Lurking

The fact that the tiger demon could only escape a short distance using the smoke escape technique was not a disadvantage for its escape; rather, it was what made Dong Zhongshu realize the trouble.

He glanced at the villagers lying in the sacrificial site, groaning in pain, then looked at the scattered lights in the darkness.

"Master Xu, does your Agricultural Sect have any methods for finding demons and identifying ghosts?" Dong Zhongshu asked.

"This monk, you also lack the ability to recognize him?"

Xu Ji's calm expression didn't last long before it turned ugly.

Ordinary lesser demons don't have many skills; some are strong and capable of wielding swords and knives. However, some older demons have gained more knowledge and experience.

As for tiger demons that can use supernatural Divine Ability and ghostly arts, they can not only learn some human Technique Method that may be used through these Divine Ability, but also have the ability to live in human society and groups.

Seeing the many villagers who had been defeated by Dong Zhongshu, Xu Ji realized that things were getting complicated.

Several cries rang out from the village; he could already hear many villagers carrying knives and arrows coming out to this place.

"My ability to observe and interpret auras is rather poor. I can manage to spot minor demons, but it's difficult for me to identify old demons who have lived in human villages for many years," Dong Zhongshu said, frowning.

His Qi-reading technique originated from the Qi-observation technique of the Yin Yang Nine Heavens Sect. Since it was learned by the Confucian School school, this Qi-reading technique was naturally incomplete.

When dealing with some low-level cases, the Qi-reading technique is almost always effective.

However, the effectiveness of Qi perception diminishes when dealing with high-level issues.

The tiger demon undoubtedly falls into this category.

Although the opponent was old and frail, lacking the bravery of his youth, and relied more on Technique Method, he was defeated by Dong Zhongshu in just a few moves. However, the tiger demon's cultivation level was genuine.

"This tiger demon is skilled in the art of summoning ghosts; it probably possesses the ability to switch between its demonic body and its ghostly form!" Xu Ji said.

"Not only that, he can also possess people with the help of demons, making it difficult for us to distinguish which villagers are normal and which are abnormal!"

Dong Zhongshu shook his head.

The demons that flee in disarray can always be tracked back to their lair, but those hiding among the people are much harder to deal with.

The other side might even use people to deal with them.

As long as they are law-abiding citizens and not reckless madmen, such people will not wantonly slaughter villagers.

However, if it is another type of person, this type of person is more driven by self-interest and would be unlikely to have the concept of eliminating demons and protecting the peace of the surrounding area.

The former can be targeted by normal people, while the latter has little to do with tiger demons.

In this mountain village, the tiger demon is practically the uncrowned king.

Unless we find a weakness that allows us to kill him in one blow, we will inevitably be targeted by the tiger demon.

Dong Zhongshu grunted. As he asked Xu Ji for help to treat the members of the merchant group, he heard the noise outside getting closer and closer.

"It was those outsiders! They beat up all the villagers, and now everyone's lying in the ancestral hall, unable to get up!"

Kill them!

"Kill the outsider!"

The cacophony of voices included elderly women, farmers, young adults, boys and girls, and even the innocent shouts of toddlers cheering on their children.

The sounds drew closer quickly, Dong Zhongshu could even see the hoe in the hand of the leading young man, and someone else holding a bow and starting to draw the string.

"Everyone, a tiger demon is causing trouble in your village. It devours people and uses its Divine Ability to create vengeful spirits to harm them. It has even come after your village..."

Before Xu Ji could finish his shout of explanation, an arrow made of bamboo flew through the darkness.

These arrows are not as good as the army's feathered arrows, but they are still extremely lethal.

He drew his bow and shot an arrow from dozens of meters away, which pierced Xu Ji's chest.

Bright red blood gushed out, and Xu Ji could no longer persuade the bewitched villagers. Clutching his chest, he quickly pushed open the ancestral hall gate and locked it.

"You guys run away..."

The middle-aged man who had been gambling struggled to his feet and was about to utter a threatening remark when he was knocked down again by the boy Xu Ji had brought with him.

"Xu Yuan, you mustn't go too far. These people were forced into following the demons," Xu Ji said.

"In my opinion, these bastards who aid and abet the tiger should all be killed," the boy said. "They poison travelers, and over the years, countless innocent people have lost their lives in their jaws."

"Once that monster is eliminated, they will no longer have the ability to harm people, and they will naturally become good citizens in the future," Xu Ji said.

"So they're just going to let it go like that, after all the harm they've done?"

The boy struggled to understand Xu Ji's teachings, which made Xu Ji sigh. He simply tightened the ancestral hall gate even further.

"You'll never know how low the bar is to survive until you face life or death," Xu Ji said. "If these villagers caught you and me, they'd let you go out and lure a traveler over in exchange for my release. Would you do it?"

"I..."

The boy hesitated for a moment.

If he were to be beaten or killed, he wouldn't say a word.

But if he were really faced with the situation Xu Ji described, he might have to do something wrong in order to save Xu Ji.

"After you did this, they fed me good food and drinks, but wouldn't let me go. They wanted you to lure another passenger. What would you do then?" Xu Ji said, "Once you've done something like this, it's hard to guarantee you won't do it a second time. And then you'll get used to it and completely fall into depravity!"

Xu Ji pointed to the villagers who had been beaten to the ground by the tiger demon, indicating that the reason these people had fallen into depravity also stemmed from this.

Even though these villagers' families and fields are here, they have little ability to make a living outside, making them even more deeply bound to the community.

Xu Ji wouldn't be surprised if the entire village were to fall into the trap.

"Farmers value compassion for farmers most of all!"

Seeing Zhang Xuezhou get up from the ground and then glance curiously at Xu Ji and Xu Yuan, Dong Zhongshu couldn't help but shrug.

A chaotic beating is about to break out, while the peasant school continues its sermons.

It would be difficult for cultivators from other schools of thought to act this way. For example, the Yin-Yang School Yin-Yang School would not care about the villagers; they would fight if they could, and leave if they couldn't. The life or death of the villagers was none of their concern. If they encountered Military School military strategist, they would first punish the bandit leader, then the evildoers, and finally the blind followers. But if they encountered a Legalist cultivator, they might immediately carry out the law, regardless of whether the imperial court had the authority to enforce it. It would not be surprising if a Legalist cultivator directly carried out an execution based on regulations.

Confucian School like to talk about reason.

Dong Zhongshu rolled up his sleeves, clearly prepared to "reason" with the situation.

Unable to persuade the villagers with words, he had no choice but to subdue them first.

"Dongfang Shuo, please stop Xu Xiushi's bleeding," Dong Zhongshu said. "Xu Xiushi, all of us in our merchant group have some martial arts skills. We would be grateful if you could revive them, so that our numbers can increase!"

"This one, this one, this one, and this one are all really good fighters!"

After Zhang Xuezhou used a Supreme Purity True Technique to stop Xu Ji's bleeding, he pointed to two guest elders and two grooms in the merchant guild.

As a prominent family in Shu County, the Zhao family was quite powerful. Even their groomsmen could handle three or five villagers with their martial arts skills, so their retainers could easily deal with eight or ten villagers.

This doesn't mean that the group's martial arts skills were insufficient to defeat the villagers, but rather that subduing dozens or even hundreds of people without being able to kill them was extremely difficult.

A light blow will have no effect, while a heavy blow can be fatal.

They are even unable to use weapons.

In addition, they must guard against possible sneak attacks from tiger demons, which requires a high level of skill and precision in their actions.

Even Dong Zhongshu was not having an easy time at the time.

Seeing the door bolt being repeatedly rammed, he quickly urged Xu Ji to help.

"This golden vine loves to devour demons, but it has no ability to subdue them, so we have to rely on it to cast spells. Xu Yuan, when you cast your spell..."

Perhaps lacking confidence in Zhang Xuezhou's Technique Method, Xu Ji did not pull the bamboo arrow out of his chest.

He struggled, muttering about the wonderful uses of the purple-gold vine.

Rather than calling this a farmer's education, Zhang Xuezhou felt that Xu Ji lacked confidence in everyone and was more like making arrangements for his final affairs.

When Xu Ji slammed the green grass he had previously spat out with a stick, dispersing the gray mist within it, he stuffed the clump of grass into the mouths of the Zhao family members. As he chanted incantations, the gray mist on the clump of grass continued to gather.

Zhang Xuezhou took a deep breath. He was also glad that he had some skills, otherwise he would have to force himself to eat grass balls that others had already eaten.

As Zhang Debiao, the guest minister who had been rescued by Xu Ji, rolled over and got up, someone inserted a wood-chopping knife through the crack in the door of the ancestral hall and cut it off.

In an instant, the gate was violently pushed open, and a dark mass of people carrying various farm tools and knives surged in.