Chapter 323: Qingqing died

That girl said, "I was just playing on the mountaintop with Qingqing when suddenly an old grandmother in a fur coat appeared before us, the old grandmother hunched over, looking very ancient, yet she walked extremely fast, and in an instant she had walked from there to here."

The girl pointed to a boulder one meter away.

"At that time Qingqing didn't notice her abnormality, and kindly went up to ask if she was lost. Who would have thought this old grandmother gave a strange smile and twirled her fur coat. She asked Qingqing, 'Do I look like a person?' Qingqing stared at her oddly: 'Old grandmother, what joke are you playing? Aren't you a person?' Then Qingqing fainted on the ground and became like this."

After hearing the whole story, I and Pangzi gave a bitter smile. This is obviously a wild immortal seeking a lucky mouth, stealing one's vital energy.

In the Northeast there circulates a story: if you encounter some strange old men or women in the deep mountains and wild forests, and she asks you, 'Do I look like a person?' you must answer, 'You look like a turtle bastard,' and she will tuck her tail and flee in panic. If you answer that she looks like a person, or say you are a person, you will immediately have your vital energy stolen by these wild immortals.

This is similar to the method of questioning the mysteries; whether it is a cultivator or an animal that has opened its Spiritual Aperture, speech in the dark is heard by the heavens and interfered with by an invisible force. We in the south call this method questioning the mysteries, usable for taking disciples or casting arts. Jiangxi and the Northeast call it seeking a lucky mouth. Daoists sometimes use seeking a lucky mouth to avoid heavenly punishment's retribution. And some wild immortals with ill intentions use this method to steal vital energy.

Vital energy is, put simply, the qi conduit of the three hun and seven po. Many know of the three hun and seven po but not that they contain a qi conduit. The three hun and seven po do not separate because they rely on this qi conduit to sustain them. This qi conduit, put simply, is an invisible qi, commonly called yin-yang qi. Elders often say that everyone has a mouthful of yin-yang qi within them, which is what this means.

Like a zombie sucking blood, it takes not only a person's blood but also the essence within the blood. When a wild immortal seeks a lucky mouth, what it steals is also the essence qi of the three hun and seven po.

Cultivators can thread this mouthful of essence qi through yin and yang, merging it into the three hun and seven po. But ordinary people are different; not to mention not knowing this qi, even if they knew, they would have no way to cultivate it.

Now this Qingqing has had that mouthful of essence qi stolen by a wild immortal, which is why she has become like this.

Moreover, these two girls are simply too big-breasted and brainless. Even if they don't know about the wild immortal stealing vital energy, the appearance of an old grandmother in a fur coat in midsummer should have made them a bit wary.

"Strange, I remember my father once said that if this yin-yang qi leaves a person's body for half an hour, that person will die. We just ran from Zhou Yu's tomb to here, which has surely been at least half an hour, so how is Qingqing still alive." Pangzi rested his chin, his tone full of doubt.

Who would have known, just as he finished speaking, Qingqing's neck tilted and her hands went limp and drooped.

"Qingqing..." I shouted in panic, grabbing Qingqing's hands.

Upon touching her, it was icy cold, as cold as snow frost, and even the last faint breath was gone.

Why? I resentfully yelled to the heavens. This thieving Heaven, since you let me meet her who resembled my dream, why did you immediately take her life, not even granting me a false opportunity—what is this for?

The icy chill piercing my heart once again, I saw "Dream" die before my eyes, while I felt just like the first time—helpless, helpless, only able to watch her die quietly before me.

"Wild immortal, I will grind your bones to ashes and scatter them."

I swear, no matter where this wild immortal comes from, I will even overturn the entire mountain to dig her out, cripple her flesh, let her soul and spirit scatter, never to be reborn.

I took out the command flag from the pack behind me and stepped toward the deep mountains and old forests.

"Ah, Hai Sheng, what are you doing?" Pangzi called out, also following behind me.

I didn't say a word; perhaps at this moment my heart held only hatred.

"Hai Sheng, listen to me." Pangzi stepped in front of me: "If we rashly rush in like this, isn't it a bit too dangerous? We'd better prepare our things first and then come back."

I calmly shook my head, raised the command flag in my hand: "No need, I have this."

After saying that, I ran off by myself toward the deep mountains and old forests.

Pangzi could only sigh helplessly afterward and followed after me.

As we went deeper, a urine-like stench gradually appeared in the air; smelling it made one's nose itch, and gradually this stench grew stronger.

Moreover, on the ground there were some traces that looked like they were left by a tail being dragged.

Based on judgment, I vaguely guessed the origin of this wild immortal. Its true form should be an old cat that has become a spirit. Among animal immortals, the three creatures with the strongest odor are the yellow weasel, the fox, and the cat.

And I judged it to be a cat because the last time I stole white cloth from a corpse, this smell left an indelible impression in my mind. Moreover, cats have a habit of sneaking onto altars to defecate. Guangdong has a saying: "altar cat feces, hated by gods and ghosts." QingSongShu's family altar naturally suffered from some wild cats' mischief. So if I were to say which animal I am most familiar with, it would be the cat.

The sky gradually darkened, and the road became harder to walk. Even on an ordinary plain path, one might not be able to discern the way clearly, let alone here in the deep mountains and old forests.

However, I did not intend to rely solely on Pangzi and me to keep searching. Our two-person strength is always limited; since we want to play, I will play a big game with her.

The Yin Mountain's heavy yin makes mobilizing troops unmatched. Initially one can control souls with souls, or possess and bewitch. Later one opens the Eight Gates Ghost Road, points and commands troops.

In ancient times Jiang Ziya scattered beans to become soldiers, while my Yin Mountain school can make all plants and soldiers, dwelling in impure grounds, using human blood as a lure, plants as a medium, summoning the four directions and five ghosts to descend.

Many have probably seen or have at home an ancestral spirit tablet. But before the Shang merchants, there was no such thing as a spirit tablet; people honored ancestors by carving wooden figurines according to the ancestors' likeness—these are person tablets. First came person tablets, then spirit tablets. Before person tablets, there was also a grass tablet, made by binding grass into a figurine.

The Yin Mountain's troop summoning, put simply, is to make a flesh body from straw or paper people, inviting the four directions and five ghosts to possess it. These ghosts endowed with a flesh body are not the same as ordinary released souls; their attack power is extremely fierce, capable of inflicting substantive harm on both humans and ghosts.

Originally I had not intended to use this art, because these arts exchange lifespan. The four directions and five ghosts are not just four directions and five ghosts; those summoned could be twenty-four directions of ghosts, or even more. The more ghosts summoned, the heavier the yin qi the body bears. Moreover, outsiders do not know that even after sending away these evil ghosts, when you summon them down, they will inevitably absorb a bit of your vital energy. Shortening lifespan is inevitable.

But now I no longer have the energy to think about those things; the sky grows ever darker, my mood ever worse, and I have lost the patience to continue playing with this old cat. No matter the cost, I will surely grind her bones to ashes.

According to feeling, I turned direction and arrived at the other side of the hilltop, where there are piles upon piles of protruding graves.

I plucked many branches from the trees, tied them into bundles, and placed them on the ground as the flesh bodies for the five ghosts.

In the Yin Mountain's records, one only needs to carve a human likeness onto plants; it's not like the movies say, needing to fold straw into individual straw people. And in this forbidden art, the darkest and cruelest is to use a corpse as a vessel, summoning the five ghosts and expelling them.

However, this art is a forbidden technique in the Yin Mountain canon; if one summons vengeful spirits that are unforgivable for the ten evils, once such a spirit merges with a corpse, it may escape the Daoist's control. At that point, the corpse-ghost is no longer called a corpse-ghost but a "nie" (obstinate evil). The terror of such a nie is such that even the Daoist himself can devour it; ordinary talismans, magical implements, and incantations are useless, requiring esoteric arts to draw upon the mountain river's veins to suppress and kill, or to utterly annihilate with mighty arts like heavenly thunder and earthly fire.

Therefore, few in Yin Mountain would summon ghosts this way, fearing that once it becomes a nie, it will indiscriminately slaughter people everywhere, causing all living beings to suffer. At that point, it is highly likely to incur heaven and earth's punishment—either struck dead by lightning, or invaded by yin qi and utterly perish.

Although the above is limited to hearsay, I also certainly will not summon ghosts in this way. I also fear corpse-ghost fusion creating a corpse nie that makes all living beings suffer. Yin Mountain may be harsh, but it is not worse than dogs and pigs. Even if you stand from what you consider a righteous stance, like the society merchants calling us scoundrels as the upper class do, it doesn't matter. Just remember, we can be described by you as idle loafers, but we are absolutely not the scum who burn, kill, loot, rape, and plunder.

After preparing the vessels for the five ghosts' flesh bodies, I found a grave mound, sat down, and extracted a skull from within.

Even if doing this is somewhat immoral, it is unavoidable. Summoning troops and inviting ghosts is best done at graves. Using the skull as an offering is to arouse his resentment; the more resentful he is, the fiercer the yin troops I summon will be.

Pangzi watched helplessly as I dug up someone else's skull, his face showing reluctance; he wanted to speak but held back, seemingly still wanting to advise me.

"Hai Sheng, really must we do it this way?"

"We must do it this way." I glanced at him calmly and said no more.

That hand, filthy with corpse oil, opened the box in my bosom and inserted the command flag upside down into the skull.

Summoning ghosts requires talismans, but now we have neither talismans nor paper; we can only use human blood as ink and heaven and earth as paper.

I took out a small knife, slowly severed the artery, and with the dripping blood drew the summoning troops talisman for the five ghosts on the ground.

When the talisman was finished, I sat holding my breath, making the summoning yin gesture with my hands, and slowly chanted the incantation for summoning troops.

"Heaven opens, the underworld's ghost king commands, the six-direction yin sages assist the ghost king…… I obey the Ghost King Great Emperor's personal decree: first summon one-directional died ghosts, second summon two-directional wronged-dead ghosts, third summon four-directional wronged vengeful spirits without masters wandering souls, fifth summon……"