Establishing the Altar

In the thunder light, the female ghost's figure flickered at the edge of dim disappearance, appearing and disappearing, and finally endured the blow of the thunder light. However, her entire soul looked like faint smoke, which could be blown away by a gust of wind.

Yan Jujian lunged to the edge of the female ghost and swung his sword with all his might, but it had no effect. At that moment, Master Shi's words flashed through his mind: "You will be burned by your yang energy if you get close." Yan Jujian, a seasoned warrior who had experienced many things and battles, immediately circulated his Internal Energy and threw himself at the female ghost.

Before the female ghost could recover from the lightning strike, Yan Jujian was upon her. The extremely vigorous yang energy from the peak martial arts master impacted her wavering form, even emitting crackling burning sounds. Originally, as one of the most powerful ghostly creatures under her master, and with the support of the black banner, she had the strongest resistance to yang energy. But under severe injury, everything was beyond her control, and she finally dissipated like smoke.

The Head Steward had intended to save the two female ghosts by wielding the black banner, but the black light he shot out was blocked by Shi Xuan's thunder light. Moreover, the black banner could not be used at will. Since the battle began, the Head Steward's energy had been almost completely depleted. Even the streaks of black light that hung down from the black banner to protect him began to dim, and some even started to retract into the banner.

Shi Xuan also noticed the Head Steward's exhaustion. Gritting his teeth, he took out his last drawn Qi Induction Thunder Talisman and hurled a streak of azure thunder light towards the black light.

Under the strike of the thunder light, the black light no longer merely flickered. Most of it was scattered and retracted back into the black banner. Seeing the unfavorable situation, the Head Steward gritted his teeth, his old face contorted, and shouted, "My master will come and kill you all, just you wait! Master, this old servant deserves death for losing so many ghost soldiers."

The Head Steward quickly began chanting a spell. Seeing this, Shi Xuan couldn't hold back and took out the Qi Induction Thunder Talisman drawn by Old Daoist Xu, preparing to activate it. Unfortunately, the spell was very short. Before Shi Xuan could activate it, the Head Steward exploded on the spot, his flesh and blood merging into an ancient imprint within his soul. Then, the blood-red imprint devoured the Head Steward's soul, finally transforming into a blood-colored bird. It wrapped around the black banner and flew rapidly towards the depths of the manor.

Shi Xuan felt the situation was becoming serious. When the ghostly creatures attacked before, he had been quite relaxed, even having time to chat with Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde. This was because, based on the initial ghostly creatures, he judged that they were within his capabilities, and he had only used less than half of his strength, employing talismans that could be replenished later. However, the appearance of the black banner made Shi Xuan feel a sense of crisis; this item was likely a Magic Tool.

The "Treasury Records" recorded that the artifacts used by cultivators were divided into four categories by power, from smallest to largest: Magic Tool, Spirit Tool, Magic Treasure, and Spirit Treasure. The power of a Magic Treasure was at least equivalent to that of a nascent Primordial Spirit Ghost Immortal True Person, and they were difficult to refine successfully. Therefore, among Primordial Spirit True Persons, Magic Treasures were quite rare, hence they were also called Immortal Treasures or Immortal Tools, roughly divided into Illusionary Magic Treasures and Pure Yang Magic Treasures.

When Treasure Restrictions merged and produced sentience, becoming Spirit Restrictions, they became Spirit Treasures. Their power was not mentioned in the "Treasury Records," indicating that it would have to wait until the next volume, "Primordial Spirit Chapter," to be seen.

Magic Tools were the most commonly used artifacts by Qi-refining cultivators below the Primordial Spirit stage, divided into Earth Sha Magic Tools and Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools based on the number of restrictions. Earth Sha Magic Tools referred to Magic Tools where the seventy-two restrictions had not been fully refined, while Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools were Magic Tools where the seventy-two restrictions were complete and merged into Heavenly Dipper Restrictions.

Because refining an Earth Sha Magic Tool to completion required different amounts of time for different Magic Tools, it generally took between 150 and 300 years. Transforming into Heavenly Dipper Restrictions was a very difficult feat, so Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools were mostly found on Golden Core Grandmasters and Yin Spirit Stage ancestors. To distinguish them, Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools were also called Spirit Tools.

Even Magic Tools, due to the difficulty of collecting materials and the long refining time, were generally in the hands of experts at the Qi Induction Stage and Spirit Soul Stage. The chance of cultivators at the Soul Departure Stage possessing Magic Tools was very small, let alone a minor cultivator like Shi Xuan at the Qi Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Stage.

With a Magic Tool in hand, one could directly wield it, and its power was immense, convenient, and fast, much quicker than chanting spells or activating talismans. Although the black banner did not seem to have many restrictions, its power was evident. If the master was even slightly stronger than the Head Steward and could wield it to attack, Shi Xuan's side would be in great danger. In reality, the master was definitely more than just slightly stronger than the Head Steward.

Shi Xuan had originally planned to retreat from the manor after repelling these ghostly creatures, gather intelligence, make preparations, and then sneak back in. Now, it seemed there was no opportunity. He had to make some emergency preparations immediately. If he didn't go all out later, he would be in grave danger. Lack of intelligence could be fatal.

Shi Xuan calmed the faint fear in his heart with Daoist cultivation methods. After all, he had never experienced such a dangerous situation before. He said to Yan Jujian, "Brother Yan, there might be a fierce battle ahead. Please go to the rooms and find four tables to place here. I need to set up a temporary altar." Having gone through battles together, Shi Xuan no longer felt the need to be overly polite and call Yan Jujian "Great Hero Yan."

Yan Jujian could tell the situation was urgent. Without answering, he immediately rushed into the room, found Ding Mingde hiding, briefly explained the situation to him, and then they split up to search several rooms for tables.

Shi Xuan took the bag off his back and placed it on the ground. He then rummaged through it and took out the four ritual implements for the ceremony: a Token, four small black and white banners, a large cloth (with a large Eight Trigrams drawn on it), and four specially made incense sticks and candles.

Yan Jujian came running out, holding a table in one hand, and placed it according to Shi Xuan's instructions. He then ran back into the room. Ding Mingde, however, was struggling to drag a table to the courtyard. Shi Xuan couldn't wait and quickly stepped forward to grab it and place it.

Once all the tables were in place, Shi Xuan spread the cloth over the tables, which were arranged in a semi-circle. He then inserted the small banners and incense sticks into their corresponding positions on the four tables. Finally, he took out the talismans he had on him, mainly the eleven talismans drawn by Old Daoist Xu (one had been used before), and placed them on the altar cloth at the positions corresponding to the Eight Trigrams. As soon as the talismans were placed, they seemed to stick to the cloth.

After completing all this, Shi Xuan hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and took out the Great Unity Sky Thunder Talisman, placing it on the trigram in front of him.

Shi Xuan picked up the Token, stepped in the Yu Step behind the tables, and chanted incantations. After completing the Heavenly Dipper steps, he shouted, "Hurry, as per the order!" and slammed the Token onto the table. The four incense sticks immediately ignited without fire, and the banner cloth of the small banners fluttered in the wind.

Dense sweat beaded on Shi Xuan's forehead. This was unlike simply activating talismans earlier, where even a small portion of his soul power was not used. After performing this ritual, the remaining soul power was depleted by more than half. Fortunately, the altar was now set up, and things would be much easier from here on. Besides, his Internal Energy could replenish his soul power.

After waiting for a while, an angry, savage roar echoed from the depths of the manor: "Who killed my servant!" Amidst the roar, Shi Xuan could feel strong winds swirling in the courtyard, and leaves constantly falling.

He activated the talismans, bestowing an Invisibility and Qi Concealment Technique on Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde, telling them to hide in a corner. The upcoming battle was beyond their involvement.

The wind grew stronger, and Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde felt as if they were struggling to walk as they moved towards the corner.

A powerful whirlwind swept over and landed in the courtyard. Within the wind, a huge figure could be vaguely seen. Its voice, amplified by the wind, sounded high-pitched and mournful: "You wicked Qi cultivator, why did you kill my servant? Why won't you let me cultivate peacefully on the mountain!"

Shi Xuan chuckled, "Then this Demonic Beast, your servant, intended to harm this humble Daoist. Should I just stand by and let it happen? Besides, how many innocent people have you harmed?"

"Then take your life!" The whirlwind transformed into a Wind Blade and slashed towards Shi Xuan. Shi Xuan picked up the Token and slammed it down, shouting, "Rise!" The Earth Armor Talisman on the table was activated, but instead of forming armor, it became an earth wall that blocked the Wind Blade.

The huge figure within the whirlwind revealed itself: a tall monster with a tiger's head and a human's body, and it had two tiger heads. Seeing Shi Xuan's earth wall block its Wind Blade, the monster let out a soft "Oh." One of its heads opened its mouth and spat out a pale Wind Slash, which flew extremely fast and soon struck the earth wall.

The earth wall was torn apart as if it were made of rotten wood. The Wind Slash continued to fly towards Shi Xuan. When Shi Xuan saw the monster spit out the Wind Slash, he knew his drawn Earth Armor Talisman wouldn't hold. He tapped the Token again, activating a talisman drawn by Old Daoist Xu.

A tall, thick earth wall blocked the Wind Slash, which had lost most of its momentum. Shi Xuan performed a specific footwork, picked up the Token in his hand, and tapped it in another position. Instantly, a blue lightning bolt as thick as a child's arm struck down from mid-air towards the monster.

Behind the monster's other head was the white-boned black banner. It had long been wielding the banner, casting streaks of black light to protect its entire body. As the blue lightning bolt struck, its power was far greater than any talisman Shi Xuan had used before. It managed to cleave through most of the black light. Just as it was about to hit the monster, the monster hastily used the black banner to brush out more black light to block it.

With one head attacking and the other defending, Shi Xuan was sweating profusely. He continuously performed footwork, changing positions, activating the talismans on the altar. The earth wall would be shattered and then another would be activated. Lightning and golden light alternated in their attacks against the monster, but the black banner's defense was impenetrable, yielding no effect.

Suddenly, the black banner behind the monster, seizing an opportunity, swept out several streaks of black light towards Shi Xuan. The earth wall offered no defense against this black light. Shi Xuan couldn't dodge in time and was directly hit. Shi Xuan felt a chill all over his body, his vision darkened, and his mind buzzed, as if he had been attacked by an evil ghost.

Fortunately, Shi Xuan still had the effects of the various talismans he had previously applied. The white light and several streaks of black light canceled each other out, leaving Shi Xuan to only suffer one hit. He managed to stabilize himself, tapped the Token, and activated the Universal Salvation Sweet Rain Incantation talisman.