The main business of the Lingshan Talismonger Sect was subduing demons and eliminating monsters, so entry-level disciples naturally had to be familiar with the world’s strange beasts and demons.

Murals depicting these strange beasts and demons were carved inside the stone caves of Lingshan, where they practiced in seclusion.

Years ago, when Master Tang Youshu was dying, he had brought Xiaoxiao to practice in seclusion together, activating time reversal. During that time, Xiaoxiao had seen illustrations of the Kaiming Beast from the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” on the stone cave murals of Lingshan.

This Kaiming Beast was enormous, shaped like a tiger but with nine heads.

This strange beast was said to be the divine beast guarding the heavenly gates of Kunlun Mountain, with nine heads of different sizes, all with human faces, making petty thieves who fantasized about invading the Kunlun sacred land flee in terror upon hearing of it.

Regarding this beast’s description, the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” only had a few brief lines. However, the text on the stone wall emphasized that if bitten by it, before long, the victim’s head would grow nine flesh tumors of different sizes, just like the Kaiming Beast.

Most terrifying of all, once the nine heads were fully grown, the bitten person would frantically tear apart their intestines and die miserably.

Thinking of this, Xiaoxiao asked again: “May I ask, sir, why were you bitten by the Kaiming Beast?”

The old man’s sudden exposure of the back of his head was not to gain pity or sympathy.

Seeing that among these medical seekers, only Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie were young people, he harbored thoughts of bullying the young, deliberately showing the back of his head to frighten away this young girl.

But he never expected that the other group would suddenly interfere, not only revealing the secret of his being bitten by the Kaiming Beast, but also mocking that his seeking treatment was futile.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but look at the hooked-nose man with resentment.

However, the other side also had many people and looked difficult to deal with, so the old man decided to deal with the young girl first.

After Xiaoxiao asked this question, the old man resentfully put his hat back on and said sinisterly: “Miss, I only ask one thing—will you yield this opportunity to me?”

Xiaoxiao blinked, and before she could speak, Wei Jie in front of her said lazily: “The Kaiming Beast of Kunlun Mountain would never harm people without cause. A bold fellow who dares to storm the heavenly gates alone—why would he need a young girl’s sympathetic concession?”

Rather than saying this old man was ill, it would be better to say he had committed sins!

The Kaiming Beast was a spiritual creature that wouldn’t actively harm people easily—who knew what deeds this old man had done to the Kaiming Beast to end up like this?

Looking at his reputation, then thinking of their hunting weapon—the hook claws—everything was self-evident!

Hearing these words, the old man knew these two young people had no intention of yielding. It seemed that the two thorns his subordinates mentioned attacking during the day should be these two…

He cast a murderous glance at the people beside him.

Since these young people were so tactless, they shouldn’t blame him for being impolite.

Tonight, he was determined to claim this sole consultation opportunity!

The moment the old man cast his glance, his two attendants suddenly threw out iron hooks connected to chains, attacking Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie.

Those iron hooks were generally used by hunters to catch roe deer or elk, but they looked much larger than hooks for catching deer.

These were the same type as the hook claws Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie had found on the two tracking men during the day.

It seemed the old man was behind the daytime kidnapping of lantern buyers!

When the iron hooks attacked, they could feel spiritual power enhancing the hooks, and by lamplight, Xiaoxiao noticed the hooks seemed stained with strangely colored water marks, emitting a pungent smell.

Just as Wei Jie said, they were all hunters!

If she wasn’t mistaken, what they hunted wasn’t ordinary mountain beasts, but some ancient, strange beasts and fierce demons, so those hooks were all soaked in deadly poison.

The emperors and nobles of this world mostly needed the skin, flesh, and bones of rare beasts to strengthen their bodies and extend their lives. So there were special hunters who captured rare beasts for those in need. That pair of iron hooks looked ancient, and who knew how many rare beasts had died under these hooks?

At this instant, Xiaoxiao suddenly recalled that when Master recorded his experiences accompanying his teacher Wei Jie to seek medical treatment in Luoyi, he had also mentioned the beast hunters in Luoyi City two hundred years ago.

It was said that several beast hunters with extraordinary abilities were strange people hired by Lord Can at great expense, specifically to capture exotic beasts for him.

After Master Tang Youshu accompanied his teacher Wei Jie with the severed arm to seek medical treatment in Luoyi City, they happened to encounter beast hunters presenting exotic beasts to Lord Can for his birthday, including the Kaiming Beast and other strange beasts parading through the streets in a grand display.

Thinking of this, Xiaoxiao realized—perhaps this old man and his attendants were the beast hunters who had captured strange beasts that Master encountered two hundred years ago!

Unfortunately, this time their target wasn’t beasts, but people!

Wei Jie casually waved his hand, creating a spiritual shield to block their attack, while Xiaoxiao pulled out a water-transformation talisman from her bosom, waving it to summon a water flow.

The powerful impact immediately sent the pair of iron hooks flying back, hooking right onto the two attendants’ shoulders. The sharp claws would trigger their internal springs upon contact.

The hook claws, capable of crushing beast bones, had amazing gripping power and immediately clamped onto the two men’s collarbones.

This injury wasn’t serious—at most, they would suffer and bleed.

But those hooks happened to be coated with deadly poison, which immediately took effect. In moments, the two burly men had rolled back their eyes and died.

However, Xiaoxiao noticed that when the two men bled, red dust-like mist seemed to begin dispersing around them, initially faint, then gradually thickening…

The old man didn’t notice this—he never expected two young people to be so capable!

In shock and anger, he pointed at Wei Jie and Cui Xiaoxiao’s noses and shouted: “How dare you! You dare to kill people in Luoyi City! Is there no law anymore?”

Xiaoxiao felt the old man’s cry of “thief,” while being the thief himself was shameless enough. She said coldly, “It was you who instructed your subordinates to attack us first with poisoned hook claws. Now that the claws have backfired, you brought this upon yourselves!”

Just then, the hooked-nose man nearby laughed coldly again: “Qiandong Hunter King, so you also have times when you stumble! I heard you overestimated yourself and went to hunt the Kaiming Beast of Yaochi… What happened? The scheme to steal chickens failed, and you lost rice instead—after being bitten by the Kaiming Beast into this state, you can’t even beat these two young people… How interesting, haha…”

The old man had recognized the hooked-nose man’s identity long ago: “Hmph, I wondered who it was! So it’s the Eagle Clan from Cangbei! I heard Lord Can also invited your Eagle Clan to hunt at Yaochi. How come I don’t see any trace of your Eagle Clan people…”

The Qiandong Hunter King and Cangbei Eagle Clan were two major beast-hunting families. Among peers, they inevitably competed and looked down on each other. Unexpectedly, today they both entered the Nineteenth Li to seek medical treatment.

The Hunter King squinted, looking at the man’s prominently raised shoulders, paused, then continued: “My injury isn’t shameful! My disciples and I were about to capture that Kaiming Beast when suddenly a group of masked people intercepted us, severing our hook claws and wanting to steal the unconscious Kaiming Beast. Though I fought back with effort and wounded one of them with my hook claws, the beast we had worked so hard to catch woke up during the fight and escaped, and I was also bitten by it… If I don’t avenge this, I swear I’m not human!”

Speaking thus, the thin old man suddenly lunged forward, grabbing and tearing off the hooked-nose man’s cloak.

The result was that the man’s bandaged shoulder was exposed, with a tightly clamped hook claw still attached, looking identical to the Hunter King’s weapon.

The Hunter King’s eyes widened with fury, showing his fierce nature: “Good! The one who ambushed me was indeed you! Your Cangbei Eagle Clan is truly despicable villains!”

This Eagle Clan member was quite capable, actually able to endure the deadly poison on the hook claws. But he probably couldn’t completely detoxify or remove the claws, which was why he came to seek medical treatment, only to encounter his enemy.

Thinking of this, he no longer paid attention to Wei Jie and Cui Xiaoxiao, leading his remaining people to fight with the Cangbei Eagle Clan.

Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened. At this moment, the old man’s words thundered in her mind!

According to the old man’s account, neither he nor the Cangbei Eagle Clan had successfully hunted the Kaiming Beast—both sides were wounded, and all came to this eerie alley to seek medical treatment!

This was very different from the original trajectory two hundred years ago! In the original trajectory, these hunters had paraded through Luoyi City with strange beasts in grand style…

What had gone wrong again?

Since this beast-offering event was unrelated to Wei Jie, Xiaoxiao hadn’t paid much attention before, merely glancing over it.

Now, while the opposing sides were fighting fiercely, Xiaoxiao circled behind Wei Jie and secretly pulled out the secret manual from her bosom, reading it by the lantern’s dim light.

When she reached the section about offering strange beasts in Luoyi City, Xiaoxiao suddenly understood. The secret manual mentioned that Lord Can had received two strange beasts at that time, clearly offered by the Qiandong Hunter King and the Cangbei Eagle Clan.

The Qiandong offering was naturally the Kaiming Beast from Kunlun Mountain, while the Eagle Clan’s offering… was the Corpse-eating Beast from the Underworld!

Now Xiaoxiao understood everything.

According to the original trajectory, Wei Jie should have encountered the Corpse-eating Beast in the valley and, with Master Tang Youshu’s help, barely managed to severely wound the beast.

Finally, the Corpse-eating Beast fled severely injured and was probably encountered by the Cangbei Eagle Clan, who captured it to present to Lord Can. With such a strange beast, the Eagle Clan naturally had no time to interfere with the Hunter King’s business.

But now, because of Cui Xiaoxiao’s sudden appearance, she and Wei Jie had joined forces to capture the Corpse-eating Beast alive early and returned it to the Wei family.

The Cangbei Eagle Clan, having failed to catch any strange beast, set their sights on the Hunter King and ambushed him to steal his prize.

The result was that they interfered with the Kunlun Mountain hunt, causing the Hunter King not only to fail in capturing the strange beast but also leaving both sides severely wounded…

This truly was “pull one hair and move the whole body”—in the end, these two groups whose fates had been changed became unlucky fellows who came to seek medical treatment, unexpectedly encountering Xiaoxiao, the disruptor, in Luoyi’s alley…

After understanding the cause-and-effect relationships, Xiaoxiao felt quite emotional. These karmic entanglements, interlocking rings, also shocked her greatly.

When she cleared her throat and was about to mediate between the two sides, both parties had already become red-eyed with rage.

Just then, the red smoke in the alley grew thicker, as if the spilled blood had attracted more dense smoke, quickly filling the entire alley.

Those people were already agitated, and after inhaling the red smoke, even their eyes seemed to turn red, their strikes becoming increasingly frenzied. Amidst shrill screams, corpses soon filled the alley.

The old man and the hooked-nose man also stabbed each other with swords, and both died…

The white lanterns that had fallen to the ground were now soaked in blood, turning deep red. Under the candlelight, the already eerie alley became even more ghostly.

At this time, the only living people left in the alley were Wei Jie and Cui Xiaoxiao. They both simultaneously pressed the Fengchi acupoints on the sides of their necks, guarding their true spirits…

The red smoke seemed still unsatisfied, continuing to swirl around the two, but these two people seemed unaffected, just standing in place holding their lanterns.

After this standoff for a while, the door of a compound deep in the alley creaked open, and a pale-faced child stood at the entrance. Seeing that there were two survivors, he seemed reluctant and said gloomily: “Patients, please enter…”

After saying this, in just a moment, the child disappeared.

Wei Jie took Xiaoxiao’s hand, and carrying their white lantern, they stepped over the corpses and entered the compound.

This compound looked uninhabited for a long time, with weeds everywhere. When they reached the main hall entrance, a short maid carrying tea looked back at them and said coldly: “You’ve come at a bad time—someone just died in the house. The master says If you’re sensible, leave your white envelope and go!”

After speaking, the maid quickly entered the main hall carrying her tea.

Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie walked more slowly. When they entered the main hall, the maid was nowhere to be seen, but they saw that the hall was indeed hung with a “Memorial” character.

In the center of the main hall sat a lacquered wooden coffin with its lid tightly closed, looking somewhat terrifying.

Wei Jie walked in and knocked forcefully three times on the coffin lid, then said: “I’ve long heard of the Ghost Doctor’s superb medical skills and have come to seek medical consultation. Come out!”

Just then, eerie laughter suddenly came from inside the coffin: “Interesting, interesting—this year’s patients seem to have some substance!”

As he spoke, the coffin lid automatically moved aside, and a bearded old man wearing an oversized burial robe climbed out of the coffin.

Xiaoxiao looked at this Ghost Doctor somewhat speechlessly and couldn’t help asking Wei Jie quietly: “Does this Ghost Doctor have a great addiction to acting?”

The old man had sharp ears and heard Xiaoxiao’s muttering, immediately asking shrilly: “Hey, little girl, what are you saying?”

Having experienced a night of absurd events, Xiaoxiao was somewhat weary. She examined the old man’s excessively pale and delicate skin and said helplessly: “Sir, in just moments, you’ve separately played the child who opened the door, the maid serving tea, and now the bearded old man… Isn’t that a great addiction to acting?”

Hearing this, the old man jumped up on the spot like a mischievous child, still refusing to admit: “Nonsense! Those two were my son and daughter!”

Faced with such a scoundrel, Xiaoxiao wearily rested her head against a nearby pillar, gathered some energy, and said: “Your pale white face can’t be disguised by applying rouge or wearing a fake beard. It’s getting late—do you know how to treat patients? If not, I’m leaving!”

Hearing this, the man finally grudgingly tore off the graying beard from his face, revealing a young, childish face.

He rolled up his oversized sleeves and stared at Xiaoxiao suspiciously: “Previously, people who entered this compound all seemed disturbed. Why are you two so calm and composed, showing no panic at all?”

Wei Jie looked down at him: “Are you asking why we two didn’t succumb to the poisonous smoke in the alley and slaughter each other with those people?”

After saying this, he looked at Xiaoxiao beside him, and both simultaneously pulled out two small green balls from their nostrils.

These were the detoxifying leaves Wei Jie had brought from the valley of Qilao Mountain. Wei Jie had originally relied on these leaves to resist the snake venom.

When Xiaoxiao heard the night watchman’s words, she understood that the past massacres might not have been Wei Jie’s intention.

Having gained considerable experience, she reminded Wei Jie that there might be something in the alley that could make people lose their true hearts.

With her reminder, when they entered the alley, they had already rolled the leaves into balls and stuffed them in their nostrils, just in case.

So when poisonous miasma filled the alley and everyone became agitated, they two weren’t affected by the toxic gas.

However, the other people in the alley were deeply poisoned and finally killed each other, dying one by one.

Seeing that this young man had caused so many deaths yet still had the mood for theatrics, Xiaoxiao frowned and asked: “As a physician, if you want to be selective about saving people, that’s one thing, but how can you harm people before even treating them?”

The young Ghost Doctor was used to seeing fawning and bowing medical seekers. He never expected today’s two visitors to be so tough, not only not anxiously seeking medical treatment but interrogating him instead!

He couldn’t help laughing arrogantly: “Nonsense! Treating patients is very taxing on my spirit. Such precious opportunities can’t be wasted on those short-lived ghosts. If they’re not victors who emerged from fierce competition, how are they worthy of my treatment?”

It seemed he selected patients by gathering medical seekers in one alley like raising poisonous insects, letting them fight each other, and leaving only the final winner.

No wonder in the past two years, on the day when ghost gates opened wide, several corpses of medical seekers would appear at the vegetable market intersection—this was also the Ghost Doctor’s handiwork.

As for the previous trajectory where Wei Jie stood among the pile of corpses, he should have also fallen for this Ghost Doctor’s trick.

Understanding this, Xiaoxiao felt nothing but disgust for this so-called divine doctor.

Just then, the Ghost Doctor’s eyes darted between the two of them, and he spoke provocatively: “Only one living person can leave my compound, but you are two. Why don’t you decide between yourselves who lives and who dies?”

Xiaoxiao smiled: “But I no longer want you to treat me. What does our life or death have to do with you?”

But the Ghost Doctor wouldn’t have it, looking annoyed: “Once you’ve entered my compound, whether to treat or not isn’t up to you! If I let you walk out without treating your illness, wouldn’t that ruin my reputation? No, today you must be treated whether you want it or not!”

After saying this, he suddenly reached out with lightning speed and tore off the bandages on Xiaoxiao’s arm.

Xiaoxiao’s long-unhealed wound was torn open again by the Ghost Doctor, with blood gushing out.

The Ghost Doctor stared at the blackened burn marks around Xiaoxiao’s wound and said excitedly with wide eyes: “This… is a wound from heavenly punishment! You managed to escape heavenly punishment with your whole body intact? Truly extraordinary!”

When he leaned forward to get closer, Xiaoxiao’s long fingers moved slightly, instantly drawing the treasure sword “Yu Tiandou” from her waist and steadily placing it at the Ghost Doctor’s neck.

When this ancient treasure sword emerged from the earth, the gems embedded in its blade had absorbed the energy of heavenly punishment. The sword’s radiance was scorching hot—encountering gods, it would slay gods; encountering demons, it would cut down demons!

How could the Ghost Doctor withstand this? He was forced to retreat again and again by the sword qi.

Xiaoxiao noticed that the Ghost Doctor’s profile reflected in the sword blade was half of… a hideous skull face.

Looking at the Ghost Doctor again, half of his face pressed by the sword qi, his smooth skin rapidly withered and aged beyond recognition.

Xiaoxiao knew she had guessed correctly—this so-called divine doctor… was possessed by a demon.

Threatened by the sword radiance of “Yu Tiandou,” he was already cowering on the ground, no longer showing his previous arrogant manner of controlling life and death, only crying out repeatedly: “Heroine, spare me! I won’t dare again…”

It turned out this so-called divine doctor was originally just a quack. He lost his mother in childhood and was determined to inherit his father’s profession to become a renowned doctor.

Unfortunately, he was dull-witted yet stubbornly proud. At fifteen, when his father wasn’t paying attention, he secretly treated patients and accidentally prescribed the wrong medicine, causing a patient’s death.

As a result, his father took the blame for him and was exiled to the frontier, dying of a serious illness halfway there.

His sister, on whom he depended for survival, had to marry a sixty-year-old man as a concubine for livelihood, but was eventually driven to death by the legal wife.

Having no skills to depend on, he became a beggar, bullied and cursed by others. He accidentally entered a mountain cave and encountered a possessing demon. Unable to resist the demon’s temptation, he made a life-and-death contract, trading his remaining sixty years of life for ghostly hands that could work miracles and determine life and death.

His body was frozen at fourteen years old, becoming the demon’s dwelling place. Once the demon left his body, he would immediately age and die.

However, the demon’s so-called medical treatment was just a sleight-of-hand method, using his sixty years of life to extend the patients’ lives.

The miraculous cures were simply transferring the diseases to the young man himself.

Relying on the demon possessing his body, he wasn’t afraid of having more illnesses and pain.

When he saw patients gratefully praising him as a divine doctor, it gave his inferiority-complex-twisted heart great satisfaction.

However, flesh could only bear so much. If he couldn’t handle too many illnesses and pains, the demon would threaten to leave him and find a new host.

Panicking, he could only find ways to extend his life.

Since his lifespan wasn’t enough to extend patients’ lives, he would use others’ to fill the gap… but his body was too weak to treat too many patients.

So he put up the pretense of only seeing one patient per year, luring those seeking medical treatment into the alley, then using poisonous mist that could drive people mad to make them kill each other.

When the ghost alley was drenched in blood, the demon in his body would be sufficiently nourished, allowing him to again display miraculous healing powers and receive grateful praise from others…

During other times, he hid like a rat that couldn’t see sunlight in the old house of the Nineteenth Li, playing the roles of his deceased father and sister, as if they were still a happy family of three…

He never expected today’s consultation to go so poorly! He was held at sword-point by a young girl with a demon-expelling divine sword.

But what tormented the Ghost Doctor most wasn’t being threatened by the treasure sword, but that Cui Xiaoxiao actually wouldn’t let him treat her illness.