My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

The flames surged from Ye Qingfeng's body, a thin layer, yet indestructible.

The cane struck the object with a loud clang, bounced back, and nearly hit the local earth god himself.

The local earth god stared in terror at the layer of flames.

It sensed it.

Within those flames was an aura that sent shivers down its spine.

That is……

Samadhi Fire

It turned and ran away.

But after running only two steps, a hand landed on its shoulder.

The local earth god froze, then slowly turned around.

Ye Qingfeng stood right behind it, his young face inches away, a half-smile playing on his lips.

"Why are you running?"

He spoke softly, his other hand already gripping the Ghost Earth God's left foot.

"No--!"

The local earth god screamed.

Then it felt a sharp pain.

My left foot is gone.

It looked down and saw that Ye Qingfeng had stuffed its left foot into his mouth.

"Crack!"

The crisp sound was exactly the same as when I ate those ghost soldiers earlier.

The local earth god stared wide-eyed as his foot was chewed up and swallowed by Ye Qingfeng, his mind blank.

It tried to resist, but the hand pressed down on its shoulder like a mountain, rendering it unable to move.

It tried to beg for mercy, but as soon as it opened its mouth, another sharp pain shot through it—

His right foot is gone too.

Ye Qingfeng chewed very slowly and carefully, as if he were savoring some delicacy.

The evil earth god screamed in agony, watching his body being devoured piece by piece. Left leg, right leg, abdomen, chest...

After each bite, Ye Qingfeng would stop to chew, nod, and then continue.

"You...you..."

The local earth god could no longer speak in complete sentences.

It looked at Ye Qingfeng with eyes full of fear and despair.

After Ye Qingfeng finished chewing one of its paws, he looked down at it and suddenly smiled.

That smile was exactly the same as before, faint, yet it sent chills down your spine.

"You just asked me which immortal mountain I cultivate on."

He stuffed the demon god's other hand into his mouth and chewed it:

"This humble Taoist tells you—it's in the human world."

The evil earth god is now just a head.

It stared wide-eyed at Ye Qingfeng, its lips trembling, when suddenly it remembered something.

Those were the people it ate in this temple all those years.

Those who knelt before the altar begging for its blessing, those who were lured in by it, those who were devoured by it bite by bite.

Did they have this kind of look in their eyes when they died?

It remembered.

There was a woman who looked at it like this even on her deathbed.

That woman was the first person it ate.

At that time, it had just received the divine seal and did not yet know how to hide its true nature.

The woman went into the temple to offer incense, and it was so hungry it couldn't stand it anymore, so...

It remembered the woman's eyes.

Fear, despair, and a hint of... curse.

It cursed it in its heart.

The local earth god suddenly laughed.

The smile was tragic, yet it carried a hint of relief.

"retribution……"

It murmured.

Ye Qingfeng's lips were already close.

The last bite.

"Crunch."

The consciousness of the Ghost Earth God completely dissipated.

The temple fell silent.

Ye Qingfeng stood there, eyes closed, savoring the last bite.

Thanks to the imagination of the local deity.

The spirit of the local earth god dissolved within his body, transforming into a vast power that merged into his limbs and bones.

The vengeful spirits it devoured, the ghostly soldiers it refined, the cultivation accumulated over centuries—

It all became his.

Ye Qingfeng opened his eyes.

A golden-red light flashed in his eyes.

He could feel his cultivation level increasing rapidly. Eight hundred years, nine hundred years, one thousand years—

It stopped a thousand years ago.

He raised his hand and looked at his palm.

That formidable barrier is right there.

They were just one step away from reaching a new level.

But he just couldn't take that step.

He smiled and withdrew his hand.

Not urgent.

There's plenty of time.

He turned around and glanced at the now empty temple.

The empty plates were still on the offering table, the traces left by the ghostly soldiers before they disappeared were still on the ground, and the big pit he had created on the wall was still there.

He raised his hand, and a ball of golden-red flame flew out and landed on the pile of remnants.

In an instant, everything turned to ashes.

Ye Qingfeng walked out of the temple gate.

Outside, the rain has stopped.

Moonlight filtered through the clouds, illuminating him and revealing his bluish-gray figure.

He stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the distant mountains, and took a deep breath.

A thousand years of cultivation.

This is already the pinnacle of this world.

The rest depends on when that chasm can be opened.

Ye Qingfeng turned around, preparing to leave.

The moonlight shone on the temple behind them. The magnificent shrine to the Earth God stood quietly in the night, with its upturned eaves, green bricks and gray tiles, looking no different from any other temple.

It's just that it's empty now.

He lifted his foot, about to walk down the mountain—

"Clatter".

A soft sound came from behind.

Ye Qingfeng paused and turned around.

A tile rolled off the roof of the temple, crashed to the ground, and shattered into several pieces.

This is not strange at all.

It's perfectly normal that his slap just now created a large crater in the temple wall and caused the roof tiles to loosen and fall off.

But where the tile fell, something gleamed faintly in the moonlight.

Ye Qingfeng walked over and looked down.

It was a palm-sized, square object; I didn't know what it was made of.

It lay quietly among the broken tiles, its surface faintly shimmering.

He bent down and picked it up.

The object felt slightly heavy in the hand and was as cool as jade.

Turning it over, I saw several ancient characters engraved on it—

"The Earth God's Seal".

Ye Qingfeng raised an eyebrow.

So this is the divine seal of that evil earth god.

No wonder it, an evil spirit, has been able to pretend to be a god or ghost for so many years.

With this thing, one can draw offerings, impersonate a righteous god, and become a king in these 100,000 mountains.

He weighed the divine seal in his hand, about to put it away—

Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye.

He looked up and gazed at the back of the temple.

Under the moonlight, something could be vaguely seen behind the temple.

He walked around the local earth god temple and went to the back.

After walking only a few dozen meters, a... suddenly appeared in front of us.

Small temple.

It's dilapidated, old, and small.

Compared to the magnificent local temple in front, this little temple was incredibly shabby.

The walls were made of rubble and had long since collapsed, with only a few low sections still standing.

The roof was long gone, leaving only a few rotten wooden beams leaning precariously.

The small temple was surrounded by overgrown weeds that almost swallowed it up.

The temple gate is long gone, leaving only a dark, gaping hole.

Ye Qingfeng stood in front of the hole, looking at the dilapidated little temple, his brows furrowing slightly.

Why is there a mountain god temple behind the land god temple?

He glanced at the dilapidated lintel, where a few words could still be vaguely made out—

"Mountain God Temple".

It really is a mountain god temple.

That's strange.

In places like the Ten Thousand Mountains, mountain god temples are probably more common than earth god temples.

Those who go into the mountains—hunters, herb gatherers, woodcutters—would all worship the mountain god and ask for his protection.