Chapter 44: The Ghost Forest In front of Zhong Kui, all ghosts are equal. Although Zhang Jiuyang is not Zhong Kui, he has the ability to eat ghosts and can be said to be the natural enemy of ghosts in the food chain. He opens his mouth and inhales, and his stomach is like the underworld, containing evil spirits from all directions. Although the old fox was filled with resentment and acted as if he was ready to die together with the fox, in the end he was still swallowed up by Zhang Jiuyang and sucked into his stomach. The old fox was worthy of his sixty years of practice. He even tried to struggle. Zhang Jiuyang's stomach bulged slightly, as if something was surging under his belly. Ah Li blinked and asked in confusion: "Brother Jiu, are you pregnant?" Zhang Jiuyang: “…” hum! There were bursts of thunder in his abdomen. Under the power of the ghost-eating supernatural power, his stomach was like a furnace that specifically burned evil spirits. After a while, the old fox's movements became smaller and smaller, and finally gradually returned to silence. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, your soul belongs to me. Zhang Jiuyang burped, then quickly sat down cross-legged, asking Ah Li to protect him, preparing to completely digest tonight's midnight snack. Wisps of resentment attacked his heart of Tao. If it were before, he would probably be nervous, but at this moment he was completely unaffected. His heart of Tao was like a piece of fine steel that had been tempered a hundred times, and it remained unmoved despite the attack of resentment.
Tonight he killed the fox demon with a knife, feeling happy to avenge his enemies. His heart was filled with heroic spirit and high spirits, and his state of mind had improved again. While meditating, he also saw the life stories of some old foxes. It was originally a red fox from Liupan Mountain outside Qingzhou City. It occasionally ate mountain spirits and gained intelligence. Then it inhaled and exhaled moonlight to cultivate magical powers. Thirty years later, it worshipped the Big Dipper and transformed. At first, it just rode the evil wind to steal some chickens and ducks to eat, but later it gradually couldn't resist and ate humans. It has been out of control ever since. However, in order not to attract attention, he only ate people who went to the mountains to hunt or collect herbs, and the frequency was not very high. Until one day, its only son was killed, and then it came out of the mountain in anger. After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Jiuyang slowly opened his eyes. His vision became clearer, his Taoist robe fluttered in the wind, and his body was filled with magical power, as if he had gained a lot of benefits. His cultivation improved again. If he continued like this, he would probably be able to directly try to break through to the third realm after the 100-day barrier. If word of this speed of cultivation were to spread, I wonder how many people would be jealous. But there was a hint of fear in Zhang Jiuyang's eyes. "Ali, let's go!" It was a close call just now. He saw a horrifying scene in the old fox’s memory. Deep in this dense forest, there was a terrifying locust monster hidden! The locust tree monster had a terrifying magical power. Anyone who saw it would become desperate and then hang themselves on the locust tree. This even includes some people with cultivation! The old fox's skills in creating animals and the magic spell for refining plague ghosts were found from some Taoist priests who were hanged on locust trees. Just now, when the old fox saw that he was chasing him relentlessly, he deliberately changed direction, preparing to lead him to the territory of the locust monster and kill him with a borrowed knife. Thinking of this, Zhang Jiuyang felt a chill in his heart. He was very glad that he acted quickly and took the lead to kill the old fox with his flying sword, otherwise the result would be unpredictable. But at this moment he always felt that the forest was eerie. The trees were unusually tall, with dense branches and leaves, which blocked most of the moonlight above his head. When the night wind blows, there is a rustling sound all around, and the swaying shadows of the trees are like a group of ghosts walking at night.
There is an inexplicable chill. Ali looked at the old fox's chopped fur with some regret. It was a pity that she couldn't make clothes for Brother Jiu. But she still obediently put away her two swords and got into the Yin puppet. Zhang Jiuyang immediately walked back according to his memory, but after running for a while, he suddenly stopped and realized something was wrong. Why haven't you left these woods yet? There was still a vast sea of trees ahead, seemingly endless, with no way out at all. With his speed, he should have left long ago. Is it a ghost covering my eyes? Zhang Jiuyang shook his head. This was impossible. He had made some progress in his cultivation and Ah Li was by his side. If there were any ghosts hiding, they would definitely be discovered. Maybe he got lost? In the deep mountains and dense forests, it is difficult to tell where one is going. Getting lost is a common thing, and Zhang Jiuyang cannot completely rule out this suspicion. He took a deep breath and leaped into the air. He pushed off the tree trunk and floated to the treetop, as light as a feather, swaying slightly in the night breeze. He finally saw the wilderness in the distance. It turned out that he was really lost. Zhang Jiuyang breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, landed on the ground and continued to move forward. There shouldn't be any problem this time. However, after running for a while, the shadows of the trees were still swaying in front of me. Wow! The wind blew through the trees, and the sound was no longer peaceful and distant. Instead, it made people feel a chilling sense of terror, as if something dirty was hiding in the dark and watching them. Zhang Jiuyang's grip on the Ghost-Slaying Sword tightened slightly. At this point, he was certain that he was not lost, but had encountered an evil spirit! He floated to the top of the tree again. This time he no longer saved his mana. Instead, he ran towards the wilderness in the distance on the treetops. Soon he saw a terrifying scene. I saw the trees in the distance... were actually moving! As he moved, the trees also slowly moved, silently changing direction so that he was heading in the opposite direction of the exit. Damn, how much evil is there in this world? Zhang Jiuyang felt a chill on his back. This was only possible because of his cultivation. If it were an ordinary person, even an experienced hunter, he would be trapped and killed here! This place is dangerous, the best thing to do is to run away! Zhang Jiuyang took a deep breath and continued to float away on the treetops, but he didn't expect that not long after, thick white fog appeared in the woods. Thick fog enveloped the entire forest. Even if he directed his magical powers to his eyes, he could only see ten feet away. Anything further away was extremely blurry. So he got lost again. "Ali, can you figure out how to get out of here?" Zhang Jiuyang landed on the ground and stayed still for the time being to conserve his energy while communicating with Ah Li. After a long time, her confused voice came from the ghost. "Brother Jiu, I, I'm not sure..."
"I just vaguely saw a road, but it's not very clear..." Zhang Jiuyang said in a serious tone: "It's okay, just follow your intuition." At this point, all we can do is take a gamble. He believed in Ali's fortune-telling ability. "Yes, Brother Nine, walk south for 300 steps first, then turn east. Pay attention, there seems to be a deep ditch ahead..." Ali Navigation started to go online. Zhang Jiuyang walked with a sword in hand, his mind tense. With his other hand, he made a sword gesture, ready to unsheathe the sword at any time. However, Ali's navigation was quite reliable. After walking for a while, he felt that the surroundings seemed to be much more open and he relaxed a little. It seems that the road is right. "Brother Jiu, turn right again and we'll be able to get out soon~" Ali was also very happy. Zhang Jiuyang nodded, but when he turned the corner, he couldn't help but shudder all over and froze in place. What a weird scene it was, so creepy. Under the moonlight, I saw a tall locust tree standing tall, with its branches slanting like ghost hands. The most terrifying thing was that under each of its branches, there was a corpse hanging, densely packed and swaying gently in the wind. …… (End of this chapter)