When the ritual in Lingguan Town resumed, security was noticeably tighter. Every few steps, burly men armed with weapons stood on alert, clearly stationed to prevent someone from disrupting the ritual again.

However, it was all meaningless. If the ones interrupting were the same top cultivators from the immortal sects as last night, these guards wouldn't be able to stop them anyway.

Just like the previous night, several men carried a red sedan chair and placed it onto the raft, ready to push it downstream. But as the raft reached the stone ledge, a fierce wind suddenly swept through, so strong it nearly knocked people over and made it hard to open their eyes.

"The spirit officials are angry!" someone shouted.

The people of Lingguan Town all dropped to their knees, begging for forgiveness and loudly blaming Yang Shenlong of the Penglai Supreme Sect for disrupting the ritual yesterday. They pleaded that if the honorable spirit official were to unleash his anger, unleash it upon the true culprit.

After a while, the fierce wind finally died down.

Xiao Youde stood solemnly for a moment. Then, with a wave of his hand, the ritual resumed. The burly men shouted in unison and pushed the raft into the river with a great splash.

Boom!

A few li away, atop a quiet slope, Chu Liang emerged from the whirlwind, carrying two children in his arms.

One was a dark, skinny girl, and the other was a boy shorter than her. They were the Spirit Children meant to be in the red palanquin the previous night, and they were the ones that should have been offered in the ritual tonight.

"Watch them for now. I'll keep an eye on the situation over there," Chu Liang said as he handed the children over to Lin Bei.

"Got it," Lin Bei replied, taking them into his arms without hesitation.

The little girl had seen them yesterday and had been reassured, so she wasn't too scared. The little boy, however, was terrified. His face scrunched up, and he looked like he was about to burst into tears.

Lin Bei quickly comforted him. "Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad guy. Ask her. She knows us."

Chu Liang had already reached an agreement with Xiao Ershan the night before. Although Xiao Ershan had taken innocent lives and his crimes were beyond forgiveness, Chu Liang had promised that if he cooperated, his daughter could be saved. Xiao Ershan agreed without hesitation.

The little boy looked over at the little girl, who gave a timid nod.

Lin Bei chuckled, "See? We're all friends here. Do me a favor and don't cry. If you ever have the chance to come to Mount Shu, I'll show you around."

Meanwhile, Chu Liang had already put on the Crimson Devil Helmet and once again transformed into the shrimp-headed man. He focused his divine sense on the river where the ritual was taking place. Although his usual range was enough to cover the distance, the helmet's enhancement allowed him to perceive even finer details. That was why he chose to wear it.

Back in Xiao Ershan's home the night before, they had carefully planned everything. They couldn't risk alerting the enemy, so the ritual had to proceed as usual in hopes of luring out the Twin Ghost Xiaos.

However, they couldn't possibly have actual kids lure the Twin Ghost Xiaos out. If something went wrong and the children were harmed, it would be too late for regrets.

And that was the reason behind the sudden gust of wind just now.

Chu Liang's divine sense swept over every corner of the river, both upstream and downstream. Peering through the lifted curtain of the red palaquin, he confirmed that two children were indeed seated inside.

One was a delicate, slender boy with bright eyes and a gentle, refined demeanor.

The other one was a girl with delicate features. Though she looked beautiful, she had little regard for manners. At this moment, she was devouring a fruit with juice dripping everywhere.

Fortunately, the raft was already on the water, and the sound of the rushing river masked her loud chewing from the ears of those nearby.

These two were none other than Chu Yi and Jiang Guo from the Northern Regions' Holy Mountain!

Under the cover of that gust of wind, Chu Liang had swapped the children with these two, replacing the original Spirit Children. They were a few years older than the average offering, but they still counted as children and were far more convincing than Chu Liang and Lin Bei.

As the raft drifted downstream, a chilling wind crept in alongside it.

…

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

After finishing one fruit, Jiang Guo pulled out another and happily continued munching. Juice splattered everywhere, occasionally landing on Chu Yi's robes across from her. Chu Yi could only maintain a polite smile.

Last night, when Chu Liang was considering who could help, his first thought had been little Jiang Guo from the Holy Mountain. Thanks to the ever-convenient Circle of Immortal Friends, he didn't even need to make the trip himself. All it took was a message.

Jiang Guo agreed immediately. After all, if Big Brother Berry was asking for help, she would surely be fed well.

As for Chu Yi, he had heard that Chu Liang was looking for children to help and volunteered. Since they happened to need a boy, Chu Liang saw no reason to turn him down.

Back then, the Noble Dharma had ordered Chu Yi to remain in training on the mountain for ten full years. Chu Yi had been worried that this rule would prevent him from helping Chu Liang, so he went to seek permission in person.

To his surprise, the Noble Dharma showed a rather lenient attitude. He had set that rule in the first place because he feared Chu Yi's cultivation wasn't strong enough and that venturing down the mountain too early would lead to his death—or worse, bring shame to the Holy Mountain through reckless behavior.

However, since this was just a short trip to assist Chu Liang, the Noble Dharma raised no objections.

And so, the two "kids," whose actual ages added up to nearly four thousand years old, took their seats in the red palanquin as the Spirit Children for the ritual and floated downstream.

By the time they reached the midpoint of the river, a wave of cold, eerie yin qi crept in.

Jiang Guo's brows lifted slightly. As a Ba, she was especially sensitive to such auras.

A shadowy specter, invisible to the naked eye, suddenly slipped into the palanquin. Only then did its ghastly, twisted face become visible.

"Hah. At last... tender, delicious human children again..." the malicious ghost spoke.

Jiang Guo shot the ghost with a sideways glare. A flash of ferocity sparked in her eye, as though she might lash out in the next instant like a bolt of lightning.

Chu Yi swiftly stepped on Jiang Guo foot lightly. Then he let out a "terrified" cry.

"A ghost—"

But before he got the chance to scream, a second malicious ghost emerged behind him and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Why weren't these brats drugged? This one almost screamed," muttered the malicious ghost, whose upper body bulged with muscle while its lower half trailed off into a smoky mist.

It grabbed Chu Yi and yanked him down.

Crash! Boom!

The earlier ghost had seized Jiang Guo as well and vanished from the palanquin in the blink of an eye. However, the palanquin wasn't left empty. In the very next moment, two new ghostly figures leapt into the seats once occupied by Chu Yi and Jiang Guo, instantly taking on the appearance of the two children.

Chu Yi and Jiang Guo were dragged into the churning river by the malicious ghosts, sinking swiftly toward its deepest point, where a hidden underwater cave dwelling lay in wait.

They were pulled through its entrance and into a cavern steeped in deathly yin qi, the air so cold it chilled them to the bone.

At the upper end of the cave sat two ghost kings, one black and one white. Each stood over three zhang tall, with twin horns jutting from their heads and mouths full of jagged fangs. They looked utterly ferocious.

"Great Kings!" the two ghost underlings shouted. "We've captured the Spirit Children!"

"Excellent! Hahaha," cackled the black ghost king. "We get to taste something fresh again tonight."

Its bulging eyes swiveled left and right before it said, "That girl looks kind of dim, and the boy seems sharper. I'll eat the boy."

Jiang Guo had been eating nonstop earlier and hadn't even wiped her mouth. Her lips were stained bright red, and she was staring blankly at the two ghost kings. At the moment, she really did look a little dim-witted.

As the Black Ghost King reached out a massive hand toward Chu Yi, Jiang Guo suddenly extended her small hand and grabbed its arm.

The Black Ghost King glanced at her. "What do you think you're doing?"

At first, it thought she was joking. But when it tried to pull away, it realized it couldn't break free.

The Black Ghost King couldn't help but mutter inwardly, How could this dim-looking child have such monstrous strength? Her tiny hand feels like iron shackle!

"Rawrarararaya… something's wrong with this kid!" the Black Ghost King roared, swinging a massive axe with its left hand as it chopped straight down at Jiang Guo.

Clang!

Jiang Guo didn't even dodge. She took the blow head-on, and the blade of the axe bent around her skull.

At the sight of that, Black Ghost King shouted, "Holy mama mia! No wonder she looks dumb! Her skull's made of steel!"

It was completely shocked and scrambled to flee in panic. But how could Jiang Guo let it get away?

With a simple swing of her small arm, she hurled the giant ghost king into the air. It wore a horrified expression mid-flight, but before it could even hit the ground, it was gone.

Boom!

Jiang Guo raised her tiny fist and blasted the Black Ghost King's head to pieces. Its face vanished along with the expression it had worn.

Even in death, the Black Ghost King couldn't understand how a human girl who looked no more than ten could be this terrifying.

If it had known that this "little girl" was over two thousand years older than its own grandmother, it might have understood a thing or two and found it all a bit more reasonable.

This child standing here was likely the kid with the strongest punch in the world!

The White Ghost King saw things going sideways and immediately tried to flee, turning into a wisp of smoke.

But Chu Yi was faster. He cast two talismans, and with a flash of golden light, a bolt of heavenly tribulation lightning struck down from the sky.

"Ah!" The White Ghost King let out a scream as it crashed back to the ground. It tried to get up again, but Chu Yi raised his hand and released four spirit-binding cords, pinning it to the floor.

The White Ghost King struggled violently and was about to break free, but by then, Jiang Guo had already finished off the Black Ghost King.

Without missing a beat, she leapt high into the air and came crashing down on the White Ghost King.

Boom!

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The White Ghost King's entire body was pulverized with a single stomp.

The dozen or so ghost underlings nearby had already started fleeing in terror. But how could they escape these two little fiends, especially Jiang Guo?

Once Jiang Guo entered killing mode, she punched, kicked, and rampaged through the cave, blasting every last ghost to bits.

Boom, boom, boom, boom…

"Senior Sister, it's me!" Chu Yi shouted amidst the chain of explosions, finally stopping Jiang Guo's assault.

She was so consumed by her killing urge that she attacked anything she saw and nearly punched Chu Yi by accident. Thankfully, he shouted just in time to avoid getting decked.

Feeling the sharp wind from that near-miss punch, Chu Yi couldn't help but shudder.

Good lord… When she lost it, she even swung at her own ally. She's clearly from the Jiang Family, so why does she act like she's from the Xia Family?

And not just any Xia, but the one who changed her name, grew up on Mount Shu, and became a peak master.