Where Had This Senior Come From, to Use Innate Qi to Subdue Ghosts?

Chen Xu was at Shengyu Workshop, listening to decadent strings and flutes, watching songs and dances flourish in peace.

He stood beside a stall selling all kinds of ghost and deity masks. The vendor was chattering away. "Sir, every mask I sell has been consecrated by the masters of Yuanxin Temple in the Prefectural City. Wear one on your face, and it can scare off any evil spirit. They're perfect for traveling at night.

Buy one, and when you go elsewhere to study or sit for examinations, you won't have to fear lacking a good item when you travel the night roads."

Who sold masks like that?

Chen Xu casually picked up several masks, comparing and playing with them in his hands as though he were seriously listening to the vendor's extravagant boasting.

Yet no one knew that his true attention was fixed entirely on the Lin Residence three streets away.

A Mud Pill Dao Soldier actually allowed him to hear the words of ghosts and gods.

He could hear sounds ordinary mortals could not hear, and see things ordinary mortals could not see.

Things ordinary mortals could not kill—

He did not know whether he could kill them either. If he himself were at the Lin Residence, killing ghosts with Fire Control should not have been difficult.

But the Mud Pill Dao Soldier seemed capable only of physical attacks and knew no spells.

This was Chen Xu's first time using a Mud Pill Dao Soldier, and he was still somewhat unfamiliar with controlling it.

He only felt a marvelous connection in the unseen, one that allowed him, despite being several miles away, to control the Mud Pill Dao Soldier as freely as if it were an extra limb extended from his own body.

Through the Dao Soldier's eyes, he witnessed the entire process of Lin Yuan being devoured by the evil souls raised within his Soul Dropping Bell. Listening to the shrieks of that black mist, he had never so deeply understood as he did now what it meant for karma to turn in its cycle and retribution never to miss.

Certain information revealed in Song Yan's words further confirmed for Chen Xu that his decision to strike first had indeed been correct.

Beneath the long corridor, Lin Yuan's physical body lay sprawled on its back, a bloody hole in the center of his brow.

Several black shadows pounced upon him. Strange bite marks and bluish shadows gradually appeared across his face and body.

His soul, not yet fully transformed into a ghost, seemed to have been screaming at first. Later, the screams weakened.

At last, beneath the Wind-Resisting Lantern, every sound from the remnant of Lin Yuan's soul vanished. Only the black shadows remained, shoving, fighting, and devouring one another.

"What are you doing?" one black shadow shrieked.

"I'm eating you. You smell so good..."

"Hehehe, I'm eating you too..."

Twisted and chaotic, a new round of struggle began once more.

Miserable red glimmers gradually seeped from within the black shadows' pitch-black bodies. Everything was on the verge of spiraling out of control.

In theory, the Mud Pill Dao Soldier should have withdrawn after accomplishing its task.

As the saying went, once the deed was done, one flicked the dust from one's sleeves and left, hiding one's achievement and fame deep away.

Chen Xu could even destroy this Mud Pill Dao Soldier from afar—for instance, ordering it to leap into some small pond in the Lin Residence's rear garden. Then everything would be clean and neat, with no possible connection to him remaining.

But Chen Xu stood beside the mask stall, listening to the vendor's rambling. "Sir, times are unsettled these days. Not long ago, I heard that water ghosts had appeared around Pingshui Township.

They specifically target young women and children passing by. Women and children have weaker auras and lighter souls, so they are more easily lured by water ghosts.

So long as a passerby is bewitched into jumping into the water, the water ghost can find someone to die in its place and free itself from those bitter waters.

Tell me, isn't that terrifying?

Those with frail bodies should not even go near the water.

Sigh, the common folk have it hard enough. It has gotten so bad that even ghosts are multiplying.

In any case, there is no harm in preparing more things for self-defense. We were not born in good times; born into an age like this, all we can do is guard ourselves more carefully..."

Having finally caught someone willing to listen to him, the vendor's words flowed on and on, like water pouring from a suspended river, endless and unstoppable.

Chen Xu listened sideways, but the space between his brows throbbed again and again.

For some reason, he recalled a question his teacher had asked when he first entered the school years ago. "Why do you study?"

At the time, Chen Xu had only wanted to use learning to change his fate of being trampled at the bottom. Naturally, he had possessed no lofty ideals.

Nor had he used any grand and righteous excuse to dress himself up. He had merely polished his wording a little before answering, "Teacher, I study to take control of my own fate."

Chen Xu still remembered the old teacher's stunned expression.

Now, not only was he studying, but he had also stepped onto the path of immortal cultivation.

Though he was still weak, he had at least embarked upon the first road toward controlling his own fate.

But did walking this road necessarily mean, "I do as I please; who cares if floods rage behind me?"

No!

The Cauldron Scripture had never taught him that.

The God of Cookery Cultivation Scroll also said that when cooking the hundred flavors of the mortal world, the first pursuit was an unblocked heart.

If he turned and left now, his heart would not be at ease.

Beside the mask stall, Chen Xu's brow throbbed violently. In the unseen, the power of his Divine Soul crashed left and right, while his Mud Pill Palace expanded and contracted like breathing.

He felt it. His control over the Mud Pill Dao Soldier had strengthened another step.

Within his dantian, Innate Qi suddenly crept upward.

It surged through the chest center and crossed the throat hollow.

Chen Xu's thoughts moved with his will, and he added three points each to his Essence, Vital Blood, and Divine Soul in rapid succession.

Borrowing the attributes that had suddenly surged at this moment, he finally grasped that strange thread in the unseen.

Beside the long corridor of the Lin Residence, the Wind-Resisting Lantern still swayed in the wind.

Above Lin Yuan's corpse, the twisted black shadows devoured one another, about to gradually grow stronger as Killing Intent and ghostly qi rose together into the heavens.

Suddenly, the tiny spearman that had silently stood to one side watching the battle fiercely sprang into the air.

The little figure leapt seven feet high, with a tiny body and a tiny long spear.

Yet that seemingly miniature spear suddenly emerged like blue clouds from a mountain gorge, like a blazing sun bursting forth.

Boom—

A blaze from nowhere descended at that instant like heavenly fire. The flames roared and billowed as they pierced, together with the little spear, into that gradually swelling black shadow.

"Aah!"

The ghosts' cries were shrill and piercing.

Yet they could not rival the raging blaze, which surged skyward.

Outside the Lin Residence, in the street alley.

The young Daoist, who had finally dragged his stubborn donkey to the side of the residence, looked up at the firelight within. His mouth fell wide open, and he stood dumbfounded.

"Th-this... what kind of spell power is this?"

"Heavenly Venerate above, this is Innate Qi! In this dusty mortal world, there are still experts willing to use Innate Qi?"

"Which senior is subduing ghosts...?"

The young Daoist widened his eyes, wanting to inspect the scene, when demon qi seemed to flash past and vanish on the other side of the residence.

The compass in his hand immediately spun wildly. The Daoist was even more shocked. "There are not only ghosts in this residence, but demons too? What sort of household is this? What kind of unlucky wretches are in this whole estate? Oh dear..."

He hurriedly slapped a yellow talisman onto the donkey, swung himself onto its back, and prepared to chase the demon.

"I'll block this demon for Senior. Perhaps Senior will see that I'm young and clever and teach me a few profound spells. Heh..."

But before the Daoist could relish the thought, the compass that had just been spinning madly suddenly fell still.

The demon qi had simply vanished?