At this moment, the big snake moved, shaking its head and tail as it swam towards where the three people were.

Its long tail rolled over the ancient trees intentionally or unintentionally, and wherever it went, the trunks that were as big as a man's arms twisted and fell down. In this small forest, it twisted its tail so that it was invincible.

Yan Zhengming held Cheng Qian's shoulder with one hand and held the sword with the other. He also had to hold Li Yun, who was barely able to stand up, on his arm. He was exhausted and thought, "What the hell should I do?"

His legs were still weak, but his mind had already calmed down. Yan Zhengming knew that there was no hope of escape now. Between life and death, he felt dizzy when he thought that they would also be torn into pieces by this beast and drenched with saliva.

This extremely disgusting fantasy made him furious, and he put life and death aside for a moment. Miraculously, the hand holding the sword stopped shaking. Yan Zhengming made up his mind that he would fight with the giant worm no matter what, at least cut off two of its scales, and when he couldn't win, he would kill himself - he would never suffer this stench before closing his eyes.

All those sword moves that he had not been able to master for many years surged in his chest, and in the crisis seemed to be connected together in some incredible form, so that in his eyes, the snake's crawling speed slowed down a lot.

Yan Zhengming turned his wrist as steady as a rock and aimed it at the snake's eyes.

He knew that he must not miss with his first strike.

The giant snake demon was getting closer and closer, and Yan Zhengming stopped breathing for a moment.

…and then the snake passed them by.

The swinging snake tail was less than a palm's distance away from sweeping Cheng Qian's ankle, but the beast seemed not to see them, and went straight in another direction with a horrible rustling sound.

The three people maintained their original posture without moving for a long time. Then, someone's heartbeat broke the silence, breaking out of the disorder as if they had survived a disaster.

Yan Zhengming came back to his senses from his previous state of concentration and slowly lowered his sword. For a moment, he felt that his limbs weighed more than a thousand pounds and he could hardly support his own weight. His back was soaked with cold sweat, and the cold sweat beads slid down his spine all the way to his waist.

In such a cold sweat, Yan Zhengming stared at the sword in his hand and found that he suddenly had an epiphany.

If Master Mu Chun knew about this accident, he would definitely regret that he had not been able to teach the student in accordance with his aptitude for many years. If he had placed a toad with sores all over its head on the corner of the table when Young Master Yan was practicing talismans, and asked it to lick its hand every time it was distracted, Young Master Yan's cultivation would have improved by leaps and bounds.

Mu Pai spoke again at this time, his attitude was very relaxed: "I told you, you don't have to be afraid of such a little demon when I'm here."

Cheng Qian suddenly felt that the man's voice sounded familiar. He glanced at the wooden sign in his hand in confusion, but couldn't remember where he had heard it before.

He stuffed the wooden sign into the hands of the eldest senior brother who was still in shock, and then walked straight to the bear corpse with his non-aggressive wooden sword.

Yan Zhengming's cold sweat had not yet been dried by the wind, and Cheng Qian frightened him again. He saw that the daring kid actually climbed onto the bear's corpse with his hands and feet, and he quickly roared at Cheng Qian in a low voice: "What are you doing? Get off!"

Cheng Qian waved at him without looking back, and then effectively found his target - there was a "sword" hanging on the waist of the bear corpse that had not been pulled out in time. It was made from the sharp tooth of some unknown beast. The tooth was more than two feet long, with a hole at the bottom for easy holding. The top was as sharp as a weapon. It was unknown whether it was poisonous, and it was flashing a faint light.

The short Cheng Qian held the sharp tooth as if he was holding a huge monster. The cold light made his face look solemn. The middle of the sharp tooth was ominously stained with the flesh and blood of its previous owner.

Yan Zhengming and Li Yun stared in amazement as Cheng Qian took it for himself without batting an eyelid, and threw the wooden sword away out of boredom with the new.

Cheng Qian jumped down from the corpse, grabbed the sharp tooth with both hands, tried to swing it, and felt that it was long and heavy, not very handy. He thrust it forward without hesitation, and with a "puff" sound, the tip of the sword pierced into the chest of the bear corpse with thick skin and flesh without any hesitation, as smoothly and freely as cutting melons and vegetables.

Cheng Qian was basically satisfied with it - although it was very bulky, it was sharp.

Li Yun murmured, "Third Junior Brother is...what kind of person is he?"

Yan Zhengming laughed dryly, not knowing how to respond.

Although the giant snake that had just ignored them had proved that the wooden sign did have some effect, Cheng Qian was still unwilling to rely entirely on that thing for their safety.

Only when he held this heavy tooth in his hand did he feel a real sense of security.

With one of the two big monsters dead and the other leaving, there was no danger nearby for the time being. When Li Yun dripped the "holy water" on the useless stone again, the guiding toad naturally "woke up" alive and well, and continued to lead them forward innocently and happily.

Along the way, Yan Zhengming tried several times to say a few words to the wooden sign, but the wooden sign seemed to have suddenly become mute and refused to respond to any of his questions.

Until the Toad led the three people to a small hill.

Looking down from the top of the mountain, the toad was stunned at a glance. Then it made a prompt decision, repeated its old trick, fell to the ground, and pretended to be dead.

Li Yun didn't know the reason, so he chased after him and took a look as well.

It didn't matter that he took a glance. He instinctively turned around and ran, bumping into Cheng Qian who was following him, and almost causing Cheng Qian to roll down the hill with him.

Cheng Qian's lower back was hurt by the rocks, and his big fangs were almost out of his hand. He was dizzy and dazed by Li Yun's attack. Finally, he couldn't help but show off his verbal skills. While suppressing his cry of pain, he said, "Second Brother, even if you want to go with your precious toad, don't drag me along!"

Li Yun grabbed Cheng Qian's collar with both hands, his lips trembling so much that he couldn't speak. Cheng Qian then realized something was wrong. He looked up at Yan Zhengming's equally stiff back and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Yan Zhengming was standing at the place where the stone toad died. For a moment, he felt that the world was turned upside down. In the shallow valley below the hillside, there were thousands of big monsters fighting fiercely. There were birds and beasts, human heads and animals. The blood was flowing so much that the color of the ground could not be seen. Pieces of meat were flying like in a slaughterhouse. In comparison, the big bear monster and the long snake monster just now... were really just two or three small monsters.

Finally, the mute Mu Pai spoke: "Don't look at it. If this were true, the noise and the smell of blood would have spread to the other side of the mountain. Would it be necessary for you to climb so high to notice it?"

His words were like a wake-up call. The three frightened kids immediately came to their senses and looked again. They found that the scene in the valley was indeed a bit phantom.

Li Yun heaved a sigh of relief, and asked anxiously, "Senior, is this fake?"

Mu Pai smiled and said, "This valley is called Mirror Valley. It reflects the scenery of other places. It is real, but it is not here."

There was a kind of nonchalance in the man's words, as if he was used to bloodshed and fighting. After hearing these few words, the young men couldn't help but become alert.

The three of them exchanged glances without saying anything. However, the wooden sign seemed to be unaware and continued to say, "You will see Linxiantai after you pass this valley and the mountain ahead. The scene shown in the Mirror Valley is near Linxiantai. You can send me there and then go find your junior brother."

Yan Zhengming said dryly: "We are here to look for that little overbite, not to commit suicide together - who the hell are you?"

When Mu Pai heard this, a layer of white smoke rose. When the white smoke dissipated, the image of their master with a long neck and a small head appeared before their eyes, as if Mu Chun Zhenren was present in person.

Who would have thought that when Yan Zhengming saw the familiar old weasel, he not only had no good expression, but directly threw the wooden sign in his hand to the ground, pointed his sword at it and said: "How dare you pretend to be my master!"

The "Master" was not angry at all when he was scolded so rudely. Instead, he smiled with his eyes curved. Then he readily changed himself and turned into a blurry black shadow, like a thin and tall mushroom with an umbrella on top.

"Then I won't change your master - but I was carved by your master himself," the "mushroom" said amiably, "Xiao Zhengming, you don't trust me, do you not trust your master either?"

Yan Zhengming hesitated, and "Mushroom" continued, "Besides, didn't Xiaojun's guiding toad lead you here? That means Xiaoyuan is also ahead. Anyway, he is on the way, right?"

Yan Zhengming looked down at the direction that Toad had pointed before he died, and after thinking for a moment, he thought, "Now that we've come this far, it would be ridiculous to back out. What if those clowns are just ahead?"

Out of absolute trust in Master Mu Chun, Yan Zhengming quickly put down the sword in his hand and the doubts in his heart, leaned over to pick up the wooden sign, and said impatiently: "Then you lead the way."

The wooden sign led them all the way down to the Mirror Valley. The three of them knew that everything around them was a mirage, but passing through the lifelike claws of monsters was still an indescribable torture. The road through the valley seemed particularly long. After this battle, Cheng Qian felt that the legends of evil spirits such as "Deserted Village in Night" and "Heart-Diggering Old Ghost" would probably not shake him at all in the future.

Cheng Qian couldn't help but ask, "What on earth is going on with them?"

The wooden plaque said calmly, "A celestial demon is about to descend upon the world and seize the power of the demon king. The demon cultivators do not follow the rules of heaven, earth, the emperor, parents, and teachers. Once the demon king becomes weak, the demons will surely take the opportunity to rebel and seize the throne."

Cheng Qian heard this and thought to himself, "How can this be possible?"

However, he thought of the rude, deceitful Zi Peng Zhenren, and the giant snake demon in the forest who killed the bear and took the demon pill without saying a word. He felt that the demon cultivators were indeed a group of beasts, with no rules or reason at all. From this point of view, it seemed that it was understandable for them to rebel for no reason.

Yan Zhengming asked, "Since demon cultivators have always had this custom, then what are you doing at Linxiantai? Watching the fun?"

This time, the "mushroom" in the wooden sign became serious and said, "It is a bad omen to see blood when a demon is born. If we let them fight each other, I am afraid that the demon will be cruel and murderous when it is born, and it will become a disaster for Fuyao Mountain in the future. I must go and stop it before this disaster happens."

Yan Zhengming was confused and asked, "What do you mean?"

Mu Pai seemed not to have heard his question and changed the subject rudely, saying, "There is movement under the bridge ahead. The person you are looking for should be there."

There is a depression deep in Jingzhao Valley, which is full of silt. It may have been a river in the past. Although the river dried up later, a bridge carved with animal heads was still preserved.

There were piers and several bridge holes under the bridge. Cheng Qian saw at a glance a few skinny little demons with rat-like faces and shriveled bodies near the bridge holes. They all had a pointed mouth, whiskers on their cheeks, and their long thin tails were hanging behind them. It was obvious without asking that they were a group of little rat spirits.

At this time, no one was interested in the wooden sign's evasive remarks. A rat spirit was looking around, while several other rats were busy in the bridge hole. The one surrounded by them was none other than their fellow apprentice Han Yuan!

Han Yuan had become a mud monkey, struggling desperately. Two big rat spirits were holding him down, and another one was smearing handfuls of mud on him with a pair of short claws. A large fire had been set up next to him - it was clear that they wanted to burn Han Yuan into a "beggar"!

Justice is cyclical and retribution is inevitable. That little beggar has killed countless innocent chickens and finally he will turn into a handful of burnt soil.

However, this time, the wooden sign did not hide the figures of the three brothers on purpose. Han Yuan and the big rat monsters not far away had already seen them.

Han Yuan was almost crying with joy. He howled as if relieved from a great burden, "Help, Brother—Help—Let me go, you big rats! I tell you, my brother can spray clouds and mist, hit the cows from a distance, and the sky will be struck by lightning... I will chop you into a plate of dead rats that are burnt on the outside and tender on the inside!"

The three brothers who were said to be struck by lightning were speechless.

Yan Zhengming looked at the inch-thick mud on Han Yuan's body and showed an expression of pain in his back teeth: "I think we should let them roast this guy."

Before he finished speaking, the rat who was on the lookout had already pounced forward. Having witnessed the battle between bears and snakes and the mutiny of thousands of monsters, this rat, which was only as tall as a man and had a wretched appearance, could no longer arouse fear in a few people. Yan Zhengming stuffed the wooden sign into Li Yun's arms and rushed forward with his sword in hand.

The rat demon stretched out its claws to scratch, and Yan Zhengming blocked it with his sword. The rat's nails hit the big gem on the side of the sword. The gem did not move at all, but the rat demon's nails split it!

The rat demon screamed after its nails were split, and angrily opened its sharp mouth to bite Yan Zhengming's sword. Yan Zhengming twisted his elbow and hit its nose, causing the rat demon to groan and fall to the side, falling at the feet of Cheng Qian who had been waiting there.

Cheng Qian was only proficient in one "starting move" now, so he had already prepared his posture and stared at the battle situation without blinking. The big rat was knocked unconscious by Yan Zhengming's elbow, and fell into his sharp teeth with stars in his eyes. The angle was so sharp that it seemed as if it was delivered to his sharp teeth.

Cheng Qian instinctively grabbed the sharp teeth with both hands and sent out the prepared opening move -

This hero among rats was sent to heaven in the west.

He didn't expect that he would succeed in his attack. While he was still in a daze, the other three mice saw that the matter could not be resolved peacefully, so they abandoned Han Yuan and rushed towards them in three directions.

I plan to fight to the death with these people who are trying to steal my dinner.