Kill Them!

Name: Zhou Ji (Five-Ghost Daoist)

Age: 62

Level: 6

Spells: Five-Ghost Yin Soldier Method; Shapeshifting Art

...

"Five-Ghost Yin Soldier Method?"

"No wonder it was so wicked!"

Chen Jichuan saw through it at a glance.

Looking at the Daoist in the cave, he guessed that this man was undoubtedly the culprit who had secretly harmed Erban's mother, Ban Feifei.

He did not rush to act.

Nor did he rush to tell Erban about the man's whereabouts.

Though the Five-Ghost Yin Soldier Method is an evil and demonic art, cruel and bloody...

There was no right or wrong in methods; only those who wielded them could be righteous or evil.

If all those severed heads belonged to people who deserved death, and this Five-Ghost Daoist only targeted evildoers and monsters, then he could still be considered a chivalrous man.

If he acted rashly,

Chen Jichuan would instead be the one lacking in virtue.

"First, investigate."

Using Insight Art, Chen Jichuan learned the names of several severed heads that had rolled outside the Yin Altar.

Then he sped back to the county seat.

Early the next morning,

he went to the county yamen and had the registrar examine records of recent disappearances and deaths. After finding the case files of the people killed by the Five-Ghost Daoist, he investigated their deeds and reputations while they were alive.

He kept at it for three days.

"He even killed a great filial son renowned far and wide—"

"This man deserves to die!"

On the evening of the third day, Chen Jichuan left Mohe Village with a dark expression.

He strode like a shooting star,

straight toward Golden Wind Mountain.

Golden Wind Mountain.

Erban welcomed Chen Jichuan to their dwelling atop the mountain.

A year had passed.

Ban Feifei, who had once still possessed a recognizable form, was now gaunt to the bone, no longer looking human.

Chen Jichuan had once secretly observed her with Far-Sight. When Ban Feifei revealed her original form, she was nothing but skin stretched over bones. Her essence, qi, and spirit had all been drained away; she was listless and weak all over.

Her martial strength and cultivation had both faded away.

She had become a thoroughly sick tiger, no longer able to flaunt her might.

"Mother, Master Chen is here."

Erban led Chen Jichuan inside and called out to the half-awake Ban Feifei.

Madam Ban was overwhelmingly drowsy and exhausted. She forced her eyes open, and upon seeing Chen Jichuan, she still recognized him. With a strained smile, she said, "Master Chen."

After greeting him, she tried to rise.

"Madam, please lie still. I only came to have a look today."

Chen Jichuan had Madam Ban lie down and took her pulse.

He understood the state of her pulse.

The situation was grim.

Just as he was about to ask a few questions, he turned and saw that Madam Ban had already fallen into a deep sleep.

"Master Chen."

"My mother, she—"

Ban Zhua looked worried. After tucking the blanket around Madam Ban, he looked toward Chen Jichuan.

"Let's speak outside."

Chen Jichuan stood and signaled for Erban to leave.

Once they reached the outer room,

before the anxious Erban could ask anything, Chen Jichuan spoke first. "Your mother is not actually ill. Someone used demonic magic on her. A little ghost has possessed her, stealing her essence, qi, and spirit to strengthen itself. It has harmed her until she is gravely ill, beyond the reach of medicine. I have only barely kept her alive with all manner of prescriptions."

Chen Jichuan no longer concealed the truth.

The moment those words left his mouth,

Erban was first stunned. Then Killing Intent surged from them, pressing down so heavily that it was hard to breathe.

Chen Jichuan had only entered the Liang World a year and a half ago, and had spent less than eight months truly cultivating. His strength was meager; faced with the pressure of two level-seven tiger demons comparable to the Innate Realm, he could not withstand it—

Thud! Thud! Thud!

He staggered back two steps, his face flushing red.

"Master Chen!"

"Even you would deceive us brothers?!"

Ban Ya clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Chen Jichuan.

His heart was filled with fury, shock, and hatred.

Ban Zhua found it hard to accept as well.

Erban had followed their mother since childhood and cultivated the <Supreme Moon Palace Lunar Yin Primordial Lady Filial Dao Immortal King Golden Flower Yellow Scripture>.

The core principle of this scripture was to exhort people to make loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and prudence their foundation.

Chen Jichuan's deliberate concealment was disloyalty.

Their mother had been secretly harmed by a petty man, yet they, as her sons, had known nothing of it. That was unfilial.

For a moment,

their emotions were difficult to suppress, nearly erupting.

Fortunately,

although the two brothers were monster tiger demons, they were not reckless men and did not attack in anger.

Ban Zhua looked at Chen Jichuan, fists tightly clenched, and said bitterly, "Master Chen saw my mother's condition long ago. Why did you not tell us then? Why wait until today, until Mother is about to... Master Chen, was this truly out of compassion, or were you deliberately toying with us, insisting that we brothers watch helplessly as our old mother was murdered?!"

Ban Zhua kept his voice low.

He was also suppressing the fury in his heart.

"In dealing with others, sincerity is what matters most."

"I put my heart and effort into treating Madam Ban, yet did you not also conceal your true identities from me?"

Listening to Ban Zhua's questioning, Chen Jichuan remained unmoved. He snorted coldly.

Over the year they had spent together,

Erban and Ban Feifei had indeed treated him with respect.

But a year had passed, and they had continued to conceal their identities as monsters. Chen Jichuan could understand it, but that did not mean Erban had done no wrong.

"True identities?"

Erban's aura faltered as they looked at Chen Jichuan. "You knew all along?!"

Humans and demons walked different paths.

In order to treat their mother, they had never revealed the truth to Chen Jichuan or disclosed their identities as monsters, fearing that once Chen Jichuan knew, he would refuse to treat Madam Ban.

They had their reasons.

But no matter what, it was still deception.

Erban felt somewhat ashamed: since ancient times, filial piety and righteousness had been difficult to fulfill together.

To be filial, they could only sit by and let loyalty and righteousness suffer.

Seeing Erban's ashamed, speechless expressions, much of Chen Jichuan's anger faded.

They really were honest people.

Had they been shameless, thick-skinned rogues, or ungrateful white-eyed wolves who remembered grudges but forgot kindness, Chen Jichuan would not have bothered with them.

Without changing his expression, Chen Jichuan looked at Erban's shifting pale and livid faces and said, "You had your reasons, and so did I. If I had told you earlier that your mother had been harmed by a petty man and haunted by ghosts, what would you have done? Did you have a way to find the person behind it? Or a means to find some expert from a Daoist temple or Buddhist monastery willing to treat your mother—a monster—and make an enemy for nothing? Or, after failing to find the culprit and finding no one to ask for help, would you finally have fallen into despair, taken your anger out on others, and gone on a killing spree, slaughtering innocents?"

Find the person who had harmed their mother?

Ask Dao Sect or Buddhist experts to save her?

Erban fell silent.

They could not even tell that their mother had been possessed by a ghost, so where could they find the person behind it?

As for asking someone to treat her?

Heh!

Daoist and Buddhist masters were the most prejudiced against monsters like them!

Their father had died together with a Dao Sect expert who intended to 'subdue demons and vanquish devils' and cultivated Tiger-Subduing Fist.

Their mother had acquired a damaged scripture from that expert, learned the Grand Yin Body-Refining Method, and also obtained a fist manual from which she learned Tiger-Subduing Fist.

For decades, she had hidden and fled, trembling with fear as she raised the two brothers to adulthood.

Because of that past,

the brothers had not even dared reveal their identities as monsters to a physician like Chen Jichuan, much less to old Daoists or great monks.

Then,

in the depths of despair,

facing their mother's increasingly emaciated state, what would they have done?

Erban did not know.

Chen Jichuan did not know either, but he could not gamble on it. Otherwise, not only would Ban Feifei remain unsaved, innocent lives might be harmed instead. That was not what he wanted.

"Then why is Master Chen telling us now?"

"Could it be—"

After their confusion, Erban suddenly thought of this and felt their hearts clench. A bad premonition arose within them.

"It is not what you think."

Chen Jichuan shook his head. Without keeping them in suspense, he said directly, "Over this past year, I have been searching for the person who commands the ghosts, and I have now found him. I came today to take you two to kill him and break his demonic spell!"

Although the Five-Ghost Daoist was only level six,

Chen Jichuan was not even his equal. Moreover, he had no idea whether the man possessed other life-preserving methods besides his spells. If he acted alone, one misstep might cost him his own life.

Chen Jichuan treasured his life greatly.

For a hatred such as harming one's mother, it was better to let Erban take action themselves while he supported them from the rear.

"You found him?!"

Ban Ya only felt his heart rise and fall in wild turmoil that day, passing from great grief to great joy. Looking at Chen Jichuan, his face burned red like a bank of fire clouds, and he was overcome with shame.

"Master Chen does not mind that we are monsters and is helping us out of righteousness. Yet just now, we misunderstood Master Chen. We truly have no face left."

Ban Zhua's face was red as well. He abruptly dropped to his knees before Chen Jichuan and said in a deep voice, "Great favors need no words of thanks! From this day onward, my brother and I will follow Master Chen's lead. Through mountains of blades and seas of fire, we will never utter a word of refusal!"

"Big Brother is right."

"From now on, this life of mine, Ban Ya's, belongs to Master Chen!"

Ban Ya also dropped to his knees with a thump and kowtowed three times to Chen Jichuan.

"You overstate it."

"You overstate it."

"I have spent a year with you two and Madam Ban. I know you are different from those monsters who harm others, which is why I resolved to help."

Chen Jichuan sighed inwardly and hurriedly helped Erban up. Seeing that they still wanted to thank him, he cut in first. "Let us not speak of anything else for now. Killing that villain, destroying the Yin Altar, and dispelling the demonic spell are what matter. Delay invites change!"

At those words,

Erban's expressions immediately turned solemn, and they could not concern themselves with anything else.

Leaving Ban Ya behind to care for their mother, Ban Zhua followed Chen Jichuan straight toward the Five-Ghost Daoist.

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