A journey through the world of martial arts

Chapter 114 Exorcising Demons at Sanquan
After leaving Shuiyue Cave, Gu Xu determined his direction and headed straight east. According to the map, Tianhua Prefecture was located southeast of Shuiyue Cave. He would have to cross the Hengjue Mountains and the Yuquan River to reach the territory of Tianhua Prefecture.

Along the way, all Gu Xu saw was a scene of decay: fertile fields lay barren, corpses of the starving stretched for miles, demons and monsters roamed freely, and cannibalism was commonplace. The powerful families seemed oblivious to this chaotic world, continuing their decadent and decadent lifestyles.

"The Supreme Dao steals the nation's fortune; it is truly an evil and crooked path." Gu Xu only needed to discern for a moment to realize that the nation's fortune was abnormally weak. He focused his eyes and looked towards the northern court, where he saw a black dragon firmly bound by crimson chains. With each struggle, the light on the black dragon's body dimmed a little.

A crimson chain led directly to the mouth of a blood-red skull. Each time it absorbed the nation's fortune, the skull's color would become much more intense. As if sensing that someone was observing it, the skull turned to look at Gu Xu.

Seeing this, Gu Xu restrained his aura. The skull didn't notice anything and turned to absorb the nation's fortune.

"This evil spirit is truly extraordinary." Gu Xu is not willing to confront it yet. After some investigation, he has learned that the Supreme Path and the Demon Path are currently at war. In any case, the Supreme Path is ultimately human, and for its own benefit, the Supreme Path will not abandon humankind.

If I were to tamper with the Supreme Dao, the other two families would benefit, and in the end, it would be the human people who would suffer.

"Let's go to Tianhua Prefecture first."

Gu Xu traveled day and night, and one evening he arrived at a huge village. The village was bustling with activity, a stark contrast to the dilapidated landscape he had seen before. However, Gu Xu sensed something strange.

"Greetings, sir. I am a poor man passing through this area, and I am hungry and thirsty. Moreover, it is getting late, so I would like to ask for lodging for the night. Is that alright?"

Gu Xu entered the village and found it empty except for an old man with white hair, about sixty years old, sitting under a large locust tree.

Greetings, Taoist Master.

The old man stood up shakily and looked at the handsome young Taoist priest in front of him. He couldn't help but feel a sense of goodwill towards him.

"Everyone in the village has gone out on business. If you don't mind, Taoist priest, please come to my house with me."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, sir."

"Taoist priest, please come with me."

Gu Xu followed behind the old man and after walking for a while, they arrived at a small courtyard, which was very tidy and clean.

"Please come in, Taoist priest," the old man said, leading Gu Xu into the main room. He poured a cup of water and brought over some dry food.

“My son and daughter-in-law went with the villagers to fulfill their vow. The Taoist priest will have some dry food to tide him over, and we will cook him a proper meal when they return.”

Gu Xu thanked the old man, picked up the dry rations and ate them. Upon hearing the words "fulfilling a vow," Gu Xu's heart stirred, and he immediately asked, "I wonder what you mean by 'fulfilling a vow'?"

"Oh, Daoist, you may not know this, but there is a Hundred Buddha Temple on Kuaifu Mountain, where the monks are all highly skilled in supernatural arts. Our village is called Sanquan Village because of the three wells in the village that used to have a constant flow of sweet spring water, but they suddenly stopped flowing a few months ago."

At this point, the old man's face showed terror. "Not only has the water supply stopped, but we often hear strange noises at night, which are very eerie. Moreover, all the livestock in the house have died without any apparent illness or injury."

"The village chief said that the village must be haunted by evil spirits, so he funded the monks from the Hundred Buddha Temple to come and exorcise the demons. Miraculously, after the monks came once, the well water started flowing again, and all the strange things disappeared. That's why the village chief led the whole village, young and old, to fulfill their vow."

Gu Xu understood somewhat upon hearing this. When he entered the village earlier, he felt something was off. The auras of both the demons and monsters were not right. It turned out to be Buddhist aura, but this Buddhist aura lacked seven parts of righteousness and had three parts of evil.

"There must be something wrong with this Buddhist temple," Gu Xu thought to himself, and then asked the old man some questions about the Hundred Buddha Temple.

It turns out that the Hundred Buddha Temple was only built in recent years and was not well-known. However, after solving the evil spirits in Panshan Town, it was rewarded by the government and its incense offerings became more prosperous. The nameless mountain was also called Hundred Buddha Mountain.

Before they knew it, night had fallen. Just as the old man was wondering why his son and the others hadn't returned yet, a flurry of footsteps and shouts suddenly came from outside.

Upon hearing this, the old man hurriedly pushed open the door to check. Gu Xu also got up and went out. He saw several strong young men carrying a young man covered in blood in the courtyard, with a woman beside him with tears streaming down her face.

"My son!" the old man cried out in anguish, collapsing onto the young man. Those nearby quickly pulled him away, saying, "Uncle Liushan, Brother Shi is injured! Quickly carry him inside. The village head has already sent someone to fetch a doctor."

Upon hearing this, the old man hurriedly called out, and several strong young men carried the person into the room, carefully placed him on the bed, and then withdrew.

"Wood, what happened? How did the stone become like this?"

I was fine when I went out this morning, but when I came back I was covered in blood.

The young man named Mu Tou looked at the old man with remorse and said, "On the way back, I don't know why, a wolf as tall as half a person suddenly ran out and bit at Xiao Hai's child. Luckily, Brother Shi Tou was quick-witted and grabbed the child to the side, but he himself was dragged into the forest by the wolf."

"Let's hurry into the mountains and forests to chase after him. When we arrived, Brother Stone was like this, and the old wolf was gone too."

Upon hearing this, the old man couldn't stop his tears. His son had almost lost his life; if anything had happened to him, how could he go on living?

Seeing this, Gu Xu went to the stone's side, took its pulse, and realized that it was indeed so. This old wolf was already a demon. After being bitten by it, demonic energy had entered the stone's body. If it was not removed in time, the stone would become a half-human, half-demon monster. Once it became ferocious, the entire village would suffer.

"Uncle Liushan, what is this?" Mu Tou asked, puzzled, as he saw Gu Xu taking pulses like a doctor.

"This is the Taoist priest who came today. He needs to stay the night. Taoist priest, you also know how to heal injuries."

The old man turned around and saw Gu Xu's actions. He asked in a low voice, "There is no doctor in the village. We have to go to the town to ask for one. But with my son injured like this, will we be able to wait for a doctor to come?"

"This humble Taoist priest has some knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine. Old man, could you please bring me a bowl of water?"

Upon hearing this, the old man knew that the Taoist priest could heal injuries, so he hurriedly went out and returned shortly with a bowl of water. The others were also very curious when they saw Gu Xu's appearance.

Gu Xu took out a jade bottle from his package, poured out a bright green pill, placed it in water, and it instantly turned into a bowl of green medicinal soup.

The onlookers were all amazed; they had never seen anything like it before.

"This Taoist priest is quite capable; I don't think he's much weaker than those sorcerers."

"This pill dissolves in water; could it be some kind of miracle drug?"

Gu Xu pointed a finger, and Shi Tou's tightly closed lips opened. He was fed the entire medicinal soup without spilling a drop. Just a few breaths later, Shi Tou's body trembled, and to everyone's astonishment, wisps of black energy suddenly emerged.

Black mist hovered in mid-air, intertwining to form the head of a ferocious wolf. Woody exclaimed in surprise, "That's the old wolf!"

The others stared in shock at the scene before them; it was nothing short of an evil spirit.

"Taoist Master"

Looking at the composed Gu Xu, and then at his son whose complexion had returned to normal, the old man became even more certain that the Taoist priest was a highly accomplished master.

Gu Xu smiled faintly at the old man, then pointed with his fingers, and a beam of crimson light shot towards the wolf's head. The moment it touched the head, the wolf howled miserably and turned into ashes, falling to the ground. The onlookers quickly dodged, afraid that this unclean thing would land on them.

"The Taoist priest is truly a master," a deep voice came from outside the house, and a shrewd-looking old man walked in with a doctor and several young men.

"The village head is here!" The villagers saw the village head approaching and immediately made way for him.

"Young Master Wu Gan is the village head of Sanquan Village. Greetings, Taoist Priest."

Wu Gan had just witnessed Gu Xu easily defeat the evil spirit, and immediately felt the urge to befriend him, so he was very polite in his words.

"So it's Village Chief Wu, greetings," Gu Xu said, glancing at the doctor beside him. "Since you've brought a doctor, please take Stone's pulse again, so the old man can feel more at ease."

“What the Taoist priest says makes sense, Doctor Wang, thank you for your trouble,” Wu Gan said to the doctor beside him.

Doctor Wang nodded, stepped forward to take the pulse, and soon withdrew his hand, quite surprised.

"May I ask, has the injured person taken any medication?"

When he examined the injured person just now, he found that the person's body was full of vitality and there was no pain or illness. If it weren't for the bloodstains on the outside, he would have suspected that someone was deliberately playing a trick on him.

"The Taoist priest just gave my son a pill. Doctor, is there a problem?"

Liu Shan didn't think the pill was ineffective, after all, the Taoist priest had real skills.

Upon hearing Liu Shan's words, the doctor was slightly taken aback, and then said, "The injured person is fine now. He just needs to rest for a few days and doesn't need any more medicine."

Upon hearing the doctor's words, Liu Shan immediately knelt before Gu Xu. His daughter-in-law, seeing this, also knelt. She quickly helped Liu Shan up, saying, "Father-in-law, what are you doing? This humble Taoist priest cannot accept such a gesture. Please get up."

"If it weren't for the Taoist priest's intervention, my son would still be alive. You deserve this courtesy, Taoist priest."

"Instead of kneeling down to express your gratitude, you should prepare some food for this humble Taoist priest."

"It's my fault for being senile, daughter-in-law. Go and prepare some food." The daughter-in-law sighed, wiped away her tears, and turned to leave the room.

"Everyone, you can leave now. Shi Tou is alright. Doctor, thank you for coming all this way. Here's the money for the medicine; please accept it. It's dark and the road is long, so I'll send a few people to take you home."

Wu Cunzheng stuffed the money for the medicine into the doctor's hand, then called over a few young men, gave them a few instructions, and told them to take the doctor away. The others dispersed after hearing Cunzheng's words.

“Muramasa hasn’t eaten yet, has he? Let’s eat here,” Liu Shan said, quickly stopping Wu Gan from leaving.

Wu Gan made a slight refusal, but ultimately stayed. It wasn't that he was greedy for the meal; he mainly wanted to become acquainted with Gu Xu. It would be a huge loss not to make the acquaintance of such a remarkable person.

After checking on Shi Tou's condition, Gu Xu got up and left the room. A meal had already been laid out in the main room, and it looked very sumptuous.

"Master, please have a seat," Liu Shan said, gesturing for Gu Xu to sit in the main seat.

After the meal, Gu Xu asked Wu Gan some questions about Baifo Temple and obtained some useful information.

"Master, your inquiry about the Buddhist temple suggests you suspect it's related to this matter."

Wu Gan was quick-witted. Seeing Gu Xu asking so carefully, he had some guesses in his mind. He looked up at Gu Xu, who just smiled slightly.

"It's getting late, Daoist Master, you should rest. This old man will take his leave."

Seeing this, Wu Gan wisely stopped asking, but he already had the answer in his heart. After chatting for a few more minutes, he left.

"Master, your room is ready. Please go and rest. We can discuss anything else tomorrow."

Liu Shan led Gu Xu to a room, which was simply furnished but very clean.

"Thank you for your trouble, sir."

"Master, please don't be so polite. Just tell me what you need."

After Liu Shan finished speaking, he left the room and closed the door. Gu Xu put the package and sword aside, sat on the bed, and began to meditate and practice his internal energy.

In the Hundred Buddha Temple, a hundred miles away, a kind-faced old monk looked extremely grim. Just an hour ago, one of his wolf spirits had been scattered. The clash of their energies had caused him to suffer a backlash. If it weren't for the incense offerings, he would have lost most of his life.

"How could such an accident happen in Sanquan Village? Could it be that the Supreme Daoists have arrived?"

The old monk's expression turned solemn. He knew his own situation best. The demonic path and the supreme path were locked in a life-or-death struggle. Now that such an unexpected event had occurred, it was hard not to have some concerns.

"It seems we need to send someone to Sanquan Village to take a look; that place cannot be allowed to fall."

Tianhua Prefecture, Shenglong Town, Yujian Manor
This is a newly emerging force in the martial arts world. The manor lord, Yin Zhong, is incredibly powerful. He has established himself in Shenglong Town with his skills, eliminating many bandits and earning a great reputation. Later, he married and had children, and founded the Imperial Sword Manor.

Inside the villa, Yin Zhong was meeting with two Taoist priests dressed in black.

"What brings you two here?" Yin Zhong sat at the head of the table, looking at the two men, his brows furrowing inwardly. For some reason, he felt a strong aversion to them as soon as he saw them.

"Master Yin, don't you remember what happened before?" the pale-faced youth said in a deep voice.

"What do you mean, Daoist Master? I don't know what you're talking about."

The dark-faced youth looked at Yin Zhong carefully for a few moments, then shook his head at the pale-faced youth.

"It was my presumption, Master Yin. We have come here to invite the Imperial Sword Manor to join us in slaying the demons on Three Fox Mountain. What do you think, Master Yin?"

Seeing that Yin Zhong had lost his memory and stopped talking, the pale-faced youth changed the subject and started talking about something else.

"The Imperial Sword Manor is a relatively new establishment, and some strange things have been happening around Shenglong Town recently. I need to protect the town, so I'm afraid I can't help you."

"In that case, we will not disturb you any longer, Master Yin. Farewell."

The pale-faced youth wasn't angry at all. He calmly stood up, clasped his hands in a salute, and left with the dark-faced youth. Only after watching them leave did Yin Zhong's sense of disgust disappear.

Outside the manor, the pale-faced youth asked the dark-faced youth, "Junior brother, why did you just now?"

"Although Yin Zhong has amnesia, finding him is still a great achievement. As long as we report it, we'll get the credit. Why create unnecessary complications? It wouldn't be good if we alerted him."

The pale-faced youth nodded upon hearing this and said, "Junior Brother's words are sound. It's also our good fortune to have run into Yin Zhong here."

When they were sent by the Supreme Dao to Tianhua Prefecture to slay demons and monsters, they were not very happy. After all, the forces in this place were complicated, and they could easily get into trouble if they were not careful. Therefore, the two of them kept a low profile.

The two had come seeking help after hearing about the reputation of Yujian Manor, but they were surprised by the unexpected joy they received.

"Leave here first."

Inside the villa, Yin Zhong saw the steward return and asked, "Did you find anything?"

The steward replied, "Master, those two were indeed behaving strangely. After leaving the manor, they headed west. I was worried about being discovered, so I withdrew first."

"Yes, those two were alright in terms of skill; you were right not to follow them rashly."

"Master, do those two intend to harm the Imperial Sword Manor?"

"It's hard to say. I have a feeling this matter isn't so simple. There are only a few foxes on Three Fox Mountain. With their skills, they don't need the Imperial Sword Manor at all. It seems I have to go and see for myself."

"Butler, while I'm gone, no one else must know. Please take good care of Madam; there must be no mistakes."

The steward hurriedly replied, "Please rest assured, Master, I will take good care of the manor and its surroundings, and await your return."

After giving his instructions, Yin Zhong immediately left the manor and headed west. He was so confident in finding the two because he was very sensitive to auras. Soon, Yin Zhong sensed that repulsive aura ahead.

Carefully concealing himself, Yin Zhong cautiously approached and saw a pale-faced youth in a dilapidated house. He took out a talisman and muttered incantations. Suddenly, the talisman lit up and emitted a halo of light, revealing a figure inside.

"Sun Yun, what do you have to report?"

"Master, Junior Brother Zhao and I met Yin Zhong in Shenglong Town, Tianhua Prefecture. He has now established the Imperial Sword Manor..."

Sun Yun recounted the general events, and the figure opposite nodded, saying, "I understand. You need to keep a close watch on Yin Zhong, and don't worry about the rest."

After he finished speaking, the halo dissipated, and the talisman turned into a cloud of ashes.

"Junior brother, our mission has become much easier. We need to keep a close eye on Yin Zhong."

"What my senior brother says is true."

Hearing this, Yin Zhong, who was eavesdropping nearby, was furious. These two ignorant fools dared to provoke me.

As soon as Yin Zhong released his aura, he immediately woke up Sun Yun and Junior Brother Zhao. The two of them were shocked to see Yin Zhong walking towards them step by step.

Judging from his expression, he had clearly heard the conversation. The two exchanged a glance, took out their weapons, and prepared to fight to the death.

Knowing they were no match for Yin Zhong, they decided that one of them would stay behind to cover their retreat while the other would take the opportunity to escape.

"Junior brother, run!"

Sun Yun shouted and thrust his dark green longsword at Yin Zhong. At the same time, Junior Brother Zhao withdrew and retreated, not forgetting to leave a dark glint.

Without even glancing at him, Yin Zhong flicked his sleeve, drawing in all the hidden weapons in the airflow. With a flick of his wrist, Sun Yun was dead, his sword broken.

Junior Brother Zhao was terrified and ran away hastily, throwing a red talisman behind him.

As soon as the talisman burned, a crimson blade of light slashed towards Yin Zhong. Upon seeing this, the latter frowned slightly, cleaved with one palm, and a white ribbon of light flashed by, first breaking through the crimson light, and then slaying Junior Brother Zhao.

Thank you to reader "侠影孤狂" for the generous donation.

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(End of this chapter)