We bear people have power

The words, "You're missing a few bones in your foot," sent a chill down Guan Bo's spine. How could someone with missing bones still be able to walk?

Judging from Xiong Shanjun's expression, it didn't seem like he was joking, and everyone couldn't help but start to think about the meaning behind it.

Unfortunately, there were too few clues, and Guan Bo wasn't a fortune teller, so he could only wait and see.

The three-zhang-high altar was quickly erected. Since there was no grand master's chair, a bamboo chair had to be used instead. The sky had been clear for the past few days, so no water could be obtained from the source, and well water had to be used instead. And in this desolate place, naturally, there was no variety of grains available, only sorghum rice...

In this way, everything was dealt with perfunctorily, and even Master Liaoyi could only sigh inwardly.

This place is so shabby, it doesn't even have all the necessary tools for a ritual. I can't possibly come here to wade into this mess again.

Master Liaoyi flicked his sleeve, and a whirlwind lifted him onto the Dharma platform, leaving the villagers dumbfounded.

Guan Bo and the other three watched from a distance, and this little trick didn't surprise them at all.

Master Liaoyi ascended the altar, holding a precious sword. He chanted a spell, burned a talisman over a candle, and then took the talisman-holding elephant and a document, burning them as well.

The little girl was bound hand and foot to a wooden pillar beneath the altar, staring wide-eyed as Master Yi performed his ritual.

Originally there was nothing particularly noteworthy about it, but after reciting the incantation a few times, Master Liaoyi smashed a bronze plaque with a "clang".

A gentle breeze drifted in from mid-air.

This ability to stir up wind on flat ground is not the work of a demon, but a genuine manifestation of extraordinary celestial phenomena.

Gongsun Jing examined it carefully and exclaimed in surprise, "The Five Thunder Orthodox Method?"

Upon hearing this, Xiong Shanjun was also taken aback and exclaimed, "How can this guy, who looks like a charlatan practicing some kind of quack, actually use the Five Thunder Orthodox Method?"

Guan Bo and Ling Xiu were both dumbfounded. Could this Five Thunder Orthodox Method be some kind of profound technique? Why were they so surprised?

Gongsun Jing then explained, “The Five Thunder Orthodox Method is the highest-level thunder cultivation method in Taoism. Thunder is the pivot of heaven and earth. Therefore, thunder is the command of heaven, and its power is the greatest. Everything in the Three Realms and Nine Lands belongs to thunder and can be governed by it.”

This means that thunder magic is equivalent to the method of commanding heaven and earth. Whether it is wind, rain, frost, earthquakes, mountains shaking, or humans, gods, immortals, witches, demons, ghosts, corpses, and monsters, they are all subject to the Five Thunder Orthodox Law.

If this method is cultivated to a high level, it will reach the legendary realm where words become law, and once a command is issued, nothing in heaven and earth dares to disobey.

But Master Liaoyi was nothing but a charlatan, yet he was able to unleash the most wondrous Five Thunder Orthodox Method of Taoism, as bizarre as a beggar pulling out a genuine work of Wang Xizhi.

But after watching for a while, the wind continued to blow at a steady pace, seemingly without any effect.

Gongsun Jing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It turns out it was just a fake. He probably saw a master who had mastered the Five Thunder Orthodox Method perform a ritual somewhere and copied it to create an incomplete version. I guess he didn't even understand the incantation. He had to recite it hundreds or thousands of times to have any effect."

Gongsun Jing was right. Master Liaoyi had only learned a few fragments of his skills after watching someone who had practiced the Five Thunder Orthodox Method perform rituals. Now, he was setting up his altar to find the local earth god and mountain spirit, asking them to help him determine whether the little girl was human or a demon.

However, the Five Thunder Orthodox Method he learned was too incomplete, and he couldn't summon the mountain gods and local deities in a short time. He could only repeat it over and over again, which would probably take a long time.

Master Liaoyi, after all, possessed some magical power to protect himself. Although his mouth was dry, he wasn't about to faint from exhaustion on the altar. However, performing the ritual was no easy task, and by the time Guan Bo and the others had grown quite impatient, Master Liaoyi himself was also getting tired.

But we have to keep going even if it's tiring, otherwise all our previous efforts will be in vain.

Fortunately, he was doing this to rid the people of demons, which was a meritorious act. With that bit of good intention in his heart, he received some help from the unseen world. Just as Master Liaoyi's arms were going numb from practicing his sword dance, the mountain god and the local earth god finally answered the call and came.

Master Liaoyi felt a divine power descend upon him, flowing into his eyes. When he looked at the little girl again, he saw a horrifying scene.

It wasn't some delicate, fair-skinned little girl at all; it was clearly a pale, skeleton.

"Hey, so you're a demon made of bones! Show your true form!" Master Liaoyi pointed his sword, and a bronze plaque jumped up from the altar, inscribed with the Thunder Department's mantra.

A bolt of lightning shot out from the bronze plaque and struck the little girl.

Controlling thunder and lightning, exorcising evil spirits and binding demons—truly the skills of immortals.

Lingxiu was so frightened that she summoned the Azure Dragon Sword to block the lightning. Unexpectedly, Guan Bo grabbed the girl's hand and said, "Watch carefully."

Just as Lingxiu was about to explain, she saw the lightning strike the little girl.

The expected scream did not occur; instead, the little girl's hair stood on end, and her clothes were not even scorched.

"Tsk, so it's just a pretty face. Aren't you ashamed?" Lingxiu snorted and put the flying sword away.

Master Liaoyi did not hear Lingxiu's disdain, but seeing that the little girl was unharmed after being struck by lightning, he did not know that it was because his magic power was weak, but assumed that the other party's demonic power was strong.

Master Liaoyi was truly exhausted at this point, and the local earth gods and mountain gods he had summoned only offered some help because he had recited the Five Thunder Orthodox Dharma Mantra hundreds of times; they had long since dispersed.

Left with no other choice, Master Liaoyi could only say to the villagers, "This demon is too powerful. We must wait until noon tomorrow, when the yang energy is at its peak, to break its demonic magic, force it to reveal its true form, and then use true fire to refine it to death."

This was a way of covering up his own shame; Master Liaoyi was now completely exhausted.

After struggling to descend from the altar, Master Liaoyi was unsteady on his feet and was surrounded by villagers who took him to rest.

But when the lightning struck, the little girl's identity as a monster was confirmed.

The villagers looked at the village chief with an unusually strange gaze.

Whispers broke out, which was tantamount to saying it outright. They were all saying that the village chief had let a wolf into the house, bringing disaster to the village. The implication was that the village chief's term was over and it was time for him to step down and hand over the reins to a more capable person.

As soon as the murmurs arose, the village chief's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and his gaze toward the little girl became filled with resentment and hatred.

Guan Bo witnessed everything, but remained unmoved. Just moments after the lightning struck the little girl, Guan Bo had seen a grayish-black aura emanating from her.

This must be the death aura that Xiong Shanjun mentioned, but neither Gongsun Jing nor Lingxiu seem to be able to see it. Or rather, Xiong Shanjun can't see it either; he can only vaguely sense it.

Only Guan Bo saw this deathly aura as tangible and visible even in broad daylight.

As darkness fell, just when everyone thought they could get through the night peacefully, the little girl suddenly cried out, "Let me go! Please let me go! I want to go home! Just one night is enough, I'll come back first thing tomorrow morning, please!"