Wait a minute, where is my master?

"Ah, this... how could this have happened," An Laoxiang, upon hearing the news, stiffened with his hand extended mid-air to help An Laohu.

The loss of a child in middle age is a profound grief, and now his remaining wife and children were gone. Even after living for over sixty years, An Laoxiang had no idea how to offer comfort.

Watching the scene before him, it was Jin Xu who first broke the silence.

He pointed at An Laohu and said, "First, get up."

Then he continued, "It has been about an hour since dusk. Perhaps there's still a chance to save your daughter-in-law and son. If you kneel here any longer, their chance of survival diminishes."

An Laohu, upon hearing this, hurriedly stood up, and An Laoxiang also gave him a hand.

An Laohu pleaded with tears, "I beg you, Taoist, please have mercy and save them, mother and child."

Even though he sensed that the young Taoist might just be offering comfort, a glimmer of hope still sparked in his bloodshot eyes.

Having helped An Laohu to his feet standing beside him, An Laoxiang asked aloud.

"Taoist, what do we need to do?"

In the meantime, Yu Yaoer, who had gone to examine the tree at the entrance of the village, returned and whispered a few words into Jin Xu's ear.

Jin Xu stared at Yu Yaoer, and the Little Fish Demon responded with a firm look in her eyes, nodding her head.

The young Taoist thought for a moment and decided to prioritize saving lives.

He instructed Yu Yaoer and Little White to keep watch over the villagers, then he walked over to the large tree, placing his right hand lightly on the dark grey bark.

His pale, slender fingers with distinct knuckles slowly slid over the rough bark as if searching for something.

"Elder, the large tree at the entrance of your village isn't a eucalyptus tree meant for sale, is it?"

"The Taoist is joking, this is an old banyan tree, it can't be a eucalyptus tree meant for sale," An replied.

Hearing this, Jin Xu turned back to the onlookers and gave a slight smile.

"That's good if it's not a eucalyptus for sale."

While speaking, he exerted force with his hand, his five fingers sinking into the dark grey bark, blood trickling out along the crevices where Jin Xu's fingers pierced through the trunk.

Then with a forceful tug, he tore off the bark along with part of the trunk of the old banyan tree, and upon closer inspection, one could see a green pearl in Jin Xu's hand.

Applying slight pressure with his right hand, he crushed the green pearl to dust.

And the once-vibrant banyan tree in front of him began to wither and rot away rapidly.

In the deep cavity created by Jin Xu,

under the faint moonlight, one could clearly see a village woman with a pale face lying inside, embracing a seven or eight-year-old boy in her arms, whose chest was still rising and falling slightly, while the legs of the woman below the thighs had turned into a bloody pulp.

The villagers of Da An Village stared in bewilderment at the scene before them. What had just happened?

The young Taoist tore apart the banyan tree with his bare hands? Although the banyan wasn't for sale, it was certainly more valuable than a eucalyptus.

However, An Laohu reacted quickly, rushing over to the banyan tree. Seeing the situation inside the tree hollow, he did not care about the stench of blood or the potential for toxins but frantically removed a few pieces of the decayed trunk and lifted his wife and child to the ground.

"Little E, Da Hu!"

"I beg the Taoist to save my wife and son, Laohu is willing to give his entire fortune to the Taoist temple in return for blessing!"

Looking at his wife who had lost both legs and his son who was still unconscious, An Laohu had no choice but to turn and seek Jin Xu's help.

He seemed to have taken the village chief's words to heart; this time, he did not offer to sell his own life to Jin Xu, but instead offered all his fortunes to the Taoist temple.

"Sigh," Jin Xu sighed.

He had wanted to save the mother and son the moment he saw them, but he only knew three small spells, which was like a skilled cook without rice.

Seeing Jin Xu sigh, An Laohu's expression grew anxious.

Just then, a water-blue spiritual power flew through the air and landed on the young boy.

As the blue spiritual power dissipated, the boy who had been barely breathing seemed to cough twice, as if trying to open his eyes.

Jin Xu stepped forward swiftly, covering the boy's eyes, then signaled An Laohu to quickly carry his eldest son away.

Although An Laohu did not understand why the Taoist needed to cover his child's eyes, he still stepped forward and with some effort lifted the boy from his mother's embrace.

"Taoist, Little E, she…"

"She has lost too much blood and too much time has passed; she can't be saved," Jin Xu replied.

Yu Yaoer, who had just cast that spell of water-blue Spiritual Power, walked over from a distance, with Little White and all the villagers following behind her.

"This, this young lady..."

Even An Laohu, who had spent a few years roaming the world and was worldly, had never seen a Taoist travel with two young ladies to subdue demons.

So he had always refrained from making casual conversation.

After hearing what Yu Yaoer had said, Jin Xu looked at Little White.

Little White sniffed and said, "I can't smell any sign of life on her."

Seeing that the two Nascent Soul Realm great demons who accompanied him said the same thing, Jin Xu conveyed to An Laohu that indeed there was no hope left. They should take care of the living first.

Following the treatment with Yu Yaoer's water-blue Spiritual Power, the little boy, who had fainted due to shock and stuffiness, woke up.

He cried loudly, wanting to find his mother.

An Laohu, seeing that his eldest son was unharmed, temporarily entrusted the boy to a woman in the village to care for him.

Then he went to dig a grave for his wife on the hill behind the village, where the ancestral graves of Da An Village were located.

It was already past midnight by the time he was done with all the hustle and bustle. In the meantime, An Laoxiang had also come to Jin Xu and the others to express his gratitude, promising to entertain them properly in the village the next day, and asking them to stay overnight in the village to rest.

The three agreed to stay in the village, and Jin Xu particularly emphasized the need for a place with a water tank to stay in.

Although An Laoxiang did not understand why Jin Xu made such a request, he still complied.

Water tanks, after all, were found everywhere in Anjia Village.

An Laoxiang respectfully escorted the three to a small farmhouse, and as he opened the gate and was about to leave, he asked the Taoist a question.

"Exalted one, now that you've done away with that tree elf, from now on our Anjia Village will be safe, won't it?"

Jin Xu did not answer his question but instead asked An Laoxiang one.

"Village Chief, I'm curious. Even though your village is called Anjia Village, why is there a big banyan tree at the village entrance?"

"Taoist, you don't know this, but our village used to be called Da Rong Village. Most of us planted banyan trees back then. Although they were valuable, they grew too slowly and were hard to keep alive. Later, it was my father who led us to plant eucalyptus, and our village became wealthy." An Laoxiang, standing at the gate, answered.

Jin Xu stood by the water tank in the courtyard and nodded, but then a thought struck him, and he realized something was wrong.

"Your village can change its name, but surely you can't change your surnames as well, can you, An? Aren't you and Laohu both surnamed An?"

An Laoxiang grinned and chuckled, "You exalted ones always ask such peculiar questions. Indeed, our village was formerly called Da Rong Village, but I was born with the surname An. Just like how we're now called Da An Village, there are still people in the village surnamed Rong."

That made sense, and Jin Xu nodded, no longer paying attention to An Laoxiang.

Seeing that the Taoist Jin Xu was no longer responding, An Laoxiang closed the gate and went home to sleep on his own.

"Master, the water in this water tank isn't as comfortable as the well water at our Daoist temple," complained the golden-red big carp that surfaced in the large water tank by Jin Xu's side.

Yu Yaoer, who had somehow reverted to her true form, jumped into the water tank.

At this moment, the door behind Jin Xu was pushed open by the wind, and a grey and white beast's paw stepped out along with a burst of cold air.

It was Little White in her monster form.

Both of them preferred to rest in their original forms.

"I just smelled something strange on one of the villagers as they left, the man who was limping," said Little White in her beast form, walking over to Jin Xu's feet and naturally lying down.

"Dead Little White, cut it out with your cold aura, you're freezing the water!" the Little Fish Demon shouted after breaking through the thin layer of ice that had formed on the water's surface.

Little White slightly curled her mouth, and her cold aura became even denser.

Caught between the two, Jin Xu did not pay attention to their squabbling. Instead, with eyes closed, he repeatedly pondered the words that An Laoxiang had said just before.

He felt that the night had gone too smoothly, having dealt with the tree elf right at the village entrance and saved An Laohu's son.

Suddenly.

Jin Xu abruptly opened his eyes, and a sharp light flickered in the dark pupils.

He knew where the problem lay, the sentence that An Laoxiang had said on the mountain path.

"They're all surnamed An!"