"Something's happened!" the Pill Cultivator's face changed. Saint Aunt snorted coldly; she hadn't expected the medicinal beasts to accomplish anything.

They cautiously skirted around the stone cliff and saw a water pool.

Deep mountains, secluded valleys, ancient trees, and dark green foliage. In the emerald water of the pool, two mermaids chased and played, their graceful figures appearing and disappearing in the water, full of allure.

Even though they knew there was something wrong, the Pill Cultivator and the others couldn't help but swallow.

The remaining two shop assistants from Zhao's Furs Shop were even worse off, their eyes glazed over as they involuntarily walked towards the water pool.

Saint Aunt glanced around; every man's mind was filled with writhing maggots.

"Hmm?" Saint Aunt saw her maidservant. Her wretched maidservant's mind also harbored several lustful worms!

"Dead, yet you still come out to fight me for food!"

Saint Aunt snorted coldly, her expression grim.

The water pool exuded a chilling aura. Even Saint Aunt, at first glance, mistook the sisters for female ghosts.

But Saint Aunt didn't rush forward immediately. We were chasing that kid, and then two water ghosts appeared?

The scheme of using a borrowed knife to kill is too obvious.

Saint Aunt reached under her skirt with both hands. When she brought them out, she held a Divine Mechanism Crossbow in one hand and a Two-Headed Snake Bell in the other.

Saint Aunt held one end of the snake bell and shook it gently. The clear, crisp ringing echoed through the mountains.

The Pill Cultivator and the others' minds suddenly cleared.

Looking at the Water Ghost Sister Flowers again, although they still found them quite pleasing to the eye, they were no longer influenced in their minds.

The Pill Cultivator immediately waved his hand, "Search! That kid must be hiding nearby!"

His subordinates immediately began searching along the water pool.

In the water pool, the Water Ghost Sister Flowers were no longer playing. They floated hand-in-hand on the surface of the lake, the "red beans" on their chests rising and falling with the waterline, appearing and disappearing.

They stared grimly at the Two-Headed Snake Bell—with this thing around, their charm techniques were barely effective.

The Divine Mechanism Crossbow in Saint Aunt's hand pointed at the two women.

The bolt on the Divine Mechanism Crossbow flickered with a faint golden light, like the radiance of the great sun, specifically designed to counter Yin Ghosts.

Saint Aunt walked leisurely to the edge of the water pool, tilting her chin at the Water Ghost Sister Flowers, "Stay put. We'll leave once we find the person. If you move, I'll twitch my hand and take you with us."

The Water Ghost Sister Flowers exchanged a glance and didn't reply, but they didn't move in the water.

Saint Aunt was satisfied and looked towards the Pill Cultivators and others by the water pool.

Besides the Old Plum Tree by the water pool, the only places that could hide someone were a few giant rocks, as tall as a person, in the northeast corner, with long, tall wild grass growing between them.

The Pill Cultivator signaled with his eyes, and his subordinates casually moved to surround the giant rocks.

The tree hollow on the Old Plum Tree, which Xu Yuan couldn't see before, was also invisible to the Pill Cultivators now.

The group approached the giant rocks silently. When they were still about ten feet away, the Pill Cultivator made a gesture, and everyone pounced forward together.

The Literary Cultivator flicked his wrist, and a calligraphy sheet shot out horizontally, covering the area above the giant rocks.

There seemed to be a character for "thunder" on the sheet. A bolt of lightning struck down with a roar, blasting the wild grass in the middle of the giant rocks to smithereens.

The other two were Martial Cultivators. One held a short spear, and the other used a shield and a single saber. After the lightning strike, they quickly charged in.

With a clang, the tip of the short spear carved a deep mark on the giant rocks!

In the water pool, the moment the thunder roared, the Water Ghost Sister Flowers plunged into the water.

Saint Aunt had been watching them closely and, without hesitation, pulled the trigger of the Divine Mechanism Crossbow.

Swish—

A flash of golden light, but it shot into empty air. The Water Ghost Sister Flowers were even faster than Saint Aunt had anticipated.

After the Water Ghost Sister Flowers submerged, the water pool suddenly churned, rapidly whipping up layer after layer of huge waves that crashed towards the shore.

The water surged, and two massive dark shadows could be vaguely seen in the pool, rapidly thrashing their bodies.

The golden bolt skimmed over the surface of the water, flew to the opposite bank of the pool, and though it had missed, it strangely curved, turned downwards, and shot towards a dark shadow beneath the water!

Saint Aunt took a step back, and a maid stepped forward from behind Saint Aunt, spreading her hands to create a pale gray, ethereal barrier that shielded Saint Aunt from the incoming deluge.

Saint Aunt sneered, "My Divine Mechanism Crossbow isn't so easily dodged!"

Before she could finish speaking, a sudden change occurred!

The Old Plum Tree on the bank suddenly shook violently, its dense branches like a giant hand, snatching the golden bolt from the air!

The bolt was about to shoot into the water but was caught by countless branches.

The golden light exploded!

A power that inherently countered evil.

Large swathes of branches and leaves fell from the Old Plum Tree, burned to ashes by the golden ethereal flames.

But the Old Plum Tree was extremely massive. At the cost of losing a large amount of its branches and leaves, it managed to completely expend the power of the golden bolt.

Then, the Old Plum Tree swept horizontally like a giant hand, sending the Literary Cultivator next to the giant rocks flying.

The Pill Cultivator, being on a higher level, retreated swiftly, narrowly dodging the attack.