Chapter 550

The trip to Mount Qingcheng was, for Li Yan, not only a success in building his foundation, but his cultivation methods had also undergone a qualitative change.

In previous battles, even when using the Great Method of Luo Feng's Examination and Summons, he often could not do without Wang Daoxuan's assistance.

But now, they were able to coordinate with each other.

With long-range Dharma altar combat, mid-range firearms, and close-quarters martial arts, Li Yan could be considered to have filled in his final shortcoming.

With the summons suppressing the altar, the candlelight turned green.

This was a sign that the Yin Sha Qi was extremely dense.

This is the reason why the treasure-hunting lineage of the "Treasure-Stiflers" often lights treasure candles as a warning when entering a tomb.

And regarding the summons, Li Yan also had a deeper understanding.

This thing is simply a passageway.

It connects the Netherworld with the human realm.

That is why it can summon the soldiers and horses of the Yin Office.

And by utilizing this treasure, he could also draw in the baleful Qi of the Netherworld.

As the Yin Sha Qi surged and churned, the surrounding temperature plummeted, and even Wang Daoxuan's Dharma altar suffered some interference.

Of course, Wang Daoxuan trusted Li Yan absolutely, so he merely gritted his teeth and tried his best to maintain the stability of the altar.

After drawing in the Netherworld's Yin Sha, Li Yan immediately formed a seal and chanted:

"Palace of the Northern Emperor, Commander Tianpeng, strongmen and envoys, arrive swiftly at the altar; by order, knock and hasten, ride the lightning and chase the wind, heaven is dark and earth is black, sun and moon are dim and obscured. Ten thousand demons bow their hands, obey as soon as the talisman arrives..."

This is the "Incantation to Summon Strongmen and Envoys" from the Luo Feng methods.

The Luo Feng methods primarily involve summoning the power of the Yin Office for assistance, and summoning strongmen is a foundational method that can be practiced at the first level of cultivation.

For Li Yan, it was naturally extremely easy.

Whoosh~

Once the incantation was complete, a gale wind suddenly rose all around, the Yin Sha Qi surged, and cold mist immediately churned within the cave.

Within the white mist, phantom shadows seemed to appear.

These were all strongmen of Mount Luo Feng.

Their greatest ability is to assist the Dharma altar.

These black shadows spun rapidly, and streams of pure Yin Sha Qi were immediately injected into the altar, causing the green flames to rise three feet high.

As the person presiding over the altar, Wang Daoxuan could naturally feel with ease that this vast power of Yin Sha had been added to the altar, and he could direct it.

The Daoist understood instantly; his right hand still held the brass arrow, while his left hand formed a seal and pointed forward.

Whoosh~

Cold winds howled, and this power of Yin Sha surged forth, together with the green flames burning on the candles, spraying toward the front of the altar.

It then vanished without a trace, seemingly having pierced through the void to some location...

……………

The bamboo forest was deep and secluded, with snow piled high on the ground.

In an open space near a cliff, a Dharma altar was also set up, but its appearance was somewhat strange.

On the altar sat a divine statue.

This statue was extremely crude, looking like a piece of rotten tree root covered in withered branches and weeds, with only a vague human shape discernible.

The offerings were also very strange.

The Mystic Sect emphasizes the five offerings.

Incense, flowers, lamps, water, and fruit.

Even when performing spells on the fly and unable to gather them all, they would substitute them with items of some form.

For example, Wang Daoxuan, in this deep winter, could not find fresh fruit, so he carved a longevity peach out of jade and never forgot to place it there whenever he performed a spell.

But the setup of this Dharma altar was completely different.

It was also incense, flowers, lamps, water, and fruit, but the incense was black and emitted red smoke, and they had even placed a child's skull as the fruit...

It did not look like anything orthodox.

Behind the altar was, naturally, that Granny Chang.

At this moment, her face was also livid, her expression gloomy and ferocious, and paired with the theatrical costume embroidered with the character "Longevity," she looked exactly like an old ghost that had crawled out of a grave.

She also sat cross-legged, her dragon-headed staff held high, and as she chanted, the prayer wheel held in the dragon's mouth spun rapidly.

Strange sounds echoed all around.

Around the Dharma altar were all sorts of small animals.

Every time the old woman chanted an incantation, a stream of black Qi would fly out from the alms bowl and burrow into the mouth of a small animal.

Whether it was a snake, tiger, wolf, or badger, upon inhaling this mouthful of black Qi, it would twist in agony, its skin would tear and flesh would burst, and it would lose its life.

Around the altar, a whole patch of various animals had already died.

This is the "Method of Shifting Calamity," a type of disaster-averting technique that both orthodox lineages and heterodox paths basically have traditions for.

But generally speaking, this kind of technique that transfers disaster at the cost of innocent lives is incompatible with the philosophy of the orthodox sects, so it is rarely seen.

It was by utilizing this method that Granny Chang had held out until now.

Her eyes were filled with resentment; her right hand gripped the dragon-headed staff, while her left hand pinched a coffin nail.

The coffin nail was covered in rust and stained with filthy blood.

It was exceptionally cold and filled with an ominous aura.

Even for this old woman with no small cultivation, the fingers holding the coffin nail had already turned pitch black, which was enough to show how venomous it was.

However, Granny Chang was not in a hurry to act.

In long-distance Dharma combat, timing is critical.

She was also a master of incantations and could already tell that what Wang Daoxuan was using was the "Secret Incantation of the Seven Arrows."

This type of incantation has a great reputation and formidable power, but it has a drawback.

Ordinary sorcerers can at most shoot two arrows.

The further one goes, the more difficult it becomes.

Nowadays, the novel "Investiture of the Gods" is popular among the folk, and it draws inspiration from this; the "Seven Arrows Book with Nail Head" can even curse immortals to death, which is enough to show its power.

But ordinary sorcerers can at most shoot two arrows.

And the power of two arrows is nothing to a master.

Therefore, even though this method is widely circulated, there are not many who practice it.

Additionally, this method has another major problem.

Although it is convenient to perform—as long as you find a medium, you can cast the curse even if separated by thousands of mountains and rivers—if it fails, you will suffer a backlash.

There have been cultivators who failed to curse someone and died at home after the backlash.

Granny Chang was waiting for Wang Daoxuan to suffer a backlash.

Then she would use the coffin nail to cast the curse at her convenience.

The opponent would surely die!

But just at this moment, movement came from the bamboo forest in the distance.

Granny Chang's expression changed, and she roared in a hoarse, sharp voice: "Protectors, you must not let them break in!"

Within the bamboo forest, three figures suddenly flashed out.

A burly man beating a gong, an old man playing an erhu, and a woman holding a zither.

They were the members of the "Ghost Opera Troupe" musical ensemble.

Dong, dong, dong!

The burly man beat the gong and drum, the sound rapid. Then the old man began to play the erhu, and the woman holding the zither moved her hands like lotus flowers, playing the liuqin.

The three of them coordinated, creating a sense of crashing waves.

Whoosh~

A gale wind suddenly rose in the bamboo forest, and white mist surged.

Granny Chang dared to choose this location to perform her rites, so she naturally had preparations.

She had also studied the methods of the Earth Masters; although not top-tier, she was more than capable of setting up some Feng Shui illusion arrays by utilizing the terrain.

Coupled with the coordination of the musical ensemble, the power was immediately apparent.

For a time, the bamboo forest was shrouded in thick fog, making it impossible to distinguish directions.

Those who charged in were, naturally, Sha Lifei and his two companions.

After they killed that gunman, they headed straight for this location.

"Don't move around yet!"

Seeing the thick fog rising all around, Lu San hurriedly raised his hand to make Sha Lifei and the other stop, then he patted the gourd at his waist.

Hum!

In an instant, poisonous bees buzzed out and scattered in all directions.

Lu San was not proficient in arrays and could only use this item to break it.

These poisonous bees were comparable to spirit beasts and possessed Yin Sha Qi themselves; although they would also be trapped in the array, they could allow the Demon Gourd to find the flaws.

Clang, clang, clang!

But as soon as they were released, the sound of the liuqin changed tempo instantly.

The sound was rapid, like a talisman of death.

The surrounding poisonous bees were immediately affected, flying about in chaos, and many crashed into the bamboo poles, falling to the ground without a sound.

Lu San's expression changed, and he hurriedly patted the Demon Gourd lightly.

Hum!

The remaining poisonous bees immediately returned to the gourd.

Just this one move resulted in a loss of twenty percent.

All things in the world have their own counter-measures. These poisonous bees were extremely useful when facing martial arts masters and ordinary sorcerers, but when facing masters skilled in sonic spells, they immediately fell into a disadvantage.

Dong, dong, dong!

The drum was still beating, becoming increasingly rapid.

The three of them felt their hearts pounding, gradually synchronizing with the drumbeat, as if they would jump out of their chests the next moment; it was extremely uncomfortable.

Not only that, the surrounding bamboo forest seemed to come alive, spinning rapidly around them.

This was a sign of being under an illusion.

"Damn it!"

Sha Lifei cursed, took out the last fire-caltrop from the backpack behind him, lit it, and threw it to Wu Ba.

At the same time, he used his foot to draw a line on the ground.

Although they were trapped in this illusion array, because they hadn't run around blindly, their basic orientation hadn't been disrupted.

"Throw it over there!"

(No content)

Sha Lifei shouted, and Wu Ba immediately grabbed the fire-caltrop, exerted force in his arm, and swung it forward violently.

The fire-caltrop flew out like a cannonball.

"Get down!"

Sha Lifei shouted, and the three of them immediately dropped to the ground.

Boom!

A roar sounded from ahead, and a blast wave surged.

A large patch of the bamboo forest collapsed, gale winds howled, kicking up the flying snow on the ground, and there was the sound of shrapnel whistling through the air above.

After the explosion, the sound of the musical instruments stopped instantly.

And the thick fog all around dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Sha Lifei chuckled upon seeing this.

He had once asked Wang Daoxuan, and the setting up of an array cannot be separated from various Dharma artifacts, either buried in the ground or placed all around.

But usually, these Dharma artifacts are hidden by the array.

Therefore, there are two ways to break an array.

One is using clever force: discerning Yin and Yang, calculating the Eight Trigrams, and finding the location of the array eye.

The second is brute force: utilizing powerful spells to break the array with force.

But how are firearms not brute force?

At this moment, Sha Lifei felt a secret regret in his heart.

When they were in Shennongjia, they had captured a tiger-crouching cannon from the enemy, which was forged from gold-spirit materials and was extremely fierce.

At that time on the mountain, it could be said that one man could hold the pass against ten thousand.

The only drawback was that it was heavy.

Only Wu Ba, with his brute strength, could use it with ease.

Sha Lifei had originally wanted to bring it to Mount Qingcheng and ask that fire-monk to help modify it, to make a handheld cannon for Wu Ba; he had even drawn the blueprints.

Unfortunately, when leaving Fengdou, because the item was too heavy, it was left on the boat and snatched away by the people from the Prince of Shu's mansion.

If they had that thing,

would they still be afraid of some bird illusion array?

These thoughts flashed through Sha Lifei's mind, and then he stood up abruptly, raised his divine fire gun, and walked forward slowly.

Lu San also held his mace.

His supernatural powers could not be used for the time being, so the little white fox Chuyi, who also had keen hearing, took on the heavy burden, crawling through the snow with a low posture.

The two of them held their firearms and followed behind.

Wu Ba followed closely behind, ready to charge at any moment.

Soon, they found their target.

Under a patch of bamboo, a woman lay face down, her chest full of holes, blood flowing everywhere; beside her, the liuqin was broken in two, and she had long since lost her breath.

This woman was the unluckiest.

The fire-caltrop exploded directly in front of her, and she died on the spot.

As for the old man, he also lay face up, his face pitch black, a hole appearing in his abdomen with his intestines spilling out, and he was groaning in agony.

And all around, there was a trail of footprints dripping with blood extending into the distance; clearly, another person had already escaped.

Sha Lifei stepped forward directly, flicked his long blade, and chopped off his head; as for the one who escaped, he couldn't spare the time to pursue.

They continued to move forward and finally arrived at that open space.

The old woman in front of the Dharma altar looked ugly upon seeing this.

"Go!"

She couldn't care about continuing the Dharma combat with Wang Daoxuan, waved the dragon-headed staff in her hand, and simultaneously formed a seal and chanted.

On her Dharma altar, there was also a black pottery jar.

It looked ancient, seemingly a relic from an ancestral tribe.

The black pottery jar shattered with a crack.

Whoosh~

Gale winds howled, and a large amount of dust flew out from within, drifting and scattering toward Sha Lifei and his two companions.

"Scatter!"

Lu San's expression changed drastically upon seeing this.

He pushed Sha Lifei and the other away, and simultaneously formed a seal, took a bone flute from his waist, and blew it with a mournful sound.

The flute sound was sorrowful, carrying an ancient, wild aura.

Those dust particles seemed to be living things, actually stopping in mid-air, drifting and floating, now left, now right.

It is no wonder Lu San was nervous; he had seen this thing before.

Even the "Classic of Mountain and Sea Spiritual Response" has records of it.

In ancient times, there were no funeral rites, and some corpses became infected with evil Qi and underwent strange changes, becoming terrifying evil things like the Drought Demon.

This Drought Demon thing is very troublesome.

After being slain, the evil Qi within its body explodes, often spreading poison for a thousand miles, triggering droughts and plagues.

Ancestral tribes had great shamans who would burn the Drought Demon and, borrowing the power of ghosts and gods, seal the remaining ashes and plague poison into pottery jars.

Facts proved that this method was not feasible.

The plague poison became an evil thing; if someone accidentally broke it, it would continue to wreak havoc, poisoning people and infecting them with malignant diseases.

I don't know where this old woman found it...

Lu San couldn't spare the time to explain; while blowing the flute, he patted the Demon Gourd at his waist again, letting the swarm of poisonous bees buzz out once more.

The poisonous bees are restrained by sonic spells, but they also restrain Gu poison.

The swarm flew into the drifting dust, darting about excitedly and devouring it constantly, and the plague poison quickly became thin.

And Wu Ba and Sha Lifei were not idle either.

One from the left, one from the right, they bypassed the plague poison mist.

Seeing that her altar-protecting spell had not worked, Granny Chang's expression also changed drastically; her eyes were filled with resentment, and she turned to flee.

She knew that this round was a total loss.

Now she could no longer entangle them; she had to escape a sufficient distance before Wang Daoxuan's curse succeeded, hide, and break the spell.

Whoosh~

But just at this moment, a black mist appeared out of thin air.

In an instant, the surroundings became exceptionally cold.

It was precisely that baleful Qi from the Yin Office.

Granny Chang's expression changed, but it was already too late.

The cold black mist shrouded her head and face.

The old woman's entire body immediately stiffened, and white frost spread over her.

Such terrifying baleful Qi is difficult for a mortal body to withstand.

Boom!

Sha Lifei was quick-witted and pulled the trigger directly.

The old woman's upper body exploded instantly, flesh and blood mixed with frost splattered everywhere, and the lower half of her body also collapsed to the ground with a thud.

At the same time, on Wang Daoxuan's Dharma altar.

Pfft~

The cursed straw doll suddenly emitted green smoke and began to burn on its own.

This is the sign that the target is dead.

Wang Daoxuan breathed a sigh of relief and immediately withdrew the Dharma altar.

"They succeeded on their side!"

"Let's go take a look!"

Li Yan nodded and escorted Wang Daoxuan toward the dense forest.

Upon seeing Granny Chang's corpse and confirming that there were no enemies left around, the group finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn it."

Sha Lifei wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and gritted his teeth: "This Ghost Opera Troupe is truly difficult to deal with; from last night until now, they haven't let up."

Li Yan nodded and looked into the distance with a solemn expression.

"More than that, this is just one small team of the Ghost Opera Troupe."

"They have emerged from the mountains again this time; who knows what kind of waves they will stir up..."

(End of chapter)