Ghost Controlling Technique

Hearing this, Zheng Que immediately focused his attention, looking toward Daoist Qu.

BOOM!!!

The next moment, a figure with a robust physique and a violent aura suddenly appeared beside Daoist Qu. It was clad in heavy armor, its entire body encased in thick plating. Beneath the faceplate, only a pair of bloodthirsty eyes were visible. It carried a giant axe on its back, and as it looked around, killing intent overflowed, making it resemble a veteran of a hundred battles.

Zheng Que was startled, but he quickly realized this was the Corpse Puppet his master raised and refined. The night before last, when he was targeted by the Call-Sound Ghost, it was a Corpse Puppet with a similar aura that had lured the Call-Sound Ghost away.

As he was thinking, Daoist Qu spoke indifferently: "The first step is to capture a Resentful Soul."

As his voice fell, the Corpse Puppet beside him immediately opened its faceplate, revealing a skinless, blood-red face. It opened its mouth and spat out a cloud of turbid, foul-smelling smoke.

The smoke dispersed into the air, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a small, ghostly creature. It was about the size of a human child, with strangely proportioned facial features that looked extremely ugly. Its body was a mix of blue and white, and it crouched like an ape.

Looking at this semi-transparent spirit, Zheng Que understood that this was the Resentful Soul his master spoke of—a type of Lonely Ghost and Wild Spirit. It possessed little intelligence, usually only acted at night, feared sunlight, and was extremely weak during the day.

At this moment, as soon as the Resentful Soul hit the ground, it immediately tried to flee outside the temple.

Daoist Qu extended a finger and slashed it across the palm of his other hand. Fresh blood surged out immediately. With a flick of his sleeve, the blood in his palm transformed into a blood-colored mist, weaving into a net that descended over the Resentful Soul.

Trapped by the spiritual blood, the Resentful Soul let out a shrill, miserable scream, seemingly terrified of the spiritual blood.

Not giving the Resentful Soul any chance to struggle, Daoist Qu immediately began casting complex hand seals. At the same time, he continued to explain: "The second step is to apply the Blood Seal."

"For ordinary Resentful Souls like this, their yin energy is thin and their abilities are weak, so only one layer of the Blood Seal is needed."

"If it were some powerful Lonely Ghost and Wild Spirit, you would need to apply three or more layers of the Blood Seal."

"Remember, the more layers of the Blood Seal, the stronger your control over the ghost."

"However, the Blood Seal uses the cultivator's spiritual blood as a conduit, and the extreme yang energy within that spiritual blood suppresses the ghost's yin energy. Therefore, the more layers of the Blood Seal, the weaker the ghost you drive will become."

"With your current cultivation, you are only capable of applying one layer of the Blood Seal, so do not go provoking ghosts that are too powerful..."

As he spoke, following the changes in Daoist Qu's hand seals, the spiritual blood net trapping the Resentful Soul gradually transformed into special runes. Floating in mid-air, they branded themselves into the body of the Resentful Soul in a specific order.

To the Resentful Soul, these characters were like branding irons to a human. With every character that entered its body, the Resentful Soul would erupt into an exceptionally high-pitched scream, and at the same time, its yin energy would weaken by a fraction.

The Resentful Soul tore hysterically at the spiritual blood net, trying to escape.

But as more and more runes were branded into its body, it lost more and more control over itself.

Gradually, the Resentful Soul stopped struggling and stopped making any sounds.

As the final rune formed from the spiritual blood was branded into its body, the Resentful Soul was covered from head to toe in blood-colored marks of various sizes.

Daoist Qu immediately stopped his hand seals. Those Blood Seals faded in an instant, as if they had never appeared at all.

Zheng Que watched all of this earnestly, having already memorized the key points and the sequence of all the hand seals in his heart.

At this moment, Daoist Qu spoke again: "The final step: issuing the command!"

As he spoke, he slashed another wound into his arm. Using his blood as ink, he quickly drew a pattern on his palm that resembled both a bird and an insect, looking like some sort of peculiar script.

Once the pattern was finished, he flipped his palm, aimed it at the location of the Resentful Soul, and struck lightly: "Duo!"

The Resentful Soul, which had been standing stiffly, shuddered instantly. It let out a shrill, miserable scream filled with despair and agony, and without a moment's hesitation, it lunged toward the Corpse Puppet at its side.

Swish!

The Resentful Soul instantly tore off a section of the Corpse Puppet's arm.

The armor, forged from refined iron, was as fragile as paper before it.

Seeing that the Resentful Soul seemed ready to continue its assault, Daoist Qu aimed his palm at it once more: "Withdraw!"

As the words fell, the Daoist curled his five fingers into a cage, and the Resentful Soul immediately transformed into a streak of blood-red light, vanishing into his palm.

Immediately after, Daoist Qu turned to look at Zheng Que and said in a flat tone, "This is the Ghost Controlling Technique. Have you learned it?"

Hearing this, Zheng Que snapped back to reality and replied immediately, "Thank you for the teaching, Master. This disciple has committed it all to memory!"

Daoist Qu nodded slightly and said slowly, "Since you have learned it, you may go for now."

"Return at this same time tomorrow."

"I will test your results."

Zheng Que bowed respectfully to him again: "Yes, Master."

As he spoke, he stepped lightly and cautiously out of the temple.

The small courtyard outside remained as desolate as ever. Amidst the overgrown weeds, insects chirped, and the daylight poured down, illuminating everything inside and out as if there were no shadows at all.

Zheng Que glanced around casually and was about to head straight home, but when his gaze touched the withered old tree by the courtyard wall, his footsteps slowed.

The trunk of this old tree was so wide it would take two or three people to wrap their arms around it, and its canopy stretched out in all directions like the ribs of an umbrella. Back when it was lush and leafy, it had shaded most of the courtyard.

Even though it had been dead for who knows how long, one could still glimpse its former grandeur from the remaining branches.

Now, its shadow fell upon the walls and the ground, creating a dappled, charming play of light and shadow. Within that tree shadow, the Female Hanging Ghost swayed gently; her hanging hair and the hem of her clothes drifted with the breeze, light as if she were about to fly away.

Zheng Que looked at the Female Hanging Ghost, his eyes flickering.

According to his master's explanation just now, this Female Hanging Ghost hiding in the tree shadow should belong to the "Resentful Souls" among the "Lonely Ghosts and Wild Spirits."

During the day, it hid within the shadow of this withered old tree; only after the sun went down would its true form manifest upon the branches of the dead tree.

Thinking of this, Zheng Que immediately changed direction and walked straight toward the withered old tree.

The Resentful Soul was heavily suppressed by the yang energy during the day, and its strength was greatly weakened. It was the perfect time to capture it!

Soon, Zheng Que's footsteps entered the tree's shadow. He stared at the shadow of the Female Hanging Ghost, approaching step by step.

As he walked, he suddenly felt his body becoming lighter and lighter. It began to drift upward uncontrollably, and he had to stand on his tiptoes just to barely touch the ground...