Flee in terror

  Just now, Lin Xu carefully observed the surrounding situation and suddenly realized that this time the monster alliance was more scattered than before, and Huo Shan Jun, the tiger demon, seemed to have exhausted his skills.

  Putting his mind at ease, Lin Xu raised his hand and pointed the sword tip at Huo Shanjun, saying coldly:

  "Alright, last time my sword was a bit too light, and surprisingly you, this scourge, managed to drag on until now. Today I'll send you to see the King of Hell. Watch out, Cui Shi's Thunderous Strike!"

  Not long ago, Huo Shanjun appointed Beidaifu to command the operation of the large array, ordering the group of demons to cut off the earth's pulse. This move was a masterstroke that anticipated the enemy's plan, but just as the demon soldiers inside the array had executed this order halfway, they received instructions from their leaders to disperse and flee.

  Although the countermeasure proposed by Huo Shan just now temporarily slowed down the accumulation of earth vein energy transmitted from various places in Huo Mountain, after the two sides had been arguing for so long, those blocked energy transmissions should have returned to their original positions. Suddenly, Lin Xu let out a loud shout, and in an instant, the earth vein energy with a strange rose color burst out of the ground, gathering in mid-air along the sword blade he held high. Immediately after that, these earth vein energies transformed from virtual to real, turning into countless bright red light spheres in the air, just like countless suns emerging simultaneously, and the slightly eerie dazzling red light dyed the world into a bloody color.

  "Fall!"

  With the divine sense locked onto Huo Shan Jun, Lin Xu's sword flashed downwards. At this moment, a shocking scene from ancient legends replayed itself - the shooting of nine suns. Huge fireballs came crashing down one after another, spreading waves of death in a frantic rush. Following that, a series of deafening impacts shook the mountains and rivers, causing people to tremble with fear. Each falling fireball took away hundreds of lives. However, this scene was far from being as terrifying as watching the land, once surrounded by lush forests and clear streams, being burned into a lake of churning molten lava.

  The various demon soldiers who had been instigated by Jing Xiu earlier had already withdrawn from the battlefield, and the enemy army was now surrounding Lin Xu and his group. In that case, he didn't need to worry about accidentally injuring friendly forces, so he simply focused on throwing down those fireballs that were as hot as the surface of the sun with all his might.

  The land covered with forests was scorched by the rapidly falling fireballs, quickly melting into a liquid. This piece of land that was originally agreed upon as the battlefield by both sides seemed to have transformed into an enormous volcanic crater beyond imagination.

  In the scorching hot air that was filled with a burning smell, the dying person's cry for help could be faintly heard. At this moment, probably the only place in the world that can make people think of a similar scene is the eighteenth level of hell, the burning hell, and even if it is called the human hell, it would not be an exaggeration.

  Lin Xu's move was a large-scale, indiscriminate killing skill that left no room for compromise, commonly known as the "Extinction Plan". Such tactics would only be used when both sides, or at least one side, had reached a state of unrelenting desperation.

  At this scene, Bai Daifu's heart was thoroughly chilled and he completely dispelled the idea of taking advantage of the situation. He flew forward, opened his arms and tightly hugged Huo Shanjun who was about to charge forward. At this time, Bai Daifu panted and urged:

  "Brother Shan, we've lost. For now, fleeing is the best option!"

  To be honest, Huo Shanjun, who had always been proud of his careful planning and cautious approach, had not expected that he would not even get the chance to engage in a face-to-face battle with Lin Xu, and was already defeated under the opponent's fierce and violent attack, this is really a frustrating defeat!

  The defeated general, how can he speak of bravery. Huo Shan Jun looked back at Lin Xu with a deep hatred in his eyes, as if planning to forever remember this mortal enemy in his mind. Immediately, under the escort of Bei Da Fu and other dead parties, Huo Shan Jun broke through the small number of dark soldiers blocking the outer perimeter, and rushed southward in one breath.

  That once-mighty Hoshan Demon Alliance, which had been so powerful that it made onlookers gasp in shock, was manipulated by the seemingly weak and delicate woman Jing Xian into a state of collapse.

  Not a single doubt, at this moment in Huo Mountain, countless powerful demons are secretly plotting, trying to figure out how to take down Huo Mountain's head and gain merit with the mountain god Lin Xu, so as to obtain better treatment conditions in the future. Given this, after Huo Mountain's group hastily broke through the encirclement, they didn't dare stay in Huo Mountain, which was fraught with danger. They quickly packed up their belongings and fled to the treacherous land of Baiyue in Jiangnan without looking back. No matter how harsh the environment was there, it was a hundred times safer than staying in Huo Mountain and facing the repeated trials of human hearts being unpredictable.

  Through the information provided by the stone dare-to-be-ones scattered throughout Mount Huo, Lin Xu closely tracked the escape route of Mount Huo's lord. Convinced that this thorn in his side had truly become a stray dog with no chance of turning things around, and without any desperate last-ditch efforts, the weight that had been hanging in his throat finally fell to the ground.

  Lin Xu spent several days meeting with various demon kings, busy appeasing these local snakes and handling the aftermath. After finishing these official matters, he then remembered the group of yin-yang practitioners who had come to assist him.

  Walking into the guest room of the Mountain God Temple, Lin Xu made a bow to a group of people led by Sima Changkong, the chief Yin Yang family's grand ceremony officer.

  "Thanks to all of you for lending a helping hand, I am deeply grateful."

  At this time, Sima Changkong also smiled and stood up to return the courtesy. He was very interested in making friends with this Mount Hua god, so he spoke with an exceptionally friendly attitude:

  "The noble god has been polite, but in fact we didn't help much, and it's quite embarrassing!"

  Lin Xu smiled and said, "Whoever takes polite words seriously is an idiot," and continued:

  "You are all esteemed guests of Mr. Lin's, if you don't mind the humble surroundings of my place, please stay for a few more days, so I can fulfill my duties as host."

  Simachen looked at his old friend Zheng Duan, saw him nodding silently, and understood his intention. He then exchanged glances with several elders before bowing his hands and saying:

  "Since the noble god has graciously invited us, we humbly obey."

  Hearing this, Lin Xu nodded in satisfaction and turned to instruct his subordinates:

  "Come on! Milong, quickly pass down the order, at Jiufeng Town Mountain God Temple prepare a banquet, I want to host a banquet to thank all the guests."

  At the sound of an order, all followed. Although the ordinary banquet was rich in dishes, it was not high enough to show respect and courtesy to the guests, so Lin Xu naturally couldn't let people pick out faults on such a trivial matter. In his lifetime, Mi Long was a great official who was invited as a guest by the imperial court, so organizing festive activities was a piece of cake for him, which was why Lin Xu wanted to use his strengths.

  With a flick of his eyes, Mi Long leaned in close to Lin Xu's side and said in a low voice:

  "Yes, sir, may I invite a few more guests?"

  Hearing this, Lin Xu was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said:

  "This is reasonable. Then, please post a message to the Yellow Earth and the Dragon King of the Great River, asking them to come tomorrow to keep me company. Hurry up!"

  Receiving Lin Xu's public praise, Mi Long was overjoyed and his eyes narrowed into a line as he repeatedly said:

  "Yes, I will obey, and go take care of it!"

  Bidding farewell to the Yin and Yang family, Lin Xu walked alone into the quiet room. After the flames of war had subsided, he scrutinized the loss statistics, and his eyes fixed on the virtual screen couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache. In that life-or-death battle scene, he didn't have many choices, and even though he suffered extra losses, now he could only admit to being unlucky.

  All living beings are equal! Grass, trees, and ants may be small and humble, but they are also living creatures. After being brutally killed, the perpetrator will also lose their merits. For example, Lin Xu's move "Cui Shi Chong Lei" almost turned everything within a ten-mile radius into scorched earth, causing countless innocent lives to perish. Most of this karma will be attributed to him, and the remaining portion will be borne by Huo Shan Jun. To put it simply, judging solely by the number of merits, Lin Xu's good deeds in previous years have been undone. Fortunately, after much hard work, he has defeated Huo Shan Jun's party, achieving a lasting victory that did not come easily, even if the cost was considerable.

  The next day Jiufeng Town Mountain God Temple

  Lin Xu accompanied the Yin and Yang family members to the outside of the Mountain God Temple in Jiufeng Town, gazing at the grand layout of this palace from afar. Sima Changkong couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, saying:

  "This mansion of the noble god is indeed extraordinary!"

  The classic palace-style buildings, such as the Forbidden City and the Three Confucius Temples in Qufu, are undoubtedly symbols of the culmination of thousands of years of imperial power in Chinese civilization. Although Lin Xu modified many details of the design drawings before turning them into actual buildings, making them more suitable for a temple's design positioning, this grand mountain god temple in Jiufeng Town still exudes an air of unbridled arrogance and overbearing authority, revealing an aura of absolute power that cannot be ignored by these masters skilled in architectural techniques.

  Lin Xu sighed and bowed his head, saying:

  "Hehehe, I'm just a humble beginner, this is just a rough draft and I'm afraid it's laughable to the experts."

  At the sound, Sima Changkong, who was also well-versed in the art of building and construction, shook his head disapprovingly and said:

  "Your Excellency is too kind, this place can also be considered a masterpiece of its time. Unfortunately, as a temple, it's not quite fitting, but if it were placed in the imperial capital of Chang'an, it would truly be a perfect match."

  At this time, Lin Xu awkwardly laughed twice and said with self-deprecation:

  "This is... just started learning, just started practicing."

  Everyone passed this section, and the guests followed Lin Xu to directly pass through the three halls with great symbolic meaning, all the way to the garden area behind.

  As the guests settled in, their emotions gradually relaxed. To put it bluntly, the majestic palace in front of them had created an atmosphere that was too solemn and rigid, which didn't match their usual attitude towards life. This garden behind, with its birdsong and flowers, pavilions and water features, more or less conformed to the general aesthetic tastes of cultivators.

  "Come on in! Have some tea."

  As soon as Wang Liang gave the order, the attendants in the mountain temple poured in one after another and presented fragrant tea to the guests who were resting in the pavilions.

  In this region, the custom of drinking tea has formed its own unique style, which is generally stuck in the traditional tea ceremony stage of popularizing point tea and fighting tea. Especially, they are particularly fond of making labor-intensive and time-consuming Longfeng Tuan Tea and Xiaolong Tuan Tea, which are as expensive as gold. This kind of tea is what people love and cherish nowadays. Many people who like to drink tea also need to add various precious spices to the tea soup when drinking tea, such as dragon's saliva fragrance and agarwood, in order to feel that it has enough flavor. In Lin Xu's view, who is used to drinking clear tea, it would be better to say that these people are collectively drinking spice water rather than saying they are tasting tea.

  It is only this method of grinding tea cakes into powder and then boiling it for drinking, or brewing the powdered tea that is the authentic Huaxia Tea Ceremony. On the other hand, the method of infusing tea leaves that became popular in later generations, no matter how much they tout their "tea ceremony skills", aside from using tea leaves as the raw material, actually has very little to do with the traditional tea ceremony that originated with Lu Yu, the Sage of Tea.