The ghostly figure threw the dead badger into a corner of the wall and carefully examined the entrance to its den, only to find that there was an extremely thin thread leading out of the hole and connecting it to a bell in the distance. It seemed that his repeated failures to sneak in with Jinpinger over the past few days were all due to this little badger's discovery.

  He had once read in the remnants of the "Shén Mó Zhì Yì" hidden by the Gui Wang Zong that the gray pig's nose was extremely sensitive, far surpassing all ordinary objects. He had been trying to conceal his figure for several days, but he hadn't expected to be discovered by this small beast.

  Although he seemed to have figured out the joint, Gu Lie's eyebrows furrowed again, and he stood in the dark corner of the wall, lost in thought for a moment. The Grey Boar was not an ancient divine beast, but it was rare in the world, and it was said that only in certain forests deep within the Ten Million Great Mountains of the Southern Border could one find them. Yet, here in the Valley of Burning Incense, there were actually such beasts, and from his attempts to enter the valley from various places over the past few days, not a single one had gone unnoticed. It seemed that the number of Grey Boars in the Valley of Burning Incense was quite considerable, which was truly astonishing.

  But the most crucial thing is to tame so many gray wolves to such an extent, this kind of beast-taming skill, not to mention the orthodox sects of the Central Plains, even in the demonic teachings, it's unheard of, but rather it's said that the southern barbarian tribes have such a strange technique!

  The ghostly figure raised its eyes and turned around, looking forward, and suddenly discovered that in the distant noise, the depths of the valley were still quiet, shrouded in a heavy darkness like a black curtain, and it was unknown how many secrets were hidden.

  The noisy voices at the entrance of the valley gradually subsided, and only distant loud conversations could be heard, but the fighting sounds had all disappeared. It seemed that the side of Fengxiang Valley had gradually controlled the situation.

  I don't even know what kind of person would dare to provoke the Fragrant Valley so blatantly. Gui Li withdrew his gaze from the entrance of the valley, and Jin Ping'er's figure flashed through his mind. This mysterious and enchanting woman was probably still in that chaotic place.

  At this moment, Gui Li has already gone deep into the interior of Fengxiang Valley from that hidden corner. Along the way, there is no longer the alarm bell triggered by those gray pigs. It seems that Fengxiang Valley is likely to distribute these keen-smelling small beasts in various corners of the valley, and once you enter the middle of the valley, you don't have to worry about them anymore.

  The night was deep and the valley, which had just calmed down from its noise, seemed especially quiet. As a ghostly figure floated along the winding path of the mountain villa, the world under the dark curtain gradually revealed itself.

  Fengxiang Valley is known as the pillar of the orthodox way, although it has been low-key in its daily activities, but after all, it is a large sect that has prospered for 800 years. What gradually appears on this road is the foundation of this sect.

  Under the night, only a dozen or so paths of varying sizes can be seen, connected to each other like blood vessels in the human body, spreading out and deep into the darkness of the valley. On both sides of the road are either ordinary disciples' residences or grand halls, interspersed among these buildings are mostly flowers, grasses, and trees, including green bamboo and cold plum blossoms, as well as bright and majestic peonies and tree peonies, clustering together in groups, gazing at each other from afar, blending seamlessly with the surrounding halls, each having its own unique charm.

  Due to the commotion, although it was in the dead of night, there were still disciples of Fengxiang Valley walking around from time to time. Gui Li had to be careful to hide his figure, lest he expose his tracks. On the other hand, looking at the expressions on these disciples' faces, they seemed very calm and no longer showed the shock and astonishment when the commotion first started, it was clear that the situation at the entrance of the valley had already been settled.

  This slightly inferior disciple of the Valley of Incense is still not enough to defeat the fierce ghost, but in the past decade, he has been practicing the true methods of Buddhism, Taoism and Demonology with a mysterious and magical heavenly book as his foundation. His progress is so rapid that it's unbelievable, even the erudite Ghost King is amazed and cannot understand, finally attributing it to the principle of Buddhist-Taoist joint cultivation, perhaps there is indeed a mysterious place where they secretly converge and advance.

  He was just a ghost, hiding in the dark, although he didn't put these ordinary disciples of Fengxiang Valley in his eyes, but the dozen or so roads in front of him made him really headache, not knowing where to go. This time, sneaking into Fengxiang Valley with his own mind, he thought about exploring the secrets inside Fengxiang Valley, and it would be best if he could find out the relationship with those southern barbarian tribes.

  To know these things, it is naturally necessary to go to the places where those important figures are in the Valley of Incense. However, the paths before us look like a maze and are really dizzying.

  Just as Gui Lie frowned and hesitated, considering whether to capture a disciple of Fengxiang Valley for interrogation, he suddenly felt a strange movement on his shoulder, and a faint humming sound came from Xiao Hui's ear.

  The ghost was startled, turned his head to look, and his body shook slightly. He saw that the little monkey Xiao Hui was tightly grasping his clothes with its hand, its face twisted in agony, its eyes closed, as if it were in pain. However, being a spiritual creature, it knew this wasn't the right time, so it endured the suffering.

  The ghost's scream was not a small matter, I don't know how, from the moment it entered the valley just now, Xiao Hui seemed to be somewhat unwell, and now it seems that there is some great pain on its body.

  He gently lifted Xiaohui down with his hand, and Guilai carefully examined it for a moment, only to feel that the monkey's body in his palm was trembling slightly, apparently using all its strength to resist the unknown pain. Guilai was even more worried, saying in a low voice: "What's wrong, Xiaohui?"

  As if it had heard its master's words, Xiao Hui tilted its head slightly and slowly opened its eyes.

  A golden light with a hint of dark red, like an eerie ghost fire in the night, or a mysterious and sinister magic pupil from the nine hells, appeared before Ghostly's eyes.

  The temperature around seems to have suddenly dropped.

  Xiao Hui's breathing sound began to slowly increase, Gui Li clearly felt it, the monkey's claws grasping his hands, that strength was getting bigger and bigger, the claws deeply embedded in the muscle.

  The monkey's mouth slowly opened and closed, but the eerie golden glint in its eyes remained fixed on Gui Li, not relaxing for a moment. From that gaze, Gui Li suddenly felt a familiar, bloodthirsty gleam, just like his own crazed state in the past...

  In an instant, Gui Li suddenly felt a chill run down his entire body. He abruptly turned his head and looked towards the sleeve of his robe. Unbeknownst to him, at some point in time, the Blood Devouring Bead on top of the Soul Devouring Crown had begun to emit a faint, eerie blue glow with a hint of blood light.

  Blood Bead!

  The most sinister and evil thing in this world is actually so cunning...

  It was as if it had suddenly emerged from the depths of his heart, and in an instant, he only felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He turned his head back, staring at Xiao Hui. Xiao Hui seemed to have sensed something too, and let out two low cries.

  The ghost's eyes fixed intently, and he immediately discovered that behind Xiao Hui's golden pupils, there seemed to be a hint of fear. He took a deep breath, and then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he said softly, "It's okay."

  Xiao Hui seemed to understand its master's words, blinked its eyes, and slowly closed them. After a moment, as if the inexplicable pain was gradually subsiding, Xiao Hui's paw strength also gradually weakened.

  The demon stood in the darkness, slowly embracing Xiao Hui in his arms.

  The night air is cool as water.

  A vast darkness ahead, a figure and an ape's shadow, lightly flickering in the dark corner of the night.

  Nor did he know how long he had stood there, but Xiao Hui was like asleep, quietly lying in Gui Li's arms. Gui Li didn't care that this was the dangerous Burning Incense Valley, standing upright in the darkness, gently holding the monkey.

  Suddenly, the little grey body in his arms moved, and its head lifted up. Gui Li looked down and saw that the golden light in the monkey's eyes had disappeared, and it had returned to its usual lively and agile appearance.

  The ghost's heart sank, but before he could say anything, Xiao Hui struggled and pointed to a road outside. The ghost was taken aback, looked up, and after a while, two people indeed walked out from that road, who were familiar figures to the ghost.

  Li Kun and Yan Hong.

  The demon's eyebrows furrowed, these two he had known ten years ago were both exceptionally talented individuals. Although the world had changed over the past decade and they hadn't seen each other again, for cultivators, ten years was but an instant. The two of them looked almost exactly the same as they did ten years ago, only their movements seemed to have surpassed what they were capable of back then.

  Only saw them walking slowly, seemingly talking to each other. As they approached, Yan Hong said: "Shixiong, why did those monsters suddenly rush in?"

  Li Kun furrowed his brow, apparently also not quite understanding. But looking at his cold and stern face, he said coldly: "Those uncivilized beasts, who can know what they are thinking! If I were to say that these fish people dare to invade the valley, they should be made to have no return, why bother going to trouble Master Shang again?"

  "Brother, don't be angry," Yan Hong said softly. "The valley master has a deep plan and is far-sighted. There must be something we can't understand for the time being. When we negotiated with those barbarians before, it was Master Shang who displayed his divine power and shocked them. Those barbarians regarded him as a heavenly person, and as long as he came out, those monsters would definitely leave obediently. The valley master asked us to invite Master Shang out, probably for this reason."

  Li Xuan snorted and said, "I naturally know these things, but I just don't understand why we, as the respected ones of Fengxiang Valley, must lower our voices and humble ourselves in front of these monsters. Now, we even need to ask Master Shang to make an appearance. If this matter gets out, won't Fengxiang Valley become a laughing stock among all the righteous sects?"

  Yan Hong smiled and said, "Brother, I think these barbarians still have some use, so the valley master tolerates them three points. Until the future..." She suddenly stopped talking at this point, but her eyes were fixed on Li Xu, as if there were thousands of words to be said.

  Li Kun's mouth twitched, and his handsome face seemed to have a hint of discontent. From afar, however, it added a few more points to his elegance. He didn't say anything else, but instead let out a light sigh, and walked slowly with Yan Hong onto a small path beside them, disappearing into the night after a while.

  In the shadows, a sharp gaze like a knife stared at their backs. Gui Li's mind was racing with thoughts, and it turned out that the ones who had invaded Fengxiang Valley tonight were actually the fish-like aliens he had been investigating. He recalled that three days ago, on that night, he had overheard Lv Shun talking to the fish-man in a hidden place, and that tall fish-man seemed to be the leader of their tribe.

  It seems that tonight's incident was mostly caused by the fish tribe leader being ambushed and killed by Jinping'er, and the remaining fish people came to avenge in anger. As soon as this thought occurred to him, Gui Li's mind involuntarily flashed with Jinping'er's figure, and his vigilance towards this woman deepened again.

  He stood still in the shadows for a moment, then seemed to have made up his mind and glanced at Xiaohui in his arms. Xiaohui's eyes blinked, and suddenly he moved, jumped onto his shoulder, smiled with an open mouth, and seemed to have fully recovered.

  Gui Li put down his guard and smiled faintly, saying: "Let's go take a look at that certain Upper Official Shifu, what kind of person he is."

  Xiao Hui let out two "squeaks", and with a wave of its monkey hand, it pointed towards the road that Li Xuan and Yan Hong had taken.

  The ghostly figure smiled silently in the darkness, its shadow suddenly rising and swiftly moving towards that quiet little road.

  In the distance, a disciple of Xianggu Valley was walking towards this place. Suddenly, he felt a flash in front of his eyes and seemed to see a ghostly shadow flashing by on the road leading to the "Xuanhuo Altar" deep in the valley. When he looked carefully again, there was nothing. He couldn't help but pause for a moment, then shook his head, muttered to himself, and continued walking forward, not taking this matter to heart.

  The path was quiet and secluded, but the road was unexpectedly long. It seemed that the place where Officer Shi Shu was located was very remote. Guili didn't walk far on this road before he couldn't see any other houses around him. The roadsides were lined with trees and flowers, and the night wind blew in, under the bright moonlight at the horizon, the tree shadows swayed, looking like some kind of ghostly dance, revealing a hint of eeriness.

  Guilei walked cautiously along the small path, and after a while, he didn't see any forks in the road like outside. It seemed that this road led directly to where Master Shang was.

  The valley of incense is extremely large, and this small path, winding and curved, leads to the depths of the mountain valley.

  Suddenly, a white square object appeared on the side of the road ahead. The ghost's fierce eyes focused and stared intently, but it was just a stone monument with two lines of eight characters:

  Mysterious Fire Heavy Earth

  The Disciple Stops at the Foot of the Mountain

  The ghost's eyebrows furrowed, not because of the possible mysterious place ahead, but because of the two words "Mystic Fire", which quietly touched a spot in his heart.

  He involuntarily glanced at his right arm under the clothes, where "Xuanhuo Mirror" was quietly lying on his arm.

  He was stunned for a moment, then let out a cold laugh and walked past this stone monument with his feet raised.

  That stone monument looks ordinary, but it seems to be a dividing place. After passing the monument, for some reason, the small path still extends forward in a winding curve, but the trees and flowers on both sides of the road have become much scarcer.

  The grass on the ground gradually disappeared, followed by low shrubs, and finally even the dense trees on both sides became sparse. Not to mention that the ground began to crack, even the remaining few trees had their trunks and branches turned a withered yellow, as if this area was extremely short of water, and the land was scorched.

  Nor is it known whether there is any connection with those two characters "Xuan Huo" (Mysterious Fire)?

  The little grey on his shoulder let out a low cry and its body moved slightly, seeming somewhat uneasy. Gui Li lightly patted its body, and only then did the little grey gradually calm down. At this moment, the surrounding scene was indeed very strange, but looking around, it didn't seem like there was anything important in the valley of incense, otherwise, on this journey here, not even a single disciple guarding the place had been seen.

  Gu Liang's mind was turning with thoughts as he walked along the small path and turned around the last bend.

  Suddenly, Ding Li was also shocked, and in front of him appeared a large empty space, with a wave of heat blowing from nowhere.

  In the center of the empty land, there was a huge circular altar, with its base suspended in mid-air, supported by thirteen giant stone pillars made of white jade, each one reaching a height of three zhang. The twelve white jade pillars along the edge of the altar were as thick as two people embracing, while the thickest pillar in the center of the altar looked like it would take at least five or six people to encircle it.

  Above the altar, all buildings were built with a kind of crimson strange stone, stairs, railings, and so on. In the center of the altar, there was a magnificent temple that stood tall and majestic, presenting a pagoda shape, with three layers, each layer being about half smaller than the one below it, but almost every layer looked like an incredible ten zhang high.

  In the distance, this altar was simply a huge burning crimson flame, piercing the sky. Gui Li stood under this altar, almost like an ant, extremely small.

  The ghost took a deep breath, and the building in front of him was truly astonishing. The four words "ghostly craftsmanship" might be fitting even here. He hadn't expected to find such a magnificent structure in the depths of Burning Incense Valley. His mind sank into contemplation, and in an instant, he recalled the stone tablet from earlier, and his heart vaguely knew that this place was likely the famous location within Burning Incense Valley - the Mysterious Fire Altar.

  He calmed himself, and then quietly floated over. The surroundings were empty except for the Xuanhuo altar in front of him, with no obstructions. Fortunately, there was no one guarding around, and his figure was fast, and he quickly arrived at the bottom of the Xuanhuo altar.

  As soon as he approached the vicinity of the mysterious fire altar, the heat in the air suddenly increased several times over. Even someone with a cultivation base like Gui Li's felt a wave of irritation and restlessness, with sweat secretly forming on his forehead. Gui Li furrowed his brow, inwardly shocked, and immediately remembered that he didn't know whether Xiao Hui could withstand this intense heat. He turned his head to look, only to see the little grey creature scratching its head and ears on his shoulder, seemingly completely ignoring the surrounding heat.

  Gui Li was taken aback, subconsciously feeling that Xiao Hui had been acting strangely lately, especially since consuming the Lingyao Xishi in the Tian Di Treasure Pavilion on the divine tree in the Death Swamp, his body began to undergo a gradual transformation.

  However, at this moment, Xiaohui's fearlessness of heat is much better than his fear of heat. Guili has no mind to care about so many things for the time being. He was thinking about whether to take this Xuanhuo altar next step when suddenly a footstep sound came from above the Xuanhuo altar.

  The ghost frowned and glanced around, but saw that there was no cover anywhere. After a brief moment of hesitation, he flew into the lower part of the Xuanhuo Altar and hid behind a thick white jade stone pillar.

  He hid behind a stone pillar, subconsciously stretched out his hand to touch the stone pillar, and suddenly felt a scorching sensation on his hand. His reaction was extremely quick, and he immediately withdrew his hand.

  Under this mysterious fire altar, even this stone pillar is scorching hot.

  The footsteps grew louder, and it was clear that someone had come down. Suddenly, a hoarse voice slowly said: "Since the host of the valley has invited me, I naturally want to go. But you'd better tell me, why did those fish people suddenly become so violent, and even wanted to attack the mountain valley?"

  Gu Lian hid in the shadow of a stone pillar, looking out to see only Li Xuan and Yan Hong following behind an old man in gray clothes, walking down with a respectful expression.