Chapter 40: Hikosaka Nobumitsu, the Thousand-Faced Ghost, and the Traitor

Zhang Cheng had just killed four members of the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect when he saw their four souls; without a word, he immediately threw out a spirit talisman to capture the four souls, then promptly stored them inside his Refining Sha Treasure Gourd.

Shortly after, he heard rolling thunder outside and could also see red clouds appearing in the sky.

Immediately following that, he saw several large logs rush into the sky and then come crashing down; even more, dozens of fireballs with flaming tails appeared and fell into the midst of it.

Zhang Cheng was dumbfounded; he knew all these spells—they were, respectively, Daoist Priest Da Yi's Five Thunder Curse, and the rest were the Giant Wood Curse, the Fire Cloud Curse, and the high-level spell Meteor Fire Rain!

Zhang Cheng could learn spells like the Five Thunder Curse and the Giant Wood Curse, but he could only use them at most once, so he had spent all his merit on the Qi Refining Method.

He felt very envious; to reach the level of his several senior brothers, he still needed more merit.

Following such a grand display of action, the town suddenly became quiet.

"Killed thirty-three members of the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect, obtained thirty-three thousand points of merit."

"Hiss."

Zhang Cheng drew a sharp breath; this was a sudden windfall, and he could break through in his Commandant Qi Refining Method!

"Rip."

The next second, a golden light tore directly through the curtain.

"Junior Brother!"

Zhang Cheng looked closely and saw that it was Lin Fengjiao who had arrived.

He hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Senior Brother, I am fine, how are you all doing?"

As soon as the words fell, Daoist Priest Da Yi and Uncle Nine walked over.

Zhang Cheng revealed a smile and said happily, "Second Senior Brother, Ninth Senior Brother, have you collected the souls of those Nine Chrysanthemum Sect members?"

Daoist Priest Da Yi took out a yellow umbrella and said, "They are all collected inside; what does Junior Brother want to do?"

Zhang Cheng gritted his teeth and sneered, "What to do? Naturally, I want them to go to the eighteenth level of hell to suffer torture; I said I would make them wish they were dead."

Daoist Priest Da Yi frowned slightly and said, "Logically speaking, the souls of the Japanese invaders are not under the jurisdiction of the underworld, but the deities on the side of the Japanese invaders dare not cross the boundary; handing them over to the underworld should not be a problem."

Zhang Cheng felt much better and nodded, saying, "That's good, once we catch the soul of that leader, as well as that traitor who sold out his country for glory, we will send them down together!"

The few of them broke through the curtains blocking their path all the way and arrived outside the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect's dojo.

Daoist Priest Da Yi stopped and said, "The enemy is in the dark while we are in the light; entering the dojo is very dangerous."

Zhang Cheng laughed and said, "What is difficult about this? Since there is no one left in this town anyway, we might as well burn it down with a fire."

Uncle Nine laughed and said, "Junior Brother is right."

Daoist Priest Da Yi immediately chanted the Heavenly Fire Curse; flames suddenly appeared on the buildings of the dojo, and the fire then spread.

Hikosaka Nobumitsu, who was hiding in the dojo, hurriedly ran out, along with a man wearing a mandarin jacket, with a pale complexion and dark circles under his eyes.

Hikosaka Nobumitsu looked at the four people including Zhang Cheng, swallowed his saliva, and said to the man in the mandarin jacket, "Let's attack together!"

The man in the mandarin jacket knew he could not escape death, so he vomited blood to stain a pile of paper dolls, intending to fight to the death.

That Hikosaka Nobumitsu immediately cast a spell, whipping up a demonic wind, and attacked with soil containing lime and glass from the ground.

"Supreme Clarity, Command the Wind to Come!" Daoist Priest Da Yi shouted loudly; he was seen floating slightly, about twenty centimeters off the ground, with a gale surrounding his body, colliding with Hikosaka Nobumitsu's demonic wind.

The man in the mandarin jacket cast a curse, and those paper dolls attacked with ethereal giggling sounds; Zhang Cheng felt that the laughter appeared right by his ears, and also felt as if he had heard that kind of ethereal laughter from the depths of his soul.

He instantly got goosebumps and hurriedly cast a protective spell to avoid the invasion of evil energy.

Uncle Nine, who was to the side, hurriedly shouted, "Junior Brother, look at me."

Zhang Cheng looked at Uncle Nine; Uncle Nine performed the Three Platforms Stance, pinched the Double Brilliance Hand Seal in his hands, and chanted: "Golden light illuminates the house, auspicious energy fills the courtyard."

"Supreme Unity Dao energy, circulating through ancient and modern times."

"Sweet dew pours over the crown, bright light bathes the body."

"The three karmas are purified, the five viscera are mysterious and bright."

"Inside and out are clear and thorough, manifesting my primordial spirit."

"Connecting heaven and earth, auspicious light protects the masses."

"Everything in the universe is my truth."

"The Three Pure Ones, the Holy Ancestors, respond to sincerity."

"Recite it ten thousand times, and bright light will descend upon the body."

"One Qi evolves, dim and obscure."

"Supreme Unity Heavenly Venerable of Salvation, act quickly as the law commands!"

As soon as the words fell, golden light shimmered on the surface of Uncle Nine's body; this was the Vajra Divine Curse, used for body protection.

Zhang Cheng immediately followed Uncle Nine's movements and performed it once, activating the Vajra Divine Curse; with the golden light protecting his body, he could no longer hear that ethereal laughter.

Uncle Nine shouted, "Third Senior Brother, go help Second Senior Brother; I and Junior Brother will deal with this traitor!"

Lin Fengjiao nodded and turned to attack Hikosaka Nobumitsu. Originally, Hikosaka Nobumitsu was already at a disadvantage against Daoist Priest Da Yi; now, with the addition of Lin Fengjiao, it was even harder to resist.

Forced, Hikosaka Nobumitsu could only take out the Cold Chrysanthemum to cast a spell, summoning a shocking evil ghost.

That evil ghost was like a mass of rotting flesh, but the surface of the flesh mass had countless faces; those faces were all wailing, struggling, and also filled with resentment, fear, and helplessness. In short, it was every expression a human could possibly show in a desperate situation.

Daoist Priest Da Yi shouted loudly, "Dog traitor, today you must die!"

Hikosaka Nobumitsu laughed, "Ha, this is the Thousand-Faced Ghost formed by the gathering of thousands of souls; it is even more powerful than a thousand evil ghosts. In the future, our Nine Chrysanthemum Sect can also refine Ten-Thousand-Faced Ghosts, or even one hundred thousand, or a million!"

Daoist Priest Da Yi took out a Eight Trigrams mirror, cast a spell, and shouted, "Junior brothers, set up the formation!"

A red Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams pattern rose into the sky, and Daoist Priest Qianhe outside the town shouted, "Fellow junior and senior brothers, use the Two Forms Eight Trigrams Formation to seal the small town!"

Daoist Priest Simu replied, "Junior brother, you are the strongest in formation arts; you come to preside over the eye of the formation!"

"Good, set up the formation!"

Hikosaka Nobumitsu truly did not expect that Daoist Priest Da Yi and the others still had helpers; he was annoyed and ashamed, and ordered the Thousand-Faced Ghost to attack.

Daoist Priest Da Yi and Lin Fengjiao attacked together, engaging in a fierce battle with Hikosaka Nobumitsu and the Thousand-Faced Ghost.

On the other side, Uncle Nine and Zhang Cheng fought against the man in the mandarin jacket together; although his paper dolls were troublesome, they feared fire, and these paper dolls were burned to pieces by the Samadhi True Fire of Zhang Cheng and Uncle Nine.

The man in the mandarin jacket was not panicked; he let out a cackling sneer and cast a spell again, and right beneath Zhang Cheng's feet, two paper dolls burst from the soil and attacked directly.

Fortunately, Zhang Cheng had a golden light protecting his body, so when the paper dolls grabbed his ankles, their hands were instantly scorched black.

Zhang Cheng secretly thought it was a close call and unleashed a blast of Samadhi True Fire at the paper dolls, yet these paper dolls were completely unaffected.

The man in the mandarin jacket cackled and sneered, "Hehehe, you didn't expect this, did you? These were made with fireproof materials, and with my magic power added, your Samadhi True Fire is useless."

Zhang Cheng thought to himself that his offensive methods were too limited; since he had plenty of merit points now anyway, he could exchange for a new set of equipment.

He hurriedly shouted, "Senior Brother, stall for some time, I need to look for a magic treasure!"

Uncle Nine, however, said, "Rest assured, Junior Brother, I can kill him!"

Seeing this, Uncle Nine shook the Three Pure Ones Bell and unleashed the Gold Coin Sword, piercing straight through the two paper dolls, then threw the Altar-Suppressing Wood to strike the man in the mandarin jacket, hitting him so hard he spat out blood and his face turned as pale as paper.

Immediately after, Uncle Nine leaped in front of the man in the mandarin jacket and struck with a Five Thunder Palm; as this palm landed, the man in the mandarin jacket exploded just like a paper doll.

"Hehehe, that was my substitute!"

Asking for support for my new book! It might involve some things, and I don't know if there's any danger... I'll try my best to write it; if it doesn't work out, I'll avoid it. It won't affect the main storyline.

(End of this chapter)