The Blade-Wielding Legend

The biting mountain wind carried snowflakes, lashing at the ruins of the Divine Temple.

The temple door had long since decayed, leaving only half of it hanging askew, producing a teeth-grating creaking sound.

Inside the temple was a mess: altars toppled, incense burners overturned, and everything was covered by a thick layer of dust. Only a blurry stone statue of the Mountain God cast a twisted shadow in the dim light.

"Tsk, just a Mountain God Temple from Goryeo."

Wu Shi, a disciple of the Five Immortals Sect, spat, a look of disappointment on his black-thin face.

Seeing the others’ gazes fall on him, he explained, "Back where we’re close to Goryeo, we’ve seen many of their Shaman Halls. This Mountain God Temple worships the local Mountain God, often just a block of stone or wood made as the deity."

"During festivals or before hunting in the mountains, the village’s shaman from the Witch Hall would bring people to worship, offering rice wine, rice cakes, and mountain goods, performing dances to seek peace and smoothness."

Saying this, he kicked at some half-buried broken tiles at his feet, "Ever since the pirates came, the first thing they did was ’cut down mountains and break temples’! They specifically targeted these local Divine worshipping Witch Halls, smashing statues, and killing shamans... The shamans from Goryeo’s Witch Halls either got killed or hid in deep mountains and forests, not daring to show up."

"It’s not unusual for this place to be dilapidated like a haunted house."

Li Yan’s gaze was sharp, sweeping over the few tracks on the snow in front of the temple, deliberately swept into disarray with dry branches, yet still hastily done, and finally fixed on the deepest darkness inside the temple, "The footprints disappear here, which is definitely not normal!"

Before his voice fell, he activated the "Smell Superpower."

His nostrils slightly moved, the surrounding scents flooded in like a tide: the rot of wood, the cold earthiness, the faint smell of animals... but underground, it was all soil and stone.

His brow furrowed: "Below... it’s all solid earth, doesn’t seem like there’s a hollow."

"Let me try." A young Taoist named Zhang Jingqing from Dragon and Tiger Mountain stepped forward.

He had a lean face, his movements quick, and from his bosom, he picked out a bright yellow talisman, chanting incantations, performing Step Gang Stepping, then took a mouthful of carried pure water, and "puff," sprayed fine mist evenly over the talisman paper.

When the talisman paper met water, the vermillion runes on the yellow background should have become clearer.

However, the next moment, a change occurred suddenly!

On that damp yellow talisman paper, instead of showing talisman spiritual light, a blinding, thick dark red quickly spread!

That red wasn’t dye, rather it seemed like congealed fresh blood, writhing strangely, gradually sketching out a twisted, painful, curled and struggling humanoid outline!

"Blood Talisman manifestation?!" Zhang Jingxuan’s complexion changed dramatically, "This... the Mountain God in this temple, the Divine Soul isn’t destroyed! Moreover... it’s under yin evil harassment!"

The blood-colored twisted figure on the talisman paper made anyone who saw it feel the pain.

The atmosphere inside the temple instantly tensed up like a taut string.

Without command, disciples from Maoshan, Qingcheng, Shu Mountain, and other sects dispersed with tacit understanding. They stepped on the Eight Trigrams position, holding magic artifacts or swords or banners or bells, simultaneously performing mantras and reciting spells.

The solemn and deep chanting in the ruined temple formed an invisible force field, covering the entire temple. This was the Taoist’s most orthodox "Constraining Spirits and Dispatching Generals" ceremony.

"Decree: Ghostly Soul reveal traces, must not hide your form!" Zhang Jingxuan’s senior brother, another elder disciple from Dragon and Tiger Mountain shouted sharply, pointing his Peach Wood Sword to that dusty, broken Mountain God statue.

The statue suddenly trembled!

As if it had life, a thick ink-like blue smoke with bone-chilling cold and a strong earthy stench uncontrollably gushed out from the statue’s cracks and the base.

The blue smoke rolled violently and twisted in the air, faintly condensing into a blurred and painful human face, silently screaming yet unable to break free from the ceremony array’s restraint.

Zhang Jingxuan, quick-eyed and fast-handed, took out a black clay jar covered with talismans, pointed with a spell gesture: "Collect!" The struggling blue smoke was forcibly captured, being sucked into the black jar like a long whale drawing water. The jar mouth was immediately tightly sealed with a Vermilion Talisman.

The black jar trembled slightly in Zhang Jingxuan’s hand, a dull sound of collision came from inside.

With a solemn expression, he exchanged a glance with his senior brother, and the two quickly placed the black jar on a relatively flat ground in the temple. The senior brother took out a Yellow Cloth arranged in Eight Trigrams, densely inscribed with various characters, while the other bit his fingertip, using blood as a guide, winding a red string to connect the black jar and the Copper Coin Sword in hand.

Both pointed lightly at the edge of the White Talisman, like the folk divination, chanting the True Word lowly, "Ha! The left Azure Dragon seals甲寅, right White Tiger guards甲申, Vermilion Bird above illuminates甲午, Xuanwu below holds甲子, I command your Divine, answer swiftly!"

The black jar’s trembling suddenly intensified, the painful will of the Mountain God’s residual soul inside being forcibly communicated and guided.

The Taoist holding the Copper Coin Sword involuntarily began to shift positions.

Finally, under the audience’s breath-held watch, the cipher symbols were pieced together.

Simultaneously, a fragmented intention mixed with endless resentment and fear forcibly conveyed into the minds of the two Taoists hosting the inquiry from Dragon and Tiger Mountain, "Thing... covered... covered... incense... Earth Escape once... six... six..."

Though fragmented, the information was clear enough!

The crowd’s eyes instantly focused on the seemingly ordinary statue.

"So that’s it!"

Li Yan’s eyes gleamed sharply, "There’s a formidable magic artifact hidden in the statue, not only suppressing the Mountain God but also completely concealing any possible emanation from the secret passage below, including residual incense Wish Power and the Earth Escape Technique’s fluctuations! What a cunning concealment method!"

He looked at the black jar, the intention conveyed by the Mountain God’s residual soul was even more crucial.

It surprisingly mastered a unique "Earth Escape" secret technique, able to directly send people into the passage below, but its power was greatly reduced, only capable of sending six people at most at once.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!