Elder Martial Brother is Always Right

The dark qi scattered in all directions, but quickly gathered again, enveloping the headless dragon's body. The dragon's body vanished and then twisted and wriggled back into existence, transforming into a Winged Fierce Tiger. After circling in the air, it stretched out its sharp claws and fiercely pounced toward Song Yin.

Song Yin swung his fist violently, not the least bit afraid of the tiger's sharp and long claws. When his fist, wrapped in White Qi, made contact with the Black Tiger's paw, the entire body was knocked apart, dissipating into dark qi once more. Then the dark qi gathered again, this time appearing before Song Yin, morphing into a giant ape with thick arms and a face with fierce, green fangs.

The ape beat its chest and stamped its feet, making thumping sounds that shook the very earth. Its arms spread wide and bore down on Song Yin.

"You think you're fit to wrestle with me?!"

Song Yin sneered, equally raising his arms high up and firmly blocking the giant ape's arms, with a heavy thump.

"At the Power Combat Stage, mana can be used on oneself, with strength circulating endlessly. I have the strength to lift cauldrons, subdue dragons and tame tigers without a second thought. What makes you think you can match my strength? Now fall down!"

Thump!

Song Yin twisted his hands, rotating with the giant ape's body, and directly knocked the ape to the ground.

He leapt forward fiercely, stepped onto the ape's body, raised his fist high, and smashed it down toward the ape's head.

Boom!

With one punch, he smashed the ape's head into dark qi, scattering it in all directions. This time, the dark qi did not reassemble. As the head turned into dark qi, the body did as well, slinking back to the ground and spreading over the vegetation to become their shadows.

"Wuu wuu!"

The mountain wind blew again, making a chilling howl through the woods.

Song Yin stood on the ground, frowning deeply, "Escaped, did it?"

He turned to look at the others and saw that although they were no longer in various forms, they all had become silent.

"Wake up!"

At his shout, the five disciples jolted as if they were waking from a dream, looking around with a bewildered expression.

Zhang Fei Xuan knelt on the ground, bowing his head, with the darkness covering most of his face, making it difficult to discern his expression.

Thump!

Then, he slammed his fist into the ground, creating a dent in the soil.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

He kept pounding the ground with his fists, blood flowing from his knuckles.

Crack...

Just as he was about to continue smashing down, a hand grabbed his wrist.

Zhang Fei Xuan lifted his head abruptly, his eyes filled with hostility and hatred.

"Junior Brother..."

Song Yin frowned, "What are you doing?"

Those eyes, emitting a white divine light, instantly made Zhang Fei Xuan shiver.

"Big Senior Brother..."

His smile was stiff, "I'm awake now, the Illusion of that Evil Demon was too intense, I was momentarily misled."

"An illusion, huh? I knew it, I couldn't kill that thing, and it's disappeared without a trace. We'd better still be careful." Song Yin let go of his hand and looked around once more.

Zhang Fei Xuan got up, shaking his head with a wry smile: "It must have been a Mountain Ghost, unkillable."

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"Mountain Ghost? A demon?" Song Yin asked.

Zhang Fei Xuan nodded, "It's a demon from legends. The Mountain Ghost has no color or shape and often lurks in the mountains, always accompanied by whistling sounds. It makes one think it's just the mountain wind. Once encountered, people fall into an illusion involuntarily and soon die without a trace. If they don't fall into the illusion, the Mountain Ghost can morph into objects in the mountains, making them impossible to resist. Big Senior Brother... you said you almost killed the Mountain Ghost?"

It was at this moment that he finally realized what had happened, his eyes revealing shock.

"Morph into objects in the mountains?"

Song Yin frowned slightly, "This demon does have some tricks. Hmph, I will find it again and not let it harm anyone!"

Zhang Fei Xuan pursed his lips, "Big Senior Brother, if that's the case, I'm afraid it will be difficult to find. The Mountain Ghost appears and disappears unpredictably and never appears in the same place twice, plus the intervals between its apparitions are very long. Let it be."

Find? Where would one even start looking?

The rumors held that the Mountain Ghost didn't even have a form—as if it was a spirit manifested from the mountain. To survive an encounter with a Mountain Ghost was already a stroke of great luck; finding it was impossible.

"This creature plunged you, Junior Brother, into a fantasy from which you almost couldn't wake. Facing someone like me, unwavering and not susceptible to illusion, it still manifested fierce beasts to attack. Isn't that downright harmful? I might not find it now, but that doesn't mean I won't when my cultivation advances. Such evil cannot be left unchecked, I will find it, definitely!" Song Yin clenched his fist with a determined expression.

"By the way, are there any other demons around here?" He then thought of something else and continued to inquire.

"No more. The Mountain Ghost itself is rare enough to encounter. I haven't heard of others," Zhang Fei Xuan replied.

A desolate mountain range like this hardly had a multitude of demons. If there were, the place surely wouldn't be suitable for humans. Precisely because it was desolate, demons were a rare sight.

Song Yin sighed, "Well then, let's continue picking."

The disciples continued to dutifully pick, influenced by the illusion and now even more cautious around Song Yin.

Zhang Fei Xuan was silent, his face devoid of any expression as he focused on his work.

It wasn't until their bags were full and Song Yin handed a picked herb to Zhang Fei Xuan that he looked up at the sky and said, "Alright, it's getting late. Let's head back to the mountain. We can settle this tomorrow."

Naturally, the disciples were done with picking as well. At Song Yin's command, each packed up their bags and followed him up the mountain.

This time, they moved faster than Song Yin, who lagged behind them, occasionally looking back at the spot where they had been picking, deep in thought.

"Big Senior Brother, what are you thinking about?" Zhang Fei Xuan watched his eyes flicker and cautiously asked.

His complexion had normalized somewhat, without the silence of before.

Having regained his bearing, he had let go of the thought of fleeing.

Although he believed the Mountain Ghost to be elusive, who could be sure of anything? Big Senior Brother might be frightening, but he was still alive. If he fled and encountered some ghastly creature again, he might end up dead without anyone to bury him.

And with Big Senior Brother watching, there was no chance for escape anymore.

Yet seeing him ponder, Zhang Fei Xuan felt a bit nervous, fearing he was contemplating some strange idea.

"I'm thinking, there might actually be dragons in these mountains."

Song Yin stroked his chin and mused for a while, then said, "You mentioned the Mountain Ghost can morph into things in the mountains. I saw a Four-Clawed Dragon, a Winged Tiger, and a huge beast with a green face and sharp teeth like a gorilla. If these truly exist, could they be slain for their meat?"

"Well... we should ask Master when we return; he would likely know something."

Song Yin replied, "With the Blood Qi from such fierce beasts, if we could consume their meat, it would surely boost the Blood Qi of Jinxian Sect disciples, thereby enhancing Qi Refinement and cultivation."

You sure are bold to think that!

Just by hearing the description of those fierce beasts, he knew they were not to be trifled with. If such creatures indeed resided in the Xumi Vein, Jin Guang would have long since fled with them.

And as for a Four-Clawed Dragon, wasn't that also a fierce beast from legends?

Zhang Fei Xuan's face twitched, unsure of how to respond, he could only bow respectfully: "Big Senior Brother's words are most sensible."

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