The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Wang Wen attributed all the problems he couldn't explain to the Huangshan Divine Clone technique, which usually solved the problem.

But sometimes it doesn't work...

When?

When you meet someone knowledgeable.

Zhang Tianshi was very knowledgeable, so he didn't believe Wang Wen's nonsense at all.

Huangshan God?
Even if the Lord of Mount Tai himself came, He could not stop the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder!

Even immortals have their specialties, you know?

"Junior brother, you may not understand yet."

He carefully chose his words, trying to soften his tone: "What is the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder..."

"Brother Dao, is now the time to talk about this?"

Wang Wen failed to detect the old Taoist's cautious tone and hastily interrupted his rambling: "Haven't you heard the saying, 'One should pursue the defeated enemy with the courage of the victor, and not seek fame like Xiang Yu?' If we don't take advantage of the demon's illness now and kill it, are we going to wait for it to recover before it comes back to seek revenge?"

Before he could finish speaking, he had already darted dozens of feet away like a mad rabbit, running southeast while shouting, "Erniu!"

With its tongue lolling out, the black unicorn galloped up the mountain like a runaway husky, shouting, "Here I am!"

Wang Wen leaped onto its back and, amidst Zhang Tianshi's anxious shouts, vanished into the forest in a flurry of activity.

Zhang Tianshi chased after him through the air as he rushed out of the forest, but he couldn't even see the taillights of Hei Erniu's car.

'This young man…'

He was so anxious he kept stamping his feet, desperately trying to figure out how Wang Wen still had the guts to chase after that demon.
Did he think he could summon another bolt of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning?

What does he think the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder is?
A palm-sized thunderbolt?

Wang Wen, who had already chased after the lightning for several miles, naturally knew that he probably wouldn't be able to summon a second bolt of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning.

Why do we say "about"?
Of course, he didn't know how much he meant to the Heavenly Lord, or whether the Heavenly Lord would make an exception for him and allow him to take out a loan to attract investment.

But it doesn’t matter…

Just go for it!

Qing's earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique that allows one to escape through the earth) was indeed very powerful. In just a few dozen breaths, it had already escaped more than thirty miles away.

But no matter how fast its earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of technique that allows it to escape from the ground) is, how can something that runs underground be faster than something that flies in the sky?

Soon, Wang Wen's divine sense scanned the familiar corpse aura he had just sensed underground.

He immediately drew his sword with his fingers together, pointed it at the sinister corpse energy that was moving rapidly dozens of feet underground, and shouted sharply, "Take this!"

A beam of solidified golden lightning, as sharp as a laser, shot out cleanly from his fingertip, landing on the ground with a loud "boom" and kicking up dust more than ten feet high.

This was still the same 'electromagnetic cannon' move from before, but he had learned from his previous experience and improved the continuous beam attack by enhancing the charging power, explosive power, and penetrating power, turning it into a one-shot cannonball.

Its effects...

"boom."

The ground exploded, and a disheveled Qing rose into the sky, his face contorted with rage as he roared, baring his fangs and shouting, "You brat, don't you dare to bully the corpse! Do you really think the ancestor wouldn't dare to kill you?"

Compared to his previous calm and composed demeanor, where he remained unperturbed despite Wang Wen and Zhang Tianshi's actions, Qing's current state was truly miserable!
The body was nine feet tall, but the bloody hole in the middle of its chest was almost the size of a washbasin. Its whole body was covered with torn flesh and broken bones. Large patches of dark blood mixed with the corpse gas like a fountain gushed out. As soon as it landed, it crawled back to its feet like wriggling maggots, crawling back up its white bone legs and into its body through the wounds.

All that remained was a large patch of black, foul-smelling mud that looked like it had been corroded by chemicals.

Faced with the menacing threat from Qing, Wang Wen silently flipped over three sticks of incense and bowed towards the sky, chanting, "Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits..."

Seeing this, Qing on the ground also turned around without saying a word and plunged into the mud like a rabbit, instantly fleeing more than ten miles to the northeast, its speed increasing more than tenfold.

But no matter how fast it was, it couldn't outrun Wang Wen's divine sense. He immediately turned the Qilin's head around, urging the Black Oxen to chase after it with all their might, and raised incense above the green one's head to pray to the heavens: "Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits..."

The moment he opened his mouth, Qing, who was hiding more than twenty feet underground, instantly turned around and fled south without hesitation, just like a startled rabbit.

Wang Wen, without hesitation, turned the Qilin's head and chased after it again.

One person and one corpse, one in the sky and one on the ground, are like playing a game of eagle catching chicks, running back and forth, chasing and intercepting each other in the towering mountains.

Qing dared not dive deep into the ground, afraid that it would not be able to see Wang Wen's movements clearly. It knew very well that even the thickest soil could not stop the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder, so it could only stay on the surface of the ground, staring at Wang Wen's movements and spinning around like a headless fly.

And it didn't dare to escape too far in one go, afraid of spoiling Wang Wen's enjoyment and having him strike it with Purple Heaven Divine Lightning from afar, because it knew that even space couldn't stop Purple Heaven Divine Lightning...

Wang Wen held the Thunder Technique, but dared not actually strike down, because he didn't know if the Heavenly Dao would grant him this favor. If he used the Thunder Technique and it didn't attract the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder, then this day next year would be his death anniversary.

But it doesn't matter, he has already achieved his goal... He was betting that Qing wouldn't dare to bet that he definitely wouldn't be able to summon the Purple Heaven Divine Lightning.

He won the bet. From now on, Qingdu will have to avoid Wang Wen and walk around his Demon-Slaying General's Mansion.

He lost the bet... but it's not a big deal. He just died on the spot. After he died, who cares about the floods!

It seems he has won...

Qing didn't dare gamble his life against Him.

It seems there's some truth to the saying that the longer you live, the more afraid you become of death.

The man and the corpse chased and fled without exchanging insults or even meeting face to face until evening, when Qing finally managed to escape.

Qing: 'Heavenly Bodhisattva, I, your ancestor, have finally escaped! It was so difficult!'

Wang Wen: 'Heavens! That idiot finally escaped! That was so difficult!'

As night fell, the faint starlight illuminated the desolate mountains and forests where no one could be seen. Wang Wen and Hei Erniu stood alone in the pitch-black sky, feeling only hunger and cold...

"Gudu."

Wang Wen swallowed hard and asked in a low voice, "Erniu, do you still know the way back?"

Black Ox remained silent... Wang Wen also felt that this was too difficult for it. He looked up and left and right, trying hard to recall for a long time, before pointing uncertainly in a direction: "It should be this way."

Hei Erniu followed his instructions and slowly drifted in the direction he pointed out, riding on the dark clouds.

……

At midnight, Wang Wen successfully returned to the Ma family's old house.

Zhang Tianshi, who had been waiting for him for half the night, immediately got up and came out of the Ma family ancestral hall to greet him after sensing his presence. The first thing he said to Wang Wen was, "Junior brother, you have been far too reckless this time! If you have made even the slightest mistake, how can I explain this to Maoshan, to your Demon-Slaying General's Mansion, and to the people of the world?"

Wang Wen nodded vigorously, replying, "Yes, yes, I know I was wrong, I repent, I will never do it again... Is there anything to eat? I'm starving after fighting for so long!"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

Grandma Magu, who had been chasing after Zhang Tianshi and hadn't even had a chance to say a word, nodded repeatedly like Wang Wen. Finally, she turned around and shouted loudly into the pond, "Third brother, quickly tell the kitchen staff to start cooking and bring out nine big bowls!"

They did not witness the entire battle between Wang Wen and Qing today.

But they saw Qing, who had transformed into a ten-zhang-tall giant corpse, its terrifying head bursting directly out of the dense forest canopy.

I also saw that mountain forest, corroded by the green corpse aura, barren of all vegetation and greenery...

Only now do they finally understand what kind of confidence supported Wang Wen to enter their Majia Miao village alone.

If they had the same confidence as Wang Wen, let alone the Miao villages in western Hunan, they would probably even dare to go into the imperial palace where the emperor sits and carve "I was here" on it!
Wang Wen gleaned many things from Grandma Ma's unusually attentive attitude.

Instead of taking the opportunity to put on airs of superiority, he smiled gently, nodded to Grandma Ma, said thank you, and then handed the reins of Black Ox to the Ma family members serving him, instructing them: "Give it some warm water first, let it rest for a while, and remember to send it a portion of food when it's time to eat later... It will eat anything except beef."

Upon hearing this, Granny Ma quickly stepped forward and whispered something timidly in the ear of the Ma family member leading the ox.

Wang Wen didn't listen carefully, but he heard a voice on the wind say, "Send more people to the kitchen to help with cooking, prepare meals for ten people... no, for thirty people."

He and Zhang Tianshi walked towards the ancestral hall: "How is the Tian family?"

Zhang Tianshi: "The Ma family is under interrogation."

Wang Wen: "I know, I'm asking how the interrogation went, did he vomit?"

Grandma Ma rushed to catch up with him, stood beside him with her back bent, and whispered, "Reporting to the general, Master Tian has admitted that the bodies of the three disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion were handed over to them by a group of unfamiliar merchants, who entrusted them to refine them into walking corpses."

Wang Wen: "Um, and then?"

Grandma Magu: "Old Master Tian confessed that the young man from the Tian family who received the three corpses noticed something unusual about them. However, the group of merchants gave him ten taels of gold, and he turned a blind eye and accepted the money, turning the three corpses into walking corpses."

"It wasn't until after the incident that they learned the three corpses were disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion. But by then, they felt it was too late; the Celestial Master's Mansion wouldn't listen to their explanations. So, they made a snap decision: they might as well join forces with our Ma family and start a war against the Celestial Master's Mansion..."

"Old Master Tian's statement matches the timeline. It is true that my Ma family clashed with the Celestial Master's Mansion first, and the Tian family only came to join forces with my Ma family later."

As Wang Wen listened to her story, he glanced at Zhang Tianshi out of the corner of his eye. Seeing that there was no change in his expression, he said, "That man surnamed Tian is not telling the truth. He may not know much, but he certainly doesn't know as little as he claims. He plays a crucial role in the whole plan, connecting the beginning and the end. Such a key position should not be a pawn who is unaware of the situation and takes advantage of others."

He paused, then said decisively, "If your Ma family doesn't have the means, bring him here and hand him over to me. I have plenty of ways to get him to talk!"

Grandma Ma lowered her head and hesitated for a few breaths before quickly replying, "Please give me another meal, General. If, after this late-night snack, I still cannot get Old Master Tian to confess the truth, I will hand him over to you in his entirety!"

Without hesitation, Wang Wen nodded and said, "Then I'll give you one more meal's worth of time."

Grandma Ma quickly bowed her hands in thanks.

As they spoke, the three of them were already seated in the front hall outside the Tian family ancestral hall.

Throughout the South, ancestral halls are not only places for clans to worship their ancestors, but also serve as the central decision-making meeting room for the clan, a hall for disciplining family rules and laws, and a place for receiving important guests. They are the most important functional buildings in a clan settlement.

Clearly, both Wang Wen and Zhang Tianshi were heavyweight guests qualified to sit in the Ma family ancestral hall.

Grandma Magu, the hostess of this place, didn't even dare to sit at the main table representing the hostess. Instead, she sat diagonally opposite Wang Wen.

"By the way, how exactly did you guys slip up?"

As soon as they sat down, Wang Wen asked the question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time: "Before we parted last time, didn't I tell you two not to make any big moves and to investigate quietly and discreetly? It's only been a few days, and they've already brought in help to clean up the mess!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Tianshi suddenly looked over, stroking his white beard, and asked curiously, "Help? Junior brother, do you mean... that demon from today wasn't the mastermind behind it all?"

"I don't have any evidence yet..."

Wang Wen shook his head slightly and said, "But I feel that the devil is not someone who can control things. He is more like a scapegoat pushed out to divert attention and a trump card to clean up the situation after the truth comes out."

Zhang Tianshi frowned as he stroked his beard until he plucked a tuft of hair. Only then did he come back to his senses: "Junior Brother Wang, could you please tell me in detail?"

"First!"

Wang Wen gave a thumbs up: "The moment that demon saw me today, he immediately recognized me, which means he already knew I was coming. You could even say that he came specifically for me!"

"But judging from its subsequent fierce battles with me, it wasn't a demon with that kind of brain..."

"second!"

He raised his index finger and swept his gaze across the two people in the front hall: "Please forgive my rudeness... You two have both witnessed the power of that demon today. Do you think there is anything in your home that it could not take away by force?"

Zhang Tianshi and Granny Magu both looked rather grim when they recalled what they had witnessed during the day.

But they had to admit that Wang Wen was telling the truth... Why would someone go through all this trouble if they could settle things with a fist?

Are you kidding me?
"Junior brother, isn't your statement somewhat contradictory?"

After going over the matter several times, Zhang Tianshi suddenly discovered a blind spot: "Since you say that demon can bully the weak and act recklessly, how did the person behind it manage to get it involved in this mess?"

Wang Wen was also taken aback by his question.

Yeah, why?

Spending five million to hire a top expert to do work worth only five hundred thousand is clearly a loss!

There are people willing to do business that involves beheadings, but nobody does business that loses money... (End of Chapter)