Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Shi Changxuan could feel that the Phytophthora God was in extreme shock and could not even speak. It was not that he didn’t have any opinions, he was just confused.
But Xie Lingya didn’t know what the Reporting God’s reaction was while hanging on his shoulders. Xie Lingya’s method of opening the altar was different from last time. He first informed the city god and then recruited troops, so as not to only let Zhang San come again.
“I respectfully hold the precious incense stick, and sincerely plead to it. Please inviting the city god of Diyang City, who has a powerful enough spirit to honor the throne of the god. Thirty-six Cao, seventy-two divisions, reward the good ones, punish the evil ones. When the disc comes, hurry to the treasure Altar!” Xie Lingya burned the newly written documents. Not long after, Zhang San came with hundreds of underworld officials. Suddenly, a strong wind blew, making Tang Qi’s face turn white.
Zhang San saw that this place suddenly had such a strong evil spirit, so he couldn’t help frowning, and said with cupped hands: “Teacher Xie, I received your message. It turns out that the audacious thief has arrived in Qiyang, and we were ordered to come to help you catch him.”
Although he was sent. There were also hundreds of strong men, and each one held a scepter and a chain. They must be elite soldiers and strong generals.
“Without further delay, we are going to set off now. All warriors, please be more careful and avoid the seal thief. The ghosts in the mountains were collected by him using the Yangping Zhidu Gong Seal he stole last time.” Xie Lingya reminded.
Even if these warriors didn’t know the reputation of Yangping Zhidu’s Gong Seal during their lifetime, they understood it after their death and nodded their heads one after another. Let alone them, even the underworld soldiers had been taken away, they were still just local soldiers.
Xie Lingya asked Tang Qi to take the little fox and stay at the construction site and not come out. Especially the little fox shouldn’t be allowed to run around. The big foxes didn’t let the little fox follow them, maybe because they thought it was safer there.
That’s all. When Xie Lingya heard that the talisman paper had been delivered to the village, he picked up his sword and led the city god’s warriors into the mountain.
….
The further they went into the mountain, the stronger the evil spirit became. Xie Lingya and his party hardly needed to identify the direction, they just needed to walk towards the place where the evil energy felt the strongest.
At this time, the sky had gone completely dark, the clouds were extremely thick, and no stars could be seen. Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan took flashlights and walked into the mountain step by step.
Zhang San and other Yin soldiers floated forward, observing the route from above.
“No, it should be here.” Shi Changxuan paused and said, “If he wants to train his troops or refine their souls, he has to find a weak point.”
This should be the place of origin, but they didn’t see anything.
The Phytolacca God finally spoke, but still in a tone of despair: “Ghosts are in the shadow, and people cry in mourning.”
Shi Changxuan looked around and saw some mulberry trees around him. Xie Lingya took a few steps away from the tree.
At this time, Xie Lingya turned around, and the range of the flashlight was limited, but he saw nothing but trees. “What’s the situation, Daozhang Shi, can you use the Paper Moon Technique?”
When Shi Changxuan was dealing with the one-legged Wutong before, his use of the Paper Moon Technique was still fresh in Xie Lingya’s memory, and he felt it was particularly energy-saving.
Shi Changxuan happened to have doubts in his heart. So at this time, he cut a paper into a moon. When he threw it, the paper stuck to the top of a tree. “The paper moon gives light!”
The piece of paper gave off a quiet light, like a bright moon, illuminating the mountain forest.
Only then did Xie Lingya see a scene that made his scalp numb: the forest that had been empty just now was suddenly filled with countless ghosts, but they were all attached to the trees, either clinging to the trunk or hanging on the branches with hanging ropes. There was only a little gap between the trees, and even the top of the trees was full of pairs of feet hanging down.
Just now, they passed by these things, and they were still standing among them until now.
Xie Lingya drew the Lingguan eye, but he couldn’t see these ghosts just now. Either his spell failed inexplicably, or the ghosts used some method to hide their bodies, only to be illuminated by Shi Changxuan’s paper moon.
…Too insidious!
At this time, these ghosts seemed to have discovered something. Their IQs were higher than those of one-legged Wutong, and they thus noticed Xie Lingya’s sight.
The ghosts clinging to the trees either turned their heads or poked their heads out from behind the trees. The ghosts hanging on the trees also stared down at Xie Lingya…
Xie Lingya’s vest felt chilly. At this time, Zhang San shouted over the forest:
“Lord, they are in all directions, there is no way out!”
Shi Changxuan turned around at the same time, stood back to back with him, raised his hand and waved several talismans, “Evil demons return to justice!”
In an instant, these ghosts rushed towards him, and his sword energy overflowed. The light emitted by the talisman was blown far away.
Zhang San felt bad, and just as he was about to come down, he found that several of his colleagues suddenly shouted and then flew away somewhere uncontrollably.
Zhang San was extremely upset when he thought of Xie Lingya’s reminder. The seal thief was too powerful. Imps like them had no possibility of confrontation. They could only avoid it if they could.
“Go down first!” Zhang San greeted and led the remaining Yin soldiers to pounce down. Only then did he realize that there was a group of ghosts below. For some reason, they could leave the paper moon’s shining range without leaving any trace.
“Teacher Xie, the seal thief captured several of my colleagues.” Zhang San said, and his men did not stop, using the scepter to capture those ghosts, but these ghosts were no longer lonely ghosts. Not only were they captured, but the opponent seemed to have refined them, so Zhang San couldn’t direct them and had to take action himself by tying them up one by one with chains.
The other Yin soldiers followed the law and hung around Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan, locking up all the Yin souls that came towards them.
“Detain the priests and warriors, they must be around.” Shi Changxuan realized what he was doing and said.
Priests and warriors also had owners and were protected by the city god. Like the ghosts of the underworld, they were more difficult to contain than ordinary ghosts and must be dealt with face to face.
Xie Lingya shone his flashlight around, looking for ghosts.
The Phytolacca God could not divine anything related to the seal thief, as the other party also had a God who could divine the future. Shi Changxuan broke branches and divined three times himself, but he could not divine anything.
At this time, the seal thief must have probably found that his ghosts were being tied away by the strong men, and he couldn’t hold it back, so several more strong men were pulled in one direction.
Xie Lingya and the two ran towards that direction and saw a person standing above them. It was the owner of Liu Lingtong whom they had met once at the high-speed rail station.
The man was still wearing a hat and a windbreaker, but he was holding a long bamboo in his hand, which was as green as if it had just been cut down.
Xie Lingya originally thought it was a crutch he used to climb mountains, but when he looked carefully, he saw that the bamboo was actually flowing with a faint halo of five colors.
“It’s you…” The seal thief also recognized them, but he chuckled twice, took off his hat, and said lightly, “We meet again.”
Xie Lingya stared at him, then raised his phone:
A bright flash.
Seal Thief: “…”
Xie Lingya used one hand to send the photo to the WeChat group of the Daoyang City Taoist Association with the speed of someone who had been a bachelor for more than 20 years.
For a moment, the group was all excited:
“What is this?”
“Didn’t Xiao Xie and Daoist Shi go to track down the seal thief, and they even broadcast it live?”
“Damn it, that’s what the seal thief looks like, tell the police to check his identity!”
….
The seal thief’s face turned very dark. He didn’t expect Xie Lingya to do this. He wanted to accuse him but felt that he couldn’t say it, so he snorted coldly and squeezed the bamboo staff with his hands, “It seems you don’t want to live anymore.”
Xie Lingya showed no fear on his face, and asked in a low voice: “What is that?”
It would be easier to say that he couldn’t use the Du Gong Seal and the Sanwu Evil Slaying Sword since they were used in order to restrain ghosts and gods, and Xie Lingya and the others were not ghosts and gods, but what kind of bamboo staff was this?
Shi Changxuan identified it and said: “I’m afraid it’s a magic weapon made of nine-section sun-facing bamboo.”
In ancient times, some Taoist priests did not use talismans or swords. Instead, they used bamboo sticks or branches to cast spells, which were useful in medical skills, such as using bamboo sticks to strike. It was also useful for refining ghosts as one could use bamboo branches dipped in water to refine the souls of the dead.
The seal thief cursed: “Ganzhu can channel spirits and bring ghosts out of the netherworld and into the underworld. Call the heavens respectfully, capture the earth and welcome them. The spiritual talisman and the staff can control all directions. After thousands of calamities, it has taken its shape!”
After chanting, he struck the bamboo staff on the ground, and a large number of ghosts emerged from the ground. He had collected no less than a hundred thousand ghosts, and these were probably just the tip of the iceberg.
Even Xie Lingya had two ghosts come out from under his feet who grabbed his ankles.
Zhang San and the others were able to contain the previous batch of ghosts, but they were only more than a hundred people in total, and some of them were taken away, so they really couldn’t take care of them.
Xie Lingya felt the cold touch on his ankle. He held the sword with both hands and thrust the sword into the soil. The sword energy and merit on the Three Treasure Sword forced the ghosts to let go and avoid them by a meter.
It seemed that the seal thief took away the ghosts and refined them with the bamboo staff. Now he could thus command them very freely.
The ghosts were surrounding the two of them, ready to move and bite at any time. They were full of ferocity. Just looking at the workers at Tang Qi’s construction site and the Fox couple, one could tell that they would also take the initiative to hurt people.
It stood to reason that the dead souls in the mass graves and the dead souls escorted by the Yin soldiers could not be so cruel.
And just now in the forest, their heads were also covered with hanging ghosts, and the number was surprisingly large.
The seal thief must have deliberately tortured them during the refining process, increasing their resentment and evil spirits. The power of ghosts came from spirit and belief. The more resentment there was, the more power it bred.
Some of them lingered in mass graves for a long time because they could not get a proper burial and were unable to be reincarnated. Others were originally going to be taken to the underworld, and each had their own sufferings.
Now, they were intercepted halfway, tortured in every possible way, and so their ferocious nature was aroused, making them lose their minds.
Seeing them at first made him feel chilled, but now Xie Lingya felt more pity. These ghosts were also innocent.
Xie Lingya looked at the ghosts that were about to move and said, “Daozhang Shi, I will contain these, and you deal with him.”
There were too many ghosts, and Xie Lingya had only a short time to learn Taoism, but he knew that Shi Changxuan must have “far-end attack” method.
Looking at the countless ghosts, Shi Changxuan was a little worried, but thinking that it was Xie Lingya, he still nodded.
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