Ning Caichen looked at the room where he had slept the night before and asked weakly, "Great Hero, are there really ghosts inside?"
"Let's go and see, and you'll know."
"What... Ah! Great Hero..."
Zhou Yan pulled Ning Caichen upstairs and re-entered the room. If Ning Caichen weren't the protagonist, he would have been eaten by ghosts long ago. With him around, Ning Caichen had no chance of any entanglement with Nie Xiaoqian.
There was a hole in the floor of the room, which Ning Caichen had largely covered with a door panel. Zhou Yan pointed downwards, his meaning clear: the ghost was below.
Ning Caichen's face turned ugly. He had been so scared by the bearded man the previous night that he had sat directly on the hole, and the lower half of his pants had disappeared. So that was it... Thinking of this, Ning Caichen's face turned ashen. He was merely a weak scholar and naturally feared ghosts.
"Go down. Didn't you want to see a ghost?" Zhou Yan urged.
"Great Hero, I... Ah..."
Before Ning Caichen could finish speaking, Zhou Yan, annoyed by his cowardice, kicked him in the rear and sent him tumbling down, landing face-first. As Ning Caichen got up and wailed, he saw several dried corpses, shriveled and withered, their eyeballs still moving, staring directly at him.
Ning Caichen: ╮(╯﹏╰）╭
Ning Caichen's soul and spirit immediately fled, one soul and one spirit gone. He screamed, "Ghosts~!"
"Great Hero, save me!"
Only then did Ning Caichen believe that ghosts existed in this world. He quickly scrambled to his feet and fled, finding the ghosts too terrifying.
A figure descended, unleashing a potent beam of pure yang sword energy. Zhou Yan possessed the Chaos Pure Yang Body and cultivated the Yin-Yang Creation Art. His spiritual energy was extremely potent and yang-aligned, capable of suppressing all evil spirits. How could mere dried corpses, drained of their essence, withstand Zhou Yan? The sword energy hissed as it struck the dried corpses, its immense power instantly reducing them to nothingness, leaving Ning Caichen stunned.
"Great Hero, you are truly mighty, defeating these ghosts with just a few swords!"
Ning Caichen was filled with admiration for Zhou Yan. With such a powerful ghost-slayer present, he no longer had to worry about the dangers ahead.
"Didn't you want to collect a debt? I'll take you to collect it, and we can buy some food with the silver."
Zhou Yan had no money in this world. He led Ning Caichen towards the town and went to the inn, using his formidable martial arts to force the innkeeper to return the money. He had always preferred to win people over with force. The innkeeper, cowed by his imposing presence, dared not refuse and paid him a considerable sum. They bought plenty of good wine and meat, then rode back to Lan Ruo Temple.
"What a delicious aroma!" Yan Chixia was drawn by the smell. He saw Zhou Yan and Ning Caichen eating roast chicken and drinking fine wine in the temple and swallowed hard.
"Join us. After we eat, we'll go kill the Black Mountain Old Demon tonight," Zhou Yan said. If the Black Mountain Old Demon didn't die, the plot couldn't be completed, and he wouldn't be able to leave.
"We're acting tonight? Shouldn't we prepare?" Yan Chixia was surprised by Zhou Yan's haste.
"Just a small demon, what preparation is needed?" Zhou Yan retorted.
Yan Chixia: "Small demon ┐(‘～`；)┌......" If the Black Mountain Old Demon was a small demon, why was he so wary of it?
However, after they finished eating, the three of them rode horses to the mass grave behind Lan Ruo Temple and dug up Nie Xiaoqian's ashes. This action indeed alerted the Tree Spirit Granny, who set up a ghost maze to prevent them from leaving. But Zhou Yan didn't need Yan Chixia to act; with a few strikes of Chaos Pure Yang sword energy, the Tree Spirit Granny was severely wounded and fled.
"Such powerful pure yang energy!" Yan Chixia was greatly shocked. The pure yang energy emanating from Zhou Yan was truly terrifying. A casual strike could wound a thousand-year-old tree spirit. With such strength, dealing with the Black Mountain Old Demon would indeed be simple. Yan Chixia became increasingly curious about Zhou Yan, wanting to know who his master was, to possess such profound magic at such a young age.
"Zhou Yan, where are you from?" Yan Chixia asked while riding his horse.
"From another world. Do you want to go?" Zhou Yan inquired.
"Another world???" Yan Chixia looked confused and indicated he didn't understand.
"You could call it the immortal realm. If you wish to cultivate into an immortal, I can take you there. With my help, you will surely reach a high realm. It is also a place of great peace, free from corrupt officials, oppression, or subjugation. Everything is beautiful." Zhou Yan continued to entice him.
"Great Hero, is what you say true? You actually come from the immortal realm, can I go too?" Ning Caichen asked excitedly.
"You should forget about it," Zhou Yan refused mercilessly. Ning Caichen looked disappointed, but he had only asked out of curiosity and didn't particularly want to go to an unfamiliar environment.
"Truly!" Yan Chixia was tempted. He was indeed weary of this world filled with evil, desires, and injustice.
"I gain nothing by lying to you," Zhou Yan thought, "I'll trick him into joining my territory first." Yan Chixia considered it reasonable; he was just an old man, and the other party had no ulterior motives concerning him.
"Alright!" Yan Chixia agreed.
Territory notification: "Yan Chixia willingly follows the Lord to leave. After the plot concludes, Yan Chixia can be taken away." Hearing the notification, Zhou Yan felt a surge of joy. This journey was immensely satisfying. All that remained was to kill the final boss, the Black Mountain Old Demon, to leave this place.
As dusk fell, they arrived at an inn. After entering a guest room, Zhou Yan took out the ash urn and had other unrelated spirits take their respective urns to reincarnate. Finally, Nie Xiaoqian, upon seeing Zhou Yan, rushed into his arms and said, "Zhou Yan......"
"What a beautiful female ghost," Ning Caichen exclaimed in surprise, marveling at why the Great Hero had fallen in love.
"Are you relieved now? I said I'd take you away, and I will absolutely keep my word." Zhou Yan looked at Nie Xiaoqian's pitiable face, gently stroking it, and said, "But before we leave, we must kill the Black Mountain Old Demon."
"Ah, we still have to kill Lord Black Mountain? He's very powerful, much more so than Granny." Nie Xiaoqian was worried.
"Don't worry, I can break through that mere Black Mountain Old Demon with one sword," Zhou Yan declared with immense confidence. A confident man is the most charming, and this was evident in Zhou Yan. Nie Xiaoqian's heart was completely captured by Zhou Yan, and she felt extremely happy.
Subsequently, Yan Chixia entered with a grim expression, saying, "Something is wrong with this inn!"
"Yan Chixia, can you open the door to the underworld? Let's proactively confront the Black Mountain Old Demon!" Zhou Yan couldn't do this himself; he had to rely on Yan Chixia.
"Alright!" Yan Chixia nodded, took out a wooden box, drew the Demon Subduing Sword, swung it towards the sky, and said, "Brahma, Paro, Miluo!" A rift appeared in the void, the very passage to the underworld. They voluntarily entered this rift and walked into the underworld. Yan Chixia gave Ning Caichen a talisman, which would allow him to see the ghosts in the underworld. Zhou Yan and Yan Chixia did not need it, as they were not ordinary people to begin with.
"Zhou Yan," Nie Xiaoqian still worried, gripping Zhou Yan's arm.
"Don't be afraid, once we kill the Black Mountain Old Demon, we can leave this place." They began searching for the Black Mountain Old Demon. Before long, they saw an altar in the distance – the place where the Black Mountain Old Demon cultivated and performed rituals.