Chapter 51

The girl said, "I was playing on the mountaintop with Qingqing just now, when suddenly an old grandmother in a fur coat appeared before us, the old grandmother hunched over, looking extremely ancient, yet she walked very quickly, 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 oddness, and kindly went up to ask if she was lost. Who would have thought this old grandmother gave a strange smile, and still holding her fur coat, she spun around. She asked Qingqing a sentence: 'Do I look like a person?' Qingqing looked at her strangely: 'Old grandmother, what joke are you making? Aren't you a person?' Then Qingqing fainted on the ground, becoming what she is now."

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

In the Northeast, there is a circulating 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 then 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 asking about profound mysteries; whether it is a cultivator or an animal that has cultivated a Spiritual Aperture, in the dark their words are heard by the heavens, and there is an invisible force interfering. We in the south call this method 'asking about profound mysteries', which can be used to take disciples or to cast spells. In Jiangxi and the Northeast it is called 'seeking a lucky phrase'. Daoists sometimes use this method to avoid heavenly punishment. And some wild immortals with evil intentions use this method to steal vital energy.

What is vital energy? Put simply, it is the qi channel of the three hun and seven po. Many people know of the three hun and seven po, but they do not know that within the three hun and seven po there is a qi channel. The reason the three hun and seven po do not separate is because this qi channel runs through them. Put simply, this qi channel is an invisible qi, which ordinary people call yin-yang qi. Elders often say that everyone has a mouthful of yin-yang qi within them, which is exactly what this means.

Like a vampire sucking blood, what is taken is not only human blood but also the essence within the blood. When a wild immortal seeks a lucky phrase, what they steal is also the refined qi within the three hun and seven po.

A cultivator can channel this breath of refined qi through yin and yang, merging it into the three hun and seven po. But ordinary people are different; not to mention not knowing about this qi, even if they knew, they would have no way to cultivate it.

Now Qingqing has exactly had this breath of refined 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 have just run from Zhou Yu's tomb to here, which has certainly been at least half an hour, so how is Qingqing still alive." Pangzi rested his chin on his hand, his tone full of doubt.

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

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

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

Why? I unwillingly lifted my head and roared. 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 chance—what is this for?

The icy cold piercing my heart, once again I saw 'Dream' die before my eyes, while I felt just as helpless as the first time, able only to watch her die silently before me.

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

I swear, no matter where this wild immortal comes from, even if I have to search the entire mountain, I will drag her out, cripple her physical form, scatter her soul and spirit, so she can never be reborn.

I took the command flag from the bag 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: "Charging in rashly 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 and 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 and follow 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 had been left by a dragged tail.

Based on judgment, I vaguely guessed the origin of this wild immortal. Her true form should be an old cat that has become a spirit. Among animal immortals, the three creatures with the strongest body 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. Besides, cats have a habit of sneaking onto altars to defecate. Guangdong has a saying: 'altar cat feces, hated by gods and ghosts.' QingSongShu's household altar naturally has also suffered from wild cats' mischief. Therefore, if I am to say which animal I am most familiar with, it is none other than the cat.

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

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

The Yin Mountain sect's heavy yin makes mobilizing troops and commanding generals unmatched. Initially one can control souls with souls, or possess and bewitch. Later one opens the Eight Gates Ghost Road, summons soldiers and controls commanders.

In ancient times Jiang Ziya turned beans into soldiers, but my Yin Mountain sect can make all plants and soldiers; dwelling in impure grounds, using human blood as a guide and plants as a medium, I summon the four directions and five ghosts to descend.

Many people have seen or have at home an ancestral spirit tablet. But before the Shang dynasty, such spirit tablets did not exist; people would honor their ancestors by carving wooden figurines according to the ancestors' appearance—these were person tablets. First came person tablets, then spirit tablets. And before person tablets, there was also a grass tablet, made by binding grass into a figurine.

The Yin Mountain sect's summoning of troops, put simply, is to make a flesh body out of straw or paper figures, inviting the four directions and five ghosts to possess them. These ghosts that have gained a flesh body are not the same as ordinary released souls; their attack power is extremely fierce, and both humans and ghosts can suffer substantial harm.

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

But now I no longer have the energy to think about those things; the sky grows ever darker, my mood worsens, 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 and scatter them.

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

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

In the Yin Mountain sect's records, one only needs to carve a human likeness onto plants; it is not at all like the movies say, requiring straw to be folded into individual straw figures. And within this forbidden art, the darkest and most vicious is to use a corpse as a vessel, summoning the five ghosts and driving them.

However, this art is a forbidden technique in the Yin Mountain sect's canon; if one summons a vengeful spirit that is utterly wicked, once that spirit merges with the corpse, it may escape the Daoist's personal 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 be devoured; ordinary talismans, magical implements, and incantations are useless, and one must use Qimen arts, drawing on the mountain-river veins to suppress and kill, or employ mighty arts like heavenly thunder and earthly fire to utterly annihilate it.

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

Although the above is limited to hearsay, I also would never summon ghosts in this way. I also fear that corpse-ghosts merging would become a corpse nie that brings ruin to all living beings. The Yin Mountain sect may be ruthless, but it is not as low as pigs and dogs. Even if you stand from what you consider a righteous position, looking down on us as scoundrels the way society's elite do, it makes no difference. However, please 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' bodies, I found a grave mound, sat down, and extracted a skull from within.

Even though doing this is somewhat immoral, there is no alternative. Summoning troops to invite ghosts is best done in a graveyard. Using the skull as a sacrificial 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, seeming to still want to advise me.

"Hai Sheng, do we really have to do it this way?"

"We must do it this way." I gave him a quiet glance and said no more.

That hand, full of 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 and slowly severed the artery. With the dripping blood, I drew the summoning talisman for the five ghosts on the ground.

When the talisman was finished, I sat holding my breath, making the hand sign for inviting yin, and slowly chanted the incantation for summoning troops.

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