Xie Lian could only sense layers of violent fluctuations coming from all directions, and an indescribable strange smell filled the air.
All those yellow talismans exploded!
The solid heads of the demons and monsters affixed to their heads were blown apart, blood and flesh splattering everywhere, while the hollow heads were completely blasted into shape, sending black smoke billowing. Amidst the mountain wall, a chorus of ghostly howls and wolves wailed. Hua Cheng released his hand from covering Xie Lian's ears; it seemed to have no effect. Xie Lian stood up, slightly startled. He had just examined those yellow talismans one by one; they were indeed ordinary demon-dispelling talismans. How could they possibly have such terrifying effects?
At this moment, a piece of torn paper slowly fell from the sky filled with black dust. Xie Lian quickly caught it and brought it to his eyes. He immediately understood what it was and said, "How cunning."
This is a fragment of a yellow talisman. If it weren't broken, it would be impossible to tell that it actually has two layers!
There was a layer of paper covering the top, on which was drawn the most common talisman, and there was another layer of extremely thin talisman paper. Although it had been burned so that it was impossible to tell what was drawn on it, it was undoubtedly the most vicious and powerful talisman.
Dust and smoke billowed, blurring vision. Many ghosts and monsters continued to scream, as if someone was taking advantage of the opportunity to attack. Xie Lian immediately ducked. A ghost shouted, "Wait! The fight hasn't even started yet, why are you already starting a fight?"
"Yeah! Didn't we all say that since we're all ghosts, we should all live in peace and work together to get through this mountain before we go in?!"
A voice grinned, "Fools like you deserve to be eliminated in the first round! No one ever said when the fight would start. We're all rivals anyway, so the sooner we kill them, the better! Could they even give you a heads-up before we start?"
"Wait, wait! I'm quitting! We haven't even entered Tonglu Mountain yet! Can't I quit now?!"
"What do you think this place is? You can come and go as you please? You haven't entered Tonglu Mountain? Take a good look at where you are now!"
The smoke and dust cleared slightly, and the ghosts could see clearly. They were shocked and exclaimed, "Ah?! How could this happen?!"
Not only them, Xie Lian was also slightly shocked by the scene before him.
When they arrived, they were blocked by a mountain that they couldn't get around or climb. However, when they looked again, they found that the mountain had disappeared without a trace.
No, it didn't disappear, but moved behind them.
It turned out that they had already entered the territory of Tonglu Mountain without realizing it!
Xie Lian suddenly understood why, when he had asked if there were any landmarks on Tonglu Mountain, Huacheng had said yes, but not to trust them. Because these "landmarks," like children who like to play pranks, would move on their own!
Suddenly, Xie Lian heard a voice sneering behind him, "I want to see, are you a puppet or something else?"
Deadly knife demon!
Xie Lian turned around abruptly, but before Ruo Xie could fly out, he saw a flash of cold light, and the Swift Blade Demon was cut in half before he could even utter a scream!
Xie Lian leaned forward to take a look. It was indeed a mistake; it had been cut cleanly in two. This time, it was truly deader than dead. He looked up and saw that it was the cloaked figure who had done the deed. He was slowly inserting a longsword into its scabbard beneath his cloak and walking steadily towards him.
Xie Lian felt that the figure and gait were somewhat familiar, so he stood up and asked, "Who are you, sir?"
The man chuckled softly, as if about to reply, but suddenly leaned forward. Seeing this unusual behavior, Xie Lian's heart was alarmed, and he focused on guarding against a sneak attack. But he saw the man simply lean over, his hands on the left and right, and put his arms around the waists of the two female ghosts, saying, "Is there anything wrong, ladies?"
Xie Lian: “…”
The two female ghosts were both quite pretty. Since they didn't wield swords and didn't have the yellow talisman, they escaped the disaster, but they were still knocked unconscious by the explosion so close to them. Now, being held in someone's arms and being called affectionately, they slowly regained consciousness and said gratefully, "I'm fine, thank you..."
Unexpectedly, before he could even finish his "thank you," the two female ghosts' faces changed drastically. They slapped the cloaked stranger away, saying, "Get lost!" and hurriedly crawled to the side. The man didn't seem angry after being slapped away, but seemed to find it strange. He touched his chin, frowned, and asked in surprise, "Isn't this right? This face isn't ugly, is it?"
“…”
Although he still hadn't taken off his disguise, Xie Lian already knew who he was and asked, "General Pei, why are you here too?"
The person turned to him, smiled slightly, and wiped his hand across his face, revealing his true face. It was Pei Ming!
He said, "Of course, the Emperor asked me to come and lend a helping hand to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Xie Lian said, “Really? I’m so sorry. As you can see, this place is quite dangerous.”
Hua Cheng said, "Brother, there's no need to be embarrassed. He must have asked Jun Wu for favors."
Pei Ming walked up to Hua Cheng, squatted down, and measured his current height with his hand. He smiled and said, "Am I seeing correctly? Could this be His Excellency Xueyu Tanhua? It's true that a man should be looked at with new eyes after three days of absence. What did you eat to grow backwards? Ha..."
He just let out a "ha!" when Xie Lian swung out a whip, nearly sending him flying. Pei Ming narrowly avoided it, leaping back and saying, "Your Highness, how much do you cherish City Lord Hua that you can't even take a joke?"
Xie Lian asked sternly, “Are you really General Pei?”
Pei Ming patted the sword at his waist, showed it to him, and said, "It's genuine."
Xie Lian said, “If it’s genuine, don’t exchange it, just return it.”
Hua Cheng said, "Brother, beat him to death, it's fake."
Pei Ming: "Hello!"
Xie Lian asked, “If you were truly General Pei, how could that yellow talisman have left a burn mark on your forehead?”
Pei Ming said, "It's simple. It all depends on this." He tossed a small object to Xie Lian. Out of caution, Xie Lian didn't catch it with his hands. Instead, he picked it up with the tip of his sword and held it in front of him, asking, "Candy?"
On the tip of the sword was indeed a small, shiny black candy. Pei Ming tossed another into his mouth and said, "These are ghost-flavored candies I bought at the Ghost Market. Chewing one fills your mouth with ghostly energy, from the inside out. It's quite useful when impersonating someone inhuman."
Xie Lian picked up the ghost-flavored candy ball and asked curiously, "Can you buy something this magical in the Ghost Market?"
Pei Ming ate the candy and said, "Ask City Lord Hua next to you; he knows best. You can buy anything at the Ghost Market; it all depends on your connections. It tastes good. Your Highness, would you like to try one too?"
Xie Lian was also curious about what ghosts tasted like, so he said to Hua Cheng, "In that case, we should have bought some of these ghost-flavored candies before we came."
Hua Cheng took the candy ball from his hand and said, "Brother, if you want something from the Ghost Market, just tell me directly. But don't eat this."
"Why?"
Hua Cheng didn't exert any force, and the candy ball screamed and disintegrated into a puff of black smoke. He said, "Everything in the ghost market is very dangerous. For example, candy balls like these come from shady workshops, and the raw materials are mostly low-quality ghosts of unknown origin. Eating them is harmful to the body."
Pei Ming didn't take it seriously: "It's okay, I don't eat it often, it's just for emergencies."
Hua Cheng continued, "And the smell is pungent. Priests and humans can't smell it, but the lower the level of the imp, the more foul the smell."
Pei Ming: "..."
Hua Cheng chuckled and said, "So, do you know why those two female ghosts told you to get lost?"
“…”
Because they felt that the ghost energy on Pei Ming was extremely inferior and extremely foul-smelling!
Xie Lian coughed lightly and said politely, "General Pei, this...it's best not to eat it."
Pei Ming gestured, took out the remaining ghost-flavored candy balls and threw them all away, saying, "Alright. However, we're only at the outermost layer of Tonglu Mountain now. Once we get in, there will definitely be more powerful monsters and demons. They'll be able to tell at a glance that something's wrong with you or me. What should we do then?"
Those female ghosts flocked to Hua Cheng, presumably because they loved his scent. The ghost energy Hua Cheng passed on to him must have been of the highest quality, so there was really no need to buy ghost-flavored candy balls. However, if he wanted to conceal the fact that the ghost energy was acquired from outside, he would probably still need to pass on the energy through close contact and exchange body fluids, as he had done previously. Thinking of this, Xie Lian quickly stopped himself and said seriously, "I don't know. I'm just a puppet."
It meant that the show was about to continue. Pei Ming said, "Alright. Then Your Highness the Crown Prince must follow your master closely."
Xie Lian pretended not to hear. He glanced around, paused for a moment, and said, “I never expected such heavy casualties right from the start.”
Over four hundred demons and monsters had gathered here, nearly all of them killed or wounded in the recent chaos. Xie Lian couldn't help but recall the scene Hua Cheng had demonstrated to him that night. It was no exaggeration at all, like a strong wind blowing through the grass, sweeping away all the weeds. The few who had escaped, those who hadn't quite died, numbered less than a dozen, their limbs scattered and groaning. Hua Cheng stood before them and said, "Do you know what Tonglu Mountain is now?"
The surviving ghosts remained silent. Xie Lian spoke gently, "You're still only on the outer layer, so you can still escape. If you don't want to go any deeper and encounter something even more terrifying, then wait here and find a chance to leave."
The ghosts were just about to do just that, but seeing they had no intention of silencing them, they quickly helped those who were left behind, supporting those who were left behind, and retreated as far away as possible. Looking at the retreating figures, Xie Lian mused, "That Deadly Blade Demon, while given an extremely exaggerated name, is surprisingly formidable, and truly ruthless."
Pei Ming agreed, "This thing is extremely scheming. He's been muddying the waters from the start, and he's very quick to react. Your Highness, that sword strike just gave him the opportunity to use his self-torture tactics."
Xie Lian was startled. “Wait, ‘that sword’? Which sword? I didn’t stab him.”
Pei Ming said, "No? It was the sword strike on his lower abdomen. If he hadn't tried so hard to create panic earlier, and if the wound hadn't been stained with your spiritual light, the other demons wouldn't have believed him and put talismans on their heads."
Xie Lian asked curiously, “To be honest, I thought it was you, General Pei, who stabbed me with that sword?”
Pei Ming said, "Your Highness, what misunderstanding do you have about me? I, Pei, would never do a sneak attack."
Xie Lian said, “It’s neither you nor me, so could there be a third priest among all the people present? Or, is there something wrong with the spiritual light on the wound of the Swift Blade Demon…” He turned around, wanting to check again to confirm, but the place where the Deadly Swift Blade Demon had dismembered his body was empty.
He was stunned and asked, "Where is the body of the Swift Blade Demon?"
Pei Ming was also slightly stunned and said, "I clearly cut him in half with my sword just now."
Hua Cheng said in a deep voice, "Brother, be careful. In Tonglu Mountain, the more opponents you kill, the stronger you will become."
And just in that instant, the deadly knife demon killed nearly four hundred demons and monsters!
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