Chapter 1: The Haunted Yōlin (Part 1)

  This sparse mountain forest is full of lush ancient trees, blocking out the sky and sunlight, even at noon it's hard to shine into the depths of the forest. At this moment, the dusk is sinking westward, the light is even more gloomy, plus the thick fog that permeates, making this place look eerie and terrifying, with overlapping shadows.

  Ding Lingxiu seemed to be unaware of all this, and was strolling leisurely in the peaceful forest. The moist air on his body made Ding Lingxiu feel refreshed, and he whistled happily.

  The wind swayed on the high treetops, making a slow and muffled rustling sound. The deeper it went, the more terrifyingly quiet it became. Only that long and eerie laughter occasionally reached Ding Lingxiu's ears.

  "Hehe...... come on......"

  "I'm here." Ding Lingxiu said impatiently, loudly in the direction of the sound.

  Not getting a response, Ding Lingxiu couldn't help but laugh, thinking that this demon was really interesting. It had clearly called out to him, yet it kept repeating dull words, without any temptation at all.

  The small path in the mountain forest has been covered by low shrubs and weeds, Ding Lingxiu can only search for the general direction of this road bit by bit, following the vague traces to move forward slowly.

  The shuttle process in the forest made people feel annoyed and disordered. Although Ding Lingxiu had gotten used to this life, he still felt a bit bored. After walking for an unknown period of time, the trees became more lush.

  Crossing over a withered tree trunk lying across his path, Ding Lingyu suddenly discovered that in the depths of the dense forest ahead, there was a red figure flickering in and out of sight, appearing indistinctly in the dispersing thick fog.

  Ding Lingxu pulled out a military dagger and cut through the dense branches in front of him, walking towards the red figure.

  "Hello... is anyone there?"

  Ding Lingxiu pushed aside the broken branches and looked in the direction of the red figure. The tree branches blocked his line of sight, he fixed his gaze on the red shadow, and was taken aback.

  It was actually a young girl squatting on a rock.

  The young girl was dressed in a sorrowful and beautiful lotus-red dress, with a tight waist and sleeves, her jet-black long hair was coiled into two buns on top of her head, each adorned with a silver silk flower, the loose strands by her ears were woven together with fine golden threads and hung down beside her neck, her elegant demeanor was like a painting, as if she were a refined young lady from a noble family in ancient times.

  "Is... is this cosplay?"

  Ding Lingxiu was taken aback, wondering if he had traveled through time and space. Although he had indeed seen many demons and monsters before, with the progress of the times, it was rare to see a demon dressed up like an ancient person in the mortal world. The young lady in front of him, unless she was a real person, no demon would be stupid enough to use such revealing attire to lure guests. But if she were a real person, it would be even more inexplicable - as night was falling, in this desolate mountain wilderness, a girl dressed like an ancient noblewoman, squatting deep in the forest, how could this be possible?

  Ding Ling corrected her confusion and found herself, that girl squatting on a stone.

  "You've actually come." The girl muttered, her voice low and icy.

  "Do you recognize me?"

  Ding Lingxu was shocked beyond measure. Until now, he had never met any demon who started a conversation with him in this way.

  "Hmm... of course..."

  The girl slowly stood up, and inserted her white jade-like hand into the long sleeve, as if searching for something.

  Ding Lingxiu only then saw her clearly, this young girl was about the same age as himself, with bright eyes and white teeth, but looked somewhat cold and frosty, seemingly without the charm and passion of a demon.

  "Wait a minute, beautiful girl, I think my foot is stuck in this branch."

  Ding Lingxiu spoke in a low voice, at the same time lowering his body to get out of the girl's line of sight, and took out the demon-seeking compass from his backpack. His eyes had just landed on the compass when he suddenly became flustered.

  The compass needle was still rotating irregularly, without showing any demon properties. The appearance of this chaotic demonic aura has only two possibilities: either the demon's cultivation is extremely high, at least above the Demon Emperor level; or there are too many demons here, making the demonic aura particularly scattered.

  But what shocked Ding Lingxiu was that the needle of the demon-seeking compass had been spinning irregularly before he even entered the mountain forest. His initial judgment was that there were many small demons here, possibly the minions of the person-faced tree he was looking for, so the demonic energy was scattered. But when he met this girl, undoubtedly a demon, at such a close distance, the demon-seeking compass should have locked onto her and displayed her species and attributes.

  But the demon-seeking compass didn't change at all, which means that if this girl was a demon, she had extremely high cultivation.

  "Wait? I've been waiting for you for a long time."

  The girl's voice was icy cold, the rustling of leaves getting closer and closer, a thread of murderous aura spreading in the fog. Ding Ling felt a chill on his back, only to see a flash of cold light in front of him, and then a sword blade slashed down diagonally. Ding Ling barely dodged this attack with a flip of his body, cold sweat dripping down his face.

  These monsters can even dance with swords, it's over. Ding Ling's heart chilled, he never thought he would meet such a difficult opponent in a place like this.

  "Hmph... I originally wanted to catch the person, but unexpectedly ran into Rain Girl instead. It's really 'breaking iron shoes without searching for a place', and it didn't take any effort at all." The girl said expressionlessly, her voice sharp and decisive.

  Ding Lingxiu hastily stood up and jumped back, hearing the girl's voice, he was stunned again.

  "What? Rain woman? Human-faced tree?"

  "Nonsense, you're underestimating me with your obvious demonic aura." The girl's tone remained unchanged, her sharp eyes gleaming with a cold intent.

  Ding Lingxu suddenly enlightened, he understood what was going on.

  The woman in front of her was surprisingly also a demon hunter.

  Ding Lingxiu never thought that Yu Nu's demonic aura would cause such trouble.

  "Wait... beautiful woman, can you listen to my explanation?" Ding Lingxiu's face was innocent, and he hastily waved his hand to signal a truce.

  "Cut the crap, bring it on, monster! Don't think that just because you've transformed into a man I won't be able to tell."

  The girl danced again with the red-handled long sword in her hand, and the flowing light flew in front of Ding Ling's eyes, suddenly rising with a loud whooshing sound. Countless leaves were cut into fragments, flying in the mist, and the sword shadow flickered, desolate and mysterious like smoke.

  Ding Lingxiu dodged left and right, but still couldn't avoid this impenetrable sword dance, several times almost being killed by a single sword.

  "You've forced me into this, sigh..."

  Ding Lingxiu let out a long sigh, dodged a sword, and hid behind a bush. He quickly ran in the opposite direction, while taking out the Hundred Ghosts Painting and the small porcelain bottle from his backpack. He dipped his hand into the bottle and applied some of the blood to his palm, but due to his haste, some of the blood spilled onto the ground. Ding Lingxiu couldn't help but let out a sigh of regret, feeling that it was a pity.

  But for now, he couldn't care less about these things. The crazy woman behind him was still desperately trying to kill him, and all he could think of in his mind were the two words "escape". Ding Ling Xiu quickly flipped through the pages to the one with pictures. On it was a mouse, its teeth incredibly large. If this were a comic book style, that would be fine, but the drawing style of this book was obviously realistic, so the actual size of the mouse's teeth was almost as big as its head.

  "You detestable monster, where are you going to run?" The girl shouted angrily.

  Ding Lingxiu saw the girl behind him wearing such difficult-to-move clothes, yet she could shuttle back and forth in this dense forest with ease, and couldn't help but click her tongue in wonder. She thought to herself that a female hunter demon master dared to come here alone, indeed not simple.

  Ding Lingxiu looked at the picture on the book, clasped his hands together, and the cowhide book floated in mid-air again. He stabilized his body and recited the incantation:

  "On the distant horizon, beyond the cold river, the desolate clouds are there, and the four spirits attend the sage."

  "An ancient temple is visited for repair, a long-held wish is hard to come by, a mouse's anger is stirred up, when will it be at peace?"

  Before the words had fallen, a red light shot out from the book page and landed on the ground. A large mouse with a bright red body appeared in the bushes, its huge buck teeth making it look not fierce but rather cute. At this time, the red-clothed girl had already caught up from behind and stabbed her sword towards Ding Lingxiu.

  "What's wrong again?" the mouse asked Ding Lingxiu.

  "Hurry up, Iron Mouse! Stop wasting words and possess me quickly..."

  Ding Lingxiu also made a rare gesture of waving at Tie Shu to come over.

  "Hmph, you monster, dare to summon your companions? Watch as I take you all down!" the girl shouted loudly.

  The girl's sword was swift as lightning, and all that could be heard was a sudden tearing sound in the air. The branches were broken where the blade passed, and at the distance between the two people, Ding Lingyu was clearly unable to avoid it.

  Just as the sword was about to reach Ding Lingxiu's body, the large rat on the ground transformed into a red light and shot into Ding Lingxiu's body. In an instant, Ding Lingxiu's entire body was filled with a scorching hot demonic energy, his teeth suddenly grew huge, and his gums became swollen.

  A loud clang of clashing steel.

  Ding Lingxiu suddenly bit down on the red-clothed girl's treasured sword.

  "You..."

  The young girl glared with anger, trying to use force to pull out the treasured sword that was stuck, but discovered that the sword in her hand seemed to have grown into the rocky depths like an ancient tree, and no matter what she did, it couldn't be pulled out.

  Ding Lingxiu narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and the treasure sword emitted a "ka ka" sound.

  The girl only felt her wrist being violently twisted, and in an instant the treasure sword flew out of her hand, spinning in mid-air before inserting itself into a large tree.

  "Heh heh, isn't this about subduing demons? Can you even handle this much?"

  Ding Lingxiu laughed and said with a "heh heh", her teeth chattering away as she spoke, like an accompaniment.

  "You detestable monster, I'll fight you to the death!" The girl's icy face now showed unstoppable anger, ignoring Ding Lingyu as she ran towards the large tree with the sword stuck in it.

  "Hello? What's your IQ? Haven't you figured it out yet? Look at this."

  Ding Lingxiu stopped her and waved the Hundred Ghosts Painting in his hand.

  "Is this... the Hundred Ghosts Painting?" The girl's eyes widened in surprise, and her anger vanished instantly.

  "Nonsense, I'm also a demon hunter."

  Ding Lingxiu saw the girl recognize the Bai Gui diagram, let out a breath of relief, and immediately lifted the spell. The demonic energy of the iron mouse transformed into a red light that fell to the ground, condensing back into its original form.