Wait a minute, where is my master?

Inside the Zheng family old mansion

Jin Xu and four others entered the mansion, and the gate behind them closed tightly.

Ignoring the creaking sound behind them, he carefully observed the courtyard in front of him.

Wasn't it said that this house was unclean? Yet, it seemed quite clean.

At this moment, there was a small courtyard in front of the little Taoist, and through the porch, he could see that the ground was paved with brand-new bluestone slabs. Not to mention weeds—there wasn't even a speck of dust.

He stepped towards the porch and said at the same time.

"Little White, try now and see if you can smell the scent of living people."

No one responded.

"Little White?"

Jin Xu turned around and found that there was no one behind him.

According to the routine he'd seen in horror films, the main characters, upon entering such old houses, would usually find excuses to separate.

And then they would be picked off one by one.

The little Taoist had been muttering to himself as he entered the door that they mustn't separate after coming in.

Unexpectedly, upon entering the door, his teammates had directly disappeared.

He shouted into the courtyard a few times, "Little Yu? Little White? Silly... Xu Qian?"

Seeing that no one paid attention to him.

Jin Xu turned his head and walked in another direction.

He decided to find his teammates first and then consider saving that so-called third young master.

As the little Taoist walked away.

On the ground of the small courtyard, a clump of green-purple mist suddenly gathered out of nowhere.

The mist condensed into a humanoid shape—it was one of the Evil Spirits of the Seven Emotions and Seven Evils Formation, Sloth.

This humanoid mist was currently full of confusion.

Why hadn't the human entered the courtyard? Had its enchantment power failed? This time, a human without any cultivation had finally come, and it thought it could enjoy itself for a while.

But the cooked duck had flown away at the last moment.

No, wait, what's a duck?

Forget it, might as well go back to sleep.

It was formed from a collection of indolence and negligence and had the lowest cultivation among the seven resentful spirits, resulting in a rather muddled mind.

...

Meanwhile, on the martial arts field on the other side.

A little girl wearing a dark blue Taoist robe, with short grey hair, was swinging her small fists in front of her.

Her fists looked deceptively harmless and soft.

But with each swing, the wind from her fists would shatter the stone slabs of the martial arts field. After punching for a while, the little girl leapt high into the air, drawing her feet up to her chest and slamming down hard. With a loud boom, a deep pit formed in the ground.

The short-haired little girl leaped out of the deep pit and began to punch the air in front of her again.

But strangly enough.

From beginning to end, there was only her on the entire martial arts field.

...

...

After leaving the small courtyard, Jin Xu found the surroundings somewhat dim and hazy as he strolled along.

He came to a three-way fork in the road.

Facing the three paths ahead of him, the little Taoist felt his indecisiveness kick in. After silently chanting "Little Rooster" in his mind, he chose the path on his right.

And then he heard the sound of the wind and the shattering of stone slabs.

He quickened his steps.

"Little White!"

Jin Xu exclaimed with joy.

He saw a Husky on a martial arts field, fighting back and forth with the air.

The little girl with grey hair stopped her punching fists as she heard the little Taoist's call. Her brown eyes glinted with red as she turned and rushed towards Jin Xu.

Seeing Little White charging at him, the little Taoist also stepped briskly towards the martial arts field.

And he was saying, "Slow down, Little White. Don't knock yourself out like last time."

"Boom!"

A sound similar to the clashing of gold and iron rang out.

The girl with short grey hair was sent flying backward while one arm dangled helplessly at her shoulder.

Apparently, it was broken.

"???"

Had Little White just punched him?

Jin Xu stood at the edge of the martial arts field, looking at his Taoist robe on his chest, which had been shredded by the punch's force.

What's this, a demon pet turning against its master?

He shook off the wild thoughts in his head.

The Taoist saw Little White at the other end of the combat training ground, the red glow in her eyes intensifying. With a long howl to the sky, she transformed into her true form.

A giant Husky!

Then the temperature around them started to plummet rapidly. The Husky opened its huge maw, within which gray-white spiritual power began to converge.

Seeing this, Jin Xu hurriedly released golden spiritual power, covering his entire body.

This was something he had developed himself during his nightly cultivation.

Its main function was to protect the Taoist robe.

"Boom!"

A beam of gray-white spiritual power formed into a huge column, engulfing Jin Xu's body.

A moment later,

The Taoist walked out unscathed.

A flash of golden Thunder Arc crossed his right hand.

Instinctively, he wanted to condense the Hand Palm Thunder, but he was afraid Little White couldn't withstand it.

Forget it, better to just go bare-handed.

Although he didn't know what was wrong with Little White, he at least had to control her first.

Jin Xu did not know how much damage he could inflict with his bare fists, so he chose the safest method.

He filled his arms with golden spiritual power.

In the instant that Little White charged at him again,

He caught one of her paws and tossed her gently into the air, sending the entire Husky flying, before she landed softly on the ground.

Stone slabs flew across the combat training ground.

Seeing that this seemed to cause Little White little harm, Jin Xu gradually increased the force of his swing.

By the twentieth smash, the red light in Little White's eyes had completely dissipated.

"Temple master...I can't...keep going."

The feeble voice of Little White came through.

Hearing the weak voice, the Taoist stopped his actions.

"Little White, have you come to your senses?"

The giant Husky lay powerlessly on the combat training ground.

"I...I've come to my senses, temple master."

As she spoke, Jin Xu noticed a flicker of red light in Little White's eyes again and quickly grabbed the hand he had just released, ready to give her a few more smashes!

Seeing the Taoist's movements, the frightened Husky hurriedly spoke up.

"Don't...temple master...don't. If you smash again...it's going to...break."

"There's something wrong with this combat training ground, temple master. Take me away from here first, I...I can't move."

Little White pleaded with a sob in her voice.

Something wrong with the combat training ground?

Upon hearing this, Jin Xu hoisted up the Husky and launched himself with force, shooting outwards.

At that moment, a layer of yellow spiritual power prohibition appeared around the combat training ground, evidently not wanting to let the two leave.

Too bad it was useless.

The Taoist's shoulder gave a slight bump and the entire layer of spiritual power prohibition shattered instantly. He and the Husky, one man and one dog, successfully left the combat training ground.

...

At the three-way crossroads,

The now-human Little White sat weakly on the ground.

Even after resting for half the day, she still couldn't stand up.

"You're saying, after you entered the gate, you found yourself on the combat training ground. Then, for some reason, you felt more and more angry and started fighting with the air?"

"Yes, and later I even lost consciousness. You were a bit too rough just now, temple master."

Little White complained, at the same time shaking her arm that hung over her shoulder.

Jin Xu couldn't set a bone, so he'd have to wait to find Little Fish Demon to heal her, or hope that her robust physique would heal itself.

"Ahem, your arm broke when you were hitting me."

"..."

The two rested at the crossroads for a while.

When Little White was able to stand up, the two chose the middle path.

Initially, they intended to take the left path, but Jin Xu heard the Husky say

"Temple master, trust me. Although I still can't smell anything, my beast intuition tells me, choosing the left path is definitely the right choice!"

So the Taoist decided,

To take the middle one.