The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 36 A Knight's Journey! (New book, please read and vote!)
Zhou Yan's strike was very powerful.

The woodcutter screamed and fell backward, a knife embedded in his face, blood flowing from it. His eyes were filled with pain and confusion, as if he were an innocent person who had been inexplicably killed.

Zhou Yan's eyes were clear; he saw the true form of the monster.

The demon, a ghost with black eyes and shedding blood tears, exudes a strong sense of resentment.

"You, my lord, why did you harm me..."

Zhou Yan gripped his knife and slashed down fiercely.

Are you playing me?

Then I won't be polite!
This monster had initially used this trick to fool some exorcists, but Zhou Yan drew his sword without the slightest hesitation. The sword was engraved with a demon-slaying talisman, which looked like a burning flame to the eyes of the ghost-like monsters.

The woodcutter's expression changed drastically as he saw the young man's second strike aimed directly at his brow.

Unable to hold on any longer, it suddenly dispersed, transforming into a wisp of ghostly energy, and cried out:
"madman!"

Zhou Yan stepped forward and slashed horizontally.

A burst of sword light exploded, tearing apart the aura of slaying evil and demons.

Seeing that he was young and that the woodcutter did not sense any magical power, he dodged the attack and stepped forward to fight.

But he didn't know that Zhou Yan's swordsmanship came from the border army lineage, and his moves were ruthless.

The woodcutter ghost was just a charlatan; after only three or five rounds, he felt Zhou Yan's knife slash him several times. The cuts were burning hot, and the pain was so intense that he seemed to lose control and could barely hold onto his axe.

Taking advantage of the young swordsman's inattention, he transformed into a ghost and vanished in a flash.

With a clang, the axe fell directly to the ground.

Zhou Yan sheathed his sword, and Shen Cangming said, "He's gone."

The dark horse laughed from the side.

Zhou Yan glared at Da Hei and said, "We want him to leave, Uncle Shen."

Zhou Yan was making plans in his mind. This place was Wang Chun's territory, and he was an outsider. Under these circumstances, he was thinking about using his wits and courage to slowly unravel the mystery and deal with him.

how is this possible.

When fighting on the other side's territory, the best option is to take advantage of their inattention and strike once and for all, ending the battle quickly. Otherwise, Zhou Yan just used a [Karmic Flame] attack, leaving the other side with no chance to escape.

Go fishing!
The woodcutter vanished as a ghost. Zhou Yan saw the axe rapidly rotting and rusting, indicating that it had been there for a very long time. He took the bronze lamp from his right and gave it a slight shake.

The Buddha lamp ignited with a single golden flame.

The flames illuminated the surroundings, making the traces left by the ghost clearly visible.

Though the five elements are incomplete, it can still communicate with the spirits and see souls.

Zhou Yan gripped his knife and rode off quickly after them.

Shen Cangming originally intended to follow immediately, but for some reason, a sense of unease rose in his heart. He was a battle-hardened elite and had a natural intuition for the presence of killing intent.

Is it an illusion?

No.

After a moment of silence, Shen Cangming deliberately made Dahei move quickly, leaving clear hoofprints on the path Zhou Yan was on, and then deliberately left very shallow hoofprints on the side path.

Then branches in other directions were broken off, a very subtle change.

Looking at the mountainous terrain, he swiftly and skillfully used vines and pebbles that grew in places with extremely heavy yin energy to set up a trap, and then rummaged through his pack to find the materials.

Shen Cangming drew his sword and carved specific characters on the stone.

That was the method of the Sogdian sorcerers, who could communicate with the earth spirits and use short, concise incantations to complete short, simple spells. This could alert Shen Cangming to the enemy's invasion, and the sword in his hand would burst forth with light, deftly piercing and cutting into the rock wall beside him.

Finally, he took out a leather pouch and dripped out the mixed poison inside.

Misleading, traps, mild poisons, spells, and even using the terrain to break rocks.

In a short period of time, Shen Cangming set up five interconnected traps on the way down the mountain, simple yet extremely deadly.

The more elite they are, the more you cling to them, the more you'll get trapped.

As the top elite border troops who fought against Tibet, the Western Regions, and the demon race for twenty-six years on the frontier of the empire.

Shen Cangming's terrifying experience and combat skills far surpass those of other corps.

One person completed the preparations for the defensive battle in a very short time.

Then they quickly caught up with Zhou Yan.

........................

Wang Chun stared intently at the alchemy furnace in front of him.

The alchemy furnace, which is about ten feet tall, has patterns on it, depicting the claws of seven kinds of demonic beasts: tiger, python, eagle, bear, dragon, ape, and goblin. They are all twisted and ferocious, and when lit, they emit a blood-red light.

Wang Chun exhaled, his kind face appearing somewhat fierce under the blood-red glow.

In the cave behind them, there was a huge tiger. When it stood up, its head was taller than that of a normal adult man. However, the tiger was still asleep and breathing heavily. There was a locust wood nail on the tiger's neck, which was already halfway in.

It was the Three Corpse Nails of the [Corpse Dissection] lineage that nailed the tiger's demonic soul to the ground.

Wang Chun looked at the alchemy furnace. He was originally a herbalist who came to collect herbs. He was eaten by a tiger while fleeing from the war. He was unwilling to die, and his resentment collided with the tiger's ability to control ghosts. What a ruthless person! He actually struggled and regained a third of his consciousness.

Later, I heard from the shop owner that the blood of a close relative could restore divine power.

Initially unwilling, but after being tormented by the tiger demon for three days.

He then went and killed the old mother he had been supporting.

If his elder brother saw this, he would kill his elder brother first, then his nephew, frame his sister-in-law, and run back to the mountains. He would then use the blood of these people to exchange with the Qingming Master for a method to remain conscious as a courier ghost.

Master Qingming refused the heart's blood. He smiled and said that seeing the son kill his mother was already considered paying the price.

Wang Chun recalled how his mother initially resisted when he killed her, but upon realizing it was him, she suddenly seemed resigned to her fate and stopped struggling.

He said that if he could make the shop owner smile, his mother would die happy.

Later, with the help of a ghostly body, he found this cave and the alchemy furnace. From the fragments of the Taoist scriptures, he figured out a method for refining elixirs, which was to reverse his cultivation and turn the evil spirits against the tiger.

The recipe was obtained from Master Qingming.

The shopkeeper said that by turning against the tiger demon, one could cultivate into an eighth-rank demon, the "Two-Headed Tiger."

Going a step further, one can transform into the [Mountain Lord], who is comparable to a seventh-rank Xuan official.

Advanced cultivation methods, elixirs, and tiger demon magic were all laid out beside him. The [Mountain Lord] lineage could enable demons to reach the same level as mountain gods. Wang Chun was envious of the magical powers and supernatural abilities of the mountain god lineage mentioned in those legends.

That's amazing!

Wang Chun stroked the red bamboo scroll, looked at the alchemy furnace, and said, "Eighty-one living souls, nine of whom are close relatives and nine of whom are enemies. It's a pity that we're missing a medicinal ingredient, what a pity..." He thought of that medicinal ingredient.

The person we picked up from the foot of the mountain before...

He thought of that fine flesh and that strange fragrance, which would have been the best lure, but Zhao Manzi had taken it away. At that time, he was visiting Master Qingming and didn't dare to clash with Zhao Manzi.

But now, these eighty-one living souls are only missing a medicinal ingredient.

Rather than...

Wang Chun stood up, walked to the side of the cave, and saw a little girl there with many purplish-blue wounds on her body. A hint of ferocity appeared in Wang Chun's fierce eyes as he reached out, wanting to grab the little girl.

Although, although...

This is also a suitable medicinal guide.

There's no need to worry about anything anymore; this is the catalyst for a breakthrough.

The little girl looked at him, rubbed her face against Wang Chun's palm, and mumbled:

"...Father."

Wang Chun's hand stopped.

The grotesque, twisted hand was still struggling with whether or not to throw the little girl into the alchemy furnace. He looked at the faded rag doll around the child's waist and finally sighed.

Wang Chun suddenly reached out, grabbed the child's hair, and dragged him to the alchemy furnace amidst his cries of pain.

He left this little girl in the mountains so that he could use her as a medicinal ingredient!
I've already killed my mother, I don't care about this little girl.

He gazed greedily at the bronze alchemy furnace.

After refining this batch of Tiger Soul Blood Pills, eighty-one living souls will be used to further refine it.

At the very least, it can become a two-headed tiger. If it's lucky, it might be able to elevate the tiger demon's ability to control its accomplices, allowing it to command eighty-one accomplices and ascend to the lineage of the Mountain Lord, thus avoiding becoming neither a demon nor a ghost.

Then we'll request an official decree from the government.

I am God!
No one knows what happened in the past.

I also sat in the main hall.

Damn it, the medicinal ingredient is gone.

otherwise……

He looked at his daughter.

"That makes two medicinal ingredients!"

There were talismans all around, and behind each one was the soul of a person.

They looked at Wang Chun with pain, disgust, resentment, and fear. These people were in the same situation as Zhou Yan at the time. Some had been trafficked, and others had their children taken away by Wang Chun when only the elderly were at home.

Some of them were obtained through deception.

Then torture them in the most cruel way to arouse their resentment.

The sounds of crying and wailing filled the air, yet the tiger remained asleep. Blood-red light emanated from the alchemy furnace, and a sacred artifact emitted a deep, solemn chanting sound.

Wang Chun grabbed his daughter, intending to throw her into the alchemy furnace, but at that moment, a ghost flew directly from the foot of the mountain, transformed into the woodcutter, and knelt on the ground, saying, "My lord, my lord!"

Wang Chun asked, "What's wrong?"

The woodcutter said, "There's a short-haired guy with a knife down the mountain. I don't know if he's a Taoist priest or a wandering knight. He's come up the mountain recklessly. He's probably a thief who steals magic!"

Wang Chun's heart skipped a beat. He walked over in a few steps and said:
"You weren't discovered, were you?"

The woodcutter said, "I will transform into qi immediately and come over without being detected."

Wang Chun breathed a sigh of relief, a hint of smugness in his eyes, and said:
"Indeed, how could a mere mortal, with only mortal eyes and mortal form, possibly catch up..."

Suddenly, a change occurred.

Here, the alchemical furnace still glowed crimson, the tiger remained slumbering, and the souls of these eighty-one innocent souls were being refined into elixirs, ready to ascend to godhood. The sound of horses' hooves, like muffled thunder, broke his words.

Wang Chun subconsciously turned his head.

A man and a horse have already crashed in.

Amidst flying pebbles, a young swordsman in blue robes rode a horse, gripping a sword. His eyes, clear and bright like drawn blades, stared intently at his own face.

"Wang Chun!!!"

Zhou Yan breathed out.

Enemies meet.

Draw your sword and charge!
(End of this chapter)