Chapter 1: The Haunted Yōlin (Part 1)

  Guo Pu, the ancestor of a school of demon-hunting masters from the Guo family, and also the founder of Feng Shui studies in the entire Divine Continent.

  Guo Mohan said he was a god who created legends. According to Ding Lingxu's understanding of him, it was indeed an understatement.

  Guo Pu's life was extremely legendary. The "Taiping Guangji" Volume 13 records that he "was well-versed in all things, had an otherworldly way, observed the heavens and geography, turtle books and dragon charts, divined auspicious and inauspicious signs, chose graves and houses, none of which were not thoroughly understood, was good at measuring the situation of humans and ghosts".

  Guo Pu was born in Wenxi County, Shanxi Province. He was the son of Guo Xiang, a governor of Western Jin Dynasty. From an early age, he liked to study astrology and divination. At the age of 5, he opened his "yin-yang eyes" and could communicate with spirits. At 14, he subdued a fierce beast, but mistakenly ate the pine seeds given by the beast, which granted him an additional 300 years of life. With this newfound longevity, he made a grand vow to visit all famous mountains and rivers in his lifetime and subdue all evil spirits. He then studied classical texts and traveled extensively, learning many extraordinary skills related to mountains and water. He was particularly interested in burial and wrote a book called "The Burial Classic", which later became a sacred text for many tomb raiders.

  Guo Pu, a senior fellow, traveled extensively throughout China during his lifetime. Through tireless efforts, he invented the extraordinary technique of Feng Shui to subdue evil spirits and obtained the Qinglong Baigui Tu (Green Dragon Hundred Ghosts Chart). Using this chart, he subdued countless high-ranking demons and ghosts, establishing himself as a master in the demon-hunting world. He was revered by his contemporaries as "Guo Tian Shen" (Guo Heavenly Spirit) and co-authored "Yao Shi" (History of Demons) with Judge Ghost King.

  However, good times don't last forever, beautiful flowers don't always bloom, and everything in life is bound to decline after reaching its peak.

  Just as Guo Pu was famous and ambitious, a chance encounter with fate cut off his hundred-year life.

  At that time, he learned by chance that the demon lord of Qinglong Baigui Tu had appeared in Chengjiang, so he went alone to investigate, but was rescued by a general who changed his life on the way. Although he had already divined that he would meet someone who would save and kill him, and had thought of reversing the fate, he was still powerless in the face of destiny.

  A generation of pride, died young, but eventually made Guo Pu a legendary figure in oral tradition.

  But what Ding Lingxiu couldn't understand was that since it was Guo Pu and Judge Ghost King who co-authored the "Yao Shi", why didn't Guo Pu record his own re-smelting of the Spirit Swallowing Palace Lamp?

  But compared to this matter, he was more curious about the monster in Guo Mohan's Lingyue Palace lantern.

  At this time, the lamp in the cave of Qipan Mountain illuminated the surroundings with a distant and dim yellow light. Guo Mohan was holding the Lingying Palace Lamp that had been passed down from his ancestors, preparing to summon the demon inside.

  "The heavens are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and desolate, the Spirit Bird's palace lanterns shine brightly in the void."

  As Guo Mohan recited the incantation, the lanterns in the Lingying Palace began to flicker uncertainly.

  A shrill, ghostly cry emanated from the lamp, accompanied by a mesmerizing, eerie sound. The golden light within the palace lantern flickered momentarily, and the Taoist symbols on the crystal lamp holder materialized into tangible objects, swirling and dancing in a whirlpool-like motion.

  Three red, yellow and blue light pillars shot onto the ground. Guo Mohan lightly touched the red light with his middle finger. The red light instantly thickened, while the other two light pillars retreated back into the lamp. Immediately after, all the lights of the Lingque Palace Lamp turned red, illuminating the surroundings in a fiery red glow.

  Within the red light, a fierce and turbulent evil energy surged forth.

  Ding Lingxiu stared intently at the lanterns of the Spirit Vulture Palace, the surging gusts around him causing the cigarette in his mouth to burn faster.

  The red light gradually weakened, and a demon shape appeared in front of the Lingyue Palace lamp.

  Ding Lingxu's demon-seeking compass had a reaction:

  Name: Red Oriole, Rank: Evil Spirit, Weakness: Feathers getting wet in the remaining rain at dusk.

  Ding Lingxiu saw the demon bird walking out of the Lingshu Palace, its body covered in cyan-blue feathers, with a bright copper-red chest and abdomen. The bird's crest was golden, and its plumage was vibrant and bright. Its entire body was surrounded by a faint red demonic flame. Although it was a demon-level creature, it looked quite cute, walking with a swaying gait, its expression endearingly silly.

  "Unexpectedly, the demons you subdued are so cute, and they really don't match your personality."

  Ding Lingxiu spat out a smoke ring, and the red bird seemed to be somewhat disgusted, so it dodged Ding Lingxiu and rubbed against Guo Mohan's side, nestling in her arms.

  "Yes, I like cute monsters. Those ugly ones, I don't want to subdue them, I just hand them over to the underworld." Guo Mohan stroked the red bird's feathers with a loving expression.

  "Alright, nice personality, so shall we get on it now?" asked Ding Lingxiu.

  "You stinky smoker, don't even think about riding on me!" The red bird turned its neck and resolutely rejected Ding Lingxiu's proposal.

  "Alright, just bear with it this time and take this guy to that door over there. It's not far, just be patient." Guo Mohan coaxed the red-crowned crane in his arms like he was coaxing a child.

  Ding Lingxiu couldn't believe that this girl, who looked as cold as ice and frost, would reveal such delicate emotions and invest so much patience when facing the demon she had subdued.

  After her repeated persuasions, Chi Yan finally nodded reluctantly and said in a low voice:

  "I'll have to let it catch my foot, can't let him come up."

  Guo Mohan looked at Ding Lingxiu, Ding Lingxiu's expression was awkward, and he slowly extinguished the cigarette, saying:

  "It doesn't matter, as you wish."

  "Alright, then let him drag you down."

  Then, Guo Mohan rode onto the back of Chi Hong, Chi Hong flapped its wings and flew, Ding Lingxiu tightly wrapped his arms around Chi Hong's claws. Chi Hong flapped its wings, slowly taking off, under Chi Hong's wings a strong and fierce demonic flame burned, Ding Lingxiu felt that his entire body was enveloped by a scorching hot air mass, sweat almost being squeezed out of his body in an instant, his clothes were instantly soaked through, even his hair felt somewhat scorched.

  Luckily, the red bird quickly flew to the front of the large gate on the rock wall; otherwise, Ding Lingxiu would have probably become a pincushion.

  "Alright, thank you." Guo Mohan gave Chi Yan a big hug, and Chi Yan also wrapped her long neck around her neck, reluctant to part.

  "Next time, Young Master will have to find me again to play, I love accompanying Young Master the most." The Vermilion Bird bid farewell with great enthusiasm, transformed into a red light and was retrieved by Guo Mohan back into the Spirit Swallow Palace's lamp.

  Ding Lingxiu's whole body was burning with heat at this time, just like the anger in his heart.

  "You said this place is so high up, how did these two monsters get here?" Guo Mohan looked at Ding Lingxiu's face and saw that it was very unsightly, and he also felt a bit embarrassed, so he changed the subject.

  Ding Lingxiu's anger flashed by, like a cloud passing without a trace, and he muttered in response:

  "There should be two possibilities, one is to utilize the giant bear, because one of the purposes for these two demons to raise this giant bear is to guard the mansion, and another possibility is that they use its massive body to carry them to this door. Another possibility is that these two demons can fly, or at least one of them can."

  Guo Mohan nodded, although she had thought of the possibility that the monster could fly, but she really hadn't thought of using the giant bear's possibilities. After listening to Ding Lingxiu say this, she also secretly admired this big smoker a bit.

  Although the two were both young prodigies, they had similar yet distinct personalities, ways of thinking and demon-hunting techniques that each had their own strengths. Ding Lingxiu and Guo Mohan only cooperated for the first time, but in the midst of it, they had an unspoken understanding, as if they complemented each other like the sun and moon.

  "What are you going to do?" Ding Lingxiu asked casually while stroking the protruding rivets on the large gate.

  Guo Mohan used her flashlight to examine the structure of the gate, but she found that the construction of this gate was actually different from what they saw below:

  The color of the gate was completely different from what they had initially thought. They had assumed that the greenish-blue gate was made of bronze or iron with a layer of green paint. However, upon closer inspection, they discovered that the gate's greenish-blue color came from a dense layer of thorns covering its surface. The thorns were sharp and pointed, with white tips that seemed to warn people away. At the base of the gate lay numerous dead rats, their dark gray skin indicating that the thorns were likely poisonous. A recently deceased bat hung from the upper right corner of the gate.

  What's even stranger is that this door doesn't have any handles or anything, and it doesn't seem like a push-open door either. It looks more like it was forcefully slapped onto the rock wall by some giant. The thorns around it completely cover up the door, with roots spreading out from the bottom of the door. These roots are incredibly thick, some even as thick as an adult's arm. What they initially saw at the bottom was just an illusion created by the thorns, while the actual door inside the thorn bush is much smaller than the thorn bush itself.

  "These thorns are poisonous, and there's no handle, it's impossible to push the door with your hands, how did they get in? Is it not from here? This is just a waste gate?" Guo Mohan furrowed his brow, puzzled as he gazed at the thorn bush.

  Ding Lingxiu thought it was possible, but he immediately denied the idea because he found that the ground color on the stone platform leading to the door and on both sides of the door were different, and the density of the stones was also different, apparently something often passed through here.

  Ding Lingxiu thought for a moment and said:

  "It should indeed be here, you see that there are more sand and stones on both sides than in the direction of the gate, although there is no clear footprint, but it can still be confirmed that these two demons entered the nest from here."

  He immediately shone his flashlight at the door, but not directly at it, rather at the side where the door met the rock. Suddenly, a glimmer of light flashed in his icy blue eyes, and he beckoned to Guo Mohan to come over:

  "Look here."

  Guo Mohan approached and found that the place where this door was connected to the rock was actually filled with these vines, which seemed to have grown into the inside of the door.

  "What does this represent?" Guo Mohan looked at Ding Lingxiu in confusion.

  "You said is it possible that this vine can automatically open the door."