Chapter 5: The Ghost Immortal of Laofeng Mountain

  As they approached, they found that it was an old man who was already in his twilight years. He was holding a wooden stick and roasting a skinned wild rabbit. Suddenly seeing Wang Chong and the others, he was so frightened that he dropped the rabbit in his hand and shouted: "Ghost!" After finishing speaking, he fell to one side.

  Wang Chong and Chuankuan were both stunned for a moment. He Mingzhen burst out laughing: "Don't be afraid, old man! Take a closer look, we are human!"

  Upon hearing the crane's cry, the old man finally got up, rubbed his eyes and took a closer look. Indeed, there were two people. He patted his chest and abdomen, stood up: "My mother! I was so scared to death. I thought it was a fierce ghost coming to claim my life!"

  As they approached, the old man panted and said: "I say you two young men, how come you walk without making any noise at all, trying to scare me to death?"

  "Hehe, old man, what are you doing here all alone in the middle of the night?"

  "Alas, I had a quarrel with my late wife and in a fit of anger, I rushed out. My old eyes are dim and I got lost on the way. I don't know how I ended up here." He looked around with a terrified expression: "Good grief! You see, this mountain is full of graves, it's too scary!"

  After hearing this, Wang Chongchuan and He Mingzhen exchanged a glance, knowing that the old man was being suspicious. The two didn't say anything more. Then they heard He Mingzhen say: "Old fellow, you see my brother and I are also lost on the road, we don't know which direction to go, we've been walking for half a day already, our stomachs are empty. I think your rabbit looks delicious, how about sharing some with us?"

  This old man was quite straightforward, without saying a word, he actually handed the whole rabbit to He Mingzhen. He Mingzhen looked at the rabbit in his hand and smiled: "I said, old fellow, my brother and I just met an old woman at the foot of the mountain, who might be your wife, but unfortunately she was so old and still wanted to harm people, my brother and I were so happy that we took care of her!"

  The old man jumped up with a loud shout after hearing this. He pointed at Wang and He, scolding: "You two little beasts! Heaven has a road that you don't take, hell has no door but you come knocking on it yourself! Today neither of you will survive! Return my family's old lady's life to me!" As he spoke, the old man's body transformed, his two hands turning into a pair of enormous cat claws! With a fierce cry, he pounced at the two.

  Wang Chongchuan hastily raised his knife to meet the old man, and with one slash, he chopped down on the old man's cat-like claws. With a loud clang, the cat claws proved to be as hard as fine steel! The knife struck true, but sparks flew everywhere. Wang Chongchuan was shocked and quickly retreated to dodge. Suddenly, He Daozi let out a loud shout: "This old thing is actually an old yellow weasel, its Taoist powers are not shallow! Brother, watch this!" As he spoke, his hand moved swiftly, and the dusting cloth in his hand transformed into a whip-like object that wrapped around the old man's neck. He Daozi slapped a talisman onto the old man's chest, causing him to let out a loud cry as white smoke burst forth from his chest. The old man retaliated by grabbing the talisman with one hand and tearing it in two!

  The old man raised his massive cat claws and swiped at Daoist Master Crane's face. The master hastily pulled out the peach wood sword from behind his back, executed the "Lü Dongbin Smiles at the Bodhi Lotus" move, and pointed it directly at the old man's throat. Just then, the old man let out a blood-curdling scream as he was sent flying backward. As they looked at the peach wood sword in Master Crane's hand, its tip had turned a dark charred color!

  Looking at the peach wood sword in his hand, He Mingzhen also broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead, secretly thinking: "Wu Liang Tian Zun, this old thing is quite evil!" Hurriedly took out three treasure symbols from his bosom, stuck one of them onto the Bao Dao Bu Wen's blade, and said to Wang Chongchuan: "This symbol is called Lao Jun Ling, it was drawn by Tai Shang Lao Jun when he achieved enlightenment. Brother, I don't have any good method for this, it's up to you!" Wang Chongchuan responded with a sound and then charged forward.

  That old man looked at Wang Chongchuan with a sarcastic expression, laughing and saying: "Youngster, that knife of yours is not bad, but unfortunately it's useless against Grandpa!" As soon as he finished speaking, he flew over again, fast like lightning! Wang Chongchuan saw that he couldn't dodge in time, so he decided to fight back! With his knife in hand, he shouted loudly: "Come on!" A white light flashed down from above, and all that could be heard was a blood-curdling scream. This old man had actually had one of his arms chopped off!

  One move succeeded, the two brothers were overjoyed, Wang Chongchuan was about to take advantage of the victory to counterattack, but found that his feet seemed to be caught by something and couldn't move. Hurriedly lowering his head to look, there were actually two ghost hands emerging from the ground, tightly grasping his ankle!

  Wang Chongchuan was shocked, and hastily swung his knife to cut off the ghost's hand. The old man also took this opportunity to catch his breath, and then heard him shout loudly: "Auntie save me!" Upon hearing these words, the two brothers were stunned. They saw a red-clothed woman floating down from the top of a distant mountain!

  Only the woman in red clothes and shoes, with a large red cloak, had a pale face and her lips didn't move as she let out a string of eerie laughter: "Hehehe, you two have big guts! You dare to trespass on my old tomb mountain, kill my loved ones, today you won't be able to leave alive!" After finishing speaking, the female ghost's hands flew about, her large red cloak fluttering with dark energy as she shot out. Wang Chongchuan didn't dare to be careless and rolled away to avoid the cloak. Looking at He Daozhu, his hand formed a sword seal, one sword chopped down onto the cloak. Only hearing a loud crash, both the person and the sword were sent flying out. After falling to the ground, one look showed that the peach wood sword in his hand had already been broken into two segments!

  Wang Chongchuan hastily ran over to help He Dao Ye up, only to see the large red cloak spinning in mid-air, growing bigger and bigger until it almost covered the sky. The surroundings were all a bloody red! He Dao Ye wiped away the blood from his mouth and cursed: "Damn it, this is a ghostly immortal! Brother, today we've met our match!" After finishing speaking, he took out 36 small yellow flags from behind him, flung them around the two of them, and only heard He Dao Ye chant: "Eight Trigrams True Lord, listen to my words, your disciple is in trouble, now I borrow the Heavenly Treasure's wish-fulfilling power to assist me in resisting evil and protecting myself. The Supreme Old Lord, hurry up and follow the law!" As soon as he finished speaking, He Dao Ye pointed his finger, and those 36 small yellow flags suddenly stood upright, spinning wildly on the ground. In an instant, they formed an Eight Trigrams diagram!

  The red-clothed female ghost looked at the small yellow flag on the ground, slightly furrowed her brow, and smiled: "Hmph, I didn't think you, this stinky Taoist priest, still had some skills. However, this Heaven Treasure can only save you for a moment, but not for your whole life. Let me show you my skills!"

  As soon as the words fell, the female ghost's hands flew in unison, and huge rocks and tombstones on the surrounding mountain slope flew over! The rocks and tombstones had just flown close when the small yellow flags on the ground jumped out, colliding with each other, and the sound of thunder seemed to rumble through the air.

  Look at Daoist He again, his whole body was shaking violently. Just as Wang Chongchuan was about to speak, he saw that Daoist He's nose and mouth were emitting threads of fresh blood! All he heard was He Mingzhen saying: "Brother, this ghost is formidable, I'm afraid today I'll lose my life here. Now there's one unfulfilled wish in my heart, no matter what you have to help me complete it, otherwise our trip here would be in vain!"

  Wang Chongchuan hastily waved his hand and said, "What is Master Dao saying! You and I, two brothers, came here together, and we must return together. This ghost may be formidable, but so what? At worst, the two of us will fight her to the death!"

  After finishing speaking, Wang Chongchuan was about to kill his way out of the formation with his treasured sword, but He Daozi quickly grabbed him: "Brother, listen to me, this mountain's rocks and woods are endless, the more we drag on, the more unfavorable it is for us! The only plan now is for me to sacrifice myself to hold her back here, you hurry up and take my Town Observation Treasure, the Eight Treasures Lotus Three Saints Treasure Mirror, to go to the top of this ancient tomb mountain to reinforce the formation, that's the best strategy. If brother acts quickly, I can still save a life!"

  After finishing, he took out the treasure mirror and handed it to Wang Chongchuan. He told him that on the top of the old tomb mountain, there was a strange stone called Jiu Tian Zhen Yao Shi (Nine Heaven Demon-suppressing Stone). Now this demon-suppressing stone must have been damaged. Let Wang Chongchuan put the treasure mirror into the damaged part of the stone to repair the Zhēi Xié Dà Zhèn (Great Demonic Array)!

  Wang Chongchuan slung the precious mirror onto his back, took a glance at He Dao, gritted his teeth and said: "Brother, be careful, I'll go and come right back!"

  He only saw Master He grab Wang Chongchuan's shoulder, exhaled and shouted: "Go!" After finishing, he swung his hand and threw Wang Chongchuan out. Several small flags protected Wang Chongchuan, who safely broke through the chaotic formation. Wang Chongchuan looked back at Master He in the formation, stomped his foot, and ran up the mountain!

  When the red-clothed female ghost saw Wang Chongchuan rush out of the formation, she suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. Just as she was about to chase after him, several small flags shot towards her from in front. The female ghost didn't dare be careless and quickly used her fingers to conjure up several tombstones to block the small flags. Seeing Wang Chongchuan run far away, the female ghost became enraged and shouted: "Stinky Taoist, I'll tear you apart!" As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her hand and a huge black misty ghostly hand appeared out of thin air, grasping fiercely towards Hei Daozi in the formation.

  He didn't dare to waste the small flag, so he quickly took out the Heart-Protecting Eight Trigrams Mirror and recited an incantation as he smashed it towards the ghostly hand. With a loud crash, flames burst forth wildly, and the black misty ghostly hand vanished into thin air. However, the mirror was knocked back by the rebound, and upon closer inspection, a long vertical crack had appeared on its surface!

  When talking about Wang Chongchuan, he was running desperately towards the mountain, when suddenly his foot tripped and he fell to the ground. As he looked back, he saw a gruesome human head in the middle of the road! The head had rotten flesh all over its face, with one eye hanging out. The head let out a strange cry and flew towards Wang Chongchuan, biting at him. Wang Chongchuan quickly raised his hand and cut it in half with his knife. As he turned around, he saw that the ground around him was crawling with a large patch of ghostly hands, followed by over a hundred rotting corpses emerging from the earth!

  Looking at the scene in front of him, which was like hell, Wang Chongchuan gritted his teeth and thought to himself: "Today, I'd rather die here than betray Master He's entrustment!" After thinking this, he tore off a piece of cloth from his clothes and tied the precious sword, Buwen, to his hand. Looking at the sword in his hand, Wang Chongchuan sighed: "Buwen, oh Buwen! Today, you and I will rest here forever. My death is nothing, but burying you with me, my heart cannot bear it!" As soon as he finished speaking, a loud sword cry was heard, and all the evil spirits around him retreated in fear.

  Wang Chongchuan saw the divine might of the treasured sword, and suddenly his heroic spirit was stirred up. He burst out laughing loudly: "No need to ask, since you're not willing to bury your sword here, let's have a thrilling fight today!" As soon as he finished speaking, one man with one sword charged towards the ghostly horde!

  The sword light flashed wildly, the ghostly shadows danced chaotically. Wang Chongchuan fought his way through, relying on the divine might of his treasured sword to slaughter his way out of the demonic horde. By this time, Wang Chongchuan was covered in blood, his skin torn and flesh ripped apart by the evil spirits. With trembling hands, he hacked down the last malevolent spirit, then plopped himself onto the ground, panting heavily with a loud "huff huff".

  Suddenly, he heard someone chuckling coldly not far away: "Kid, you're quite something! You didn't die from that, you're really not simple!" Wang Chongchuan was shocked in his heart and hastily raised his eyes to look around, only to see the old man from before appearing right in front of him.

  Wang Chongchuan was secretly lamenting his bad luck, thinking that with his current state, fighting this old demon would be a disaster. However, hearing the thunderous roar from the mountain waist and thinking of He Dao's desperate struggle, a surge of bloodlust suddenly emerged in Wang Chongchuan's body, he gritted his teeth and stood up again with unyielding determination!

  The old man looked at Wang Chongchuan, hehe smiled: "Little boy, fierce enough! It's all like this, and still venting? Grandpa will send you on your way today!" After finishing, a strange cry came over. Wang Chongchuan hurriedly swung his knife to block, but in the end, he was not in control of his strength, and with a loud crash, both he and his knife were knocked flying out, and the Three Saints Mirror on his body also fell to the ground!

  As he watched the old cat demon walking slowly towards him, Wang Chongchuan's heart turned cold. Just as he was waiting for death with his eyes closed, a golden light suddenly appeared, and all he heard was a miserable cry, that old cat demon was actually enveloped in the light! Wang Chongchuan was overjoyed, looked up to see, it was the Eight Treasures Lotus Three Saints Mirror that saved his life! Looking at this old demon, being in the golden light, was crying out in pain, not long after, its body started to emit waves of white smoke, followed by a foul smell wafting over, this old guy had actually melted away!

  At this sight, Wang Chongchuan was stunned, and just as he was dazed, the treasure mirror in the air turned around and actually enveloped himself in golden light! Wang Chongchuan was greatly shocked in his heart, shouting "no good", but when he touched his body, he didn't feel any discomfort. Under the illumination of the golden light, the wounds on his body slowly healed!

  It wasn't just Wang Chongchuan, even the treasured sword Bao Dao didn't ask and underwent a change, only to see this sword's entire body as if it had been coated with a layer of golden powder, shining brightly. And that Taoist talisman, Lao Jun Ling, suddenly ignited with a whoosh, and after the smoke cleared, this Lao Jun Ling was actually branded onto the sword's body!