Fight the Demon 016

In the past, he used to find He Yuling incredibly charming and beautiful. However, having now seen the wider world of the provincial capital and met a lively young girl like Qiu Qing, He Chusheng felt nothing but utter annoyance when he looked at He Yuling.

What a lady from a prominent family—she was just a village woman!

He Yuling was clearly oblivious to this. Instead, she was busy preparing for her wedding. She even ordered the tenants of her family's shops to keep her return a secret, determined to finalize everything before her father found out.

Watching her joy, He Chusheng could not feel happy at all. He remembered the time he had agreed upon with Qiu Qing. After pondering it over and over, a venomous scheme surfaced in his mind.

The night in Jiang Town was much quieter. The night watchman, Lao Tang, was still doing his usual job.

However, he was much bolder now. After all, he had a yellow talisman his wife had sought out to protect him; he had heard that the young Taoist priest was quite formidable.

But tonight seemed a bit unusual. As Lao Tang finished his rounds and prepared to head home, he saw a small stall with a lit oil lamp appear on the previously empty street. His heart skipped a beat, and he could not help but think of that legend.

Lao Tang tried to pretend he hadn't seen it and hurry home, silently chanting Buddhist mantras in his heart. But after taking just a few steps, he felt his body was no longer under his control, and he stumbled toward the small stall.

Lao Tang's face was filled with terror. He felt the yellow talisman worn on his chest grow somewhat hot, but it did nothing to stop his movements.

It wasn't until he walked right up to the stall that Lao Tang felt his heart was about to leap out of his chest. Standing behind the crude stall was a paper figure!

It had a pale complexion, with pink paint daubed in circles on its cheeks, and a bright red mouth.

The paper figure slightly turned its head, bearing a very happy expression, but to Lao Tang, this smile was incredibly terrifying.

Many foods were laid out on the stall: glistening fatty meat, a whole chicken, and a large pot beside them, with rice porridge boiling and tumbling inside.

Lao Tang's eyes gradually lost focus, and the yellow talisman on his chest slowly lost its heat.

Just as he reached out to grab that bowl of meat, a voice from behind jolted Lao Tang awake.

"Get lost."

His sanity instantly returned. He abruptly turned his head and saw two people standing behind him, one tall and one short. The tall one was a young man, and the short one was dressed as a Taoist acolyte. When he turned his head back, a wet sensation came from his hand. Lao Tang looked closely and saw that the fatty meat in his hand had somehow turned into sticky mud, with bugs wriggling around inside it.

He let out a loud scream, threw down the mud, and ran for his life.

The paper figure looked at Fang Zhiyi, who had ruined its good deed, its pale face full of venomous resentment.

Unexpectedly, Fang Zhiyi didn't waste any words. He directly pulled open his clothes, looking exactly like a pirate DVD peddler. Underneath his robe were all kinds of talismans, emitting a golden light that stung the paper figure's eyes so much it could barely keep them open.

"What are you standing there for? Today is your internship."

Little Bai nodded repeatedly, mustered up its courage, and shouted loudly, "You, you, you bad guy!"

Fang Zhiyi was stunned, and the paper figure was stunned too.

"No, who the hell taught you to talk like that?"

Little Bai felt a bit embarrassed. It wasn't until Fang Zhiyi kicked it in the butt that Little Bai took a deep breath.

Come on! Master said that if it could take down this ghost today, it could graduate! Even though it didn't quite understand what graduating meant.

There was no chaotic flying of talismans as imagined, nor was there any exchange of punches and kicks. Little Bai had perfectly learned Fang Zhiyi's combat style. It scattered talisman papers as if they cost nothing, and then threw out a chicken blood rope. The paper figure was dumbfounded by this fighting method. If it were just one or two talismans, it could still dodge, but how the hell could it dodge now? There were talismans everywhere!

Several yellow talismans stuck firmly onto its body the moment they touched it. The spots where the yellow talismans adhered soon emitted a burnt stench, followed closely by the appearance of large holes.

"Die! Die!" The paper figure was enraged.

Little Bai's face was full of reluctance, but its hands did not stop. It pulled out two wooden plaques from its waist and swung them at the paper figure as if wielding two precious swords. The paper figure's anger was fully maxed out at this moment, and it didn't even think about dodging. It wasn't until the wooden plaques smashed into its face that it realized something was wrong.

What kind of fake Taoist actually used a deity's spirit tablet as a weapon for a brawl?

Fang Zhiyi wrapped his clothes back up, frowning as he watched the paper figure being chased and slashed by Little Bai. "This black bear spirit's level isn't that great either. It even borrowed a deity's title, yet it still struggles to beat up a paper figure."

"You should be content," Little Hei shrank its neck. "If those up in heaven knew you were doing this, they would definitely come down and whip you to death."

"Is it my fault? What other choice do I have?"

While they were talking, Little Bai had already cornered the paper figure. The originally gloomy and terrifying paper figure was now torn and tattered, lying on the ground shivering.

"Master..." Little Bai stopped its hands, looking back at Fang Zhiyi with some hesitation.

Fang Zhiyi sighed. "It is a ghost entity, not a normal ghost or a demon. If you don't destroy it, it will definitely become a disaster in the future." This rat spirit was good at everything, except he didn't know why it was always so soft-hearted.

"But, didn't you say that all things have a spirit... Wouldn't it be fine if we just let it turn over a new leaf?" Little Bai said.

Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "If it were other ghost entities, maybe. But not this one. For a paper figure to gain sentience, first, some idiot has to paint its eyes, and then it absorbs a lot of resentment. It's not like you guys. If it wants to be indistinguishable from a living person, it must kill people, skin them, and drain their blood. Look at it, doesn't it already have the features of a living person?"

Hearing this, Little Bai turned to look at the paper figure, only to see that some parts of the paper figure's body were clearly human skin, which were also the spots that hadn't been broken.

"Paper figures have extreme obsessions. It only thinks about how to become a living person, but to do so, it will cost at least a dozen human lives. Make your own decision." Fang Zhiyi turned around and walked away.

After walking for a moment, he suddenly heard a miserable shriek from behind. A moment later, Little Bai trotted up to catch up with him.

"Master, I'm sorry."

"Hmm?"

"I... I shouldn't have questioned you."

"Questioning me is a good thing. I'm not necessarily always right. Since you want to be a demon spirit that cultivates the Dao, you at least need to know what actions are right and what actions are wrong." Fang Zhiyi reached out and patted Little Bai's shoulder. "No one is always right. The process of seeking the Dao is also a complex process of correction. Only by constantly discovering errors and correcting them in time can your Dao continue forward."

Little Bai looked thoughtful, and Fang Zhiyi noticed once again that a white light was radiating from its body, a bit more dazzling than before.

"This fool doesn't even know that you are pushing it onto the path of immortality." Little Hei's mouth was sometimes even more venomous than Fang Zhiyi's.

"If a black bear can defend the Dao, it's not unusual for a rat to become an immortal." Fang Zhiyi looked up at the sky. "If they won't let me borrow their power, can't I just cultivate a deity myself?"