The divine manifestations began at the Gongwei Division.

Half an hour countdown, danger level: low.

Zhou Heng ran his fingers over the palm-sized wooden plaque, feeling the icy sensation seeping into his body from his fingertips.

His gaze fell on the young monk, and the Dragon Sparrow Blade seemed to leap from its sheath.

The young monk seemed oblivious to everything, and pulled out three more wooden plaques, which he described as extremely rare, from his sling bag.

It's exactly the same as the one Zhou Heng has.

"A monk does not lie; a thousand-year-old ginkgo tree, honest to both young and old."

The young monk handed the wooden plaque to Zhou Heng. The plaque was double ten, and his expression was solemn. "Thank you for your help. The total is thirty-two taels."

Even when asking for money, he acted like a virtuous monk.

Zhou Heng stared at him for a while.

He met Zhou Heng's gaze with a calm expression, his eyes clear.

The danger doesn't come from the monk in front of us, it's from Huang Tunan.

Huang Tunan stopped a zhang away, a cold smile on his lips. This guy could be captured with a single water binding move, and the danger wasn't brought by him.

Zhou Heng's gaze continued to shift, sweeping over the pilgrims who were worshipping around the thousand-year-old tree.

suddenly.

He felt a moment of dizziness.

The massive, thousand-year-old ginkgo tree in front of him seemed to come alive, its branches flailing wildly and lashing at him.

Thick branches swept through the air with a sharp whistling sound, as if the air itself was being sucked open and exploded.

Clang.

Zhou Heng drew his long sword from his waist, which transformed into a white streak as he charged forward.

clang!

The Dragon Sparrow Blade struck the branch, producing a metallic clang.

Despite the sharpness of the Dragon Sparrow Blade, those branches remained completely undamaged!

Zhou Heng's expression darkened slightly. With a flick of his wrist, he unleashed the Broken Gate Blade Technique in conjunction with the Lingbo Steps.

The tinkling sound echoed in the air.

Zhou Heng moved back and forth, trying to get closer to the trunk of the thousand-year-old ginkgo tree.

But those tentacle-like branches grew back up and down, trapping him there like a net.

His range of movement was getting smaller and smaller, and it looked like he was about to be bound by the branches.

Just then.

Suddenly, he heard a very distant voice.

Immediately afterwards, a very faint power seemed to surge into his mind.

The force was almost imperceptible, yet it brought a refreshing coolness to his mind.

The next moment, he opened his eyes.

"Zhou Heng! Zhou Heng!"

A pretty face with a slightly nervous expression appeared before Zhou Heng's eyes.

Xue Zhiwei was holding his arm, shaking it and calling his name softly.

She breathed a long sigh of relief when she saw Zhou Heng open his eyes.

Zhou Heng looked around, his face suddenly darkening.

The thousand-year-old ginkgo tree stood there quietly, its branches and leaves swaying and making a rustling sound.

The young monk from before had vanished without a trace.

The thousand-year-old ginkgo tree never came back to life; everything that just happened was merely his hallucination!

He didn't know when, but he had fallen into a trap!

Zhou Heng's face was ashen. Despite the danger countdown, he had actually fallen for the other party's trick!

While his face turned pale, Zhou Heng was also somewhat alarmed.

The danger countdown can only remind him of the impending danger; whether he can overcome it depends on his own abilities.

He was too confident before.

No danger should be taken lightly; his current strength is still insufficient.

If Xue Zhiwei hadn't woken him up, who knows if he would have died in reality as well as the ancient tree that strangled him in his hallucination?

Are you alright?

Xue Zhiwei noticed that she was still holding Zhou Heng's wrist, her pretty face flushed, and she quickly let go to distract herself.

"fine."

Zhou Heng shook his head.

The red light in front of me has disappeared, the danger countdown has been reset to zero, and the screen has switched to the settlement screen.

Zhou Heng frowned slightly. Had the danger disappeared?

Did that bastard who plotted against me escape?

"Immediately seal off Lingyan Temple."

Zhou Heng said in a deep voice, "Have the abbot gather all the monks in the temple."

Xue Zhiwei nodded, then turned to find Chen Zhaowu and Lü Zian. To seal off Lingyan Temple, they would need to work together.

"Wait a minute."

Huang Tunan suddenly blocked Xue Zhiwei's path and raised his voice, "I, Huang, am here on orders from the Taishan Supervisor to inspect temples. Do you have any evidence that you intend to seal off Lingyan Temple?"

He hadn't finished speaking.

Then they saw a stream of water shoot out from the water pouch at Zhou Heng's waist.

The water instantly transformed into chains, locking him in.

Huang Tunan's face revealed a cold smile.

Do you want to use the same trick a second time?

He had been prepared for this move all along!

The moment the water chains shot out, Huang Tunan leaped into the air and did a backflip to dodge them.

Ever since Zhou Heng used the magic water binding technique to bind him, Huang Tunan has been thinking about how to break free from this move.

He was always on guard against Zhou Heng's immortal water binding technique!

As he dodged the water-linked chains, Huang Tunan smirked.

Huang Tunan was a seventh-rank martial artist, how could he allow the same sneak attack to happen twice?

His smile had just appeared when it froze on his face.

boom!

A muffled thud.

A piercing pain surged through Huang Tunan's heart, and his expression instantly turned ferocious.

His body crashed to the ground like a cannonball.

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the blue brick floor after being smashed.

Huang Tunan's body arched like a shrimp, with a clear footprint on his lower abdomen.

He was only wary of Zhou Heng's immortal technique, Water Binding, but forgot that Zhou Heng himself was a seventh-rank martial artist.

Swish!Swish!Swish!

The water chains coiled around him again, binding Huang Tunan tightly in an instant.

The way they were tied up was quite embarrassing to look at.

Huang Tunan was both ashamed and angry; he had stumbled twice over the same mistake!

His eyes rolled back, and he chose to faint.

Xue Zhiwei stepped over him and hurriedly went to seal off Lingyan Temple.

The person responsible for following her looked at Huang Tunan, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not dare to make a move, and watched helplessly as Xue Zhiwei left.

Zhou Heng stood under the shade of the ancient tree, his left hand on his sword. The settlement screen in front of him gradually disappeared, turning into a line of small characters.

[With the help of your companions, you have overcome a crisis and received the reward: the magic spell "Mirror Flower Water Moon"]

Zhou Heng silently processed the memories surging in his mind until he heard messy footsteps, at which point he turned around.

Xue Zhiwei, Chen Zhaowu, and Lü Ziquan all arrived.

A group of bald monks followed behind them.

"Old Zhou, all the monks from Lingyan Temple have been arrested. Did you discover something?"

Chen Zhaowu shouted loudly.

Upon seeing Huang Tunan, who was bound hand and foot, he immediately burst into laughter.

"Oh, is this a new technique invented by the Sirius Sect?"

Huang Tunan had just woken up when he heard Chen Zhaowu's words. In shame and anger, he rolled his eyes again.

Zhou Heng's gaze fell on the monks.

"Is everyone in the temple here?"

He looked at the old monk dressed as an abbot and asked in a deep voice.

"Reporting back to the captain, all seventy-eight monks and twenty servants and cooks of Lingyan Temple are registered and here."

The old monk presented a roster and began to speak.

Zhou Heng frowned slightly.

He did not see the young monk who had sold him the wooden plaque earlier in the crowd.

So he asked.

The old monk pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Our temple has no monks as the captain described. Perhaps you've misjudged him?"

"Perhaps."

Zhou Heng remained calm and said indifferently, "Since I've misjudged, then I won't bother you any longer. Abbot, please have the others disperse. We'll leave Lingyan Temple now."

As he spoke, he flicked his sleeve, and it seemed as if a patch of water rippled out in the air.