The Blade-Wielding Legend
Chapter 434 - 261: The Night is Deep, and the Fog is Dense with Demons

Chapter 434: Chapter 261: The Night is Deep, and the Fog is Dense with Demons

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"Good heavens!"

The elderly man from the Captain Bureau hastily crouched down, measuring with his hand on the ground and inspecting the broken branches around, trembling as he spoke, "This mountain lord is enormous, at least two meters tall!"

Everyone gasped in astonishment.

Yang Chengzi of Zhenwu Palace looked grim, "I’m afraid this tiger demon is a natural mutant, with at least three to four hundred villagers all turned into Chang Ghosts..."

"Mr. Li, we can’t handle this thing!"

Li Yan looked at the chaotic footprints leading deep into the dense forest, his expression serious as he nodded, "Find the village’s magic platform, destroy it, and then leave."

With that, he immediately led everyone to retreat, heading straight for the village ancestral hall.

Unlike other places, this old ancestral hall was brick and wood, also burned down, with the beams collapsed, leaving only charred wood smoldering with blue smoke.

To everyone, this was not a problem.

The people of the Captain Bureau wielded iron hooks, pulling apart the charred beams one by one, revealing a hidden door on the ground.

The hidden door was wooden and also charred black.

Li Yan kicked it to pieces, formed a spell with his hand, and sniffed; killing intent instantly rose in his eyes as he walked in directly.

Everyone exchanged glances and followed closely.

As soon as they entered the secret passage, a rotten stench assaulted them.

This underground tunnel, at first glance, seemed ancient, with mold and moss growing on the surrounding earthen walls, and some soil pits on either side, neatly aligned and connected.

Households Commander Zheng glanced around, speaking solemnly, "These are ancient hiding places for soldiers; this place must have been a military fortress."

Continuing through the tunnel, they soon arrived at a circular cave, where a thick, bloody smell wafted through the air.

They lit torches to look; everyone’s expressions changed.

In the center of the cave stood a divine statue, clad in a commanding robe, wearing a Sky-reaching Crown, with prominent brow bones, deep features, a long beard drooping to the chest, and a somewhat foreign appearance.

Li Yan recognized this statue as Heavenly Saint.

In front of it stood a magic platform.

On the magic platform were several human heads arranged in order; beside them lay an old man with disheveled hair, his eyes wide open in terror.

The strange thing was his chest and abdomen were neatly cut open, as if some force had exploded, causing his innards to splatter and scatter on the ground.

Wang Daoxuan glanced at the magic platform, where there was also a small black statue, headless, covered with infant heads.

This should be the Barren-eyed God.

Next to the statue were small green paper clothes, paper armor, paper horse, and a paper Guan’s Blade; if dressed on the statue, it would just resemble the Headless Knight!

"These are the methods of a Paper Mache Master!"

Wang Daoxuan shook his head and said, "I once traveled in the pugilistic world and learned this craft from an old man; that master had mediocre Dao, but was also a member of the Mystical Sect; his paper effigies could capture yin souls."

"He said, powerful paper mache spells could be considered large illusion techniques, transforming into immortals and Buddhas, palaces, and temples, dreamlike and vivid."

"Looks like the one causing trouble is this person."

Li Yan regarded the neatly split chest and abdomen of the other, his eyes full of dread, turning to ask, "Have any of you Daoists seen such spells?"

"It’s the Grassman Curse."

The disciple from the Zhushan Sect looked incredulously, "Using a straw man to cast a spell, it would either hurt souls or make people sick, at most curse with Gu."

"This curse that disembowels is unheard of."

Li Yan pondered for a moment, "It seems this is the work of the tiger demon’s spells; let’s not provoke it, and wait for Zhenwu Palace’s experts to arrive."

The power of the tiger demon was stronger than he imagined, and so many missing corpses likely meant there was a Chang Ghost troop.

Relying on numbers wouldn’t suffice.

To avoid accidents, it was better to leave first.

After all, the setup in Purple Cap Mountain Cave and the "Headless Knight" had been destroyed by them, suggesting that the Heavenly Saint Sect’s conspiracy might be thwarted.

Others weren’t fools either; seeing this terrifying spell, even Zhenwu Palace and the Zhushan Sect’s disciples agreed to retreat.

Without a word, they destroyed the divine statue in the cave, set it on fire, and then left Sanshan’ao village.

Along the way, everyone remained on high alert, with Lv San releasing a hawk, which circled above constantly, watching in all directions.

Perhaps it was due to the daytime, but until they left the mountain forest, they encountered no obstacles and returned smoothly to the official road.

Just after they departed, fog began to rise in the mountain forest.

It grew denser, covering the entire mountain.

In the thick fog, figures emerged one by one.

Dressed like mountain villagers, in tattered clothes and soaked in blood.

These were evidently no longer living people, scattered across the forest in small groups, hunched over, heads drooped, hair disheveled, more like wandering ghosts in the fog.

"Roar!"

A dull roar sounded.

From the thick fog appeared a pair of blood-red eyes, as large as lanterns.

Then, a massive tiger slowly crawled out of the fog, with spotted fur, a white forehead and eyes, its eyes blood-red, exuding an icy killing intent.

Stranger still was the talisman hanging from its neck with an iron chain, shaped like a court tablet, made of yellow jade, covered in golden threads, resembling naturally embedding gold in jade.

Not only that, the golden threads vaguely formed a cloud and thunder pattern.

Its eyes flashed with a bloody gleam, seemingly able to peer through the fog and forest to see Li Yan and the others gradually receding on the official road below.

Beside it was a figure staggering behind, a middle-aged Daoist with a urine stench in his pants, kneeling on the ground, continuously kowtowing and trembling as he said, "Great king, spare my life!"

Until Li Yan and the others’ figures completely disappeared, the tiger demon slowly turned its head, speaking in a human voice, "That traitor, did he finally run out of patience?"

The Daoist trembled all over, kowtowing repeatedly, "Tongtian San, no, that demoness originally was the master of Heavenly Saint, and worshipped the great king only to seize the earthly immortal body."

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