The dark wind blew more and more fiercely, causing the clothes of Gui Li and Jin Ping'er to flutter. They stood at the entrance of the Demon-Suppressing Cave, looking ahead as a huge and eerie figure gradually appeared before them.

  Copper bell-sized eyeballs suddenly opened in the white gas, with a faint blood-red glow emanating from them. The enormous and ominous shadow loomed over, its gaze falling on the two ordinary humans standing below.

  "Who dares to come to this place?"

  The evil spirit's voice suddenly rang out, loud and clear, as if the surrounding mountains were shaking. However, after a moment, the evil spirit seemed to have discovered something, paused for a moment, and its gaze turned to Jinping'er who was standing slightly behind Gui Li: "You again?"

  Jin Bier smiled slightly, with infinite charm, and said: "Yes, it's me. We meet again."

  The fierce spirit let out a loud roar, the sound echoing far away, as if in the deep ancient cave behind him, his roar was also echoing: "Why have you come here again, are you not satisfied with disturbing the goddess's statue last time?"

  Jin Ping'er was secretly thinking of how to deal with this ferocious spirit, and judging from the situation that day, this guardian of the ancient demon cave was indeed not easy to deal with. However, she thought deeply in her heart, but her facial expression remained smiling, just about to speak, when suddenly a ghostly voice was heard beside her: "Are you the Black Tiger, one of the seven heroes who followed Linglong witch into the southern border of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains?"

  Jin Ping'er was shocked, turned around and looked at Gui Li, but only saw Gui Li's face calm, just staring at the huge shadow of the fierce spirit. Also almost at the same time as Gui Li asked this question, the fierce spirit also involuntarily stunned for a moment, as if the name "Black Tiger" hit him hard in his heart like a heavy punch.

  Even if I were to become a malevolent spirit, even if I were abandoned by the world, after thousands of years of lonely and bitter waiting, there would still be some memories deeply hidden in my heart.

  "Who are you?" The fierce and heroic voice suddenly became hoarse, and the scene that had just appeared changed completely.

  The demon gazed at the voice surrounded by a gloomy aura, with complex and unclear light flashing in his eyes. He spoke slowly: "In the past, seven people followed Linglong witch, five returned, and later established the five tribes of Nanjiang today. The remaining two were the two brothers who followed Linglong witch for the longest time, Black Tiger and Black Wood, but they did not return. According to the ancient witch tribe legend, the elder brother Black Tiger was loyal and brave, while the younger brother Black Wood was firm and persistent. I see that you are extremely respectful of this god statue, and after thousands of years, you have become a fierce spirit without regret. I guess you are Black Tiger, right?"

  That malevolent spirit remained silent for a long time, its gaze fixed intently on Gui Li, but Gui Li showed no fear under that fierce stare, meeting it head-on. Slowly, the dark white ghost energy surrounding the malevolent spirit began to churn, and the blood-red color in its eyes grew more intense, making the already chilly entrance of the ancient demon-suppressing cave seem even colder.

  The little monkey Xiao Hui, who was perched on Gui Li's shoulder, also seemed somewhat uneasy and let out a low cry.

  "What kind of person are you, to actually know the past of the Wu tribe?" The fierce spirit's originally angry voice seemed to suddenly change tone, with an inexplicable chill in its pitch.

  The demon's fierce gaze seemed to feel nothing, only staring at the huge shadow, saying: "Most people in the world can't remember things from too long ago, but there will always be legends, passed down bit by bit." He looked at the evil spirit and said word by word: "In today's southern border, the descendants of the witch tribe still have someone who remembers you!"

  The evil spirit's eyes closed and did not open for a long time.

  Jin Ping'er stood behind, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she looked at the fierce spirit and then at Gui Li beside her. She had no knowledge of these so-called ancient witch tribe legends, but judging from the fierce spirit's reaction, it seemed that what Gui Li said was actually true. All along, she had thought that in the demonic sect, no one knew more about the strange happenings in the ten thousand great mountains than she did, but unexpectedly, Gui Li seemed to have hidden secrets unknown to others.

  She gazed at the man's figure, her heart slightly chilled, but her eyes seemed even colder.

  For a long time, the cold wind was still blowing quietly. Above the head, dark clouds were silently surging, the wind was mournful and desolate, a bleak scene.

  In this silence, the ferocious black tiger suddenly lifted its head, looked up at the sky and let out a long howl. The sound was mournful, as if countless past events were all in that one howl. When the echo of the howl was still faintly reverberating in the distant mountains, it had already turned its head back, with a low rumbling sound, as if its emotions were surging, but ultimately suppressed.

  "Thank you!"

  That malevolent spirit gazed at him with a fierce glare for a long time, then suddenly lowered its head slightly and spoke in this manner.

  The ghost's face was expressionless, slowly retreating half a step back, closing his eyes and slightly bowing his head, which was considered as returning the courtesy.

  The evil spirit nodded, its tone gradually calming down, saying: "I didn't expect that there would still be people in this world who remember the princess and us. Alas, when we followed the witch princess deep into the Ten Thousand Great Mountains back then, who would have thought about eternal fame?"

  His gaze slowly shifted to the entrance of the Town Demon Cave, where a delicate and elegant witch goddess statue stood. His eyes also instantly became gentle, and even his tone seemed softer: "However, you came here, I suppose it's not just to say these few words to me, this thing that is neither human nor ghost?"

  The demon was silent for a moment, then said: "Yes, I had heard of the legend of Linglong witch and your seven people before I came here, but I didn't know about your current situation, nor did I know you would be here." He raised his head, looked at the fierce spirit, and slowly said: "I came here for the beast god in this cave."

  The huge figure shook slightly, and that name seemed to make even this fierce spirit feel fearful.

  However, the fierce gaze did not pass over and remained on that statue, saying: "What are you looking for him?"

  "We must find him and then kill him."

  The fierce spirit suddenly turned its head, staring at Gui Li, and slowly said: "Are you two relying on each other?"

  The ghost slowly nodded and said: "Yes."

  The white ghost energy surrounding Xiong Ling's body seemed to be rotating at a faster speed, and his figure appeared somewhat blurry. After a while, he coldly said, "Not bad, the Beast God is indeed inside this Town Demon Ancient Cave."

  Jin Ping'er's body shook slightly, and a hint of joy flashed across her face. However, Gui Li did not show much delight, still staring at the fierce spirit.

  The fierce spirit also looked at him and suddenly said: "I see your clothes and decorations, you should not be a native of the southern border, but from the central plains?"

  The ghost nodded and said, "That's right."

  The evil spirit hesitated for a moment, and in the gloomy and eerie atmosphere, it seemed to see his expression change unpredictably, saying: "Do you know why I have been guarding this cave entrance?"

  "I don't know."

  "I am naturally guarding the goddess statue, but apart from that, I am also guarding against external forces reviving this evil spirit. Secondly, I do not want ignorant people to enter and send themselves to death. Can you understand?"

  The ghost nodded slightly.

  That ferocious spirit smiled miserably and said, "But I still failed to live up to the Queen's heavy trust back then. I was deceived by that beast and made a huge mistake, allowing the demon to revive and bringing catastrophe to all living things." As he spoke, his voice gradually became softer. After a while, the ferocious spirit seemed to calm down and continued, "I had already lost hope, thinking that no one in this world could stop this demon from harming innocent lives. But unexpectedly, not long ago, it returned severely injured. The land of China has produced a remarkable person who can heavily wound it again. This is truly beyond my expectations."

  The ghost's eyes twitched slightly, and he suddenly let out a cold laugh, saying: "You don't have to take it too seriously either. Although the Beast God was defeated, the person who defeated him may not necessarily be in a good situation!"

  The evil spirit hesitated for a moment, not knowing what the ghost meant by these words. But at this moment, he didn't bother to investigate further and said: "If you can get rid of this demon, it's naturally the best. I've had this heart for thousands of years, but unfortunately, even on the day when he was still asleep, I couldn't do anything about him. You come from the Central Plains, maybe you can do it too, who knows? If you really succeed..." The evil spirit suddenly withdrew his ghostly energy and stared with wide eyes, shouting loudly: "I should thank you on behalf of my mistress!"

  After he finished speaking, he slowly moved his body and opened up a path, revealing the deep and bottomless ancient cave behind him.

  The ghost gazed deeply into the cave, then turned his eyes to look at the fierce spirit. The fierce spirit was also staring at him.

  The ghost nodded slowly and didn't say anything else, walking in slowly. As he passed by the fierce spirit's side, the little monkey Xiao Hui, who was perched on his shoulder, suddenly lifted its head and curiously looked at the fierce spirit's massive body with three unblinking eyes.

  That fierce spirit suddenly spoke loudly to Gui Ye's back: "There is one more thing, you should worry. The Beast God did not return alone that day. In addition to the evil beast beside him, there was also a demon with extremely high Taoism, be careful."

  The ghost's footsteps paused for a moment, and he said, "As far as I know, all thirteen of his demonic beasts have been completely defeated."

  "That fierce spirit shook its head and said: 'It's not one of the thirteen demon beasts, even I have never seen that demon before, you must be careful.'"

  The ghost slowly nodded and continued walking towards the depths of the ancient cave.

  Then, Jin Bao'er also slowly followed up, the two figures, slowly dissolving into the darkness, swaying forward in the depths of the shadows, slowly, but eventually could no longer be seen.

  That ferocious spirit's body gradually became blurred, but his huge eyes stared at the deepest darkness of the cave. Suddenly, he let out a thunderous roar towards the darkest place, and the sound was like a tsunami crashing down the mountain, even the fierce wind reversed its flow. The extremely hard rock wall responded with a loud noise, as if the sky had collapsed and the earth had cracked!

  In that wild howling sound, the huge body of the fierce spirit slowly disappeared into the darkness.

  Just then, as the evil spirit disappeared, he didn't notice that outside the Town Demon Cave, behind the statue of the god, a black figure was faintly flashing, it was Hei Mu who had stirred up the internal strife among the five tribes in Nanjiang and snatched back the Five Tribes' Holy Artifact to revive the Beast God.

  A black and wide long gown, as usual, shrouded the whole body of Hei Mu, emitting a cold aura. However, in his eyes, there was a flicker of extremely complex gaze, staring at the depths of the Town Demon Ancient Cave. It wasn't until that fierce spirit, who was also his elder brother, disappeared that he slowly withdrew his gaze and refocused it on the delicate witch statue beside him.

  In the chilly and gloomy wind, he seemed to be whispering softly: "My queen"

  At the same time, in the distant Jiaohei Mountain Peak where the Town Demon Ancient Cave was located, a team of more than a dozen people slowly emerged from under the vast black forest. The first person was a woman wearing white clothes like snow, with an absolutely beautiful face, holding a blue Tianjue Xianjian sword, her face as clear as frost, but her eyes seemed to have a few unspeakable sorrows and vicissitudes, silently gazing at the distant Jiaohei-colored mountain peak.

  ※※※

  Central Plains, thirty miles outside of Luoyang City.

  On the main road, after all this time, most of the refugees who fled have already returned to their hometowns in the south. However, in this place located not far from the foot of Qingyun Mountain, you can still see people in tattered clothes struggling to make a living. But compared to the disaster that occurred several months ago, things have improved by an unknown amount.

  "Immortal points, looking at your half-life fate." Suddenly, a loud shout echoed on the main road, breaking the silence here, and it was quite jarring.

  "Wealth, official career, marriage, travel; Feng Shui, physiognomy, divination by characters, bone reading - nothing is not mastered, nothing is not understood. Come on, come on, just five taels of silver for one person, what a bargain!"

  On Monday, Xian held a sign that read "Immortal Points the Way" on a bamboo pole and walked over with big strides, shouting along the way. Passersby couldn't help but turn their heads.

  The wild dog Taoist who followed behind him didn't speak, and as usual carried all the gifts. Instead, the little ring on his back seemed to have paused for a moment, raising its head from the black leather book with no words on the cover that it had been carefully watching along the way, and said in surprise: "Grandfather, what did you just say? A few taels of silver per person?"

  Xian turned his head back, chuckled and said with a serious tone: "Five taels of silver."

  Xiao Huan furrowed her brow and said, "But yesterday you were asking for three taels of silver. And what's wrong with you these past few days? Three days ago we were still fine, just like any other day, charging each customer five qian of silver. But then you suddenly started jumping up the price, from five qian to one tael, then to two taels the next day, and three taels the day before yesterday. And now today, you're asking for a full five taels!"

  Xiao Huan walked up to Zhou Yi Xian's side, looked him up and down carefully, making Zhou Yi Xian feel a bit uneasy, he took a step back, cleared his throat and said: "What are you looking at again, little girl?"

  Xiao Huan didn't bother to explain, but instead reached out her hand towards Zhou Yi Xian's forehead. Zhou Yi Xian was startled and took a step back, letting Xiao Huan pass by, saying: "What are you doing with that mysterious look on your face?"

  Xiao Huan snorted, "You're the one who's muddled. I'm just checking if you have a fever and your brain is all muddled!" As she spoke, she turned to ask Dao Zhang, who was following behind her, "Dao Zhang, don't you think my grandfather has been a bit muddled lately?"

  Because it was daytime, the wild dog's face was wrapped in a cloth strip as usual, but his two eyes shone brightly and very brightly. At this moment, Xiaohuan looked at him, chuckled twice, then nodded immediately: "He, uh, I mean, the senior is older, can't help but have some"

  "Fart!"

  Xian jumped up in front, furious.

  Xiao Huan gave him a sideways glance and said, "Grandfather, why are you so excited? I think Dao Zhang's words make sense. Looking at your behavior over the past few days, it seems like you're indeed getting a bit senile."

  Xian seemed particularly unable to bear the three words "old fool" and became enraged, saying: "You two know what? You're still young, you don't understand human feelings and worldly affairs, I..."

  "Really? Then you tell me, why are you desperately raising prices?"

  Xian hummed, waving the immortal guiding bamboo pole in his hand at the sparse crowd of people around him, and said: "Look at these people, and those we met on our way here, aren't they all refugees?"

  Xiao Huan nodded and said, "That's right, everyone is, including us."

  On Monday, Xian's face turned slightly red, and he pretended not to have heard. Xiaohuan continued: "Since they are all refugees, leaving their hometowns, I think hardly anyone is thinking about looking at this matter, I was thinking if we should lower the price, but Grandfather, you're actually raising it."

  On Monday, Xian Shuang put his hands behind his back and placed the bamboo pole on his body, coldly smiling: "According to what you said, I was wrong. But look at these past few days, have there been fewer or more people coming to us for fortune-telling?"

  Xiao Huan was taken aback, furrowed his brow, but the wild dog Taoist interrupted from the side, saying: "Come to think of it, it seems that there have been more people coming to have their fortunes told these past few days."

  Xian hummed again, with a self-satisfied look on his face, and said to Xiaohuan: "You're just a young girl, what do you know? Let me tell you, in times of great disaster, people often flee their homes without any intention of returning. But this time is different, the calamity is unprecedented, the world is in chaos, everyone is in danger, and no one knows if they'll be alive tomorrow. Under such circumstances, with a sage like myself guiding them through the darkness, wouldn't it be natural for people to flock to me?"

  Xiao Huan bowed her head in contemplation, and after a long time, she slowly shook her head and sighed, but there was a hint of melancholy on her face.

  The stray dog Daoist was still somewhat perplexed and couldn't help but ask: "Then why did you keep raising the price?"

  On Monday, Xian Guai Yan looked at him and said, "How can I teach you such profound knowledge?"

  The stray dog bumped into a nail and retreated with a whimper, but only heard the little ring beside him let out a sigh and said, "I understand this a bit now."

  The stray dog and Zhou Yixian were both shocked, and Zhou Yixian said: "Oh, you'd better say something?"

  Xiao Huan shrugged and said lightly, "It's nothing more than you expected that everyone in the world would be worried about their own lives and wouldn't care about external wealth. On the contrary, the higher you raise your silver, the more ordinary people think this person is highly virtuous and extraordinary. These are things I originally didn't believe in, thinking that even a fool could see through such petty tricks, but unexpectedly, there are still so many people who can't see through it."

  Xian shook her head on Monday and said, "You're wrong, Xiao Huan."

  Xiao Huan was shocked and said: "What?"

  "What you said earlier is all correct, it's just that the last sentence isn't that they can't see through it, but rather they themselves are narrow-minded."

  The stray dog beside him heard it vaguely and said, "What can't you let go of?"

  On Monday, Xian looked at the people walking around and said: "The world is full of people who are not foolish, but when it comes to life and death, many people do not believe in themselves and would rather listen to others' comfort. I point out the way for them, and most of what I say is about how their future will be better than today. With these words, they pay me silver coins and feel at ease."

  "Grandfather, are you really saying this from a physiognomical perspective or just talking nonsense about them?"

  Xian smiled slightly on Monday and said, "I was just talking nonsense."

  Xiao Huan and Ye Gou Dao Ren exchanged a glance, both unable to speak for a moment.

  On Monday, Xian looked up at the sky and gazed at the vast expanse for a long time. He said calmly, "Such a great calamity can be avoided once, but not twice. Otherwise, heaven will not tolerate it."

  He turned back and smiled, "Since that's the case, the days to come will naturally be much better than the current days of unknown life and death. I won't be considered a liar either. On the contrary, as I came all the way here, comforting and advising countless displaced people, how many people have been reborn under my words, revived from desperation? This merit is not something those monks and Taoist priests can achieve by hiding in temples and chanting scriptures every day."

  He patted Xiaohuan's head with a benevolent smile, exuding an air of justice and righteousness, as if he were a sage who had come to save the world from suffering. He seemed to be saying that even if he accepted all this silver, it would still be a righteous act, for not accepting it would be insufficient to save people, while accepting it would be a manifestation of great compassion and benevolence. With a sigh, he said:

  "Life is really lonely."

  For a moment, there was no sound of human voice, and all around was a sheet of silence.

  On Monday, Xian furrowed his brow and withdrew his gaze from the high sky, looking around with his head lowered.

  "Hey, why are you two walking so fast?"