Gamers Are Fierce

Atlas Studios Master Taozhi, the abbot of Solitary Cold Temple, appeared benevolent, kind, and affable on the surface, but behind closed doors, he was an out-and-out villain.

He indulged the monks in desecrating the monastery, deceiving believers, and amassing wealth for himself. When his vile deeds were exposed, he was beheaded in the vegetable market as a public spectacle.

At the moment Master Taozhi’s head fell to the ground, the city’s residents erupted in jubilation, shouting with delight, wishing they could reattach the scoundrel’s head just to behead him once again.

However, according to the ghost Chai Cuiqiao, Master Taozhi was not human but instead, a kind of simian demon known as a Mountain Demon.

On the day of the execution, he combined Bone Shrinking Technique with Illusion Technique to feign the fall of his head, deceiving both the executioner and the onlooking crowd, thereby escaping certain death.

And each year in July, he would return to Solitary Cold Temple to retrieve the aged wine buried deep in the cellar and feast with various demons.

Although Chai Cuiqiao had become an Earthbounded Fierce Ghost and their abilities seemed quite similar, the Mountain Demon had a stature as towering as a giant, a human face but long arms, and was infused with such intense malevolence and Evil Qi that normal ghosts who approached him would melt away like snow under the spring sun, let alone seek revenge.

In previous years when Master Taozhi returned to Solitary Cold Temple, Chai Cuiqiao could only hide beneath the temple’s foundations, concealing her presence even as her soul nearly eroded from the surging hatred and wrath within her.

Thus, upon discovering that Li Ang and his unusual companions possessed extraordinary skills, she immediately decided to employ whatever means necessary to have them help her kill her nemesis, the Mountain Demon.

Whether through intimidation or enticement.