Ling Qing recited the Mysterious Essence Incantation. Only after reading it through three or five times did he carefully copy down the annotations on the animal hide.
Then he read it again and again, annotated it again and again, and made corrections.
Although he had inherited the Druid's legacy, for one thing, his own cultivation was still low.
He couldn't even be said to know the what without knowing the why. He was simply baffled by most of it.
Druids relied more on perception than on the intellectual knowledge of mages.
When their perception was right, then naturally they were right, and the power came with it. Why worry about so much else?
For another, he knew even less about the cultivation methods of the local immortals, Daoists, and Buddhists.
Judging by the half-seal-script, half-clerical-script characters, the text seemed to date from the Qin or Han dynasties, or even earlier.
If he hadn't chosen the identity of a scholar and learned to read a little, he'd be illiterate here.
No better than the Land God.
As a result, the scriptures he translated and annotated were nowhere near the original meaning of those Divine Scripts, vast as mountains and rivers.
They were even inferior to Xu Shi's annotations.
Fortunately, he knew his own limits. Whenever he couldn't make up his mind or thought something seemed dangerous, he didn't blunder ahead with wild guesses, but set it aside for the time being.
Then, drawing on his own inheritance, what he had studied, and the Land God's insights and experience, he simplified the text.
He didn't seek great power, only safety and clarity.
After night fell, Ling Qing put aside his work organizing the scriptures and stood beneath a tree to watch the Land God refine and deliver the dead.
This should have been done inside his Divine Spirit Domain.
First, that would keep it out of mortal sight. Second, he could draw on the power of the wishes stored in the spirit pool.
But now, Ling Qing was the only person left in the entire village. As he was already involved, there was no need to hide it from him.
Besides, the spirit pool in the domain had dried up. There was no help to be had from it.
With no other choice, they could only borrow the moonlight to refine and deliver the dead in the mortal world.
They were able to do this because the two of them had first compiled the Sha Refining Technique from the divine arts.
They also had the token they had made using the Stone Tablet.
Without those, how could an ordinary Land God have such a method?
The Sha Refining Technique was also a method within the Spirit Transformation Method. It could refine all the murky, baleful energy in the world.
Not only could it purge and disperse the baleful energy in an area, it could also refine and purify it, making it easy to control, as though it were an extension of one's own arm.
Whether they were the Chang Ghosts formed from people killed by the Tiger Demon, or the man-eating tiger's soul, all had had their hearts and minds corrupted by baleful energy.
Such vengeful ghosts could not enter the Underworld Administration to be reincarnated. They could only linger among the living.
If left unchecked, the Chang Ghosts would keep harming people, while the tiger's soul would turn into a Ghast that knew nothing but how to devour and harm people.
Normally, even if the Land God had been granted the authority to guide departed souls, he could only escort to the City God's Court those dead who were clear-minded and willing to be reincarnated.
Then the City God would dispatch Ghost Soldiers to send them into the underworld.
When faced with Chang Ghosts and vengeful spirits like these, there was little he could do. They were simply beyond his power.
But with the Sha Refining Technique and the token, things were different.
Ghostly baleful energy and resentful baleful energy were still baleful energy, and could be refined and gathered by the Sha Refining Technique.
The token could ensure that their souls did not dissipate. And because it had been refined using the Golden Light Mantra, it could draw down the essence of the sun and moon.
The moon's Great Yin essence was especially effective at cleansing and nourishing Yin souls.
The Land God waved the token, releasing the Chang Ghosts and the tiger's soul. Before they could do anything,
he formed a hand seal and chanted an incantation, drawing wisps of black mist from the vengeful spirits. The mist gave off a strange, unfathomable aura of evil and hatred.
This was the resentful baleful energy rooted inside the vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts. Nothing corroded a person's mind more.
"Ahhhh!"
"Roarrr!"
The vengeful spirits, their baleful energy ripped away, let out shrill cries of pain.
For a moment, the square before the Land God's temple was filled with ghostly wails and tiger roars, like a scene from the underworld.
Ling Qing had already recited the Incantation of Mind Purification and the Golden Light Mantra to protect his mind and body from their influence.
"Token, rise!"
When the black mist had been drawn out and the Yin souls were on the verge of dispersing, the Land God tossed the token into the air and pointed at it.
The token emitted a faint glow. Threads of silver light gathered around it, growing more numerous until a silver strand descended from the Jade Toad.
Passing through the token, it became a silver tide, misty as clouds and haze, washing over the Yin souls.
As soon as the souls touched the silver mist, they stopped dissipating. Their faces took on looks of comfort.
Only after every soul had become like a strand of silver thread did he tap the token again and draw them inside.
The silver strand hanging from the sky broke apart into specks of light.
"A tiger! Run!"
"Wasn't I dead?"
"Where is this place?"
"Roar!"
"..."
When the silver light faded from the Yin souls and they returned to the appearance of ordinary ghosts, the scene erupted into chaos.
Some were terrified when they saw the tiger's soul. Some remembered only the moment the tiger had killed them. Others had no idea how they had died.
And one Tiger Demon had regained its senses, yet remained savage.
"Silence!"
The Land God's shout, charged with divine power, calmed the tumult. He pressed down with one hand, pinning the Tiger Demon's soul to the ground so it couldn't move.
Turning to the Yin souls he had refined, he said, "You were all cruelly killed by the Tiger Demon and turned into Chang Ghosts.
"Today, this deity has executed it and purged the baleful energy from you. Before long, I will escort you to the Underworld Administration, where you may be reborn."
"Many thanks, Land God!" Some of the Yin souls still resented their deaths, but in the presence of divine authority, they dared not object. They could only reply in unison.
After all, ghosts were different from the living. They sensed the majesty radiating from deities far more keenly.
That meant a deity's aura had a much stronger power to overawe ghosts.
Only ghosts whose minds had been clouded by baleful energy, leaving them incapable of fear, would dare oppose a deity when placed under another's command.
As for the Tiger Demon, though its baleful energy had been drawn out, tiger spirits were naturally able to suppress Yin spirits. On top of that, it had been ferocious in life, which was why it dared to disregard divine might.
"Mm."
The Land God nodded and waved the token, drawing all the Yin souls back inside. Then he turned to the Tiger Demon's soul, pinned beneath his hand.
"You have committed countless evils, leading your pack to devour people and unlawfully holding Yin souls captive to turn them into Chang Ghosts, disrupting the order between Yin and Yang. Your sins are grave.
"You are also stubborn and still savage. From today onward, you will serve beneath this deity, temper your nature, atone for your crimes, and accumulate merit.
"May you cleanse yourself of your sins soon and be reborn."
With that, he ignored the Tiger Demon's struggles and summoned a divine seal, striking it into the tiger's forehead.
When the Land God lifted the restriction, the Tiger Demon roared twice. Though unwilling, it shrank to the size of an ordinary tiger and padded over to lie at the Land God's feet.
"I know you're unwilling. But once you've cleansed yourself of your sins, I'll naturally send you to be reborn."
With that, the Land God swung himself onto the Tiger Demon's back and had it carry him toward Ling Qing.
"Congratulations, Land God."
"It's all thanks to you, sir."
They bowed to each other at the same time, then froze. A moment later, they looked at one another and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Hahahaha!"
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