The long wait had left the mountain-seeking hound bored enough to plop down on the ground, its massive frame making it look like a crouching calf.
Liang Qu squatted down, and the hound obediently rolled over to expose its belly. Liang Qu asked in surprise, "Isn't this dog afraid of strangers at all?"
"It is, but it's even smarter—smart enough to recognize whose side you're on. Don't think of it as an ordinary dog. Master feeds it beef every single day and gives it a Blood Qi Pill once every three days. Ordinary tigers and leopards are no match for it."
Liang Qu drew a sharp breath. The dog really ate better than humans did.
"What's its name?"
"Black Teeth."
Hearing its name, Black Teeth perked up one ear and glanced upward.
Liang Qu reached out to pat its head. Its coat was sleek and smooth, clearly nurtured with great care.
Seeing that, Lu Gang simply handed the leash to Liang Qu and let him lead the hound.
Liang Qu took the leash enthusiastically. He had just scratched the dog's head a couple of times when Black Teeth suddenly stood up and faced the crossroads.
A moment later, the distinct rumble of carriage wheels rolling over the dirt road drifted over from the distance, drawing nearer.
A convoy of five horse-drawn carriages appeared in sight.
Xu Zishuai leaped down from a carriage and began hauling the bandits down in "bundles."
Once the drivers were paid, the convoy quickly departed.
"Twenty-three in total—mission accomplished!"
Lu Gang asked, "How are you holding up?"
"We managed a nap in the carriages. Feeling pretty good."
"All right, let's head up the mountain! Junior Brothers Liang and Xiang will take the middle."
Lu Gang led the way, followed by Hu Qi, Liang Qu in third, Xiang Changsong in fourth, and Xu Zishuai bringing up the rear.
Tied together by a single rope, the bandits trailed along at the very back, their spirits completely battered after the jarring ride. None of them had any idea what horror awaited them.
With his spear slung over his shoulder and Black Teeth on the leash, Liang Qu ascended toward Fahua Temple alongside his four senior brothers.
Just as they reached the mountainside, Black Teeth suddenly barked.
Lu Gang turned and shushed it, and the hound immediately went quiet.
The group exchanged meaningful glances.
Liang Qu roughly understood what Black Teeth meant and asked in a low voice, "Are there really mountain ghosts?"
"Most likely. Or it could be lingering scent from mountain ghosts that hasn't dispersed yet. Either way, stay on your guard."
Upon reaching the summit, Xu Zishuai murmured in surprise, "This temple hasn't collapsed yet? It's been abandoned for fifty or sixty years, hasn't it?"
The sun had completely dipped below the horizon, casting the ruined temple into a dreadful gloom. The mountain wind wailed, shrill and eerie.
The bandits were dazed, gripped by an inexplicable terror. Every one of them shivered uncontrollably, unable to tell whether it was from the biting cold or raw dread.
Yet none dared resist. Xu Zishuai had breached their entire stronghold using nothing more than a giant log; to them, he was like a demonic god descended from the heavens.
With a sharp yank, Xu Zishuai hauled the stumbling bandits into the temple courtyard and forced them to kneel in a row.
"If you can't stomach it, don't watch," Hu Qi said to Liang Qu.
Liang Qu shook his head, signaling he could handle it.
These were vile scoundrels who deserved death, men far more wicked than Scabby-Head Zhang. What was there to fear?
If he couldn't even stomach this, he might as well go home and raise pigs.
Xu Zishuai moved with blinding speed, and in an instant, a sickening stench of blood surged skyward.
To make the smell even more pungent, he severed their limbs and throats, letting the pumping hearts spray vast amounts of fresh blood across the stones.
All right, it was a bit revolting. With over twenty people slaughtered at once, the stench was overwhelmingly thick.
Liang Qu wrinkled his nose.
With the bloody odor so suffocating, the Tianshui centipede curled around his wrist began to stir with agitation.
Black Teeth, crouching nearby, turned its head, only to see Liang Qu lower his chin and quietly place a finger to his lips. The hound tilted its head, then turned back.
Good dog! Liang Qu praised inwardly, giving the dog's head an affectionate rub while secretly suppressing A-Wei's restlessness.
The hill where Fahua Temple sat was not very high—in the north, it would barely qualify as a mound, rising just over three hundred meters. Yet near Pingyang Town, it was already considered a prominent peak. With no surrounding obstructions, one could take in the bustling lights of Pingyang Town in a single glance.
Without anything to block it, the river wind blew fiercely, carrying the dense stench of blood continuously outward across the entire hill.
A moment later, Black Teeth rose to its feet, the muscles along its jowls bunching tight as a low growl rumbled deep in its throat.
Everyone instantly snapped to full alert.
At that exact moment, the Marsh Cauldron in Liang Qu's mind suddenly blazed with radiant light.
[Searching the Mountains and Subduing Demons: Activating]
[Current Progress: None]
[Achieve Searching the Mountains and Subduing Demons to receive the favor of the Sovereign Lord of the River. For each level of Martial Dao Divine Mastery attained, martial talent doubles, and damage dealt to water-attribute demon beasts increases by ten percent.]
Liang Qu had never anticipated such an unexpected development from the Marsh Cauldron.
The Sovereign Lord of the River?
Searching the Mountains and Subduing Demons?
Both names were fairly obscure, yet putting them together, a legendary figure instantly leapt into Liang Qu's mind—Erlang Shen!
Could the spear-wielding divine general on the cauldron truly be the True Lord of Illustrious Manifestation?
Of course! Capturing the dragon at Guankou, calming the waters at Lidui, none need ask if his deeds surpassed antiquity!
True Lord Erlang was originally a celestial god governing the waters!
But how on earth had Searching the Mountains and Subduing Demons been triggered?
Liang Qu gripped his spear, looked down at the black hound standing nearly waist-high at his side, and then surveyed the dilapidated Fahua Temple perched atop the wind-swept peak.
It all made sense.
Did Erlang Shen take a liking to him or something?
Lu Gang barked softly, "They're here!"
Moonlight fell across the vine-covered eaves of Fahua Temple's roof, revealing a hunched, humanoid silhouette crouched among the branches.
A mountain ghost!
What a massive mountain ghost!
The creature before them was far larger than the one Liang Qu had encountered during the River God Sacrifice!
The one from the sacrifice had only come up to Liang Qu's neck, about 1.6 meters tall. The brute crouching overhead stood nearly two meters!
Black Teeth's low growls grew increasingly fierce.
No, there were more!
The ground trembled faintly. Under the cold moonlight, one mountain ghost after another emerged across the temple roofs—some crouching, some standing, some crawling, others clinging with sharp claws.
A terrifying wave of pressure slammed down like an unbroken wall, making everyone's scalp tingle with dread!
Liang Qu looked up at the solitary moon hanging high in the sky and drew a deep breath.
No wonder it was called Searching the Mountains and Subduing Demons. There were at least thirty mountain ghosts gathered before them, and more were still pouring in from the rear!
Lu Gang's expression turned grave.
It was not because he found them hard to handle. The stronger the host a brood sac parasitized, the stronger the hatched mountain ghost would be, but there was still a ceiling. The strongest among these monsters could only reach early Galloping Steed, far from enough to trouble him.
What troubled him were the implications behind this sheer number.
Their hidden adversary had set up an astonishingly vast operation!
How long had it taken to rear dozens of mountain ghosts? And yet the town had remained entirely in the dark!
The mountain ghosts lusted voraciously after the fresh flesh and blood, yet the two men standing boldly in the courtyard gave off such lethal danger that the beasts hesitated, not daring to make an immediate move.
"Junior Brother Xu, Junior Brother Hu, guard Little Eight and Little Nine's flanks!"
"Understood."
Lu Gang was the first to burst forward. The stone flags beneath his feet shattered, and he closed the distance to the two-meter-tall mountain ghost in an instant.
A straight punch exploded outward, and the mountain ghost's entire head burst into pieces!
Liang Qu: "???"
The standoff was instantly shattered. The mountain ghosts showed no regard for their kin's death; instead, the carnage only stoked their fury. Unable to restrain their bloodlust any longer, they leaped from the rooftops in swarms.
Xu Zishuai strolled unhurriedly in front of Liang Qu. A gentle breeze swept past his robes, and the limbs of several pouncing mountain ghosts cracked and shattered, leaving them to collapse into heaps on the ground—save for the smallest one, which was left to charge directly toward Liang Qu.
Come on, then!
With a low roar, Liang Qu circulated his qi and blood, sweeping his spear across a wide arc.
The dark gold blade carved an exquisite trajectory, slashing squarely into the mountain ghost's head with a sensation of dense resistance no different from cutting into solid iron.
Muscles rippling across his arms, Liang Qu twisted his waist and hips, driving every ounce of his power through the strike. The blade cleaved through the resistance, shearing across the skull and drawing a brilliant arc of crimson under the moonlight.
Half of the mountain ghost's head slid slowly to the ground as a fountain of dark blood erupted into the air.
[Searching the Mountains and Subduing Demons Progress: 1]
Chapter 78