Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Strongman: “???”
What did he say? Why were they laughing at him?
Hai Guanchao thought, he’s still young, he doesn’t realize how powerful the sponge spirit is.
Back then, Pei Xiaoshan had plundered tens of thousands of souls, including those from the mass grave and those destined for the underworld. But Teacher Xie improvised a salvation… no, it was a sudden realization. With a single strike of his sword, he liberated thousands of souls.
Xie Lingya smiled but said nothing. He pondered that his previous use of the sword had left him paralyzed for days. Now they were at the mountain, and if nothing went wrong, they could reach Youdu Mountain tomorrow. Liberating these souls now wasn’t impossible, but it would be inconvenient.
Fortunately, the lake only flooded for three days every ten years, allowing the trapped souls to emerge. But now that Xie Lingya knew where they were, he wasn’t limited to just three days. It would be better to reach Youdu Mountain first and then liberate the souls. Even if he returned to Zhuyang paralyzed, he wouldn’t have to worry about anything.
“Okay, I understand. We still need a few days to prepare, and then we’ll naturally liberate these souls,” Xie Lingya said with a smile.
The strongman glanced at the others, who still had strange expressions on their faces, and nodded hesitantly. Could their laughter just be an illusion?
Xie Lingya said goodbye to the strongman from the City God Temple and moved to a new location in the middle of the night to re-set up the tent. He also had to dry his wet shoes, which was quite troublesome. Especially since Brother Pheasant, after several shocking changes, was almost exhausted and stuck to Xie Lingya’s side, completely languid.
Xie Lingya noticed that the snow mountain ghosts were wandering in formation. The weasels probably all wanted to avoid them, so there was no more sighting of them.
After tossing and turning until late at night, the four of them finally returned to the tent.
This time, Xie Lingya didn’t dare wear noise-canceling earplugs anymore. He placed Liu Lingtong and Phytolacca God between him and Shi Changxuan. They had warned him before, but Xie Lingya had blocked his ears and didn’t hear anything.
The two Reporting Gods were still terrified at the thought, especially the Phytolacca God. “That’s a good chicken.”
If it weren’t for Brother Pheasant, they who wouldn’t have been able to move, how could they have woken anyone up?
The next day, they inevitably woke up a little late. Furthermore, the ground was covered in snow and ice, and everything in sight was a vast expanse of white. Although the summit was within reach, the climb was even more arduous.
Xie Lingya held Brother Pheasant in his arms and wrapped him in his scarf.
Fang Zhe placed one hand on Hai Guanchao, and the two walked hand in hand to prevent him from slipping.
“After we get back, I won’t want to walk for three months,” Fang Zhe said, his face pale, his voice shattered by the icy wind.
Hai Guanchao encouraged him, “Hold on, Fang Zhe, you can do it!”
Xie Lingya also said sadly, “Brother Pheasant, hold on. After this wave, you’ll be the best chicken in the world!”
Fang Zhe: “…”
Fang Zhe thought about it and finally said nothing. Never mind. This chicken is truly important, and it’s really not easy.
Brother Pheasant, unsure if he understood, clucked in Xie Lingya’s arms.
….
By the time they reached the mountaintop, it was past seven in the evening. Xie Lingya thus pitched the tent, and everyone ate and huddled in for a quick nap. They had to wait for the hour of midnight, when the yin energy was at its peak, before entering Youdu Mountain.
At midnight, the alarm clock rang, and Brother Pheasant cawed, looking particularly desolate on the mountaintop.
Shi Changxuan took out his compass, determined his direction, and then spread the Gangdan on the ground.
The Gangdan[1] consisted of the four spirits, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, and Black Tortoise, the twenty-eight constellations, and the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, symbolizing the Nine Heavens. Walking on the Gangdan was used to sense the Nine Heavens and ward off evil spirits.
Today, instead of worshipping the gods on Kunlun Mountain, they would instead step on the Big Dipper, reversing the technique and entering Youdu Mountain.
Everyone except Hai Guanchao would be entering Youdu Mountain, leaving him in the tent, waiting for the three to emerge.
Xie Lingya took the frozen meat and fruit he had prepared from his bag. He set up an altar outdoors, then bowed to the Big Dipper and performed the Yu Steps in reverse.
He blindfolded the pheasant, preventing it from seeing. He then recited the incantation seven times, then struck it with his staff and bowed again. “Receive the Supreme Law from me; act as I command. Follow my transformations, respond to my ways, conceal as I conceal!”
As soon as he finished, Xie Lingya felt his vision go dark, and everything around him went dark.
It wasn’t the kind of darkness you got when the sky darkened, but rather a blanket of black, a dead, shrouded atmosphere. Looking up, he could see neither stars nor moon.
This was the Youdu Mountain, a ghostly presence clinging to the shadowy side of Kunlun Mountain, appearing and disappearing. Not everyone could enter. They had come here to seek out Yin objects, using magical techniques.
Simply setting foot here made one feel the pervasive gloom and darkness.
A moment later, Shi Changxuan and Fang Zhe also entered Youdu Mountain. He looked at them, and it seemed as if they were also covered in a transparent black veil or perhaps disguised as creatures of Youdu Mountain.
At some point, the pheasant brother had stopped clucking.
Xie Lingya sighed, “Look, pheasant brother is so frightened he’s gone silent as a chicken.”
Fang Zhe and Shi Changxuan: “???”
The pheasant brother looked at them innocently, not daring to cluck, but looking around nervously, as if searching for his way back.
“Brother Pheasant, it’s up to you now.” Xie Lingya touched the pheasant brother several times before handing it to Fang Zhe.
Fang Zhe held the pheasant brother and wrapped a red string around him. He placed the immobilized pheasant in one place, then pulled the long string, piercing the ground with wooden pegs at regular intervals, occasionally with a few strips of talisman paper.
Fang Zhe kept calculating the position, and the wooden pegs were of varying lengths. He spent a full forty minutes, sweating profusely in the cold.
Xie Lingya looked at the crisscrossing red lines and asked, “What shape is this? I can’t seem to tell.”
From the outside, it looked like a random arrangement of nails, encircling Brother Pheasant.
Fang Zhe straightened up and said, “This is a three-dimensional pattern, resembling a Lu Ban lock, called the Golden Lock Siege Formation! Once it enters, I’ll activate the formation and trap it in the Luban Box.”
Xie Lingya only knew that he could use formations to trap the creatures of Youdu Mountain, but he hadn’t understood the specifics of formations. He just watched Fang Zhe create the Luban Box and nodded. “Then wait, then?”
“Just one last step.” Fang Zhe passed his hand through the red lines, holding a blade between his fingers, and slashed at Brother Pheasant’s wing, sending blood splattering.
Brother Pheasant couldn’t help but let out a loud “Ouch,” but he remained unable to move.
The three of them retreated to the side, hiding, watching the resolute Brother Pheasant flap his wings twice. The red line trembled a few times, but it didn’t break.
The Yin creatures here were ferocious creatures tangled from dead energy, resentment, and Yin energy. Unlike the common wilds, they only produced snakes, eagles, tigers, leopards, and the like.
These Yin creatures of the Youdu Mountain lacked an appetite; they were simply driven by the desire to drag other creatures of different auras along with them, transforming them into different forms and sinking them together into the darkness of the Netherworld.
To them, a rooster, imbued with Yang energy, was as obvious as a sheep among wolves.
….
Brother Pheasant occasionally stirred. Besides that, not even the wind could be heard, and no other sound could be heard. If Wang Yuji hadn’t assured Xie Lingya, he would have doubted the existence of any Yin creatures here.
Xie Lingya plopped down on the snow, leaning against a rock, and took out three meat sticks. He shared them with Fang Zhe and Shi Changxuan to replenish their energy.
Xie Lingya waited until he was almost sleepy again, but no Yin creatures appeared. He rubbed his eyes and said, “Are there no Yin creatures here? How about moving to another location?”
Fang Zhe was almost vomiting blood. “If I change the location, I’ll have to set up the formation all over again.”
But there was no other way. Xie Lingya thought about Youdu Mountain being quite large and Yin creatures not being numerous. Perhaps this place was really not a good place to fish for Yin creatures.
Fang Zhe walked out and slowly gathered his nails, almost wanting to cry.
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It should look something like this…