141: Legends of evil spirits: good or evil?

After exterminating the Fallen Demon Tamers disguised as bandits, Xie Ning's trio spent an hour reaching the woods near the small mountain village.

As they were walking, they suddenly heard a familiar little girl's cry.

"Let me go! Let me go! Bad guy! Big bad guy!"

The voice made Xie Ning frown, and he hurried toward the sound.

Passing through layers of trees meant for warding off demons, Xie Ning finally arrived at the source of the noise.

Three middle-aged men stood with their backs to him; one of them was holding a little girl in a pink princess dress.

This little girl was precisely the Le Le that Xie Ning had met in Lingnan City. At this moment, her face was covered in tears as she struggled violently.

"Stop right there!"

Xie Ning slashed out with his sword. The blade light cleaved through trees and blocked the path of the three middle-aged men. The sound of it hitting the ground also gave them a fright.

"Big Brother! Big Brother, save me! They're bad guys, they want to bully me!"

Le Le also spotted Xie Ning and was immediately overjoyed. Forgetting her tears, she struggled and waved at him.

The three middle-aged men turned around. They were dressed simply, with dark, sun-tanned skin. One was bald, while the other two had more or less some white hair. They looked at Xie Ning with worried faces mixed with shock and anger.

The Middle-aged Man holding Le Le was clearly stunned when he saw Xie Ning, and Xie Ning was also surprised.

Qin Tianyu and Su Qin, who arrived shortly after, also had strange expressions.

"Uncle Li, why is it you?" Su Qin asked in surprise.

"Little Su, I didn't expect you to be here too. It's great that you're alright." Uncle Li looked delighted. His grip loosened, and Le Le slipped down from his arms, dodged his large hand, ran to Xie Ning, and hid behind him.

Xie Ning shielded Le Le, his sharp gaze fixed on Uncle Li. Tightening his grip on his longsword, he questioned, "Uncle Li, what's going on? Are you three grown men really bullying a little girl?"

"No, how could I bully her? I... she... this girl..."

Uncle Li was so anxious he couldn't speak straight. Finally, the bald uncle beside him helped explain, "Children, it's a misunderstanding. Le Le is Old Li's daughter."

"Huh?"

Xie Ning looked bewildered. He looked at Uncle Li, then at Le Le hiding behind him, and couldn't find a single resemblance.

He pulled Le Le in front of him, pointed at Uncle Li, and looked at her seriously. "Le Le, is he your father?"

"..."

"Le Le?"

"Um... he is my father, but he wants to kill the Ghost Brother. I hate him."

Xie Ning was speechless.

He hadn't expected this to be such a blunder.

"Sorry, Uncle Li, it seems it was a misunderstanding." Xie Ning sheathed his sword and stepped forward while holding Le Le. "We gave you a scare, I'm sorry."

Uncle Li didn't mind at all. Instead, he asked curiously, "No matter, no matter. But child, how do you know my Le Le?"

Xie Ning recounted the story of meeting Le Le in Lingnan City.

Upon hearing this, the three uncles were all shocked.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving my Le Le. Without you, I can't even imagine what would have happened to this girl..." Overcome with emotion, Uncle Li's eyes filled with tears, and he knelt directly before Xie Ning. Xie Ning was startled and had to use quite a bit of effort to pull him back up.

"Come, come, let's go to the village, everyone. We've been searching for her since she went missing but couldn't find her. I didn't expect this girl to run so far away for that Ghost's sake."

Uncle Li pulled Xie Ning toward the village, and the other two uncles were also very hospitable.

On the way, Uncle Li also told Xie Ning about what had happened earlier.

It turned out that several top students from a Monster Taming Academy had arrived today, saying they had taken a mission to help kill the Evil Ghost. Le Le wouldn't allow it and even tried to attack those students. Uncle Li scolded her, and she ran out of the village crying.

Uncle Li didn't dare let her wander off again, so he quickly called two others to chase after her, leading to the scene just now.

"I see. To be honest, Uncle, we also took this mission and came to investigate."

After Xie Ning finished, Uncle Li was immediately overjoyed and repeatedly praised them. After all, he had seen the strength of Xie Ning's trio with his own eyes—even bandits were no match for them. Dealing with an Evil Ghost seemed like no problem at all in his eyes.

The other two uncles were also very Le Le. The bald one had already run ahead a few steps to inform the village chief.

Xie Ning then asked, "By the way, Uncle Li, has a fat guy come to your village recently? One who looks a bit sleazy and has a punchable face?"

"A fat guy? No. The village hasn't been peaceful, so no one has visited for many days."

"I see..." Xie Ning frowned.

During their conversation, the group arrived at the village. Some people were already waiting there, led by an old man with a cane. His hair and beard were completely white, and he stood there tremblingly, needing someone to support him.

The arrival of Xie Ning's party was met with a warm welcome from the villagers.

After a few pleasantries, Xie Ning noticed another group through the crowd. Dozens of meters away under a camphor tree, five young men and women were sitting or standing by a long bench. they watched the commotion at the village entrance with indifference.

Undoubtedly, these were the people who had taken the mission to eliminate the Evil Ghost.

Feeling Xie Ning's gaze, a boy with middle-parted bangs glanced at him. He then rested his head on his hands, leaned against the table, and crossed his legs, acting very flamboyantly.

Su Qin frowned and said, "What a rude fellow."

"Forget it, don't mind others. We're tired from the journey, let's go rest first."

After Xie Ning finished speaking, he followed Uncle Li toward his house.

To their surprise, as they passed the camphor tree, the arrogant boy from before blocked Xie Ning's path.

Xie Ning: "Is something the matter?"

"I am Wu Tian from the Advanced Class of Yuzhang Academy. Let me remind you, our Yuzhang Academy has taken this mission. If you're smart, leave now. Don't go looking for trouble." Wu Tian spoke with an insufferable air, his nose in the air as if even glancing at someone was an act of charity.

As soon as he said this, killing intent flashed in Qin Tianyu's eyes, and Su Qin also frowned.

Wu Tian's teammates showed no reaction, clearly accustomed to this.

Xie Ning glanced at the boy named Wu Tian, then smiled and said nonchalantly, "You? You're not capable of bringing me trouble."

After speaking, Xie Ning walked straight ahead, bumping into Wu Tian and nearly knocking him off balance. Qin Tianyu and Su Qin followed closely behind.

They ignored the reaction of Wu Tian's group and followed Uncle Li to his home.

It was a small two-story courtyard with old facilities that looked like they had been there for many years.

Xie Ning asked, "Uncle Li, is it just you and your daughter at home?"

"Yes. Didn't I say it in the carriage? My wife ran off with someone. All these years, I've been both father and mother. Now, Le Le is my life."

Uncle Li looked at Le Le, who was still sulking, and smiled brightly, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

Su Qin and Xie Ning looked at each other.

Once they were settled, Uncle Li went to prepare dinner. Xie Ning looked at Le Le, who had been silent the whole way, patted her head, and asked in a gentle tone:

"Le Le, can you tell Big Brother what that ghost is like? You said he saved you; what happened?"

Hearing this, Le Le first glanced at the kitchen, then squatted down and beckoned Xie Ning and the others to come closer.

Xie Ning and Su Qin smiled and leaned in. Only then did they hear her say, "Big Brother, he really is a good ghost. Even though he's very ugly, he saved me three—no, four times."

Through Le Le's intermittent words, Xie Ning got a general understanding of what she wanted to express.

It turned out that since she was old enough to remember things, she often ran up the mountain and would frequently encounter the Evil Ghost. But back then, the Evil Ghost wouldn't attack people and even became friends with her. Most of the time they spent together was Le Le.

Then one day, the Evil Ghost suddenly roared at her, making her cry. Since then, the Evil Ghost rarely appeared, but several times when she was in danger, it was the Evil Ghost who saved her. That's why she firmly believed the Evil Ghost was good.

Xie Ning caught a piece of information and asked, "You mean, this Evil Ghost has been near the village since a long time ago?"

Le Le nodded and made a 'peace' sign with two fingers. "Ghost Brother has been around for four years!"

"That's not right. If that's the case, the timeline doesn't match." Su Qin frowned and added, "If it were Fei Shanqiu's Demon Tamers Beast, it couldn't have appeared in the village that early."

Xie Ning shook his head and said, "Regardless of the truth, our priority is to find that Evil Ghost, and we must find it faster than those people from the other academy."