The Canine Demon nearby charged without hesitation, lunging with its foreclaws and snapping its gaping maw at him.
But the one who came out was not Xu Yuan. It was an Outer Pill.
"Pop!"
The Outer Pill burst, and a huge net dropped over the Canine Demon's head. It was caught at once, and the webbing cinched tight in a flash, binding it into a ball. Its head slammed hard into the ground.
Thud—crash... The Canine Demon skidded three or four zhang.
The other two immediately charged this way, but right after them, a figure burst out of the pool with a splash!
Once out of the water, the figure opened its mouth and spat. Pfft!
A Gold Pellet shot out and struck one Canine Demon in the waist.
Crack!
The Canine Demon's spine snapped on the spot.
With a scream, it crashed to the ground. Its forepaws kept scrabbling desperately, carving two deep furrows in the earth.
The last Canine Demon flew into a rage and turned to pounce on Xu Yuan.
It sprang a zhang into the air, its mouth opening impossibly wide, like a snake's jaws, large enough to swallow Xu Yuan whole.
Xu Yuan stood motionless, as if he had been scared stiff.
Only when the Canine Demon was right above him did Xu Yuan suddenly open his mouth and blow out a fire dragon.
Whoosh—
The fire dragon rushed into the Canine Demon's maw. In an instant, flames burst from its eyes, nostrils, and rear.
In the blink of an eye, the Canine Demon's insides had been burned away!
Thump!
The Canine Demon hit the ground. Xu Yuan didn't even look at it; he hurried over to deal with the other two.
One was trapped in a web, and the other had a broken spine.
Xu Yuan used an Outer Pill to smash both their heads to pieces, then gathered his things and cleaned up the traces on the ground. "Come out."
The tree hollow appeared again, and two furry little heads poked out from within.
After making sure it was safe, the two heads instantly turned into Beauty Heads. They beamed and praised him. "You're amazing, young man!"
The sisters crawled out. Their bodies were those of yellow-furred foxes, topped with Beauty Heads—an indescribably eerie sight!
The sisters pressed down with all four paws and leaped into the pool.
The girls' coquettish laughter rang over the pool once more. The sisters turned in the water, and when they emerged again, they had snow-white, voluptuous bodies, cascading hair, and feet like carved jade.
Xu Yuan knew what they really were, but he still couldn't help taking another couple of looks before ducking back into the tree hollow.
Saint Aunt and her party were a dozen or so li behind the four Canine Demons. When they heard the demons howling ahead, they immediately picked up their pace.
But before they could catch up, they heard several screams, and then everything fell silent.
"Something's happened!" The Pill Cultivator's expression changed. Saint Aunt gave a cold snort. She hadn't expected a few Medicine Beasts to get the job done anyway.
They cautiously circled around the rocky cliff and spotted a pool.
Deep in the mountains, in a secluded valley of ancient trees and dark green hills, two mermaids chased and played with each other in the emerald water. Their graceful figures appeared and vanished beneath the surface, tantalizing in their allure.
Even though the Pill Cultivator and the others knew something was wrong, they couldn't help swallowing.
The two remaining assistants from Zhao's Furs Shop were even worse. Their eyes went glassy, and they walked toward the pool without realizing it.
Saint Aunt glanced around. In every man's mind, fat worms writhed.
"Hm?" Saint Aunt spotted her maidservant. The wretched girl had even sprouted several vigorous lustful worms in her mind!
"You're dead already, and you still want to come out and steal my prey!"
Saint Aunt's voice was cold and sullen.
The pool was steeped in sinister energy. Even Saint Aunt had mistaken the sisters for Female Ghosts at first glance.
Yet she didn't rush over. We came after that boy, and now two Water Ghosts have appeared?
It was far too obvious a ploy to make them fight each other.
Saint Aunt felt beneath her skirt with both hands and pulled them out again. She held a Divine Mechanism Crossbow in one hand and a Two-Headed Snake Bell in the other.
Gripping one end of the bell, Saint Aunt gave it a light shake. Its clear, crisp chime rang through the mountains.
The minds of the Pill Cultivator and the others suddenly cleared.
They looked again at the Water Ghost Sister Flowers. The pair were still pleasing to the eye, but their minds were no longer swayed.
The Pill Cultivator immediately gestured. "Search! That boy has to be hiding somewhere nearby!"
His men immediately began searching along the pool.
In the pool, the Water Ghost Sister Flowers had stopped playing. They held hands and floated half-submerged, their breasts bobbing at the waterline, appearing and disappearing.
They glared darkly at the Two-Headed Snake Bell. With that thing around, it was hard for them to use their bewitching arts.
Saint Aunt aimed the Divine Mechanism Crossbow at the two women.
The bolts on the crossbow shimmered with pale golden light, like the radiance of the sun—an ideal weapon against Yin Ghosts.
Saint Aunt strolled to the pool's edge and lifted her chin at the Water Ghost Sister Flowers. "Don't move. We'll leave once we find the person we're looking for. If you make a move, my hand might slip, and you'll be coming with us."
The Water Ghost Sister Flowers exchanged a glance but didn't answer. They remained motionless in the water.
Satisfied, Saint Aunt turned to the Pill Cultivator and the others at the pool's edge.
Aside from the Old Plum Tree, the only places around the pool where someone could hide were a few man-high boulders in the northeast corner, with long, tall weeds growing between them.
The Pill Cultivator signaled with his eyes. His men gradually closed in on the boulders, as if by chance.
Xu Yuan had never been able to see the hollow in the Old Plum Tree, and neither could the Pill Cultivator's men.
Several of them crept silently toward the boulders. When they were a zhang away, the Pill Cultivator made a hand signal, and they all lunged forward at once.
The Literary Cultivator flicked his wrist, sending a sheet of writing skimming through the air to hover above the boulders.
A "Thunder" character seemed to appear on the sheet. A bolt of lightning crashed down, blasting the weeds between the boulders to pieces.
The other two were Martial Cultivators. One held a short spear; the other carried a shield and a single-bladed saber. As soon as the lightning struck, they charged in.
The spearhead scraped across a boulder with a grating sound, leaving a deep mark!
The instant the thunder boomed, the Water Ghost Sister Flowers plunged beneath the water.
Saint Aunt had kept her eyes on them and fired the Divine Mechanism Crossbow without hesitation.
Whoosh—
A flash of golden light streaked past, but it hit nothing. The Water Ghost Sister Flowers were even faster than Saint Aunt had expected.
As soon as the sisters sank beneath the surface, the pool surged violently. Layer upon layer of enormous waves rose at once and crashed toward the shore.
The water roiled. Two huge shadows could be vaguely seen beneath the surface, swiftly thrashing their bodies.
The golden crossbow bolt skimmed across the water and flew to the far side of the pool. Though it had clearly missed, it bizarrely curved around and plunged downward, pursuing a shadow beneath the water!
Saint Aunt stepped back. Her maidservant came forward from behind her and spread both hands, raising a pale gray barrier of nothingness to shield Saint Aunt from the water crashing down from above.
Saint Aunt sneered. "Did you think my Divine Mechanism Crossbow was that easy to dodge?"
Before she had finished speaking, a sudden change erupted!
The Old Plum Tree on the shore began to shake violently. Its dense branches swept through the air like a giant hand and snatched the golden crossbow bolt!
The bolt had been about to pierce the water, but countless branches seized it.
Golden light exploded!
A force born to counter evil.
Large swaths of the Old Plum Tree's branches and leaves fell away, burned to ash by the golden, intangible flames.
But the Old Plum Tree was enormous. At the cost of a great many branches and leaves, it forcibly exhausted the golden crossbow bolt's power.
Then, like a giant hand, the Old Plum Tree swept sideways and knocked the Literary Cultivator beside the boulders flying.
The Pill Cultivator was of a higher level. He leaped backward and narrowly dodged the blow.
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