"Whoosh!"
At those words, the fox spirit became extremely alert and flew backward in retreat.
A fox tail then extended from behind its rear.
"Such caution, you must have done this sort of thing before, haven't you?"
As Xu Taiping spoke, he stood up, and the suppressed aura that he had been holding back exploded from his body.
Following that, his Danxia True Qi roared out like a tidal wave, filling the entire dilapidated temple.
"Bang!"
In an instant, the monsters that were preparing to attack the unconscious guards were all knocked to the ground.
The goat demon couldn't withstand the impact of the True Qi and burst on the spot, turning into a cloud of evil energy that lingered in the temple, leaving behind only a goat horn that clattered to the ground.
The other monsters, though not as severely affected, were desperately resisting the invasion of the Danxia True Qi.
Just as Senior Brother Qingxiao had said to Xu Taiping before descending the mountain, in front of a true cultivator, these mountain spirits and ghosts were as fragile as paper and easily defeated.
"It's a mountain cultivator!"
The fox spirit gnashed its teeth in regret.
At that moment, a faint blue light surrounded it, which was protecting it from the Danxia True Qi.
Clearly, the fox spirit had a treasure capable of resisting True Qi.
Xu Taiping stepped forward, one hand on the hilt of his knife, the other hand open with five fingers, condensing a ball of flame in his palm.
Although it was just a fireball condensed from a simple fire technique, its deterrent power against demons and spirits was still stronger than ordinary spells.
The fox spirit stepped back in fear.
"Who sent you to ambush us here?"
Xu Taiping held the fireball and asked the fox spirit.
He didn't believe it was a coincidence that the fox spirit was lying in wait just as they passed by this ruined temple.
"No one sent me," the fox spirit said through gritted teeth.
"I only asked you who sent you, not whether someone sent you or not," Xu Taiping said with a slight smile to the fox spirit.
Hearing this, the fox spirit's expression changed drastically, and then it spoke with hatred again: "So what if you are a mountain cultivator? They have all fallen for my illusion; I can kill them at any moment."
"Anytime? Does your curse-killing technique require ten breaths, five breaths, or perhaps three?"
As Xu Taiping spoke, he clenched his hand, extinguishing the fireball, then placed his hand on the hilt of the Chunhu knife, transforming his Danxia True Qi into fire element.
With a "boom," the previously cold and piercing Danxia True Qi instantly became unbearably hot.
The monsters in the temple screamed in agony.
Even the fox spirit showed an expression of extreme pain.
"Or is it faster than the speed of my drawing the knife?"
Xu Taiping made a motion as if to draw his knife, his gaze calmly fixed on the fox spirit.
An invisible oppressive force, along with his gaze, bore down on the fox spirit.
"I can tell you, but you have to promise not to harm me," the fox spirit sighed, raising its hands in surrender.
Its captivating eyes looked at Xu Taiping pitifully, their tenderness enough to melt the hardest steel.
And just as it showed that look, Xu Taiping swiftly drew his Chunhu knife from his waist, and a surge of heat wave followed the blade's light, cleaving towards the fox spirit.
With a "swoosh," the fox spirit was split in two in an instant.
A stream of demonic energy rose to the sky, turning into a cloud of gray mist, flying towards the temple's entrance like a wild wind.
"Capture."
Xu Taiping calmly uncorked the Qinghu gourd and, with a flick of his hand, aimed the mouth of the gourd at the fleeing fox spirit.
With a "whoosh," a powerful suction emerged from the gourd, sucking in the gray mist that had almost escaped through the door crack.
Naturally, this mist was the remnant soul of the fox spirit. If it escaped, it would find a host and be reborn soon.
Long before deciding to wait for the rabbit, Fairy Lingyue and Xu Taiping had already agreed on a plan.
Although the Qinghu gourd's ability to capture demons and ghosts was still weak, it was more than capable of dealing with the remnants of weak spirits.
"Fairy Lingyue, can you see anything from the remnant soul of this fox spirit?"
Xu Taiping walked towards the body of the fox spirit while mentally asking Fairy Lingyue.
He didn't want to be secretly watched all the way.
"It will take some time," Fairy Lingyue seemed busy and briefly replied to Xu Taiping.
Xu Taiping nodded, then bent down to pick up a bracelet full of fox teeth from the ground.
"Could it be that the fox spirit transformed from this bracelet?" Xu Taiping murmured to himself.
He had read in books that many of these spirits and demons in the mountains were transformed from certain enchanted objects that absorbed the evil energy of the mountains.
"Daoist?"
Just then, the Sixth Princess rubbed her eyes and called out to Xu Taiping.
With the death of the fox spirit, its illusion was lifted, so although the Sixth Princess was still slightly drunk, her consciousness was gradually clearing.
"What are you doing?"
Seeing Xu Taiping squatting on the ground searching, the Sixth Princess was puzzled.
"Your Highness, look around," Xu Taiping said as he stood up, putting away the bracelet.
"Around?"
Upon hearing this, the Sixth Princess looked around, and the last bit of drunkenness vanished instantly.
Where was the dilapidated temple? This was a chaotic burial mound overgrown with weeds!
"Daoist, where are we? Weren't we supposed to be resting in that ruined temple?"
The Sixth Princess walked quickly to Xu Taiping's side, a bit nervous.
She looked around again and then saw the guards lying sprawled on the ground, and among them, the ugly corpses of the monsters.
"Did we… encounter fairies and fall for their illusions?!"
She suddenly realized.
"Remember the heavy rain?" Xu Taiping nodded.
"Are you saying that everything we've encountered since that rain has been an illusion?"
The Sixth Princess recalled the previous events and felt a chill down her spine.
At that moment, General Chu and Steward Cao also woke up.
After seeing the surroundings and the corpses of the monsters nearby, they too were shocked.
"Your Highness, are you alright?"
General Chu hurriedly called out to the Sixth Princess.
"With the Daoist here, I'm fine!" The Sixth Princess shook her head, still in shock, and unconsciously moved closer to Xu Taiping.
"Why is there a plate of dead rats here?"
At that moment, a guard who had woken up noticed a plate on the ground.
"There's also a plate of cockroaches!"
"Ugh… and a plate of maggots!"
More plates filled with bizarre food were discovered by the people.
General Chu and Steward Cao exchanged glances, and a term came to their minds—"Ghost Feast."
Proofreader & Editor: Lotas