Chapter 179: The Great and Small Five Ghosts: Return Journey

Male version: Take hawk’s eye, wolf’s muzzle, leopard’s brain, tiger’s heart, and donkey’s penis; mix these five items, boil them into a broth, and transform your body and demeanor.

Immerse yourself in the “Ten Thousand Flowers,” untouched by a single leaf, becoming a seasoned patron of pleasure quarters, honing your eloquence and skills.

Kill ten lustful ghosts or essence ghosts or other spirit entities tied to lust; by condensing spiritual essence, you can fundamentally alter your own charm. (Not personal charisma, but closer to seduction.)

After applying these three methods, you forge a “Pan An.” This art was widely used by male concubines and flourished during the Wu Zhou era.

These are the male and female versions of seduction arts. Needless to say, both carry a taint of evil, and the materials used are far from refined—yet even this is already one of the milder methods in seduction arts. I can’t imagine what the more extreme ones look like.

Moreover, from the description, it seems that as long as you gather the materials and apply the method, you can master it extremely quickly, with no realm divisions—quite convenient.

By the way, does the lewd demon Abalam count as a lust ghost or essence ghost?

Probably yes, and the effect should be excellent—worth practicing.

But Louis cannot use this art yet, because the brothel master has not been unlocked; only after unlocking it can the details be seen.

For now, we must temporarily set it aside.

Finally, Louis turned his gaze to the third art.

From the Left Path Chapter: The Great and Small Five Ghosts Art.

Since ancient times, the art of raising ghosts has been widely spread among the people, spawning countless branches and countless bizarre legends.

Among them, regarding five ghosts, there are: Five Ghosts Transporting Wealth, Five Ghosts Transporting Fate, Five Ghosts Clinging to the Body, Five Element Demon Ghosts, Five Chang Soldiers, Five-Communicating Spirits…

Among these classifications, some are high, some low; the lowest is Five Ghosts Transporting (Wealth), also called the Five Ghosts Moving Wealth Art, which can only stealthily steal small amounts of money, and if mishandled, easily backfires—it is the lowest-tier method possible.

The strongest are two: Five Chang Soldiers and Five-Communicating Spirits.

Five Chang Soldiers are merely borderline; they are mostly used in magical sect soldier arts, though they can also be loosely called ghost-raising arts.

Five-Communicating Spirits are the other extreme, following the folk deity path, widely spread in southern Jiangnan, a malevolent and lustful deity.

The Great and Small Five Ghosts Art in Louis’s hands is unusual and connected to these two strongest five-ghost arts.

It divides into Great Five Ghosts and Small Five Ghosts: you must search for suitable spirit bodies according to birth charts and, under voluntary consent, refine them into five ghosts. Great Five Ghosts can transform the five elements to neutralize calamities, form arrays for defense, serve as both major formations and companions, and later have the potential to evolve into Five Chang and lead armies.

Small Five Ghosts focus on the self, cultivated through five-element ghosts that reside within the five viscera, aiding cultivation and complementing the Eating Ghost Witchcraft; later, they too may transform into Five-Communicating Spirits.

“Great and Small Five Ghosts, array formation, auxiliary support, and future progression paths—significant potential. Interesting. Perfect—I can use my Soul-Calling Arm to search for them.”

Louis immediately saw the power of this art—it is a ghost-raising technique that perfectly fills his current weakness and aligns with his long-term plans.

Five Chang Soldiers are standard equipment for major magical sects among the people; when I establish my own sect, they will be indispensable.

Five-Communicating Spirits, though folk deities, carry considerable fame, are profoundly strange, aid cultivation, and likely possess formidable combat power—definitely valuable allies.

Of course, these are merely plans now; one must not overreach or become overconfident. After all, this battle has given Louis a basic assessment of his current strength: Demon Level.

Above him are Greater Demons, Demon Gods, Demon Kings.

Louis calmed his thoughts, memorized all these arts, then began considering what to do next.

This journey brought both gains and dangers.

But beyond the gains, the most important thing was that Louis learned some of the hidden world’s political landscape.

The Hell Demon King Mamen seeks to descend, having released many vanguards—some cannon fodder, some elites. In the coming years, this will likely be the peak period of demon descents.

Convenient.

In Louis’s mind, the Soul-Calling series includes certain demons, and the Soul-Calling series exists in this world too.

Then, reasonably hypothesize: are those demons in the Soul-Calling series the vanguards Mamen released?

Not impossible.

So the next course of action is clear: investigate the Warrens’ current progress, see which stage they’ve reached, then act accordingly.

Also, he has already called Michael about the demons; if he’s not an idiot, he’ll report it.

So Louis still has time to develop in peace.

During this development period, he must quickly locate the Four Masters—Thousand Thieves, Beggar, Brothel—and elevate his cultivation base. Ideally, achieve Primordial Spirit before the millennium.

That way, even if a Demon King invades, he will have the strength to resist.

Heavy responsibility, long road…

Louis squinted slightly, gazing at the orange-red sunset beyond the train window, his mind gradually emptying.

…

Soon, Louis and the others boarded the train. Though they carried many items, their money secured them a private compartment—spacious, with a blonde female attendant coming to inquire after their comfort.

When she saw Louis, she subtly rubbed her palm—meaning clear.

Proof that in America, with money, any service is available.

But Louis had no interest in her—she wasn’t attractive enough. To be fair, Emma and Jiali had raised his standards considerably.

Ordinary beauty no longer impressed him.

Inside the compartment, David snored loudly. Driving is mentally exhausting, and recent events had been intense; despite his experience, David felt mentally frayed and desperately needed sleep.

Jiali leaned tightly against Louis, fast asleep. Louis stroked her hair, saw her resting on his shoulder, and subtly shifted his body to make her more comfortable.

The greatest contributor in the battle against Abalam was Jiali. Without her, Louis might have defeated Abalam, but never nearly killed or captured him.

So the hero deserves such treatment.

Opposite them, Haley stared straight ahead, reading a chemistry textbook. As the daughter of a professor—no, now dean—with dual Ph.D.s in biology and chemistry, her knowledge in both fields was extensive.

In fact, in the original Plan B, she had planned to use chemical castration to deal with Jeff the pervert.

Clearly, her knowledge already surpassed high school level.

Yet she still loved learning, as if determined to delve deeper into this field.

Haley glanced across and her mouth twitched violently—she had just realized Jiali was smiling! She was smiling!

She wasn’t asleep at all!

She didn’t believe Louis didn’t know—he had absurd perception, how could he not?

Hssss—huh…

“I’m going to the restroom.”

She put down her book and left the compartment.

She didn’t want to watch Louis and Jiali showing affection.

Louis said nothing, kneading Jiali’s hair while circulating his magic power in the Great Heavenly Cycle.

At that moment.

Tap-tap-tap!

Haley hurried back, lowered her voice to Louis: “Someone’s dead in the restroom.”

?

Louis paused. “What happened?”

“Across from the women’s restroom, in the men’s, I heard sounds. It’s revenge—I heard it,” Haley said calmly.

“Oh, ignore it.”

Haley froze.

“Not our concern. We’re never justice-bringers. That’s the police’s job. You don’t want to be a superhero the cops resent for stealing their cases, do you?” Louis even had the leisure to joke with Haley.

Haley nodded, instantly understanding Louis’s meaning—and confirming his modus operandi.

She sat back down and calmly resumed reading.

Moments later, a scream pierced the air; the train erupted into panic.

The conductor rushed out and found a Dutch elderly merchant stabbed to death in the restroom—the scene was gruesome.

In this era of scarce surveillance cameras, they found nothing conclusive and decided to hand the case over to local police at the next station.

All of this Louis observed.

His Primordial Spirit had left his body and witnessed the entire event; he had already identified the killer—a young man cowering in the corner, trembling violently, missing one finger, looking utterly broken.

“He deserved it… he deserved it all… I was just seeking revenge…”

He muttered to himself, his eyes filled with the satisfaction of vengeance fulfilled.

Beside him, Louis’s Primordial Spirit pondered: Dutch elderly merchant, fingerless youth, revenge…

Sounds like another movie.

He guessed which one: The Human Centipede.

A bloody horror film that caused a drastic drop in tourism revenue for a country, prompting official protests and boycotts; filled with extreme scenes.

It tells the story of a man who, seeking seduction, stumbles into the clutches of a secret organization and barely escapes, the sole survivor of a massacre.

The secret organization is an international syndicate catering to wealthy perverts who crave the twisted pleasure of torturing others.

But this film has no supernatural elements—not even grotesque mutations—just pure, bloody horror.

For Louis, it holds little value—but in reality, it’s living proof of something like the “Lily Island” crimes!

Louis thought, and left a Primordial Spirit mark on the youth, allowing him to vaguely sense the man’s location.

If he remembered correctly, the sequel began with the death of this very youth.

Then we’ll see how this organization has changed in this world.

As for now?

Go home.

(End of Chapter)