Leaving the Mountain

Wu Zi grabbed Xu Yi and ran towards the outside of the mountain without stopping for a moment.

Xu Yi was being pulled along by Wu Zi, and only occasionally saw some spirits by the roadside, as well as a little fox demon. The fox demon licked its paws and smiled extremely charmingly. Xu Yi did not see it speak, but clearly heard its voice. It said, "Goodbye, Xu Yi."

"How do you know my name?" Xu Yi didn't speak, but instead used her mind to communicate, just like the fox demon.

But the fox demon just smiled and didn't say anything more.

Xu Yi spoke up: "Wu Zi, there's a fox demon."

"I know, Grandma, this mountain is full of ancestors. I only have one life, so I dare not be reckless!"

"Ancestors? Does that mean I count?" Xu Yi asked.

"Sigh..." Xu Yi heard Wu Zi sigh and said, as if coaxing a child, "Okay, okay, okay."

Xu Yi was happy and stopped talking.

But after running for a short while, Xu Yi sensed a wolf demon standing on the hill ahead. The wolf demon's eyes glowed with blood, giving Xu Yi a very dangerous feeling. Xu Yi quickly patted Wu Zi, although he patted empty air, but his tone was urgent: "Wu Zi, run faster, there's a wolf demon, it wants to eat us."

"Huh? I really can't speed it up any further. Why don't you go and talk to him and tell him not to eat us?" Wu Zi suggested.

This surprised Xu Yi. "Huh? This...is that alright?" Then she actually spoke to the wolf demon on the mountaintop: "Can you...not eat us?"

The wolf demon didn't answer, only letting out a soft laugh. The wolf demon stood on the hilltop, watching them run closer and then out of his territory. As Xu Yi and the others stepped out of his territory, the blood-red light in the wolf demon's eyes disappeared, revealing its original golden vertical pupils. Xu Yi was no longer afraid and even mustered up the courage to say goodbye: "Goodbye."

Another soft chuckle followed by a deep voice: "Goodbye, little Xu Yi."

Xu Yi said to Wu Zi, "They all seem to know me."

"Yes, you were brought in step by step by your master, so naturally you know everything."

"But I have never seen them in all these years."

"You are in the mountains, always protected by the mountain lord, so you will not encounter other people... oh pshaw... other demons."

As soon as Wu Zi finished speaking, voices from men, women, and children came from all around: "Who are you calling a demon?" "You're the demon, your whole family are demons." "Demon my foot!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ancestors, I misspoke, I misspoke," Wu Zi quickly apologized.

A chorus of cold snorts erupted around him, startling Wu Zi so much that he broke out in a cold sweat and quickened his pace.

"You seem very afraid of them?" Xu Yi asked, puzzled.

"They're all our ancestors, my dear grandmothers, how could I not be afraid?" Wu Zi said helplessly.

"You can't even beat one of them?" Xu Yi asked, puzzled.

"Sigh... there's not one I dare to face." Wu Zi said dejectedly.

"And what about your master?" Xu Yi pressed.

"Master fought them off one by one, and even had tea with the wolf demon."

"Oh, no wonder you weren't afraid of the wolf demon." Xu Yi realized, "You were just playing a trick on me?"

"No, Grandma, just teasing you." Wu Zi's light laughter drifted on the wind.

Xu Yi rolled her eyes at Wu Zi's retreating figure. Then she heard the wolf demon's voice in her mind: "Little Xu Yi, remember, I am Yu Tong."

"Oh, Brother Yu Tong," Xu Yi greeted politely.

Another soft laugh followed: "Good boy." Then a small wooden sword was attached to Xu Yi's body. Xu Yi looked at the small wooden sword attached to his belt. It seemed to be in a spirit state like Xu Yi, but much more solid than Xu Yi's body. Its color was also a deep black. It was a very nice little pendant, so Xu Yi thanked him: "Thank you, Brother Yu Tong."

"You're welcome, little Xu Yi." Then Xu Yi heard Tong's voice in his ear. He said to Wu Zi, "You're running too slowly. Let me help you." Then a gray-black whip appeared behind Wu Zi and lashed out at Wu Zi's buttocks. Xu Yi was behind Wu Zi, so logically the whip should have hit Xu Yi first before hitting Wu Zi. However, the whip passed smoothly through Xu Yi's body and hit Wu Zi directly.

With a sharp crack, Wu Zi gritted his teeth and kept begging for mercy: "You wolf ancestor, please let me go, please let me go."

"Hmph, spineless..." Yu Tong's voice came from the wind, as she increased the frequency of whipping Wu Zi.

Wu Zi had learned his lesson. He quickly shut his mouth, ignoring the whip behind him, and focused all his strength on his feet, increasing his running speed.

Wu Zi ran day and night for four days and four nights before finally getting out of the mountain. When they took that first step out of the mountain, the air around them rippled. When Xu Yi looked back, there was no trace of the mountain behind them, only a yellow dirt road.

"Hey, where's the mountain?" Xu Yi asked Wu Zi.

Wu Zi waved his hand, panting, "I...I need...to...rest..." After saying that, he turned his head and fell asleep again.

Xu Yi was a stubborn person when he was alive, and he remained so even after death. He just stood there watching over Wu Zi, not knowing how to run away. He was afraid that Wu Zi would be harmed by other living beings, so he dared not sleep and just sat there waiting for Wu Zi to wake up.

As Wu Zi slept until midnight, a thick fog suddenly rose around them... The fog gradually approached Xu Yi and the others in circles. Just as Xu Yi was about to go and check, he saw Wu Zi wake up with a start, sit up abruptly, and quickly draw a wooden sword from his waist. The wooden sword was engraved with many incomprehensible runes, and Xu Yi could feel the oppressive aura emanating from it.

Wu Zi's eyes were sharp. He reached out and blocked Xu Yi, protecting him behind him, and shouted, "What kind of monster are you?"

"Hehe..." A silvery laugh rang out from the thick fog, and a barefoot, graceful woman emerged. She covered her mouth and chuckled, her voice extremely alluring: "I've come for my sister, you stinky Taoist, get lost." Her voice was soft and weak, but her actions were swift and decisive. With a wave of her hand, a blade formed from demonic energy shot towards Wu Zi at lightning speed.

Xu Yi quickly stepped back, afraid the blade would strike her, but saw Wu Zi raise his sword to block it. He blocked the blade directly, his fingers flashing as he pointed his sword to the sky, summoning a bolt of lightning that struck the fox demon directly. The fox demon's hair was disheveled and its clothes torn, and it cried out in pain.

The fox demon realized that Wu Zi was not someone to be trifled with, so she quickly squatted down, fearfully dispersing the thick fog, and clasped her hands together, begging for mercy: "Don't strike, don't strike, I just want to ask a question."

Xu Yi stared blankly at the fox demon's sudden change in appearance, unable to react. Wu Zi had already stepped forward, the tip of his sword pointing directly at the fox demon's head, his voice cold and calm: "Just ask that."

Xu Yi had only seen Wu Zi being bullied and humiliated these past few days, so when she suddenly saw Wu Zi's strong expression, she was so surprised that she didn't know what to say. Wu Zi glanced at Xu Yi's wide-eyed surprise and whispered, "I'm just a little weaker in there."

"Is that so?" Xu Yi replied blankly, "Oh."

The crouching fox demon looked up at Xu Yi before timidly asking, "Sister, did you come from Wuji Mountain?"

Wuji Mountain? Xu Yi looked at Wu Zi with a puzzled expression. Wu Zi pursed his lips and said, "It's the mountain we came from."

“Oh,” Xu Yi nodded, “Yes.”

"Could you tell me how to get in, sister?"

Xu Yi was about to say she didn't know when Wu Zi's sword moved forward two more inches, startling the fox demon so much that she fell back to the ground. Wu Zi looked at the fox demon with icy eyes: "Demon, Wuji Mountain has always been a matter of personal destiny. Not only do we not know how to get in, but even if we did, we wouldn't tell you..." With that, he swung his sword and severed half of the fox demon's hair: "Get lost..."

The fox demon looked at her severed hair, her lips trembled, and she burst into tears. With a wronged expression, she picked up her hair and ran away crying.

Xu Yi felt a little sorry for him: "Why are you being so fierce?"

Wu Zi rolled his eyes at Xu Yi: "Entering Wuji Mountain depends entirely on one's own destiny. If I were to say it directly, it would be interfering with the return journey of countless beings in the world. The karmic consequences are so great, and she is not unaware of this, yet she tried to deceive you into telling her. Her heart is not pure. I only cut off half of her hair, which is already a great mercy."

“Oh,” Xu Yi nodded, “but I really don’t know how to get in.”

Wu Zi glanced at Xu Yi for a long time before mimicking Xu Yi and replying with an "Oh".

Xu Yi remained silent, then rolled her eyes.

Finally, Wu Zi couldn't help but laugh and say, "Let's go." Then he led the way.

Xu Yi followed Wu Zi's footsteps and asked him, "You still haven't told me what you came out for?"

“Doing a good deed!” Wu Zi replied naturally.

"Do good deeds? Why do good deeds?"

"Only by doing good deeds can you have good consequences and a smooth path ahead."

"What smooth road?" Xu Yi was more and more confused as she listened.

Helpless, Wu Zi said after a long pause, "Grandma, don't worry about it, just come with me."

"Where do we go now?"

"I've noticed some unusual activity in the southwest; let's go check it out."

"Southwest, which prefecture?"

"Yes, He Zhou. Also, Xu Yi, you must never tell anyone that you came from Wuji Mountain, understand?"

"Ah? Oh, I've got it."

Xu Yi followed Wu Zi, wandering along the way and encountering many small monsters, but Wu Zi never paid them any attention. Xu Yi once asked curiously, "Aren't you supposed to be slaying demons and monsters? Why don't you pay any attention to them?"

Wu Zi rolled his eyes in response: "There are more than ten million living beings in this world. If we catch them all, wouldn't we be exhausted? Besides, the laws of heaven and earth allow these animals to cultivate in the righteous way. Why catch them? As long as they don't do anything bad and follow the righteous path, we don't need to pay attention to them."

That day, as soon as they entered a small mountain village, Xu Yi saw a paper figure from a roadside shop wink at her. Startled, Xu Yi quickly hid on the other side of Wu Zi. Looking at Xu Yi's expression, Wu Zi was speechless: "It was just saying hello to you."

"Is this how you greet someone?" Xu Yi asked sincerely.

"It's a ghost, and you're a ghost too. You're in the same dimension. Only you can see it blink. If it doesn't greet you like this, and instead rushes over and waves at you, wouldn't you be even more scared?"

"Oh," Xu Yi was convinced. She straightened up and smiled at the paper figure. Xu Yi clearly saw the smile on the paper figure's face widen. This eerie scene made Xu Yi's hands tremble. She could only force a fake smile and quicken her pace.

In the evening, Wu Zi and his companions stayed at a farmer's house. While they were resting, Xu Yi heard someone calling her from outside: "Come out and play, come out and play."

Xu Yi opened the window and saw the paper figure that had winked at her during the day. She forced a smile, kept patting Wu Zi, and said in a panic, "It's coming to me! It's coming to me! What should I do?"