Exorcism

Mu Xingqiu was crossing the river with a lot on his mind when he was stopped for no apparent reason. He turned around and saw a young man of about sixteen or seventeen years old, wrapped in a thick fur coat, holding an oil lamp in his right hand, which was obviously a Taoist magic weapon, staring at him fiercely.

"Are you Zuo Liuying?" The young man put the oil lamp on the snow, took off the bag on his back and threw it on the ground, then reached out and grasped the handle of the knife that was exposed from the fur coat.

This man appeared more abruptly than the Taoist ancestor. Although the oil lamp was a magic weapon, it was not used as it should be. It was purely used for lighting. Seeing that Mu Xingqiu was silent, the young man slowly pulled out the short knife from his waist. It was a good knife with a series of talisman patterns engraved on both sides of the blade, but the magic power had been exhausted, leaving only a decorative function.

On the snow behind the young man, deep footprints led all the way to the invisible distance. He really walked step by step in the river.

"I'm not." Mu Xingqiu shook his head and started to leave. The young man was an ordinary mortal. Perhaps he was too ignorant or mentally handicapped to come to Duanliu City to challenge Zuo Liuying. Mu Xingqiu didn't want to get involved.

The young man was a little disappointed. He lowered his blade and pointed at the frozen city in the dark. "Isn't this Duanliu City?"

"Yes." Mu Xingqiu said as he walked.

The young man looked at the oil lamp and bag on the ground, picked up the knife and chased after him, "Wait."

Mu Xingqiu stopped and turned around, patiently saying: "This is Duanliu City, I'm not Zuo Liuying, and he's not here. If you want to fight him, come back in a few months."

"Who are you?" The young man said aggressively.

"It has nothing to do with you." Mu Xingqiu turned around and was about to leave again.

The young man quickened his pace and ran up, blocking Mu Xingqiu, holding a sword in his hand, "I heard that Zuo Liuying is an old monster, hundreds of years old, but looks like a teenager. He knows magic, is not afraid of the cold in winter, and is not afraid of the heat in summer - you look like him." It was the middle of winter, the river was frozen, and Mu Xingqiu was still wearing a single layer of clothes, and the cloth shoes on his feet had several cracks, which did look a bit strange. Mu Xingqiu said coldly: "If I were Zuo Liuying, I could kill you without even moving a finger, so why hide your identity?"

"Yes, why do you want to hide your identity? I asked you who you are, but you didn't tell me. Everyone says Zuo Liuying is very powerful, but I don't believe it. Even if he really has three heads and six arms, I'm not afraid. At most, I will die, and I will always take revenge."

This person is not only ignorant, but also very arrogant. Mu Xingqiu couldn't help but snort. He didn't even use talismans and magic power. He raised his foot and passed by the young man. The young man couldn't even keep up with his eyes, let alone the knife in his hand. His legs suddenly softened for some reason and he almost fell to the ground.

Mu Xingqiu strode forward. When he was in Jiangnan, he had seen similar delusional people: because they lived in scattered places and had never seen real Taoist priests, they were skeptical of rumors and thought that the Five Elements Disaster more than two years ago was a natural disaster and Kun Dun didn't exist at all.

Most of the fools turn a deaf ear to danger and never leave their hometown. This young man knows Zuo Liuying and Duanliu City, and he can still walk step by step. He is a fool among fools.

Mu Xingqiu walked a distance and turned around to take a look. The young man probably believed that he was not Zuo Liuying. He picked up the bag and oil lamp on the ground and walked towards Duanliu City on the west bank. He had no magic power and it was difficult to walk in the thick ice and snow. He walked as slowly as a snail for a short distance of more than a mile.

Mu Xingqiu suddenly felt that he and the young man were both fools. The young man was holding a knife to challenge Zuo Liuying. Wasn’t his strength so small in front of Kun Dun?

The young man was walking with his head down, facing the wind, when he suddenly found someone blocking his way a few steps ahead. He was startled, threw away the oil lamp and bag, and drew his sword again, "I knew you were Zuo Liuying. You found a weapon and dared to fight me?"

"My name is Mu Xingqiu. I want to ask what grudge you have against Zuo Liuying?"

The young man opened his eyes wide, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight, "You...you are Mu Xingqiu?"

"You recognize me?" Mu Xingqiu was also surprised. This young man seemed to be an ignorant person from a remote mountain village, but he knew the names of Zuo Liuying, Duanliu and Mu Xingqiu.

The young man shook his head, "I don't know you, I just heard of the name 'Mu Xingqiu' - impossible, it must be a homonym, but you are really not Zuo Liuying?"

"I have my own name, why should I pretend to be him?"

The young man seemed to believe it, but he still put away his single knife, "What a coincidence, my surname is also Mu, the envy of Mu, the same as you, right? My name is Mu Lie, it's funny to say that our Mu family has a great-grandfather named Mu Xingqiu... You won't deliberately make up a name to take advantage of me?"

"I don't know you at all."

"That's true." Mu Lie is very simple. Once he believes that Mu Xingqiu is not Zuo Liuying, and he has the same surname, his attitude immediately becomes friendly. He puts on his bag and picks up the oil lamp, "Why are you in Duanliu City? I passed a village three days ago. The people there said that no one lived in the city and it was occupied by a group of monsters that looked like humans and monsters, so I thought you were Zuo Liuying when I saw you."

"I just came here not long ago, and you haven't told me what grudge you have with Zuo Liuying."

"Is your brother a Yuanying?" Mu Xingqiu understood immediately.

"I don't know what a Nascent Soul is, but a red circle-shaped mark appeared on his forehead a few days after he was born. No matter what my brother is, Zuo Liuying can't take him away." Mu Lie said bitterly.

"Are you sure it was Zuo Liuying who took him away?" Mu Xingqiu felt that with Zuo Liuying's ability, taking away a baby would not be noticed by mortals.

"You still need to ask? Isn't Zuo Liuying going to hold some Nascent Soul Conference in Duanliu City? All the Nascent Souls in the world are here, and my brother is no exception. In the past two years, I have traveled to many places, almost everywhere People familiar with the matter say that Zuo Liuying and a guy named Kun Chao are the masterminds of the whole thing. Kun Chao is nowhere to be found, and Zuo Liuying... isn't he in the city? Everyone says this is his city."

"Not here, but he will definitely show up at the Nascent Soul Conference on July 7th next year?"

"Next year? Not this year?"

"What day is today?"

"The ninth day of the first lunar month."

Mu Xingqiu forgot all about the time, "It's this year, there are still seven months."

"Okay, I will wait for him here. When Zuo Liuying comes, I will be the first to challenge him."

Mu Xingqiu couldn't help but snorted again, "Do you know that you are sending yourself to death?"

Mu Lie's face that was red from the cold showed some determination, "I know that my brother is still alive and that he was snatched away by bad people and is probably being tortured. Do I just treat it as if nothing is wrong? My father was there before he was born. He passed away. My mother misses her brother and cries every day - I have to do something. Even if I die, I will tell Zuo Liuying: Don't just rob other people's children. He has parents and relatives. "

Mu Lie's face turned even redder and he looked at Duanliu City under the starlight. "Our Mu family has such a temper. Your surname is Mu, but you are not from our Mu family. Having said that, you come to Duanliu City to do what you want." What?"

Mu Xingqiu was stunned. In fact, he was about to leave here, worried that his presence would bring another misfortune to Qin Lingshuang.

"Do you have a relative who has been arrested? I have seen many people like us, but they dare not come to look for relatives. They always say, 'Just treat him as dead.' I am here, and so are you. You are even worse than me. Good morning, I see you have good skills, we can challenge Zuo Liuying together," Mu Lie said excitedly.

Mu Xingqiu looked to the west, his eyes seemed to penetrate through Duanliu City, and he saw Qing Lingshuang still standing there in a daze, "No, I want to leave, and maybe I will come back later."

"Oh." Mu Lie looked very disappointed, and suddenly held the handle of the knife again, "There are people coming out of the city, quite a few...it's those monsters!"

Mu Lie pulled out the knife, and Mu Xingqiu waved his hand, "They are not bad people."

"Do you recognize these...guys?"

"Um."

Mu Lie sheathed the knife again, still maintaining full vigilance.

Yin Buchen came running with a group of monkeys, smiling all over his face. As soon as he saw Mu Lie, his smile immediately disappeared, and his expression became more alert, "Who is he? When did he appear? What are you doing here? Who sent him?"

"Ignore him, what are you doing here?" Mu Xingqiu asked.

Yin Buchen put on a smile again, "I thought Dao Zun was far away, okay. That's right, I have an idea, maybe I can defeat Zuo Liuying, but I need Dao Zun's help."

"Can you defeat Zuo Liuying?" Mu Lie shouted in surprise. He didn't see that Yin Buchen was a monster. He felt that this man was thin and pale and did not look like a powerful person.

Yin Buchen pretended not to hear, without even glancing at him, "It's just these monkeys..."

"Monkey? What a strange name." Mu Lie shook his head. Although there were many of these monsters, they were all very short. He could fight ten of them alone.

Yin Buchen couldn't bear it any longer. He stretched out his hand and five monkeys rushed towards Mu Lie like arrows. Anyway, Tao Zun hadn't formally introduced him yet. He had to get rid of the annoying human first. The worst he could do was get scolded afterwards.

Mu Xingqiu stretched out his arm to block the attack, and the five monkeys seemed to have hit a wall. They turned over and fell, screaming and running back to Yin Buchen.

Mu Lie didn't see clearly and only thought these monsters were ridiculous, but Yin Buchen saw them clearly. Mu Xingqiu used the Patriarch Tower to write a talisman to protect Mu Lie's safety.

Yin Buchen didn't dare to take action anymore, and said with a flattering smile: "The earth monkeys are actually very useful. Zuo Liuying learned from them the ignorant state of the first demon. No matter what the purpose is, it leaves a loophole, but this loophole can only be used by the illusion of mind." ”

Mu Lie didn't understand a word, but Mu Xingqiu understood it. He looked to the west again and knew whose idea it was, "I have forgotten the illusion of mind and heart."

"What Taoist Master forgot was the specific method, not the illusion of mind. Didn't you once notice everyone's emotions? That's illusion."

This was not a direct attempt to stay, Qin Lingshuang would never do such a thing, but she just showed a little bit of reluctance, and Mu Xingqiu couldn't refuse, and the memory really held him tightly.

"All right."

Yin Buchen rubbed his hands in excitement, "That's great, Taoist Master, please come back with me."

"I'll stay here." Mu Xingqiu threw the Patriarch's Tower on the ground. The tower grew in the wind. In an instant, it grew to more than ten feet high. It was the same as the two towers transformed from the large bright mirror on the lake in the west of the city. The mirror doors face each other far away.