Chapter 1 The Canopy

Ye Yang looked up in surprise—the canopy of the Silent Forest was full of blood-eyed evil spirits. Countless bloodshot ghost eyes looked down from the air, and countless ghost claws lunged towards Ye Yang and the others.

Just as Ye Yang and Feng Ruoxing were about to draw their swords, Lin Lingxiao was already sitting on the ground with his qin: "Leave this to me, you just need to protect Miss Xiaochun!"

Without allowing Ye Yang and the others to argue, Lin Lingxiao moved his fingers, and the sound of the qin, filled with the aura of metal and war, went to meet the ghosts in the air.

In a short moment, millions of soldiers and horses roared out of Lin Lingxiao's qin, charging with their horses and sabers to fight with the ghosts.

Lin Lingxiao's qin music became more and more urgent, and the sounds of battle shook the forest.

After a while, the sounds of wind passing through the mountains and forests, and the rushing river water, poured into the forest together. Lin Lingxiao's qin music also rose steadily, each note like the roar of a hero, still brave and fearless in the face of thousands of evil spirits.

But the joints of Lin Lingxiao's ten fingers burst open, and drops of blood dripped down the yaoqin (a type of zither).

Lin Lingxiao, alone with his qin, faced a dangerous pass, fighting to the death without retreating, but leaving his back to Nie Xiaochun: "Ye Dangjia (family head), take Miss Xiaochun away. I will use my lifelong cultivation to fight this unparalleled perilous pass."

"Who needs you to save me!" Nie Xiaochun suddenly opened her blood umbrella and stood behind Lin Lingxiao, using it to block the approaching evil spirits.

Lin Lingxiao laughed and said, "To be protected by Miss Xiaochun's umbrella, Lingxiao has no regrets even in death."

"Shut your dog mouth!" Nie Xiaochun gritted her teeth and said, "Who wants to protect you? I'm just afraid you'll die and splatter blood on me. If the evil spirits break in, I'll kick you out, just wait!"

Before Lin Lingxiao could speak, Nie Xiaochun and the others fell into an illusion at the same time.

What they saw was similar to what I saw on the Immortal Bridge. The evil monk who had never shown his face also did not kill them after the warning, and allowed them to leave.

As Ye Yang walked back, Feng Ruoxing whispered, "Did Li Po guess the truth, that's why he sent us to reinforce Nie Xiaochun?"

"Yes!" Ye Yang nodded, "That stupid dog must know something, otherwise he wouldn't have suddenly let us go."

"This is not some demonic land. If the Four Evil Monks have already become demons, we would not have walked out of the Silent Forest unscathed."

"They seem to have some kind of judgment, a standard for whether or not to kill those who offend them!"

"Don't think about it, let's go back and see that stupid dog! He should have made a decision."

When Ye Yang came back, I was still sitting by the lake, motionless. Ye Yang walked to my side and whispered, "Have you made a decision?"

"This decision is too difficult!" I shook my head slightly, "This is a big game!"

My judgment was exactly the same as what Old Liu said in the Earth Temple, except that I didn't expect the Yi Tian Qi Zhu (Master of the Chessboard of Heaven) to have already arrived.

I took a deep breath and said, "Is this battle going to be fought?"

Ye Yang said lightly, "Unless you don't want to enter the Iron Tile Temple!"

I stood up and said, "Send a message to everyone, open the restrictions on the Four Dangerous Passes, and let the Evil Monks be born."

Wang Butcher walked up and said, "Have you thought it through?"

"There's nothing to think about!" I shook my head, "Some things always have to be ended by someone, right? Open them up!"

"Okay! I'll go!" Wang Butcher plunged into the water before I could speak.

Lin Zhao also sent a signal to Chen Shuyu.

Upon receiving my message, Chen Shuyu looked directly at Old Liu: "Sir, do you want to stop the Hall Master?"

Old Liu shook his head and said, "The Lord has made his decision after all. I knew this would be the result! Alas, my Lord!"

Old Liu slowly said, "Since the Lord has made his decision, I have no right to change it. Let's go! Let's live and die with the Lord!"

Old Liu closed his folding fan and strode towards the mountains.

At that time, I also looked at the Immortal Bridge.

Before long, the center of the Immortal Bridge collapsed with a bang. The entire lake surface suddenly boiled, and bubbles surged across the lake. Wisps of demonic energy rose in the lake, and gathered into clouds in the air in just a short moment.

As I looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, Xu Yulong couldn't bear the pressure any longer: "Li Po, what have you done? Don't forget..."

"Amitabha!" Before Xu Yulong could finish his words, he was stunned by a Buddhist chant. The Xu family disciples around him also fell to the ground.

The only person who could still stand was Xu An'an.

Xu An'an glared fiercely at the dark clouds in the sky and said, "How dare you hurt my brother? I want you to die!"

A cold laugh came from the sky again: "What a ruthless girl. This poor monk has no grievances with you, yet you use a curse to kill me!"

As Wu Chen spoke, he struck down with his palm. The demonic hand pressing down from the air seemed to change its mind halfway, and forcibly withdrew eighty percent of its strength: "You should sleep for a while!"

I watched as Wu Chen's palm struck the top of her head, and Xu An'an also fell to the ground.

In the next moment, Wu Chen had already appeared in front of me. He was still wearing a red kasaya (monk's robe), but he had changed from the handsome, untainted high monk of that year, into a demonic monk with inverted pupils and snake scales on his face.

Only now could Wu Chen truly be called one of the Four Evil Monks!