The Demon-Slaying Grandmaster

Chapter 182 The Underworld Messenger
Since Yue Zhongjie wanted to enter the village first, he should greet the local shaman.

As an outsider, Li Jingxiao naturally hoped that local bigwigs would step in to help him.

Besides, the people in this mountain stronghold aren't demons or monsters, so it's best to avoid fighting if possible.

The situation in southern Xinjiang is complex, with disputes between villages and hamlets. The local residents live in harsh conditions and are not to be trifled with.

However, Li Jingxiao also sensed from Yue Zhongjie's words that this mountain god seemed to lack absolute authority in his own territory.

Otherwise, there would be no need to go to their door to discuss it.

If it were Li Jingxiao himself, he would send someone to talk to them, and if they didn't listen, he would beat them up.

No, this place may have long been beyond the two-hundred-mile radius of Yunfeng Mountain, and may no longer be under the jurisdiction of Yue Zhongjie, the mountain god.

However, Yue Zhongjie had been inside the mountain stronghold for quite some time and hadn't come out yet, so Li Jingxiao sighed inwardly again.

It seems that either Lao Yue failed to persuade the shaman, or perhaps the shaman and the sorcerer were in cahoots.

After thinking for a moment, Li Jingxiao took out several talismans from his inventory.

Using his internal energy as ink and his fingers as a brush, he drew a spell in the air and infused it into the talisman.

In an instant, it transformed into several paper figures.

He blew on several paper figures, each about the size of a palm, and they suddenly stood up.

He bowed to Li Jingxiao and flew towards the mountain stronghold.

This paper doll technique was learned from a secret manual of unorthodox arts that I discovered in Granny Ma's treasure trove.

Li Jingxiao usually looked down on these unorthodox practices, and if he really wanted to learn more Taoist arts, he could just go to Maoshan.

But when you really encounter a problem, some unorthodox methods can be quite effective.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have survived to this day.

The paper figure flew for a short while before easily slipping into the mountain stronghold.

A dozen minutes later, a paper figure quietly flew back to report that Yue Zhongjie had actually been drugged.

The shaman probably knew that the mountain god had the ability to pass through mountains and move through the earth, so after drugging Yue Zhongjie with poisoned tea, he immediately tied him up with ropes and hung him up.

Moreover, the people in this mountain stronghold mostly raise Gu worms for self-protection and to defend against enemies.

Upon hearing this, Li Jingxiao immediately guessed that, just as he had suspected, the sorcerer had a very deep connection with this mountain stronghold.

Li Jingxiao really didn't know what to say about Yue Zhongjie, a local strongman who had been in power for over three hundred years, being drugged.

Moreover, this is a mountain god, a genuine divine position conferred by the Heavenly Court.

Even if he is just a minor official, he shouldn't be able to be poisoned by a fake shaman!
But then I thought about it again, and realized that many of the mountain gods and local deities in Journey to the West were coerced or even enslaved by demons.

Being constantly ordered around and treated like a servant shows that the power of the mountain god and the land god is far less than imagined.

Moreover, if this stronghold is really outside the 200-mile Yunfeng Mountain range, Yue Zhongjie's strength will definitely be weaker without the blessing of divine power.

Li Jingxiao smiled helplessly, took out the Jade Flute of Bibo Tan, and leaped onto a tree more than 20 meters tall.

Looking down at the mountain stronghold from his vantage point, he muttered to himself, "They even dare to kidnap the mountain god, which means there aren't any good people among them. I don't need to worry about anything anymore."

Those poisonous insects and Gu worms are also based on experience.

Looking around at his surroundings, he couldn't help but smile.

In an environment surrounded by mountains, sonic attacks are much more effective.

Moreover, the sound waves oscillate back and forth among the mountains, making it even more difficult to pinpoint the source of the sound.

Soon, people in the mountain village and within a few miles around it heard a melodious flute sound.

At first, everyone thought it sounded great.

The "Azure Sea Tide Melody" appears to imitate the sound of ocean waves, but it actually contains a deadly sonic attack.

The voice was ethereal, lingering, and melodious.

If you listen without warning, it's hard to control yourself; you'll inevitably start gesturing wildly and scratching your head and face.

Even feeling restless and yearning for love.

So as they listened, whether they were ordinary people or accomplished shamans.

All sorts of strange visions kept popping into my mind.

Some people felt dizzy and disoriented, while others went into a frenzy, shouting and yelling at the sky.

The shaman and the sorcerer sensed the Gu worms within their bodies beginning to stir, and only then did they realize something was wrong.

The poisonous insects, snakes, spiders, centipedes, toads, and other venomous creatures kept in pots and jars began to stir and squeak.

Li Jingxiao was proficient in both the "Sound of the Azure Sea Tide" melody and the "Seven-String Invisible Sword."

The two sonic martial arts borrowed from and absorbed each other, and the flute music naturally absorbed and incorporated the method of injuring enemies from the Seven-String Invisible Sword.

If the enemy is not prepared, they will unknowingly fall into the trap of the flute music.

The internal energy and magical power within the body will surge violently with the sound of the flute.

In the novel, Huang Yaoshi can control not only snake slaves but also thousands or even tens of thousands of venomous snakes by playing his flute.

The Jade Flute of the Azure Wave Pool also has the effects of bewitching and causing drowsiness.

The spell power is increased by 25% and the spell cost is reduced by 25%, which is a significant enhancement to sonic attacks.

As Li Jingxiao continued to increase the output of his true energy, the sonic impact of the flute he played grew stronger and stronger.

The people and snakes in the mountain stronghold were becoming increasingly frenzied. Suddenly, when Li Jingxiao received a notification in his mind that he had gained +10 and +20 experience points, his eyes lit up.

It seems my guess was right; those poisonous insects and Gu worms can also increase experience.

In this way, Li Jingxiao played with even greater force.

At this moment, in the mountain village, the villagers were all clutching their heads, rolling on the ground in pain.

Some people were in so much pain that they simply banged their heads against the ground.

As for the poisonous insects and venomous creatures, they all became agitated, overturning pots and pans, rampaging through the mountain stronghold, and even biting anyone they saw.

Li Jingxiao, standing high above, watched as the swarms of flying Gu worms intentionally flew away.

He immediately increased the input of his true energy, and the flute music suddenly became shrill.

The swarm of flying insects were also killed or shattered by the sound waves, and Li Jingxiao's mind was immediately filled with prompts that increased his experience.

Fortunately, the volume of the notification sound can be adjusted, or it can even be turned off completely.

That's why it didn't affect him.

He continued playing while glancing at the character's level.

已经从之前的40级（8510/8万），涨到了（20910/8万）
In other words, more than a thousand Gu worms were eliminated in just a few minutes.

Ten minutes later, Li Jingxiao had used up half of his internal energy. He then put away his jade flute and casually drew more paper figures, which flew back to the mountain stronghold.

As he sat cross-legged on the giant tree trunk to recover his inner energy, he looked down at the entire mountain stronghold, which was eerily quiet.

The village was littered with the corpses of snakes and insects.

Many of the Gu worms were shattered by the sound waves, leaving a yellow-green liquid all over the ground, which was disgusting to look at.

That immediately dispelled my desire to go inside and take a look.

I glanced at my character level and saw it was 40 (67170/8). I gained nearly 6 experience points in one trip.

This was equivalent to the experience he gained from fighting with his wife and playing chess with Hu Xian'er and Liu Cuitong for over twenty days back in the capital. Since this trip was so profitable, Li Jingxiao was naturally in a very good mood.

Yue Zhongjie remained unconscious and was unaffected by the sound waves. When the dozen or so paper figures flew into the cave...

This guy was hanging there the whole time, and there was no sign of him waking up.

However, the shaman and the sorcerer did not look good. When the Gu worms inside their bodies went berserk, they not only scurried around inside their bodies, but also opened their mouths and tore at their internal organs.

In the end, the two had no choice but to forcibly release the mother worm from her body.

However, the two female insects were killed by the sound of the flute shortly after they flew out, and most of their evil skills were immediately destroyed.

However, the sound of the flute killed all the snakes, insects, and poisonous creatures, which in turn saved the lives of the two men.

After a dozen or so paper figures woke Yue Zhongjie up, he looked around blankly before suddenly becoming fully awake.

Seeing the shaman and the sorcerer lying on the ground, seriously injured and vomiting blood, Yue Zhongjie was furious.

Fortunately, he wasn't too stupid. He knew that after he was drugged, it must have been Lord Li who made the move.

Struggling to free himself from the ropes suspending him, he shuddered at the sight of the cave and the endless swarms of dead insects and the lifeless villagers outside.

He secretly thought that it was fortunate that he had been very polite to that Duke of Xingguo, otherwise he would definitely have been in big trouble as well.

Using his supernatural powers, he concealed his body underground.

Using earth magic, they left the mountain stronghold and quickly found Li Jingxiao, who was standing on a giant tree.

He quickly disappeared into the thick tree trunk, revealing his figure a few meters away from Li Jingxiao on a lower section of the trunk.

He awkwardly bowed and said, "Thank you for saving me, Duke. I am... I am..."

Seeing Yue Zhongjie's ashamed expression, Li Jingxiao waved his hand with a smile, "Alright, General Yue treats people with sincerity, yet he was betrayed by his friends. It's not the general's fault."

When Yue Zhongjie saw that Li Jingxiao had taken the initiative to exonerate him, he felt even more ashamed and grateful.

He hurriedly returned to the mountain stronghold, bound the crippled shaman and sorcerer, and brought them before Li Jingxiao.

The sorcerer saw Li Jingxiao dressed in a bright red duke's robe embroidered with gold python patterns and wearing a purple-gold crown.

With a gold and jade belt around his waist and six-section boots on his feet, it was clear at a glance that this young man was an important official.

He couldn't help but recall that back in the capital, it was this same young man who played a tune on the zither outside the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters.

He used the Gu worms he had prepared for many years to kill them all in the Jinyiwei prison.

He suffered a backlash at that time and had to flee the capital in a panic.

After returning to the Southern Frontier, in order to heal his wounds and replenish his Gu worms, he used people as bait to cultivate a new Bloodthirsty Gu Mother.

After recovering from his injuries, he couldn't swallow his anger and went on to injure several high-ranking officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Lingnan.

Just a few days ago, when he attacked the commander of the Imperial Guard outside Siming City, he was unexpectedly encountered by the Taoist priests of Yunfeng Temple.

To avoid revealing his true nature, he let the commander go and hid in the mountain stronghold where his cousin lived in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Unexpectedly, this person still came knocking on their door, and with just a flute tune, wiped out the stronghold that the elder brother had been running for more than 20 years.

Ma Yaoyang looked at his older brother Ma Boyang with a mixture of shame and regret.

Ma Boyang shook his head, looking as if he was prepared to die, which immediately made Ma Yaoyang's eyes harden.

Seeing the death wish in the eyes of the two men, Li Jingxiao thought to himself that this would not do.

Although the best way to get rid of an enemy is to just cut them down with one blow.

But doing so would be too easy on the enemies, in the eyes of the Avengers.

As the sun began to set, I took out my pocket watch and glanced at it; it was already past seven o'clock.

He shook the Immortal Binding Rope hanging on his wrist, and it transformed into an iron chain one finger wide and ten meters long, firmly binding the two people.

Worried that the two might be seriously injured and die, he reached out and flicked two Three-Flower Jade Dew Pills into their mouths.

In just a short while, their critically injured and dying conditions were mostly healed.

Yue Zhongjie was somewhat confused, but Li Jingxiao didn't explain, and he didn't ask.

Before they knew it, it had completely darkened, and only then did Li Jingxiao begin chanting the incantation.

He silently prayed that the underworld officials would obey his commands, and soon a gust of cold wind blew around him.

Two ghost messengers emerged from the ground and were startled when they saw Li Jingxiao and Yue Zhongjie.

One was dressed in the robes of a duke, and the other was a local mountain god.

Moreover, it was obvious that this Duke was the one in charge; otherwise, the local mountain god would not have been subtly blocking his way.

The large axe in his hand could come down at any moment.

Although the two ghost messengers were surprised, they dared not say a word.

He hurriedly clasped his hands in a respectful greeting and asked, "May I ask what orders Your Excellency has for us?"

Li Jingxiao realized that his python robe was also useful to the underworld ghost messengers.

He then smiled and said, "My surname is Li, my given name is Jingyou, and I am granted the title of hereditary Duke of Xingguo of the Great Zhou Dynasty and First-Class Zhaowu General."

Right Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies Commandery, and Grand General of the State Protectorate.

Deputy Commander of the Palace Guard and concurrently Commander of the Left Garrison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Upon hearing this, even though Yue Zhongjie had heard it once before, he bowed even lower upon hearing it a second time.

The two ghost messengers became increasingly respectful.

Even the two Ma brothers looked at Li Jingxiao with fear for the first time.

Don't be fooled by the many people in modern society who say they don't need to ask officials for favors, so why should they be afraid of them?
But when actually facing power, they subconsciously become hesitant and timid.

Those who are truly fearless are either ignorant and foolish, or they have confidence.

This situation was even more severe in feudal society, because the powerful and wealthy could truly decide a person's life or death with a single word.

In order to legitimize its rule, the underworld would inevitably take the initiative to uphold and recognize the legal principles of the human dynasty.

So in the minds of the two ghost messengers, if they didn't serve this man well, he could just run to the City God Temple.

Some even went directly to the temple of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai to file a complaint.

As long as you have the right to etiquette, even the Emperor Taishan would have to give way to you.

Then the two brothers, mere ghost messengers, would have to go down to the eighteenth level of hell.

Moreover, this gentleman also knows the Taoist art of summoning spirits and commanding generals, which clearly indicates that he is a Taoist master with a distinguished background.

As long as he goes to his master's sect, the grandmasters of those sects in the underworld will definitely be happy to avenge this outstanding junior.

The two ghost messengers bowed deeply and asked cautiously, "Sir, please feel free to give your orders. We brothers will do whatever we can to help."

If you can't do it, you can go back and report to your superior.

After saying that, the ghost messenger hesitated for a few seconds and then said, "Sir, if you really have something to do, you can ask your elders in the sect to burn incense and report to the underworld. That would be much faster and more efficient than my brother and I doing things."

Li Jingxiao thought to himself, "This is a good idea."

I have a good relationship with Maoshan, so asking the Maoshan masters in the underworld for help shouldn't be too costly.

But since we've already summoned these two ghost messengers, we should first try to handle the case in the underworld, or go through the proper channels.

(End of this chapter)