Chapter 49: Acting on Behalf of Heaven

Chen Ye sighed with relief; he did not wish to have a young girl by his side anyway. Setting aside the various troubles, having more entanglements would naturally slow down his cultivation speed.

Chen Ye said gratefully, "Thank you, Miss Su, for your assistance."

Su Chunyi smiled and said, "Mr., you know that our Qinghe Sword Sect has few disciples. Whenever anyone goes out to train and meets a suitable candidate, they are brought back to the sect. Miss Lan has extraordinary talent and a simple mind; she is perfectly suited for our Qinghe Sword Sect."

Chen Ye could understand; a sect that is number one under heaven, yet has so few people, the Qinghe Sword Sect's Sect Master must be quite anxious.

With Lan Shi's problem resolved, Chen Ye let the two girls return to the teahouse to rest; the things he needed to do next were not suitable for Lan Shi to watch.

Chen Ye needed to clean up the mess.

The corpses scattered on the ground had to be cleared away, otherwise there might be an epidemic.

The martial artists who had been bewitched were not freed from control; many spells, once cast, became independent of the caster. Jiang Shiyue was dead, but the spell's influence remained; they would still sacrifice everything for Jiang Shiyue like madmen.

Since we are already here, it is a good time to practice the secret techniques transmitted in the *Sutra of the Earth Store Bodhisattva's Fundamental Vows*.

The bewitchment technique acts on the mortal soul and spirit, essentially planting a curse that interferes with thought within the soul and spirit. As long as anything related to the "master" is involved, all resistance and thought are cleared away, turning them into loyal dogs with unswerving hearts.

Chen Ye waved the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls, having the resentful spirits tear down more than half of the Hengdao Inn, and began setting up an array using materials found on the spot.

Just as he was busy, Hearing Mo Ci could not help but ask, "What twisted scheme are you plotting again? Just leave these fools to their fate. Even if you really want to break the bewitchment technique, wouldn't it be more convenient to let that Su Chunyi do it?"

Chen Ye asked, "Master, how do you know Miss Su can break the bewitchment technique? Don't you not understand it either?"

Hearing Mo Ci said confidently, "Is that the same? I can not understand, but that Su Chunyi cannot not understand. Disciples of high sects fear most being controlled in mind and ruining the sect's reputation, especially women, who must be extremely careful; otherwise, the outcome will surely be miserable. With a sect as large as Qinghe Sword Sect, they must teach their disciples how to break bewitchment techniques of this sort."

Chen Ye said in surprise, "If you hadn't said it, I truly wouldn't have known. This disciple has learned from you."

So even righteous sects guard against this move; it seems that in the future, when meeting disciples of great sects, one should not think of bewitching their minds.

"Don't change the subject; what are you doing?"

Hearing Mo Ci felt something was wrong; even if disposing of a few mortals, why would such a grand display be needed?

This array looked truly somewhat exaggerated; merely having built a prototype, it began to draw in vast amounts of Heaven and Earth's spiritual energy.

"It is just that with Miss Su nearby, I wanted to try all the secret techniques recorded in the *Sutra of the Earth Store Bodhisattva's Fundamental Vows*. However, practicing them one by one is too troublesome. This disciple has discovered he has no talent in casting spells."

This was not humility; Chen Ye had practiced the Immobilization Technique for many days, yet when casting it during a duel, it still failed. Obviously, he was a research-type cultivator with no special talent in combat.

And the four secret techniques of Binding, Locking, Questioning, and Punishment complemented each other, like a single whole. To see the effect of combining them, one had to rely on setting up an array in advance; otherwise, it would take Chen Ye ten years to cast them.

And when Chen Ye cultivated before, he had felt in his heart that these four secret techniques could stir the Qi Sea within his body, affecting the speed of absorbing spiritual energy.

Then he must quickly find an opportunity to study them carefully.

However, setting up a complete array creates too much commotion and easily attracts the attention of other cultivators; who knows if Cui County still hides some demon or rogue cultivator from the unorthodox path.

Chen Ye thought that since Su Chunyi was nearby, even if he made a huge commotion and attracted even more trouble, with her there, she should be able to protect his life.

Cultivation seeks immortality; do not recklessly take risks unless necessary.

But if it is necessary, then one should not hesitate.

After hearing Chen Ye's explanation, Mo Ci sighed that this boy was indeed a born demon; when calculating against others, he was truly watertight.

However, Hearing Mo Ci was also quite curious; this scripture is truly very strange. Just from the material being impervious to blades and spears, one knows it is no ordinary item. As for the secret techniques recorded within, if all were cast, what kind of scene would it be?

Would the sky and earth truly change color, allowing one to become an immortal on the spot?

Though knowing this is unlikely, one cannot help but indulge in wild fantasies.

Chen Ye did not care what Hearing Mo Ci thought and continued to choose to set up the array.

The reason for choosing the Hengdao Inn, aside from the coincidence of timing, was that this place was quite special; one could say it gathered all kinds of greed and resentment from wine, lust, wealth, and anger.

As an inn frequently visited by martial artists, it was originally a place for bravery and fighting. Since the inn's rules forbade them from using martial arts, it provided various entertainments.

Drinking from large bowls, eating meat in big mouthfuls, then gambling and listening to songs; one could say everything was available.

Furthermore, this inn harbored filth and evil; over the years, it did countless evil deeds that took lives. Those resentful poisons and hatreds lingered and did not depart; it was only because martial artists had strong yang energy that they could suppress them.

Over the years, these thoughts and intentions would affect the spiritual energy of this place, forming a unique "Feng Shui pattern."

To set up an array, one generally goes with the flow; arranging it according to the Feng Shui pattern of different locations yields twice the result with half the effort. Chen Ye, now using the four soul and spirit secret techniques of Binding, Locking, Questioning, and Punishment as a foundation, borrowed the spiritual energy containing greed, anger, ignorance, and resentment from this place to set up the array, which was perfectly complementary.

After busy work for a long time, until the sun had set, this crude array was finally completed.

The high platform Chen Ye built was shaped like an arch bridge; countless runes rose from the ground, turning into phosphorescent flames that lingered without dispersing.

A perfectly fine inn had now become like a mass grave; the yin winds drawn in turned into wailing. The lingering resentful thoughts that had long since dissipated now showed signs of gathering into a form.

Formless resentful thoughts turned into form, like a vague shadow. Looking closely, it was clearly composed of thousands of twisted human faces. Whenever the phosphorescent flames flickered, the facial features of the inn's Shopkeeper, gamblers, prostitutes, and others who had committed sins here in their lives alternately appeared in the mist, as if these sinful souls had been forcibly blended into the skin and appearance of this ghostly shadow.

In an instant, the ghostly shadow grew taller and larger; in the blink of an eye, it became a three-zhang-high, green-faced, fanged evil ghost.

Chen Ye stood in the eye of the array, carefully adjusting the flow of spiritual energy. As the four secret techniques of Binding, Locking, Questioning, and Punishment activated in sequence, a strange magical treasure appeared on the body of the green-faced, fanged evil ghost.

Rusty iron chains were wrapped around the evil ghost's right hand; one end was a sharp hooked barb, and the other end was a shackle covered in thorns.

Chen Ye immediately felt as if Mount Tai were pressing down on him; this green-faced ghost was the condensation of evil in the world, seeming even more powerful than the souls and spirits of the two old demon heads before.

Seeing the green-faced ghost look at him, Chen Ye felt his body tremble, his mind and heart falling into boundless fear. But he hardened his heart, bit his tongue, and faced it calmly.

Until their eyes met, a roar sounded in Chen Ye's mind: "Do you know your crime!"

Chen Ye felt memories surge; many trivial matters he thought he had long forgotten rushed to his heart. Arguing with others, being lazy and hating study, bowing and scraping, flattering and fawning... all such things were Chen Ye's past he did not wish to recall.

However, no matter how these memories surged, Chen Ye only felt awkward, with not a shred of guilt. Looking into the burning eyes of the green-faced ghost, he answered calmly, "My heart is clear of guilt; what crime is there?"

In his past life, he perhaps did many stupid things, but Chen Ye never harmed others to benefit himself.

In that case, what crime is there?

Just after Chen Ye loudly responded to the green-faced ghost's question, the chain with the hooked barb swept horizontally towards him.

Chen Ye did not dodge at all; the rusty iron hook swept over him, yet did not even hook his clothes; instead, it passed through Chen Ye's body, only hooking out a few wisp of black smoke.

Chen Ye vaguely felt a pain in his chest, as if he had been punched. However, the force was not great, and the pain quickly vanished without a trace.

At this moment, Chen Ye also understood the terrible nature of this secret technique; although it was the array he set up, he himself was the first to be judged. If Chen Ye had deep sins, that hook just now would have made him wish for death.

Chen Ye touched his chest and sighed, "It is easy to deceive others, but difficult to deceive oneself."

Even though Chen Ye loudly said his heart was clear of guilt, he had ultimately concealed his origins from Su Chunyi; this guilt could not be hidden, and the iron hook precisely hooked it out.

Fortunately, apart from this, Chen Ye had no major mistakes; this pain he could endure.

Having passed the trial, Chen Ye could now fully control this green-faced evil ghost. With a flick of the chains, he swept all the martial artists toward him. Immediately, the iron hooks pierced through everyone's bodies, dragging out a vast cloud of black mist.

These martial artists rolled about on the ground in agony; most of their screams never ceased, clearly indicating deep sins. Two others, who seemed to have committed no great wrongs, cried out in pain a few times before waking up instead.

The iron hooks of this green-faced evil ghost acted directly upon the soul and spirit, yet caused no harm to them.

Though they rolled about on the ground in pain, their fragile souls and spirits suffered no damage, and their physical bodies were utterly unharmed; it was merely simple punishment.

This secret art cannot harm people; rather, it offers them a chance to atone, truly acting as an instrument of heaven's justice.

As for the charm technique, it naturally could not withstand the sweeping might of these iron hooks and had been completely broken.

Yet what Chen Ye wanted was not merely to set up the formation; he also wished to ponder from it the influence of these four secret arts upon his Qi Sea.

"I recall that my Qi Sea changed when I cultivated the Lock Technique before. Let me try again..."

Just as Chen Ye was preparing to carefully experience the combined effect of the four secret arts, a whistling sound came from the sky.

Looking up, he saw a pill furnace descend from the heavens, landing atop Chen Ye's head.

Then loud curses rang out: "Bold demon! How dare you harm people in a bustling market?! I, Wei Changsheng of the Burning Incense Sect, shall today act as heaven's justice!"