Speedrun, But Envy, Jealousy, and Hate!
What is a speedrun-style gaming experience?
To be honest, "Hunter" didn't quite understand the term, but he did experience the exhilarating feeling of being carried along by a powerful figure!
After a short two-day rest, Yan Chixia, along with Zhiqiu Yiye had just recovered from serious injuries and the Swordsman Xiahou, led a group to run a dungeon!
After setting up a battle formation around the mountains during the day, the Swordsman Xiahou somehow managed to obtain several large bags of fire oil.
Clearly, this person was not a pedantic fellow. Before nightfall, he fiddled around with the fire talismans and set fire to several courtyards in the temple, breaking the natural order of this place where yin energy gathered!
As night fell, the formation tightened, trapping the tree demon like a turtle in a jar! Forced into a corner, yet relentlessly entangled and unable to escape, the Tree-Demon Granny finally revealed her true form. Even with the valiant resistance of her subordinates, including the Rakshasa Ghost and vengeful spirits, she was ultimately no match for the righteous "no need for chivalry with these evil spirits, let's all attack together" approach. She was instantly defeated by a barrage of sword light and magical artifacts, forced to her knees!
Thus, the group quickly cleared the Lanruo Temple instance!
Throughout the entire process, Yan Chixia never even took out the Diamond Sutra, let alone opened the sword box on his back!
Of course, not to mention Ning Caichen, even the other users were dumbfounded, staring at the Flying Sword in the hands of the other swordsmen, which were as agile as swimming dragons and full of sharp sword energy, and their mouths were watering!
Even the "Kunlun Slave" pointed and exclaimed with envy, "This is good, this is good! When I go back to that place, I'm going to save up money to buy one of these!"
No one dared to ridicule his presumptuous claim; after all, who hasn't dreamed of becoming an immortal, soaring through the heavens on a sword?
Instead, after everything had settled down, Yan Chixia walked forward with a solemn expression. From the thick layer of embers left after the sword qi and fire talisman had burned to ashes, he reached out his sword and searched for a long time before finally picking out a piece that was neither gold nor iron.
Under the cover of night, the object was about the size of a palm and looked like a strangely shaped token.
"Just now, when I pierced the tree demon's true form with my sword, I vaguely sensed that it was holding something and frantically channeling its demonic energy. As a result, its evil magic made some mistakes, and Xiahou severed a large number of its roots."
"This must be it."
The crowd gathered around, and in the firelight, they could see that the dark-colored warrant had the words "Black Mountain" engraved on one side and the image of a large, grotesque city on the other, with the words "Wrongful Death" engraved above it.
It has a touch of antiquity, yet it also feels gloomy.
"I've heard that in the Underworld there is a Black Mountain King, an old demon who has seized control of the Wrongful-Death City. This item is most likely his token."
The young Daoist, Zhiqiu Yiye, whose face was still pale and who now looked listless, had just washed away the bad luck from his sword before walking over. He took the token from Yan Chixia, examined it carefully several times, and then handed it to Xiahou beside him.
"Seniors, I once overheard a rumor, though I don't know if it's true or not. It says that in the vicinity, there are demons who have colluded with the Old Demon Black Mountain of the Underworld, and I have become that demon's lackey. I suppose it is the old tree spirit in this Lanruo Temple!"
One of the two young Daoist priests spoke up respectfully at this opportune moment, saying a few words with a look of "sudden realization".
Although it is just a "folk rumor" for reference, it undoubtedly adds a bit of persuasiveness in the current situation.
"That's right. This object is harder than iron and stone, yet it feels light in the hand. It clearly contains lingering Yin energy, so it must be made of genuine Yin wood. It comes from the Underworld and must be something from the Wrongful-Death City."
"But if this thing is truly related to the Old Demon Black Mountain, why did the tree demon use it as a trump card, yet it failed to achieve its intended effect until its death?"
After weighing the object in his hand, the Swordsman Xiahou sighed, somewhat puzzled.
Could something retrieved by a thousand-year-old tree spirit on the verge of death truly be useless?
People who think so naively are simply laughable.
But upon closer reflection, this thing clearly hadn't produced any definite effect before.
This, ironically, inevitably arouses suspicion.
"I can't sense any real killing power within this thing—could it be that this tree demon wanted to use this token to summon the demons entrenched in the Wrongful-Death City, or perhaps Black Mountain himself, but received no response?"
After much deliberation, without further evidence, the three could only arrive at this somewhat far-fetched conclusion.
Even the users standing nearby were moved by what they heard.
Although this battle could be described as well-planned and going smoothly, the reason why the Tree-Demon Granny was so quickly defeated and killed was because the "Old Demon Black Mountain" in the movie plot did not intervene!
The group had initially suspected that this Mission World followed the original setting of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, and therefore did not explicitly include the character "Black Mountain." However, it now seemed that such a thought was completely wrong!
In this world, there truly exists a "Old Demon Black Mountain" who serves as the lord of the Wrongful-Death City!
This seems a bit strange.
It's worth noting that the Old Demon Black Mountain appeared in disguise in both the first and third installments of the A Chinese Ghost Story film, making him a typical example of a final boss!
Especially considering this token, which clearly has some connection to the Tree-Demon Granny, and now, after just defeating the Tree Demon in the level, you're telling me that on this dark and stormy night, the real plot boss, Black Mountain, hasn't even shown up?
Did you guys not pay the appearance fee enough?
Of course, upon closer inspection, the situation is indeed not quite as expected, but the impact doesn't seem to be that significant.
After all, according to the original storyline, each time Black Mountain appears, it's an insignificant incarnation. Not only are they extremely difficult to kill, but even if you kill them, they'll just come back again. Whether you fight them or not doesn't seem to matter much.
Instead, the group searched around the temple and finally helped the scholar dig out a jar of ashes under a poplar tree with a crow's nest.
Yes, even though he had heard the story of "A Chinese Ghost Story" beforehand, Ning Caichen still ended up meeting the female ghost named "Xiao Qian" in the end. It was like an unforgettable first glance, like a thunderbolt striking the earth, and they were irresistibly drawn together!
Therefore, during tonight's great battle, the scholar even disregarded his own life and tried to rush forward to pull the white-clad female ghost, who was already trapped in the sea of fire, out!
If it weren't for Zhiqiu Yiye Ye, who was overseeing the battle, quickly withdrawing the power of the fire talisman in that direction and creating a way out, the two of them would probably have lost their lives here today and become a pair of doomed lovers.
However, this young Kunlun sorcerer is quite extraordinary now, completely different from the smirking guy in the movie that the group remembered. Instead, he often looks gloomy, meditating day and night without stopping.
According to his previous revelation, although his cultivation level was insufficient, he already possessed the energy and power accumulated over decades or even centuries. This was because his master, having foreseen his fate, infused him with the remaining portion of his life's essence before turning to ashes.
Therefore, in this world where Numinous Spark is waning and demonic influence is growing stronger, he has a solid foundation that is equivalent to the hard work of an ordinary person for more than one lifetime!
Even if he couldn't fully utilize all of it within a short period of time, it was enough to allow him to narrowly escape death when he was severely injured by demons.
This is the advantage of having a lineage of teachers and mentors.
Looking at this fellow, one could see that he was now fully equipped with a sword, seals, talismans, a fan, a gourd, and a magic mirror—all kinds of "armor"—in an ancient style, mostly left behind by his predecessors as precious items to protect the cultivation of future generations.
Even though the Dao changes with the times, the spiritual charm of these remaining magical artifacts has probably gradually faded over time, and they are visibly dim and lackluster on ordinary days, but they can still be described as having everything one could want.
In particular, the opponent's pouch clearly contained a great deal of stuff, including a large number of fire talismans used in this battle. In this world where magic is declining, it showed no sign of poverty whatsoever, but rather gave off the air of an arrogant and powerful sect!
It would be a lie to say I'm not envious!
It seems that after his master passed away, this kid carried most of the family's belongings left in the cave on his back!
Those who look at it directly often beat their chests in regret, filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred—why didn't I have such a mentor who embodied this tradition!