CH 103

Chapter 103 – “Tan Lu”

“Swallowing Soul!”

Black winds abruptly swept up, and an Evil Spirit skull, with both of its eyes closed, appeared out of thin air. It turned to the extremely faint Evil Spirit who had already suffered a blow of the Green Heavenly Thunder Incantation and opened its maw wide, sucking in!

This sucking breath didn’t swallow it completely. After all, even though it was injured, it was still an Evil Spirit stage ghost. It wasn’t an opponent that Xu Disheng could normally deal with in a single Swallowing Soul Mantra.

The concentrated Soul Force essence from the ghost floated out above its head and was sucked into the Swallowing Soul Mantra’s Evil Spirit skull. Moments later, the skull transformed into black motes of light, which returned to Xu Disheng’s sea of consciousness.

That Evil Spirit’s body was already practically transparent by this point as it wailed and screeched endlessly. Before it could even think of escaping, a black and white painting with flowing mountains and rivers appeared, enveloping it completely and muting any further sounds.

A shred of hope appeared in Luo Chengyi’s eyes. He shouted, “You two, attack this remaining Evil Spirit with me!”

Xu Disheng looked over at the man-shaped Evil Spirit. He stood there stock still as if he hadn’t gotten around to reacting yet and looked over.

“Hang in there for a little bit longer, Martial Uncle! We’ll come right away to help you slay this fiend!” he said.

But… Why was his Spirit Cloud moving in a direction heading away from Miaohua Mountain?

And… Why was he speeding up?

Luo Chengyi was suddenly overcome with anger. He spat up a mouthful of blood as he pointed at Xu Disheng and shook his finger in rage, seemingly wanting to say something.

Xu Disheng and Wei Tianhe looked back at Miaohua Mountain momentarily, then quickly turned their heads back around. Xu Disheng pushed his Spirit Cloud to max speed, making for an even speedier escape.

After a few breaths of time, they flew off and disappeared into the clouds and mist.

“Hehe, there’s no one left to save you now,” the man-shaped Evil Spirit said with a sinister laugh. He looked over at the spot where Xu Disheng had absorbed the other Evil Spirit, seeming to feel a pang of pity before turning back to look at Luo Chengyi.

What a joke! How could Xu Disheng ever be able to face off against a normal, completely unharmed Evil Spirit?

Plus, Luo Chengyi was already like a candle in the wind, about to sputter out at any moment. He didn’t have the least bit of fighting power left. On the surface, he was asking for Xu Disheng and Wei Tianhe to help him launch an attack on the Evil Spirit, but in reality, he was just looking for them to join him in the grave! How absolutely deplorable!

“That was really wise of you, Junior Martial Brother Xu. If we stayed there, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to make it out,” Wei Tianhe said with an ingratiating smile.

However, Xu Disheng didn’t have the leeway to pay him any mind. Within the Yin Yang Diagram, the Evil Spirit was still struggling agitatedly from time to time. Although the Evil Spirit in there had suffered injury upon injury and was far past spent, it still had the cultivation of an Evil Spirit stage ghost. It wouldn’t be extinguished so easily.

“Don’t try anything else, or I’ll immediately use the Yin Yang Diagram to obliterate you!” Xu Disheng said, transmitting his cold voice into the Yin Yang Diagram. He had long since cast aside his exaggerated performance from earlier, returning to his usual indifferent expression.

Sure enough, the ghost stopped moving. Then, a thought was transmitted to him from within. “I am Tan Lu, a Dao Foundation stage powerhouse from the Miaohua Sect. I was under the control of this Evil Spirit, so I was forced to kill that Dao Foundation stage disciple from the Sacred Sect. Let me out! I promise I’ll never appear in the territory of the Sacred Sect ever again!”

“Perhaps you were once Tan Lu, but now that you’ve transformed into a ghost, your heart has undergone a huge change. Who would believe that nonsense you’re spouting?” Xu Disheng replied.

The ghost continued persistently, “I was once the sect master of the Miaohua Sect! I know many secret matters and powerful cultivation methods, and I can tell you about them! I even have a considerable level of mastery in sealing arrays. I can teach everything I know to you, as long as you let me out!”

Xu Disheng let out a scoff, his voice transmitting into the Yin Yang Diagram once more. “Do you take me for an idiot? I can see how weak you look on the surface. But even though I landed a surprise attack on you while you were heavily injured and managed to suppress you in the Yin Yang Diagram, you still have a final Evil Spirit-level attack saved up. I definitely wouldn’t be able to block it. If you were in my shoes, would you take such a risk?”

The ghost ‘Tan Lu’ was silent for a moment. He got rid of the fake urgency in his voice and said flatly, “If you really insisted on making me spend several days wasting away in this picture Magic Treasure, there really isn’t anything I would be able to do. You tell me then. How can I get you to let me go?”

Unexpectedly, Xu Disheng hesitated. Right now, he really did need those secrets and powerful cultivations that Tan Lu had spoken of.

On top of that, he even claimed to have a certain level of mastery in sealing arrays…

There was only one possibility for the two Dao Foundation stage disciples to actually end up losing against these two Evil Spirits, and that was generally if they ended up trapped in a sealing array and had most of their strength consumed.

Thus, Tan Lu’s Dao of sealing arrays had to have some redeeming qualities at the very least.

Wei Tianhe sat there on the Spirit Cloud, his mood extremely complex. He suddenly seemed to think of something and said hurriedly, “Junior Martial Brother Xu! Where is Senior Martial Brother Zhong? He still hasn’t contacted us even now. And our other martial brothers who went up the mountain in a different direction from us, too. They also haven’t gotten in touch with us at all. Should we wait for them?”

Xu Disheng opened his eyes, temporarily halting his exchange with the ghost inside of the Yin Yang Diagram. “Think back to that time the three of us ran into over 10 Malicious Spirits. If I didn’t have a Magical Treasure, would we have been able to escape?”

Wei Tianhe’s expression changed drastically. “Could it be, they already…”

It didn’t occur to him earlier because Xu Disheng’s display with the Yin Yang Diagram was too dazzling. With a mere swipe, he had suppressed all of the Malicious Spirit stage ghosts, leaving them no opportunity to even resist.

But by no means did that mean that Malicious Spirit stage ghosts were weak. Against a swarm of three Malicious Spirit stage ghosts, an ordinary Sea of Qi stage disciple without a Magic Treasure would have no way of surviving.

Among over 30 Sea of Qi stage disciples and 2 Dao Foundation stage disciples, only two people ended up returning in the end?

No, there surely had to be disciples who fled as soon as they started going up the mountain and returned to the Sacred Sect.

But by this point, Miaohua Mountain was no different from a ghostly paradise.

… …

“We finally made it, Daddy,” the cotton-clothed boy exclaimed as he looked around at the peak of Miaohua Mountain, his eyes full of excitement.

The uncertainty in the black-faced man’s heart had become thicker and thicker, nearly pressing down on him by this point. When he raised his head to look at Miaohua Mountain, he saw a faint, massive ghost face twisting and warping about.

But… the black-faced man looked back at the stacked wooden crates in the horse-drawn carriage and let out a sigh.

These taxes had to be paid every 10 years, and there couldn’t be any mistakes. If he didn’t go, it might be hard for all of the villagers to avoid an unpleasant fate. After all, the Miaohua Sect was never an existence to be reasoned with.

The black-faced man carefully took out a jade pendant from his chest pocket. It had a Bodhisattva with closed eyes engraved on it. Although its eyes were closed, it still had a dignified appearance.

“Come here, let me put this on you,” the black-faced man said, pulling the boy over with his thick, coarse hands and placing the precious, heavy pendant around his neck. “No matter what happens, don’t take this off. You understand?”

The cotton-clothed boy frowned, but didn’t mind it. He turned to look at the tall peak of Miaohua Mountain, his eyes full of admiration. He muttered, “I also want to join the Miaohua Sect. That way, our entire village won’t have to pay these taxes anymore.”

The black-faced man forced a smile, then took out an ancient bugle horn. He put it to his mouth and gently blew.

Several hundred years ago when the Miaohua Sect was formed, this kind of bugle horn was given to every village, city, and regional city of the Guangxi Province.

Whenever it was time to pay their taxes, they could come to the base of Miaohua Mountain and blow on this bugle horn. Then, people would come down to meet them.

A figure flew out from the mountain. As the black-faced man blew on the horn, beads of sweat formed on his forehead, as if there was a cold energy affecting his entire body.

When he saw the approaching figure, the black-faced man became even more nervous. He even inadvertently stopped blowing the horn. He just stood there, tightly holding onto the boy’s hand.

When the figure finally got close enough for one to make out an appearance, it turned out to be a youth wearing the apparel of the Miaohua Sect.

The youth glanced at the two and said, “Coming to pay taxes? Come in then.”

He gently flicked his sleeves and the mountainous forest turned into a wide mountain road, more than sufficient for a horse-drawn carriage.

When the black-faced man saw the youth’s apparel, he felt a bit more at ease, but he was still a bit hesitant.

He vaguely remembered that ten years ago when he came here, the disciple who greeted them told him that he could leave the horse-drawn carriage here and immediately return.

In the span of that moment of hesitation, the youth’s expression turned cold. “What’s the matter? You’re not going to pay the tax?”

The black-faced man hurriedly replied, “No, I wouldn’t dare!”

His mind running amok with all kinds of thoughts, he got back on the horse-drawn carriage, bringing the cotton-clothed youth with him into Miaohua Mountain.