Yaksha Ghost-Swallowing

"There's yin energy!"

Zhou Yan raised an eyebrow. He was almost certain that some supernatural entity was causing trouble. It wasn't a human.

But there was yin energy in the wine vat. Could it be a wine ghost?

He walked a few steps closer and examined the vat. After breaking the seal, he found it filled to the brim with wine.

Yet when he sniffed it, he couldn't detect even the faintest scent of alcohol. It was as if the vat held nothing but clear water.

Zhou Yan scooped some out and gave it a tentative taste.

"Ptooey, ptooey..."

He spat it out as soon as it touched his tongue, his face full of disgust.

The liquid in the vat looked clear, but it tasted terribly bitter and carried a hint of decay.

That was right. This was what happened when a ghost defiled something.

Generally, ghosts only consumed offerings, and they needed the protection of incense to do so.

Since the wine in the vat had turned out like this, only a wine ghost could have done it.

"No wonder it hasn't hurt anyone."

Zhou Yan mused to himself.

This was more or less what he had suspected.

Once he had confirmed what was going on, Zhou Yan went to sit in a corner. The yang energy in his body quickly subsided, and yin energy spread over him.

That way, even if a ghost came by, it wouldn't easily notice him.

As the night grew deeper, the distillery finally stirred.

Zhou Yan slowly opened his eyes and silently cast the Dharma Eye Curse.

At once, he saw a ghost floating toward him in the distance.

As soon as the wine ghost arrived, it instinctively looked toward the vat and started to lunge for it.

But the next moment, it suddenly stopped and looked at the broken seal.

Zhou Yan watched it closely. It was the most intelligent ghost he had ever seen, and also the clearest-headed and calmest.

It had even noticed this tiny detail.

Zhou Yan, on the other hand, was used to dealing with vengeful ghosts whose minds were clouded by resentment. He had let his guard down.

The wine ghost realized something was wrong and immediately tried to flee.

But by then, Zhou Yan had already leaped out and blocked its path, knocking it flying with a single strike of his Peach Wood Sword.

After being sent flying, the wine ghost changed direction and tried to escape again.

But this time, it was blocked once more.

Not by Zhou Yan, but by his two corpse puppets.

They stood on either side, cutting off the wine ghost's escape route.

"Roar..."

The wine ghost's fury flared, and yin energy surged from its body.

Just as Zhou Yan thought it was about to fight to the death and began to brace himself, the wine ghost suddenly ran in the opposite direction.

In that instant, it moved incredibly fast. It was almost out of the distillery.

The wine ghost was so intelligent that it had even managed to fool Zhou Yan.

"Bang..."

The wine ghost's body flew back. A figure slowly appeared where it had tried to escape.

The figure had a pair of wings on its back, a blue-green face, and fangs. It held a steel trident in its hand. It was the Yaksha Guardian Deity.

After the Yakshas Meditation Method broke through to the proficient stage, the Yaksha formed from Zhou Yan's thoughts could travel farther and move more freely.

The wicked might be a foot tall, but the righteous were a yard taller.

Zhou Yan had been prepared. He had simply kept the Yaksha Guardian Deity hidden for the time being.

He hadn't expected the wine ghost to choose the worst possible route.

The Yaksha Guardian Deity was even more effective against fierce ghosts.

It moved at incredible speed, thrusting its steel trident at the wine ghost like lightning. The weapon pierced straight through it.

Zhou Yan was secretly startled. He realized the Yaksha Guardian Deity's trident seemed to have an effect that guaranteed a hit.

Whether it was the infant spirit he had fought before or the wine ghost now, the trident seemed slow, yet neither ghost could put up any resistance. Each one was struck dead-on.

And once impaled, escaping was all but impossible.

"Roar..."

The wine ghost roared again and again, struggling with all its might to break free.

But the Yaksha Guardian Deity was a Buddhist guardian deity. How could an ordinary fierce ghost possibly escape its grasp?

The harder the wine ghost struggled, the worse its condition became. Its yin energy and ghostly energy were steadily stripped away, and soon it was on the verge of death.

Just as Zhou Yan was about to step forward and seal the wine ghost, the Yaksha Guardian Deity suddenly lifted it on its trident and brought it close. Then it sniffed the ghost twice.

The next moment, before Zhou Yan's widened eyes, the Yaksha opened its mouth and swallowed the wine ghost in a single bite.

The sudden turn of events made Zhou Yan's whole body tremble.

Then the Yaksha transformed back into a thought and returned to Zhou Yan's soul.

Zhou Yan felt something appear in his mind and quickly sat cross-legged, absorbing it.

It turned out that the Yakshas Meditation Method had a hidden effect—a hidden benefit, too. It could devour fierce ghosts to strengthen the practitioner's soul.

However, the ghosts it devoured had to be ones stained with bloodshed and human lives.

What's more, the soul power gained from devouring ghosts came with a drawback. It had to be purified through Buddhist teachings.

Otherwise, the soul would gradually be affected, its hostility would grow, and the practitioner might even suffer a spiritual deviation.

A while later, Zhou Yan slowly opened his eyes, his expression grim.

"Damn it. I never expected the Yakshas Meditation Method to have a hidden trap. Those bald monks really are vicious."

At that moment, he couldn't help thinking of Xiao Feng and Murong Fu's fathers in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Both had been tricked because they practiced Buddhist martial arts without understanding the hidden meanings in their teachings.

But Zhou Yan knew that Buddhism wasn't the only one like this. Taoism was the same.

Unless you joined a sect and received its teachings, even if a wandering cultivator got their hands on a great sect's manuals, they probably wouldn't understand how many hidden meanings and hints they contained.

The more powerful the manual, the more hidden traps it held.

If you practiced it without knowing the correct method, you could easily suffer a spiritual deviation.

In this regard, Buddhism was relatively better. Taoist techniques contained even more hidden allusions.

One true word could be handed down; ten thousand volumes could be passed off as truth.

There was a reason the teachings weren't passed on lightly!

Whether Zhou Yan asked a high-ranking monk to purify him or practiced Buddhist teachings himself, he would gradually come to accept Buddhism. In the end, he might even become exactly what Buddhism wanted him to be.

"Delivering all people from suffering. What a fine promise of salvation!"

Zhou Yan stood up, realizing that he had underestimated Buddhism.

It might not seem like much when you were just mouthing off online. Only when you truly came into contact with these sects did you understand how powerful and terrifying they were.

This was a scheme that worked in the open!

Unless Zhou Yan abandoned the meditation method, its influence would only grow, and the price he would eventually have to pay would keep increasing.

"Buddhist teachings are out of the question. To undo this, I'd have to truly accept them from the bottom of my heart. I'd probably end up bald by then. Besides that, I wonder whether practicing Buddhist martial arts could undo the effects." Zhou Yan wondered to himself.

That was what he was considering. It was the only option he had, however unpromising.

Without a legacy or anyone to guide him, he had to feel his way across the river alone. Right or wrong, he would have to bear the consequences himself.