“So you’re saying that this Seek Tao Sect is very powerful?” the old hunter asked.

“It’s not Seek Tao ‘er’ Sect, it’s Seek Tao Sect,” Qi Wu corrected the old hunter’s pronunciation.

“Tomorrow when we go to Qinghuai County, we’ll write a letter and send it to the Five Great Immortal Sects, asking for their help,” Qi Wu had asked Dai Bufan about the process when they met.

At that time, he was still amazed that local officials with little cultivation were high and mighty, but he did not expect that disciples of the immortal sects who were not in the mortal world were actually more approachable.

But Qi Wu did not know Dai Bufan’s position in Seek Tao Sect, only thinking of him as an ordinary disciple of an immortal sect.

If he really knew Dai Bufan’s identity and cultivation level, he would be more than just amazed.

The old hunter was overjoyed and thanked Qi Wu and the others, even saying that if they could really solve the tiger demon, they wouldn’t even need to pay for their travel expenses. Qi Wu quickly refused.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to save money, but they didn’t know if the old hunter was just being polite or sincere.

“Excuse me, on my journey I encountered a heavy rain, can I stay here for the night?”

A graceful figure broke through the rain curtain. She wore a blue dress and lotus skirt, with a hint of sadness in her eyebrows, making people unconsciously want to grant her request.

Everyone turned to look at A Yue, wondering if the female ghost was really coming since his mouth was always running.

“No!” Qi Wu immediately refused the request of the blue-dressed girl.

There was no village or shop nearby, and suddenly such a beautiful woman appeared in the deep mountains and old forests, which made him suspicious, especially since the blue-dressed girl was dry!

The rain outside was as heavy as if the gods were pouring water, how could she be dry?

The blue-dressed girl was slightly angry, thinking that these people seemed to have read books, but their words were quite impolite.

“You are unreasonable. Not to mention that there is no owner of this mountain temple, you are just taking shelter from the rain here. It’s raining heavily outside now, do you expect me to keep casting spells to block the rain?!”

“Spells, are you a cultivator?” Qi Wu spoke carefully. Most cultivators were kind to mortals, but if they were offended, they could do something unpredictable.

He hesitated.

The old hunter, however, was firm in his attitude. With years of experience living in the mountains and forests, he felt that the blue-dressed girl must have a problem, but he spoke more tactfully: “Dear cultivator, are you a cultivator or a woman? It’s not appropriate for us eight men to stay in the same temple with you and spread rumors.”

“Here’s the thing, there is a mountain road to the north, and halfway up the mountain there is a wooden house that we hunters have temporarily built. It’s only a few steps away for someone like you.”

The old hunter was not lying. There really was a wooden house there, but it could not accommodate so many people. They had only brought Qi Wu and the others to the mountain temple to take shelter from the rain.

The blue-dressed girl thought for a moment and felt that the old hunter made sense. She was just a woman, and although she was not bound by small details when traveling the world, why stay in a leaky temple when she had better options?After the girl in green left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, afraid that she would turn into a fierce tiger and eat them.

“Alright, let’s all go to sleep. We need to be well-rested to get up early and hit the road tomorrow. I don’t want to come back to this godforsaken place again.” Qi Wu yawned and said, his upper and lower eyelids fighting to stay open.

Qi Wu had wanted to sleep facing the inside, towards the mountain god statue, but he felt that something was off about it and didn’t dare to get too close. So, he had everyone sleep with their heads facing the door.

After assigning pairs to take turns keeping watch, everyone fell asleep.

Once everyone was asleep, the eyes of the mountain god statue turned and looked down, staring at everyone.

No one noticed.

…

Ah Yue let out a yawn, his eyes blurry as if he could fall asleep at any moment. He and another person were on the first shift for night watch.

“I’m so tired. I really want to sleep.”

“Endure it. You heard it too, this place isn’t safe…”

“Right, I can’t sleep. I’m still waiting for the female ghost to attack me.”

“You’re average-looking. Haven’t you read that female ghosts like handsome guys? She should be attacking me.”

“Female ghosts like scholars. You’ve only been reading for a few days. They like people like me who have read the classics.”

The two of them quietly argued about the nonexistent female ghost, becoming more and more spirited.

Suddenly, a low growl sounded, even the rain and thunder couldn’t drown it out. The two of them shuddered, feeling their bodies shake.

Just as they were suspecting that it was an auditory hallucination, another low growl sounded, even closer!

“It’s that tiger demon!” The two of them looked at each other, seeing each other’s fear.

“Everyone, wake up! There’s a monster!” Ah Yue shouted urgently.

Everyone woke up from their sleep, gripping their weapons tightly and staring at the temple outside. Cold sweat dripped down their foreheads, and their legs trembled.

The growling stopped, replaced by heavy breathing that made it easy to imagine the monster’s massive size.

A shadow appeared in the rain, and it grew larger and larger. Everyone was on edge, trembling.

A huge tiger head pushed through the rain, reaching towards the mountain god temple. Qi Wu could even see the fur on the tiger’s head, every strand clear!

The tiger demon’s entire body walked into the temple, making everyone’s spine tingle. It was actually a four-meter-long tiger!

The tiger demon exerted force with its hind legs and stood up straight!

“Old Sun, what do we do now?” Qi Wu asked in a low voice. They couldn’t defeat the tiger demon with the wooden sticks they had.

Unexpectedly, the old hunter walked straight towards the tiger demon, bowing and saying, “Please, Tiger Lord, have a meal.”

“Hmm, not bad.” The tiger demon spoke like a human, and no one knew its level of cultivation.

Qi Wu was furious, wishing he could tear the old hunter apart.

That girl in green wasn’t a ghost, it was the old hunter who had been with them the whole time!

The tiger demon revealed a human-like smile and sneered, “Originally, I didn’t want to eat you all. After all, there are too many of you, and if you all die, it will attract too much attention. But I have no choice. You actually wanted to tell the five major sects about me. I can’t let you live!”In the midst of speaking, the tiger demon pressed the old hunter down with one claw: “And you, your habit of talking too much never changes. You had to tell a story, and you even made me come out to settle it. Do you want me to kill you again?”

The old hunter begged for mercy repeatedly, promising not to do it again.

The tiger demon snorted, “You did drive away that female cultivator, so you have done something good. I won’t punish you this time to balance the merits and demerits.”

The tiger demon didn’t have the habit of playing with its prey. It possessed Qu Wu and examined him carefully. Its throat made a sound like phlegm in its mouth, “You are the smartest among them. If you are willing to join me, I can refine you into a ghoul, neither dead nor alive.”

At this point, Qu Wu was no longer afraid. He pointed at the old hunter and sneered repeatedly, “He is harming people everywhere like you. It’s better to die! I spit on him!”

“When you don’t drink toasts, you drink penalties!” The tiger demon had never been insulted like this before. It suddenly became furious, and the sound waves spread, shaking the temple roof as if it was collapsing.

The tiger demon no longer tried to persuade them. It opened its bloody mouth and pounced on the crowd. Qu Wu closed his eyes and waited for death to come.

Just then, a gentleman’s sword appeared between the tiger demon and Qu Wu. The sword light was dazzling like the morning sun, cutting through the tiger demon’s cheek.

“Who?!” The tiger demon was furious.

“It’s your mountain god grandpa!”