Chapter 48: 47, The Spirit Medium Demon

47, The Spirit Medium Demon

Hearing Bai Ma's question, Zhou Chang did not respond.

His gaze turned to the firewood door that Li Xiamei had slashed open with a large hole, and he stepped forward toward it.

Bai Xiue/Bai Ma followed closely behind him.

"Is it death in ten days, or death in seven days?" Bai Ma chased after Zhou Chang and asked. "Feng Si is merely a wandering ghost hovering a foot above the ground; among the vulgar gods, it belongs to the lowest tier. The death omen it distributes cannot cause one to 'die the moment the omen is felt.'

You still have some time now; you can try to offer a sacrificial offering to other vulgar gods of higher status than Feng Si.

Your grandfather, is he not an Old Duan Gong?

Let him help you communicate with a powerful vulgar god. You submit to another vulgar god's seat and become a 'Spirit Medium Demon.' In this way, you can use the powerful vulgar god's status to cancel out Feng Si's death omen, and then you will not have to die."

"Spirit Medium Demon..."

Zhou Chang, walking ahead, stopped his steps.

He turned back, a relaxed smile on his face, looked at Bai Ma, and asked: "Could it be that you are also a Spirit Medium Demon?

To become a Spirit Medium Demon... what price must be paid?"

'Those who draw near to the gods are in danger.' This was Zhou Sanji's admonition to Zhou Chang.

Even an Old Duan Gong like Zhou Sanji, who specializes in entertaining the gods through sacrificial rites, is extremely wary of approaching the gods. This shows that drawing too close to the gods is itself an extremely dangerous matter.

In that case, how much more so is submitting to a vulgar god's seat and becoming its 'Spirit Medium Demon'?

This 'Spirit Medium Demon' sounds like a treacherous existence similar to the Thought Demons and the Strange Ones.

"People under heaven are either pigs and sheep raised by the Thought Demons in their pens, or Spirit Medium Demons used by vulgar gods to deliver oracles; no one can escape."

Bai Ma lowered her eyelids and said slowly: "In the Secret Realm, almost every monk in every temple is a Spirit Medium Demon of the gods.

To become a Spirit Medium Demon allows one to at least keep one's life.

As long as one serves as the vessel for the gods' oracles for long enough, one inevitably becomes different from normal living beings in the world, gradually turning demonic.

That is why they are called Spirit Medium Demons..."

"Looking at it this way, a Spirit Medium Demon is just a demonized spirit medium." Zhou Chang's eyes cleared with understanding. "However, a spirit medium is not the righteous path either. Even equating a spirit medium with a Spirit Medium Demon is not really a problem.

Besides being a dog for the gods, is there any other way?"

Bai Ma's eyes darkened slightly. She remained silent for a long time before raising her head to look at Zhou Chang's expressionless face: "Yes, but can you actually use it?

Zhou Sanji used this method for his grandson, but the result was merely summoning you, an outsider's soul.

This method, if used, offers only a sliver of a chance for success. However, if it fails, you will die in accordance with the omen.

If you had not turned back and touched Feng Si's taboo just now, you would not have to endure a thousand difficulties and ten thousand dangers now, and there would be other ways to save that child—"

"Can everything be compromised?" Zhou Chang suddenly asked Bai Ma. "Can everything be compromised?

Ask yourself honestly: was there truly a third way just now?"

Zhou Chang's expression remained calm, but as Bai Ma looked into Zhou Chang's eyes, she felt he was meeting her gaze with a mocking look that seemed to say, 'You don't know anything.'

Hearing Zhou Chang's words, her face gradually grew cold, and she said no more.

Seeing this, Zhou Chang shook his head and then pushed open the wooden door of the firewood shed.

The child curled up on the pile of firewood, seeing the door pushed open, shrank back in fright. But when he saw the person blocking the door was the pale-faced man from before, a glimmer of hope ignited in his eyes once more.

"Child, let's go. I'll take you home."

Zhou Chang at the doorway said as much.

At the entrance of Li's Braised Meat Shop.

Zhou Chang and his group bid farewell to the father and son who thanked them profusely.

After distinguishing the direction in the darkness, Zhou Chang walked along the road toward his own home.

Bai Xiue followed him helplessly for a stretch of road. Bai Ma, who had not yet manifested her form, could not hold back and spoke up: "That method is called 'Breaking the Hell,' also known as 'Devouring the Calamity.'

First, make one's own body appear dead to deceive the vulgar gods, then break open the hell and the calamity, snatch back one's own name from under the vulgar god's seat, and render the death omen completely ineffective."

"Breaking the Hell? Devouring the Calamity?" Zhou Chang stopped his steps, turned to look at Bai Ma, his gaze bright and intense.

"You must first find a 'false body' and manage to make the soul dwell within it. Then, deceive heaven and pass the sea, let the false body die, and deceive the vulgar gods...

The so-called false body is best made from plant or wood, such as a paper person or a wooden person, and cannot be a corpse with flesh and blood.

If a flesh-and-blood corpse is used, it may create a connection with the original owner of the corpse. The original owner might be infected by the vulgar god's aura and transform into a demon..." Bai Ma's expression was cold and serious as she explained the method of 'Breaking the Hell' to Zhou Chang point by point.

Zhou Chang carefully memorized all the steps Bai Ma had described.

Finally, Bai Ma added: "This method has a success rate of less than one in a hundred.

You must still think carefully about whether you truly wish to use this method of Devouring the Calamity. Once employed, there will truly be no turning back."

"Good." Zhou Chang nodded.

Bai Ma closed her eyes, and her face slowly faded from the left side of Bai Xiue's face.

At this moment, the sky was just beginning to lighten. In about an hour, it would be time for the 'Rising at the Fifth Watch' in Qingyi Town.

After walking a stretch of road with Bai Xiue, Zhou Chang suddenly stopped his steps.

He turned his head back, his expression calm, looked at Bai Xiue, and asked: "Miss Bai, after leaving my home earlier, did you stay around the Bride's Pool the whole time? Or did you go somewhere else?"

Seeing his expression, Bai Xiue felt at a loss.

She lowered her head and stammered: "I, I went back home to take a look... Later I went to the Bride's Pool..."

Saying she went back home to take a look actually meant she only stood on a hill far from the Bai family graveyard and glanced at that village from a distance.

"It is hard to leave one's native land.

Since Miss Bai has returned home, I assume you have met with your family members? Even if there were some misunderstandings between you, they must surely all be resolved now.

Now that dawn is approaching, you have just met them and then suddenly vanished. Your family members must be very worried." Zhou Chang's face wore a gentle smile as he 'kindly advised' Bai Xiue, "So, Miss Bai, go back home now.

Do not make your parents and family worry any further."

"Ah..."

Bai Xiue looked up at Zhou Chang's plain face, recalling how he had previously told her he would take her back.

Why had he suddenly changed his mind?

A feeling of sourness, distension, bitterness, and acrimony filled Bai Xiue's chest.

The woman slowly lowered her head and softly replied, "Very well... Young Zhou, take care of yourself."

After speaking, she bowed to Zhou Chang. Upon receiving his reciprocal wish for her to take care, she kept her head down, walked past Zhou Chang, and headed toward the dark path ahead.

Zhou Chang watched until Bai Xiue's figure completely vanished into the darkness. He took the strange skin of the curly-haired black dog from the small bundle on his back, spread it on the ground, and summoned Ao Duoji from the ring: "Ao Duoji!"

At the command, a stream of light floated out of the ring and suddenly plunged into that strange skin.

The strange skin suddenly swelled and transformed into a massive black dog covered in curly fur!

"Awo!" Ao Duoji barked loudly in response.

"Keep it down!" Zhou Chang scolded him, then pointed to the footprints Bai Xiue had left on the ground and said, "Did you smell this person's scent? Come, track her down!"

"Woof!"

Ao Duoji closed his mouth, lowered his head to sniff around for a moment, then bristled his fur and sprinted toward Li Qianlu.

Zhou Chang immediately followed!