Wait a minute, where is my master?

The serpent spirit was hammered into mist.

Little White did it.

By the time Jin Xu's golden spiritual power located their traces, Little White had already frozen the woman solid.

With a delicate little fist, she smashed heavily on the scale-covered head of the opponent. The serpent spirit directly turned into a mist.

With the battle resolved, Little White retreated to Jin Xu's side.

"Temple master, that serpent spirit is strange, seems like it didn't die."

"Didn't die?"

"Right, although I dispersed her, I could feel that she didn't have the fear of facing death. It was more like surprise, wondering why the blue smoke didn't affect me."

Hearing this, Jin Xu was curious not only about why the smoke had no effect on Little White but also whether those two he exploded earlier had really died.

"So you're saying the blue smoke didn't affect you either?"

"Correct. After the blue smoke rushed into my Sea of Consciousness, it was melted away by a gentle force; probably thanks to that day I chewed on tree leaves." Little White twirled a corner of her Taoist robe with her finger, mentioning this deed with a bit of embarrassment.

"Let's set these matters aside for now. You heard what the serpent spirit said. Our main priority is to find your sister Little Yu."

Jin Xu felt that Yu Yaoer was definitely in danger now, whether the hybrid serpent woman's words were true or not.

Little White's expression grew solemn as she nodded in agreement.

Although she hadn't been acquainted with the Little Fish Demon for long, their temperaments matched and their relationship was great. Seeing the Zheng family's old residence so perilous and the Little Fish Demon nowhere in sight, she couldn't help but have a bad premonition.

The little Taoist went to the big tree and picked up the unconscious Xu Qian.

They continued to search for the way forward.

However, this time, after searching for a long while, he and Little White realized the entire garden was shrouded in thick gray fog. The only way out seemed to be the path they came in on.

But they had already thoroughly checked the place they'd come from and found no clues. Rather than going back, it made more sense to find another way.

Suddenly, Jin Xu remembered the words of a revered sage named Zhou from a previous life.

"Originally, there is no path in this world; it becomes a path once many walk on it."

Thinking of this, he walked over to the edge of the gray fog.

Golden spiritual power, infused into his arm.

A punch flew, and a path appeared before his eyes.

The little Taoist turned, called for Little White, and with Xu Qian on his shoulder, the three of them entered this newly forged path.

...

Inside the grand hall, two more Evil Spirits appeared. One was the serpent-woman sent over by Little White.

The other was an angry bull-headed stout man.

"Third Brother, Fourth Sister, let's awaken the eldest brother," cooed the Lustful Evil Spirit.

"Let's wait a bit longer. That little Taoist and the Wolf Demon have already headed towards the Second Brother. Besides, waking up the eldest brother requires at least five Evil Spirits present, and we only have four here."

The serpent-woman's chilly voice echoed in the grand hall.

"Humph, that little Taoist is peculiar. In my opinion, we should call Little Qi over. The five of us should hurry to awaken Big Brother and let him preside over the Formation to refine that little Taoist," said the bull-headed man, his chest heaving violently in anger.

"Third Brother, don't forget the mission our master gave us. Fully activating the Seven Emotions and Seven Evils Refining God Formation requires a significant amount of resentment. If we mess up the master's plan... hehe," the serpent spirit woman retorted.

Hearing the other party use their master to pressure him, the bull-headed man became even more furious and looked ready to strike.

At this moment, the greed evil spirit intervened to smooth things over.

"Third Brother, calm down. Fourth Sister's concerns are valid; after all, our master's great cause should take precedence. But I'll still call Little Qi over, just in case. And you're right, Third Brother, that little Taoist is indeed peculiar; he seems to be immune to our techniques."

The greed evil spirit with the head of a rat and the body of a man said these words, which calmed the fury of the bull-headed brute somewhat.

Seeing that the two sides were unlikely to come to blows, he dissipated into a puff of smoke, apparently off to summon the "Little Qi" he mentioned.

"Exactly, exactly. Little Liu is right. That little Taoist faced my seduction and yet, he just punched me and blew me up, not like a man at all!"

The Lustful Evil Spirit still harbored a grudge about being blown up by Jin Xu with a single punch.

"Hmph, it's not just that our methods didn't work. He even used his physical body to shatter the prohibition of my martial arts stage."

The bull-headed brute stamped his foot heavily, looking as if his rage was flaring up again.

"Not only that. That Little Wolf Demon faced my blue smoke and it didn't affect him at all."

The expressions of the three Evil Spirits in the great hall were all rather grim.

They had thought the little bug would be easy to handle, but it turned out to be quite a handful.

...

The Seven Emotions and Seven Evils Refining God Array is an evil formation passed down from ancient times, capable of invisibly absorbing the resentment of all beings.

The formation draws on the resentment of all beings as the source of its power and splits it into seven Evil Spirits.

They are arrogance, gluttony, wrath, envy, lust, greed, and sloth.

They serve to trigger the seven emotions of humans.

Those who enter this array either fall directly into an illusion or are subtly drawn to feel intense emotions within their hearts.

In any case, as long as there is a slight flaw in one's moral heart, the Evil Spirits will take advantage of the weakness.

They magnify a particular emotion of the afflicted Cultivator, slowly stripping away their spiritual power. By the time the Cultivator realizes what is happening, it is often too late to recover, and they are drained into a mummified corpse.

If the Cultivator who enters has a steadfast moral heart and resists the deception, then normally, the Evil Spirits would attack collectively.

After all, the Evil Spirits also possess cultivation, and if nourished by resentment for a long time, their cultivation can reach a terrifying level.

The formation at the old Zheng family mansion has been in place for several decades.

In the beginning, only the Arrogant Evil Spirit had been infused with resentment by the Third Elder of the Demon Sect, promotion to the Void Refinement Realm, serving as the main spirit of the array, while the other six were very weak.

But now, after decades of continuous aggregation of the resentment of the beings in Gusu City, even the laziest in cultivation among the six Evil Spirits had reached the Golden Core Realm. Wrath and gluttony had even caught up to the Arrogant Evil Spirit, reaching the Void Refinement Realm.

If all seven Evil Spirits combined their forces to activate the great formation, even a cultivator in the Divinity Transformation Realm would not last long within it.

...

Stove, condiments.

Vegetables that had been cut in half.

And pots, pans, and spatulas piled on the side.

After passing through the thick grey fog, Jin Xu found himself in a kitchen.

A joyful expression appeared in his eyes.

For some reason, seeing the kitchen made him feel, as if by destiny, that Yu Yaoer might be here.

"Temple master, I smell the soup that Little Yu made!"

Little White, originally following behind the little Taoist through the grey fog, blurted out this sentence as soon as they emerged.

Then, he ran towards the inner part of the kitchen.

Upon hearing this, Jin Xu tossed Xu Qian onto a nearby stack of firewood.

He also ran inside.

Lifting the coarse cloth door curtain, there was a figure in a golden red gauze dress twirling around with Little White in her arms.

Upon seeing the little Taoist, Yu Yaoer said with surprise,

"Ah, young master, you're here too."

ps: I'm happy to receive another monthly ticket.