Three Altars Subdue Demons

Qiusheng watched everyone disperse, then walked straight toward the three people still lying on the ground.

Aside from a tearful middle-aged woman, no one else remained by their side.

"Sir, do you remember where the three of you first felt something strange?"

Qiusheng got straight to the point, his eyes fixed on the middle-aged man who appeared the most lucid of the three.

"The Banana Grove. The Banana Grove outside the village."

"Outside the village, the Banana Grove... Was it that beast?"

After hearing the middle-aged man's description, Qiusheng barely needed to guess. He already knew who was behind this incident.

"Master, I more or less know what's causing trouble. Let's go."

Without wasting another word, Qiusheng led the way while Uncle Nine followed behind him with Wencai, heading toward the Banana Grove not far outside the village.

When they arrived, Qiusheng raised his eyes and surveyed the terrain. After calculating it according to the feng shui methods his master usually taught, he was thoroughly startled.

The land here was low-lying, and not far away was a pond of stagnant water. The entire feng shui formation was a place that gathered yin energy and attracted evil.

Fortunately, a populous village stood nearby. Otherwise, with the feng shui here and all these yin-aligned banana trees planted in the area, it could have formed an evil lair on its own.

By then, it would no longer be such a minor matter as merely draining some yang energy from passersby. Far worse consequences could easily occur.

"Master, this Banana Grove is far too sinister. Even if we capture the little demon growing here, if we don't break this place's feng shui formation, new demons and evil spirits will eventually be born."

Qiusheng frowned as he looked at his master.

He was confident he could kill the beast causing trouble, but his understanding of feng shui was only superficial. He could treat the symptoms, but not the root cause.

"No matter. Go ahead and do what you must. Whatever happens, your master will cover for you."

Uncle Nine spoke with lofty confidence, brimming with imposing spirit.

After all, the villages around Prosperity Township were practically his territory. On his own turf, what could possibly be beyond his ability to handle?

Seeing his master being so bold, Qiusheng said no more. He casually took the bundle from Wencai, pulling out a bronze mirror, red string, and a Peach Wood Sword.

Once he had prepared his equipment, he smiled and slowly stepped into the Banana Grove before him.

The sun was still high at this hour, and Qiusheng was certain that the beast would not dare emerge and act.

He had not entered this time to capture the demon, but to make preparations for capturing it.

For instance, the red string. It was not ordinary string dyed with pigments.

Qiusheng and Wencai had personally slaughtered a large black dog and dyed it themselves, then placed it before the Three Pure Ones' altar to be steeped in incense smoke.

To put it more grandly, this red string had been consecrated.

After entering the Banana Grove, Qiusheng wandered around inside, secretly arranging the red string in place. Before long, an array formed from the red string had taken shape.

After finishing everything, Qiusheng sat cross-legged on the ground and waited there for nightfall.

As for Uncle Nine and Wencai, who had promised to guard him, they had already been invited back to Wang Family Village by the village chief for drinks.

Poor Qiusheng still believed that his master was keeping watch outside the Banana Grove, so he calmly began cultivating.

As time passed, the sun gradually set and the yang energy between heaven and earth slowly waned. Qiusheng awoke from his meditation.

At some unknown point, gusts of yin wind had begun to rise around him.

The wind was bone-chillingly cold. Though it was the height of summer, when it blew across Qiusheng's body, goosebumps rose all over his skin, and he felt an icy chill.

He lifted his eyes to the sky. The last trace of sunlight had vanished beyond the horizon.

And at that very moment, Qiusheng's brow suddenly twitched.

A gloomy, terrifying atmosphere rose unconsciously from within his heart. His expression darkened as he abruptly remembered something.

"Although I know Taoist arts now, this is still my first time facing ghosts and spirits. I don't even have any protective magical artifacts on me. Nothing strange is going to happen, is it?"

The moment that thought arose, Qiusheng's eyelids began to droop involuntarily.

Not far from him, a figure in red drifted down from a tall banana tree and landed on the ground.

Qiusheng looked at the red-clad figure and blanked out for a moment.

Dressed in a bright red bridal robe and wearing a phoenix crown, a woman who looked like a bride slowly approached him.

"Qiusheng, Qiusheng, Qiusheng..."

Whispered calls echoed endlessly within Qiusheng's heart as an invisible ripple of power swept toward him.

Qiusheng, who had gradually fallen into a gentle trap, swayed as he walked toward the woman in red.

The instant they met, white smoke suddenly curled from a talisman at the chest of the still-dazed Qiusheng. It turned to ash and scattered into the air.

At that moment, a small bronze mirror appeared where the talisman had burned away, catching the eye of the woman in the bright red robe.

"Ah!"

With a shriek, the woman in red rapidly aged, while Qiusheng, who had been half-conscious, suddenly jolted awake.

As he awoke, the scene before him came into view. He lowered his head and looked at the bronze mirror on his chest, now revealed in its true form, and the corner of his lips lifted.

He had known that alone in the Banana Grove, he could easily fall victim to something if he was not careful. That was why he had used an Evil-Warding Talisman to conceal the bronze mirror on his chest.

The Evil-Warding Talisman would burst into flames whenever demons, evil spirits, or filthy entities drew near.

By taking advantage of this trait of the Evil-Warding Talisman, Qiusheng had successfully tricked the evil entity disguised as a woman in red.

Now that he had broken the other party's illusion and learned its hiding place, capturing this evil entity would be extremely simple for Qiusheng.

He secretly circulated the mana within his body and directly activated the array he had set up in the Banana Grove during the day!

"Three Altars Demon-Subduing Array, rise!"

With a loud shout, Qiusheng formed hand seals and pointed at a red string beside his feet.

At once, an array formed from red string appeared throughout the Banana Grove, centered on the evil entity.

After finishing all this, Qiusheng dropped onto the ground, looking at the evil entity within the array with a faint smile.

"That nearly exhausted me. I finally trapped this evil thing."

"Now that it's trapped, though, based on what I know, a single fire should be enough to finish this thing off, right?"