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Chapter 455 Willow Wood Ghost (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
"Oh, I know."

Xu Yuan agreed and walked inside, passing by Xiao Bin and the other person without saying anything more.

Xiao Bin still paid his respects so solemnly and respectfully—because he was bowing down, he could only see Master Xu's feet passing by.

His companion hurriedly knelt down as well, raised his hands high and bowed forward, crying out, "My young master has not yet returned, please, Lord Xu, save our lives!"

Xu Yuan chuckled to himself: Sure enough, he must have something to ask of me, otherwise he wouldn't have been so polite.

As for the "noble" young master of a prominent family who died in Pingli County from the mouth of evil spirits?
Is there anything surprising about this?
This was not surprising to Xu Yuan at all.

Prominent families have their own methods for cultivating successors.

However, many parents love their children dearly and protect them too much.

Once outside, one's understanding of this world teeming with evil is not clear enough.

Xu Yuan turned around and said, "I am the head of the Exorcism Division in Champa. This place is not within my jurisdiction. Even if you come to me to report a case, I cannot accept it."

Xiao Bin and his companion were dumbfounded.

They initially thought that Xu Yuan was a member of the Exorcism Bureau and couldn't ignore the strange cases happening around him.

But despite their youth, they saw through their intentions at a glance and directly blocked their idea with the rules of the system.

Xu Yuan waved his hand and turned to go back.

Xiao Bin hurriedly crawled forward on his knees, hugged Xu Yuan's leg, and earnestly said, "My lord! Please hear what I have to say."

Xu Yuan didn't really intend to leave—if he really wanted to leave, Xiao Bin wouldn't be able to hold onto his leg.

The enhancements to the body provided by the "Dragon Transformation Technique" are equivalent to those of a martial arts practitioner of the same level.

"Let go," Xu Yuan said. "Speak your mind."

"Yes." Xiao Bin hurriedly let go: "My master dotes on the young master. If the young master really dies in Pingli County, I'm afraid that in his grief, my master will take his anger out on the innocent people here."

Xu Yuan waved his hand: "You don't need to threaten me. Not to mention that this place is not within my jurisdiction, I shouldn't interfere."

Furthermore, at this very moment, it was already dark, and even the Exorcism Bureau did not have a rule of conducting cases at night when evil spirits were rampant.

His life, Wei Jinyuan's life, is life, and so are the lives of my brothers in the Exorcism Division!

You want to use Wei Shiqi to intimidate me, but I also have the entire Exorcism Bureau standing behind me!
Seeing that even mentioning the master couldn't persuade Xu Yuan to agree, the companion beside him kowtowed heavily: "Lord Xu, you came here to collect fire, which must be to advance to the fourth level of alchemy cultivation. As long as you are willing to rescue my young master, we are willing to offer a piece of the giant fish bone from the North Sea!"

Xiao Bin immediately realized what was going on and quickly added, "That's right, Master was just rewarded by His Majesty with a piece of giant fish bone from the North Sea. As long as you rescue the young master, Master will definitely be willing to use this treasure to repay you!"

Xu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief; he had finally made a bid.

Upon learning that Wei Jinyuan had not yet returned, Xu Yuan was determined to find out the truth.

There was no other reason than that this happened in the village, and Wei Jinyuan was investigating the disappearance of "Dragon Mouth Fire," which must be related to the evil spirit in the shadows.

This could very well lead to the discovery of clues about the "Dragon's Mouth Fire".

However, Xu Yuan wanted to achieve two goals at once and couldn't just save Wei Jinyuan for nothing.

Your Wei family will have to pay a price.

I only helped Wei Jinyuan out of the blue, but you can't refuse to pay me.

The bones of the giant fish from the North Sea are very famous.

Further northeast from Liaodong, a great river flows directly to the North Sea.

Beihai Lake is frozen year-round, and the ice layer is said to be several feet thick.

The ice surface is thawed for only one or two months a year.

There are giant fish in the sea, as large as mountains, with immense strength and bones as hard as iron.

Moreover, each giant fish possesses different innate and cunning abilities.

In that icy, snowy environment, even a third-rate person wouldn't have the ability to hunt down a giant fish from the North Sea all by themselves.

The only way to kill this giant monster is to deploy the imperial navy.

In addition, the ice season is too long, and the navy needs time to prepare for deployment, so the hunting window is actually less than a month each year.

Therefore, the various materials on the giant fish of the North Sea were extremely precious and were often bestowed by the imperial court upon important officials.

After mastering the fourth level of alchemy and refining fire, one can further "refine oneself," using oneself as the "elixir."

The bones of this giant fish from the North Sea are among the finest materials for refining myself.

It can make one's own bones incredibly hard.

Putting everything else aside, once the skull is forged, even if a sword pellet hits the forehead, it cannot penetrate it.

It was an extra layer of heavy inner armor.

Before tonight, Xu Yuan had never imagined that he could obtain the bones of the giant fish from the North Sea to refine me.

Even his old patron Ma Tianshou couldn't get his hands on this kind of material.

"Can you really make a decision about such a treasure?" Xu Yuan asked doubtfully.

Upon hearing this, the two knew there was room for negotiation and immediately said, "The master had already verbally promised the young master that piece of the giant fish bone from the North Sea before we left. In fact, it is the young master's treasure. As long as you save the young master's life, he will definitely be willing to repay you with this treasure."

Xu Yuan still frowned: "After saying all this, you still can't make the decision."

The two gritted their teeth and said, "We're willing to stake our lives on this!"

Xu Yuan seemed to be still considering, so the two crawled forward again: "Please, sir, save our young master! Even if he denies it, we are willing to offer up all our family fortune!"

Xu Yuan was moved and said, "Considering your unwavering loyalty, I will help you out."

The two were overjoyed and kowtowed deeply, saying, "Thank you, sir!"

Of everyone present, only Lang Xiaoba realized that his master had decided to save people from the very beginning.

But they've been playing these two characters all along.

Lang Xiaoba used his own "Liyuan Method" as the standard to judge his adult's acting skills: among ordinary people, the level is already top-notch.

Xu Yuan was certain that the two men were willing to use all their family assets as collateral, but Wei Jinyuan was a proud young master from a prominent family who cared a lot about his reputation and would never allow his two trusted subordinates to go bankrupt in order to save his life.

Where did Young Master Wei disappear?

Wei Jinyuan became a major benefactor, and Lord Xu immediately became much more polite in his address.

"I'll lead the way," Xiao Bin said, immediately getting up.

Lang Xiaoba also wanted to go, but Xu Yuan waved his hand: "It's dangerous at night, you all stay here, I'll go by myself."

Xu Yuan and Xiao Bin left, followed silently by a large white goose.

Xiao Bin and his companion were extremely anxious when they ran over, disregarding all other dangers along the way.

But now that Xu Yuan had agreed to help rescue people, he felt at ease. Looking at the surrounding night, he realized that countless eyes were lurking there!
But for some reason, those things only dared to watch from a distance. Even though there were three living people right there, with excellent blood food, they just didn't dare to come and eat.

Xiao Bin nodded secretly: He must be afraid of Lord Xu.

But in reality, the evil spirits couldn't see Xu Yuan's skill level at all.

What truly deterred them from approaching was Dafu.

Liu Hu wasn't the only one who saw that eerie dragon-headed duck-billed creature last night.

The evil spirits in the village all saw it.

They all know Dafu.

With no evil spirits disturbing them along the way, the three of them soon arrived at the edge of that old forest.

On the way, Xiao Bin also told Master Xu about their previous discoveries in the old forest.

Standing outside the old forest, one could see strange, eerie green eyes opening on the dark tree trunks.

Human pupils are round, while the pupils of some wild animals are shaped like dates. However, the pupils of these eyes are oval and grow horizontally.

The trees opened their eyes, glanced at the three people outside with disdain, and then closed them one by one.

Xu Yuan stood outside the forest and opened the "Wangming" (a magical artifact) to see that the forest was full of evil spirits!
But their attitude of opening and closing their eyes has made it very clear: if they don't bother us, we won't bother them either.

The villagers don't usually come to this forest, so the two sides live in peace.

"Do you have any lanterns?" Xu Yuan asked.

"Yes." Xiao Bin quickly took out a tiny lantern, twisted the handle, and the lantern emitted a bright light.

This is also a crafted item, but it is very light.

"Go in and have a look."

There were hardly any people in this forest, so Xu Yuan easily found the footprints left by Wei Jinyuan and his group during the day.

By following the footprints, the movement trajectory of Wei Jinyuan and others can be basically determined.

Then Xu Yuan stood in a clearing in the woods and lightly stamped his foot, saying, "Young Master Wei disappeared right here."

After searching in the forest for a while, Xiao Bin and his companion became even more impressed with Lord Xu.

The footprints in the forest seemed chaotic to the two of them, but Xu Yuan could easily analyze them to figure out the route the young master and his companions had taken.

Both of them secretly thought: The Exorcism Division is indeed quite skilled at handling cases.

Now that they've found the place where the young master disappeared, they're puzzled again: "Here?"

It's completely empty here.

Suddenly, Xiao Bin had a flash of inspiration and slowly squatted down.

He remembered the method by which Lord Xu discovered the pit yesterday.

But even after squatting down, I still couldn't see anything.

Everything was exactly the same as when I stood up.

Xiao Bin stood up again and turned his head to see Lord Xu looking at him strangely.

Xiao Bin's face immediately turned red.

This is tantamount to admitting that we had secretly spied on Lord Xu from behind the door yesterday.

When that didn't work, Xiao Bin was at his wit's end and could only watch helplessly as Lord Xu passed by.

Xu Yuan secretly grasped the Yin-Yang Guillotine and looked around.

Nothing was found.

Xu Yuan stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Xiao Bin and his companion waited for a while, growing increasingly anxious. Finally, they couldn't help but ask, "Sir, is there any way?"

Xu Yuan nodded: "I've thought of a way. Don't panic later."

"Huh?" The two were puzzled.

But then Lord Xu walked straight to the nearest big tree and tapped the trunk.

It's like knocking on a door.

Bang Bang Bang!
The tree did not react at all.

They acted as if they couldn't be bothered to pay any attention.

Xu Yuan knocked again.

After waiting a while, I knocked a third time.

The tree remained unresponsive, so Xu Yuan spoke up: "Things shouldn't happen more than three times. I always prefer diplomacy before resorting to force."

The tree remained completely still.

Xu Yuan chuckled and spat out a mouthful of fifth-rate internal fire!

"call--"

The fire instantly engulfed the tree, and with a loud bang, a huge eye popped out of the tree trunk.

When I looked at it from outside the woods just now, it wasn't very clear because it was quite far inside.

Standing right under the tree, that eye hangs a full ten feet above you, as big as a human head!

Dark green and dark blue, eerie and strange.

Anger transformed into a pool of dark water within his flat, round pupils, about to spill out... But Xu Yuan suddenly raised his hand and pulled back, and the "fire in his abdomen" detached from the tree with a whoosh, forming a ring of fire three feet away.

"Don't cry!" Xu Yuan said, "I'm only pushing you because I tried to be polite before resorting to force, but you dared to ignore an official appointed by the imperial court!"

Liu Mugui became even more agitated!

This Yin Water originates from the River of Oblivion! It was drawn from the underworld by this demon, who used its roots to extend infinitely downwards, expending enormous strength!

Even after being diluted with the sap of this strange tree, it is still a terrifying method capable of drowning all souls in this mortal realm!
Why does what you said make it sound like I, the demon, am about to cry because I can't win?

Liu Mugui was furious, and tears welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face.

In an instant, it wrapped around itself and transformed into a long river of dark water, which then surged towards Xu Yuan with a flick of its wrist.

Xu Yuan sneered: "If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences!"

The fire inside his abdomen roared and surged forward.

The Yinshui River hissed and emitted black smoke, having been dried up by the fire.

Then the flames subsided, but this time there was no mercy; the willow wood sprite was set ablaze.

Willow Wood Ghost's eyes twitched incessantly, and Yin Water gushed out. Xu Yuan opened his mouth and spat out another ball of fire.

The willow tree could no longer hold on.

The yin water was exhausted and could not withstand the flames.

The flames burned upwards along the tree trunk.

The bark crackled and popped, and soon the tree transformed into a giant torch in the night.

The other willow trees around them angrily opened their eyes, their branches rustling and their roots writhing like monstrous pythons beneath the ground.

Xu Yuan shouted, "This has nothing to do with you! I am the head of the Exorcism Bureau, and if any of you dare to make any further moves, I will lead my men to burn down your entire forest, leaving not a single tree alive!"

The branches knew the sound was getting louder.

Those strange eyes hovered and swayed on the tree trunk, moving about uncertainly.

Suddenly, more than a dozen pairs of pitch-black claws emerged from the ground beneath Xu Yuan and the other two, grabbed their ankles, and dragged them into the ground.

The ground instantly turned into a muddy mess.

Beneath the burning willow tree roots, dozens of ancient ghosts, whose age is unknown, are imprisoned.

Old Ghost launched a sneak attack.

Xiao Bin and his companion were caught off guard, and the water instantly sank to their necks.

However, the dozen or so old ghosts who grabbed Xu Yuan's ankles found that no matter how hard they tried, Xu Yuan did not budge.

Xu Yuan's face lit up with joy: "A highly nourishing treat delivered right to my doorstep!"

The Six-Eyed Nethermoth flew out, and the Three-Headed Demon pounced out menacingly, plunging its three heads into the muddy ground. In an instant, the dozen or so old demons became its meal.

After finishing their meal, the three giant ghosts pounced on Xiao Bin and his companion without stopping, and following suit, they also ate the old ghost that had captured them.

The ground immediately returned to normal, and it took Xiao Bin and his companion quite a bit of effort to crawl out of the ground on their own.

The surrounding willow trees immediately fell silent.

The branches no longer swayed, and the roots underground remained obedient.

It even managed to avoid some of its branches in mid-air.

Don't burn me.

The two methods that the Willow Wood Demons were best at using—yin water and old ghosts—were completely useless against this law-abiding official of the imperial court.

If good advice goes unheeded, you must learn some martial arts.

The fire inside the fifth-rate tree was incredibly powerful. After burning away the branches and trunk, it burrowed into the ground along the roots, completely erasing all the roots.

Lord Xu always does things cleanly and efficiently, and he believes in eliminating problems completely.

The fire in his belly receded, and a fine piece of material was brought back from the flames.

The firelight opened like a treasure box, and a piece of blue-green resin the size of an egg fell into Master Xu's palm.

It contains a tiny drop of "yin water".

This is pure Yin water, from the River of Oblivion in the underworld.

This was also Liu Mugui's last tear before he died.

"Good stuff," Xu Yuan praised, quickly putting it into his waist pouch.

Then, Xu Yuan looked around again—the willow tree monsters had their eyes tightly closed and their trunks taut.

Even when the night wind blows past its branches, it makes no sound.

He can't see me, he can't see me, he can't see me...

Finally, the long ordeal was over, and Xu Yuan pointed and selected a lucky person!

"You!" Xu Yuan pointed at a willow tree: "I have something to ask you."

The willow-wood ghost shrank back, about to burrow underground and escape.

But then he saw that the fire that had just burned a "senior in the forest" to ashes had transformed into a fire serpent and whooshed to his feet.

It sensed that the fire, like Xu Yuan, harbored ill intentions, as if it wanted to make some unusual move so that it would have an excuse to burn itself down and obtain another piece of fine material!

The willow tree trunk, which had already sunk five feet into the ground, silently emerged again. Then, the rough bark cracked open, revealing an eye on the trunk.

Xu Yuan was filled with disappointment—if Lang Xiaoba were here, he probably wouldn't be able to resist giving the adult some pointers on his acting skills.

This performance was a bit over-the-top; it wasn't as good as when he played Xiao Bin earlier.

"I ask you, how many people came here during the day, and what happened to them?"

Lucky Liu Mugui's eyes, the size of a human head, were filled with clear stupidity, showing no trace of the sinister eeriness from before.

what did you say?
I have absolutely no idea.

Xu Yuan didn't press for details. He simply took out the resin he had just seen and tossed it in his hand while calculating, "I just checked outside. There are a total of 246 willow trees in this forest. One was burned to death just now, so there are still 245 left."

They're all seventh-rate or sixth-rate.

If I were to petition my superiors to send two fifth-rate and twenty sixth-rate men, the entire forest could be wiped out.

On average, each person can get about twenty good pieces of material, so I'm sure everyone will be very happy..."

Hua Hua Hua...

All the willow trees in the entire forest shook violently together.

Every willow wood ghost was cursing that lucky guy, shouting, "Tell him right now!"
If you want to die, don't drag us down with you.

The lucky ones are caught in a dilemma.

Confess... that great evil spirit won't forgive you.

If he doesn't confess, Xu Yuan won't even have to lift a finger; his own kind will kill him.

Suddenly, the lucky one had a brilliant idea. He shook himself, and many willow leaves fell down.

Xiao Bin and his companion watched from the side, willow leaves landing on their shoulders before sliding down to the ground.

His companion was puzzled: "What's going on?"

Xiao Bin thought for a moment and said in a self-righteous manner, "In ancient times, Wu Zixu could not leave the pass and his hair turned white overnight."

Now, this willow tree spirit is caught in a dilemma by Lord Xu, and it's so worried that it's losing leaves—it's going bald!

Xu Yuan looked down at the leaves.

I counted them; there were a total of 245 pieces.

What do you mean?
There were originally 246 trees in the forest. The lucky one means that... only 245 of them are willow trees, and one is not.
Xu Yuan paused, and two fiery wheels flew out, lifting him into the air and soaring to the treetops.

Then Xu Yuan opened "Looking at Fate" again and carefully observed the entire forest.

found it!
At first glance, I only saw the forest full of evil spirits, all of them wooden monsters, and I didn't bother to carefully distinguish the subtle differences among them.

But now we see a cedar tree hidden in the northeast corner of the woods.

Xu Yuan spurred the fire wheel, and it roared as it swooped down.

While still in mid-air, he opened his mouth and spat out: Boom—

Fire erupted from its belly, condensing into a fireball about ten feet in size, which blasted towards the tree like a cannonball.

"Hehe, you found out."

Suddenly, a childlike voice rang out in the night sky. The old cedar tree sprang up and jumped out of the ground with a loud bang. Several thick roots twisted together and turned into four root legs, which rushed out of the forest and ran away.

boom!
The fire in its belly landed, but it didn't ignite anything else. It rolled quickly on the ground, chasing after the old cedar tree.

Xu Yuan did not leave. He hovered in mid-air with his fire wheel, looking around in confusion.

That sound just now, and the sound by the pond, were clearly the same one!
However, despite using all sorts of methods, Xu Yuan still couldn't find it.

Even the ever-victorious "Wangming" failed to discover any other evil spirits besides the willow wood ghosts.

"Has he already left, or has he truly managed to escape my destiny?"

Xu Yuan soon had to admit that it was indeed possible to avoid it.

When they were at the pond, Xu Yuan also used his divination skills to look around, but he didn't find anything.

When I was looking for the old cedar tree, I also used the divination technique, and there was only a wooden ghost in the forest.

Xu Yuan tentatively asked, "You're a child too, yet you feed those children in the village to that thing. How can you bear it?"

The voice drifted from afar: "You don't need to test me. If you're capable, you'll find me. If you're not, you can only watch as I devour those people from earlier today."

Xu Yuan sneered: "Hide and seek, huh? Humph!"

The fireball inside its belly was still chasing the old cedar tree.

The tree was running extremely fast, but suddenly it tripped over something.

It stumbled and tried to get up and run again, but found that the thing that had tripped it had wrapped itself around it again and tightly bound its roots.

It was also incredibly strong, yet it just couldn't break free.

The rope was extremely tough and had excellent elasticity.

It stretches open when you exert force, and tightens again when the force is released.

This delay allowed the fireball from the fire inside the abdomen to catch up.

The rolling sand crushed the old cedar tree.

call--

Flames erupt.

Xu Yuan stood suspended in the night sky when suddenly his "unrestrained" state stirred.

Xu Yuan remained calm and focused on the old cedar tree writhing and struggling in the flames, seemingly oblivious to everything lurking in the darkness.

But after waiting for a long time, the thing in the shadows did not make a move.

Xu Yuan couldn't help but wonder: since his fate had been activated, it meant that thing must have done something to him in secret.

But why was there no follow-up?
So astute?
Xu Yuan sneered and simply drew his Dragon-Slaying Sword.

"Hehehe..." The voice drifted back from afar: "I'm a very good fisherman, you think you can catch me? Wishful thinking!"

However, Xu Yuan revealed the Dragon-Slaying Sword to confirm one thing: this thing was indeed a dragon, and it feared the Dragon-Slaying Sword.

It was because he sensed the aura of the Dragon Slayer Sword that he refrained from making further moves.

The fire inside the tree was raging, and the old cedar tree had been burned clean of its branches, leaves, and roots, leaving only its extremely thick trunk.

A vermilion temple gate was visible through the tree trunk.

The door was tightly closed, but Xu Yuan felt a strange sense of familiarity when he looked at it.

Xu Yuan was quite puzzled: "This door leads to... the Heavenly Palace?!"

(End of this chapter)