Feng Ruoxing said in a deep voice, "Let's follow the rules and present our cards to pay our respects! If they still maintain their current attitude, then we don't need to be polite."

I waved my hand. "Tu Men has put on such a display. If I don't go up and take a look, wouldn't that make them underestimate my courage? You two cover me. I'll go in myself."

I stepped towards the gate, and Ye Yang and Feng Ruoxing followed without a second thought.

My willingness to enter wasn't me showing off or acting like a hero, but because there's such a custom in the Northeast.

This custom in the Northeast originates from bandit gangs. Someone breaks into the mountain gate, and the bandits confiscate their weapons, blindfold them, even tie their hands, and bring them into the mountain gate. Drinking the entrance wine and eating knife-edge meat are all tests of the newcomer's courage.

If they can walk through the whole thing without changing their expression, then they're a hero, and the bandits in the gang will treat them as one of their own, regarding them as honored guests.

Tu Men Wang family is bringing that bandit gang thing to the world of術道 (Shu Dao – esoteric arts).

It's like clearly telling us: I'm just a bandit; don't talk to me about other rules.

I'm a bit interested in this butcher with a bit of banditry in him.

After I pushed the door open and walked into the courtyard, the old woman I saw during the day was now standing in the courtyard, leaning on a cane. As soon as she saw me come in, she raised her head and looked straight at me.

As soon as our eyes met, the old woman's head seemed to be flattened, changing from top to bottom into a triangular flat shape. As her eyes slid down the bridge of her nose to the sides of her head, layers of fine scales rose on her face.

Snake!

That old woman is a snake stuck in a corpse.

Huangpizi (weasels) burrowing into dead people and Chang Chong (snakes) drawing spines are well-known things in the mountains.

Demons that haven't matured enough can't transform into human form, and if they want to enter the human world to find something, they can only use other methods.

Huanglangzi (yellow weasels) burrow into the dead person's belly, controlling the dead person to walk into the village. Chang Chong doesn't burrow into the dead person's belly, but instead extends its body from the dead person's spine, using the snake's body to replace the dead person's spine, with the snake's head pressed on the dead person's head to enter the human world.

This old woman is a snake!

As soon as the snake's head on the old woman's body was revealed, it spat out a snake's tongue more than half a foot long.

As the fishy, cold wind and blood-red snake's tongue assaulted my face, the courtyard door suddenly opened, and the old man transformed from the earth turtle, also leaning on a cane, looked at the three of us with a grim expression, with the air of a single man guarding the pass.

Although Feng Ruoxing and Ye Yang's expressions were normal, they stood in positions where they could echo each other. Their fast swords didn't need prior preparation. As long as they wanted to kill someone, the blood-splattering sword light could appear before the other person's eyes in the next moment.

The snake's tongue in front of me only trembled a few times before the old woman's body fell softly to the ground as if its bones had been removed. A large black-scaled snake as thick as an arm slithered out of the dead person's collar, stuck to my feet, and swam towards the north corner of the yard.

At the same time, the earth turtle that had transformed into human form also lay on the ground and crawled in the same direction.

After the snake and turtle intertwined, the millstone in the yard automatically moved to the side, revealing the steps hidden under the millstone.

A man and a woman's voices rose leisurely from the direction of the turtle and snake at the same time: "Please come in, the three of you!"

"Thank you!" I stepped down the stairs and walked for more than two hundred meters underground before returning to the ground and seeing the two blood-red lanterns hanging on the mountain road.

Human blood lanterns!

In the world of 術道 (Shu Dao – esoteric arts), "human blood lanterns" mean welcoming guests with red lanterns, but they're also a warning. If you don't follow the master's rules, you'll be skinned and boiled in oil to add to those two blood lanterns.

I moved my gaze slightly down and saw eight large characters below the lanterns: "Mortals may enter, but it's difficult for术士 (Shu Shi – esoteric practitioners) to walk!"

Ye Yang transmitted his voice from behind me: "This hill has been sealed off by someone using a formation. It's like a space isolated from the human world. The Wang family's handiwork isn't small. I didn't even notice there was a large formation here just now."

The Tu Men Wang family can use a formation to erase a small mountain from the eyes of the world. Just this alone is enough to rival the contemporary sects.

While I was frowning, I heard someone chuckle sadly: "If you want to see the master, seal your cultivation. Otherwise, please return the way you came!"

I followed the sound and saw that the snake that had brought us in had stood up half its body from the grass.

I responded lightly: "Can you do the thing about sealing my cultivation? Or will you do it?"

As I spoke, I opened my hands. In the next moment, an old woman with a gloomy face suddenly appeared in front of me, staring at me with two inverted pupils, and said, "Aren't you afraid of death?"

I smiled and said, "I've already come here. Why would I care about life and death?"

As soon as I finished speaking, the other party sealed my acupoints, and I couldn't muster even half a bit of internal energy in my body.

Only then did the old woman turn around and lead me towards the mansion on the top of the mountain, trembling. I hadn't walked far when I heard someone sigh behind me: "Alas, another person has been fooled. Why are there so many術士 (Shu Shi – esoteric practitioners) who don't know how to live or die!"

When I turned my head to look, the black snake had already swum out of the grass, blocking the road with its body.

Black Dragon blocks the way!