The fox spirit is in a hurry like a law enforcement officer.

  The master saw me shouting and retreating in surprise, and hastily asked what was going on.

  I was shocked and it took me a few seconds to calm down. The moment my fingertips touched the tree bark, I felt a strong surge of spiritual energy rush into my body, causing my entire body to tremble, no less than if I had been electrocuted. Moreover, in that instant, I sensed that there was a huge person inside the tree, like a shadow flashing by, and I couldn't describe how big or what shape it was.

  I expressed my feelings, and the master was shocked and uncertain. He slowly stretched out his hand to touch the tree, but there was no response at all. I plucked up the courage, as if I were going to touch a high-voltage wire, very carefully, slowly stretching out my hand...

  My fingers slid up to touch the rough bark, but there was no electric thrill of life, nor any giant form, nothing at all. I could hardly believe it, and releasing my hand, pressed again heavily upon it, still without a response; then tried the second and third trees with the same result.

  Was it just an illusion?

  The master suddenly laughed: "You must have sensed the tree spirit just now. When I cast a spell for you, I used camphor oil made from their branches, so you have its aura on your body and can sense it."

  I'm a bit puzzled because the tree I touched was the first one, the branches that were cut down belonged to the second tree, and that feeling just now seemed quite overbearing, as if it wasn't very friendly towards me.

  Master asked me with a mysterious face: "Do you know why Sheng Yu Po's trick failed last night?"

  I had already guessed something last night, but I wasn't sure. My master said excitedly: "The demon fox in your body is in a sealed state, but it's not completely dormant. It can sense when you're in danger... Cough, cough... Now it shares the same soul as you, and its fate is tied to yours. When it senses danger, it automatically defends against enemies. That evil creature may have some abilities, but how can it possibly defeat a demon fox that has been cultivating for thousands of years and can already take shape?"

  I suddenly felt invigorated: "So it won't harm me after this?"

  "It shouldn't be possible, but since you share a spirit, it's highly likely that a spiritual 'channel' has been formed, so you can sense some things through its ability. That time you dreamed of the blood fog surrounding the village might have been something it sensed, and just now communicating with the tree god was probably also its doing. Otherwise, even if you had the aura of a thousand-year-old camphor tree on you, without spiritual power or cultivation, it would be impossible to communicate with the tree god. In the future, you'll have more communication with the fox spirit, and maybe you can even borrow its spiritual power... Of course, this still needs to be slowly verified and communicated in the future." The master's eyes were fervent and excited, as if he had discovered a treasure.

  I'm a bit skeptical, could it be that before accepting me as his disciple, he already knew I would become like this, with extremely high development value, so he deceived me into becoming his disciple?

  "Master, you wouldn't have known this would happen all along, would you?"

  "Cough, cough... I had thought of this possibility before, and it was confirmed last night."

  I've got that lab rat feeling again, but this is really good news. From now on, I don't have to worry about the fox spirit fighting with me for control of my body, and it can even help me ward off disasters and communicate with spirits. It's like having a personal guardian deity!

  "Master, it won't harm me again, so is the problem of me only living until thirty solved?"

  "No, the fox spirit may not harm you anymore, but the problem of short lifespan might be caused by the soul exchange, or it could also be due to the injury inflicted by Lu Chengshan. Your fate has this one obstacle, so you must learn the art of prolonging life from me."

  I'm so depressed, Lu Chengshan that bastard, it's all his fault. If he hadn't been so ruthless, the demon fox wouldn't have possessed me and none of this would have happened later on. But unfortunately, he has a high cultivation level and is powerful and influential, I probably won't have a chance to take revenge in this lifetime.

  The master gently stroked the tree trunk, sighing: "These three ancient trees are indeed our village's protective deities. Some people say that in the past few nights, they saw a giant divine being, possibly the tree spirit entering the village to drive away evil spirits."

  I'm not too convinced, if you say that ancient trees have some spirituality, I can accept it, but if you say they can turn into giant gods and run around, I won't believe it even if you kill me. However, my thoughts changed a moment later, Master didn't say the tree god was a physical giant, so it's still possible if it's just a spiritual entity. As for the tree god being very overbearing and powerful, it's not surprising, after all, they're over 1,300 years old, and at my age, I'm like an ant to them.

  When walking past those few houses, the master said with some anger: "This place is not suitable for building houses. Planting these three trees was to suppress the Feng Shui, but these people just don't believe it, sigh!"

  Nowadays, many people don't pay attention to Feng Shui when building houses, let alone the layout of the entire village. Sometimes even village officials can't stop it, not to mention my master. I spread out my hands, showing helplessness.

  I saw many people carrying sticks, long-handled machetes and the like heading out of the village to find zombies. This matter poses a threat to everyone, and with village officials taking the lead in organizing it, about 80% of the village's able-bodied men have been mobilized.

  Sheng Yuba's husband had opened a clinic by the roadside, and when my master and I passed by, Sheng Yuba was lying on a bamboo chair receiving an IV drip, while Fan Qiang had his arm suspended in a sling with a splint on it. There were also several of their relatives and friends around. When they saw me and my master, Fan Qiang rushed out furiously to block my way.

  I shielded my master behind me, staring at Fan Qiang with an icy gaze. If he dared to move even a little, I would make sure his other hand and both feet were also bound with splints and bandages. After being instructed by Old Lin, my moves would be far more deadly than before.

  Fan Qiang was taken aback by my calm and composure, he turned around to see that his relatives were all standing still. Because of his usual misbehavior, his relatives, including his father, had a very bad opinion of him. If I were to go to their house to cause trouble, these people would definitely stand up for him, but now that he was the one who came out to find fault with me, they wouldn't help him because until this moment, Fan Qiang was still in the wrong.

  Fan Qiang scolded for a while, not only scolding me but also his relatives, saying they were heartless and only knew how to eat like dogs. Then he didn't go home but walked in another direction.

  Sheng Yupo was staring at me with a venomous gaze, her eyes sunken and dark like a cat's. Her cheekbones were high, her face pale and sickly, with a hint of blue-black on her forehead, and her disheveled white hair made her look even more frightening. She stared at me until I felt uneasy all over, but I wasn't afraid of her. On purpose, I raised my head, curled my lip, and put on an extremely disdainful expression: Bring it on!

  The master didn't dare to stare back at the old witch, and pulled me away with force. After walking for a while without anyone around, I asked in a low voice: "Master, she will definitely use vicious methods to harm me again, you must be careful not to let your senior disciple die before leaving the mountain."

  "Pshaw, pshaw, children's words are not to be taken seriously, nonsense! My master was very particular about this and scolded me a few times. Many spells and incantations are taboo for the mouth, such as the hemostatic symbol. Once, a villager's calf was cut by a broken hot water bottle, the wound was deep and long, bleeding profusely, and Old Fan (Fan Qiang's father) couldn't stop the bleeding. My master used a hemostatic symbol to stop it. Unexpectedly, after the injured villager recovered from the shock, he said, "It seems that there is still a little left unsealed." As a result, something bad happened, and a small amount of blood continued to seep out, no matter how hard they tried to stop it, and it didn't end until the whole night had passed.

  My master also knew that Sheng Yu Po would not give up easily, so as soon as he returned home, he began to teach me the method of breaking curses. He then drew a talisman to break curses and stuck it in my bedroom, and also drew protective charms and peaceful charms for me to wear on my body. While drawing the talismans, he also taught me some hand gestures, steps, and incantations that were used, such as the Heavenly Net Hand Gesture, the Sun King Hand Gesture, and the Moon King Hand Gesture; incantations like the Clear Heart Incantation, the Pure Mouth Incantation, the Pure Pen Incantation, and the Pure Paper Incantation; and steps like the Taiyi True Person's Step Method, the Pre-Heaven Eight Trigrams Step Method, and the Jade Maiden Crossing the River Step Method. By learning from actual applications, one can achieve twice the effect with half the effort.

  The power of the talisman depends entirely on the depth of the person drawing it, and ordinary people's cultivation is limited. Only by communicating with heaven, earth, ghosts, and gods, and borrowing spiritual energy can one draw a powerful talisman. My master's original cultivation was not high, and he had been seriously ill for many years, which severely damaged his body. He also didn't have a "spirit root", making it difficult for him to communicate with spirits. Therefore, the effects of the peace and protection talismans he drew were limited. He hoped that after I learned how to draw them, I could do so myself when in good condition, and perhaps the talismans I drew would be more effective than his, since I have a spirit root and might unexpectedly receive the help of the thousand-year-old fox spirit.

  A series of strange and troublesome events made me and my master almost forget that today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. The zombies haven't been eliminated, I reckon no one in the whole village has the mood to celebrate the festival?

  At over 10 o'clock in the morning, my grandmother rushed to my home, saying that Shengyu Po had another spirit possession. The old witch said that when I treated the disease, I cut off the branches of the large camphor tree, and the tree god was angry. The strange events of the past few days were all caused by the anger of the tree god, and a large-scale sacrifice must be made. This time, more people believed her, on the one hand, no one had ever cut off the branches of the large camphor tree before, and on the other hand, the zombies brought great psychological pressure to the villagers, and they must find a scapegoat.

  I really admire Shengyu Po's shamelessness and energy, having just finished an IV drip and still having the strength to make trouble, no matter what she says, as long as no one comes to bother me, it's fine, if someone really comes to my door, I also have a way to deal with it, my master's prestige is not lower than hers.

  My master was also very angry about Sheng Yu's slander, but he had no objection to worshiping the tree god and didn't say anything.

  At noon, Old Lin came to my house and sat for a while. In the morning, he also went to find zombies, but there was no harvest. The old zombie didn't know where it hid.

  In the afternoon, Shengyu Po and her loyal followers, as well as those who suffered from the disaster last night, and timid people, grandly held a ceremony to offer sacrifices to the tree god with whole pigs, sheep, and cows. There were countless offerings of chickens, ducks, cakes, mooncakes, fruits, etc. on the scene. Incense sticks, paper money, firecrackers, and drums, cymbals, and suona horns assisted in the performance of a "Walking Maitreya" ritual, with a grandeur that has rarely been seen in nearly a hundred years.

  I didn't go to the scene, afraid of being pelted with rotten eggs by those deceived villagers. If my master hadn't been sitting in my house all along, I'm afraid they would have rushed to my house and pulled me out as the chief culprit.

  The old men and women made a racket under the big camphor tree until it was almost dark, but those who went to find zombies still had no harvest and returned one after another. Everyone hid in their homes early, closed the doors tightly and reinforced them to prevent zombies from breaking into their own homes.

  Xu Jianmao had invited several geomancers from outside, but as soon as they heard there was a zombie, none of them dared to come. This afternoon, some people from the Public Security Bureau came, but they said that fake corpse cases were not under their jurisdiction, so no one would come to support tonight.