Chapter 36: Midnight Worship of Ghost Mountain

Croak! Croak!

In the dark night, crows flew in chaos.

Dense forests intertwined, candlelight and lanterns flickered.

I don't know if it's because too many dead people were buried, but this mass grave is not desolate, but rather lush with trees and dense wild grass.

Yin mist rose, and people couldn't be seen clearly beyond a hundred meters.

The light was dim, coupled with the slippery ground after the rain, people fell from time to time.

In the team, there was no lack of timid people.

They walked and looked around, always feeling that in the dark yin mist, something was watching them, making their scalp numb.

But remembering Wang Daoxuan's instructions, no one dared to speak.

Li Yan, naturally, walked at the forefront.

He pressed the hilt of the knife with his left hand and carried a bamboo pole with his right.

The advantage of the olfactory supernatural power is most obvious at this moment.

The surrounding mist was thick, dim and pitch black, but all kinds of smells could be easily distinguished through the nasal cavity.

He could smell rotting leaves, poisonous insects passing through the grass, poisonous snakes entrenched on branches dozens of meters away, and even mice drilling holes several meters underground, none of which could escape his nose.

This dark jungle, for him, was no different from daylight.

But what Li Yan paid more attention to was the yin and evil energy here.

He had turned back and forth in Xianyang City several times. The human energy there was prosperous, coupled with the millennium majestic city and many temples with prosperous incense, it was very suitable for people to live.

Only a few wells and secret passages had faint yin energy remaining.

And on this mass grave, the yin and evil energy was very obvious.

Unlike the cold altar soldiers of the past, this was a cold, dead, and decaying smell, permeating every corner of the surroundings, seeping into the ground, and attaching to the grass and trees along the roots.

Therefore, the grass and trees here are unusually lush, and there is thick fog even on sunny days.

Clatter! Clatter!

With the movement of the bamboo pole, all kinds of poisonous insects and snakes were startled away.

Wang Daoxuan naturally knew his skills, focused on exploring the

The profession of Feng Shui and geomancy is vast and profound.

Those who can judge Feng Shui are not necessarily able to set up a Feng Shui formation.

Wang Daoxuan has dabbled in various methods, but mostly he only has a superficial understanding or is just a beginner; only in Feng Shui and divination has he spent great effort in research.

Not long after, he found a suitable place, passed through a dense forest, and waved his hand to signal everyone to stop.

This was a strange area.

Near the dense forest, yet not a blade of grass grew. All around were many jagged, strange rocks, standing upright like inverted halberds, resembling a natural ruined temple in the mountains.

Li Yan twitched his nose, and a look of curiosity appeared in his eyes.

He could smell that the Yin Sha Qi gathered here like an undercurrent in a river, circling and swirling, vaguely forming a momentum.

As soon as he stepped into the clearing, he felt the surrounding temperature drop by several degrees.

Li Yan understood in his heart; this was mostly what Wang Daoxuan called "momentum"!

Between heaven and earth, Gang Qi and Sha Qi circulate to form "momentum," and by going a step further, one can form a "formation."

The biggest difference between "momentum" and "formation" is that one is like a swirling undercurrent, still relying on the external environment, while a "formation" forms a closed environment.

The two are just terms, with no distinction of high or low.

The "momentum" of famous mountains and great rivers is vast and majestic, like a god raising a sword, standing on the earth, far more powerful than the "formation" in some remote corner.

The formations, Feng Shui, and even treasure troves in the world are all related to it.

This place is clearly a good place to perform rituals.

But Wang Daoxuan was not in a hurry; instead, he stepped forward a few paces, took a compass and turned a circle, then used a shovel to dig up the surface soil, grabbed a pinch of dirt and put it in his mouth.

Ptooey!

After tasting it, Wang Daoxuan spat it out quickly, then stood up, took a branch, drew a circle on the ground, and nodded to the crowd.

Sha Lifei immediately stepped forward, leading several people to unload the bundles on their backs.

Inside were wooden boards and sticks, all with mortise and tenon structures. In a few moments, they assembled a square table, then spread out yellow cloth, talisman paper, and the five offerings—incense, flowers, lamps, water, and fruit—immediately forming a temporary altar.

Finally, Master Zhou stepped forward carefully.

He also carried a wooden box on his back, covered with a red cloth. After opening it carefully, inside was a brightly colored clay doll statue, wearing a red bellyband, holding a shadow puppet stick in its hand, with a naive and charming smile.

This was the ancestral statue of the Chunfeng Troupe.

Li Yan could smell that there was only some residual incense scent on it, clearly having been worshipped before, but it had already dissipated.

This situation is not uncommon.

Whether it is a statue or a local City God Temple, to some extent, it is also a kind of "momentum" or "formation," only with divine Gang Qi as the main component.

If the fate is exhausted, the soul is not strong, or the incense is interrupted, the "momentum" will also dissipate.

Fierce ones like the Cold Altar Chang Soldiers will even haunt and harm people.

In the morning, Wang Daoxuan had already opened the statue, cleaned it carefully, smoked it with pine resin incense, and put in beads and locust wood symbolizing internal organs.

This is "installing the organs."

It cannot compare to those temple statues, but if a sufficiently powerful entity is invited and the daily incense offerings are continuous, it can also protect the Chunfeng Troupe.

After doing all this, everyone waited with peace of mind.

Unknowingly, it reached the Yin hour.

At a signal from Wang Daoxuan, the members of the Chunfeng Troupe immediately burned paper money and gold ingots under the leadership of Master Zhou, and holding three sticks of incense, they kowtowed sincerely and secretly recited the incantation to invite the god.

As for Wang Daoxuan, he held a bag of incense ash, circled the altar table, and sprinkled three squares, one nested inside the other.

The three incense ash circles symbolized the city walls.

This is building the Wutong tree to attract the phoenix.

But Wang Daoxuan had no idea what could be attracted. Following the old procedure, he stood in front of the altar, chanted scriptures and incantations, paced the stars, and then held clear water in his mouth and sprayed it out violently.

In an instant, the wind rose and the water surged, and the entire altar developed "momentum."

But unlike last time, this time the surrounding Yin Sha Qi also flowed along with it, surrounding the altar to form a stronger "momentum."

Of course, ordinary people could not perceive all this.

But as the surrounding Yin wind rose and the temperature dropped again, even Master Zhou began to feel terrified in his heart, holding three sticks of incense and kowtowing and praying incessantly.

As for Li Yan, he stood far away holding his sword.

He had another task, and it concerned the success or failure of this ritual.

Whoosh~

Suddenly, the surrounding Yin wind began to strengthen.

A hissing sound rang out in the night mist.

The sound seemed to exist and yet not, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

Master Zhou was overjoyed and looked up at Wang Daoxuan.

!.

This was a sign that something had been attracted. At this time, as long as a gap was made in the incense ash circle on the ground, it meant opening the city walls to invite the god to move in.

They had never been this smooth before.

However, Wang Daoxuan was not in a hurry; instead, he looked at Li Yan.

Li Yan took a deep breath.

He could smell a cold, fishy snake scent circling in the distance.

Judging by the richness of the scent, it was only slightly stronger than an ordinary Yin soul.

This thing is not worth looking at at all...

Li Yan shook his head slightly at Wang Daoxuan.

Wang Daoxuan understood, turned a deaf ear, and continued to invite the god with the crowd.

Sure enough, that snake scent circled for a while and then quickly dissipated.

Another half-stick of incense time passed.

Caw! Caw!

The cawing of an old crow rang out in the black mist.

It was also seemingly there and yet not, but it was clear to the ear.

Without Li Yan's judgment, Master Zhou's face turned black and looked extremely ugly.

An old crow is the most inauspicious thing.

Not only is it a bird, meaning the troupe will suffer the hardship of wandering, but its cry is also easy to attract evil spirits, symbolizing death.

Inviting this thing is no different from inviting disaster to the door.

Everyone was helpless and had to continue inviting the god.

But in Wang Daoxuan's eyes, a trace of worry appeared.

There is also a taboo on the number of times to invite a god; it can only be invited three times.

No matter what appears the third time, one has to bite the bullet and accept it, otherwise tonight's ritual will fail.

Not only will they invite nothing, but they will also attract evil spirits to attack when they go down the mountain.

Thinking of this, Wang Daoxuan had doubts in his heart.

The place he chose was a place where Yin Sha gathered in a mass grave, commonly known as the "Old Yin Coffin," and there must be powerful things wandering outside.

If a "formation" is formed, it might even trigger a fight between Yin entities.

How come only small things are coming, not even a breeze?

Logically speaking, this shouldn't be...

Not good, someone is making trouble!

Wang Daoxuan realized it instantly, and ignoring the many taboos, he came to Li Yan's side and lowered his voice: "Someone is setting up a formation to make trouble. Find a way to drive them away, otherwise, if we attract some evil things, none of us will be able to escape!"

Li Yan nodded and instantly rushed into the darkness.

With his olfactory supernatural ability activated, the dark forest was no obstacle to him at all. Holding his sword and lowering his body, he moved through like a ghost.

Soon, he smelled an unusual scent.

It was the fishy smell of wild dogs, carrying a rich corpse stench, and there were many of them.

Li Yan turned immediately, jumped onto a small dirt slope, lowered his body, and hid behind a tree to look out.

He saw that under the dirt slope in front, the open space was densely packed with many wild dogs. They were huge, and their eyes emitted blood-red light in the dark night, like stars, which was extremely terrifying.

And behind the pack of wild dogs stood several beggars.

They were in rags, holding dog-beating sticks in one hand and throwing black things out of their tattered cloth pockets with the other.

It carried a corpse stench, yet it was strangely fragrant.

The pack of wild dogs scrambled everywhere, but they were silent.

It's dead human meat!

Li Yan narrowed his eyes and immediately distinguished what it was.

Although he didn't know why these evil beggars heading west were making trouble, nor did he know what secret method they used, he understood that the other party must have a backup plan.

Must stop them immediately!

Thinking of this, Li Yan looked left and right, picked up a stone, swung his arm in a circle, and threw it hard using the flying locust stone technique.

Whoosh!

As soon as the sound of breaking through the air rang out, a beggar's head was broken and bleeding, and he fell to the ground screaming.

This blow startled the wild dogs.

Woof, woof, woof!

Seeming to smell the blood, the pack of dogs immediately rioted, drooling from their mouths, and like crazy, they all pounced on that beggar...

(End of chapter)