Qi Wu and the others stared in disbelief at the scene before them: the clay statue of the mountain god had come to life, wielding a sword to fight the demon! "The mountain god has shown its spirit!" A Yue said in a daze.
Qi Wu reacted quickly, "No, someone is hiding inside the statue!"
Indeed, during the fight between the sword-wielding mountain god and the tiger demon, pieces of clay fell away, revealing the true identity of the person inside. It was Lu Yang.
"You bastard, after waiting for five days, I finally found you! It was worth it to pretend to be a statue for five days. Take this!" Lu Yang said fiercely, kicking out.
A person as quick-witted as him loved to roam around and couldn't stand still. This time, to avoid being discovered by the tiger demon, he had to stay motionless inside the statue for five days, which was quite uncomfortable.
Before everyone could react, the statue of the mountain god also came to life: "Lu Yang, we will help you!"
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu broke free from the clay statue and used their own abilities to eliminate the tiger demon.
...
Five days earlier, three unexpected guests arrived at the mountain god temple. They took a special pill that allowed them to enter a state of fasting and hollowed out the statue of the mountain god to climb inside.
The statue was much larger than an average person, easily accommodating someone inside.
"Are you sure this method will work?" Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu looked at Lu Yang with doubt.
"Based on the information provided by Brother Man Gu, we can only wait and see if the tiger demon comes to eat... Let's get inside first," Lu Yang replied.
Man Gu thought to himself, could this be what they call a gentleman hiding his talents?
"That's right, it must mean that. Truly, reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles is essential," Man Gu said happily. He had never understood this saying until now, and after going out on a mission with Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, he had gained such insight.
His master was right; to learn well, one must find a good example to follow!
The three of them chose their respective statues, got inside, and maintained the same posture as the statues, leaving only their eyes exposed.
"Hey, can you hear me?" Lu Yang used a mental technique to communicate silently.
This mental technique was something they had just learned on the way. At close range, it didn’t require any spiritual energy; they could communicate just by thought. It was easy to grasp, and with a bit of practice, they could use it.
"I can hear you," Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu replied.
"Is the carriage okay?" Meng Jingzhou was worried about his carriage and old horse.
To avoid attracting the tiger demon's attention, they had left the carriage at an inn in Yanjiang County for safekeeping.
"We know too little about the tiger demon. What we can confirm is that this tiger demon is at the early stage of foundation building to the early stage of golden core, cunning by nature, and very cautious. It only eats ordinary people, not cultivators, to avoid trouble. If cultivators search the mountains, it hides somewhere where no one can find it."
"In other words, it will avoid any conflict with cultivators; it will dodge whenever possible."
The tiger demon had been able to stay in Song Mountain for so long without being discovered by cultivators because it never fought or caused trouble.
"So we need to hide well and wait for the tiger demon to come, then take it out in one go!"
"Tiger-type demons are sensitive to spiritual energy, so we must not use any spiritual energy while we wait."
That's why they chose to use the mental technique that didn’t require spiritual energy.
Five days later.
"Wow, after waiting so many days, someone finally came."
"It looks like a traveling merchant?"
"Wait, why is there an old hunter? Didn't they say all the hunters left because of the tiger demon?"
They had carefully investigated Song Mountain, and the locals all said that the hunters had left, and it had been a long time since anyone had heard of hunters coming down to sell leather.
A ghost!
The three of them communicated mentally and quickly reached the same conclusion: this was not just an old hunter leading the way but a ghost trying to lure people in!
Initially skeptical about the tiger demon's existence, seeing the ghost confirmed that there must be a tiger demon in the mountain!
"Did you hear the old hunter? He said he lived with a few other hunters, and the merchant leader found him there. That can't be a lie."
"It’s very possible that those hunters are also ghosts, pretending to be normal people to trick passersby. That way, they seem more convincing and avoid raising suspicion!"
"Should we take out the ghost now?" Meng Jingzhou was eager to act.
Lu Yang told Meng Jingzhou to hold back and analyzed, "Don't scare the snake. Did you hear that guy Qi Wu say he wants to seek help from the five major sects? Given the tiger demon's cautious nature, it will definitely come to deal with them. Let's wait quietly, and once the tiger demon appears, I'll take action, and you two cover me while getting those merchants away from here."
"Okay."
"Hey, did you hear the footsteps outside the temple? It shouldn't be the tiger demon."
Hearing Qi Wu and the old hunter trying to chase away the girl in the green dress, Man Gu couldn't help but mumble, "So stupid. With that female cultivator around, the tiger demon won't come to kill. The tiger demon is worried about being discovered; if it kills her, her sect will come looking for it. If it doesn't kill her, she will bring her sect to find it. Either way, it's a dead end. The only solution is to drive her away."
"See, I was right; the ghost drove her away."
Lu Yang remained calm: "Think about it, if the female cultivator is here, when will the tiger demon appear?"
Meng Jingzhou suddenly said, "Did you notice the jade pendant at the girl’s waist?"
"What’s wrong with the jade pendant?" Lu Yang and Man Gu knew that many jade pendants symbolized identity, but they didn't know the specifics.
"That's the jade token of the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace."
The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace is one of the five major sects.
Between the Central Continent and the extreme north, there is a continuous snow mountain stretching across east and west, covered in snow all year round, rarely seeing a sunny day. This snow mountain is known as the highest peak in the Central Continent, closest to the moon.
Within the snow mountain lies a beautiful immortal palace, the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace.
"She should be at the foundation building stage. When we fight the tiger demon later, let's make as much noise as possible to catch her attention and see if she’s willing to help."
She definitely wasn’t at the golden core stage; a golden core cultivator from the sect would have seen through the old hunter's disguise as a ghost right away, unlike now, where they were easily deceived.
After a while, the three of them watched as Qi Wu and the others fell asleep soundly, making them feel sleepy too.
Man Gu recited a sage's saying to dispel his drowsiness: "The sage said, I reflect on myself three times a day. Are you sleepy? I'm not sleepy. Are you sleepy? I'm not sleepy..."
"Stop it; even if I'm not sleepy, I'm getting sleepy from your chanting," Meng Jingzhou said, urging Man Gu to keep quiet. He couldn't help but yawn.
"But I'm just reciting silently," Man Gu replied using the mental technique.
"Listen carefully!" Lu Yang ignored the two silly ones and forced himself to stay focused, always alert to the sounds outside.
"There's something stepping on the grass... the tiger demon is coming!"
Hearing Lu Yang's reminder, Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu stopped bickering and immediately got ready for battle.
"Finally, this beast has arrived!"
Lu Yang no longer hid his aura. With a tremor, he shattered the mountain god statue, drew his sword, and the sword light illuminated the entire temple.
(End of Chapter)