Mao sơn tróc quỷ nhân

Beneath the Blood Altar, no one has ever known what lies hidden there. Regardless of how urgent the situation may be, everything must be cleaned up; otherwise, it wouldn't be a rescue but rather a path to death.

Diệp Thiếu Dương turned his head to look around, but there was no one in sight.

"No plan?"

Deep down, he understood it wouldn't be so simple. Just as he was about to open his celestial eye to look, he noticed two figures jumping from the opposite room and landing on the rooftop. Following their movements, Diệp Thiếu Dương gritted his teeth in frustration.

It was Trương Quả and Vương Bình!

Vương Bình stood slightly behind Trương Quả, looking down at Diệp Thiếu Dương with a calm yet sinister smile.

Diệp Thiếu Dương, seeing Vương Bình standing alongside Trương Quả, immediately grasped the situation. Taking a deep breath, he suppressed the fear in his heart.

"Diệp Thiếu Dương," Trương Quả said, crossing his arms over his chest, gazing at him with interest. "You treat your friends so well, daring to come here all alone."

"Where's Tiểu Mã?" Diệp Thiếu Dương retorted, not wishing to waste words on him.

Trương Quả walked a few steps to the side. At that moment, Diệp Thiếu Dương noticed an incense altar set up not far away, in which a burning incense burner emitted a wisp of green smoke.

Trương Quả rolled up his sleeves, letting his long hair fall down, and held a Peach Wood Sword in one hand. He pierced through three sheets of spirit money, igniting them with the incense burner, and began to chant a spell, resembling a wandering Taoist priest.

Diệp Thiếu Dương had no intention of idly watching him perform his magic. He leaped forward but suddenly stopped, having an epiphany. Quickly, he drew a talisman to dispel evil, ignited it, and held it in his palms while chanting an incantation, waiting for the talisman to burn out.

As he lifted his hands, he blew a breath, causing the ashes to scatter like dust, slowly falling to the ground. Some of it, however, didn't fall but remained suspended in mid-air, as if caught on something invisible, resembling a thread woven intricately before him.

The closest thread was less than a few inches away.

Diệp Thiếu Dương breathed a sigh of relief, realizing he had been overly anxious. If he had advanced any further, he would have fallen into a trap.

He quickly retrieved a coin, took a strand of hair, wrapped it around the coin, and tied a knot. Then, he used a talisman to wrap it up, blew on it to apply his yang energy, and threw the coin.

The invisible net sensed the yang energy and mistook the coin for him. Suddenly, a flash of red light ignited as the net began to tighten, the sinister energy surged, colliding with the coin repeatedly.

In an instant, the talisman that wrapped the coin tore apart, and the coin became tainted with a thick, dark layer before shattering into numerous pieces, scattering across the ground.

The large net formed by the sinister energy, having exhausted its power, was rendered useless.

Trương Quả showed no signs of disappointment, turning to smile at Vương Bình. "I told you so. Although the Evil Spirit Binding Net is an ancient artifact, it can handle ordinary sorcerers. Against Diệp Thiếu Dương, it’s just a trivial trick."

After that, he glanced at Diệp Thiếu Dương and said, "That day, my ancestor helped you grasp the Dao. Today, I’ll teach you some ancient lost spells."

With that, he retrieved a bronze bell he had used previously. As he shook it, he began reciting an ancient incantation: "Heavenly spirit, earthly spirit, fire, thunder, and wind storm, command the four spirits!"

Afterward, he fashioned a figure with clay, stabbed the Peach Wood Sword into the incense burner, and transformed it into a bowl of talisman water. He took a sip and sprayed it over the surface of the Peach Wood Sword, causing the incense burner to blaze fiercely.

Diệp Thiếu Dương watched the scene unfold, his heart shaken.

Every one of Trương Quả’s movements and the rhythm in which he performed his magic seemed to reach a level of perfect refinement. Such a display he had only witnessed from his master, Thanh Vân Tử, and even Trương Vô Sinh fell short in comparison.

Although he didn’t know what spell Trương Quả was casting, he would never be foolish enough to simply stand and watch him finish. With a sudden burst of inspiration, Diệp Thiếu Dương activated the Heavenly Canopy Step and leaped onto the rooftop.

In mid-air, he unleashed the Heavenly Wind Thunder Fire Banner: "One thought of divine might, divine thunder stirs the cosmos, wind hurricane rises, fire dance turns, as the law commands!"

The Heavenly Wind Thunder Fire Banner unfurled and surged towards Trương Quả.

Without even glancing up, Trương Quả continued his spell.

As the Heavenly Wind Thunder Fire Banner drew closer to him, suddenly four figures surged out from behind him, launching an attack simultaneously. A brilliant red light spun around, pushing the Heavenly Wind Thunder Fire Banner back.

Diệp Thiếu Dương reached out to intercept it, only to find that the four figures had swooped down, surrounding him and attacking in a peculiar manner.

At first, Diệp Thiếu Dương thought them to be ghosts or demons, but upon engaging, he realized that these four figures didn’t use ghostly or demonic techniques; instead, they exuded a solemn aura, tinged with a hint of evil.

Fighting while carefully observing them, he suddenly realized with shock:

The four figures consisted of: a green-eyed, wide-mouthed creature with razor-sharp teeth; a garish woman clad in red; a bird-like monster with wings sprouting from its back; and a tall figure holding a strange artifact, its expression exceptionally stern.

"A mó thiết diệt, a la a cửu sắc..." Trương Quả recited a spell in Sanskrit, tossing out four fiery red spirit pearls that hovered above the heads of the four figures, shimmering with a flowing light. The four began to fight with increasing fervor.

Buddhist magic!

Diệp Thiếu Dương suddenly recalled that Trương Quả had once mentioned being a practitioner of both the Buddhist and Taoist paths. So these four figures were...

After finishing his spell, Trương Quả opened his eyes, looked at Diệp Thiếu Dương, and smiled, "Dạ Xoa, Ca Lâu La, Khẩn Lâu La, Ma Hầu Già La—four great demon generals in the Eight Bodhisattvas of the Celestial Dragon. Diệp Thiếu Dương, how do you feel?"

With that, he cupped his hands together, adopting a serious posture, and began to chant Buddhist scriptures.

The spirit pearls above the four demon generals began to heat up, shifting from red to blue, then morphing into the Blue Lotus Karma Fire, constantly radiating spiritual power into the demon generals.

With the aid of the Heavenly Canopy Step and the extreme spiritual energy of the Seven Star Dragon Spring Sword, Diệp Thiếu Dương fought against four adversaries. Gradually, he began to feel that the strength of the four demon generals was increasing, reaching a point where their power could rival that of a level two ghost hand.

The difference between a ghost hand and a ghost general was substantial; although not overtly visible, within the realm of magic, ghost hands were categorized from level one to five, totaling four ranks.

This classification wasn’t arbitrary; the disparities among the ranks signified vast differences in cultivation, akin to longitude on a map. The natural world didn’t adhere to such categorization, but for the sake of convenience in navigation and positioning, humans invented this concept.

Thus, all ghost hands appeared similar on the surface, with only the top celestial masters and exceptional sorcerers discerning the true rank of their opponent's power in battle.

A mid-level ghost hand was merely one rank lower than a low-level ghost hand, yet their power differed greatly, roughly equivalent to taking on five foes alone.

A large figure landed beside Trương Quả, which was the imposing Japanese Colonel, wearing a bemused expression as he observed the struggling Diệp Thiếu Dương below, speaking in Mandarin, "Is this the infamous Diệp Thiếu Dương?"