There are fairy mountains in the Central Plains, towering into the clouds, with snow on the top, lush vegetation at the foot of the mountain, and clouds and rain on the hillsides coming and going at will. If people walk among them, they can see spring, summer, autumn and winter within a few steps.

The name of this mountain is "Shizhou Mountain". It has one more state than Jiuzhou. Although it is in the human world, it does not seem like the human world.

There is a saying among the people that "eight out of ten of the world's prosperity are in ten states."

Shizhou Mountain is the best in the world, with beautiful scenery, but unfortunately it is a huge spiritual pool. The spiritual energy of the surrounding mountains and rivers is continuously sucked into the mountain, and not a single bit leaks out. The cultivators in it are not only unable to practice, but will be constantly robbed of their pure energy by the mountain. It is precisely because of this that Shizhou Mountain has been ownerless. Later, several powerful people joined forces to build a "Locking Immortal Platform" on the top of the mountain, adding countless restrictions of all sizes to detain all kinds of vicious people.

There are thirty-six Qiankun Dragon Locks on the Locking Immortal Platform. Even if the Ten Thousand Demons are bound in them, they cannot escape.

Countless demons have been slain here since the day this place was established, and the murderous aura lingers all year round. There always seems to be a layer of blood light that cannot be wiped off, surrounding it not far away, as if the souls of those who died deservingly or unjustly throughout the past and present are lingering around for a long time, watching the passing world blankly from a distance of life and death.

When Cheng Qian woke up, he didn't know how much time had passed. He only felt a needle-like pain on his back, and he almost couldn't get up at first.

Having reached this level of cultivation, Cheng Qian has not felt the pain of physical injuries for a long time. He took a deep breath, struggled slightly, and found that his hands and feet were not locked. He could even walk inside the Dragon Lock, but his true energy was all trapped in his qi sea, and his body felt as heavy as that of an ordinary person.

The Frost Blade Sword had naturally been taken away, and Cheng Qian was now unarmed and powerless.

He did not panic, but stayed there quietly for a moment, then looked up and surveyed his surroundings. He saw an empty hall with four closed doors. People inside could see the murals of slaying demons and eliminating evil around them with the faint light from the thirty-six dragon-trapping locks. It looked gloomy and eerie, very much like the legendary Locking Immortal Platform.

The numbness and soreness on his waist caused by the bug's attack had not yet faded away. When Cheng Qian lowered his head, he saw blood on his chest. He straightened his clothes. He didn't know how long it had been since he felt so miserable.

In fact, Cheng Qian knew that if it weren't for the puppet talisman tied on him by the senior brother, he would definitely not be able to defeat the old man. But as the great elder of Xuanwu Hall, he actually lost face and attacked a junior after accidentally losing a battle, and did not dare to confront him head-on again, which made Cheng Qian feel both sad and ridiculous.

Some people have been in a high position for too long, and they have put themselves in a position of superiority and cannot tolerate any decline. Over time, they will probably be scared to death and have a lot of inner demons.

But Cheng Qian didn't quite understand why the old man had to travel thousands of miles to tie him up and bring him to the so-called "Lock Immortal Platform". Wouldn't it be cleaner to just kill him directly?

He pondered it for a while, but couldn't figure it out, so he simply put it aside.

Anyway, he came with bad intentions.

Cheng Qian was not afraid of being locked up here - he didn't care if he was killed or cut, he was just worried about his senior brother. Cheng Qian took Li Yun's words to heart and kept thinking about them. It was dangerous for a sword cultivator to have a demon in his heart. He couldn't imagine how his senior brother would feel when he felt that the puppet talisman was broken and couldn't find him.

So Cheng Qian put aside all distracting thoughts, sat down and focused, trying hard to mobilize his internal energy, and repeatedly attacked the restrictions around his body.

Just as he was struggling to the death with the Qiankun Dragon Lock, he suddenly heard someone behind him say, "Hey, young man, don't waste your energy. If I were you, I would lie down and have a good sleep right now."

Cheng Qian turned around with some difficulty and saw a man standing ten feet away from him. He didn't know how he got in, but he was walking around the dragon lock out of boredom. The man was skinny, short, and a little hunched over, looking very wretched. His face was so black with beard and stains that it was indistinguishable from each other, only the whites of his eyes were clean and stood out from the crowd.

Although Cheng Qian himself was not particularly fond of cleanliness, he was still shocked by this man's slovenliness - he had not seen a monk who made himself so dirty in many years.

This man was wearing tattered clothes and kept scratching his ears and cheeks, making others feel itchy all over... If a monk had lice on his body, he would at least be a lice spirit, right?

The man paused beside the Dragon Lock like a big monkey, looked at Cheng Qian with a smile, and said mysteriously: "Don't you want to sleep? Then let's chat - boy, how many people are left in your Fuyao Sect now?"

Cheng Qian was stunned. Although this man looked crazy, he could come and go freely in such a heavily guarded place, and he even revealed his origins. He must be very powerful.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked cautiously, "What's your name, Senior?"

"Tsk, don't call me senior. I don't like it. Aren't you all like wild monkeys in the mountains, always disrespectful to your elders?" The man waved his hand and replied, "Don't be polite to me. My name is Ji Qianli."

Cheng Qian witnessed his graceful squatting posture and felt that these monkeys from his sect were being treated unfairly.

Moreover, the name "Qian Qian Li" doesn't sound like a real name at all.

The monk who called himself Ji Qianli grinned at him, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "I heard that you beat that old ghost Yang Decheng so hard that his teeth were knocked out of his hands, and made him so angry that he was embarrassed? You have a promising future, boy!"

Cheng Qian was puzzled and asked, "Who is Yang Decheng?"

Ji Qianli: "It's the big thug that Bian Xu hired. That old ghost has been very arrogant in recent years. It's time for someone to deal with him. Alas, he was not like this when he was young. The older he gets, the worse he becomes. He's just a rising star."

This person's words and deeds seemed to be very familiar with Xuanwu Hall. Cheng Qian couldn't help but be a little defensive and said indifferently: "A person who can be forced into a bastard by a mere ascendant, could it be that he is actually a saint?"

Ji Qianli scratched the back of his neck, waved his hands awkwardly and said, "You are still young, I can't explain this to you clearly."

Cheng Qian looked up to the sky, and while he was persevering in using his trapped true energy to attack the restrictions around him, he said slowly: "If a mortal lived to my age, he would have five generations living under one roof."

Ji Qianli smiled and said, "You have extraordinary talent right now, and your realm is improving by leaps and bounds. You have neither married nor accepted any disciples. Even if you live to be a thousand or ten thousand years old, you are still a young man. One day, you find that everyone in the world, regardless of gender, age or status, calls you "senior" respectfully, and the cultivators flying around with swords in front of you call you "ancestor". Others think that your cultivation is unattainable, but you know that you are becoming more and more incapable and further away from ascending... That's what it means to be old."

Cheng Qian was stunned for a moment, then turned to meet the old madman's eyes.

Only then did he realize that the old madman's eyes were extremely dark, like the bottomless abyss behind the Fuyao Mountain.

"We are different from ordinary people." Ji Qianli said, "Ordinary people know they will die from the moment they are born. After a hundred or eighty years, the poor and the rich, the good and the bad, all have the same destination. Even if the heart drifts far away, it will always have such a destination."

Cheng Qian couldn't help but ask, "Can death be considered a destination?"

Ji Qianli burst into laughter, dancing with joy, and said, "You kid... tell me, if even death can't be considered a destination in this world, what else can be considered? But we don't even have this destination, so what is the Tao? The Tao is like a carrot hanging in front of a donkey's face. We chase it every day, but the more powerful you are, the higher your realm, the further you find yourself from that carrot. You have called the wind and rain for a lifetime, and have been called a great immortal by mortals for a lifetime, but in the end you turn into a handful of dust like a mortal, and grass grows on your grave... Tsk, isn't a thousand years of pursuit a joke?"

When Ji Qianli said this, the smile on his face suddenly turned cold. He sighed, "Whether it's Yang Decheng, Bai Ji, or Tang Yao... When I first met these people, they were also young and energetic, with a firm heart and a clear mind. They had their own ways of doing things and their own ways of not doing things, just like you are now."

What kind of couple are Bai Ji and Tang Yao?

Cheng Qian's face tightened when he heard this, and he asked stiffly, "Senior, are you flattering me?"

Ji Qianli shook his head and lowered his voice: "A hundred years ago, Tang Yao and Bai Ji joined forces to force Gu Yanxue to death. Less than five years later, Bai Ji died of old age. The master of the West Palace had ashes and a withered body when he died. He smelled foul and could not speak. Most of the monks were used to being clean and did not want to get close to him. As for Tang Yao..."

"The people in Mulan Mountain are always cold and indifferent, except for the struggle for power. Thirty years ago, Mulan Mountain changed overnight. Tang Yao was imprisoned in the back mountain by his own junior brother, claiming to be in seclusion. He has disappeared in recent years, and I think he is no longer alive."

"It's only been a hundred years..." Ji Qianli stretched his body and sighed, "He was a hero of the time, but where is he now?"

Cheng Qiansi had never had any sympathy, and was completely unmoved after hearing this. She just said coldly, "He deserves it. He deserves to die."

"You deserve it..." Ji Qianli repeated, shaking his head, "You young people always think highly of yourselves. Anyone who can reach the level of a great power must have a strong will that is different from ordinary people. It's just... Alas, that's all."

After the old beggar finished speaking, he suddenly jumped up from the ground and said to Cheng Qian, "Someone is coming soon. I have to go. Don't worry. Now that we are at the Immortal Locking Platform, someone will naturally rescue you."

who?

Cheng Qian’s first reaction was his fellow brothers. Perhaps passers-by like Zhuang Nanxi would also say a few words for him, but other than that... who else would want to save him?

Before he could open his mouth to ask, Ji Qianli's expression suddenly changed again, and he said in a deep voice: "I don't know whether you did it on purpose or you are just unlucky, but you have stood out too much, even if 'they' saved you, they may not have good intentions... Boy, remember, if you want to live a long life, you need to have some means, but not too many means. Nowadays, the world cannot tolerate people with too many means - there are precedents like Tong Ru and Gu Yanxue, if you don't want to follow in their footsteps, you should be more careful."

Cheng Qian hurriedly said: "Wait... Senior!"

Ji Qianli turned a deaf ear to him and disappeared after a few rises and falls.

This person's actions were perverse, but his words seemed to have other meanings. Cheng Qian's brows gradually furrowed - what did he mean by "a lesson learned from the past experiences of Tong Ru, Gu Yanxue and others"?

Could it be possible that there is some connection between the master's possession of a demon and the death of Island Master Gu?

Before he could figure out what was going on, the four doors of the hall suddenly banged open, and the sudden influx of light blinded Cheng Qian for a moment. A group of people, both familiar and unfamiliar, strode in, making a grand scene.

The leader of Xuanwu Hall was not the great elder Yang Decheng, but a middle-aged monk with a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes. Cheng Qian guessed at first sight that this man was probably Xuanwu Hall Master Bian Xu.

At the other end, Zhuang Nanxi and a middle-aged man with a solemn expression hurried in. They were standing in opposition to the man from Xuanwu Hall, one black and one white. Among this group of people, Cheng Qian saw several familiar faces at a glance - they were all the disciples of Baihu Villa whom he rescued from Zhaoyang Demon City that day.

Zhuang Nanxi glanced at Cheng Qian from a distance, as if to reassure him.

In addition to these two sects, there were many scattered monks who came to join in the fun, and even Tang Zhen, who had already walked far away, mixed in with them.

Sitting on the Immortal Locking Platform under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Cheng Qian suddenly felt a little strangely honored. Thinking back to the time on Qinglong Island, he was still a small casual cultivator who had not yet concentrated his mind. He would rely on brute force to fight with others all day long. He watched the powerful people on the island fighting each other, and he didn't even have the qualifications to speak out. He could only hide everywhere in fear like a fragile egg under an overturned nest.

It has only been a hundred years now. How could he have deserved to enjoy the treatment of Island Master Gu?

Yang Decheng seemed to be about to speak, but the square-faced monk next to him raised his hand to stop him from speaking.

That person took the lead and said, "I am Xuanwu Hall Master Bian Xu. My fellow Taoist, Elder Yang from my school said that you used a special technique to hide your cultivation. Your true identity is a demon cultivator. You also killed my child. Originally, the hatred of killing my son was irreconcilable, but my nephew Zhuang from White Tiger Villa did his best to defend you. Although I am in great pain at the loss of my son, I do not want to hurt innocent people. That is why I put you on the Immortal Locking Platform. In front of all the famous people in the world, I want to ask you a question: What is your connection with the Southern Xinjiang Demon Dragon? Did my son Bian Xiaohui die at your hands?"

Bian Xu was ranked among the four saints, and was indeed more humane than the elders under his tutelage. Even though his eyes were red from the grief of losing his son, he did not lose his composure.

Cheng Qian glanced at Yang Decheng, who had a gloomy look, and replied, "I have already explained the whole story clearly. On the contrary, your elder is very interesting. He seems to think that those who have a higher level of cultivation than him are all from the devil's way. I am curious about this. Hall Master, I wonder who is more powerful between you and your elder?"

Yang Decheng gritted his teeth and said, "Master, don't listen to him. This little beast has a sharp tongue."

Yang Decheng actually wanted to kill Cheng Qian, a junior who slapped him in the face in public, on the spot, so that he could turn around and push the death of Bian Xiaohui, that good-for-nothing, onto him and put an end to it all.

But they never expected that Zhuang Nanxi would interfere and disrupt the situation. While they were fighting fiercely, that guy sent a letter to the disciples of the surrounding White Tiger Villa, and in a blink of an eye, he attracted a large group of disciples from the nearby villas - among them there was even an elder of the White Tiger Villa who rushed over after hearing the news.

If he was just an "unknown casual cultivator", then his life or death could be dealt with by him at will, but the White Tiger Villa was an old friend, and it was not convenient to break up in public. A large group of White Tiger Villa disciples who were rescued by Cheng Qian tried their best to mediate, making the matter even more complicated. This led to the case being brought to the Locking Immortal Platform, which attracted a group of prominent cultivators.

Bian Xu remained calm and asked, "Since you deny that you are a member of the Demonic Path, then I would like to ask about your master."

The Fuyao Sect has always been plagued by lawsuits, so Cheng Qian certainly couldn't leave the sect, so he replied, "He's just an unknown cultivator."

Yang Decheng angrily said: "Bullshit!"

Bian Xu frowned: "I tried to be nice to you, why do you keep refusing to cooperate? Where did you get the Qi from? Was it born with you?"

Cheng Qian placed his hands on his knees and said with a half-smile, "Qinglong Island Lecture Hall - if you ask again, I can tell you that I was there when Bai Ji and Tang Yao forced the Qinglong Island Master to death because of a 'false accusation'. Times have changed, and now the old dog raised by Island Master Bian is just as majestic as it was back then."

As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar at the scene. There were many different opinions about the incident on Qinglong Island. No one could figure out whether Gu Yanxue died unjustly or deserved it. However, he and Bian Xu were both among the Four Saints, and it was particularly subtle for Cheng Qian to bring this up in such an occasion.

Someone in the Xuanwu Hall shouted angrily: "How outrageous!"

Zhuang Nanxi said hurriedly, "There are indeed experts among the people. Even if this senior is from Qinglong Island, so what? Has the matter of the Qinglong Island owner's obsession been concluded? Moreover, considering this senior's age, he might not have entered the Qi Gate when the Island Master Gu died. Don't you think it's too hasty, Elder Yang?"

Yang Decheng sneered, "Nephew Zhuang, are you deceived by him for just a small favor? Maybe you are trapped in Zhaoyang City because of his conspiracy!"

Tang Zhen, who had been watching from the sidelines, said lazily, "He entered Zhaoyang City to find something for me. Saving people was just a matter of convenience. What conspiracy or conspiracy... Some people should not be so self-indulgent."

Yang Zhengde suddenly turned around and glared at Tang Zhen fiercely: "Who are you?"

Tang Zhen looked at him expressionlessly for a moment, then said, "You are a nobody, but Elder Yang. I see that your forehead is dark, and there seem to be dark red lines between your eyebrows. It seems that you have a demon in your heart, and it is not easy to practice. I advise you to avoid trouble and pay more attention to your health."

Yang Decheng: "You..."

He had just said a word when Tang Zhen, who looked like a consumptive patient, started coughing, holding his chest. Liu Lang beside him hurriedly supported him and patted his back, as if this frail cultivator was going to be scared to death by the bullying Elder Yang in the next moment.

Bian Xu frowned and said, "Decheng, don't bother with the youngsters."

Yang Decheng was forced to look away, but resentment was still on his face. He immediately sent a look to the Xuanwu Hall disciples behind him. Immediately, a disciple who was good at flattering others understood and spoke for him: "Hall Master, I do know a way to identify the demons even if they conceal their blood."

Zhuang Nanxi and the elder of White Tiger Villa beside him looked at each other, and both of them had an ominous premonition.

Sure enough, the disciple continued, "The skills can be disguised, and the externalized Yuanshen can also be disguised, but as long as you cut open its internal organs and see where its Yuanshen is, it will be clear at a glance whether it is a demon or not."

Before he finished speaking, the elder of the White Tiger Villa shouted, "Ridiculous! Why don't you cut open his chest and see whether the heart inside is black or red? Master Bian, your disciples are speaking rudely like this, and you don't care?"

Bian Xu stretched out his hand and pinched his eyebrows.

Yang Decheng retorted, "We are only cutting open his internal organs, not killing him. There are so many Taoist friends on this Immortal Locking Platform, are you afraid of someone doing something? If he is really not a demon, my Xuanwu Hall will naturally offer him elixirs, and I guarantee that he will be alive and kicking again in no time!"

Whether Yang Decheng was narrow-minded or self-deceiving, he really didn't frame Cheng Qian on purpose. He believed from the bottom of his heart that Cheng Qian was indeed a demon cultivator. He said this with confidence: "Don't you think he dares?"

Zhuang Nanxi: "Master, there has never been such a thing on the Immortal Locking Platform. I absolutely do not believe that Senior Cheng is involved with the demon cultivators. Even if we really want to check the inner palace, we will not find anything. If it gets out, it will not sound good and will bring shame to Xuanwu Hall."

The Xuanwu Hall disciple who came up with the bad idea said, "Don't worry about this. My Xuanwu Hall is upright and honest. If we are really wrong, we will definitely take responsibility and apologize to the world!"

The elder of White Tiger Villa could no longer bear it and said, "Master Bian..."

Yang Decheng interrupted him forcefully and said, "Not daring means you feel guilty!"

Cheng Qian: “…”

Before he, a victim, could express his opinion, the two sides were already at loggerheads.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from outside the Locking Immortals Hall: "Guilty? I want to see who dares to hurt him!"

Before he finished speaking, a man carrying a sword rushed in alone. Before he arrived, the intimidating sword intent had already swept across the hall.

Cheng Qian's expression finally changed.