After leading the villagers away, a confrontation broke out…

Li Xin shielded Chiyu and took two steps back, while Chang Wu and Chang You stepped forward to face the enemies. They didn’t use any spells — it was purely hand-to-hand combat.

The villagers were no match for them; the brothers knocked them all down within a few moves, leaving them writhing on the ground in pain.

Seeing the situation, the village chief’s legs went weak. Trembling, he pointed at Li Xin and the others and demanded, “You… what exactly do you want?”

“Nothing much,” Li Xin snorted. “Your so-called ‘great immortal’ took something from me. I’m just here to get it back.”

“Rubbish!” the village chief shouted. “How could the great immortal take your things? Who are you people? Stop spreading nonsense and slandering others!”

Li Xin waved for Chang Wu and Chang You to come back, then addressed the villagers, “You should all go home. This matter doesn’t concern you. And from now on, you don’t need to worship this so-called ‘great immortal’ anymore.”

“You think you can decide that?” The village chief was furious but didn’t dare approach them, only putting on a tough front with his words. “What business is it of yours whether we worship the great immortal? Anyway, if you want to touch him, you’ll have to kill all of us first!”

Li Xin sneered, “Fools.”

The villagers on the ground also struggled to their feet and gathered behind the village chief.

Seeing the situation getting worse, Chiyu patted Li Xin on the shoulder and said quietly, “Buyu, this isn’t going to work.”

As he spoke, he pulled up the hood of his cloak to shield himself from the sunlight and stepped forward from behind Li Xin.

“This is just a misunderstanding, everyone. We’ll leave the mountain now,” Chiyu said, then turned to look at Li Xin. “Let’s go.”

“Senior brother?” Li Xin sounded unwilling.

Chiyu shook his head, signaling him not to act rashly.

“You think you can just leave after beating us up?” The village chief, seeing them backing down, suddenly grew bolder.

Chiyu’s upper face was hidden by his hood, making it impossible to see his expression. Yet even standing there without doing anything, his presence alone was intimidating.

“And what do you want?” Chiyu asked coldly.

“What do I want?” The village chief shivered involuntarily, swallowed hard, and then snorted heavily, “Compensation!”

“Fine,” Chiyu said with a faint smirk, turning his head to look at Li Xin.

Li Xin spread his hands, “We left in a hurry and forgot to bring money.”

“You’re messing with us, huh?” The villagers started shouting one after another.

“How could so many people go out without bringing money? Who are you trying to fool?”

“Exactly! Look at how fancy you’re dressed — who’d believe you have no money?”

Chiyu didn’t want to hear them shouting any longer. He pulled out a wad of cash from under his cloak and threw it at the village chief’s feet. “Is this enough?”

The ground was littered with 100-yuan bills — none of them had ever seen so much money at once.

The village chief’s eyes glazed over. He nodded rapidly, “Enough, enough…”

The villagers were also stunned. “This must be tens of thousands at least!”

The village chief, his eyes gleaming with greed, squatted down and immediately started scooping up the money, while the villagers crazily scrambled after it too.

“Mine!”

“This one’s mine!”

“Don’t grab it, that’s mine!”

Watching them lose their minds over money, Chiyu shook his head in disdain, then called out to Li Xin, “Let’s go.”

Li Xin gave an affirmative grunt, and the four of them headed down the mountain together.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Li Xin finally asked Chiyu, “Senior brother, where did you get all that money?”

Chiyu glanced at him and chuckled, “Buyu, you couldn’t even recognize an illusion spell?”

Realization dawned on Li Xin. “Senior brother, you’ve gone bad — you even know how to cheat people now!”

“This hardly counts as cheating. They were being unreasonable. I was just finding a way to get out of it,” Chiyu said seriously. “When dealing with ignorant villagers like this, you can’t use force. The more you argue, the messier it gets. It’s better to just leave.”

“Senior brother is always right,” Li Xin agreed cheerfully, then asked, “So when will we go back?”

Chiyu glanced back at the mountain. “Once they’re all gone, we’ll head back.”

“Should I go back first and keep watch?” Chang Wu offered.

“No need,” Chiyu said with a soft laugh. “They’ll come down themselves soon enough.”

“Master, Li-ye, those people will be busy grabbing money for a while. Should we find a place to rest?” Chang You suggested thoughtfully.

“No need,” Chiyu said, looking toward the nearby woods. “We’ll just wait here. The illusion spell will wear off soon. Once they realize they’ve been tricked, they’ll definitely come chasing after us.”

“Senior brother is brilliant,” Li Xin flattered eagerly.

Chiyu checked the time. “Almost there. Let’s hide for now.”

The four of them slipped into the nearby forest, not far from the mountain path, keeping an eye on the situation above.

Meanwhile, up on the mountain, the villagers were still scrambling for the money. Each of them clutched a big handful of cash, grinning ear to ear.

“Who would’ve thought we’d get this much money just from taking a beating?”

“Yeah, next time we see those people, we’ll really make them cough up even more.”

“The village chief is amazing. Just a few words and they obediently handed over the money!”

The village chief, having picked up the most, was stuffing money into his pockets while basking in the villagers’ flattery. “Alright, everyone go home now. We have enough to get through the winter!”

Just as everyone was about to head down the mountain, a villager suddenly screamed in panic, “What… what is this… ahhh!”

Daliang, who had also picked up a lot of cash and was feeling quite pleased, heard the scream. He looked over and saw that the money in that villager’s hand had all turned into funeral paper offerings. His eyes widened in disbelief.

He quickly looked down at the “money” in his own hands — and instantly, a chill ran down his spine as cold sweat broke out all over him.

“What the hell is this?!” Daliang shouted, throwing away the paper offerings and stumbling back two steps.

The villagers all broke out in a cold sweat, staring at the money in their hands that had turned into funeral paper, panicking in fear.

“Th-this… ghosts… ghosts!” A villager screamed and scrambled to hide behind the village chief.

The village chief had already been scared badly, and when the villager grabbed him, he nearly jumped up in fright. “What are you panicking for? Everyone, quiet down!”

He forced himself to appear calm and began directing the villagers. “This situation is too strange. Don’t panic, don’t move around. Let me… let me think…”

None of the villagers dared to speak, quietly waiting for the village chief to decide what to do.

The village chief wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and took a few deep breaths. “It must have been those people earlier who did something.”

A villager stepped forward and said, “Village chief, those people didn’t seem like ordinary folks. Could it be…?”

“Don’t talk nonsense! How could there be ghosts in broad daylight?” the village chief snapped at him with a glare.

Daliang, remembering how Li Xin and the others had come to his house for water earlier, spoke up too: “Those people were really strange. When they came to my house yesterday, my old ox kept bellowing. Later, it just wilted for no reason, and it still refuses to eat or drink. They… they must know some kind of trick, or maybe…”

“Stop talking nonsense!” the village chief shouted, cutting Daliang off.

Daliang didn’t dare to speak again. The village chief glanced at the terrified villagers, stomped hard on the funeral paper on the ground, and cursed, “Damn it, chase after them! I want to see exactly what kind of monsters they are!”

The villagers looked at each other, none daring to move. Seeing no one responding, the village chief spat fiercely and roared, “What are you standing around for? Go! If we catch them, maybe we can get our money back!”

Still, the villagers didn’t move.

“Village chief, maybe… maybe we should just let it go. Our lives are more important,” someone said timidly.

“Useless cowards!” The village chief cursed again, feeling humiliated. “You’re all grown men! What are you afraid of? Even if they were ghosts, what could they do to us in broad daylight? Get moving!”

Seeing they couldn’t refuse, the villagers timidly responded and followed the village chief down the mountain.

Meanwhile, down the mountain in the forest, Li Xin and the others had been waiting for a while. Seeing the villagers angrily charging down from above, they couldn’t help but laugh.

“They must have been terrified when they saw the money turn into funeral paper,” Chang Wu said, laughing.

“Our master is brilliant. Let’s head up now,” Chang You suggested.

Chiyu nodded. “Buyi, let’s go up.”

“Alright,” Li Xin replied. The four of them then headed up the mountain together.

When they reached the old locust tree, Li Xin once again summoned a flame of spiritual fire, preparing to burn it down.

“Stop!”

Who was it this time?

They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a figure darting out from the forest at lightning speed, leaping to land right in front of them.

He was extremely tall and thin, with a youthful, handsome face. His brown hair flowed loosely down his back, and he wore a black long robe, giving him a bit of a scholarly air.

Without saying a word, he raised his hand and struck at Li Xin. Li Xin immediately tossed the spiritual fire at him. To dodge it, the newcomer withdrew his attack and twisted his body aside, easily evading it. Li Xin effortlessly neutralized the move.

“Who are you?” Li Xin asked coldly.

“You were burning my main body. Weren’t you just trying to lure me out?” Huai An answered, staring back at him.

Their gazes clashed like swords.

“You’ve cultivated quite well,” Li Xin said, sizing him up. “Now speak — where is the remnant soul?”

Huai An sneered, “Aren’t you a Heavenly Master? Can’t you tell?”

“What do you mean?” A sinking feeling hit Li Xin — was it truly the worst-case scenario he feared?

Huai An burst into loud laughter. “What do I mean? Take a good look, and you’ll understand.”

Li Xin narrowed his eyes and cast a spell to examine him — and immediately broke into a cold sweat.

“You! How dare you!” he roared.

In a flash, he moved in front of Huai An and grabbed him by the throat. “Who gave you the guts? Believe it or not, I’ll obliterate you right now.”

“Go ahead, do it!” Huai An sneered in his face, provoking him. “Do you dare? Can you actually bring yourself to do it?”

Huai An had indeed hit his weak spot — because Huai An wasn’t simply merged with the remnant soul — he had absorbed it.

He was a fusion of the remnant soul and the tree spirit, completely different from the ghost woman they had encountered before.

In a soul fusion, it was possible to separate the two souls. But once combined into one being, they could no longer be divided.

Hurting him would be the same as hurting Chiyu. Gradually, the strength in Li Xin’s hand loosened.

Hahaha—

Huai An laughed wildly, grabbed Li Xin’s wrist, and easily shook off his grip.

“And here I thought you were so high and mighty. Turns out you’re just a fool afraid to act,” Huai An sneered.

At that moment, Chiyu stepped forward with a few strides, raising her hand and slapping Huai An across the face — twice.

Smack—

Smack—

Two crisp slaps, and Huai An’s laughter was abruptly cut off.

“You… you dare hit me?” Huai An shouted furiously, pointing at Chiyu.

Standing protectively in front of Li Xin, Chiyu stared down at Huai An with disdain. “So what if I hit you? Who gave you the guts to be insolent in front of this officer?”