After Chen Xu returned to his room, his heart was heavy.

He was pondering a way to break the deadlock.

Although Master Wu repeatedly warned him not to be too aggressive, today's matter was fundamentally beyond "aggression."

This was a matter of life and death!

The evil ghosts of Pufeng Mountain would not spare him, even if Chen Xu had no intention of seeking revenge.

Chen Xu approached the table and, with a flick of his hand, suddenly retrieved a piece of "silk" as thin as jade out of thin air.

This "silk," about the size of two palms, looked soft and light, yet the jade-colored surface faintly shimmered with a touch of purple.

This item was not truly "silk," but rather the [Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe] that had bathed in the morning purple aura!

This object, known as a "pseudo-celestial spirit" item, had particularly magical divination abilities.

After bathing in the morning purple aura, it could perform divination once every ten days.

Chen Xu had not used it before because of this "once per ten days" limitation, wanting to reserve it for crucial moments.

And now was the crucial moment!

With a thought in his mind, Chen Xu spread out the Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe and dipped his brush in ink.

After contemplating for a moment, he wrote: "What solution can be found to destroy the cave of ghosts at Pufeng Mountain?"

The divination ability of the Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe had its limitations; it couldn't predict matters far beyond Chen Xu's ability to handle.

If the divination question was too general or excessive, the one performing the divination might face varying degrees of backlash.

By asking this way now, Chen Xu not only wanted to find a way out through divination but also to see if he would suffer backlash.

The line of text, the ink fell.

Chen Xu suddenly felt his heartbeat accelerate; though he was sitting in the inn room, it was as if a distant cosmic breath echoed beside his ears.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

The mysterious sound came and went quietly.

On the Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe, the inked question by Chen Xu gradually disappeared.

Next, a new line of ink appeared: "Painted skin can resolve it."

The answer appeared!

Though it was only four short characters, these four words seemed to step on a person's heartbeat.

Chen Xu instantly felt a tightness in his chest, a sense of vibration within his internal organs.

Was this... backlash?

He pressed his hand to his chest, striving to calm his tumultuous heart and emotions.

The Innate Qi within his body circulated, alleviating the discomfort.

Soon, the discomfort vanished. Chen Xu stood up from the table and, with a wave of his sleeve, put away the Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe into the Fire and Smoke Kitchen, rising joy in his heart.

The Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe indeed gave a divination answer!

Although Chen Xu faced backlash just now, the extent was clearly minor.

Does this imply that, while there is danger, it's not impossible to resolve the cave of ghosts at Pufeng Mountain?

Painted skin can resolve it—

What does this mean?

Chen Xu immediately thought of the [Puppet Mask] he had prepared earlier.

Truth be told, Chen Xu originally thought the result from the divination of the Spiritual Cicada Jade Robe would be to remind him to summon the Great Scholar spirit "Ji Weizi" or such.

Chen Xu was even prepared to ask Ji Weizi for assistance, but unexpectedly the divination result didn't even mention Ji Weizi, directly stating "Painted skin can resolve it."

In his Fire and Smoke Kitchen, there was still a Puppet Mask left.

Chen Xu sensed the world again and thoroughly checked his surroundings.

After confirming safety, he fetched the Puppet Mask with a reverse hand move.

Then, he raised a small round mirror placed on the table.

Facing the mirror, Chen Xu placed the Puppet Mask over his face.

Then, a wonderful thing happened.

[Puppet Mask: When applied to the head and face, can randomly change to a form.]

Chen Xu always thought this random form change would randomly give him a different face.

But he didn't expect it would truly randomly change his "form."

Chen Xu began to feel his body "floating" up, his vision clouded over as if veiled, and the entire world began to darken in his eyes.

However, Chen Xu's own clear perception of the world remained; truly, he hadn't gone blind.

Simultaneously, his sensitivity to the Netherworld grew even stronger.

He lifted his eyes to look at the small mirror on the round table, but instead of reflecting a complete image of himself, it showed a blurry humanoid form.

The reflection's features were vague, overall presenting a blue-gray hue, with short horn-like protrusions growing on both temples, looking somewhat fierce and terrifying.

This is... this is a ghost.

Chen Xu, with a single Puppet Mask, managed to disguise himself as a ghost.

So that's it!

Chen Xu instantly understood the true meaning of the phrase "Painted skin can resolve it."

From now on, he possessed half a day's disguise time.

Within that half-day, he could personally infiltrate Pufeng Mountain to find the best opportunity to eliminate the cave of ghosts.

The matter couldn't be delayed; Chen Xu was ready to act immediately.

He first took paper and pen, leaving a note on the table: "Master, the student will be back shortly."

This mission was to infiltrate Pufeng Mountain in ghost form, thus was unsuitable to bring along any companions.

He left a note to prevent Master Wu from worrying if he came and didn't find him.

Then, Chen Xu checked his Fire and Smoke Kitchen again, ensuring all the Spiritual Food he had prepared before was there, especially the ones targeting ghosts—

After confirming, Chen Xu activated his mind, and immediately stepped out.

With this step, he walked from the Mortal World into the Netherworld.

Borrowing the Netherworld Road!

Chen Xu's first voluntary execution of this Divine Power felt extremely peculiar.

Especially now, when he was still in his disguised ghost form.

The Human World Netherworld seemed to be different realms, but they were actually within a single great world.

Yet the Netherworld Road and Mortal Road were entirely different.

Before breaking through to the late stage of the Meridian Passage Realm, Chen Xu could probably only travel a few dozen yards in the Mortal World by borrowing the Netherworld.

Meaning, if he initially entered the Netherworld from the inn, he might reappear in the Mortal World fifty or sixty yards from the inn in any direction.

The distance was overall a bit short, not quite enough for escape, but very elusive and difficult to handle in combat.

But now, Chen Xu's cultivation had made a breakthrough.

His usage of borrowing the Netherworld Road had not only increased from three times a day to five, but the distance had also shot up from the previous few dozen yards to within three miles.

More mysteries of Innate Qi were comprehended by Chen Xu.

Chen Xu now felt confident that even facing the Sixth Sense Barrier again, he wouldn't be misled.

In an alley three miles away from the Gaosheng Inn, a semi-transparent "ghostly figure" suddenly appeared.

Chen Xu emerged from the Netherworld, having fully performed borrowing the Netherworld Road, his entire ghostly body now seemed to have a different texture.

Yet he was still light as a feather, existing and nonexistent.

Among the masses of townsfolk leaving the city, Chen Xu blended in and exited the city with the flow of people.

After leaving the city, he headed straight to the northeast.

Northeast direction, thirty miles away, Pufeng Mountain lay there.

Chen Xu traveled like a breeze, along the way observing farmlands becoming sparse, wildlands increasingly vast.

The aura ahead, however, gradually turned obscure and dark.

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