Chapter Fourteen: The Demonic Beast

  The snowflakes gently fell onto the endless wilderness, adding a touch of white to Majiacun on this winter day. The faint smoke rose slowly, and another morning had arrived.

  Gan Ping gazed out the window at the snowflakes, as if thinking of something, and couldn't help but sigh. Several days had passed, and Huo was still not awake, but Gan Ping wasn't too anxious, knowing that more time would be beneficial for Huo's blood awakening. Mr. Zhang saw Huo sleeping soundly and was only slightly surprised, but he also knew that this strange beast couldn't be judged by ordinary logic. However, the increasingly uneasy atmosphere in recent days made Gan Ping feel somewhat uneasy.

  That day, the evil spirit that had possessed Xiaoyuan's body flew towards Gan Ping like a moth to flame, but was purified by his extremely yang energy, leaving not even a single wisp of residual soul behind. This left everyone present in shock and amazement, although they couldn't quite understand what had happened. However, the evil spirit would no longer be able to wreak havoc on the village, which was also a joyful event.

  After the news spread, the reputation of this master and apprentice duo spread throughout the village. Mr. Zhang scolded the evil spirit with a heroic air, while Gan Ping calmly faced danger with an upright demeanor, striking back at the ghostly apparitions. Various versions of the story circulated among the villagers, who were originally simple and honest but now indulged in gossip, which was unexpected by Gan Ping. It made sense, though - even in a harmonious village where people loved each other, it was still stagnant water; with such an earth-shattering event happening suddenly, it was natural for everyone to be buzzing with discussion.

  Before the villagers could finish discussing this strange event, several more cases of ghost possession occurred in the village. Fortunately, these ghosts were not as vicious as the one that possessed Xiaohuan, and Li Erniang was able to drive them away with her skills. This further increased the respect for Li Erniang and Zhang's identities in the village, and even young people would address Gan Ping as "Young Master" when he went out, which made him feel a bit embarrassed.

  Gan Ping had a faint feeling that these events were related to the surge of spiritual energy on that night. Since then, he discovered that his spiritual energy had become much thicker during cultivation, which made him even more puzzled, but he didn't know what had happened. He had already begun to cultivate the Soul Silk Technique, and in recent days, he had made great progress. It seemed that within a few months, he would be able to transform his soul power into a thin thread, wrapping it around Daoxuan Mingzi's ring, leaving his own soul imprint, and controlling it at will.

  Now is the slack season of farming, and most of the strong men in the village have gone to the mountains to hunt. Although it has snowed in the mountains, these experienced hunters can still find animal tracks. It's strange to say that after this year's snowfall, there are many animals in the mountains, which makes people in the village overjoyed. Before the New Year, every household is drinking and eating meat with great enthusiasm. Old Horse Head also invited Mr. Zhang to drink several times, but Gan Ping couldn't forget the sight of Old Horse Head sighing after drinking. This abundance of game should be a cause for celebration, so why is Old Horse Head worried? Gan Ping was full of questions, and one time when Old Horse Head got drunk, he finally revealed the truth.

  The old horse head had lived in Majiacun since he was a child, and had experienced all the winds and rains of his life. This time, without any reason, the number of prey increased, making him see some clues, "This is the wild beast in the mountain running out, something is wrong inside." Mr. Zhang heard this and couldn't help but smile, "Old Ma, even if something goes wrong, isn't it a good thing that there are more prey?" "Alas, you bookworm," The old horse head had drunk a bit too much wine, and Mr. Zhang didn't call him anymore, directly saying: "You're a scholar, you don't understand the rules of the mountain. Only when something goes wrong in the mountain do these wild beasts run wildly. Small animals like rabbits are indeed prey, but what about big beasts like tigers and leopards? Who knows when a monster will pop out, that's a disaster." Mr. Zhang was shocked to hear this, "Is there really such a thing? What can be done?" "No way, just wait and see, if nothing comes, it's best, I've already told the younger generation to prepare for defense, but if something comes, we'll have to fight hard." At this point, even on the old horse head's always smiling face, a hint of worry appeared.

  Gan Ping thought about the gloomy face of Old Horse Head that day, and he also became somewhat worried. Recently, the village's defenses had increased significantly. Originally, every day was just closing the large wooden gate at the village entrance, but now there were night guards patrolling around the gate every night. The ironwork craftsmanship of Majia Village was famous far and wide, so naturally, there were some stored knives and guns in the warehouse, which were all taken out and distributed to each household. Even Zhang's small courtyard had two pieces, but what about these two weapons????

  Thinking of these two weapons, Gan Ping couldn't help but smile. One was a large guandao that measured one zhang four chi in length and weighed 372 catties. Recently, the Double Ning Temple had been renovated, and this large knife was intended to be installed on the statue next year. Now it had been moved to Mr. Zhang's courtyard. In the eyes of ordinary villagers, Mr. Zhang, who had beheaded an evil spirit, was already a god-like figure. This guandao was also placed in the warehouse, but moving it to Mr. Zhang's place might make it a handy weapon. The villagers discussed this and decided to move the large knife to the private school. Looking at the 300-400 catties heavy guandao, Mr. Zhang's face turned pale, but he couldn't lose his temper. Gan Ping clearly saw that Mr. Zhang's hands were trembling as he stroked his beard, and he couldn't help but laugh secretly.

  It wasn't until evening that Old Horse Face, who had been busy all day, rushed over after hearing the news. Seeing the large knife, he couldn't help but secretly laugh to himself. He had also been present when Mr. Zhang scolded the evil spirit that day, so of course he knew the whole story behind it. The talk about beheading gods and eliminating ghosts was just something those ignorant villagers made up, and yet this group of good-for-nothing village guards actually believed it.

  He patted Mr. Zhang on the back, trying to comfort him, then left behind a small dagger before departing. In his opinion, Mr. Zhang was still the same weak and bookish scholar who couldn't even truss a chicken, so giving him a real weapon would be like throwing pearls before swine; even if monsters came, it wouldn't be worth having Mr. Zhang personally take to the battlefield, but for the sake of preserving Mr. Zhang's dignity, he left this small dagger behind as a consolation.

  Listening to the old horse's head bursting into laughter as soon as he walked out, Mr. Zhang turned green with rage, and threw the dagger into Gan Ping's arms, turning his sleeve and leaving. Gan Ping also couldn't help but laugh, but still held back, picked up the dagger, and put it aside. He too was disdainful of this small short knife, his mind already fixed on the big guandao in the courtyard.

  All along, Kan Ping had never shown his extraordinary strength in the village, so people only regarded him as an ordinary child. Now, Kan Ping estimated that his own strength absolutely exceeded 3,000 jin or more, which was the power of a top-notch martial artist in the secular world. His physical strength was also exceptional. The men in the village had been practicing martial arts since childhood, but due to the lack of guidance from famous masters, most of them were at the level of third-rate martial artists. Those with good qualifications could barely be considered as second-rate martial artists.

  For ordinary people and ordinary beasts, such a force is enough to surround the village without being invaded, but compared with the demon beast, there is still a big difference, which is also what Lao Ma Tou worries about.

  Gan Ping knew that the knife in the temple was over five feet long, with a single piece of fine iron forged into its entire body. The village blacksmith had taken on this order and used more than ten blacksmiths to work day and night for several months before completing it. Although the big guandao weighed hundreds of pounds and no one could wield it, it was meant to be placed in the Taoist temple as a decoration. However, Old Horse Head still gathered the village's most skilled blacksmiths to carefully forge it, as he would not want to put up a shoddy knife that would ruin his reputation with the many incense-burning visitors.

  As he thought of this, Gan Ping's heart was already bursting with excitement. Seeing that Mr. Zhang was ignoring him, he walked out the door and carefully examined the large guandao in the courtyard. At first glance, he secretly admired the craftsmanship of the village blacksmith. The knife head was wide and large, with a two-foot-wide blade that shone like a mirror, thick and heavy, with tiny serrations on the snow-white blade that sparkled with sharp light under the snowy reflection. On the knife head was cast a pattern of a coiled dragon swallowing the moon, making the knife look even more murderous and emitting a cold glow in all directions. Below the knife head was a single piece of iron casting, the long handle as thick as a goose egg, with a four-sided sharp cone at the end of the handle, about a foot long, also emitting a murderous aura.

  The more he looked at it, the more he liked it, and he couldn't help but reach out to gently stroke the blade, suppressing the urge to pick it up and swing it around. If someone were to see him, a three-foot-tall child, wielding such a heavy and massive weapon, wouldn't they think he was some kind of monster?

  Just as Gan Ping was reluctantly stroking the blade, a series of urgent and panicked gong sounds came from the village entrance in the distance, and someone was heard shouting loudly: "Come on, people! A monster has entered the village! Come on, people!"

  Gan Ping's heart skipped a beat, and he was about to rush over there when the door behind him opened and Mr. Zhang walked out, gazing at the flames at the village entrance before saying in a low voice, "Ping'er, go back inside." Gan Ping could only reluctantly obey, hanging his head in despair as he trudged back into the house.

  At this time, the old horse head from the neighboring family also heard the shouting and came out of the door. He said a word to Mr. Zhang, then hastily picked up a big knife and rushed towards the village entrance with his two sons. Fortunately, in recent days, the old horse head saw that there were more and more wild beasts in the nearby forest, and the number of ferocious beasts also increased. So he instructed everyone not to enter the mountain recently, but only set some beast traps around the village. All the strong men in the village were in the village, which made the hearts of the women and children in the village slightly more at ease.

  Although Gan Ping entered the house, he crawled to the window and opened a small gap, looking out. At this time, the village entrance was already ablaze with flames and shouts, it seemed that the demon beast had entered the village, and the men were resisting the attack. The killing cries at the village entrance sounded loud but not chaotic, apparently the invading demon beast was not a powerful one.

  The men in the village all had the cultivation of second-rate warriors, and if they were ordinary monsters, they could easily kill them. Gan Ping was thinking, when he suddenly heard a cry for help coming from the south entrance of the village: "Come quickly, there are monsters here too, come quickly!" The village has two entrances, one in the south and one in the west, and now both entrances were being attacked by monsters, which made the villagers' hearts jump up. Fortunately, only these two directions had entrances, and all other directions were blocked by thick and solid earth walls, so for the time being, there was no apparent danger. However, a bad feeling suddenly emerged in Gan Ping's heart.