Watching the vengeful spirit charge at him again, Zhou Muzhi blasted white waves of air from his mouth and nose.
Half-Immortal Xu had been right. Talking to these things did have an effect.
Tearing through that annoying red circle just now would otherwise have taken much more effort. Yet those few words had let him break out more than ten seconds early.
Now, seeing his opponent charge over without even recovering, Zhou Muzhi knew he had this one in the bag.
It really had no intelligence. It did not even know to hide and recover, only to charge head-on.
The instant that thought flashed through his mind, the vengeful spirit was already upon him. The method of subduing a vengeful spirit was very simple, so simple that anyone knew it.
Beat it to death-or rather, beat it into a weakened state-and the incense could subdue it completely.
But knowing the method did not mean anyone could do it. The requirements were harsh and difficult to replicate.
And he, Zhou Muzhi, happened to meet all those almost impossibly harsh requirements.
What lay before him now was to use these fists of his to utterly smash this vengeful spirit apart.
In the rear courtyard, the bloody shadow swept toward him. Zhou Muzhi held a basic defensive stance and simply watched his opponent, looking straight at it.
Until it drifted into his body, then drifted back out.
A piercing shriek was followed by a sizzling sound, dealing the vengeful spirit another heavy blow.
Zhou Muzhi had instantly covered his entire body with Scorching Fire True Intent, allowing the vengeful spirit to attack him.
With this method of drifting inside his body, it would weaken him, just as it had at the beginning. He had merely seen it approach him, only to end up looking as though he were about to die of illness.
This was the frailty of flesh and blood against ghosts. An ordinary person would have barely a few days left to live, and a powerful vengeful spirit of this kind was a walking disaster.
At first, Zhou Muzhi had wanted to know just how Qian Zhen and the others had created such a thing, but not long ago-
After seeing the gruesome deaths of those who had tortured the vengeful spirit, he had understood that its creation had probably been an accident.
He slowly turned around, his clothes hanging from him like strips of cloth, his white teeth perfectly even. Zhou Muzhi's voice was cold.
"If you're out of moves, it's my turn!"
The vengeful spirit's red figure had already faded to pale red, and wisps were beginning to drift away from the edges of its body. At a glance, it was clearly approaching its limit.
Tap!
Tap!
His stature enlarged, Zhou Muzhi looked at the vengeful spirit hovering a short distance overhead. His steps were slow and powerful as he approached within a meter of it.
The vengeful spirit drifted backward again, but Zhou Muzhi gave it no chance to escape.
The muscles in his legs were like coiled springs. He bent down and stepped forward, his figure like a great roc spreading its wings as he pounced toward the vengeful spirit.
The scene was just like the move the vengeful spirit had used against Zhou Muzhi earlier.
Only now, the two sides had traded places.
The weakened vengeful spirit ultimately failed to dodge completely. Zhou Muzhi slammed into it in midair, and amid a series of sizzling sounds, it went from a solid form to threads, then finally became a red mist.
Just then, a black stream of incense drifted over from the front courtyard, trailing a river of mist that wound like a ribbon around Zhou Muzhi as he landed.
The vengeful spirit that had become red mist was also caught in the winding incense river, becoming entangled with it.
Red and black intertwined, constantly strangling one another, until the black finally suppressed the red completely.
A stick of incense capable of bringing a lineage to an end ought to possess such power.
The incense river finally settled slowly against Zhou Muzhi's skin, forming dark red markings across its surface, as though imprinted on it.
Having dealt with the vengeful spirit completely, Zhou Muzhi opened his eyes and first swept his gaze around.
A collapsed residence, cracked paving tiles, and quite a few dead people.
After a slight frown, Zhou Muzhi immediately got to work, cleaning up the candles and incense ash. He dealt with the traces of his presence first.
As for this place, he had indeed bought it, but it had passed through several hands in between. Unless someone investigated with every last ounce of effort, it would be difficult to trace it back to him.
"That will do for now."
After confirming everything was in order, Zhou Muzhi immediately left.
He needed to find somewhere to enter seclusion and attain Second Qi at once.
After all, relying solely on an external aid like the Ghost-Controlling Incense was still not secure enough. Using Our Sect's divine art to bring it completely under his control was the safe course.
Inside a thatched hut.
Zhou Muzhi arrived at the house he had bought beforehand.
This place was even more remote, in an area few people visited. Hardly anyone came at night.
After entering, he shut the door securely, sat cross-legged on the spot, and began comprehending the second qi.
This time, it was his other arm. This was where the second qi would condense.
As Qi Gathering began, the markings that had seemed branded onto his body also wriggled toward his right arm, finally forming threadlike shapes along it.
Cold. Extreme cold spread through his arm.
"Hmph!"
A muffled grunt.
Zhou Muzhi mobilized his existing scorching fire to suppress it.
He dared not be the slightest bit careless with the uncanny aspect of this supernatural power, devoting almost all his attention to it.
After an unknown amount of time, the chill in his arm returned to a normal temperature.
Outside, a rooster crowed, and light shone through the gaps in the window.
Opening his somewhat weary eyes, Zhou Muzhi felt excitement rise within him. His second qi, Steady Mountain, was complete.
This qi focused on defense. An ordinary Qi Gathering practitioner would add another layer of defensive qi capable of rebounding attacks over the surface of their body.
This was entirely different from the skin membrane of the Blood Gate stage.
This qi had many uses. Once it was gathered, unless an opponent of the same level carried a divine weapon or keen blade, it would be difficult to decide victory in a short time.
Against martial artists with Light Body qi, it opened up an even greater gap.
Moreover, the Steady Mountain he had gathered was more powerful than what ordinary people gathered.
First, it possessed an attribute. That ghostly cold could erode an opponent in return when their attack struck his body and rebounded.
Next came something even more important.
Zhou Muzhi said softly, "Come out."
The threadlike markings in his arm peeled away, forming the figure of a blood-red girl beside him.
It was none other than the vengeful spirit that had just fought him to the death.
Vengeful spirits were ghosts too. Ghosts were, in fact, extraordinarily powerful, their strength founded on their undying nature. They could not be completely destroyed; given enough time, they would revive again.
This was also why the Ghost Sealing masters of Half-Immortal Xu's now-extinct school had held such lofty standing.
Unless the person died, they would carry an unkillable ghost with them. Even if you were strong and destroyed it, as long as the person behind it, whom you could not kill, still existed-
You would be the one harassed. Unless you had no attachments whatsoever in this world, you would not offend such a figure.
And now Zhou Muzhi possessed that ability, and the ghost he controlled was even more powerful.
"I'll call you A-Xiang."
Zhou Muzhi murmured.
The blood-red A-Xiang still had no intelligence, her blood-red eyes looking straight ahead. From now on, she would obey only Zhou Muzhi's commands.
Come back.
After he spoke inwardly, A-Xiang turned into threads and returned to Zhou Muzhi's arm.
Having finished all this, he rose and left the thatched hut.
Outside the hut, the sky was fairly bright. Looking at the hard-packed earth, he picked a direction and walked toward it.
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