Xie Lian turned around and saw that the person who spoke was none other than the "Fatal Knife Demon". He said, "You have too much popularity."

The ghosts all said, "A puppeteer... that's understandable. He also has ghost energy."

Deadly Knife Demon: "No, no, everyone, take a closer look. The evil spirit on this 'puppet master' is not coming from the inside out. Instead, it seems to be... contaminated from the outside."

It was possible to fool people by being contaminated by ghost energy from the outside, but once you become the focus of the ghosts, the details will be magnified. When this Deadly Blade Demon first came out to make trouble, he looked a little bit stupid, just like the one who opened his eyes. Xie Lian thought he was an insignificant little character, but he turned out to be hard to fool. A ghost said, "This guy seems to know a lot. So is there a definite answer? How to judge? Do you have any method?"

Deadly Knife Demon: "Yes. There is a tool that can determine what he is!"

He took something out of his sleeve. When the ghosts saw it, they immediately backed away and said, "Oh my god! You still carry the yellow talisman with you?! I think you are the priest who sneaked in!"

The Deadly Knife Demon said sinisterly, "You are wrong! I just killed a few Taoists on the way here and took their things. This is just the most common yellow talisman, which can only deal with some small ghosts, monsters and small bastards. Since you all made it here, I guess this talisman can't do anything to you. Watch out!"

After saying that, he "snapped" the yellow talisman and stuck it on his forehead. Sizzling, the yellow talisman burned into a wisp of black smoke in front of his face, and a dark burn mark was left on his forehead. The fast knife demon wiped off the burn mark in a few strokes and said, "Although this talisman can't do anything to me, it can still leave a little mark on my face. Can this prove my identity?"

Although talisman paper is used to deal with demons and monsters, it can also be used to distinguish between humans and non-humans. The Deadly Blade Demon pointed at Xie Lian and said, "If you are really a puppeteer, stick this yellow talisman on your forehead. See if it leaves a mark or not, and you will know the result."

Xie Lian remained calm, his mind racing, but he heard Hua Cheng say in a deep voice, “Nothing, brother.”

Xie Lian knew that he was sure of it, so he put Hua Cheng aside, walked forward calmly, took the talisman, and stuck it on his forehead. With a "sizzle", the yellow talisman burned into a wisp of black smoke, but when the black smoke dissipated, Xie Lian's forehead was still smooth, without a trace of mark left!

This proves that the evil spirit on him was contracted from outside!

Except for the cloaked man with his arms crossed, hundreds of ghosts surrounded them in an instant, shouting. Many strange weapons were about to be used, but they were all bounced away by an invisible barrier. The ghosts were amazed: "Wow? You are quite advanced!"

Xie Lian spread his hands and said, “I didn’t do anything.”

At this time, Hua Cheng, who was standing behind him, spoke.

He walked up with his hands behind his back and said, "You country brats who have never seen the world, what are you making such a fuss about?"

"Hey you little devil, you've seen a lot of the world?"

"It's true that there is no ghost aura about him. Who are you? Come here immediately!"

Hua Cheng said: "Nonsense, of course he doesn't have it. Because I am the puppeteer!"

As soon as the words fell, the ghosts felt a gust of extremely cold air sweeping past, as if freezing the entire area. They were originally cold-blooded, and they all shivered, saying, "...What...is...going...on?"

Hua Cheng said: "Just to let you see the world a little bit."

He withdrew his momentum, and the ghosts finally stopped trembling. The Deadly Knife Demon said with lingering fear: "You... you are a puppeteer, and he is also a puppeteer, so who is he? No, no, he is definitely not, who is he?"

Before Hua Cheng could reply, Xie Lian smiled and said, "Of course I am his."

The ghosts were confused for a while, and finally figured it out:

"So - so it's reversed? He is the master and you are the puppet?!"

The Deadly Knife Demon asked suspiciously, "Why did you say before that you were the puppeteer? What was your intention in lying?"

Hua Cheng smiled and said, "Because I find it interesting."

Xie Lian also smiled and said, “Yes. The master finds it interesting, and that’s the most important reason.”

After the female ghosts were shocked, they put away their claws and tongues and began to circle around Xie Lian and discuss him again. But for some reason, the female ghosts' comments on him were completely different from the ones they had just discussed about Hua Cheng. They seemed to be much more unrestrained. For example:

"So this little brother is the puppet doll? Oh, I like those of this age more, and I want one even more! Do you really not want to make it to order?"

Xie Lian said in a gentle voice: “Well…thank you for liking me. But, actually, I’m quite old…”

"Is this material human skin? It's been processed quite cleanly, without the suffocating stench of a living man. Master, how do you take care of it? Do you use perfume?"

Xie Lian said, “It’s human skin. No perfume. Just take a bath more often and drink more water.”

"Wow, it feels like this doll can be used for a lot of things! All kinds of things. The face and body are pretty good, eh? The skin looks good to the touch, too. But he's a little thin, I wonder if he'll have any flesh under his clothes, hehe..."

Xie Lian had been keeping a modest and decent smile. Seeing that a female ghost was about to touch his chest with shining eyes, his eyebrows twitched slightly. Hua Cheng put two fingers together and raised them slightly. He waved away a circle of slender jade hands and withered hands. Xie Lian quickly squatted behind Hua Cheng and hid. The female ghosts said, "Why? You also want to say that this is your baby, has a bad temper, and doesn't like others to touch it? I think he has a very good temper!"

Hua Cheng stretched out his hand, lifted up Xie Lian's chin, and said, "He does have a good temper. But I have a bad temper. No one else can touch the things I like except me."

Xie Lian followed his gesture and raised his face obediently. He tried to hold back his laughter until his stomach twitched, but he still cooperated very well. He looked into Hua Cheng's eyes and said sincerely, "No. Three... The master has a very good temper."

Hua Cheng also smiled, looking very satisfied. The two of them sang in unison, acting enthusiastically, when a ghost interrupted and said, "I still think he has too much human flavor."

The female ghosts asked, "What else do you want?"

The ghost said, “I heard that the stuffing inside the human-skin puppet doll is not flesh and blood, so it won’t bleed when stabbed. Let me stab it and try…” Before he could finish his words, he was frightened by a glare and dared not make a sound.

Hua Cheng said coldly: "Who dares to touch him? Do you think you can touch the things I cherish so much?"

The ghosts were already intimidated by his aura, and now that he was threatening them directly, they dared not make any rash moves. Unknowingly, they had already left a large area in the center. The instigator, the Deadly Knife Demon, saw that the situation was not good, and tried to smooth things over: "Puppet Master, please don't get angry. We haven't entered the territory of Tonglu Mountain yet. We will talk about it after we enter. Don't start a quarrel now."

Hua Cheng glanced to the side and said, "Instead of nagging about my doll, why don't you ask why the guy over there still refuses to take off his cloak?"

Next to Xie Lian, there had always been a strange man in a cloak standing there. He had never taken off his cloak, and had always stood aside, like a man watching a show with his arms folded. But after Hua Cheng singled him out, the show could no longer be watched, and he became the protagonist. The Deadly Blade Demon took a step forward and said, "Can this friend please take off his cloak as well, so we can have a look?"

The cloaked man paused for a long time, and just when Xie Lian was wondering if he was waiting for an opportunity to attack and escape, he suddenly stretched out his hand and lifted his cloak neatly.

Under the cloak was a handsome but ordinary face.

Such a person, thrown into the crowd, although not ugly, would soon be forgotten, and no one would remember his face at all, causing the ghosts to be somewhat disappointed after seeing his true face. However, Xie Lian became alert.

Hua Cheng said: "It's a fake face at first glance."

Only Xie Lian could hear this voice, and he nodded. Sometimes, some priests or well-known ghosts have to go to the mortal world for something, and it is inconvenient to use their real bodies, so they will transform into a fake face. At this time, the key to the transformation is "ordinary", no matter whether it looks good or not, the more ordinary the better, it must make people stare at this face for half an hour and then turn around and forget it immediately, only then can it be considered a successful transformation. The face of this cloaked man perfectly meets this key point, so this face is most likely not his real face. I just don't know what this person's identity is.

The Deadly Knife Demon handed over a yellow talisman. The cloaked man took it and put it on his forehead without hesitation. It sizzled and turned into smoke, leaving a mark.

It seems that he is also a ghost and not a human.

After a lot of noise, the ghosts got a little agitated and asked, "Is there any priest sneaking in?"

"Who was the first one to bring it up? I hope we didn't make a mistake."

The Deadly Blade Demon raised his hand and said, "I was the first one to discover it, it's absolutely true! I definitely smelled the priest's...ah!"

Unexpectedly, when he said this, he suddenly screamed and fell down. Xie Lian was startled and rushed forward to take a look. He actually had a bloody hole on his body, piercing his lower abdomen. Moreover, on the wound, there was indeed a faint aura that only priests could have!

The ghosts were shocked and said, "Look at his wound! There really is a priest among us!"

The Quick Knife Demon covered the bloody hole and said in fear: "Everyone be careful! He wants to silence us!"

The ghosts were all shocked by this, as if they were in a turmoil. They raised their weapons and attacked in all directions, shouting, "Who is it? Who wants to silence us? Where are you hiding?!"

After the Deadly Blade Demon was hit, the first thought that flashed through Xie Lian's mind was: "Sure enough, people with such exaggerated names are often the first to be killed!" After a pause, he said, "Everyone saw it just now. My master and I were being watched by you the whole time. We didn't do anything." As he said that, he glanced at the cloaked stranger. The other party also raised his hand slightly and said in a low voice: "Same."

Xie Lian leaned over to check the wound of the Quick Blade Demon and said, "It's a sword wound. There are people using swords here..." He turned around and was immediately speechless. The sword is not only the most popular weapon in the human world and the heaven, but also in the ghost world. Among the four hundred demons and monsters, at least three hundred of them use swords, too many to count. Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, "If I had more yellow talismans like the one just now and tried them all, I wouldn't have to worry about not knowing who it was."

Of course, he was just saying it casually, pretending to be enthusiastic. If there really was a fellow priest sneaking in, he didn't want to help catch him. It was impossible for the Swift Blade Demon to take out so many yellow talismans as a backup. Who knew that as soon as he finished speaking, the Deadly Swift Blade Demon really took out several thick stacks of yellow talismans and said, "Oh, yes!"

“…”

Xie Lian couldn’t help but want to look behind him: “Where on earth did you get that from?”

Deadly Knife Demon: "It's not important!"

Xie Lian said, “No, this is very important. Normally, you wouldn’t carry so many heavy things with you. They could be used as bricks to kill people…How many Taoists did you kill on the way here?”

The Deadly Knife Demon glared and said, "About twenty or so."

...No wonder. Even if each Taoist priest only carries a few dozen yellow talismans, there are hundreds of them in total!

Without further ado, the ghosts were eager to find out who was the priest lurking among them, and quickly made a hasty plan. They formed groups of two and put the yellow talisman on each other's forehead, and then observed whether there was a burn mark on the other's forehead. Some ghosts were still a little scared when they saw the yellow talisman, and said, "Do you really want to put it on? Will it scatter my soul..."

"No, it's exactly the same as the talisman we just put on them. It's very weak and will only leave a mark at most."

"oh……"

Hua Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he had noticed something. After a while, among the more than 400 ghosts, large numbers of them had the yellow talisman pasted on their foreheads, which looked weird and funny. However, after pasting it, nothing happened.

The ghosts looked at each other and asked, "What's going on?"

"Hey, Fast Blade Demon, what kind of Taoist priests did you kill? They are so weak that even the talismans are useless?"

Xie Lian felt something was amiss from the beginning, and frowned slightly at this moment. Just as he was about to speak, a female ghost beside him pouted and said, “I don’t want to stick it on anymore. I’m going to tear it off… Eh? What’s going on? Why can’t I tear it off?”

Several female ghosts screamed at once: "Me too! Why can't I tear it off?!"

Oops!

At the same time, Hua Cheng said in a deep voice: "Brother, squat down!"

Xie Lian quickly did as he was told, and Hua Cheng quickly covered his ears. Not far away, the cloaked man quickly pulled up his cloak and half-crouched on the ground. Then, "Bang, bang, bang, bang!" A series of loud noises like exploding firecrackers resounded through the sky!