Chapter 20: The Second Refining of the Record

A few days later, Wangyue Prefecture, Manfeng Mountain.

Teams of iron-armored troops were stationed here, divided into small squads, with shield bearers in the front row, spearmen in the middle row, and crossbowmen in the back row. Each squad had at least a hundred people.

And the surroundings of these soldiers were all smeared with strange ink. The ink was lightly scattered, as if laying out uniform and fine “black bricks and tiles” on the ground. Anyone, as long as they had to touch the ground to walk, would definitely leave traces on this ink.

Each squad was on a two-shift system. Half of the people rested, and the other half took over.

They could not withdraw, because their mission had just begun.

They had been here for four days and four nights.

They didn’t know how long they had to wait.

But as long as the general above did not give an order, they had to keep waiting.

Soon, night fell.

The bright moon in the sky cast the fallen leaves densely on the ground.

Many torches and fire basins also lit up from the ground, and the blazing fire made the sky reddish.

Suddenly, a group of martial artists dressed in neat clothes came from a distance. After they arrived, they also skillfully joined the various iron-armored troops, guarding some dimly lit places on the periphery, forming a complementary joint defense.

And the general of this team also came out from the distance, wearing armor.

Among the martial artists, a yellow-robed Taoist led two Taoist boys to greet him.

“General Zhang.”

“Daoist Master Han.”

After a simple greeting, the two stood together, and no one spoke again. The atmosphere was a bit oppressive.

And soon, more people came from afar one after another, and the comers were all well-known experts from Wangyue County and even the surrounding counties. These experts all brought their own special weapons.

After a while, two more yellow-robed Taoists appeared. Including the one who came first, there were a total of three.

When these three got together, plus that General Zhang, there was more conversation.

“Is the Heavenly Master really coming?”

“The army here was dispatched by the Heavenly Master. Of course the Heavenly Master is coming. Not only is he coming, but he is also going to formally attack this Manfeng Mountain.”

“We have already lost too many people here. There are at least three kinds of demons here.”

“Fortunately, the bear demon in the old mountain of Star River County was exterminated by you, Daoist Master Han.”

As soon as the words fell, the yellow-robed Taoist who had previously used the golden snake to bind the bear in the old mountain waved his hand repeatedly, and then shook his head solemnly.

He did not reveal the true situation of the “old mountain” to the outside world, because the Heavenly Master did not want to create further panic.

If General Zhang was the leader of the soldiers in Wangyue Prefecture, then the Heavenly Master was their leader.

When the remaining two Taoists saw him like this, they all showed a thoughtful look.

One of the Taoists asked, “In short, it was exterminated, right?”

This time, the yellow-robed Taoist did not deny it, and said, “Right.”

The Taoist nodded slightly, “Fortunately, it was exterminated, otherwise there would be at least four kinds of demons here.”

Another Taoist sighed lightly and said, “This Manfeng Mountain, the Heavenly Master has always put it aside, just sealing off the surrounding area and designating it as a forbidden area. Today, he has mobilized the army, and we have come here to encircle and suppress it. I think he has taken a further step. But I don’t know, after this encirclement and suppression, how many people here can survive.”

Everyone fell silent.

For a time, a tragic atmosphere rose here.

Everyone was prepared to die.

In this prefectural city, they were the first to come into contact with the truth, and also the first to come into contact with despair.

Just then, a large area of golden light suddenly surged from the red-hot, dark night ground, and two figures emerged from it. The red light of the fire basin pounced, pressing the long shadows darkly on the ground.

Both of them had bronze ghost masks. The difference was that one was wearing a purple Taoist robe, otherworldly, and the other was wrapped in a Taoist boy’s robe, carrying a ridiculously long Beast-Slaying Saber on his back.

The Taoists looked at the Taoist boy in surprise. In their impression, because the Heavenly Master dealt with quite powerful demons, the Taoist boys were always borrowed. Today, they didn’t know which state he was borrowed from.

And from the fact that he was wearing a mask, this Taoist boy did not want to reveal his identity, and for a time, he had a bit of a mysterious color.

Chou Nu scanned his surroundings, then looked at Ning Xuan and said, “Qingfeng, on the way here, I have already told you about the situation here. We will rest for one night today, and tomorrow morning, we will… climb the mountain.”

Ning Xuan nodded.

Immediately, Chou Nu was welcomed into a temporarily built tent.

The Heavenly Master’s constitution was very poor. If he were to make a move the next day, he would definitely have to rest well the day before.

And Ning Xuan, as a Taoist boy, sat by the bonfire outside the tent, closing his eyes to rest and at the same time guarding the tent behind him.

The Heavenly Master sleeps, and the Taoist boy is on night watch.

This was the fate of a Taoist boy.

If it were someone else, Ning Xuan would definitely not be happy.

But thinking of how miserable his big brother was, his face ruined, his name buried, unable to recognize his relatives, while he had enjoyed everything in his big brother’s place.

In this way, he felt that it was nothing.

What’s more, with his current constitution, being on watch for one night was nothing at all.

Ning Xuan sat cross-legged by the fire basin in front of the tent. During this period, someone tried to come up and get close to him, but he ignored them and did not answer. Gradually… no one approached him anymore.

He took a breath of the night wind mixed with the smell of grass juice and fish, and looked at the dark mountains in the distance.

Big Brother said that there were three kinds of demons on this mountain.

One monkey,

one ox,

and one sheep.

Currently, there were these three kinds.

But they were still trying to invite more demons to come here.

To do what?

Most people guessed that these demons wanted to form an alliance.

But Big Brother told him, “Not necessarily.”

The number of missing people in the entire Wangyue Prefecture, including the nine counties and twenty-eight townships under its jurisdiction, as well as passers-by, was actually not small, and the places where these people went missing were not fixed.

In the eyes of the Taoists, missing meant death.

These people had already entered the bellies of the monsters and become food.

But, Big Brother told him, “No.”

Because Big Brother had once accidentally heard human cries in the depths of Manfeng Mountain. Those voices drifted from various places with the wind, and the most common one was “help.”

Big Brother therefore came to a simple conclusion: those missing people were very likely not eaten, but locked up.

Why would demons lock people up?

And why would they invite other demons?

Big Brother came to a terrifying conclusion: a banquet.

The demons wanted to hold a banquet, so they caught people, but they endured their greed and did not eat them directly, but locked them up and waited for the banquet to proceed.

But a banquet always had to invite someone.

And what kind of person could make the demons endure not eating?

Big Brother dared not imagine.

These days, more and more people were missing. Big Brother finally couldn’t hold back and wanted to make a move. In addition, his realm had taken another step forward, and he had an outstanding Taoist boy like Ning Xuan.

The day was set for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Big Brother would first take him to scout.

When the investigation was as clear as possible, they would launch a major attack.

His task was to protect Big Brother and buy him some “spell-casting” time.

The bonfire crackled and burned.

The firelight danced in his eyes.

He casually threw a few cold branches and then closed his eyes to rest.

He didn’t want to get married and go to the Hanzhou Ranch, so… this task had to be completed.

The night… grew deeper.

As time passed, Ning Xuan vaguely felt that it should be almost dawn.

His perception was very sharp, and he had his own judgment of the flow of time.

Then, he felt that dawn must have arrived.

So he opened his eyes.

At a glance, the sky was still dark.

The sky…

was still dark.

Why?

The sky was not bright at all.

Except for the black moon hanging high above his head.

The moonlight formed a strange halo, illuminating the area around the bright moon with a pale white light, and the black moon was like a black pupil looking down at him.

Ning Xuan was very sure that he had not used the essence and blood of the “Ghost Horse Monkey” to refine the record, so there was only one possibility…

Here, a Heavenly Demon was about to arrive.