He had come today for one reason only: to exterminate demons and slay ghosts.
Not for anything else, but for the righteous spirit in his heart. These demons and monsters—he was determined to confront them and see just how vicious they truly were.
Stepping out of the room, he suddenly saw four figures standing right in front of the door.
"Humans—with cultivation—they're human cultivators."
Yan Chixia's eyes flashed with surprise. As they had approached the temple, he hadn't sensed a thing. That in itself was frightening. Still, since they were human cultivators, they were likely drawn here by the demons infesting Lanruo Temple.
"Fellow Daoists, I suggest you leave the temple quickly. The demons here are formidable—no ordinary beings. Don't recklessly throw your lives away. That would be unfortunate," Yan Chixia said with a frown.
Inwardly, he was pondering: A guy bringing along three women… does he think this is some kind of picnic? Bringing women along to face demons? He's too young, too reckless. And way too flirtatious.
Yan Chixia's first impression of Yi Tianxing was quite poor.
Still, since they were fellow human cultivators, he didn't want to see them die in this temple. The strength of the demons here was impossible to gauge. While he could come and go freely, protecting others was a whole different matter. It wouldn't be easy to keep them safe.
Yi Tianxing, Cai Yan, and the others were slightly surprised when they heard his words.
They had just entered the temple, planning to head to the back courtyard to deal with the tree demoness. Who would've thought that someone would walk out at that very moment, only to treat them like a group of lovebirds on a countryside outing—potential burdens who might drag him down in a real fight.
They exchanged glances and shook their heads slightly.
Yi Tianxing ignored Yan Chixia and his warning, walking straight toward the back courtyard.
"These youngsters…" Yan Chixia frowned and murmured to himself.
Though unhappy about being ignored, he still couldn't stand by and watch fellow human cultivators fall here. He silently followed them.
He couldn't let something happen to them right before his eyes.
As they stepped into the courtyard, it didn't look desolate at all. In fact, it seemed lively, even inhabited. The buildings were mostly intact, not the least bit ruined.
But the first thing that caught their eyes was a grove of trees—massive pagoda trees (槐树). These trees stood tall and powerful, looking more like a dense forest than a mere courtyard. Most notably, the area was saturated with yin energy.
The moment they stepped in, an icy chill crept into their bodies, as if they had gone from summer straight into a frigid winter. The cold pierced to the bone, and even their pores instinctively contracted in defense.
"So many pagoda trees…" Lianxing frowned.
"With this many, which one is the tree demoness's true body?" Yaoyue asked in surprise.
Pagoda trees were naturally adept at attracting yin energy. With so many gathered in one place, they had clearly created a powerful field, drawing in surrounding yin energy continuously.
This had undoubtedly become a major yin convergence zone, a paradise for ghosts and demons to cultivate, allowing them to grow rapidly.
Especially for ghost-type beings, places like this were ideal.
That's why women with weak constitutions or children were advised to stay away from old pagoda trees. These places made it far more likely to encounter spirits—some might fall seriously ill, others might lose their lives.
"No need to search. Wherever the soul lanterns are, that's where the tree demoness's true body is," Yi Tianxing said calmly.
Looking deep into the grove, his vision—unimpeded by the trees—easily picked out the flickering green lights nestled within the darkness. To the ordinary eye, they might seem like ghostly will-o'-the-wisps, but to a cultivator, they were soul lanterns—clear signs of ghostly presence.
Clatter!
Suddenly, strange and chaotic sounds rang out from within the woods—sharp and unnerving. A moment later, black root tendrils shot out from all directions, moving like serpents. Agile and precise, they launched directly at Yi Tianxing and the others.
The front tips of these roots were sharp like spears, whistling through the air with deadly force.
It was like a thousand spears striking from every direction.
Cold light flickered. The roots moved with eerie precision, locking down every possible escape route. Each strike could easily kill a cultivator at the Life Diagram realm.
"How vicious… this is a full-on kill trap—giving no chance of survival!" Yan Chixia gasped, horrified.
This wasn't just a warning or intimidation—it was a calculated attempt to eliminate them all in one strike. Even he would find such an ambush difficult to deal with.
This is bad… he thought, already preparing to summon his flying sword and intervene.
But just as he was about to move—
He saw that Yi Tianxing and the others wore no trace of fear on their faces. On the contrary, they looked calm, even indifferent.
"Seeking death!" Yaoyue's face turned frosty as she gave a soft shout.
A thought stirred—
And on her forehead, the mark of the bright moon flared to life. In front of her appeared a dazzling, icy-cold crescent blade:
Bright Moon Life Aperture — Lunar Essence Wheel (明月命窍——月精轮)
The Lunar Essence Wheel looked like a real crescent moon—solid, crystalline, radiating a chilling aura. The surrounding temperature dropped sharply, and a faint layer of frost sparkled in the air. The moment it emerged, it began to rise like a moon in the night sky.
Without pause, the Lunar Essence Wheel turned into a streak of shimmering light and shot forth.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
It danced through the air with exquisite precision, cutting down the charging roots one after another. As the brilliant light passed, the roots fell, severed and useless, crumbling into dead branches the moment they hit the ground.
A scene of utter devastation.
"What a terrifying divine ability… such speed… Who are you to barge into Lanruo Temple?" came a voice from the forest.
All the roots vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.
The voice that followed was strange—it shifted constantly between male and female tones, like something inhuman and dual-gendered. Just hearing it made one's skin crawl.
"You're the thousand-year-old tree demon," Yi Tianxing said calmly.
"Hmph… so you came specifically for me, didn't you?" the tree demoness said coldly.
She wasn't stupid. From their words and demeanor, it was clear they had come for her.
"I heard you're keeping a few stunning female ghosts," Yaoyue said coldly. "This Palace happens to be in need of a maid. I'm here to ask you for one. You wouldn't be so stingy as to refuse, would you?"
Her tone was firm, leaving no room for negotiation.
"What… asking for a maid?" the tree demoness was stunned.
She hadn't expected them to come for her ghost servants. But truth be told, those ghostly women were little more than pawns to her—disposable. She could abandon them at any time.
Still, she felt a faint sense of threat from these people.
Her survival over the centuries came from her extreme caution. She never crossed powerful enemies lightly. The Lunar Essence Wheel alone had radiated terrifying killing power.
But what alarmed her most was Yi Tianxing—she couldn't see through him at all. The thought that he might be a weak mortal never even crossed her mind—it was immediately dismissed.
"My Dao companion wishes to choose a maid from among your ghostly women. Surely you won't refuse," Yi Tianxing said slowly.
As he spoke, a surge of golden blood qi erupted from his body, bursting from the cauldrons within him. For a brief moment, his aura flared like a golden sun in the night, banishing the surrounding yin energy with sizzling sounds like snow meeting fire.
Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the aura withdrew.
But in that moment—it was like a golden sun had briefly risen in the dark.
Revealed Power: Blood Qi — Body Refining Cultivator
"You… you're a body cultivator!" the tree demoness gasped.
The moment she saw it, her eyes stung, her soul felt like it was burning. That searing blood qi could shatter ghosts and melt demons.
Not just a body cultivator—but an extremely terrifying one.
Facing such opponents, even she felt fear.