"What should I do?" Lan Ming asked, confused to find Zhu standing in front of him.
"Say anything," Bi Kwe chattered.
"Are you offering your head to be planted?" Zhu retorted.
"Calm down. Our presence here is not meant to cause any trouble. We're here following the orders of our leader," Bi Kwe explained with a serious expression. Even the Thief Goddess put on an overly serious expression, almost convincing her counterpart that she was holding in a fart.
Lan Ming cleared his throat. He nudged Bi Kwe to step back a bit. "Don't overthink his words. He's a bit eccentric. Our purpose in coming here is solely based on a specific directive. We have no intention of disrupting or causing any harm or loss to your place. If you don't believe me, you can see this." Lan Ming displayed the rice given by Ha Han, which had turned red. The rice served as a kind of directional indicator that changed color when they arrived at their destination.
Seeing the rice shown by Lan Ming, Zhu seemed to recall something. He then stared at Lan Ming for a while, ensuring that the person he saw was not dangerous but rather a guest who was coming to his village.
"Will you allow us to continue this journey?" Lan Ming asked hesitantly. He felt uncomfortable when Zhu stared at him for too long. It felt like all his hairs were about to fall out from being preyed upon.
"Alright, I'll allow you to come to my village. But remember to mind your manners. If you don't behave properly, I won't hesitate to kick you out," Zhu granted Lan Ming and his friends permission to come to his village. "Because I've given you permission to come to my village. But aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
Lan Ming was about to introduce himself. But suddenly, from the sky appeared Biānfú Yāo, a bat monster that lived in the wild. This bat monster had a combination form of a bat and a fish. Biānfú Yāo had the ability to produce strong winds from its wings and attack with water from its mouth. Especially its bottom part, which was in the form of a fish tail, could shoot its enemies using its sharp scales.
"Biānfú Yāo?" Chan Do, seeing the monster, backed away and looked frightened. He himself had a fear of the monster because he had been bitten by Biānfú Yāo before. And it caused him to contract rabies and had to sleep for days in a crazy box to heal himself. But clearly, since that incident, Chan Do had been traumatized.
"What's wrong, Chan Do?" Pit Hong himself was surprised to see Chan Do trembling, his eyes rolling due to extreme fear.
"He's traumatized by that monster. He once got rabies from being bitten by that monster," Bi Kwe explained, pulling Chan Do's hand and hiding it behind her.
Pit Hong nodded in understanding. Now he turned to Lan Ming, and Lan Ming was already in the sky. Pit Hong used his staff to attack Biānfú Yāo.
"Those of you who don't fight, please take cover in a safe place! I'll help Lan Ming," Pit Hong commanded.
***
"Zhu, are you going to join the fight?" Pit Hong asked when he found the young man just standing there.
Zhu raised his hand. "I won't interfere. I'll watch you from here," he said nonchalantly.
"Okay." Pit Hong left Zhu and joined Lan Ming to fight Biānfú Yāo. However, Pit Hong secretly kept an eye on Zhu with a suspicious feeling. He let Zhu be not because he ignored him but because he would continue to watch the suspicious movements of the young man.
"Lan Ming! I'm here to help," Pit Hong said as he joined the Wind God. Pit Hong himself could fly in the sky like Lan Ming by utilizing his energy division. Although this drained his energy considerably.
"What about the others?" Lan Ming asked with a vigilant gesture.
"I told them to take cover in a safe place. It turns out Chan Do seems to have a trauma with this monster. Because he once contracted rabies from being bitten by this monster," Pit Hong explained.
Lan Ming understood and then instructed Pit Hong to attack the monster together. Lan Ming then used the red thread technique to share his energy with Pit Hong.
Biānfú Yāo suddenly attacked Lan Ming with the power of the wind from its wings. Fortunately, this monster had the same elemental ability as Lan Ming.
Lan Ming honestly felt superior because even though they had the same element, Lan Ming realized that he was superior to the monster, which he considered to be mindless. Of course, its attack pattern would not have the strategy that he had.
Lan used the gentle breeze technique, then he flew his fine sands to entangle Biānfú Yāo.
Pit Hong didn't want to lose either. He took the opportunity to split Biānfú Yāo's body with his machete. But unfortunately, when he thought his machete would easily hit the monster's body, it ended up being thrown back, bouncing off Biānfú Yāo's body, which seemed to have some invisible protection around it.
"Pit Hong, you should retreat! It seems there's some kind of protection around the monster," Lan Ming warned his friend.
Pit Hong, understanding, retreated. He felt too impulsive, thinking that the monster with the form of a bat and a fish would be easy to defeat. He was defeated, but what happened was the opposite.
Biānfú Yāo then used the sharp scales from its tail to attack Lan Ming and Pit Hong.
"Tiěshā bǎohùzhě," Lan Ming murmured. Finally, a wall made of iron sand appeared, protecting Lan Ming and Pit Hong from Biānfú Yāo's attacks.
Lan Ming then took out the umbrella he had used when fighting the blind dragon spirit. The Wind God then opened his umbrella wide and threw it upwards. The umbrella released thousands of cherry blossom petals.
Biānfú Yāo seemed to struggle as its vision was obstructed by the cherry blossom petals.
Lan Ming sent a telepathic signal to Pit Hong to attack the monster. Finally, Pit Hong seized the opportunity, leaping and climbing onto Lan Ming's body. He then spun his body five times in the air to gather all the energy at the tips of his feet.
When all the energy had gathered at the tips of his feet, Pit Hong attacked the monster's head. When the tip of his foot successfully touched the monster's forehead, the monster's head exploded shortly afterward.