Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

After putting away the jar, Zhang Ze rummaged inside and outside Fan Dachui's house once more. With no further discoveries, he then placed a fully automatic three-in-one Merit Expiation Machine in the yard of Fan Dachui's home.

This device is theft-proof and waterproof; it only needs one night to purify the sinister evil energy in the yard.

After setting up the machine, Zhang Ze used Taoist Techniques to gather the remains of Fan Dachui and his son and instructed Fourth Zhao to fetch two coffins from the village carpenter's house to temporarily store them, planning to dispose of them after the evil energy dissipates.

Watching the merit machine repeatedly chant the Tao Scripture, Zhang Ze thought that this Demon Extermination Set was a bit too effective, not much different from having a young Daoist by his side.

The test is now over, but the matter isn't finished yet.

Zhang Ze felt he should now use the Sword Sect's logic to solve this problem.

Where am I going? Who should I cut? How many should I cut?

First, solve the question of where to go.

After asking Fourth Zhao some questions, Zhang Ze sent him home, telling him it's best not to go out tonight.

After Fourth Zhao walked far away, Zhang Ze lit a Divine Movement Talisman, and with a flash of his figure, he arrived at the door of a house in the north of the village.

The yard walls were dilapidated, and the house was more so, with a series of babbling murmurs emanating from the broken house.

The person inside seemed to be quite ill.

Zhang Ze entered the yard and was about to knock on the door when an old lady happened to open the door and was startled by Zhang Ze.

However, before Zhang Ze could explain, the old lady spoke, "Are you the Immortal called by Zhao? Was the ghost caught?"

"It's already dealt with." Zhang Ze replied with a smile.

Upon hearing this, the old lady thanked Zhang Ze profusely and then hesitantly asked, "Can you also take a look at this child He? He was terribly frightened, I can pay."

Zhang Ze gently held the old lady's hand and smiled, "Gold and silver are useless for practitioners like us. There's no need for you to spend money, it's just a small task, and poor Daoist has come specifically for this matter.

The old lady's surname was Li, and the village called her Aunt Li, known for her kindness. The "He" she mentioned was the first person to discover trouble at the Fan Family.

According to Fourth Zhao, this He is in his twenties, lost his parents early, and was previously notorious in the village along with Li's son. Now that her son has reformed, He remains the only miscreant.

He visited Fan's house this morning because he recently got involved with Fan Dachui's son and came to find Fan for something.

At this moment, He was lying on the bed, muttering incoherently as if truly scared sick.

Aunt Li explained that she had been caring for He since the morning, but his condition hadn't improved.

Remembering the boasts of Tang, Zhang Ze solemnly acted like a real Daoist, diagnosing and medicating He.

And after drinking Zhang Ze's concoction, He immediately wrapped himself in a quilt and fell into a deep sleep.

Aunt Li thanked Zhang Ze once more before returning to her neighboring courtyard, while Zhang Ze stood outside, not leaving.

What he gave He wasn't a Spiritual Pill, but simply boiled water with sugar.

"He truly is faking it." Zhang Ze muttered to himself.

Generally speaking, in mystery scripts, someone like He, related to the deceased and the first discoverer, is usually the prime suspect.

So Zhang Ze intended to start investigating from He, unexpectedly finding there really was something shady.

Zhang Ze took out the Thousand Mechanism Gun that had captured the Evil-breaking Ghost; the ghost within had already been refined into a pill.

He took out the pill, ignited it with Spiritual Fire, and the black smoke produced headed straight towards He's yard.

This Evil-breaking Ghost was driven by He.

Dispersing the black smoke, Zhang Ze immediately used an Invisibility Talisman to conceal himself.

A few two-hour periods later, the courtyard door opened slightly. He peeked out, looked around, and when he confirmed no one was present, he quietly left the yard.

He walked a few steps in the direction of the Fan Family but seemed to get frightened and returned to the yard.

He squatted by the dry well, took out a bone token from his pocket.

The bone token was identical to the one Zhang Ze found at the Fan Family's house. He held it tightly, stammering a spell, which summoned a black wind from the token that whisked him away into the mountains.

Zhang Ze used another Divine Movement Talisman and followed from afar, using the pill refined from the Evil-breaking Ghost as a guide.

The question of where to go was resolved; now the next question is who to cut?

Upon entering the mountain, He was dropped off by the black smoke. At this moment, the moon was high, and aside from the occasional sound of a night owl flapping its wings in the distance, there was silence.

He swallowed his saliva, gripping the bone token, and walked through the snow in a particular direction.

Zhang Ze followed behind He, not making a sound.

About a half two-hour later, He stopped at a dilapidated Mountain God Temple, where a fierce tiger clad in a jacket holding a long knife was enshrined in the altar.

He shivered, knelt on the ground, and muttered what seemed to be a passage from the Tao Scripture.

After He finished the last sentence, the tiger in the altar suddenly came to life. The statue rotated, revealing a hole in the ground beneath a tree several people could barely wrap their arms around.

He glanced back, then quickly walked towards the hole in the ground.

Zhang Ze, still invisible, hurriedly followed He inside just before the hole closed.

Moving down the tunnel, it widened, and every few meters along the walls hung oil lamps, the foul smell of the grease making it nauseating.

The tunnel ended at a stone gate, flanked by statues identical to the ones in the Mountain God Temple altar, albeit larger.

He knelt, now loudly kowtowing, "Disciple He Xi! Important matters to report to the Mountain Monarch!"

After speaking, he knocked his head on the ground several more times.

After a short wait, a voice that sounded both tiger-like and human emanated from behind the stone gate, "Enter."

Before the voice faded, the stone gate opened wide, revealing the scene behind to the continually trailing Zhang Ze.

The cave mansion was filled with dry bones; two black Pill Furnaces stood on either side, and yellow talismans covered the walls.

A transformed Tiger Demon clad in a Taoist Robe reclined on a stone chair, with a continuous stream of black energy seeping from under its skin.

The Tiger Demon seemed to have an issue with one of its eyes, covered by a black patch, and it waved to He, signaling him to come in.

He seemed to regret coming here, but he braced himself, summoned his courage, and entered the Tiger Demon's cave mansion.

Hidden Zhang Ze stood outside the cave mansion, watching, his second problem now solved.

There was still the last problem remaining, which was how many to slay?

This time, the answer came quickly.

Slaying just one should suffice.

He knelt before the Mountain Monarch and kowtowed, "Disciple has already executed the traitor from the Fan family, but a Daoist meddled, causing some setbacks. I request, I request Mountain Monarch to grant me another spirit, to deal with that Daoist. I will help you harm more people, I..."

He had thought things through; he felt the Mountain Monarch couldn't do without him, for the Mountain Monarch couldn't leave the cave mansion. Now the Fan family father and son were dead, and the Mountain Monarch's needed blood sacrifices could only be sought by him.

But before he finished his words, He was suddenly grabbed by the Tiger Demon. This Tiger Demon was quite twisted; others when initiating refinement start from the head, giving a swift end.

The Tiger Demon started from the lower body, sucking dry the blood and flesh of He's lower half before throwing him to the ground.

"I instructed you to act only after the Fan family father and son had left the village, yet you acted out of personal desire, sabotaging my plans—this is disloyalty."

"I ought to kill you on the spot but considering your previous merits, I spare you half a life for now."

With that said, the Tiger Demon suddenly roared, "Daoist, stop watching!"

Raising its hand, it summoned a black wind which pulled Zhang Ze, who was watching the commotion outside, into the cave mansion.

Once Zhang Ze entered the cave mansion, the stone door behind him closed immediately, talismans in the cave lit up, forming a black net, sealing the space.

The Tiger Demon laughed heartily, "Little Daoist, did you foresee this day?"

"Your magical artifacts are indeed wondrous but are ultimately external aids. You thought you had everything planned out, yet all your schemes were seen by me!" The Tiger raised its hand, and a black eyeball materialized in the air.

"I have already set up an array, waiting for you to come for quite a while. Now I have sealed your Taoist Techniques from Dragon Tiger Mountain. What have you left to rely on? If you pledge yourself as my disciple, become my Servant Ghost, I can leave your soul unscathed." The Tiger pointed at the arrays around the cave walls.

"Wait till I am back to Golden Core, then we master and disciple can roam the world at ease, wouldn't that be great!" finished the Tiger, pointing to the large pill furnace on the right side of the cave, indicating Zhang Ze to jump in.

Finally, the Tiger released the aura of its Half-Step Golden Core.

Seeing the Tiger seeming rather joyous, Zhang Ze asked, "Do you know the Stone Pill?"

"What Stone Pill?" The Tiger Demon was puzzled by Zhang Ze's question.

"Alright." Seeing the Tiger's genuine reaction, Zhang Ze decided to stop playing around, summoning the Sword Box and slammed it to the ground.

"Sorry, buddy, I'm from the Sword Sect." Zhang Ze gestured to the Tiger with his finger.

After dealing with the Evil-breaking Ghost, Zhang Ze felt something was watching him.

But adhering to the Actor's Self-Cultivation, he pretended to be oblivious, playing the role of a Daoist reliant entirely on magical artifacts and talismans, just to give the lurker a surprise.

The Tiger was indeed rather surprised.

Then it died.

Zhang Ze only wielded two swords.

This Tiger had practiced some Evil Technique; half its body had transformed into Spirit Body, perfectly suitable to cut with the Spirit Sword Witch Priest.

The other half of the body was refined robust and firm, piercing with the Spirit Sword White Wolf felt quite nice.

The two Spirit Swords were nourished in the Sword Box for over half a month, and Zhang Ze temporarily refined Breaking Evil Divine Techniques into them using the Sword Box.

Suppressing the Tiger fiercely.

Zhang Ze felt this Tiger offered rather satisfying strikes, somewhat leaving him unsatisfied even after slashing.

As he was stowing away the Sword Box, Zhang Ze suddenly heard someone calling him.

He looked down and found it was He Xi.

At this moment, He Xi was already barely breathing, crawling on the ground, sobbing, "Daoist save me, I was wrong, I won't dare again..."

Zhang Ze stepped back and sighed.

"What's that saying?"

"Oh, I remember now."

"You're not sorry for your wrongs, you only realize you're about to die."

After hearing these words, He Xi couldn't catch his breath and lost all signs of life.

Zhang Ze thought this person deserved his fate, planning to temporarily place his remains outside the cave and later find somewhere in the mountains to bury them, returning dust to dust, earth to earth.

Returning to the cave, Zhang Ze rummaged through the Tiger's corpse but found no Storage Magical Artifact. Zhang Ze really missed Brother Feng because when it came to searching bodies, Feng was more professional.

After circling the cave a few times, Zhang Ze finally noticed some clues beside the stone chair where the Tiger Demon sat.

There were three arrays carved into the armrest of the stone chair.

Injecting Spiritual Qi into the first array, Zhang Ze saw no reaction around, but heard a faint rustling from above.

Injecting Spiritual Qi into the second array, Zhang Ze saw the stone door of the cave mansion slowly open with the array changing.

Looking back at the small black holes in the cave wall, Zhang Ze recalled the Tiger Demon's invisible eyeball that could float around.

The small holes were just the right size for the eyeball to go in and out.

"Emotion, both doors are manual, what's the point of having people kowtow and chant scriptures?"

Looking towards the large Tiger's corpse, unable to answer Zhang Ze's questions at this moment.

Injecting Spiritual Qi into the third array, this time a secret compartment appeared behind the stone seat, containing a large box.

The box wasn't a trap; it contained all the possessions of the Tiger Demon.

In line with the principle that the wrongdoer writes a diary, Zhang Ze found the Tiger Demon's diary inside the box.