Chapter 302: Ritual Duel

With the paper doll as a vessel, the ghostly flame slowly took shape; Feng Xue stared at its round, plump form and furrowed his brow.

"This looks… like a lantern?" Liu Yunxi glanced around and realized it indeed was a lantern; Feng Xue immediately replicated the process with another ghost flame, but this time, what emerged was a broom.

"Could it be the legendary spirits that attach to inanimate objects and become monsters?" Liu Yunxi rummaged through her memories and found that even in the stories told by the Fox Immortal Grandma, this was an exceedingly rare type.

Feng Xue pondered for a moment, then shook his head:

"No, it's just an ordinary human spirit, twisted by special means into something resembling a monster—essentially no different from a spirit ghost, except spirit ghosts are warped by their own obsessions, while this one is warped by external vows."

In his past life, Feng Xue had been a doujin writer, and he'd dabbled in nearly every moderately popular 2D game; naturally, he'd played Yinyangshu for a while. If it were just a lantern, he might have hallucinated Zhang Fei's face shouting "Great Joy! Great Joy!"—but with a broom added, and linked to that ninja assassin, the word "shikigami" naturally surfaced in his mind.

Though similar to spirit ghosts, this kind of spirit entity—let's call it a shikigami—was far inferior; it was essentially some random wandering soul trapped in an object and falsely declared to have become a spirit.

"Using this method is definitely not the way of the righteous. Should we destroy it directly?" Liu Yunxi made a decisive judgment; Feng Xue shook his head:

"No need—or rather, I've been looking for the mastermind! Forget the shikigami and spirit ghosts; if they want to command them, they must first form a spirit pact."

Here, Feng Xue's face broke into a malicious smile: "Xiao Lingdang, can you trace it?"

"No problem, but be careful to seal your aura—otherwise, the enemy might sense it and sever the connection."

Xiao Lingdang quickly gave her professional assessment; Feng Xue smiled:

"Easy enough—let's give him a lesson! Yunxi, set up the altar!"

"Got it!" Liu Yunxi instinctively replied, then frowned oddly:

"Isn't it already set up?"

"Hehe, I just feel it adds atmosphere to begin with." Feng Xue grinned a slightly foolish grin, handed the lantern ghost back to Liu Yunxi for re-sealing, then placed another paper doll beside the broom ghost's spectral form, pulled out a small knife, and slashed hard at the spirit body.

The broom ghost screamed as if truly cut, and the severed portion of its spirit flowed into the new paper doll.

This technique was essentially the same method Feng Xue had used before to forge Zhuqi vessels—but given the broom ghost's weak power, even if fully sealed, it might only improve the efficacy of a Cleansing Spell by a few percentage points; Feng Xue didn't want the Zhuqi vessel at all—he wanted these two fragments of "spirit ghost."

…

In the dim room, the Shinto Master of Jiujuyi Sect (a high-ranking Shinto priest, akin to a Daoist Priest) still maintained his worship of the Wu Shidao, but due to his stubborn isolation, he received no aid from the consulate or the cultivator guild; his resources were scarce. What should have taken only two or three blood sacrifices to complete now required far more time to refine.

As his mental exhaustion triggered emotional instability, a sharp sense of danger struck— the candle directly north of the room suddenly went out, and a crimson dot burst forth on the Master's third eye.

The Master gasped, reached into his robe, and pulled out a form-doll with a shattered head.

"Worse! It's only evening—not the Hour of Chou for spirit-killing rites! A forbidden curse? But where did he get…? Ah! Those two shikigami! Damn it! Wasn't that brat from a reputable sect? How could he use such a vile cursing method?"

The Master's heart pounded wildly; the rush of blood to his brain brought dizziness, and he longed to sit down—but knowing this was far from over, he hesitated not at all. Ignoring the ongoing ritual, he dragged his finger across the Wu Shidao's blade; blood welled from the cut. He pressed a crimson fingertip mark onto his third eye, then seized the spare paper dolls on the altar, stamping one after another with his blood seal.

Puff… puff… puff… puff… puff…

A continuous series of soft pops—the mournful tearing of paper dolls. Compared to the carefully crafted form-doll, these hastily made paper substitutes were far too fragile. Fortunately, the shikigami he sent were low-grade and had been refined for only a short time—their connection was weak. Had they been shikigami bound since childhood, one strike would have shattered his skull.

The Master was immensely relieved he'd stayed before the altar—otherwise, he wouldn't have had time to make the substitutes. Now that the first round had passed, what came next…

"Woo… woo…"

"Damn it! He launched two curses at once! Doesn't he fear shortening his lifespan?" The Master clamped his throat, feeling the sudden suffocation, his mind reeling. He'd only sent a ninja to probe—why resort to such mutually destructive cursing?

"But good—after casting such a vile curse, he won't be unscathed either!"

The Master's eyes flashed with murderous intent. He deliberately released his grip on his neck; as his Adam's apple visibly sank, he pulled three thin threads from his sleeve, as if impatient to die slowly, and wrapped them all tightly around his throat. He pulled hard—intending to strangle himself. But strangely, as the cords slowly tightened, the crushing pressure on his throat abruptly ceased.

…

Feng Xue's chopsticks pinched the paper doll's neck. Though merely a sheet of white paper, it stubbornly resisted the downward pressure of his chopsticks. Just as Feng Xue picked up a small wooden mallet, intending to add more "seasoning," the paper doll stiffened—then its entire head detached from its body.

"Did we kill it?" Liu Yunxi watched Feng Xue vent his frustration on the paper doll; now that its head was gone, she naturally assumed the spell had succeeded.

Feng Xue merely shook his head, took the tea Liu Yunxi handed him to rinse the metallic taste from his mouth, ate a small piece of fish cake to replenish his depleted yuan, then smiled:

"He's ruthless—he used his own body as ritual material, killing the shikigami first. But good—now, in his eyes, both shikigami are surely gone!"

(End of Chapter)