I'm here in the martial arts world just to find love.

Jiang Chao, believing he had figured out the reason, stopped teasing the group and began to recount what he had just witnessed.

After hearing his words, everyone present, including Su E, fell silent.

The only one who remained unaffected was the woman in red, who looked somewhat eerie at night.

"So, the rumors spread by those great demons in the Valley of Villains aren't just rumors, but are actually true..."

After a long while, amidst the rustling of leaves in the wind, Su E spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Rumors? What rumors?"

Jiang Chao hurriedly pressed for an answer.

Su E said with a complicated expression:

"There is a madman in the Valley of Villains. His name is Mad Taoist. He is extremely powerful. A few years ago, he spread rumors throughout the Valley of Villains, saying that a great calamity was about to befall the entire human world and a catastrophe was about to descend."

The woman paused here, took a deep breath, and then continued:

"At that time, the mountain spirits will resurrect, demons will roam freely, and all living beings will become the prey of gods and demons. Only the most wicked, those with overwhelming malevolent aura, will be spared..."

She looked at Jiang Chao, her expression grave.

"If what Young Hero Jiang did just now wasn't meant to tease us, then..."

She didn't say what came next, but the meaning was self-evident.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chao also stopped smiling and his expression became serious.

"In that case, this martial arts tournament is probably not just about stopping the chaos in the martial arts world, but may also be related to this matter."

Mad Taoist Priest...

Those who follow the Daoist path are mostly reclusive practitioners who live in seclusion deep in the mountains.

In terms of martial arts skills and killing power alone, he may not be as good as a martial artist who spends his days fighting and killing in the martial world to hone his skills, but in terms of mental state, he is far superior.

For a cultivator to suddenly go mad and become a fearsome demon, it's clear that there must be something very fishy going on!

If that mad Taoist wasn't mad, but had genuinely, whether willingly or unwillingly, glimpsed a trace of the legendary, profound secrets of heaven, then...

With this in mind, Jiang Chao dared not delay any longer.

He glanced at the group and spoke rapidly:

"Let's go to Zixu Temple and find my sister!"

As Jiang Chao walked briskly in the dark through the mountains and forests, his thoughts surged endlessly.

Everything is connected.

His father, Jiang Buwen, was already a renowned martial arts grandmaster. There were very few people in the world who were qualified to make him take action.

But in recent years, he has been frequently going into seclusion, forbidding his fellow disciples from going out and forcing them to cultivate diligently behind closed doors...

He had secretly run away from home and traveled the world for over a month, and his family had not sent anyone to look for him. In addition, the secret realm he had accidentally entered outside Qingzhou City, and the strange black shadow with immense strength and bizarre movements he had encountered in Qingxi Town, all these things made Jiang Chao feel that something was wrong.

What exactly is hidden beneath the seemingly ordinary world he inhabits?

  

He had never met his father, Jiang Buwen, nor his grandfather, Jiang Wuyou, who had been missing for over twenty years. And where had the legendary masters of the Wind and Snow Temple, all of whom were said to be martial arts grandmasters, gone?

Too many mysteries made Jiang Chao's mind increasingly unsettled.

He unconsciously quickened his pace, and by the time he came to his senses, Su E and the others had disappeared from his sight.

Jiang Chao did not wait for them in the same place. He had already sensed their location at the Zixu Temple and was now standing in front of the two stone ox sculptures.

The boy looked up at the two stone bull sculptures that appeared rather ferocious and terrifying in the darkness. After a moment's thought, he walked around them and leaped up the stone steps behind them.

……

"Mr. Su... is what you just said true?"

Traveling in the dark is difficult enough, but Su E's eyes are not her own, so she walks very slowly.

Of course, the main concern was for Lu Jing, a young man who had no martial arts skills. Even though Chu Wuxia was already far behind Jiang Qilin, she did not quicken her pace to catch up.

Several horses had already been tied to trees in front of that strange temple. Without the burden of horses, their travel speed, though not fast, was much faster than when they first climbed the mountain.

Faced with this question from Lady Chu, Su E remained silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"I don't know either, but I'm sure your journey through the martial world, Sister Ning'er, will be far more dangerous than you imagine."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Yes, much more exciting."

Upon hearing this, Chu Ning secretly curled his lips, thinking to himself, "There are ghosts and gods, and demons too. Not the kind of ruthless villains in the martial arts world who kill without hesitation and commit countless evil deeds, but indescribable monsters. Of course, it must be dangerous!"

It's even more exciting!

As expected of someone from the Valley of Villains, this Sister Su has quite the nerve! She's practically on par with Jiang Qilin!

However, whether it was because she had experienced too much along the way with Jiang Qilin and was influenced by bad company, or because she was a restless person by nature, Chu Ning did not feel too afraid after learning about these things.

They even felt that this trip to the martial arts world was worthwhile.

Her mother, back then, simply relied on her martial arts skills to uphold justice and slay villains and bandits, thus making a name for herself in the martial arts world and becoming a respected heroine.

She was different; the things she experienced in the martial arts world were about gods, ghosts, demons, and monsters!

If Chu Ning manages to survive, she will surely surpass her mother's achievements and become an even more dazzling legend in the martial arts world!

Su E was unaware of what the girl beside her was thinking. If she had known, she wouldn't have said anything, and might even have praised the girl for her spirit.

Such is the spirit of youth.

Go ahead to dangers.

Fighting a tiger doesn't make one a hero, but it best expresses the ambition of a young man.

She missed the best years of her youth, and now, with her disabled body, she only wants to clear the name of their witchcraft lineage in this world of martial arts.

While the two women were lost in their own thoughts and feelings, Lu Jing, the young man who had been struggling to keep up with them, panting and silent, also felt a strange emotion rising within him that no one else could know.

He should have died in that fire, burned to ashes along with his unfortunate father, adding another sin to the bandits' list.

However, he survived. He couldn't remember the specifics of the incident clearly, but he knew that it was not a human who saved him, but a ghost or a deity!

As the fire struck, he was pulled into another sea of ​​flames by a hand. The bright flames looked terrifying but were not scorching. Instead, they made him feel unusually warm. He also vaguely remembered the hand that pulled him and the kind-looking face reflected in the firelight.

It seems to be a portrait of a person that my father would paste on the stove for worship during festivals.

Afterwards, he emerged from the cramped and unbearably narrow stove, covered in black ash, confirming the suspicions that had arisen in his mind during his moment of terror.

It's hard to believe, but it was the legendary Kitchen God who saved him!

He dared not tell anyone about this, because it was too bizarre and absurd. He couldn't explain why the Kitchen God saved him either. When outsiders mentioned it, he could only say that he was delivering tofu to a guest at the time, which is how he narrowly escaped disaster.