Doing Heaven's Will

Doing Heaven's Will

Chen Ye breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want a little girl tagging along beside him, either. Setting aside all the trouble she would bring, having someone else to worry about would naturally slow his cultivation.

Chen Ye said gratefully, "Thank you for your help, Miss Su."

Su Chunyi smiled. "As you know, sir, our Qinghe Sword Sect has very few disciples. Whenever our people go out to gain experience, they bring back anyone suitable they happen to encounter. Miss Lan has extraordinary aptitude and a guileless heart, so she's just right for our Qinghe Sword Sect."

Chen Ye could understand. The number-one sect under heaven, yet it had so few people. Its sect leader was probably quite anxious.

With Lan Shi's problem settled, Chen Ye sent the two young women back to the teahouse to rest. What he had to do next wasn't suitable for Lan Shi to watch.

Chen Ye needed to clean up the mess.

The corpses scattered all over the ground had to be cleared away, or they might well cause an epidemic.

The martial artists who had been charmed were still under control. Many spells no longer had anything to do with the caster once they had been cast. Jiang Shiyue was dead, but the spell's effects remained. They would still go mad and sacrifice everything for Jiang Shiyue.

Since he was already here, he might as well practice the secret arts recorded in the Ksitigarbha Vow Sutra.

The Charm Technique affected ordinary people's souls. It was like planting a curse that interfered with their thoughts. Whenever anything related to their "master" came up, it wiped away all resistance and reason, turning them into utterly devoted lapdogs.

Chen Ye waved the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and had the resentful spirits tear down most of the Hengdao Inn. Using the materials at hand, he began laying out a formation.

While he was busy, Mo Ci couldn't help asking, "What crooked scheme are you up to now, boy? Just leave these fools to fend for themselves. Even if you really want to break the Charm Technique, wouldn't it be easier to have Su Chunyi do it?"

Chen Ye asked, "Master, how do you know Miss Su can break the Charm Technique? You don't know how, either, do you?"

Mo Ci said with absolute certainty, "That's not the same thing. I may not know how, but there's no way Su Chunyi doesn't. The disciples of the great sects are most afraid of having their minds controlled and bringing disgrace upon their sects. Women in particular have to be extremely careful, or they're bound to meet a miserable end. A sect as large as the Qinghe Sword Sect must teach its disciples how to break enchantments like these."

Chen Ye said in surprise, "If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have known. Your disciple has learned something."

So the orthodox sects guarded against this kind of thing, too. In that case, he'd better stop thinking he could bewitch the minds of disciples from the great sects.

"Don't change the subject. What are you doing?"

Mo Ci sensed something was off. Even if Chen Ye wanted to deal with a few ordinary people, there was no need for such an elaborate setup.

The formation looked downright extravagant. Though he had only laid its foundations, it was already drawing in vast quantities of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

"Since Miss Su is nearby, I thought I'd try out all the secret arts recorded in the Ksitigarbha Vow Sutra. But practicing each one separately would be too much trouble. I've realized I don't have much talent for casting spells."

He wasn't being modest. Chen Ye had practiced the Immobilization Technique for many days, yet when he tried to use it in a fight, he still failed. Clearly, he was the scholarly sort of cultivator, with no particular talent for combat.

The four secret arts of detention, locking, interrogation, and punishment complemented one another like the parts of a whole. To see how they worked in combination, he had to set up a formation beforehand. Otherwise, even if Chen Ye had ten years, he still wouldn't be able to cast them.

While cultivating earlier, Chen Ye had sensed that these four secret arts could stir the qi sea within him and affect the speed at which he absorbed spiritual energy.

He needed to find a chance to study them closely as soon as possible.

However, setting up the complete formation would cause too much of a disturbance and easily draw the attention of other cultivators. Who knew whether Cui County had any hidden fiends or rogue cultivators lurking about?

So Chen Ye figured that, with Su Chunyi nearby, he could make as much of a commotion as he liked and attract whatever trouble he might. With her there, she should be able to keep him alive.

Cultivators sought longevity; they shouldn't take reckless risks without good reason.

But when there was good reason, they shouldn't hesitate.

After hearing Chen Ye's explanation, Mo Ci marveled that the boy really was a born devil. When it came to plotting against others, he left no stone unturned.

Still, Mo Ci was curious, too. That scripture was truly strange. Its material alone, impervious to blades and spears, showed it was no ordinary book. What would happen if Chen Ye performed all the secret arts recorded within?

Could it really make heaven and earth change color and turn a person into an immortal on the spot?

He knew it was unlikely, but couldn't help letting his imagination run wild.

Chen Ye paid no mind to what Mo Ci thought and continued laying out the formation.

He had chosen the Hengdao Inn not only because it was convenient, but also because the place was quite special. It could be said to gather every kind of greed and resentment: wine, lust, wealth, and pride.

As an inn frequented by martial artists, it was naturally a place where people loved to fight. Since the inn's rules forbade them from brawling, it provided all kinds of other amusements instead.

They could drink huge bowls of wine, eat great mouthfuls of meat, then gamble and listen to music. The place had everything.

On top of that, the inn was a den of vice. Who knew how many wicked deeds that had cost people their lives had been committed there over the years? The resentment and hatred lingered, held in check only by the abundant yang energy of the martial artists.

As time passed, these thoughts affected the spiritual energy of the place, forming a unique "feng shui layout."

Formations were usually set up by working with the land's natural currents. Arranging one according to the feng shui layout of a particular place made the work twice as effective for half the effort. Chen Ye was now laying out a formation based on the four soul arts of detention, locking, interrogation, and punishment, drawing on the spiritual energy here, steeped in greed, anger, delusion, and resentment. The two complemented each other perfectly.

After hours of work, it was finally finished, just as the sun went down.

The raised platform Chen Ye had constructed resembled an arch bridge. Countless runes rose from the ground, turning into wisps of ghost fire that drifted without dispersing.

What had once been a fine inn now resembled a mass grave. The yin wind it drew in became a wailing cry. Resentful thoughts that should have long since faded were now showing signs of gathering into a tangible form.

The invisible resentment took shape, like a shadowy mass. Looking closely, it was clearly made up of tens of thousands of twisted faces. Each time the ghost fire flickered, the faces of the innkeeper, gamblers, prostitutes, and others who had sinned there in life surfaced one after another in the mist, as though their guilty souls had been forcibly kneaded into the apparition's hide.

In an instant, the ghostly shadow grew taller and larger. In the blink of an eye, it became a three-zhang-tall evil ghost with a green face and fangs.

Chen Ye stood at the heart of the formation, carefully directing the flow of spiritual energy. As the four secret arts of detention, locking, interrogation, and punishment activated one after another, a strange magical treasure appeared on the green-faced, fanged evil ghost.

A rusty iron chain wound around the evil ghost's right hand. One end held a sharp hook, while the other was a manacle covered in thorns.

Chen Ye immediately felt Mount Tai bearing down on him. This Green-Faced Evil Ghost had condensed from the world's wickedness and seemed even more powerful than the souls of the two Old Devils from before.

When the Green-Faced Ghost turned its gaze on him, Chen Ye felt his body tremble and his mind sink into boundless fear. But he steeled himself, bit his tongue, and met its gaze calmly.

When their eyes finally met, a roar rang out in Chen Ye's mind: "Do you know your crimes?"

Chen Ye felt his memories surge. Long-forgotten trifles flooded back: arguing with others, shirking his studies, cringing before people, flattering them... All of them were parts of his past he didn't want to remember.

Yet no matter how those memories resurfaced, Chen Ye felt only embarrassment, not the slightest guilt. Looking into the Green-Faced Ghost's burning eyes, he answered calmly, "My conscience is clear. What crime have I committed?"

Perhaps he had done many foolish things in his previous life, but Chen Ye had never harmed others for his own benefit.

So what crime had he committed?

As soon as Chen Ye loudly answered the Green-Faced Ghost's accusation, the chain with its barbed hook swept toward him.

Chen Ye didn't dodge at all. The rusty hook passed over him without even snagging his clothes. Instead, it passed through his body, dragging out only a few wisps of black smoke.

Chen Ye felt a faint ache in his chest, as if he had taken a punch. But the blow wasn't hard, and the pain quickly faded.

Now Chen Ye understood just how terrifying this secret art was. Though he had set up the formation himself, he was the first to stand trial. If he had been burdened with deep guilt, that hook would have made him writhe in agony.

Chen Ye touched his chest and sighed. "It's easy to fool others. Fooling yourself is hard."

Even though Chen Ye had loudly declared his conscience clear, he had ultimately hidden his origins from Su Chunyi. He couldn't conceal his guilt over that, and the iron hook had drawn it out with pinpoint accuracy.

Fortunately, Chen Ye had committed no other grave wrongs. He could bear this little bit of pain.

Having passed judgment, Chen Ye could now fully control the Green-Faced Evil Ghost. With a swing of its chain, it pulled all the martial artists over. Then the iron hook pierced through every one of their bodies, drawing out a great cloud of black mist.

The martial artists writhed in pain across the ground. Most of them didn't stop screaming, clearly burdened with heavy sins. Two of them, however, seemed not to have committed any major wrongs. After a few cries of pain, they actually woke up.

The Green-Faced Evil Ghost's iron hook acted directly on the soul without damaging it.

They might be writhing in pain, but their fragile souls had sustained no injury, and their physical bodies were completely unharmed. It was pure punishment.

This secret art couldn't harm anyone. Instead, it gave people a chance to atone for their sins. It could be called acting on heaven's behalf.

The Charm Technique, naturally, couldn't withstand the sweeping might of the iron hook, and had been completely broken.

But Chen Ye wanted more than just to set up the formation. He also wanted to figure out how these four secret arts affected his qi sea.

"I remember my qi sea changed when I practiced the Locking Formula before. I'll try again..."

Chen Ye was about to carefully sense the effect of combining the four secret arts when a whistle came from the sky.

He looked up to see an alchemy furnace falling from the heavens and landing above his head.

Then a loud shout rang out: "Brazen fiend! How dare you hurt people in the middle of town?! I, Wei Changsheng of the Fenxiang Sect, will act on heaven's behalf today!"