Chen's Apothecary.
Back courtyard.
The sky gradually darkened. Wu Ming sat in the yard, the Crimson Serpent Spear laid across a stone platform beside him. A tea set sat on the platform as well, with a little tea left in the cup. It was not blood-herb medicinal tea, merely ordinary tea.
"It's getting late. Time to rest."
Ma Liu was seated nearby, sipping tea. He glanced at the sky, stretched, and rose to his feet.
"Brother Wu, you'll stand watch for the first half of the night."
Sun Wang was also nearby. He jerked his chin at Wu Ming and said, "I'll relieve you in the latter half."
"Alright."
Wu Ming gave a slight nod.
Guarding the apothecary was not much trouble during the day, but nighttime was different. The four of them, including him and Hu Yong, took turns in pairs. Tonight, he and Sun Wang were on rotation: he would take the first half, while Sun Wang would replace him for the latter half.
At this moment, Hu Yong also came in from outside and said to Wu Ming in a low voice, "Little Wu, I heard tonight is some sort of yin month, yin day. Some unclean things might emerge. If you run into them tonight, don't let them scare you."
A yin month, yin day?
Wu Ming froze at that, and his gaze sharpened.
But just then, Sun Wang saw the gravity that had appeared on Wu Ming's face and burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! Brother Wu may be young, but he's a proper Blood Forging martial artist, with pure yang Blood Qi in him. Forget unclean things—even if there truly are yin fiends and evil spirits, they'd avoid him. Those things can only frighten ordinary people."
As Sun Wang laughed heartily, Hu Yong's solemn expression also broke into a grin. He patted Wu Ming on the shoulder and laughed. "I was only teasing you. We martial artists, even if we walk through mass graves in the dead of night, at the hour of deepest yin, will not encounter any yin evil or ghostly creatures. Those folk tales of the strange and bizarre are merely weak-blooded commoners stimulated by yin energy, seeing a few illusions. At least, I've never personally seen a ghost in all my life."
"That's how it is."
Ma Liu shook his head leisurely and said, "Yin evil and ghostly creatures have never been anything to fear. If we're speaking of what is truly frightening, the human heart is far more frightening than such things. Those vicious bandits still haven't been wiped out—that is the real trouble."
At the mention of the "vicious bandits," Hu Yong's expression grew solemn as well. Indeed, compared to vague and intangible ghosts, those bandits who ran rampant through the city, slaughtered people at will, and committed every conceivable evil were the troublesome threat worth fearing.
"Rest easy, everyone. If there's the slightest stir, I'll alert you immediately."
After a brief moment of thought, Wu Ming spoke to them.
He had personally seen evil entities before and knew that evil spirits and ghosts were not vague fantasies in this world. But he was now a Blood Forging martial artist, and there was indeed no need to fear such things. Just as Hu Yong had said, ever since he had attained Blood Forging, he had never encountered a yin evil or ghostly creature. Martial artists like them, brimming with pure yang Blood Qi, would make even true ghosts retreat far away.
By comparison,
the bandits running rampant through the city were indeed more troublesome.
Sun Wang nodded and turned to go inside to rest. He still had to replace Wu Ming in the latter half of the night. Hu Yong chatted idly with Wu Ming in the courtyard for a while longer, then went indoors and extinguished the lamp only after darkness had fully fallen.
Wu Ming held his spear and sat in the center of the courtyard. After a little while, darkness completely swallowed the surroundings. Silence filled his ears, broken only by the occasional low chirp of insects.
Who knew how much time passed.
Wu Ming suddenly sensed something. His eyes shifted slightly, and he immediately lifted his spear. With a borrowed step, he sprang up, caught the edge of the outer wall one-handed, poked his head over it, and looked toward a direction not far away.
In that direction, a cluster of figures moved about, flickering with faint light as they headed toward the courtyard where he stood.
"That is..."
Wu Ming's gaze tightened at first, but his expression soon relaxed slightly.
He saw the group swiftly pass through the street ahead. They all wore dark azure flying-fish uniforms, carried weapons, and had special illuminating objects hanging from their waists, glowing in the night like little flames.
Such ostentatious attire, coupled with the faint pressure that could be felt even from far away, made their identities self-evident. They were not bandits prowling the night, but Night Patrolmen of the Cautious Punishment Division patrolling the city.
Having guarded Chen's Apothecary for many days, Wu Ming had seen them before.
Among that group of Night Patrolmen were naturally experts who had already detected Wu Ming's scrutiny. Yet they merely cast a distant glance in his direction through the darkness and paid him no further heed, quickly continuing down the street on their patrol.
After the Cautious Punishment Division Night Patrolmen had passed, the nearby streets grew even quieter. Carrying the Crimson Serpent Spear, Wu Ming went to stand in a shadow near the courtyard wall. He held his spear motionless, remaining alert as he constantly sensed every movement within and beyond the yard.
As time passed, the courtyard and its surroundings became ever quieter. Gradually, even the sound of insects vanished, and all sank into utter stillness.
Little by little,
the night deepened.
When he looked up at the sky, he saw only pitch-blackness above the Celestial Dome. Not a single star was visible, and even the moonlight had become incomparably dim and hazy, as though shrouded by black mist.
It was clearly early spring, long past the bitter cold of midwinter, yet Wu Ming stood in the courtyard and inexplicably felt threads of chill seep through his body. This "chill" did not come from temperature, but from some indescribable source.
"So this is a yin month, yin day—the hour of deepest yin?"
Wu Ming looked at his arm. Though his clothes covered it and he could not see clearly in the darkness, he could distinctly feel dense goosebumps silently rising across his skin at some unknown point.
He suspected that if Sun Wang, Ma Liu, or the others had been standing guard here, they might not have sensed anything at all. The reason he felt this inexplicable chill was likely due to his powerful spiritual perception, unlike that of ordinary people. That perception allowed him to notice exceedingly subtle changes between heaven and earth.
"..."
Wu Ming rubbed his arm and could feel every hair standing on end for no reason.
He glanced at the courtyard wall, then suddenly planted his spear, borrowed its force, and flipped straight onto the wall. From there, he lightly leaped onto the roof and silently crouched down, sweeping his gaze over the streets in every direction.
It would have been better had he not looked.
The moment he did, he was startled.
In his sight, the entire street lay in darkness, without a single candle flame. Yet deep within that secluded night, several scattered, eerie white shadows drifted slowly through the blackness.
Wu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly and soon discovered that if he closed them, allowing his vision to sink into complete darkness so that he could no longer see the outlines of the streets, those white shadows did not disappear. Instead, they became clearer.
Clearly,
those eerie white shadows were not things he saw with his physical eyes, but things he "saw" through spiritual perception. If Sun Wang, Ma Liu, and the others had been here, they might have looked out and seen nothing whatsoever.
After his initial surprise, Wu Ming quickly steadied himself. He was now a Blood Forging martial artist and naturally feared no ghosts or spirits. Yet the fact that his powerful spiritual perception could directly "see" these so-called unclean things made him, after that brief shock, find them rather interesting. He began studying the clusters of white shadows with great interest.
Those white shadows only barely possessed the outlines of human forms, all wandering without aim.
"These should be the so-called wandering souls from tales of the strange and bizarre. At the hour of deepest yin, they are born from dense yin energy. They have no consciousness, and ordinary eyes cannot see them. Once the yin energy diminishes even slightly, they quickly disperse. They likely pose no threat to ordinary people either. Only those who are exceptionally weak may possibly 'see' them and then be frightened."
As Wu Ming observed those white shadows, a thoughtful look crossed his mind.
Suddenly,
he noticed that after wandering aimlessly for a while, one of the white shadows happened to drift in his direction.
A thought suddenly flashed through Wu Ming's mind.
Could this thing be put to use?
Ever since the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram had suppressed and killed that evil entity last time, it had remained utterly silent. That demonic, evil entity had been exceedingly dangerous, and even if it appeared again, he would not dare act rashly. But these wandering souls born from accumulated yin energy posed no threat to him. If he merely stirred up his pure yang Blood Qi and charged at one from close range, it would likely scatter at once.
After considering it briefly, a glimmer flashed through Wu Ming's eyes. He quietly sprang forward, leaping from the rooftop beyond the courtyard and dropping straight toward the insubstantial white shadow drifting over.
"..."
The instant Wu Ming drew close, the white shadow immediately began to blur, faintly showing signs of dispersing. Instinctively, it stopped advancing and began retreating away from him.
Seeing this, Wu Ming controlled and restrained the aura around him, drawing in his Blood Qi as much as possible. Then he walked straight before the white shadow and reached out to grab it.
As expected, his hand passed straight through it without touching anything tangible.
But at the instant he came into contact with that faint white shadow, the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram within his mind, which had lain dormant for several months, seemed to awaken. At last, ripples stirred across it once more.
Buzz!
In Wu Ming's perception, ripples surged from the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram in his mind, forming an invisible vortex that swept up the faint white shadow. In only an instant, it shredded the shadow and silently devoured it whole.
After devouring that wandering soul, the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram sank back into silence. Yet Wu Ming vaguely came to an understanding: these unconscious wandering souls condensed from pure yin energy were precisely what the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram required!
If he could accumulate more of them, perhaps this strange divine diagram would undergo some wondrous transformation!
Wu Ming's heart settled. After sweeping a glance over the pale white outlines wandering in the distance, he immediately turned around and flipped back into the courtyard.
He went to Sun Wang's door and knocked twice.
"Brother Sun, it's time."
Before you continue