Chapter 59

I returned once again to the place where troops were mustered, sitting cross-legged on a pile nearby. For a Yin Mountain disciple, the best way to restore one's magical power is none other than to cultivate in a grave.

Ordinary people find graveyards gloomy and terrifying, but who would know this place is full of stories? In the stillness of night, when you sit there, calm your mind, and sense every breath around you, you will discover that the air is permeated with the seven emotions and six desires—resentment, unwillingness, sighs, and desolation. Each breath is a ghost's lingering humanity. Smelling them, you see more clearly the world's partings and reunions, and feel the joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures of humanity.

For us Yin Mountain disciples, cultivating beside a grave is not just about mastering supernatural arts; it also brings mental insight.

The sky gradually brightened; I formed the Seal Finger and quietly absorbed the energy swirling around the grave. Even after a night of cultivation, my recovery was agonizingly slow. I opened my eyes, went to the town's paper‑craft shop to buy some things, then returned to the graveyard and cultivated like an old monk entering meditation, spending this ordinary day.

When the hai hour quietly passed and the zi hour descended silently, I also planted the command banner upside‑down and began to invite the master's descent.

The art of inviting the master is still essentially inviting ghosts. Every sect has its secret method for inviting the master; they summon the deceased elders of their lineage, also called the Yin Master.

I took out the paper effigies from the bag, drew the talisman order on them, then linked them one by one with red thread, arranging them in two rows. On each paper effigy's shoulder and head I placed a Five Ghost Coin.

Red Shadow Ghost King

Next, I slit my wrist and, with this bowl of blood, began to draw the Five Directions Emperor Talisman on the ground. In talismanic art, cinnabar ink is the lowest grade; ink mixed with animal blood is slightly better; using human blood to draw talismans is best, especially the blood of a cultivator.

In the five directions—east, south, west, north, and center—each of the Five Ghost Talismans occupied a position. After drawing them, I sat cross‑legged in the central position, seated upon the Central Ghost Emperor Talisman, forming the invite‑master Seal Finger, performed three kowtows and nine bows, and began to chant the invocation.

The chant was dull, the ritual tedious. When I finished the final step, I dared only to lower my head and kneel quietly. This was the first time in my cultivation career that I had invited the master; before this, I had never seen Li Feng perform the invitation, so I could only follow the manual, clumsily imitating the rites as best I could.

Time trickled by, the surroundings remained still and quiet as before the invitation, while my heart sank to the bottom, shifting from anxious unease to disappointment, then to sorrow.

I am unwilling, unwilling to let Qingqing die so innocently. I am unwilling to let the once‑formidable Yin Mountain, which once shook the four directions, be wantonly insulted. I am determined to avenge Qingqing and to exalt the name of Yin Mountain before the world.

I gritted my teeth, picked up the knife again, and prepared to draw the Five Directions Emperor Talisman once more, to invite the master anew; even if I bled dry, I must summon the master down.

However, just as I lifted my left foot, half‑kneeling and preparing to rise, a sudden scene struck my already‑lost heart with a violent jolt, leaving me frozen in that half‑kneeling pose, like a man proposing to a woman.

Before me remained pitch‑black as a cave, nothing visible, yet the air was filled with waves of ghostly chant that struck the hearts of those nearby; each time it sounded, my heart felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, leaving it empty.

Five Directions Ghost Talisman

The ghostly chant drew nearer; a tiny point of light appeared ahead, gradually growing larger. When I finally made out what it was, my heart jolted uncontrollably and I sucked in a breath of cold air.

Five Ghosts Carrying the Coffin—this truly was the Five Ghosts Carrying the Coffin. Bluish‑white, red, yellow, green—five hazy phantoms lifted a black coffin, stepping toward me one pace at a time.

The Five Ghost Coins placed on the paper effigies' shoulders scattered onto the ground; as the coffin entered the side path, the effigies ignited without fire, paper money flew everywhere, welcoming the descent of the Yin Master. The Five Directions Emperor Talisman beneath me grew ever hotter, making me feel as if I were sitting on a grill, about to be burned to a crisp at any moment.

Five Ghosts Carrying the Coffin

The air was thick with a suffocating oppression; I found it hard to breathe, and even my knees seemed beyond my control, trembling involuntarily.

Bronze Coffin

I lowered my head, not daring to look at the bronze coffin carried by the five ghosts; the five ghosts carrying the coffin, Yin soldiers on the road—these two exist only in legend; to have such backing, one must either be a peerless expert of an age, or… a ruthless figure who once shook the world.

The latter's Yin soldiers on the road have appeared before in people's eyes; but those who saw them gave them a common name, "Yin soldiers passing by." The former's five ghosts carrying the coffin exists only in recorded accounts, yet today it appeared before my eyes.

The five ghosts carried the bronze coffin before me, and as he approached, my heart began to tremble inexplicably, bean-sized sweat droplets trickled down my forehead; I could not muster even a shred of courage to speak.

Still, deathly still, the graveyard silent without a sound of birds, I knelt on one knee on the ground, head lowered; before me stood the Five Direction Ghost Kings, lifting a pitch-black bronze coffin.

"Who are you, and why have you summoned this ancestor?"

After a long while, the silence was broken; the speaker was not me, but a voice emanating from the coffin carried by the five ghosts. This voice was low and deep, yet it gave off an aura that dared not be defied.

"Disciple of Li Feng of the Yin Mountain Sect, Chen Hai Sheng, pays respects to the Yin Mountain Patriarch." I said, kneeling respectfully and knocking my head on the ground.

"Yin Mountain, disciple of the Li lineage..." Before his words even finished, I saw the red-shadow ghost king beside the bronze coffin gesture, and a Yin Wind Command came straight at me.

The Yin Wind Command is one of the basic cultivation methods of the Yin Mountain Sect, just like the Golden Light Command created by Mao Shan's golden light technique; both are basic arts. But the Great Dao is simple—although they are basic, their power is tremendous.

When I released my Yin energy, there was already a hiccup; now, struck by this Yin Wind Command, I instantly felt cold all over, and a surge of reversed blood rose to my throat.

I was startled in my heart, thinking the invited Yin master and the Li lineage were at odds; who knew another sentence would come from the coffin.

"How could your cultivation have fallen to such a degree?" His tone revealed great dissatisfaction.

As he spoke those words, I also felt a loosening in my chest; originally he wasn't feuding with the Li lineage's disciple, but was testing my cultivation.

I was speechless, not knowing how to explain; for what this patriarch said was true, before him my cultivation was pitifully weak.

"In the Yin Mountain Sect, inviting a master costs lifespan; inviting one master requires sacrificing three years of lifespan, and within those three years you may not invite another Yin master. Do you understand?" After a long while, the bronze coffin broke the silence again.

I replied with a bitter smile: "Disciple knows this rule, but they have insulted our very doorstep, and disciple can do nothing about it."

I took a deep breath and said: "Disciple has a friend who was killed by the immortals of the northeast; now……"

"Get to the point, cut the nonsense"—a dissatisfied shout suddenly rang out in the air, cutting off my words.

I could only briefly say two things: one, my friend was killed; two, the Dao lineage was insulted.

Another deathly silence fell, and only then did the patriarch inside the bronze coffin slowly utter a sentence; this sentence almost scared me to death.

"I am very dissatisfied with you; although the Yin Mountain Sect does not allow disciples to practice evil arts that harm the world, it does not mean we can be bullied."

"Whoever dares to seize my Yin Mountain, kill them; whoever dares to insult my Yin Mountain, exterminate them. You are so indecisive—how can you stand in the world, how dare you call yourself a disciple of my Yin Mountain?"

His tone showed no excessive anger, remaining calm and tranquil, yet it exuded a chilling decisiveness in slaughter.

I smiled helplessly; perhaps this patriarch is right—I am too indecisive, too cowardly.

"Patriarch, I……" I opened my mouth, but was cut off again by the patriarch in the bronze coffin.

"I have no interest in knowing who it is. But since he dared to insult, you must uproot him completely. I will allocate a unit of Yin master soldiers to you; at the Xu hour tomorrow night, come to this place to lead the troops, taking the soldiers to punish."

When the patriarch in the bronze coffin finished speaking, the Five Direction Ghost Kings lifted him and turned, disappearing into the pitch-black night, giving me no chance to speak; they left me alone kneeling there, neither laughing nor crying—this bronze coffin patriarch is really overbearing, isn't he?

From childhood I received QingSongShu's education; imperceptibly, my temperament has changed greatly. Sometimes I even dislike fighting.

Yet the patriarch's brief words ignited the fervor in my heart; I began to feel, this damn it's what a man should be—a man establishes himself in the world, repaying kindness and vengeance swiftly; that is what is refreshing and exhilarating.

In a daze, I had a feeling of sudden enlightenment; I clearly felt I understood something, yet I didn't? Seems to be and yet not... truly strange.