The three people outside fled in different directions at speeds that exceeded the limit of the martial arts of their bodies. One of them fell directly to the ground after running dozens of feet; he was not tripped, but rather a wave of evil intent and energy separated from his body.

‘You’re running away just like that? So easily? ’

Ji Yuan frowned, obviously underestimating the deterrent power of the “Spirit Binding Technique.” At the very same moment, he took a step forward and took off after one of the figures, as if he could shrink the distance into nothing more than an inch.

Although Ji Yuan realized that he actually possessed no means to capture these three demons alive, but he still decided to give it a try.

Although the warrior possessed by the evil spirit was fast, he was not faster than Ji Yuan, who caught up in just a dozen steps.

The person in front of him ran like uncoordinated crashing sheets of rain, while Ji Yuan’s pursuit was like the raindrops that passed by.

Before he got close to the monster, the drops of rain had already formed lines around Ji Yuan. There were dozens of lines of rain in total, forming a spiral coil of water.

As Ji Yuan waved his sleeves, as if he were an immortal guiding the way for a natural phenomenon, this spiral of rainwater quickly passed through the curtains of rain, completely covering the warrior with demonic aura in an instant.

As the spirals of water brushed him they tightened unexpectedly like tripwire.

“Bang!”

The warrior was caught off guard and lost his balance, falling onto the mountain road. His entire body rolled several times down the road from inertia, splashing water everywhere. The lines of water bound him like ropes, rendering him unable to move.

Seeing that the body was unable to escape, the demonic energy in the shell suddenly intensified, intending to flee from its physical form.

Ji Yuan rushed over under the rain. He was at a loss for a moment when he saw this scene. Then, he considered his options and decided to try an untested idea he had with a technique.

The sound of his Edicts carried a trace of mysterious yellow energy, which he pointed in the direction of the fallen warrior.

“Affix it for me!”

The very next moment, the warrior’s body froze as he heard the sound, as if it had lost all functions. The demonic energy was locked in his body. He watched Ji Yuan approach with fear in his eyes.

‘It actually worked? ’

Ji Yuan felt a little dizzy, but even in his current state of mind, he was still extremely excited. So what if the being he had immobilized was weak?

This was a Body-Freezing Technique! There was no record of similar techniques in “Bright Strategies” and “A Historical Account from Outside the Tao.” Ji Yuan had likely seen it in the TV series of “Journey to the West” in his previous life.¹

In truth, Ji Yuan knew very well that this weird technique was far from the immobilization techniques that he remembered in his previous life. At this moment, it was just a modified Edict that cut off the evil spirit’s influence on its physical body and sealed the demonic energy inside the body.

But it had nonetheless illuminated a feasible direction for Ji Yuan to continue down!

The remaining two demons had already escaped far away, especially the main body with demonic energy, which had flown into the sky. Ji Yuan had no way to catch up, as he could not reach it.

But although there was no way to catch up, killing him was easy.

Judging from the current situation, rather than classifying these three entities as demons, it would be more accurate to say that these were strong and unique demonic spirits, and their demonic energy seemed to come from the same source. Thus, it didn’t matter whether they had more or fewer bodies if it were to be trapped in only one.

Ji Yuan didn’t think any more about it. He turned his head and whispered to the Green Vine Sword.

“Go ahead.”

Shwiiing…

The sound of a sword being unsheathed was accompanied by a flash of sword light. In the very next instant, it had caught up to the demonic spirit. A flash of cold light shattered the being, then the sword light slashed in another direction, turning toward the mountain. Another body who had been fleeing quickly with movement skills suddenly stopped the movement of his limbs and fell to the ground at the same high speed, skidding away along the rocks.

After a while, Ji Yuan returned to the temple, carrying the body entangled by lines of water, with the evil spirit trapped in inside.

The fog in front of the temple gate had long since dissipated, revealing a monster wearing a nondescript short robe. He had hairy hands and feet, two bulges on his forehead, and a hunched body.

At this moment, the monster standing at the door of the mountain temple didn’t dare so much as breathe, trembling in fear. When he saw that Ji Yuan had returned and was looking at him, he immediately held his breath, and then he reacted and spoke quickly.

“G-Gong M-Muhua,² the Mountain God of Jiaoye Mountain, humbly greets the Immortal Master. Please give me your orders!”

As he spoke, he cupped his hands bowed with a somewhat comical posture.

He had clearly already frightened the other party, which proved that his Spirit-Binding Technique was indeed effective. Ji Yuan had no intention of taking advantage of the situation, so he tossed the body in his grasp into the temple and hurriedly bowed to the “mountain god” in return.

“Mountain God Gong, there is need to be too polite. I took the liberty to invite you here because I want to ask you to do me a favor…”

While speaking, Ji Yuan pointed to the unconscious boy over to the side.

“This child’s soul should currently be fleeing somewhere in Jiaoye Mountain. There may also be someone possessed by an evil spirit chasing after him. I ask you to bring the child’s soul back. As for the possessed person, it will be taken care of.”

After Ji Yuan finished speaking, the Green Vine Sword appeared, having flown back.

Although the “Mountain God” of Jiaoye Mountain couldn’t see the Green Vine Sword, he could heard the ringing noise and he saw the sword light. At this moment, feeling the immortal sword beside Ji Yuan, he did not dare neglect Ji Yuan’s orders.

“In accordance to the Immortal Master’s wishes, I will go immediately!”

After speaking, the monster’s body turned into fog and disappeared into the mountain face in front. The Green Vine Sword sensed the movement of the Mountain God’s energy, and flew into the air to follow him.

Inside the mountain temple, Mo Tong and others had remained speechless ever since the shocking changes had begun, staring blankly at the events playing out at the entrance of the mountain temple.

“Mr. Ji… we… this…”

Mo Tong wanted to speak, but found that his tongue seemed to be tied into knots, and he didn’t know what to say.

The conversations just now were secondary. What really caused the greatest shock to the people in the temple was the scene where Ji Yuan summoned the Mountain God of Jiaoye Mountain. To a certain extent, their mental state could be said to be similar to that of the three demons who had seen this scene.

Even someone who had been kicked in the head by a donkey would know that they had met an immortal tonight. They were excited but also felt a little confused.

Ji Yuan just stood at the temple gate and watched the rain. When he turned to look back at these people, he felt that he had nothing much to say, so he just expressed a few words of comfort.

“The Mountain God will retrieve your young master’s soul. No need to worry, just wait for a moment!”

Hearing this, several people subconsciously looked at the statue of the Mountain God in the temple once more. Although the “Mountain God” that had just appeared had some minute differences from the statue, they were overall indeed quite similar.

At this moment, Mo Tong and others finally calmed down a bit. Aside from one of the women who clutched the child and could not get up, all the others stood and bowed to Ji Yuan to express their gratitude.

…

On Jiaoye Mountain, the soul of a seven or eight year old boy ran back and forth on the mountainside, the body of a warrior with agile movements chasing him close behind.

The warrior’s entire body was shrouded in a thick black energy. Even his eye sockets were pitch black, a color even deeper and more terrifying than the dark of night.

“You are such a good runner, little boy, but don’t even think that you can keep escaping. Your body will be caught soon. Even if you are willing to abandon your body and become a wandering ghost, we have ways of dragging your soul back!”

“Don’t chase me, don’t chase me! I don’t want to be a wandering ghost, I don’t want to be a ghost! Aaah!”

The little boy’s soul screamed as he fled. Just as he finished his last scream, a hunched figure that looked like a monster suddenly flashed out of the mountainside in front of him.

“Aaaaah! Monster!!!”

Although the thing chasing him was scary in that it neither resembled a ghost nor a human, it still looked human in the child’s eyes. The thing appearing in front of him could be nothing else but a monster, which scared him half to death.

The “Mountain God” of Jiaoye Mountain glanced to the other side and saw a flash of sword light. The warrior who had been chasing the child’s soul had fallen from the branch he was balancing on to gain jumping leverage. The monster gulped and hurried over to chase the child’s soul.

“Don’t be afraid, boy. I am the Mountain God of Jiaoye Mountain. I came here to find you!”

“You are a monster!!!”

The child showed no signs of stopping his cries.

1. Journey to the West is a 100-chapter novel published in the 16th century and is key part of Chinese culture. It’s so ubiquitous that it was adapted to no less than 7 separate TV series (!!!). The one he’s most likely referring to is Journey to the West (1986) which set record numbers of TV viewership.
2. The original has what can only be the equivalent of a verbal stutter with a repeated character.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read