Chapter 490

However, there is a method of raising soldiers that can be called abusing ghosts, utterly heinous. This method of raising soldiers is precisely the one used by Wu Fei.

Specifically, at midnight, one goes to crossroads or places of heavy killing, collecting the vengeful spirits of those who died a violent death, whose resentment is extremely heavy.

After bringing them back, they are placed in a jar and refined with medicinal methods and incantations. Master Li Feng did not teach me this refining method; perhaps the master did not want me to come into contact with these arts.

But I have heard Master Li Feng say that this refining method is equivalent to washing away the ghosts' spiritual awareness, cutting off their chance of reincarnation.

Just like raising dogs at home, if you like, you let them bite people; if you don't like, directing the two dogs to bite each other is also fine.

At the same time, these soldiers exist solely for killing and resentment; if they go a period without consuming souls, they will weaken, even turning into mist and completely disappearing from this world.

The Five Ghosts Carrying the Coffin has always been the mark of Master Tai Zu; I will never forget the night Master Tai Zu descended, when the pressure filling the sky almost made me unable to breathe, the whole space seemed to congeal, and even if I could breathe, my chest felt suffocated as if I were dying bit by bit.

The small dot beside the Yang family grave was remarkably similar to the scene when Master Tai Zu descended—both were a bronze coffin with five ghost soldiers.

But… could the owner of this bronze coffin before me really be Master Tai Zu?

Doubting, I stepped forward and arrived before the Yang family tomb. Upon approaching and looking, I realized that this bronze coffin was not the one present when Master Tai Zu descended. Master Tai Zu's bronze coffin shone with a dark luster and bore ancient, simple patterns, whereas this coffin was truly a silver one, its entire body gleaming silver, engraved with the likenesses of the five yaksha ghosts.

As I approached the bronze coffin, the five ghosts guarding it noticed me, but soon these five-colored ghosts could no longer move at all.

Because I recited a segment of the incantation to suppress the five ghosts, the guardians obeyed the command of their ancestors. Although the names of the ancestral yin gods of the five ghosts may differ when summoning troops, if a Yin Mountain sect practitioner wishes to dispatch the five ghosts to guard the coffin, they must certainly invoke the names of the five yin gods. These five yin gods are the ancestors of these five-colored coffin-guarding ghosts, and their names are fixed and unchanging. As long as one chants the mantra corresponding to the five directional yin gods, the guarding ghosts will be unable to move.

"Yin Mountain Li lineage inheritor, may I ask which school you belong to?" After subduing the Five Directions Five Ghosts, I quickly stepped forward, fixing my gaze on the back of the figure sitting cross-legged before the main stele of the Yang family tomb.

Barring any mishap, the owner of that back view is the main figure tonight.

"Cough cough..." The owner gave two light coughs, slowly turned around, and I instantly sucked in a breath of cold air.

It wasn't because the owner's appearance was terrifying, nor because his strength was great. My attention wasn't on his face at all; in fact, the first thing I noticed wasn't his appearance.

What caught my attention and surprised me were the two flags planted before the grave. The two flags, one black and one white, stood side by side facing the two sides of the Yang family's main stele. This flag was not the Yin Mountain Sect command flag, but the Yin Mountain Sect Slaughter God flag.

From the patterns on the flag, one can tell its origin—it is the Slaughter God flag atop the Yin Mountain Sect command flag. In the Yin Mountain Sect's flags, the first-level command flag directs troops and commands ghosts and spirits. The second-level Slaughter God flag, having been tempered by the Five Directions Slaughter Gods, is more powerful and can employ the Yin Mountain Sect's higher-level civil and martial arts.

But even the Slaughter God flag is normally used alone; the black-and-white pair is rarely employed. When the black-and-white flags are needed, according to the Yin Mountain Sect's records, they are only brought out for the Dragon Invoking Secret Technique.

"Who exactly are you, and why are you using the Double Slaughter Dragon Invoking method? Do you not know that once the Earth Fiend Dragon is summoned, it will turn this place into a land of death, cause the Yang family to lose its heirs and extinguish the clan? Do you not know this is a heinous slaughter, unforgivable?" I stared at the frail young man before me, my eyes red with rage.

The Dragon Invoking Secret Technique is one of the top civil arts of the Yin Mountain Sect. This technique lacks offensive power; it is completely ineffective in one-on-one fights or group brawls. It has only two uses: altering fortune, and ruining the feng shui luck of a place.

Altering fortune changes the fate and luck of the Yin Mountain Sect Daoist himself and his family. If family fortune is poor, one can invite a dragon god to alter it. If innate endowment is lacking, one can summon a dragon god to compensate. Because our Yin Mountain Sect disciples often command troops and generals, ghost soldiers and ghost generals absorb our merit, lifespan, and yang energy. Thus we Yin Mountain Sect practitioners commonly use the Dragon Invoking method to alter fortune.

Second, ruining the ancestral feng shui luck. Everything has yin and yang, good and bad. The Dragon Invoking Secret Technique is no exception; it likewise possesses an extremely fierce aspect. The Yin Mountain Secret Canon records that wherever one's feet tread, the ground will absorb resentment, hatred, and the world's greed, ** qi. Since people step on the earth with their feet, earth and man are connected. And after death, people return to the soil to rest; thus a person's life is inseparable from the earth. Moreover, people have good and bad, the seven emotions and six desires, positive energy and also negative energy.

The Double Slaughter Dragon Invoking method summons the various earth dragons born of resentment underground; once the earth dragon takes form, wherever it appears it will devour that place's earthly fortune. Likewise, it does not merely ruin the ancestral feng shui luck; more horrifically, it will cause everyone related to you to die one by one.

Therefore, the Double Slaughter Dragon Invoking method has always been a taboo among taboos of the Yin Mountain Sect; even if there is irreconcilable resentment, we would not lightly use this method. For according to the Yin Mountain Sect's records, those who employ this Double Slaughter Dragon Invoking, after death cannot reach the heavenly court nor fall into the Yellow Springs; they can only wander the human world as those despised filth-eating ghosts, eating excrement day and night, never satisfied, enduring endless torment of heat and cold, never able to be reborn, and receiving no incense offerings.

The main figure before me is a young person, one who looks even younger than me; his physique is frail, as if a gust of wind could blow him over. His complexion is likewise waxen and bloodless, with prominent cheekbones, making him look malnourished.

Under my intense stare, the young person finally spoke.

"Yin Mountain Chen lineage, I am Wu Fei." He spoke hoarsely, giving a brief self-introduction.

I looked at him doubtfully and asked: "Why are you using the Double Slaughter Dragon Invoking method? Don't you know you will suffer eternal retribution?"

The young man stared at me for a long time, then coldly shook his head and said: "I don't fear retribution; I only fear poverty."

It seems this is another one who sells his life for money. I furrowed my brow and asked him what it would take for him to stop.

He remained in that cold demeanor, staring at me and said: "If you can give me ten million, I will immediately take up the command flag and leave."

Holy shit… ten million, do you really think you're a lion reincarnated? Opening your mouth that wide, you're not afraid of bursting. I certainly refused, and likewise coldly retorted: "What if I don't give you? What then do you plan to do?"

The young man named Wu Fei stared at me, scornfully saying: "The Yin Mountain Sect has a prohibition: disciples must not kill each other."

"Then we'll have to settle this with our strength!" At that moment I likewise drew my command flag. Wu Fei's words seemed to be invoking the sect's prohibition, but his posture showed no retreat whatsoever; when he said that, his expression was also scornful, as if he didn't care at all. This indicates that behind the prohibition against intra-sect killing lies another hidden meaning.

The hidden meaning behind this is—if you insist on intervening, I can only accompany you to the end. This Wu Fei clearly intends, for the sake of money, to break the sect's prohibition once.

After drawing the Yin Mountain Sect command flag, I stared at him and sneered: "In this battle, you may not win; at the very least, you cannot summon the Earth Fiend Dragon."

The Double Slaughter Dragon Invoking method is certainly not as simple as just raising the black-and-white Slaughter God flags to summon an earth dragon; there are many elaborate procedures. Erecting the black-and-white pair of flags is merely the first step of the formation.

"Heh heh" Wu Fei gave a cold laugh, fixed his gaze on me and grimly said: "Who says it can't be summoned? Once I kill you, I can peacefully draw the dragon."

No sooner said than done—almost as soon as his words fell, the black-and-white Slaughter God flags on the ground flew into Wu Fei's hands; then he gestured with both hands, and countless wandering souls and wild ghosts appeared to his left and right.

"Damn it, you lunatic bastard. Do you not know this will cause these souls to never be reborn? They already suffered enough dying from sudden misfortune in life; why won't you even give them a chance to reincarnate?" I stared at the resentful spirits beside Wu Fei and clenched my fists.

Each of these resentful spirits, hair disheveled, resentment raging to the heavens, like walking corpses, even compared to fiends they are not lacking. Yet Wu Fei summons troops merely by lightly waving the flag. He chanted no incantation, nor had he previously drawn any floral characters. This situation can only mean one thing: these soldiers have had their consciousness completely obliterated and feed on resentment, like domesticated animals, even capable of mutual slaughter to strengthen themselves. And Wu Fei produced them by refining these resentful spirits with the Yin Mountain Sect's forbidden arts.

Speaking of the Yin Mountain Sect's arts, although they mainly involve dispatching troops, they are absolutely not as vicious as outsiders imagine.

Applying the saying "the law itself has no good or evil," if you command troops and raise those unable to reincarnate wandering souls and wild ghosts for good deeds, then the accumulated merit can resolve your five flaws and three deficiencies, and those souls can likewise cultivate the proper path and gain a chance to reincarnate. Conversely, even if you do not do good deeds and use the troops to commit evil, the troops can still, after you finish your task, absorb a share of your own merit and vital energy from you; the so-called harm refers only to you personally.

However, there is a method of raising troops that amounts to abusing spirits, utterly heinous. This is the method Wu Fei uses. Specifically, at midnight he goes to crossroads or places of heavy slaughter, gathering resentful spirits of those who died violently. After bringing them back, he places them in jars and refines them with medicinal and magical rites. Master Li Feng did not teach me this refinement method; perhaps he did not want me to come into contact with these arts. But I have heard Master Li Feng say that this refinement method is equivalent to washing away the spirits' consciousness, cutting off their chance to reincarnate. Like keeping dogs at home: if you like them, you let them bite people; if you don't, you can even direct two dogs to bite each other—no problem. Moreover, these troops exist solely to kill and feed on resentment; if they go a period without consuming souls, they weaken and may even dissipate into mist, vanishing completely from this world.

The sole advantage is that this method is fierce and swift. Because the spirits are intensely resentful, they are extremely formidable. Moreover, to drive them, you need only a thought, and they will instantly emerge from the Slaughter God flag to assist you in killing and taking lives, without hesitation.

The Yin Mountain Sect's technique for dispatching troops has this characteristic: the quicker the summoning, the weaker the summoned troops. If you want to summon troops of high cultivation, you need more preparation time. This method compensates for both shortcomings, summoning ghosts with extreme speed while their cultivation remains not weak.

But… this method of summoning troops cannot be described as excessive enough.

After I heaped harsh curses upon Wu Fei, he flew into a rage and coldly said to me: "I am no saint; I cannot manage the lives and deaths of so many ghosts. My sole concern is myself."

Having said that, he let out a loud roar, waved the command flag, and directed the dozens of resentful ghosts at his side to rush at me; one of them even opened a bloody maw, baring sharp teeth, trying to swallow me whole.

------------。