Who Let Him Cultivate?!

Qi Wu and the others watched in disbelief: the clay Mountain God statue had come to life and was wielding a sword to vanquish the demon!

“The Mountain God has manifested!” Ah Yue said, dumbfounded.

“No, someone is hiding inside the Mountain God statue!” Qi Wu responded the quickest.

Indeed, as the sword-wielding Mountain God fought the Tiger Demon, chunks of clay fell to the ground, revealing the face of the person hidden inside.

It was Lu Yang.

“Damn it! I’ve been waiting for five days, and finally, you’ve arrived! It was worth staying in a statue for five days, take my sword!” Lu Yang cursed menacingly, kicking out.

As someone who enjoyed patrols, it had been a great torment for him to stay as still as a statue for five days to avoid the Tiger Demon’s detection.

Before anyone else could react, the Civil and Martial Mountain God statues also came to life: “Lu Yang, let us lend you a hand!”

Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu emerged from the statues, displaying their Divine Abilities and jointly defeating the Tiger Demon.

Five days earlier, three unexpected guests had arrived at the Mountain God Temple. They took fasting pills, hollowed out the Mountain God statues, and slipped inside.

The Mountain God statue was several times larger than ordinary people – there was plenty of room for a person inside.

“Are you sure this will work?” Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu looked doubtfully at Lu Yang.

“Given the information provided by Brother Man Gu, our only option is to wait for the Tiger Demon to come… let’s get in first.”

Man Gu pondered, was this the embodiment of the adage ‘A gentleman carries his knowledge within him’?

“Yes, yes! That’s right! Indeed, one must not only read a lot of books but also travel many miles.” Man Gu rejoiced. He had never understood the meaning before, but after just one mission with Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, he had made such progress.

His master was right, learning well starts with finding the right subjects to study!

The trio each chose a statue, entered, and maintained the same pose as the statutes while leaving their eyes exposed.

“Hey, can you hear me?” Lu Yang spoke in his mind using the Mental Force Technique.

Mental Force Technique was a skill the three of them had just learned during their journey. It allowed them to communicate at a very close distance without needing to use spiritual essence but solely depend on their thoughts. It was easy to master and could be used after mentally rehearsing it a little.

“Yes, we can hear you,” Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu responded.

“Is the carriage okay?” Meng Jingzhou was worried about his own carriage and old horse.

They had entrusted their carriage to a hotel in Yanjiang County to avoid the Tiger Demon detecting their whereabouts.

“We know too little about the Tiger Demon. What we now know for sure is that the Tiger Demon’s realm lies between the initial stage of Foundation Establishment and Golden Core. It is cunning and careful, fearing that hurting cultivators would bring trouble, so it only eats humans and not cultivators. If there are cultivators searching the mountains, it hides in a place where no one can find it.”

“In other words, it avoids conflicts with cultivators at all costs.”

The Tiger Demon has been lurking in Song Mountain for so long without being discovered by cultivators because it maintains peace without causing any trouble.

“So, we need to hide and wait for the Tiger Demon to come, and eliminate it in one fell swoop!”

“Members of the Tiger Demon race are especially sensitive to spiritual essence, so we must not use any during the waiting period.”

Bearing this in mind, they chose to use the Mental Force Technique, which didn’t require the use of spiritual essence.

Five days later.

“Well, we’ve been waiting for so many days, and finally someone’s here.”

“Looks like a businessman?”

“Wait, why is there an old hunter here? Didn’t they say that all the hunters had left Song Mountain because of the Tiger Demon?”

They had thoroughly investigated Song Mountain, and the locals said that all the hunters had left the mountain and that no one had heard from any hunter selling skins for a long time.

Ghoul!

The three of them communicated via mental force and instantly reached the same conclusion: this wasn’t an old hunter leading the way, it was a Ghoul leading people to their death!

They were initially skeptical about the Tiger Demon, but seeing the Ghoul now verified that there undoubtedly was a Tiger Demon on this mountain!

“Did you hear what the old hunter said? He and the other hunters live together. It was the leader of the business team who found the old hunter there. I don’t think it was a lie.”

“It’s highly probable that the other hunters are also Ghouls. Pretending to be normal people, they deceive travelers together, making their story convincing and avoiding any suspicions that they may be Ghouls!”

“Should we take out the Ghoul now?” Meng Jingzhou was eager to act.

Lu Yang advised Meng Jingzhou to hold his horses, analyzing, “Let’s not beat the grass and startle the snake. Did you hear that Qi Wu said he wanted to seek help from the Five Great Immortal Sects? Given the cautious nature of the Tiger Demon, it will definitely want to get rid of them. Let’s wait, as soon as the Tiger Demon shows up, I will strike, you two cover me, and simultaneously ensure that the traders get away from here.”

“Okay.”

“Hmm, did you guys hear the footsteps outside the temple? It’s probably not the Tiger Demon.”

Hearing Qi Wu and the old hunter trying to drive away the girl in the green robe, Man Gu couldn’t help but murmur: “How foolish, with this female cultivator here, the Tiger Demon won’t come and kill people. If it kills her, the sect behind the female cultivator will seek revenge. If it doesn’t kill her, the cultivator will return with her sect to find it. Either way, it’s a dead end. The only way out is to send the female cultivator away.”

“You see, I was right, the ghoul sent her away.”

Lu Yang was more level-headed: “On the contrary, if the female cultivator is here, the Tiger Demon won’t appear. How long do we have to wait?”

Meng Jingzhou exclaimed softly: “Did you guys notice the jade pendant around the girl in the green robe’s waist?”

” What’s wrong with the jade pendant?” Lu Yang and Man Gu knew that many jade pendants symbolize identity, but they didn’t know much about the specific symbols represented.

“That’s the jade token of the Laurel Fairy Palace.”

The Laurel Fairy Palace, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects.

Beneath the central continent and the extreme north, there is a range of snow-capped mountains stretching from east to west. There is perpetual snowfall, rare sunny days, and the mountains are known as the highest peaks in the central continent, close to the moon.

Within the snow mountains, there is an exquisite fairy palace, the Laurel Fairy Palace.

“She must be at the Foundation Establishment Stage. When we start fighting the Tiger Demon, we should make as much noise as possible to catch her attention and see if she is willing to lend us a hand.”

The opponent was definitely not at the Golden Core Stage. A Golden Core Stage cultivator from an Immortal Sect would have seen through the old hunter being a Ghoul at a glance and wouldn’t have been deceived.

After a while longer, the three watched wide-eyes as Qi Wu and the others fell asleep, sleeping soundly, making them feel sleepy as well.

Man Gu recited sage’s quotes, using his willpower to ward off the sleepiness: “The sage said I should reflect on myself three times a day, Are you sleepy? I am not sleepy. Are you sleepy? I am not sleepy. Are you sleepy? I am not sleepy…”

“Stop reciting, you’re making me sleepy even though I’m not originally,” Meng Jingzhou told Man Gu to recite silently, as he couldn’t help but yawn.

“But I am reciting silently now,” Man Gu replied using the Mental Force Technique.

“Listen closely!” Lu Yang ignored the banter between the two and forced himself to keep his attention, listening for any abnormal noise outside.

“There’s the sound of something stepping on the weeds…The Tiger Demon is here!”

Reminded by Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu stopped the chatter, immediately alerted, and prepared for battle.

“Finally, this beast arrived!”

Lu Yang stopped concealing his aura, shuddered, and shattered the Mountain God statue. He lifted the Green Peak Sword, with its radiance lighting up the whole temple.