Chapter 86: Demon Post Station, Return to the Desert

Under the moonlit window, Ning Xuan listened to Lu Xuezhi’s gentle humming of a lullaby.

It was an ultimate tenderness, the love of a mother for her child.

This tenderness was so profound that Ning Xuan couldn’t even connect the gentle, virtuous, beautiful woman before him with the feisty, foolish young lady from before.

His heart was about to melt along with the tune.

But he didn’t ask what the song was.

What the song was, was not important.

What was important was the person humming it.

Little Xuanxue, perhaps sensing the security conveyed by this tenderness, after eating and drinking her fill, kicked her little legs, sucked on her fingers, and obediently drifted off to dreamland.

“Xuanxue is asleep,” Lu Xuezhi’s voice came from a distance, as soft as a cat stealing fish, carrying a charm and femininity that a young girl could never possess.

Ning Xuan quietly slipped into the bedding.

The little cat who had stolen a treat wiggled her hips.

Ning Xuan moved closer, comforting his wife, now a beautiful new mother, after a day of hard work.

Actually…

Little Xuanxue could have been cared for by a wet nurse, and there were many experienced ones. Not only wet nurses, but also a host of maids to serve her.

But strangely, while sister-in-law Yun Yi used a wet nurse, Lu Xuezhi, a great lady from the Grand Commandant’s mansion, insisted on doing everything herself.

Her days began and ended with the child.

Ning Xuan hadn’t heard her say words like “Five Poisons Sect,” “His Majesty,” “Heavenly Martial King,” or “I’m so angry” for several months.

This proved that having a child was the right decision.

Even if the request had initially come from his mother-in-law and his own mother.

His own mother had no ill intentions; she just wanted to see her granddaughter.

But his mother-in-law was another story…

—

On the other side…

In the moonlit night.

In a Zen room.

Ning Xuan, wearing the leopard demon’s skin, was sitting on a meditation cushion.

Suddenly, a vicious wind blew in from outside.

The peach blossoms in the Kushan Monastery were suddenly struck down as if by several bamboo poles. Many flowers fell from the branches, and in the wind, they came at the Zen room like a shower of peach blossoms.

*Bang!*

A window opened.

*Bang bang! Squeak~*

The door also opened.

Ning Xuan, on the cushion, opened his eyes and looked outside.

In the courtyard’s peach blossom rain stood a figure. Under the moonlight, the figure appeared as a white-haired old monk, like looking in a mirror, appearing before his eyes. Outside the monastery was a faint golden light shield; no matter what happened inside, the outside would not know.

The white-haired old monk looked at the similarly-visaged white-haired old monk on the cushion in the room, a savage grin on his lips. His figure moved, about to rush over.

And just then, his expression suddenly froze.

Because the abbot on the cushion, who was a white-haired old monk a moment ago, had in the next moment turned into a leopard’s head. A leopard wearing a kasaya, sitting upright in the Zen room.

“Hey, first come, first served,” the leopard head growled in a low, threatening voice.

The white-haired old monk in the courtyard stopped in his tracks, stunned for a long moment. Finally, his figure flickered, and a reddish-brown jackal’s head appeared above his collar.

This was a jackal demon.

The jackal demon stood on its hind legs, looking at its leopard demon colleague in the Zen room, and spat out hatefully, “You didn’t leave any sign, how was I supposed to know?! A wasted trip!”

The one wearing the leopard demon’s skin was naturally Ning Xuan.

At this moment, he was rather glad he had become a Zen master. Otherwise, if one came after another was killed, wouldn’t it be annoying to death?

Ning Xuan said, “There are some terrifyingly strong individuals here. I regretted it as soon as I came. How would I dare to leave a sign?”

The jackal demon looked at his fearful appearance and said, “It seems we’ll have to go to even more distant places to spread the faith. Leizhou is too terrifying, and the areas around Leizhou are also terrifying… I’m even thinking of grabbing a few opportunities and then heading back.”

Ning Xuan said, “Where are the opportunities?”

The jackal demon sized him up and asked, “You’re second-grade, right?”

Ning Xuan said, “Yes.”

As he spoke, he spread his arms, and fine scales immediately appeared on his leopard claws.

The jackal demon’s figure moved, and fine scales also appeared all over its body. It then sighed, “The Great Bodhisattva has accepted many powerful believers. Those believers are all competing for the position of a boy attendant. We second-grade demons are already a bit lacking.”

As he spoke, his eyes darted around, “How about we team up?”

Ning Xuan showed a look of interest.

The jackal demon whispered, “The desert. There are opportunities there.”

Ning Xuan said, “What opportunities?”

The jackal demon said, “The final stop of the Leizhou post station is a place in the desert called Shanmo Palace. Before, outside demons were not allowed to go to that final stop, but now it’s open.

I heard that an entire ancient sect’s disciples are trapped there, trapped for over a year. They are all extremely weak now!

Woof woof woof, you know, treasures! There must be many treasures. Even if we can’t eat the meat, if we wander around the outside, we can always get a few sips of soup, right?”

It was already barking excitedly like a dog.

Then, its eyes glinted with a fierce light, “Let’s go together. We’ll split the treasures evenly.”

The two pairs of demonic pupils met in a faint glow.

“Let’s go!” Ning Xuan gritted his teeth.

“My name is Zhaocai. What about you?”

“Jinbao.”

“Good name!”

The two demons, sharing a similar fate, traveled together. But upon leaving Kushan Monastery, they felt unwilling to leave it at that, so they both urinated in a corner of the wall as a way of marking their territory.

Urine was the best way to display a demon’s aura, allowing other demons to sense it keenly, thus avoiding proximity and conflict. This was what the jackal demon had meant by “leaving a sign.”

Both these demons were believers under the “Secret Pearl Black Sky Great Bodhisattva,” and both were competing to be “boy attendants.”

Ning Xuan couldn’t help but feel a bit strange.

Could it be that there was only one Bodhisattva spreading the faith here?

What about the others?

Or was it that he had a particular affinity with this Bodhisattva?

He hadn’t fused with a soul, so he didn’t know the reason…

However, it didn’t matter. He could slowly get information out of the jackal demon’s mouth.

The two demons left Wangyue Prefecture overnight. When they stood before a stream in the wilderness, the dawn light just happened to shine down, making the stream glitter.

Ning Xuan pushed aside the knee-high grass, rushed to the stream, plunged his claws into the water and shook them. The light in the stream shattered, like countless golden fish dancing wildly.

The stream water was icy cold. He bent down, licked it with his tongue, and then lapped it up, sip by sip.

The nearby Zhaocai laughed heartily, “Jinbao, you’re a second-grade demon, how come you still don’t know any manners? So wild, you’ll probably be called a beast!”

With that, it solemnly cupped the spring water with its claws, brought it to its mouth full of fangs and bared gums, and slowly drank it like a human scholar.

Ning Xuan bared his teeth fiercely.

Licking with his tongue was the “standard demon behavior” he had summarized after killing many small demons in Wangyue Prefecture. But the highest-ranking demon in Wangyue Prefecture was only first-grade. He had killed a second-grade one, but hadn’t studied it carefully. He didn’t expect them to be so formal and particular.

Zhaocai earnestly instructed, “If you want to become a boy attendant under the Great Bodhisattva, you have to learn to act like a human.”

Ning Xuan found it marvelous.

He had thought of many things in his life, but he had never thought he would be instructed by a jackal on how to act more human.

He suppressed a smile, solemnly cupped the water, brought it to his mouth, and took a sip.

Cool.

Truly cool!

The coolness was secondary. More important was the feeling of a vast sea and sky, a caged bird set free.

—

Early in the morning.

A Heavenly Master came from afar, landed in the outer courtyard of the Ning Mansion, and requested to see General Ning of An Yuan.

Although Ning Xuan had a feeling of being “retired,” his position had not been revoked.

Plus, everyone knew he was very fierce, and knew he had a daughter with the daughter of the Grand Commandant’s family, so no one would be stupid enough to come and mock him. Not only did they not mock him, but they gave him even greater respect.

After Ning Xuan came out, the Heavenly Master stepped forward and whispered, “Prefect Ning asked me to tell the General that there is a problem with Kushan Monastery.

Last year, the ladies of the mansion went to pray, and that very night, Kushan Monastery changed its abbot from Cihai to Cijue.

And this year, just yesterday, the ladies went again to pray and fulfill their vows, but that night, Cijue disappeared.

In addition, when the ladies were burning incense, Cijue suddenly left… The Prefect feels there is a big problem.

But he has investigated again and again, yet can’t find a reason. That’s why he asked me to inform the General.”

Ning Xuan secretly praised, “Big Brother is still very vigilant,” then summoned Lan Yu and Matron Qin.

When the two elders heard this, a cold glint appeared in their eyes.

How embarrassing.

Yesterday, it was the three of them who went to investigate together, yet they didn’t find any problem.

Ning Xuan said, “I need to stay at home to accompany my wife. I can only ask the two of you to go.”

Lan Yu and Matron Qin exchanged a look. Matron Qin said, “I’ll go.”

Ning Xuan reminded, “My wife is very fond of that monastery. She has been there twice.”

Matron Qin said, “I won’t make the monastery disappear.”

Ning Xuan said, “Teacher, you’re not going?”

Lan Yu smiled, “If this old slave goes, Matron Qin won’t.”

“Oh? Watching me?” Ning Xuan’s eyes met the old man’s with great interest, and he asked, “Why is that?”

Lan Yu did not answer this, but said, “This old slave dares to say, this ‘establishing a life,’ what life is established, is very important. The young master doesn’t necessarily have to establish a Yang life, right?”

Ning Xuan said, “Didn’t you say before that there was a secret method?”

Lan Yu said, “Once a Yang life is established, a Yin life cannot be established. The young master is so smart, he must have heard a saying.”

Ning Xuan asked in a deep voice, “What saying?”

“Those not of my race must have their hearts exterminated,” Lan Yu said. “If the young master truly wants to gain trust, then he must watch his path and not go astray.”

Ning Xuan said, “You want me to suck myself dry?”

Lan Yu said, “The young master is an anomaly. Sucking on one side and replenishing on the other, isn’t that it?”

While the two were talking, Matron Qin had already gone far.

Ning Xuan said, “I’ll think about it.”

In the past, this might have been impossible, but now… since he had cultivated the Twin Life Curse, one soul with two lives, freely switching, couldn’t he cultivate both Yin and Yang at the same time?

He strolled back to the blacksmith’s shop, behind the light barrier shield.

Only after walking out did he realize this place was like a cage.

Lan Yu was caging him, and he was also caging Lan Yu.

And home was also a cage, just a cage of extreme tenderness.

Today, he did not continue to cultivate the Yang Soul Body, did not continue to sprint towards the middle stage of the fourth-grade Life-Establishing Realm, because it was too slow. This was a process of accumulation. He could increase his cultivation speed through comprehension, but he couldn’t speed up this accumulation process, which was completely dependent on the external environment.

Thinking of this, he suddenly extinguished the flames in the furnace, took out the “True Scripture of Taiyin,” and looked at the fourth-grade cultivation method.

Injecting a bit of yang qi into the Yin Soul Body through the clothing to make it complete.

The advantage was that his current Yin Soul Body was completely capable of doing this, and because this body was his own, the process of injecting yang qi would become much easier.

The disadvantage was that once he cultivated like this, the [Heavenly Demon Record] would temporarily be in a state of continuous occupation, unless he found a solution to this problem.

There are gains and losses.

He would gain the qualification to “establish both Yin and Yang lives in one person”; and he would lose the ability to switch [Heavenly Demon Records] at any time.

Ning Xuan pondered for a moment and made a decision.

He took out a small porcelain bottle.

The porcelain bottle contained the blood of the small demon he had killed before.

A drop of essence blood, and he began to refine the record.

He entered the nightmare world and began to try the process of absorbing yang qi.

Breaking through was a matter of skill, not accumulation.

In the state of the [Tianyouzi Heavenly Demon Record], his spirit was 29.999 (33), completely sufficient for a breakthrough.

According to the “True Scripture of Taiyin,” the difficulty of this breakthrough lay in “precision” and “limitation.”

The clothing could no longer be cultivated, and the yang qi inside was limited. You absorbed it once, it decreased once. Fail a few times, and it’s gone.

To inject a trace of yang qi into a congenitally deficient Yin Soul to make it complete, this sounded like a “defying heaven and changing fate” level task. To succeed, who knows how many times one would have to try.

And just a few failures would destroy the clothing you had worked so hard to find.

Therefore, Taiyin Ghosts needed a large amount of clothing.

But Ning Xuan did not have this problem.

He could cultivate. Even if he failed to absorb it once, he could still practice it back. There was no such thing as it being gone after a few tries.

He could try in the nightmare world. He could try many times until he found the absorption method with the highest success rate.

—

That night, Lu Xuezhi had just managed to coax little Xuanxue to sleep. The couple was being affectionate when a golden light suddenly surged outside the door, but Matron Qin did not disturb them and turned back to her room.

Ning Xuan knew she had already resolved the matter of Kushan Monastery. He didn’t go out either, and continued to sleep peacefully.

The next morning, Matron Qin found Ning Xuan.

“Young Master, it’s been investigated. It’s a believer of a Bodhisattva, with incense and a true scripture, plus a treasure given by the Bodhisattva for walking among humans, making it undetectable. However, those demons clearly sensed us, so they fled one after another in fear.”

“Oh? Then what should we do?”

“That demon disguised as Cijue was being clever. It left its aura outside Kushan Monastery, probably wanting to make this place its private territory.

The monks in the monastery only know that the abbot has gone traveling, but they don’t know where he went.

This is good too.

Without appointing an abbot, letting that demonic aura remain outside can block those with ulterior motives.

To ensure safety, I will go and investigate every few days.”

“Good,” Ning Xuan nodded.

Matron Qin looked at him and suddenly said, “For some reason, the young master feels more comfortable today.”

Of course she felt comfortable. Ning Xuan was deliberately releasing his Yin Soul aura at this moment.

But he didn’t answer.

What the other person discovered on their own, that was the truth.

Matron Qin indeed began to look around, and her gaze fell on the blacksmith’s shop.

The fire in the blacksmith’s shop was out.

Overnight, the temperature inside had completely dissipated. Not only was it no longer scorching hot, but it had a cold, yin-like feel.

Matron Qin couldn’t help but smile and said, “The young master is really becoming more and more like the young master.”

Lan Yu also saw it. He hadn’t expected Ning Xuan to be so receptive to advice. For a moment, he was a bit taken aback. It wasn’t until he saw Ning Xuan walk back into the blacksmith’s shop and open the light barrier shield again that his expression flickered. He then turned his head, suppressing a sneer at the corner of his mouth.

He really wanted to laugh.

An anomaly like the young master, although he had swallowed Tianyouzi and possessed the characteristics of a Taiyin Ghost, the most suitable path for him was still to establish a Yang life.

He hadn’t expected that with just a few casual words of persuasion, the young master would actually change his mind.

If the young master established a Yin life, he would be establishing the Yin life of a [Claustrophobia Ghost].

A mere Claustrophobia Ghost, what did that count for among the Taiyin Ghosts?

Even if the young master went through immense difficulty to break through to the fourth grade and establish a Yin life, the yang qi in his body would be almost depleted, reaching a state of exhaustion. At that time… the young master would become a true Taiyin Ghost, a Claustrophobia Ghost.

The young master had lost his greatest advantage.

He should have established a Yang life, walked that path all the way, and when his yang qi was abundant and endlessly supplied, then tried to perfect his Yin Soul. That was the correct path.

Originally, the young master could have a powerful Yang Soul Body and at the same time become a Taiyin Ghost, existing as an anomaly.

But now, he was about to be lost among the multitude of ghosts.

Lan Yu couldn’t suppress the corner of his mouth.

His body suddenly moved, and a layer of light shield also appeared.

He naturally had something like a light barrier shield.

Beside him, Matron Qin, who originally had a gentle expression, suddenly grinned, revealing a horrifying smile, and said, “Look what a good thing you’ve done.”

Lan Yu said, “Didn’t you also say he’s becoming more and more like the young master? Aren’t you helping me?”

The two’s eyeballs suddenly rolled around, filled with a strange and schadenfreude-filled aura.

Lan Yu chuckled darkly, “Do you think he really believes we’re doing this for his own good?”

Matron Qin said, “Her Ladyship won’t blame us, will she?”

Lan Yu said, “Her Ladyship won’t care about the feelings of a Claustrophobia Ghost. With just a few words from me, he changed his mind.

A young master like this might as well just honestly become a Claustrophobia Ghost. Otherwise, if he really enters Zixia Temple as an anomaly, he’ll be screwed over even worse.

Although he has fused with a Claustrophobia Ghost, he has no understanding of what we are.”

Matron Qin smiled, “Is there enough in his body to absorb? And this body is his own… he can’t even change clothes if he wants to.

I guess he will accomplish nothing. He neither has enough yang qi for trial and error to establish a Yin life, nor can he return to the previous level of establishing a Yang life.

Who knows… it’s possible he’ll be stuck at the third grade for the rest of his life. After all, for the sake of the young lady, Her Ladyship won’t let him change to other clothes.”

Lan Yu said, “Then that would be a great misfortune.”

The two looked at each other and let out low, chilling laughs.

Their venomous expressions were full of darkness and indifference.

Taiyin Ghosts were ghosts, after all, a collection of resentment. Even their magic arts were curses.

They were just wearing clothes.

They walked among humans using the experience gained from their clothes, but what the clothes thought, what did that have to do with them?

They laughed, they cried, they loved, they hated… it was all just the performance of the clothes.

When the light barrier shield was removed, Lan Yu and Matron Qin returned to their original appearances.

Matron Qin said, “Today, this old woman finds the young master particularly likable.”

Lan Yu nodded in praise, “As expected of the young master.”

—

In the blacksmith’s shop.

Ning Xuan closed his eyes and opened them in an instant.

The process of trying in the nightmare world was extremely difficult.

It was too hard to find the correct way to continue.

The small demon blood he had saved before was actually all used up.

And finding new small demons was also quite troublesome.

—

“Jinbao, the Guapiao Gorge market is just ahead. Let’s resupply.”

“Alright.”

Two figures drilled into a light shield.

Inside, it was surprisingly lively.

A skull lantern hung from a gourd, its eerie green fire illuminating the street.

Walking on the street were all sorts of demons, ghosts, and monsters.

What was being sold were human legs and livers, and there were also piles of cleaned intestines stacked up.

A few small demons were running back and forth, fighting over a string of candied haws—they were made of human fingers strung on a bamboo skewer, with sugar sprinkled on the blood.

When Ning Xuan and the jackal demon walked past, the demon carrying the candied haws came up with a smile, “Care to buy one, customer? Just need something to trade.”

The jackal demon snorted coldly, “Blood-drinking beasts!”

The demon immediately bared its teeth.

The jackal demon’s body suddenly showed fine scale patterns. The demon was instantly frightened and retreated.

The jackal demon snorted coldly and walked into a stone house without looking back. Ning Xuan followed.

This stone house sold information about the surrounding area.

And the jackal demon’s payment method was very strange.

He took out a copy of the “Black Sky Sutra,” recited a few sentences, and the demon providing the information was satisfied.

When the two walked out, the jackal demon said, “Jinbao, you’ll have to pay for the next piece of information.”

Ning Xuan nodded, scanning his surroundings.

This market had many demons, and it seemed that being second-grade was enough to walk sideways here.

—

A few days later.

Guapiao Gorge market.

*Bang!*

The skull lantern exploded.

The stall selling human legs, livers, and intestines was directly overturned.

The demon selling candied haws was directly blown up.

Lan Yu charged through, grinning ferociously.

“Daring to gather near Xinghe County, you’re looking for death!!”

One by one, the demons were blown up without any resistance.

Ning Xuan stood with his hands behind his back.

He was the young master.

He certainly didn’t need to fight himself.

Things like fighting could be left to the old slave.

He cherished this opportunity to use Lan Yu and Matron Qin at will.

At this moment, Lan Yu was rampaging, slaughtering madly.

As for those who tried to escape using demonic arts, they were sent back to their original spot by Matron Qin, who stood beside Ning Xuan, using the “ground-shrinking technique.”

Ground-shrinking was something all second-grade Heavenly Masters could do, let alone a great Heavenly Master like Matron Qin who was very likely fourth-grade.

The demons looked up in despair at the figure in the black robe.

The old woman behind that figure was a devil, and the old servant sent out by that figure was even more of a monster…

They couldn’t imagine what noble status this figure held, for a Heavenly Master and a Daoist boy by his side to be so terrifying.

But if they really knew the identities of these three, their relationship, they would be dumbfounded, their eyes wide, and they would die without believing it…

From the outside, it just looked like a rich master with a Heavenly Master and a Daoist boy slaying demons, but behind it, there could be such a massive, deep, and complex story.

If one were to add Ning Xuan’s “Twin Life Ghost” and that mysterious mother-in-law…

This was simply a bottomless pit of deep water!

The twists and turns, the surging undercurrents hidden within, were all graves that could bury bones!

But strangely, these three people stood here simply, with the posture of a “rich master with a Heavenly Master and a Daoist boy slaying demons.”

Ning Xuan watched as Lan Yu killed until blood flowed like a river. He then generously took out a small porcelain bottle, leaped down, and began to leisurely fill the bottles with blood.

Matron Qin watched with curiosity, “What is the young master doing?”

A sinister smile spread across Ning Xuan’s lips.

Matron Qin quite appreciated this smile. With the attitude of continuing to trick the young master, she smiled kindly, “The young master is becoming more and more approachable.”

Ning Xuan played along with her, pretending to be pleased and letting out a few “jie jie jie” laughs, then said in a hoarse voice, “Just a small interest.”

As he spoke, he had already filled a porcelain bottle.

Matron Qin said, “Does the young master like blood?”

Ning Xuan said, “I don’t know why, but ever since I digested that Claustrophobia Ghost, I’ve liked blood. I wish I could fill a secluded room with a collection of fresh blood. The stronger the demon’s blood, the more I like it.”

As he spoke, he held up the porcelain bottle, tilted his head back in enjoyment, took a deep breath, and said hoarsely, “I feel as if I can see their appearance before they died, see their struggle before death. Beautiful, it’s simply too beautiful, jie jie jie jie jie jie!!”

Matron Qin was stunned for a moment, thinking to herself, “Could this Claustrophobia Ghost have mutated, or is this just how anomalies are?”

Ning Xuan was doing this with a purpose.

His purpose was to spread his hobby. In the future… perhaps someone would use his hobby to make a deal with him? After all, killing a demon and then taking its blood was just a matter of convenience.

This would save him a lot of time and energy from going out to search for powerful demons.

Laying a plan never required a grand display. A small action, a simple sentence could accomplish it.

Lan Yu had coaxed him into ruining his own future with just one sentence.

He wanted people to help him collect the blood of powerful demons, and that also took just one sentence.

—

From one trip to the Guapiao Gorge market, Ning Xuan had gathered enough Heavenly Demon blood, and the weakness of these Heavenly Demons had been tested.

He continued his tests, to find the correct and proficient method of absorbing yang qi.

He needed to succeed twice in a row before he would cultivate and break through on himself.

And that night, Ning Gang found him. After hesitating for a long time, he finally asked, “Second Brother, did you kill a lot of demons today?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Today… I received a lot of dragon qi.”

“Yes, I killed them.”

“Where did you kill them? I… I’ll have someone go and collect some more flesh and blood, for refining pills.”

Ning Xuan gave him the location.

Ning Gang hurriedly arranged for people to go.

Now, he was the prefect, and also the head of the Ning family. He had to do what a prefect should do, maintain order, and also fulfill the responsibility of a family head, which was to strengthen their power.

And dragon qi and demon pills were indispensable resources for strengthening power.

Ning Xuan looked at his big brother’s hurried and excited appearance. He knew this was just a small microcosm of the dynasty.

If one Guapiao market could be like this…

Then…

What about one Leizhou?

—

The next day.

In the evening, a heavy rain fell ceaselessly.

“We’re here, Jinbao. We’re lucky, but the post station won’t activate until late at night.”

Zhaocai shook the rain off its body, looking quite happy.

Ning Xuan, on the other hand, was looking at the post station before him.

The ghostly qi was dense. One by one, stiff-limbed corpse horses with liver spots, their pupils filled with bloodshot veins, stared fixedly into the distance. They were kept in stables, and there were many of them, at least a thousand.

There was nothing in the mangers in front of those horses, but the corpse horses ate nothing either.

This was a demon post station.

Ning Xuan had never thought he would see a demon post station in this way.

He was here not to solve the problem of the demon post station, but to use the demon post station to go to the Shanmo Palace in the desert.

Zhaocai scanned the surroundings.

There was a long queue at the demon post station.

Zhaocai whispered, “I’m afraid not all of them are going there. The more that go, the easier it is to fish in troubled waters.”

Ning Xuan listened to the nearby sounds.

For a time, all sorts of buzzing sounds like flies entered his ears. The most common words were “Shanmo Palace,” “one year,” “ancient inheritance,” “weak,” “treasure,” “finally open,” “once in a lifetime opportunity”…

He began to wait quietly.

And suddenly, he heard boastful words coming from a distance. The words were clearly in a conversation with a demon companion.

“This demon post station was originally a terrifying enemy of this world of flesh-and-blood people, but after being tamed by the Great Black Sky Bodhisattva, it became a believer. Now it serves us.”

Then a group of demons whispered, “Namo Secret Pearl Great Black Sky Bodhisattva.”

Zhaocai put its palms together and began to chant piously.

Ning Xuan did the same.

For a time, the entire post station was filled with the sound of “Namo Secret Pearl Great Black Sky Bodhisattva.”

Ning Xuan got the answer he wanted.

It was absurd…

The only faith that had broken into Leizhou and wanted to spread was the faith of the “Secret Pearl Great Black Sky Bodhisattva.”

What was even more absurd was…

This place, which was clearly a very powerful Taiyin Ghost post station, was actually serving demons, and it was even said that it had been “tamed” by the “Secret Pearl Great Black Sky Bodhisattva” and had become a believer.

If the Secret Pearl Great Black Sky Bodhisattva was really that awesome, why was he still a Great Bodhisattva? He should just become a Buddha, then go directly to the imperial capital, wipe out Zixia Temple, and then destroy the Zixia Sacred Sect. Why go through all this trouble?

—

“General Ning! Brother Ning! Ai…”

An excited voice was followed by a long sigh.

The formerly dark-clothed, fat young master was still just as fat.

The eldest young master of the “Fugui Merchant Guild,” Liu Shirong, was in the reception hall of the Ning Mansion, sitting opposite Ning Xuan.

Ning Xuan said, “Why did you think of visiting me today? Young Master Liu…”

Liu Shirong hurriedly stood up, waving his hands repeatedly, “I don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve it. I’m just feeling melancholic.”

As he spoke, he said, “This trip back from the Western Regions is the last trip my Fugui Merchant Guild will make to the Western Regions.”

Ning Xuan asked, “Why? Too many demons?”

Liu Shirong said, “No matter how many demons there are, they still have to recognize the divine statue of the Mountain Elder… It’s just that the Shanmo Sect’s Mountain Elder suddenly returned to the divine realm and no longer meddles in worldly affairs.

When that Mountain Elder left, I didn’t see it, but I felt it deeply. I cried my eyes out, we all cried. Our hearts felt empty, extremely uncomfortable, yet we didn’t know why we were so uncomfortable.

Later, we found out that it was because the Mountain Elder had left.

However, it’s better now. It’s like I had a long dream. Now that I’ve woken up, I’m a little curious why I suddenly went to believe in such a foreign deity in my dream.”

Ning Xuan’s pupils narrowed imperceptibly. He asked with a smile, “You don’t believe anymore?”

Liu Shirong said, “I don’t believe anymore.”

Ning Xuan, combining this with what he had heard in the demon world, roughly guessed a bit: the faith structure of the demon world was a “pyramid scheme.” Just like a pyramid scheme, the person at the top only needed to recruit some people from the next level as believers, and the next level would recruit from the level below that, and so on…

So, when the one above Liu Shirong had an accident, the faith disappeared.

However…

“The Mountain Elder suddenly returned to the divine realm?”

“Yes, it’s said that the Shanmo Sect is almost gone. I don’t know what happened. Ai, it’s really like a long dream, a long dream…”

—

“Jinbao, we’re here. Let’s go. This horse can get us to our destination, the Shanmo Sect, in a few breaths,” Zhaocai said excitedly. “This is a rare opportunity. The Shanmo Sect was never open before, they didn’t let us go over casually.”

“Yes, a rare opportunity.”

Ning Xuan replied faintly and mounted a corpse horse.

In an instant, the scene changed.

One moment it was a gloomy post station, the next it was a desert covered in silver frost.

After more than a year, he had returned, in a way he had never imagined, back to this place shrouded in heavy fog.