Chapter 10

It seemed like a long dream; I dreamed I was wandering in a vast emptiness, and in the darkness there was a familiar figure standing before me.

Her back resembled my older sister. I strained to chase after her, but no matter how hard I ran, I could never catch my sister; he looked so elusive, with traces to follow yet utterly illusory.

"Wake up…… wake up……"

A popping sound, slightly hoarse, I opened my heavy eyelids and realized I wasn't dead; not only was I alive, I lay on that familiar bed, and Li Feng's face was less than a centimeter away from me.

"Ah……" Li Feng, so close, frightened me greatly; his blind eye was truly terrifying.

Li Feng pressed his lips, expression neither sad nor happy: "You're awake."

I nodded and replied, "Master, I'm awake."

"Since you're awake, get out of bed; Master will tell you how to communicate with the commander soul!" Li Feng turned and beckoned to me.

"Master, you haven't told me what the commander soul is yet; also, have I found the commander soul?" I followed behind him, asking doubtfully.

Although Li Feng had me search for the commander soul, I knew nothing about it. Could it be related to that white mass from last night?

"This commander soul? It's actually a yin soul, that cluster of spiritual fire that drifted into your forehead last night."

As expected, Li Feng confirmed my suspicion. But what use is this commander soul to us Daoists?

"The commander soul is the commander of a thousand troops, the leader of the soldiers and horses," Li Feng said.

At the same time, to dispel my doubts, Li Feng slowly explained the concept of the commander soul to me.

The so-called commander soul refers to the master of soldiers and horses, the soul among souls. Every Yin Mountain Daoist, after forming an alliance with the Five Ghosts, whether by chance or destiny, will find a commander soul related to themselves.

We who study Yin Mountain know the commander soul is a ghost, but we do not call it a ghost; we respectfully call it "general."

The reason the commander soul is called a general is because each general resembles the Daoist himself; indeed, it can be said to be our second life.

After communicating with the general, the troops the Daoist can command can also be commanded by the general; the stronger you are, the stronger the general becomes. Moreover, when you fall into danger and have no time to look after yourself, once the general you are in communion with learns of your peril, it will bring yin soldiers and yin generals to rescue you. Of course, the precondition is that these yin soldiers and yin generals lie within the range you can command, for the commander soul's cultivation equals your own and cannot command troops beyond your ability.

Of course, the general's abilities are not limited to this; Yin Mountain disciples can also use its supernatural powers to tell fortunes for others.

It is well known that Dao has five arts: mountain, medicine, appearance, fate, and divination.

The so-called mountain art refers to establishing foundations through profound canons, cultivating martial arts to strengthen the body, drawing talismans and employing troops; medical art refers to treating illness using prescriptions, acupuncture, spiritual therapy, and the like.

Appearance art, meanwhile, divides into personal appearance and land appearance. Personal appearance encompasses seal appearance, name appearance, bone appearance, and so on. House appearance refers to the feng shui of yang residences and the foundations of yin residences. By improving the magnetic field around a person through form and qi, one can seek good fortune and avoid misfortune.

Fate art and divination calculation, among the five arts, are pure prognostic arts. One may predict life destiny through Zi Ping, Zi Wei Dou Shu, etc., to perform four-pillar divination of a lifetime; or one may inquire into the success or failure, good or bad fortune of an undertaking through Mei Hua Yi Shu, Iron Board Divine Numbers, and the like. Of course, appearance art is also needed as an aid.

However, ordinary people think only appearance, fate, and divination arts can predict destiny; few know that mountain art can also be used for divination.

Unlike the appearance-fate-divination trio, the divination in mountain art means inviting ghosts to tell fortunes. Spirits have six supernatural abilities, while ghosts possess five: heavenly eye, heavenly ear, mind-reading, fate, and spiritual power. Depending on their cultivation, the ghosts that develop supernatural abilities differ; through these ghosts' abilities we can to some extent see a person's partial destiny, thus telling fortunes for them. The southern appearance-fortune-telling grannies and the northern horse-riding immortals employ this method of divination.

Of course, the general's abilities go even further; each general, besides cultivating a certain supernatural power to help Yin Mountain disciples tell fortunes for others, also possesses some unknown talents. Because the summoned commander souls differ—some are cultivated ghosts, others may have been Yin masters of great sects in life, and after being summoned by Yin Mountain disciples and becoming commander souls, they impart their own abilities to you.

For example, Li Feng's "general" is versed in fate-divination arts and has passed them on to Li Feng, so when he first came to my home he could use the Yi numbers purely to divine so many things. However, this general is each Yin Mountain Daoist's innermost secret, summoned only after securing one's life. Even between master and disciple, only the barest hint is given, never too much disclosed. Thus, regarding Li Feng's "general," all I know is that it understands the Yi arts and, in life, was likely a renowned master of divination who ruled a region.

Having said that, I too am curious about my own "general," eager to know what abilities it possesses.

Regarding this, Li Feng merely shook his head and said, "You… still lack that ability."

"Um… Master, what do you mean? Does looking at the general also require ability?" I scratched my head, puzzled.

Li Feng nodded: "Of course it's needed; your spiritual eye is not yet mature, and relying solely on spiritual sense you cannot naturally contact your general. Moreover, for the general to commune with you and become your second life, you must offer day-and-night worship and blood sacrifices to achieve blood‑compatibility and spiritual communion."

"Master, I don't understand……" I shook my head, quite honestly.

"Come with me!" Li Feng gestured, letting me follow him.

He brought me to a small room that contained only a small table; on the table lay a tiny rectangular object.

Upon closer look, I saw it was a miniature coffin, so small it barely fits in a palm, almost pocket‑sized.

Li Feng said, "Last night after I carried you out of the grave, I already used soul‑guiding incense to draw your commander soul into this coffin. From now on you must drip blood morning and evening, offer incense, and only then can you commune with it, so the commander soul can be used by you."

He paused, then added, "Besides that, you must swallow talismans daily to increase your power and cultivate the spiritual eye; only when the spiritual eye is accomplished can you fully perceive this commander soul and communicate further."

"Then Master, what is the spiritual eye, and how should I cultivate it?"

Li Feng smiled and nodded, telling me, "The spiritual eye is actually what people commonly call the yin‑yang eye, except the Daoist spiritual eye possesses far greater supernatural abilities than the yin‑yang eye."

Whether yin‑yang eye or spiritual eye, no one is born with them. Some people can see unclean things because their yearly luck is weak, combined with favorable timing and location, causing a brief opening of the yin‑yang eye to perceive things not of this world; but this time is extremely short, after which the yin‑yang eye closes again.

Including myself, before, aside from my older sister, when unclean things were near me I only had a feeling but could not see their appearance clearly.

Li Feng said, "This is the spiritual sense of Daoist practitioners. First cultivate the spiritual sense, then open the eye; initially, a Daoist relies on this sense to feel the 'people' lingering in streets and alleys, thereby avoiding them; after that comes assiduous day‑and‑night training, and once one's cultivation reaches a certain level, the spiritual eye can be opened."

By means of the spiritual eye, a Daoist can see the appearance of ghosts and also use it to treat illnesses for others.

There was once a patient whose illness resisted cure, suspected of being possessed by a ghost or deity; the Daoist sat beside him, observed the patient for a few minutes using the mirror‑gazing method, and immediately saw an image above the head or behind the neck; according to its form, one could determine that a certain spiritual entity had possessed the body.

This is the benefit of the spiritual eye; even if the hysteria is deeply hidden, the spiritual eye can ferret out the root. Of course, above the spiritual eye lie the mystic eye, the dharma eye, and the heavenly eye.

However, greed leads to indigestion; the road must still be walked step by step, and the staircase climbed one step at a time.

Although my spiritual sense is innately somewhat stronger, I dare not grow complacent; I quietly listened to Li Feng's teachings on how to open the spiritual eye.

Having obtained the method to open the spiritual eye, I hurriedly prepared to set up an altar and cultivate.

But at that moment Li Feng stopped me: "The method to open the spiritual eye must be chosen according to the eight characters as a starting day for cultivation; you cannot act rashly."

Hearing Li Feng say that, I could only resentfully give up, thinking that once he picks a good day I will then cultivate the method to open the spiritual eye.

However, although I cannot cultivate the spiritual eye method, Li Feng gave me another task.

When I clearly heard what Li Feng wanted me to do, even though my willpower is strong, I couldn't help shouting at the heavens and cursing, "Damn it!"

This Li Feng actually wants me to steal the white cloth covering the corpse.