Not to mention the system’s task, the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion’s current direction has somewhat deviated.
Half the reason is Lily’s love for explosives, and the other half is because the Thousand Mechanism Cultivators are somewhat lacking in expertise.
After all, they were previously a group of individuals without parental love, learning things half from scraps and half through their own misguided insights.
Now that the Sword Sect fully supports the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, but the Sword Sect is not really good at fancy things.
Most Sword Sect Cultivators, although not as straightforward as Qiao Lezhi, have a fixed logic for solving problems.
Where do I go? Who do I chop? How many do I chop?
This three-step logic is highly praised by the Sword Sect disciples, who believe that problems that can be solved with a sword are not really problems.
Although Zhang Ze has a cheat, he is just one person and can’t handle everything.
However, now with Old Tang, a top boss planning to sell off Dragon Tiger Mountain and grow stronger together with the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, there is a turning point.
Zhang Ze was able to timely correct the course, putting an end to Lily’s evil explosive plans prematurely.
Zhang Ze estimated that the ’Path of the Six Sects’ isn’t about his rapport with the Six Sects but about the degree of integration of the Thousand Mechanism Technique with each of the Six Sects.
To verify his hypothesis, Zhang Ze directly summoned the elite of the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion to start working with Old Tang.
In half a month’s time, with Old Tang’s knowledge and experience, the Thousand Mechanism Cultivators’ skills, and Zhang Ze’s whimsical ideas, the first set of Thousand Mechanism Tools, designed with Dragon Tiger Mountain’s Taoist Techniques as the core, was officially completed.
Although still intended for Foundation Establishment Stage use, it was a significant first step forward.
Simultaneously, Zhang Ze also noticed that the progress bar for Dragon Tiger Mountain increased a bit.
Then the system, at just the right moment, dropped a task for Zhang Ze.
Zhang Ze arrived alone at a small village called Ivory Mountain to the west of Cyan Thorn.
He stood on the hillside, looking towards the village, where a cloud of black Qi hovered over the back of the village.
To find this place, Zhang Ze spent quite some time.
No choice, as now due to Lin Feng being the biggest Demon Path head in Cyan Thorn territory, the security became exceedingly good.
Occasional bandits, or randomly appearing evil cultivators from outside, were all promptly dealt with by Lin Feng.
As a result, the Sword Sect disciples recently couldn’t receive any local tasks in the mission hall, and aside from those weird tasks involving the Demon Race, the nearest tasks were 800 miles away.
Tasks related to evil spirits were even fewer and far between.
The matters in Ivory Mountain Village were provided by Lin Feng’s intelligence.
And Zhang Ze came precisely for that task, to test how well the latest [Thousand Dragon Mountain Series Demon Extermination Set] worked.
To ensure the experiment’s rigor, unless absolutely necessary, Zhang Ze intended to solve the problem entirely using this Demon Extermination Set.
Standing at the village entrance, Zhang Ze glanced at his Taoist Robe. After confirming there were no issues, he assumed the demeanor of the Grand Elder of Dragon Tiger Mountain and confidently walked down the hill.
Village chief Fourth Zhao had been waiting at the village entrance for a long time. A snowfall had just occurred a few days ago, and it was excessively cold at this moment. He shivered and twitched his mouth, waiting for that expert to arrive.
He looked back into the village, where every household had their doors tightly shut. Fourth Zhao cursed under his breath and continued stomping his feet waiting.
"A bunch of cowardly fools," he muttered.
But even after cursing, Fourth Zhao didn’t blame the villagers.
Because he was afraid too, but as the village chief, he had to stand firm.
Moreover, this expert was found by his son.
But when he thought of his unfilial son, Fourth Zhao always felt something was off.
Why had the child suddenly become so obedient?
That troublesome child, to say it harshly, was a disaster; he often caused trouble at home before, cursing his father and mother.
A few months ago, he suddenly ran away from home, claiming he wanted to venture into the Jianghu with his brothers to seek some nonsensical opportunity.
Knowing the nature of his child, and how tough the Jianghu road is, Fourth Zhao believed that boy would inevitably take a wrong path.
He couldn’t stop him, and words couldn’t persuade him to stay, so he decided to consider it as if he didn’t have this son.
But before the incident in the village yesterday, Fourth Zhao’s son suddenly came home.
He wasn’t avoiding enemies or coming to take money, but rather bringing money home, and he had become gentle and refined.
He kept saying things like following Brother Feng, and making weird statements like eating well nine out of ten days.
After the incident in the village in the middle of the night, he gave Fourth Zhao a big knife for home protection and said he would call someone to handle the matter, advising his father to stay safe at home.
While thinking about his son, Fourth Zhao suddenly heard someone speaking in front of him.
The voice was clear and gentle.
"Are you Fourth Zhao, the village chief of Ivory Mountain?" Zhang Ze asked.
Fourth Zhao’s mouth twitched with fright, but seeing that Zhang Ze didn’t seem like a bad person, he glanced at the snow behind Zhang Ze and, after confirming the footprints in the snow, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Indeed, that is I, and you are?"
"I’m a friend of your son, you can just call me Zhang Yida. Oh, right, I’m a Daoist from Dragon Tiger Mountain."
After speaking, Zhang Ze took out a waist token and handed it to Fourth Zhao.
Fourth Zhao didn’t take it because he didn’t recognize what it was and was more concerned about his son.
"Immortal, you...are you Piggy Egg’s friend? Can you tell me what my son is doing?" Fourth Zhao spoke with some stuttering.
Zhang Ze recalled and remembered the young man, known as Zhao Dezhu, with the nickname Piggy Egg, and what he was currently up to.
"Brother Dezhu is over at Yangguan Road, working on maintaining market security. He’s doing well now and has even begun training under a master. It seems he’s about to reach the Qi Cultivation stage."
After Lin Feng took over the Demon Helm at Yangguan Road, he incorporated those outer small-time Jianghu travelers, selecting useful individuals for training and transformation, and Zhao Dezhu was one of them.
Hearing news of his son, Fourth Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, wrapped his coat tighter, and led the way.
"Immortal, please follow me."
As Fourth Zhao walked ahead, he began to tell Zhang Ze about the strange events happening in Ivory Mountain Village.
In this village, the wealthiest family isn’t his, Fourth Zhao, but the Fan Family.
The patriarch, Fan Dachui, is a Qi Cultivation Second-Layer Jianghu person. Over ten years ago, he lost an arm due to some incident, and retreated to his home in Ivory Mountain Village, living in seclusion with only his son.
It’s said his son is also skilled in martial arts.
Fan Dachui, relying on his saved wealth and martial skills, has thrived in this small village that survives on fishing and hunting.
"Last night, the father and son duo were struck by disaster, both were killed by evil spirits," Zhang Ze interjected.
"How...how do you know?" Fourth Zhao started stuttering again.
"Your son told me," Zhang Ze looked at Fourth Zhao, puzzled.
"Yes, let me tell you about their family situation before they..."
"The Fan Family didn’t get along well with the villagers, acting domineeringly, and it’s said they also engaged in some shady activities," Zhang Ze cut in.
"Your son told me this too." Zhang Ze calmed the surprised Fourth Zhao but he didn’t finish his sentence.
Generally, the story unfolds .
Not knowing Zhang Ze’s thoughts, Fourth Zhao nodded in agreement, believing more in this young immortal, and continued to lead the way in silence.
As they got closer to Fan Dachui’s house, Fourth Zhao started shaking, his old problem acting up, his mouth twitching again.
"Don’t be afraid, evil spirits are of various kinds. Some are born from resentment, harming only those connected to it.
"Such evil spirits, if not provoked, won’t harm innocent people.
"Though eventually, they may become serious threats, that’s a concern for the future.
"Since I’m here today, I’ll get rid of it."
Zhang Ze reassured Fourth Zhao, giving him a peace of mind.
The two of them walked to the edge of the village, past a frozen river, and saw a large courtyard built against the mountains.
The smell of blood from the courtyard could be detected from afar, with the sun setting, making it even more eerie and terrifying.
Slightly dazed, Fourth Zhao saw a shadow with wings fluttering about in the courtyard.
Fourth Zhao shivered even more, hiding behind Zhang Ze, not daring to look at the courtyard again.
Yet, he was curious about the immortal’s methods of casting magic.
Occasionally going to town, he had heard storytellers speak at tea houses.
The Dragon Tiger Mountain Daoists in those stories were said to scatter beans into soldiers, observe qi and geomancy, raise a hand to summon thunder, and flick a wrist to wield true fire.
Thus, Fourth Zhao gathered his courage and looked up at the self-proclaimed Zhang Yida, wanting to see how he would cast his spells.
He saw Zhang Ze reach into his sleeve, pulling out a palm-sized red iron box embedded with a crystal chip.
Zhang Ze infused the iron box with spiritual qi, aiming it at the shadow fluttering in the courtyard.
After two beeps, Fuji’s voice emerged from the box.
It was from a prerecorded line by Fuji, her voice soft and sweet, very pleasant.
[Evil-breaking Ghost]
[Widely distributed across the Four Continents, mostly transformed from wrongfully deceased individuals, unlike regular evil ghosts, they do not possess corpses to cause harm]
[Their form often resembles a black cat, a giant bird, or a combination of both]
[Strength ranges from Qi Cultivation First-Layer to Qi Cultivation Fifth-Layer]
After a simple introduction, a number appeared on the crystal chip on the box — it was a page number.
Zhang Ze then took out a thick book, turned to the corresponding page, and started reviewing detailed information about the evil ghost and the evil-breaking ghost.