They left the town and arrived at Shennan Village as night fell.
Chen Shi surveyed the surroundings. Although Shennan Village was located within Death Valley, not a single evil spirit could be seen anywhere around. It was eerily quiet.
The villagers of Shennan Village were also unlike those of other villages who returned ho early at night. Instead, they strolled leisurely outside the village, completely at ease.
There were even a few people who had hunted a roe deer and were roasting it outside the village.
Zhuge Jian said, "With Tie Chi in Shennan Village, evil spirits dare not approach. The village's Godmother has beco completely useless, idle all day long."
Chen Shi looked toward the village and indeed saw that wisteria vine. It was already extrely ancient, probably several hundred years old, its branches twisting like coiling dragons.
This vine was thicker than ordinary trees. Without climbing onto any tree, it still grew upward, reaching over thirty ters high.
A young woman lived in the tree, dressed in purple robes but looking emaciated and sallow. Presumably, after Tie Chi was born, Shennan Village no longer faced threats from evil spirits, so they had beco lax toward the village's Godmother. Incense offerings had dwindled significantly, leaving the Godmother looking pale and malnourished.
Zhuge Jian said to the group, "Let's wait a bit longer. By the hour of Hai, the villagers will all be asleep. That's when Tie Chi will beco active."
Chen Shi and the others waited until the hour of Hai. Zhuge Jian said, "Everyone, wait here a mont. I'll be right back."
He hurried away. Not long after, the sound of clanking chains could be heard. Chen Shi, Granny Sha, and the others followed the sound and saw Zhuge Jian dragging a monk toward them with chains.
The monk, with a chain around his neck, struggled fiercely against Zhuge Jian.
He appeared to be a cultivator, with quite formidable cultivation, having already achieved the Nascent Soul stage. It was unclear why Zhuge Jian had bound him.
Zhuge Jian pulled the monk forward and said, "This monk is from Huaguang Temple outside Western Capital. A few days ago, several talisman masters from Red Mountain Society sought out, saying an evil spirit was wreaking havoc in the countryside, abducting many won and causing widespread panic. They searched for that evil spirit but couldn't find it. When I went there, I encountered this monk from Huaguang Temple and noticed sothing was off about him."
He gave a forceful tug. The monk, with the chain wrapped around his neck, gasped for breath and suddenly flew into a ferocious rage. Muscles all over his body swelled and expanded outward, transforming in an instant into a being over six ters tall. Sharp bristles pierced through his skin all over, his form becoming insect-like. Moth wings sprouted from his back, and antennae grew from his head.
A mont ago, he had resembled a virtuous monk; now, he exuded a sinister aura. Flapping the moth wings on his back, he tried to fly away.
Zhuge Jian pulled him back forcefully and said, "When he was practicing Buddhist cultivation techniques, he was probably contaminated by moonlight and tainted with evil energy. Buddhist scriptures record cultivation thods for Deva beings. He made an error while transforming into a Deva! I noticed sothing was wrong with him, so I caught him off guard and captured him!"
Blue Goat helped him pull the chain and asked curiously, "What about the won he abducted?"
"Violated and eaten. I originally planned to hand him over to the authorities, but I found out he was the lover of a certain high official's Madam in the city. If sent to the authorities, that Madam would definitely co to his rescue, so I didn't take him to the yan."
Zhuge Jian handed the monk to him and said, "The evil energy he emits will soon attract Tie Chi. My cultivation is low, so I'll retreat first."
Granny Sha praised, "Little Ten, this young man is very capable, thorough in everything he does. You've found a good person! The other party is, after all, an underworld officer. You all should retreat too."
Chen Shi retreated with Wooden Cart and Black Pot, trying to find so high ground. However, this place was a plain blasted by a True God's vision, perfectly flat, without even a two- or three-ter-high mound to be found.
Zhuge Jian summoned his Nascent Soul. He was also at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm. His Nascent Soul resided in the miniature shrine behind his head. With a gentle lift of his hand, his body floated into the air.
Seeing this, Chen Shi followed suit and also floated up.
Black Pot barked excitedly below. With a slight thought from Chen Shi, his Nascent Soul separated a strand of magical power, and Black Pot also floated into the air.
Floating in the Nascent Soul realm was all achieved through Nascent Soul magical power.
The Nascent Soul did not exist in the mortal world but resided in the void; therefore, it wouldn't fall. Cultivators could summon their Nascent Souls to travel back and forth.
If the Nascent Soul lifted the cultivator's physical body, it could achieve the effect of levitation.
However, this wasn't true flight. It consud a lot of cultivation power, wasn't very fast, was difficult to control, and could only be used in ergencies.
For flight, Buddhists could use Deva-class spells to transform into winged Devas and soar through the sky. Daoists could use spirit-transformation or shape-shifting spells, either transforming into divine beings or shape-shifting into birds to fly by flapping wings.
As for riding the wind, it required very high cultivation and consud imnse power, making it difficult for Nascent Soul realm cultivators to practice.
Wooden Cart jumped around below, spinning incessantly, really wanting to co up and see too. Chen Shi still had so power to spare, so he lifted the cart into the air as well.
Wooden Cart quieted down, its eyes opening on its body to look toward Shennan Village.
Outside Shennan Village, Blue Goat took out a shepherd's whip from sowhere and began lashing the corrupted monk with loud cracks, making the monk roar repeatedly as his evil energy grew stronger and stronger.
Suddenly, a burly man as sturdy as an iron tower walked out of Shennan Village. He was indeed powerfully built, over eight chi tall, wearing a black short jacket and white straight trousers, his chest bare. Two bony protrusions bulged on his forehead, resembling a small pair of horns. Following the scent of the monk's evil spirit, he walked toward the outskirts of the village.
As Tie Chi left the village, the two bulging bones on his forehead rapidly grew. In an instant, two ox horns sprouted from his head, with demonic flas blazing between them!
His body continuously grew taller and more muscular. Smoke snorted from his nostrils, which were pierced by a shiny black iron ring. Standing several zhang tall, he strode toward Granny Sha and the others.
His feet were cloven hooves, deeply sinking into the mud, but his hands were human hands, albeit with long, sharp, hook-like nails two to three chi in length.
He arrived beside Blue Goat, reached out, grabbed the Huaguang Temple monk, let out a mighty roar, and swallowed the corrupted Deva, monk and chains together, into his belly. His mouth full of sharp teeth chewed forcefully.
The chain was a talisman-weapon, forged through thousands of hamr strikes, yet he actually chewed it to pieces and ate it all!
The monk cried out twice in his mouth before falling silent.
Blue Goat looked up at this colossal being and laughed, "This is a reincarnated underworld officer? Doesn't look very strong. The Boatman and his daughter weren't lying; he really isn't much of a fighter."
Before his words finished, Tie Chi reached out, pinched his neck, examined him twice, opened his bloody maw, and tried to stuff him into his mouth!
"Treating as an evil spirit?"
Blue Goat was both shocked and furious, though he was indeed an evil spirit. He suddenly revealed his true form, transforming into a massive blue goat as large as a mountain range. Breaking free from Tie Chi's grip on his neck, he surged with overwhelming corpse energy, reared up on his hind legs, raised his head high, and charged at Tie Chi!
Tie Chi's body swelled again, reaching hundreds of zhang tall. Lowering his head, he t Blue Goat's charge head-on.
"Boom!"
A solid collision sound echoed. Blue Goat's strength faltered; he was actually forced back a step. His goat temper flared, and he angrily shouted, "Again!"
He retreated a step and charged forward again. Tie Chi also lowered his head and charged. Another thunderous boom echoed.
The surrounding trees shook violently from the shockwave. The sound woke everyone within a radius of over ten li from their sleep.
Blue Goat was knocked back several steps. Gritting his teeth, he charged forward again, yelling, "In all my life, I've never lost a head-butting contest!"
Another trendous boom. Blue Goat staggered back, his hind legs nearly giving way. Excitedly, he cried, "Good! Good! A worthy opponent, a match for my talent! Again!"
"Boom!"
The two collided again. Even with Tie Chi's imnse strength, he felt sowhat dazed.
Blue Goat was about to charge again when Hu Xiaoliang rushed forward, revealing his celestial fox true form. Nine tails swept forward with overwhelming magical power, suppressing Tie Chi's monstrous strength. His tails coiled around him like dragons, binding him layer by layer.
Tie Chi roared in fury, his arms exerting force, trying to break free from the nine tails.
Granny Sha had already flown close, slapping his forehead repeatedly with one hand. Seal after seal of divine suppression pressed down, forcing his Primordial Spirit to shrink continuously!
Tie Chi's body also shrank continuously, soon transforming from a giant hundreds of zhang tall down to normal size!
Granny Sha and Hu Xiaoliang worked together to seal him.
"Just a re underworld officer, too easy."
Granny Sha laughed, "And here I prepared all these firearms, didn't even get to use one."
Hu Xiaoliang said with lingering fear, "If I hadn't taken the spiritual dicine Little Ten sent, gaining several hundred more years of lifespan and restoring my magical power to its peak, suppressing him wouldn't have been easy at all."
Granny Sha's body had also returned to its peak condition, full of energy. She said, "Indeed. Even Blue Goat's brute force couldn't overpower him in a head-butting contest."
Blue Goat's hind legs were still trembling slightly. Hearing this, he said, "I'm already dead, naturally not as strong as before. At my peak, I was only stronger than him, never weaker."
Granny Sha smiled, "Yes, yes." With that, she took a rope from her basket.
Blue Goat took it and stepped forward to bind Tie Chi.
He tied Tie Chi's arms behind his back, bound his legs, bent them backward, and then tied his hands and feet together.
Hu Xiaoliang watched suspiciously and suddenly shouted, "Blue Goat, you went to Great South Lake to find A Zhuo, didn't you?"
Blue Goat felt sowhat guilty and yelled, "When did I ever go? I wouldn't visit that ungrateful wretch!"
Hu Xiaoliang sneered, "You still want to lie to ? That's exactly how his family's bees tie people up! You definitely went to find him, got stung by his bees, and were tied up like this. This tying thod is called 'Inverted Four Horses Hoof-Tied'! You learned this tying thod after being tied up by A Zhuo's bees!"
Caught red-handed, Blue Goat flushed with embarrassnt but suddenly realized, "How do you know so clearly? You've also been stung by his family's bees, hung up and whipped, haven't you?"
Hu Xiaoliang felt guilty and stamred, "I haven't. He's a heartless person; why would I go see him..."
Chen Shi saw this scene from afar and relaxed. He slowly lowered Wooden Cart and Black Pot. Before they touched the ground, he suddenly saw a figure flash by not far away at extre speed!
Chen Shi's keen eyes imdiately recognized the person's face—it was precisely the private school teacher nad Yong Nan whom they had encountered in the town.
Chen Shi's eyes could see ghost gods. He saw that this private school teacher with a leopard-like head and round eyes possessed extraordinarily dense and powerful extraordinary power within his body, rivaling deities like Lord Guan, the Sage Emperor of Qianyang Mountain!
However, even more terrifying was the demonic energy of underworld ghost gods emanating from within his body, erupting outward!
His robes instantly turned crimson, and his body grew larger and larger as he charged toward Granny Sha and the other two!
Chen Shi suddenly realized, "There are two reincarnated underworld officers in Duxian County's Death Valley! We captured the wrong underworld officer! Tie Chi isn't Zhong Kui! Yong Nan is Zhong Kui's reincarnation!"
He imdiately shouted loudly, "Sister Sha, be careful!"
But as soon as he spoke, Zhong Kui had already reached the three of them. Blue Goat, with the richest combat experience, sensed the invading hostility. He imdiately stood upright, grabbed the two horns on his head like two curved blades, spun his body, and slashed at the incoming figure!
An unimaginable brute force assaulted him. Blue Goat's body shook violently. The two curved blades were knocked from his hands. Then that monstrous force slamd into his body. Blue Goat heard the cracking sound of bones breaking.
His body flew into the sky, revealing his true form mid-air, but countless bones were broken!
He had suffered many fatal wounds before. The last ti was when he followed Chen Yindu into the underworld to rescue Chen Shi's soul. After being severely injured and knowing his life was unsustainable, afraid of causing Chen Yindu and the others grief and guilt, he hid himself in Qianyang Mountain to die.
This collision with Zhong Kui caused all these old injuries to erupt again!
His life force rapidly declined, but his heart felt great relief, "I bought Granny Sha and the celestial fox a little reaction ti!"
Granny Sha and Hu Xiaoliang's reaction speeds weren't as fast as his, but with this bit of ti bought, the two had a chance to respond instead of being directly ambushed and killed by the attacker!
Just as he expected, Hu Xiaoliang reacted. Not bothering to reveal his true form, he raised his hand and struck forward. Overwhelming magical power clashed with the newcor's divine power.
Before his magical power could fully erupt, it was crushed by the opponent's terrifyingly imnse force, sending him stumbling backward.
At the sa ti, Granny Sha leaped back, landing in mid-air. She activated the Supre Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams rotated around her, forming the wondrous scene of Supre Laozi's alchemical furnace. Stamping her foot, the Bluestone Path connected both the yin and yang realms, borrowing power from the underworld!
Before she could fully prepare, the crimson giant figure charged into the air, stepped into the Eight-Trigram furnace, and rushed straight toward her true form's location!
"Boom!"
The Bluestone Path shattered inch by inch. The Eight-Trigram furnace broke. Granny Sha grunted, struck so hard that her physical body and Primordial Spirit separated, sent flying backward.
Enduring the pain, she summoned iron caltrops each over a person's height and hurled them at Zhong Kui.
The first iron caltrop exploded with a roar. Blazing thunderfire instantly engulfed an area of dozens of mu. Lightning crisscrossed, terrifying beyond asure!
The explosive shockwave even sent Granny Sha flying!
Imdiately after, the second and third iron caltrops flew out. Six iron caltrops in succession plunged into the exploding thunderfire and detonated one after another!
Wave after wave of shockwaves surged forth. Hu Xiaoliang quickly revealed his nine-tailed fox true form, his tails swaying to block the terrifying impact force of the iron caltrops, preventing it from hitting the village below.
The seventh iron caltrop flew toward the thunderfire, about to explode, when suddenly a giant hand reached out from within the thunderfire and grabbed the caltrop.
Granny Sha, Hu Xiaoliang, and the charging Blue Goat all froze in shock. They saw a nearly thousand-zhang tall ghost god wearing fiery red robes erge from the thunderfire. Opening his mouth, he stuffed the iron caltrop inside and swallowed it whole.
The person-sized iron caltrop exploded violently in his belly. The ghost god's abdon bulged slightly for a mont before flattening again.
Hu Xiaoliang rushed over. Granny Sha landed between the ears on top of his head. Blue Goat, enduring his injuries, retrieved his twin blades, leaped over, and stood beside the celestial fox, watching the burly ghost god erging from the thunderfire.
"Seems like this supposedly 'not much of a fighter' Zhong Kui is more formidable than any underworld officer we've seen before," Blue Goat murmured.
Zhong Kui's blood-red robe fluttered behind him, extinguishing the sky-filling thunderfire. Glaring with furious eyes, he charged toward them.
During the first exchange monts ago, Granny Sha and the other two were already injured. Seeing him charge, they steeled themselves to et him head-on. Just then, a sword light flew toward them. Moonlight spilled onto the sword light as it sliced through both the yin and yang realms.
The three imdiately plumted, falling into the underworld.
Chen Shi activated the Dark Spring Swimming Dragon Sword, saving Granny Sha and the other two. He imdiately withdrew the Swimming Dragon Sword. At that mont, Zhong Kui suddenly turned his head and looked toward him.
Without a second thought, Chen Shi activated the Swimming Dragon Sword, cut through the underworld, and rushed into the underworld with Black Pot, Wooden Cart, and Zhuge Jian!
They had just fallen through the air in the underworld when suddenly the underworld sky split open. Zhong Kui's imnsely massive face peered into the underworld—iron-faced with curly sideburns, quite fierce and ugly. Seeing them, he imdiately reached out a giant hand to grab them!
As they fell, Black Pot's body grew enormously large. He caught Chen Shi, Zhuge Jian, and Wooden Cart, then took off running, dodging the giant hand descending from the sky.
His speed was extrely fast. He soon caught up with Granny Sha and the others, tossed everyone onto his back, and desperately raced into the distance.
Above them, Zhong Kui's gigantic face, seemingly burning with crimson demonic flas, kept reaching down to grab them!
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