Chapter 37: Chapter 37 Appetizer
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
"Hehehe,"
Priest Wang Guan's wrinkled old face bloomed into 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 together in greeting and presenting a wooden box.
Inside the wooden box were exquisitely luxurious Marlboro Cigarettes,
"What's this?" Wang Guan frowned.
A Wolf Demon who had just bought a pack of cigarettes approached, lit one up, and explained, "These are a special product from overseas that Priest Li purposely brought back from the Ayitobie Archipelago, called cigarettes. They need to be lit and inhaled."
The Wolf Demon took a harsh drag of the cigarette, puffing smoke and coughing as he said, "This stuff, unlike opium, doesn't befuddle the mind and damage the body. Instead, cigarettes refresh and invigorate, aiding 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 a little extra to the tobacco; smoking it was much 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.
Not just people, even elephants would collapse after taking a puff.
"Then I thank 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 with drooping hands 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 monsters with clasped hands and headed straight for the Pagoda.
The team sitting inside the Daxiong Bao Hall tensed up instantly! According to the original plan, once Wang Guan entered the cellar, he would trigger the land mines hidden all around, and he would be blown to pieces.
Wanli Fengdao clenched his palms, his knuckles turning stark white from the tension, while Xing Hechou had a calm expression, but the fists hidden beneath his robe were also trembling slightly.
One second, two seconds, time kept passing 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, and his hand beneath the robe pressed the remote control device.
Boom!
The ground trembled, sand flew, and stones scattered as the towering stone Pagoda collapsed with a roar, a thick column of smoke rising up.
Is he dead?
No, the System prompt had not yet sounded.
The task force 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, with blue veins snaking around it like coiling dragons, and the long black hair floating without any wind.
An extremely dense demonic aura covered the sky and blocked the sun, and the eerie, sinister tree shadows seemed to be affected by the demonic aura as well, ceasing all movement.
Between heaven and earth, all things returned to silence, except for that earth-piercing arm extending from the rubble.
"Ai————"
An extended sigh came from the 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, with a crimson nose turned outward and a bony protrusion on each side of its nasal bone, topped with vertical arrays of blue, ridge-like protrusions amid green grooves, the overall pattern chillingly reminiscent of a monster,
With each breath, the pattern around the Mountain Demon's nose would ripple and flicker, pumping out tufts of black smoke from its nostrils that seemed almost insubstantial.
The two naturally drooping arms of the Mountain Demon were overly thick, out of balance with the rest of its body—its legs were relatively thick and short, with knees bent forward like those of a dinosaur or a kangaroo, and a whip-like slender tail extended from the tailbone, hanging freely.
Huff, puff.
The Mountain Demon, standing as tall as a three-story building, breathed deeply, the smoke from its nostrils settling down, 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 rapidly healing wounds by the growing flesh, falling haphazardly, clinking against the rubble.
"Hehehe."
Apparently feeling itchy, the Mountain Demon stretched out its claws and used its dagger-sharp nails to scratch its chest.
The skin on its chest was torn by the nails, leaving behind trails of blood, the flesh as furrowed as plowed fields, revealing the ghastly white bones beneath.
"Taoist Master Wang Guan...."
All the monsters stood stupefied, stuttering, "Are... are you alright?"
"It's nothing serious," the Mountain Demon smirked cunningly, licking the blood and flesh from its nails, and then spreading out its other hand, in which it surprisingly held a pile of intact wine jars!
The landmines in the cellar exploded with a thunderous roar, yet he was not only unscathed but also had the strength to effortlessly protect all the ceramic wine jars!
The task force exchanged glances, feeling a deep, penetrating chill in their guts.
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, although the Mountain Demon was strong, it certainly wasn't to this extent...."
Now that they realized it, it was too late...
Xing Hechou's mouth tasted bitter as he quickly crossed "Kill the Mountain Demon" off his list of goals in his mind, while subtly glancing at Li Ang—the System only required them to survive seven days, and collaborating to kill the Mountain Demon was Chai Cuiqiao's idea.
Must be wary in case this female ghost suddenly lashes out, exposing our presence....
The thoughts of the task force whirled, but they saw the Mountain Demon snarl with a laugh, "It's just that the cellar is old and coincidentally collapsed, White Ghost, go get me my clothes and elixirs."
"Yes, my lord." The white-clothed ghost bowed deeply and went back to the palanquin, retrieving a brand new Taoist robe and an antique-looking copper box.
The Mountain Demon took the robe, slowly shrinking in size, changed behind the pile of rubble, and when it reappeared, it still looked like an immortal with an aura of virtue and a benevolent face.
All the demons were well aware that the cellar collapse was definitely not that simple. Had any other monster entered the cellar, they 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 with a Palm Thunder spell trigger? Or perhaps a magical artifact capable of releasing thunderous lightning? Why didn't Wang Guan flee after being attacked?
The monsters faintly sensed that tonight's banquet was not so simple, and as they tried to slip out of the temple quietly, they found the four Fierce Ghost palanquin drivers guarding all four passages 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 monsters composed themselves and silently returned to their seats, each with an expression as stiff as clay or wooden puppets.
The cheery atmosphere that prevailed during bartering was replaced by silence and stillness, as Wang Guan sat at the head of the hall, instructing the palanquin drivers to pour the spiritual energy-infused wine from the jars into everyone's cups one by one.
-- Gift
received