Chapter 257: Debt Collection

"Are you crazy? You forgot the industry's rules?" I immediately shouted, without hesitation stepped forward and snatched Han Duo's peachwood sword.

The caster can only cast the spell once; if someone breaks it, it's predestined karma. A spellcaster cannot cast a second time on the same person, otherwise they will incur the five defects and three lacks retribution, bringing disaster to their six relatives.

"Do you want to live alone and die old, or do you want to have your hands and feet cut off? Have you considered the consequences?" I glared at her.

Han Duo's peachwood sword was blocked by me; at first she froze, but hearing my scolding, the stubborn she reclaimed her peachwood sword and coldly said to me: "It's none of your business."

"What do you mean it's none of my business? Even if you're rushing to raise money for Xiao Binbin's surgery, you can't joke with your own life. Don't you know what you're doing is purely like the Old Man of Longevity hanging himself—complaining about a long life?" Seeing Han Duo continue preparing the ritual, I quickly spread my arms, blocking the altar to stop her.

"Move aside..." Han Duo's face was ice-cold, her pretty face like frost,

"Not moving..." My attitude remained firm.

Han Duo and I stalemate for a moment; seeing that I still refused to move, she suddenly shoved me aside, picked up the doll labeled with Zhou Zhenzhen's eight characters, swept everything off the table, and prepared to leave.

"Wait, are you helping someone collect debts? I can help you; after success we split the profits half and half, how about that?" As Han Duo was about to leave the temple, a flash of inspiration struck me, and I blurted out.

My guess was correct; Han Duo is indeed helping someone collect debts. I don't know who the creditor is, but the debtor must be Zhou Zhenzhen. Given Zhou Zhenzhen's stingy, rascal nature, I don't know how many creditors have gritted their teeth at him yet could do nothing, so hiring someone to sabotage him is not surprising.

Seeing Han Duo stop her steps, I added more pressure.

"You know, when it comes to adjusting souls with bamboo poles, unlocking soul locks, and attracting wealth to collect debts, my Yin Shan Sect is number one in the Dharma teachings; no one dares claim second place. Instead of you blindly sending troops like a headless fly, it's better to tell me the actual situation so I can retrieve the money for you."

Since ancient times, within the Five Ghosts Qimen there have been Harmony and Bewilderment, Soul-Hooking Hanging, and of course Debt Collection Soul-Lock. Harmony targets the cold war between spouses for reconciliation; Soul-Hooking Hanging calls back the wandering son who refuses to go home, the husband who has left home; Debt Collection Soul-Lock helps others recover bad debts.

However…… the conditions for these Yin methods are very strict. First, for debt collection, you must know whether the other party has money but refuses to repay, or is truly destitute with nothing to repay. If it's the former, debt collection poses no great problem; but if it's the latter, it's tantamount to driving the person to their death—even if you recover the debt, you will also incur retribution.

After learning the detailed situation, the second step is to cast divination before the altar, i. e., to ask the ancestral master. If the ancestral master permits, you may set up the altar and perform the ritual; if the ancestral master forbids, forcing the ritual is equivalent to defying heaven and will likewise bring retribution.

This retribution, needless to say, is the five defects and three lacks—either it brings disaster to brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, parents in traffic accidents, or it results in oneself missing arms and legs.

Moreover, even if the conditions allow debt collection, Daoists engaged in this line of work dislike taking on such techniques. Because to help someone collect debts, you must weaken the three fires of the debtor's enemies, bring misfortune upon them, so that the Five Ghosts can draw near. Besides, the more money you collect, the more merit and qi the Five Ghosts absorb from you; performing such a technique once, you wouldn't know how many good deeds are needed to compensate.

If one merely relied on giving people Harmony and Bewilderment, Soul-Hooking Hanging for debt collection to make a living, that would be like the Old Man of Longevity hanging himself—complaining about a long life. However, this time, even if I break the rule once, I think it's no big deal, after all I hardly ever perform such techniques, and this time I'm also helping someone. Zhou Zhenzhen's nature really needs a good correction.

After I added pressure, I clearly felt Han Duo's heart stir; however, though her heart moved, that stubborn girl's personality remained unchanged.

She coldly asked: "Why are you helping me?"

"Hehe, I'm not helping you; I'm just poor lately, can't get work to start. As for you, you got the job but used the wrong method. Why don't we cooperate once? You hand the job over to me, and you take fifty percent of the earnings as a brokerage fee." Dealing with someone like Han Duo, I have plenty of ways.

"Are you serious?" Han Duo's eyes still showed vigilance.

"Of course..." I extended my thumb, revealing a row of shining white teeth: "Brother Sheng's honesty walks the world; I'll cheat fathers and mothers but not you!"

…………

Han Duo looked at me like an idiot for a long time; her contemptuous gaze stared at me for nearly five minutes. Five minutes later, Han Duo snorted, threw the peachwood sword from her hand onto the table.

This action, should be agreement, right……

Whether she agrees or not, anyway there's a saying: silence means consent.

I picked up the peachwood sword, arranged the items on the altar properly, but in Yin Shan Dharma the lower altar is used, especially for Yin methods like debt collection, which demand even closer contact with the earth.

I placed the incense oil, candles, and other items from the jar directly on the ground, sat cross-legged, drew several debt collection soul-hooking talismans with black ink, and began to summon the soldiers.

When the incense was lit, a number of lonely souls and wild ghosts heard the news and came, gathering before the altar. These lonely souls and wild ghosts belong to the type with little resentment, possessing little lethal power.

"Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, I beseech the Five Ghosts to manifest their mighty power; the Five Ghost Generals possess vast divine abilities; talismans frighten evil people; I send out the Five Ghost Soldiers to cause trouble, heading to xx location, to press the creditor Zhou Zhenzhen into compliance, urging Zhou Zhenzhen's three souls and seven spirits to find no peace, to have debts repaid, to repay money quickly; I obey the edict of the Three Mountains Nine Marquises, the Yin Shan Dharma Master."

After the talisman paper burned, I lightly brushed the ash onto the peachwood sword, then gently pointed the sword tip at the straw figure inscribed with Zhou Zhenzhen's name, chanting the order; the lonely souls and wild ghosts moved with the command. This is the guiding order arrow; pointing it at the straw figure's forehead lets the lonely souls and wild ghosts know the way forward, able to find the place.

Dispatching the soldiers forward, one should normally avoid the Door Gods, but since Zhou Zhenzhen lives in an upscale residence, there is also no such thing that outsiders might mistake for superstition: before the door there is no Earth God, at the doorway no Door Gods, and inside the home no deity statues to guard the residence. Thus this step of avoiding gods can be omitted.

As for Zhou Zhenzhen's vital energy, the three fires, given his current state, I think he has long been battered and weakened beyond compare by Han Duo; how could he possibly resist the confusion of these lonely souls and wild ghosts?

When conducting troop operations, the biggest taboo is interference when the order is issued, or unexpected situations, being affected by consecrated items on the target's person, or a backlash from deity statues.

So, when the wooden sword point was lowered and the soldiers were truly dispatched, only then did I truly relax. Unexpectedly, at that moment Han Duo snorted, looked at me contemptuously and said: "I thought you had great abilities, but I didn't expect you'd still be calling on these laughable troops. Even the Yaksha Troops can't handle him; you really think these lonely souls and wild ghosts can actually work?"

"Wrong, it's exactly these lonely souls and wild ghosts that can fulfill the debt collection function. Your……" I firmly shook my finger: "No."

Seeing Han Duo's dissatisfied expression, I couldn't help but shake my head.

"Do you know what the Twenty-Four Direction Soldiers are used for? Do you know how debt collection is carried out?" I laughed and asked Han Duo; after she didn't answer, I jumped in to answer for her: "No, you don't know. Although your original magical power is higher than mine, and your troops are of higher rank, …… you don't understand the purpose of the soldiers, so even if you have greater strength, it's merely brute force."

Han Duo furrowed her brows, hands on hips, unwilling to concede: "Fine, since you say you're so powerful, then tell me, what are the uses of the Twenty-Four Direction Soldiers?"

"Yo, little brat, still not convinced" I seemed to enjoy Han Duo's anxious appearance; seeing her ask, I naturally wasn't stingy with what I knew.

The scope of the Twenty-Four Direction Soldiers is too broad; no one can accurately know the origin and purpose of each direction's soldiers. However, when it comes to debt collection and soul-hooking, the best soldiers are undoubtedly those low-cultivation, lightly resentful lonely souls and wild ghosts.

Because such lonely souls, though they have resentment, it is not deep; moreover, since the Ghost Gate Pass is not open, they cannot enter the underworld to await rebirth. Ghost nature, after all, loves to lie, posing as someone's relative; therefore this kind of ghost's talent for lying and deceiving people is also the strongest.

Debt collection is not really about going out to scare, sending a ghost at midnight to frighten people, knocking them unconscious, making them dare not repay. If that were the case, those subjected to debt collection would already have been scared witless, and those who have undergone debt collection would surely, at the time, say the story turned into N versions widely spread.

But…… who has ever heard someone say to you, "I was dunning for debt by a ghost, and I almost got scared to death"?

I dare not say there are none, but they are absolutely rare. Because this debt collection proceeds silently and unnoticed; mainly, it is a mental confusion.

As previously stated, ghosts are spiritual bodies that easily affect the human spirit, causing guilt, weariness of the world, and other negative emotions; when a person's magnetic field resonates with the spiritual body, the spiritual body's thoughts will influence the person's brain.

For example, Zhou Zhenzhen—I don't harm him, but the ghosts will confuse him so that he feels guilt, recalls his past deeds, feels guilty about his character, and in his mind magnifies the consequences of his not repaying money, branching into countless possibilities. The creditor, because he hasn't repaid, has his whole family lacking food, himself owing too much money, being hacked to death by random blades,

In short, it's to let him indulge in random thoughts, unable to find peace, finally unable to withstand the chaotic emotions in his mind, unable to withstand the guilt, fear, and various emotions rising from his heart; ultimately he will repay his overdue debt to the creditor and obtain tranquility.

After I finished explaining all this, Han Duo's eyes widened a bit, but her expression was no longer as disdainful as before. Evidently, my explanation was still very persuasive.

"Hehe, now you finally know where you went wrong. It's not that higher power makes things easier; the key is whether you can grasp the crucial point, choose the right method, and apply it there. Lonely souls and wild ghosts have first-rate talent for bewildering people; as for your underling's Five Ferocious Troops being so high-level……" I rubbed my nose, curled my lip at Han Duo: "Fighting is fine, bullying ghosts is top-notch, but the talent for bewildering people is like those old madams in a third-rate brothel—putting on makeup doesn't make them anything else."