"Hehehe," Taoist Master Wang Guan's wrinkled old face bloomed like a chrysanthemum as he looked towards Li Ang and the others in the corner. "Who might these be…"
Li Ang stood up and deftly recounted his fabricated origin story while stepping forward, clasping his hands in greeting and presenting a wooden box.
Inside the wooden box were sticks of exquisitely luxurious Marlboro Cigarettes.
"What's this?" Wang Guan frowned.
A Wolf Demon who had just bought a pack of cigarettes approached, lit one, and explained, "These are cigarettes, a special product Priest Li intentionally brought back from the Ayitobie Archipelago. They need to be lit and inhaled."
The Wolf Demon took a harsh drag, puffing smoke and coughing as he said, "This stuff, unlike Ah Furong, doesn't befuddle the mind and damage the body. Instead, these cigarettes are refreshing and invigorating. They aid in meditation and concentration, enhancing one's cultivation. Look, it even says 'Smoking is beneficial to health' on the packaging."
What the Wolf Demon didn't know was that Li Ang had added something extra to the tobacco. Smoking it was far more potent than regular cigarettes. The pack gifted to Wang Guan contained an even larger dose of drugs, significantly increasing its addictiveness while also enhancing its ability to ravage the body.
Forget humans; even an elephant would collapse after a single puff.
"Then I thank you, Priest Li," Wang Guan accepted the wooden box of cigarettes, but he didn't pick one out to smoke. He casually handed the wooden box to the ghost in white standing deferentially behind him.
"Now that everyone has arrived, I'll go to the cellar to get the wine," Wang Guan bid farewell to the group of demons with clasped hands and headed straight for the Pagoda.
The squad members inside the Daxiong Bao Hall tensed instantly! According to the original plan, once Wang Guan entered the cellar, he would trigger the landmines hidden all around and be blown to pieces.
Wanli Fengdao clenched his fists, his knuckles turning stark white. Xing Hechou maintained a calm expression, but the fists hidden beneath his robe trembled slightly.
One second, then two... Time ticked by after Wang Guan entered the Pagoda.
Li Ang leaned back slightly and squeezed out a word from between his teeth, "Explode."
Xing Hechou's pupils constricted sharply as his hand beneath his robe pressed the detonator.
BOOM!
The ground trembled, sand flew, and stones scattered as the towering stone Pagoda collapsed with a roar. A thick column of smoke rose into the air.
Is he dead?
No, the System prompt had not yet sounded.
The squad members were shaken to their core, only to see a thick, hairy arm emerge from the pile of rubble, pointing straight to the heavens.
The arm was muscular and bulging, seemingly about to burst, its blue veins snaking around it like coiling dragons. The long black hair on it floated as if without wind.
An extremely dense demonic aura blotted out the sky and the moon. Even the eerie, sinister shadows of the trees seemed affected by this demonic aura, ceasing all movement.
Between heaven and earth, all things returned to silence, except for that sky-propping arm extending from the rubble.
"Aaaaii—" A long, drawn-out sigh echoed from underground, and another thick arm stretched out from beneath the earth.
The Mountain Demon crawled out from underground.
Its face roughly resembled a human's. Its crimson nose turned outward, and on each side of its nasal bone was a bony protrusion. These protrusions were topped with vertical arrays of blue, ridge-like structures interspersed with green grooves. The overall pattern was chillingly reminiscent of a monster.
With each breath, the pattern around the Mountain Demon's nose rippled and flickered, pumping out tufts of black smoke from its nostrils that seemed almost insubstantial.
The Mountain Demon's two arms, which drooped naturally to the ground, were overly thick and disproportionate to the rest of its body. Its legs were relatively stout and short, with knees bent forward like those of a dinosaur or a kangaroo. A whip-like, slender tail extended from its coccyx, hanging freely.
HUFF... PUFF.
The Mountain Demon, standing as tall as a three-story building, breathed deeply. The smoke from its nostrils settled, covering its enormous body. The tiny scars on its body healed at a visible rate.
Steel shards and ball bearings were squeezed out of the wounds by the rapidly growing flesh, scattering and clinking as they struck the rubble.
"Hehehe." Apparently feeling an itch, the Mountain Demon stretched out its claws and scratched its chest with dagger-sharp nails.
The skin on its chest was torn by the nails, creating bloody furrows. The flesh, ripped open like a plowed field, revealed the ghastly white bones beneath.
"Taoist Master Wang Guan...." All the demons stood stupefied, stuttering, "Are... are you alright?"
"It's nothing serious," the Mountain Demon smirked cunningly, licking the blood and flesh from its nails. It then opened its other hand, surprisingly revealing a pile of intact wine jars!
The landmines in the cellar had exploded with a thunderous roar. Yet, not only was he unscathed, but he had also managed to effortlessly protect all the ceramic wine jars!
The squad members exchanged glances, a deep, penetrating chill seeping into their very core.
The Mountain Demon's strength far exceeded everyone's expectations!
"This... this is impossible." Chai Cuiqiao, hidden inside Li Ang's body, murmured in shock. "At this time last year, the Mountain Demon was strong, but definitely not *this* strong…"
Realizing it now... it's far too late... Xing Hechou's mouth tasted bitter. He quickly struck "Kill the Mountain Demon" from his mental list of objectives, while subtly glancing at Li Ang—the System only required them to survive for seven days; collaborating to kill the Mountain Demon had been Chai Cuiqiao's idea.
I must guard against this female ghost. If she suddenly attacks, she could expose us...
As these thoughts raced through the minds of the squad members, they saw the Mountain Demon snarl with a laugh. "It's just that the cellar was old and happened to collapse. White Ghost, go get me my clothes and elixirs."
"Yes, My Lord." The ghost in white bowed deeply and returned to the palanquin, retrieving a brand new Taoist Robe and an antique-looking Copper Box.
The Mountain Demon took the Taoist Robe and, its body gradually shrinking, changed behind the pile of rubble. When it reappeared, it once again had the sagely, benevolent appearance of an enlightened master.
All the demons knew well that the cellar's collapse was definitely not so simple. Any other demon caught in that cellar would likely have been blasted to death by now.
Who would try to assassinate Wang Guan? What exactly happened with that explosion? Was it a Talisman inscribed with a trigger-type Palm Thunder spell? Or perhaps a magical artifact capable of unleashing thunderous lightning? And why didn't Wang Guan flee after being attacked?
The fiends and ghosts faintly sensed that tonight's banquet was not going to be simple. They tried to slip out of the temple quietly, only to find the four Fierce Ghost palanquin drivers guarding all four exits of the temple.
"It was just a little accident," Wang Guan said with a smile. "Please, take your seats. The banquet is about to begin."
The fiends and ghosts composed themselves and silently returned to their seats, their expressions as stiff as clay puppets.
The cheery atmosphere from the earlier bartering was replaced by a heavy silence. Wang Guan sat at the head of the hall, instructing the Fierce Ghost palanquin drivers to pour the Spiritual Energy-infused wine from the jars into everyone's cups, one by one.