Chapter 141: Sabotage, Sacrifice, Yin Spirit

Jiali’s situation really isn’t good; although the apartment looks decent, it’s clearly old and worn out. Madison didn’t hold back: “Jiali, you need to move out of here as soon as possible.”

“I just saw a rat. My god, the hygiene here is terrible.”

“Look, there are twenty rooms across these floors, and only you and a deaf man on the first floor are still living here. This place is just…”

Maria sharply jabbed Madison, telling her to watch her tongue.

Madison rolled her eyes but said nothing more.

Jiali smiled awkwardly. “Actually, there were still quite a few tenants a couple of days ago. They’ve just been moving out one by one these past few days.”

“I’m planning to take some short-term jobs soon, and then I’ll move out with my mother.”

“Jiali, Madison’s just blunt—she doesn’t mean any harm,” Maria quickly explained, while Su frowned at Madison.

“Yeah, I know. Let me go get you some tea.”

After placing some fruit and snacks on the coffee table, Jiali stepped out to fetch water to heat. As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Amber walking toward her, carrying a tray with several cups of tea.

“Auntie Amber.”

“I knew it was hard to get water, so I brought some over for you. I wasn’t sure if your friends like black tea, so I prepared a variety of drinks and water. Have fun,” Amber smiled.

Jiali felt touched, and a pang of shame washed over her for her suspicions—after all, Amber had always been kind.

To suspect others without cause made her feel like the villain.

“Go inside, don’t keep your friends waiting,” Amber smiled calmly.

“Thanks, Auntie.”

Jiali carried the water inside.

Watching Jiali return to the apartment, Amber exhaled, tightly pressing her lips, whispering to herself, “Sorry, Jiali. You’re the designated main offering. Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

After three “sorrys,” she turned and returned to her room.

Inside her room, Amber went straight to the inner chamber, pulled back a curtain, and revealed a hidden room. It was small, containing only a table and a worn, half-meter-diameter stone box. Candles burned around it, casting faint light that illuminated fluttering moths.

Lying on the floor was the corpse of a white man!

Amber walked over, gazing at her cousin, pain flickering in her eyes as memories surfaced.

This building wasn’t originally hers.

It belonged to two beastly brothers. Their father had dug up this box from somewhere in Mexico, performed a sacrifice ritual, and sought to restore his youth and extend his life. Fearing danger, the brothers killed their father first, inherited the box, and sought the same rejuvenation—using the apartment’s tenants as sacrifice targets.

She had unfortunately moved in after illegally crossing the border from Mexico, becoming one of them. In the struggle that followed, her cousin—who had always cared for her—was killed trying to save her.

Later, something happened. She smothered the mother in her hallucination, demonstrating unwavering will and courage. The Moth God recognized her, spared her, and allowed her to kill the two brothers, choosing her as its new servant in place of the stone box. Why?

She wanted to resurrect her cousin.

Her cousin had family, a happy life. Because of her, all this had happened. She couldn’t let his wife and family suffer lifelong grief. She had to atone.

But she worried she couldn’t handle strong men, so she targeted vulnerable women—those living in poverty, easily lured by small help and low rent. As women, they offered weaker resistance, making them ideal targets.

As for innocence…

She no longer cared. She’d already killed people—why pretend to be righteous? Besides, she was an illegal immigrant! She hated America!

Watching her cousin’s corpse remain supple, untouched by decay, Amber breathed heavily. “Five more. Cousin, you’ll be resurrected soon. Just five more…”

She turned her gaze to the corner.

There, a woman lay unconscious.

But she didn’t rush to sacrifice her. She wanted to see if Jiali’s side succeeded first.

She wasn’t overly concerned about success—her drug, combined with the Moth God’s hallucinatory interference, ensured high odds. She simply preferred caution.

Amber left her room and crept along Jiali’s hallway, listening closely. When the sounds inside faded, she quietly approached, cracked the door open, and peered inside.

Madison was asleep on the sofa. Jiali and Su were drowsy, barely conscious. Maria, however, only looked tired.

Amber continued observing, focusing on Jiali.

Jiali was special—the Moth God had specifically requested her as a target. Amber paid her extra attention because of it.

At that moment, an inexplicable force enveloped them. Amber knew: the Moth God’s power was active.

It would weave illusions for the chosen offering, lulling them into blissful fantasies, gradually eroding their will to resist, until they willingly surrendered their lives.

Inside the room, Jiali and Su, already half-asleep, instantly fell into deep sleep. Maria sensed something wrong—but…

Thud!

Maria collapsed onto the floor, asleep.

Creak—

The door opened.

Amber stepped inside, walked to the four of them, and stared at kind, innocent Jiali. Her lips trembled. “Sorry.”

After uttering the word, she felt as if she’d built up her resolve—everything now felt justified.

Yes, I’m a monster. I feel sorry for you. But it’s not my fault—I’m forced to do this!

Amber began moving the four. Having sacrificed over a dozen people, most to resurrect her cousin, she’d also received some of the Moth God’s power to strengthen her body—so her strength was considerable.

She lifted Jiali and Madison and headed toward her room.

After she left…

Maria, who had been lying on the table, suddenly opened her eyes. Her gaze was sinister, her lips curling upward. “See? You still need me to fix this mess. You useless thing.”

Earlier, when Maria had felt drowsy, she’d sensed something was off. She hadn’t drunk the tea. The symptoms were mild, but when the hallucination hit, she couldn’t resist—so she feigned unconsciousness, pretending to fall asleep, letting Elan handle it.

“Ugh, what a pain. Ever since Louis taught you that technique, your control over me’s gotten too tight. Fuck, wait—eventually…”

Elan reluctantly pulled out her phone and dialed, while dragging Su to the corner and searching the room for anything usable as a weapon.

Before falling unconscious, Maria—the main consciousness—had issued several commands to prevent Elan from doing anything reckless. Now, Elan had to complete them first.

Quickly, she called Yulunca. To be fair, as the newly elected student council president, the trust that came with this title was not to be underestimated; even though she was closer to Emma, she still chose to call Yulunca first.

Of course, maybe, perhaps, maybe, just maybe, she was jealous of Emma? So their actual relationship wasn’t good?

After a brief conversation, Maria heard footsteps in the hallway. She immediately hung up, her lips curling into a wild laugh.

Her black pupils were filled with madness.

She licked her lips, lifted the baseball bat.

Vanished into the darkness.

…

On the other side, Yulunca frowned upon receiving the call. Though Maria’s tone sounded strange, she immediately went upstairs.

Maria was Louis’s future follower on the mystical side. Madison was even one of his focal points. Though she didn’t know their future roles, Yulunca, who considered herself Louis’s best assistant, wouldn’t ignore this.

When she reached the upper floor, she immediately caught a strange odor. She sniffed, then grimaced. She’d heard the sounds downstairs and knew exactly what they’d been doing.

At the same time, she hesitated: Could Louis still muster the strength to rescue them? Should she just call the police herself?

But Maria’s mention of a mysterious event causing unconsciousness made her pause.

At that moment—

Louis’s voice came from inside: “Yulunca? What’s wrong?”

Hearing it, Yulunca replied, “Maria just called.”

“She said…”

After briefly recounting it—

“Understood. Wait a moment.”

“Alright, I’ll notify the driver.”

Yulunca sprinted downstairs.

Inside the room, Louis slowly ended his cultivation.

Louis was now vastly different—even more so than when he’d reached the peak of Qi Gong.

This wasn’t a physical change, but a transformation of his spiritual aura.

An inexplicable aura radiated from him.

Merely sitting there, an aura of awe naturally arose. Especially his eyes—shining with piercing brilliance, captivating the soul, as if they held a force that struck directly at the heart.

Just one glance revealed he was extraordinary—even in a crowd, he’d be the first one noticed, his presence overwhelming.

Louis blinked gently.

The next instant, a figure identical to Louis stepped out from his body—solid, tangible. This was the Yin Spirit!

The Yin Spirit is the process by which the soul gradually solidifies and ascends, evolving into something extraordinary, gaining innate abilities like possession, object manipulation, dream entry, and swift teleportation.

Only at this realm can one serve as a Yin Official or Earth Deity, truly transcending the mundane.

Louis’s Yin Spirit walked on the ground, picked up a cup of water—but didn’t drink. In this state, he could touch objects, but couldn’t consume them. Well, not exactly—he could interact with things tied to the spirit, though it made him vulnerable.

He set the cup down, feeling the power flowing through him. He pointed a finger—a flash of white light vanished. Almost simultaneously, blazing fire erupted outside the window, in the sky. With each breath, the flames surged like fuel had been poured on them, expanding wildly.

In an instant, they shot upward like a pillar piercing heaven—then vanished completely, as if an illusion, leaving no trace except for streaks of crimson clouds drifting in the sky: fire clouds.

Louis gazed, entranced. This was magic power. This was the power of a technique enhanced by magic power!

At the Yin Spirit realm, internal Qi transforms, essence, energy, and spirit coalesce into magic power.

Magic power is the foundation of all techniques. Without it, techniques are heretical, rootless, floating weeds.

Magic power doesn’t greatly enhance the body—but it massively amplifies techniques. Just now, that was only the Fire Manipulation Art. Previously, it never had such power.

Unfortunately, the amount isn’t large. Still, compared to internal Qi, it’s not insignificant—only small compared to his pre-breakthrough experiments.

But that’s fine. After all, he’d just broken through. As his realm deepens, magic power will grow.

Shaking his head, Louis continued exploring the Yin Spirit’s transformations.

He tapped his toe, leapt lightly—and floated as if flying, gliding effortlessly from one end of the room to the other. In truth, he could fly in this state, though not quickly.

Only when the soul solidifies to a certain degree can one fly at incredible speeds through the night sky—that is, Dun Suo.

And so-called materialization is a manifestation wherein, after visualizing the Divine Lord’s image to a certain degree, one’s spiritual force and will gradually strengthen, and the magic power becomes sufficiently refined, allowing the yin spirit to penetrate deep within without fear of sunlight. Before this, the initial yin spirit should have been extremely fragile, even susceptible to injury from a mere gust of wind.

And now…

Louis’s yin spirit halted, cautiously extending a fingertip toward the dim sunlight streaming through the windowsill.

The sunlight landed on his fingertip.

It made contact.

Everything remained unchanged.

No injury occurred.

Louis’s brow tightened further.

This isn’t right! This contradicts what the visualization diagram described!

At that moment, Louis finally felt a trace of warmth.

“Still wrong—the sun is the most yang of stars. The yin spirit touching sunlight should suffer burns; if exposed over a large area, it should be instantly incinerated. Why, then, does it take so long to feel even a slight scorch?”

Louis could only attribute this to the differences of this world.

After all, according to the original rules, ordinary malevolent spirits should not be able to move or even manifest under sunlight—but the malevolent spirits of America are different. Aside from a few exceptions, most seem unafraid of sunlight.

How strange.

“Perhaps precisely because of this, malevolent spirits here are so numerous—this is land unprotected by the sun,” Louis thought.

The first yin spirit exit should not last long, and there were still tasks to complete. Louis did not continue playing; with a shift of intent, his yin spirit returned to his physical body.

A sense of relief arose naturally.

The physical body truly is a raft for crossing this world.

(End of Chapter)