Chapter 1 Unexpected

Wei Yuan's straightforward agreement clearly surprised Zhou Yi.

She opened her mouth, unsure of what to say, and gratefully responded, "Thank you."

Wei Yuan shook his head, "You're welcome."

Zhou Yi hummed in response. After a moment, she turned and went out to answer a phone call. When she returned, she had several special items: a Bluetooth headset, a temporary ID, and a white bottle filled with capsule-like pills.

"These are supplies from the Special Operations Team."

The woman pointed to the items in front of Wei Yuan.

"After pressing this button, this phone can directly access the internal frequencies of the Operations Team."

"If you are out on a mission, a special intelligence analysis team will provide support, including city-wide surveillance searches, target localization, information gathering, and a certain degree of police support."

"This is your ID, temporary, with slightly higher privileges than the last one."

"And this is a medicine from Longhu Mountain."

Zhou Yi handed the bottle of pills to Wei Yuan, "Processed with nanoscale characteristics to quickly affect cultivators."

"The capsules are rich in spiritual energy. For three hours after ingestion, your meridians will be filled with spiritual energy. Tests have shown that it can increase endurance and strength by about twenty to thirty percent, depending on individual constitution."

A look of surprise appeared on Wei Yuan's face as he accepted the items.

The Wolong Waist Token didn't have this...

He did indeed possess daohang (supernatural power).

However, the foundation of his daohang came from the divine powers [Zhu Ling] (Spirit Infusion) and [Qu Gui] (Ghost Expulsion).

The talismans derived from these two divine powers had transformed his body, granting him a shallow level of daohang.

Moreover, the transformation was already complete.

Even if the talismans dissipated, the daohang would not disappear.

He wondered if these modern pills would have any effect on him.

Seeing Wei Yuan accept the items, Zhou Yi nodded and said, "We just don't know the characteristics of the Huapi (Skin Changer). Past records don't mention a monster capable of creating Huapi slaves, so we couldn't request targeted talismans from the armory."

So, it was possible to request items based on special circumstances?

Worthy of the former Jinyiwei (imperial guards).

Wei Yuan suddenly thought of the Han Dynasty treasure vault mentioned by the Wolong Waist Token.

Unfortunately, his merits had been exchanged for basic divine powers and the inexplicably opened scroll record. The [Zhu Ling] divine power was understandable, as it was a power that every Wolong Commandant had to master, but Wei Yuan didn't understand why that particular scroll had been opened.

He put aside his distracting thoughts and looked at Zhou Yi, saying, "You mentioned that their disappearances occurred after climbing a mountain?"

Zhou Yi nodded, "Yes."

"I checked the data. There was no mountain in that location. It was as if it suddenly appeared. All the disappearances are more or less related to this mountain. Zhao Xuan and some police officers have already gone there. They took drones and should send back photos soon."

She tapped on the keyboard.

A message arrived containing video footage from a drone.

And a series of mountain structure photos.

It was a very strange mountain.

From the front, it didn't seem very high, but it was very steep. When the drone camera zoomed out, it was clear that the mountain range stretched out like a crouching tiger dozing off. The first peak was the tiger's head, the continuous mountain range was the tiger's powerful spine, and the final peak was the tiger's tail.

Zhou Yi continued to explain the results of the investigation.

Such as the soil from this mountain having been brought back and was being investigated.

Such as the spiritual energy concentration being higher near the mountain, and within a seventy-mile radius, the spiritual energy was higher than in other places.

Wei Yuan looked at the mountain, his expression somewhat frozen.

……………………

It was evening when Wei Yuan was driven back to the Folk Customs Museum.

He carried a file bag in one hand and a piece of pork belly in the other.

Zhou Yi looked at the meat in the bag and said, "Looks like you won't have time to make your braised pork today."

"I'll treat you next time."

Zhou Yi smiled, started the car, and drove away.

Wei Yuan turned to open the door and saw several ghosts staring at him expectantly. He casually took out a can of cola from his pocket, placed it on the table, ignored the ghosts' revelry, retreated, entered the inner room, and closed the door directly.

He opened the file bag, which contained the details of the disappearance case.

He placed them aside and took out several photos.

The photos showed the mountain that suddenly appeared beside Jiangnan Road.

The mountain range stretched out like a crouching tiger.

Wei Yuan took out the waist token and exerted a little force. Instead of directly extracting the text, he found a blank piece of paper, pressed the Wolong Waist Token on it, and with a low hum, black lines appeared on the white paper, eventually forming vertical Zhuan (seal) script on one side.

Guai Li Luan Shen (Strange Forces and Chaotic Spirits) · Shen Zhi Wu (God Chapter Five).

This was the Wolong Commandant's scroll.

It recorded the information and cases of the great demons captured by generations of Wolong Commandants since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

And now, the lines on the white paper formed a mountain.

The mountain range stretched out like a crouching tiger.

Wei Yuan compared this piece of paper with the photos.

They were almost identical.

The only difference was that the photos taken by the drone only showed the mountain, while on this scroll, the mountain was just an ornament. The picture also had a temple, occupying most of the paper. A dignified man sat in the center of the temple. Attendants lit lamps below. Behind him, men in official attire bowed and smiled. In front of him, there were melons, fruits, and delicacies.

It was a dignified and peaceful atmosphere.

Shanjun Miao (Mountain God Temple).

Wei Yuan was engrossed in the image when he suddenly groaned. The white paper scroll began to emit intense blood-colored light, and the temperature in contact with his palm was almost scorching.

Creak, creak...

The light of the energy-saving lamp suddenly dimmed.

Then it began to flicker.

He could hear the noise of the electric current flowing through the filament.

When the light went out.

The room was dark. Starlight flowed in through the window, illuminating the scroll.

Faintly, the mountain range remained, but the rocks had turned into skulls. At the highest point of the Skull Mountain was a temple built from overlapping human and animal bones. The man sitting at the high place had unclear features. The subordinate officials behind him had wings and sharp ears and mouths.

The attendants holding the lamps in front of him had human skin and bone faces.

When the light returned, the picture showed a normal Mountain God Temple.

Creak, creak.

The light flickered.

The god's peacefulness and the demon's ferocity constantly intertwined.

Finally, they merged into one.

This time, opening the scroll was completely different from the last time. At the same time, words appeared.

"Shanjun (Mountain God), conferred when Emperor Wu divided and enshrined the mountain and river gods in the second year of Jianyuan."

"Later tasted blood offerings, became uncontrollable."

"Sili Commandant and First Celestial Master Zhang Daoling subdued it by destroying mountains and temples."

"Seal broken."

The three words "seal broken" were as red as blood.

Wei Yuan looked at these three words and suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

He felt like he was being watched.

He turned his head abruptly.

The light in the room went out completely at that moment.

On the glass, a distorted ghost face was staring at him.

…………………

Zhang Yue dragged his tired body back home.

He had just been complained about by a customer while driving for Didi, and he had been scolded by his boss at work. He was in a bad mood.

He parked the car in the garage.

He gently opened the door and went to his daughter's bedroom. She was already asleep.

Zhang Yue knelt beside the bed, looking at his sleeping daughter.

The expression on his face gradually softened as he reached out and pulled up the blanket for his child.

"I will never give up on my daughter..."

He said softly in his heart.

He turned around and came out. He was tired after a day, and he hadn't eaten dinner. He was very tired, but he didn't have an appetite.

In order to eat more during the mukbang (eating broadcast), he always treated dinner as the main meal.

He ate every day at dawn, and his stomach had long had problems.

He had prepared greasy braised pork, but he had no appetite at all.

When he was about to start the live broadcast, he suddenly remembered the seasoning he had bought today.

To try it out, he poured a little bit.

An unprecedented exotic fragrance suddenly emanated from it...

Zhang Yue's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

So fragrant.

No, not fragrant.

It was hunger.

So hungry, so hungry, so hungry.

So hungry!!!