What Had the Sage Said Again?

Meng Jingzhou turned over another piece of tiger hide. It was old, seemingly a hundred years old, but had been preserved very well. The tiny characters covering it were still perfectly legible. Lu Yang and Man Gu craned their necks to take a curious look, but neither recognized the script.

"This is demon script, the written language used by the Demon Race," Meng Jingzhou said. As it happened, he could read it.

The fox tribe was wanton by nature, and that showed in their writing too. They often wrote indecent books, and if someone did certain unspeakable things to one of those books, its author could collect a trace of yang energy.

That was why most of the indecent books circulating on the Central Continent were written by the fox tribe. The authorities publicized their dangers and held book-burning campaigns every few years, but the books still changed hands on the black market. No ban could stamp them out.

When Meng Jingzhou was young, he had been quite obsessed with books like these. Back then, though, he had no idea what unspeakable things were. He just thought the books were good.

To read them in their original form, he had gone out of his way to learn demon script.

"You're that studious?" Lu Yang and Man Gu exclaimed in surprise. Cultivation could improve one's memory, so learning a language didn't take long.

But Meng Jingzhou had learned demon script before he ever began cultivating. That was something else entirely.

Meng Jingzhou didn't want to explain the reason in detail. He only said that he was somewhat interested in the culture of the Demon Race.

Man Gu thought that Brother Meng truly lived up to his name: diligent in his studies but never boastful, humble in his conduct, and noble in character. He was someone worth learning from.

"What does the tiger hide say?"

"Let me see... 'Ghostly things; yin proceeds, yang retreats'... This is a method for commanding ghost servants."

Meng Jingzhou quickly skimmed through it and ran a few calculations in his mind. He soon deduced what the manual did.

"The old hunter must have been made into one this way."

"There are requirements for the ghosts, too. The cultivation gap has to be two major realms. That doesn't apply when refining a mortal; once you reach the seventh level of Qi Refining, you can refine a mortal's soul."

The art of commanding ghost servants was rather useless. Only someone two realms below you could be refined, and even if you managed to make one a ghost servant, would you really send it into battle?

Take the fight against the tiger demon just now. If a ghost servant had appeared, it wouldn't even have been useful as cannon fodder. It couldn't have posed any threat at all.

"Do you need me to translate the whole thing? It doesn't seem to be restricted by race. Humans can cultivate it too, though it works best for tiger demons."

Man Gu was about to ask what use there was in learning this, but Lu Yang spoke first. "We're joining the demonic cult. We'll need demonic methods, and this art of commanding ghost servants would be just right for show. There are already wraiths at the hunter's place. Translate the method on the tiger hide, and the three of us can study it together."

Lu Yang had originally planned to eliminate the remaining wraiths, but things had changed. They could use them first and disperse their souls afterward.

Judging by what the tiger demon had said, the wraiths had willingly become servants after death, letting themselves be commanded as ghosts and preying on travelers.

They all deserved to die.

"Fine," Meng Jingzhou readily agreed. He laid out paper, ground the ink, and swiftly copied down the art of commanding ghost servants.

"I won't cultivate it. I have a Pure Yang Spiritual Root. Ghosts see me like snow sees the sun—they'd melt away in an instant. I can't practice a spell with such a purely yin attribute."

Lu Yang and Man Gu said nothing more and began cultivating together.

Before long, a gust of ghostly wind swept through the cave. Faint wails rose with it, bringing a bone-deep chill that froze them to the marrow.

Lu Yang felt his body grow light. His feet left the ground, and he floated in the air like a ghost.

His mind had never felt clearer. His senses sharpened, allowing him to notice the tiniest details around him. He could also feel Meng Jingzhou nearby, like a blazing inferno, scorching hot!

"Hmm? What's going on?" Lu Yang wondered. He looked down and saw his body sitting cross-legged right where it had been.

"No, I'm not flying. My soul has left my body!"

Meng Jingzhou noticed something was wrong with Lu Yang and cried out in alarm. "Only someone in the Nascent Soul Realm can leave their body as a yin soul and roam thousands of miles. How did you manage it already?"

"Get back in at once! You're only at the Foundation Establishment Realm. You haven't cultivated your soul yet, so it could easily be damaged. Once your soul is injured, it'll be hard to repair!"

Lu Yang realized what was wrong too. He circulated the incantation for commanding ghost servants and brought his soul back to normal.

"How did you do that?" Meng Jingzhou had never heard of anyone in the Foundation Establishment Realm daring to leave their body as a yin soul.

There wasn't even a spell that could do such a thing.

Lu Yang was utterly baffled too. "I just cultivated according to the art of commanding ghost servants you wrote down. I thought I understood it completely and there wasn't a problem, so I tried circulating it to see what would happen. And then this happened."

Meng Jingzhou gave Lu Yang a strange look. "Could it be that you're treating your own soul as a ghost servant and commanding yourself?"

He had never heard of anyone cultivating it that way, but given what had happened, it was the only explanation.

Lu Yang thought it over, but couldn't come up with any other possibility.

Lu Yang asked Meng Jingzhou to move farther away and tried several more times. The result was the same each time: his yin soul left his body.

"What's going on with my talent for spells?"

The two of them were at a loss, so they could only wait for Man Gu to wake up and ask if the same thing had happened to him.

When Man Gu woke up, he saw Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou watching him expectantly. He was completely bewildered.

"Have you learned to command ghost servants?"

"I've grasped the basics. I should be able to command eight mortal souls."

"Can you command yourself and make your yin soul leave your body?" Lu Yang looked at Man Gu expectantly, hoping he would say yes. That would prove Lu Yang hadn't learned the spell incorrectly.

Man Gu looked even more confused. "How could that be possible? This is the art of commanding ghost servants. Are you telling me you can treat your own soul as a ghost servant and command it?"

Meng Jingzhou glanced at Lu Yang, then recounted how Lu Yang had learned the art. Man Gu was filled with admiration.

Brother Lu's mind was sharp, and his talent for learning spells was unmatched. Brother Meng was gifted, well-read, and learned.

He had learned a lot along the way. It was practically as if the sages themselves had said it.

What had the sage said again?

Oh, right. The sage said: "When three people walk together, all of them are my teachers."

"We should go find the wraiths." Seeing nothing else worth looting in the cave, Meng Jingzhou called for his companions to leave.

"You two go ahead. I have something to take care of. I'll catch up." Lu Yang told Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu to leave first.

Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu didn't think much of it and left the tiger's den.

Once the two were gone, Lu Yang's smile faded, and his expression gradually settled into calm.

He walked deeper into the cave and saw a small mountain of bones. He let out a quiet sigh.

"Just as I thought."

When Lu Yang saw the various belongings, he had guessed that a cautious tiger demon wouldn't toss the bones outside after eating people. That would make it far too easy to expose itself. The safest thing was to leave the remains in the cave.

Reality had proved him right.

These poor people had come from all over. For one reason or another, they had passed through Pine Mountain, been tricked, and been eaten. This little cave was their final resting place.

Lu Yang said nothing more. His Greenedge Sword could cut through iron like mud, and he easily carved a large slab of rock from the cave wall.

He smoothed the stone, silently recited the Rebirth Mantra, and set up a gravestone for the poor souls. He stood quietly for a moment, lost in thought, then turned and left.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go." Lu Yang called to his companions, and together they left this unpleasant place.