Although this boy’s soul was special and ran very fast, Gong Muhua was, after all, a “Mountain God” and thus connected to this location’s land. It was not too difficult for him to capture the soul of a child in his own territory. This was an example of the specialization of Land Gods.¹

In the Mountain God Temple, Ji Yuan and a several warriors waited. After around the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they saw a cloud of mist swirling and rising from the floor of the temple. It was the Mountain God of of Jiaoye Mountain.

Although the other warriors were restricted in what they could see with the naked eye, Ji Yuan could clearly see that the Mountain God of Jiaoye Mountain was holding a child’s soul, which was struggling with fear on his face.

The mood of this “mountain god” was obviously not very good when he first appeared, but he immediately changed his expression when he faced Ji Yuan.

“Um, reporting back to the Immortal. I have fulfilled my mission and brought back the soul of this child!”

At this moment, the child suddenly saw the situation in the temple. Not only did he see this “monster” reporting back to a man in a white robe and a black jade hairpin, but he also noticed Mo Tong and the rest of his group. The fear in his heart suddenly subsided, and he stopped struggling.

“Ah, thank you, Mountain God Gong!”

Ji Yuan cupped his hands and bowed to the mountain god, then turned to the child’s soul:

“Go, return your soul to your body, it’s not good to stay outside of it for too long.”

At his words, the Mountain God hurriedly loosened his grip. However, he still made some preparations, as if he were afraid that the child would escape again.

The child looked at Ji Yuan. As he walked towards his physical body, he suddenly remembered who Ji Yuan was, and asked in a low voice.

“Are you the gentleman who was chased away by Mo Tong in that tea stall?”

Ji Yuan smiled.

“He didn’t chase me away, I left by myself. Go on!”

Ji Yuan waved his sleeves as soon as he finished speaking, and the child’s soul suddenly flew towards the body lying on the cushions as if it had been blown away by a wind. It plunged into the body.

The child who had been in a coma, with his eyelids trembling constantly and his brows occasionally furrowing, now looked peaceful, as if he were soundly asleep.

Although Mo Tong, the two women, and the rest of their group could not see the soul of their young master, they could hear the Mountain God and of Ji Yuan’s words. They naturally understood what was going on, and all moved towards Ji Yuan to thank him and Gong Muhua excitedly.

“Thank you for your help, Immortal, and thank you, Lord Mountain God, for saving the young master of the Mo family!”

“Thank you, Lord Immortal and Lord Mountain God!”

……

Despite the effusive gratitude, Ji Yuan just nodded and waved the Mountain God over. They left the temple together, leaving the group of people in the temple to check on their young master.

The Mountain God followed closely behind him, not daring to casually leave. When he reached the temple eaves outside, Ji Yuan looked at his state of tension and said in a slightly apologetic tone:

“My thanks for Mountain God Gong’s help this time. Mountain Gods are better at finding lost souls in the mountains. The more good deeds you do now, the more villagers will believe in Mountain God Gong, and the sooner you will be able to ascend to your position.”

“The Lord Immortal’s teachings are wise, I will remember them!”

Gong Muhua, who resembled a monster more than a god, just nodded repeatedly. However, he still didn’t dare to leave rashly without Ji Yuan’s consent. He had rarely encountered people who cultivated Taoism, so he didn’t expect to have won the big jackpot this time.

Gong Muhua did not have much knowledge of cultivation and did not know what this so called “Spirit-Binding” was, but that did not mean that he couldn’t feel the spiritual energy and power behind this strange technique.

He had been cultivating in the underworld when he had suddenly felt himself lose control of his body. The spiritual energy that connected him to the mountains and earth veins activated on its own, and he was forcibly dragged to the mountain temple. At the same time, a clear message appeared in his mind, informing him that someone was summoning him as the Mountain God.

What kind of magic was this? Seriously, what kind of magic was this? It was completely beyond Gong Muhua’s comprehension!

At that time, he was terrified that the immortal master would be displeased with his improper worship and rituals² when receiving offerings, and that he would be executed with a single strike of his sword.

When he arrived at the mountain temple, he saw that this Immortal master had truly brought a sword, and it was a true immortal sword…

Fortunately, it finally proved to be a false alarm.

Ji Yuan felt even more guilty when he saw that the Mountain God was obviously frightened of him. However, at Gong Muhua’s stage of cultivation, sending him ordinary decrees was of little use.

Moreover, the cultivation of this “mountain god” was quite shallow. If he truly issued a complete degree, not only would it consume a lot of mysterious yellow Qi, but it might also not be good for his cultivation. After all, this monster belonged to the conventional category of water and mountain gods, and its progress was based on its own cultivation. However, lighting incense and praying to him seemed even more inappropriate as a gift.

“Mountain God Gong, I cannot give you anything in return for your kindness at this time. How about this? As long as you don’t slack off in your own cultivation, and you can uphold the responsibilities of the Mountain God, and perform more good deeds, I will give you an opportunity in the future!”

If such a powerful immortal truly wanted to execute him, there would be no need waste words. Moreover, those who practiced the righteous path always valued their promises, so Gong Muhua understood that he must be speaking the truth, and bowed to him repeatedly to express his gratitude.

“This little God will never forget your teachings, and I will do my best to follow them!”

But at the moment his potential future fate was secondary. Currently, Gong Muhua felt uncomfortable, and wanted to leave quickly.

The chess piece that Ji Yuan was expecting did not appear. Although this Mountain God monster responded enthusiastically, he must have really wanted to get rid of this plague god³ as soon as possible. He sighed.

In the end, this “Mountain God” was still to inexperienced and ignorant of the way of cultivating the Tao, and had never encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation. He did not know how to cherish fate. If it were the old turtle in Chunmu River, his reaction would definitely be different.

Ji Yuan lost some interest, and his tone became dull.

“Well, if there is nothing else, Mountain God Gong can return to his practice. I have nothing else to do here.”

“Yes, yes, I will take my leave!”

Saying this, the Mountain God turned into a light mist and drifted off into the rain, then disappeared into the mountainside.

Ji Yuan turned his head to look back inside the temple after he had sent the Mountain God off. There was a captured prisoner in the temple. He turned around and walked back inside. The child had actually woken up and was chattering to the people around him about how he had escaped in the mountains.

When Ji Yuan came in, the temple suddenly became quiet.

Ji Yuan saw Mo Tong and another male warrior resting their hands on their swords, standing on guard in the direction of the demon. Of course, their eyes also lingered on the entangled lines of water with great curiosity.

​​…

A quarter of an hour later, a group of people sat around lit iron basin. The fire was naturally started by Ji Yuan.

Since the alchemy furnace had been filled by the True Fire of Samadhi, although Ji Yuan only knew a very small fire control technique, he could still ignite a bright flame out of thin air. It was certainly not the True Fire of Samadhi — at best, it could only be considered a “wildfire,”⁴ but it was enough to ignite a campfire with a little firewood.

And since so many things had happened that night, Ji Yuan decided to wave his hand and took away the moisture on the men and women’s clothes, making everyone dry again.

For some time up until now, Ji Yuan had been sitting by the brazier and listening to the everyone’s stories.

“So, you have been protecting Young Master Mo in Juntian’s capital city for a long time. You noticed someone sneaking around outside the mansion, coming and going without a trace, and you reported it to the police, but they didn’t find anything. Young Master Mo even started to have frequent nightmares. Was this why you chose to leave Juntian Prefecture’s capital and run back home in an emergency?”

“Exactly!”

Mo Tong hurriedly answered.

Ji Yuan thought for a moment before continuing to ask.

“Since there was a cultivator who wanted to take Young Master Mo as his disciple, cast a spell to help Young Master Mo conceal his spiritual aura, and even let Young Master Mo stay in Juntian Prefecture to wait for him to come back, then he must have had high expectations of Young Master Mo.”

As Ji Yuan spoke, he noticed the child watching him and listening attentively, so he smiled at him.

“It is possible that your convenient master⁵ had already seen through your problem earlier, and asked you to hide in Juntian Prefecture so that the city could cover up the issue. Perhaps he had something to do and needed to leave temporarily, but he didn’t expect that you almost fell into a demon’s trap.”

The little boy named Mo Yu asked curiously.

“Mr. Ji, why did they chase me? Did my master provoke them?”

Hearing Mo Yu’s question, Ji Yuan looked at the corpse on the other side. After failing to get any information out of him, he tried using his sword finger position: sure enough, the Zuo family’s phantom chess piece absorbed the demonic energy, and turned into an intangible black chess piece.

Because these four possessed warriors had very poor character and willpower, and their souls had been contaminated by the demon for such a long time, they had long since been assimilated into the demonic spirit. When the evil spirit dissipated, their souls disappeared as well, and their bodies immediately lost all their vitality.

“To be precise, it was an ‘it’, not a ‘them.’ Although the four demons seemed to act and think separately, they were essentially all corrupted by a wisp of demonic energy that contained a demonic consciousness. Each of their thoughts still belonged to the souls of the individual warriors, but at that point they could barely be regarded as an incarnation of that demon.

“This is the first time I’ve seen someone with such a special spiritual aura like Young Master Mo. You even escaped them without any training; this occurrence is rarer than an animal gaining enlightenment. It is no surprise that evil spirits have their gaze set on your body and soul, they may be trying to absorb your soul or occupy your body.⁶ As for what else they might do… no one but them would know.”

Ji Yuan himself couldn’t determine these kinds of reasons, let alone the others. There was a brief silence around the brazier.

“Mr. Ji, who is more capable, you or my future master?”

Ji Yuan saw the expectant look on the child’s face, and smiled without any worry or hesitation.

“Your master is probably more capable…”

1. “Specialization of Land Gods” refers to how Land Gods (and City Gods to some extent) are really good at doing stuff related to their land, including locating, tracking influencing, protecting, etc. as long as they are in their territory, but are virtually powerless elsewhere.
2. 淫 (yín): excessive/wanton/obscene/depraved, 祠 (cí): shrine, 淫 (yín) again, 祭 (jì): to offer a sacrifice, 行为 (xíngwéi): conduct/behavior. Could be translated as “obscene behavior” or “excessive acts,” but “improper actions” fits best
3. Bringer of misfortune, talking about how he perceives Ji Yuan
4. 野火 (yěhuǒ): wildfire/bush fire. Presumably the meaning here is that it is not a tiny controlled candle flame or a spark, it’s a fire waiting to grow
5. 便宜 (biànyí): convenient/cheap/petty. No idea why he’s using this word here but it’s hilarious
6. Lit: “occupy the nest”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read