On the mountainside, the ghosts roam at night, reveling endlessly.

The pale blue lights cast an eerie atmosphere over the entire mountain.

The revelry, the joy, the endless sounds of merriment can be heard from afar.

And at the foot of the mountain.

The broad and thick blade of the Han sword trembles and hums, striking heavily. The demon on the other side holds a spear with both hands and uses the handle to block the sword. The force on the sword increases as the demon feels the pressure growing stronger, resisting with all its might.

A low growl escapes its throat, its face contorted from exertion.

Suddenly, with a light touch, the power on the sword dissipates completely. Caught off guard, the demon stumbles forward, leaving itself vulnerable. Anxious to readjust its stance, it is already caught by a broken sword that wedges itself against the spear handle. With a swift motion, the blade is disarmed.

And then the demon's head is directly severed by the Han sword.

It falls to the ground, completely vanishing.

Wei Yuan exhales, leaning the sword against the ground, feeling slightly exhausted. Although he has also suffered some injuries from the battle, all the demons in the room have been slain, lying scattered on the ground. Through this fierce battle in the realm of ghosts, his swordsmanship and Xuan Yuan Sword Technique have become more proficient.

Regaining his breath, Wei Yuan sheathes the long sword behind his back and holds the broken sword in his right hand, walking slowly in this place.

This place is not too big.

After searching for a while, following the aura of the witchcraft curse that wrapped the feathered robe as mentioned by the celestial maiden, he finally found the main object. To Wei Yuan's surprise, it was buried underground. Rolling up his sleeves, he used the weapon in the demon's hand as a shovel and dug for a while, breaking the blade of the sword in the process, before finally unearthing the box.

The exquisite and luxurious wooden box was enveloped in an illusory black and red light.

Wei Yuan applied a dispelling and exorcism charm to his palm and covered it with mana before carefully grabbing the box.

As soon as he touched the box, a mournful and desperate howl pierced Wei Yuan's ears.

"Why, why!!"

"You, my brother, how could you betray me! How could you betray me!!"

Without waiting for the response of the lying tiger waist badge, Wei Yuan activates the Lying Tiger Decision, dispelling these distracting thoughts.

However, the scroll "Monstrous Strength and Chaotic Gods, Seventeen Monstrosities" that was opened when he entered the restaurant undergoes an unexpected change once again. The main subject of the scroll, a girl looking up at the sky from the second floor of the inn, and the fallen skeletal remains that refused to die, all begin to reverse. Bones turn into flesh, barren soil sprouts, emitting a faint white light.

Wei Yuan controls his body to leave this place and hides, allowing the scroll to slowly unfold before his eyes.

...............

The story begins in ancient times, in a town by the Luo River.

There was a wealthy couple who had two sons. The eldest son was honest and steady, while the youngest son was frivolous and arrogant. The couple loved their youngest son but were also troubled by his personality. In order to prevent the youngest son from squandering the family fortune, they entrusted most of their wealth to the eldest son and asked him to take care of his younger brother.

The eldest son fulfilled his promise.

Time passed slowly, and everything remained calm.

But the youngest son, because he saw a beautiful girl, became infatuated and did something extremely foolish.

He knew that the girl was kind-hearted.

So, in the spring, he cut the wheat seedlings in his own field, leaving himself without food, like a victim of a disaster.

He successfully met the girl.

But he still wanted to go further. However, he realized that although the girl dressed plainly, she was obviously not from a poor family, while he had no family fortune. Perhaps because of this, he couldn't get to know the girl. So he found his older brother and knelt down, crying and begging. Under his continuous demands and arguments, his brother's family dispersed, and he received luxurious fabrics and delicious food that he believed were enough to match the girl.

But the girl didn't care about these things.

He painfully realized that the way the girl looked at him was no different from how she looked at the victims of the disaster that day.

He couldn't accept it.

A flame burned in his heart.

At this moment, an evil sorcerer found him--

He learned about the girl's identity and how to make her stay.

So, he went to find his older brother.

The scene before Wei Yuan's eyes gradually distorted, and the resentment on the wooden box in his hand began to erupt, staining the scene, making it more real. Wei Yuan saw in the dim room a pair of brothers who looked alike drinking together. The younger brother behaved very obediently, as if a prodigal son had returned. The older brother was very happy, drinking until he was heavily intoxicated.

But he didn't notice that his younger brother hadn't touched a drop of alcohol.

The candlelight turned a shade of green.

The older brother fell asleep on the table, completely drunk.

And the younger brother raised a polished axe and swung it down towards his own brother.

In the end, he stood in a pool of blood and said:

"Brother, we are brothers, help me one more time."

Using the hatred and resentment of blood ties as a catalyst, he did the most despicable thing in the world, falsely claiming that his brother had died, crying and wailing, attracting the kind-hearted celestial maiden and conspiring with the sorcerer, allowing him to seal the feathered robe with the witchcraft curse and bury it underground.

But the celestial maiden was still a celestial maiden, with the ethereal qi of heaven and earth.

The younger brother went mad and couldn't approach within three zhang.

Until one day, he attracted the lying tiger.

...............

The scene before Wei Yuan's eyes slowly dissipates.

But at the same time, another voice resounds, the voice of the former Chief Commandant, with a calm tone."This man publicly claimed the celestial maiden as his wife, and wrote a so-called story of the celestial maiden falling in love with a mortal. These are all absurd claims. However, one thing is quite strange. After we captured him and handed him over to the grand prison for interrogation, under severe torture, he only said that everything he did was at the request of a yellow ox left by his parents."

"The yellow ox ate the wheat seedlings, the yellow ox demanded silk and satin, fine wine and food."

"In the end, he killed the yellow ox, which was a demon."

"Everything he said seemed to come from the bottom of his heart."

The voice of the Minister of Justice paused, and then said with a hint of amusement:

"But he didn't have an ox."

"Or perhaps, there really was such an ox, but that yellow ox demon was himself."

"He cut the wheat seedlings, so he said it was the demon's doing; he desired silk and satin, fine wine and food, so he said it was the demon's words; he killed his kin, but claimed he was slaying a demon. Everything he did, he blamed on the ox demon, but the ox demon was himself."

"Those who push their sins onto demons, thus feeling no guilt and acting recklessly, are themselves one of the human demons."

"I am Du Yu, the Minister of Justice of the Great Jin. People of later generations, be warned by this human demon's deeds. As those who slay demons, do not let the demon be born from your heart."

The voice of the Minister of Justice gradually faded away.

The scroll that Wei Yuan saw in his spiritual platform finally revealed its true form, just like the picture Shan Jun had shown before, with the changes of the temple and the demon. The scroll seemed to have been burned by flames, its overall color instantly turned gray. The sky was dim, the earth rose into mountains, and the land was filled with death.

On the mountain, the celestial maiden was enveloped in a clear aura, and a young man on the ground was staring intently at the celestial maiden.

Wei Yuan made the scroll slowly rotate.

The shadow of the young man lengthened, turning into a yellow ox.

The yellow ox and the young man moved forward together, step by step.

Closer and closer.

When the scroll flipped over in the spiritual platform, the young man and the ox demon merged into one, indistinguishable from each other.

His skin seemed to have been burned by flames, charred and twisted, with terrifying cracks appearing. His face was horrifying, his eyes completely black. He turned his head to look in Wei Yuan's direction, grinning with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Wei Yuan slowly exhaled, and the image finally disappeared completely. Perhaps due to the image just now, the black and red aura sealing the feathered wooden box slowly twisted and surged. Wei Yuan reached out his hand, pressing it on this seal, and said:

"Disperse now, I will avenge your grievances for you."

The black and red aura rose, transformed into a young man, knelt in the void and kowtowed, then dispersed.

Wei Yuan stuffed the wooden box into his bosom.

He looked up at the mountain, raised his hand to drive away the ghosts, disguised his living breath, pretended to be a ghost coming to celebrate longevity, and quickly headed up the mountain.

PS: Thanks to Tomato and Lemon for the generous reward, thank you~

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