Establishing the Ritual Altar

Within the lightning, the female ghost's figure flickered at the edge of fading away, appearing and vanishing. In the end, she endured the blow of lightning, but her entire ghostly form now looked like a wisp of smoke that a single gust of wind could scatter.

Yan Jujian lunged to the female ghost's side and slashed at her with all his strength, but it had no effect. At that moment, Master Shi's words flashed through his mind: "The moment you get close, the Yang Energy on your body will burn her." Yan Jujian had weathered countless events and battles; he was decisive and steadfast. At once, he circulated his Internal Energy through his entire body and threw himself at the female ghost.

Before the female ghost could recover from the lightning strike, Yan Jujian had already pounced on her. The exceedingly abundant Yang Energy of a peak martial arts expert battered her tottering form, even producing a sizzling sound of scorching. As one of her master's most formidable ghostly servants, supported by the Black Banner, she had possessed the greatest tolerance for Yang Energy. Yet under such grave injuries, everything was beyond her strength. In the end, she drifted away like smoke.

The Head Steward had originally wielded the Black Banner to save the two female ghosts, but the black light he sent out was blocked by Shi Xuan's lightning. Moreover, the Black Banner could not be used at will. From the beginning of the battle until now, the Head Steward's energy had been nearly exhausted. Even the streams of black light hanging from the Black Banner to protect him had begun to dim, with some of them even retracting into the banner.

Shi Xuan also noticed that the Head Steward was running out of strength. Suppressing his heartache, he took out the last Qi Induction Thunder Talisman he had drawn and struck a streak of azure lightning toward the black light.

Under the lightning's assault, the black light no longer merely swayed as before. Most of it was scattered and retracted into the Black Banner. Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, the Head Steward gritted his teeth and cried with a ferocious expression, "Master will come and kill all of you! Just you wait! Master, this old servant deserves death for losing so many ghost soldiers!"

The Head Steward swiftly began chanting an incantation. Seeing this, Shi Xuan could no longer afford to hold anything back. He took out the Qi Induction Thunder Talisman drawn by Old Daoist Xu and prepared to activate it. Unfortunately, the incantation was extremely short. Before Shi Xuan could activate the talisman, the Head Steward exploded where he stood. His flesh and blood fused into an ancient mark within his soul, and the scarlet mark then devoured the Head Steward's soul. In the end, it transformed into a blood-colored bird, wrapped the Black Banner within itself, and flew rapidly toward the depths of the manor.

Shi Xuan sensed that matters had become grave. When the ghostly beings had attacked earlier, he had actually been rather relaxed, even finding time to chat with Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde. From the first few ghosts, he had determined that they were within his ability to handle. In truth, he had not even displayed half his strength, relying only on talismans that could be replenished later. But the appearance of the Black Banner made Shi Xuan feel danger. That item was likely a Dharma Artifact.

The Treasure Record recorded that the implements used by cultivators were divided into four categories according to power, from weakest to strongest: Dharma Artifacts, Spirit Artifacts, Dharma Treasures, and Spirit Treasures. Among them, the power of a Dharma Treasure was at least comparable to a Ghost Immortal True Person at the early Primordial Spirit stage. They were also extremely difficult to refine successfully, so even among Primordial Spirit True Persons, Dharma Treasures were fairly rare. Thus, they were also called Immortal Treasures or Immortal Artifacts, and were broadly divided into Illusionary Magic Treasures and Pure Yang Magic Treasures.

When the treasure and its restrictions became one, producing spirituality and becoming a Spirit Restriction, it became a Spirit Treasure. The Treasure Record did not explain its power. It seemed he would have to wait until the next volume, the Primordial Spirit Chapter, to find out.

Dharma Artifacts, meanwhile, were the implements most commonly used by Qi Refining cultivators below the Primordial Spirit realm. Based on the number of restrictions, they were divided into Earth Sha Magic Tools and Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools. Earth Sha Magic Tools referred to Dharma Artifacts whose seventy-two restrictions had not yet been refined to completion, while Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools were Dharma Artifacts whose seventy-two restrictions had been completed and merged into a Heavenly Dipper Restriction.

Because completing the refinement of an Earth Sha Magic Tool took varying amounts of time depending on the artifact, it generally required between one hundred and fifty and three hundred years. Transforming it into a Heavenly Dipper Restriction was an even more difficult matter. Therefore, Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools were mostly found in the hands of Golden Core Grandmasters and Yin Spirit stage patriarchs. To distinguish them, Heavenly Dipper Magic Tools were also called Spirit Artifacts.

Even Dharma Artifacts were difficult to come by, since their materials were not easily gathered and their refinement took a long time. Generally, they were held by experts at the Qi Induction Stage and Spirit Soul Stage. The chance of a Soul Departure Stage cultivator possessing a Dharma Artifact was already very small, let alone a minor cultivator at the Qi Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Stage like Shi Xuan.

With a Dharma Artifact in hand, one could wield it directly. Its power was great, and it was convenient and swift—far faster than chanting incantations to cast spells or activating talismans oneself. Though the Black Banner appeared to have few restrictions, Shi Xuan had already witnessed its power. If its master was a notch stronger than the Head Steward and could wield it to attack, their side would be in extreme danger. In fact, the master was certainly more than merely a notch stronger than the Head Steward.

Shi Xuan had originally planned to drive back these ghostly beings, find an opportunity to slip out of the manor, gather information and make preparations, then sneak back in. Now it seemed there was no chance for that. He had to make emergency preparations at once. If he did not bring out all his strength later, the danger would be immeasurable. A lack of intelligence truly killed people.

Shi Xuan used a Taoist cultivation method to calm the faint fear in his heart. After all, he had never before encountered something so dangerous. He said to Yan Jujian, "Brother Yan, I fear there will be a fierce battle shortly. Please ask Brother Mingde to help you find four tables from the rooms and place them here. I need to establish a temporary ritual altar." Having fought together, Shi Xuan no longer intended to stiffly call Yan Jujian Hero Yan.

Yan Jujian could see that the situation was urgent. Without saying a word, he immediately rushed into a room, found the hiding Ding Mingde, gave him a brief explanation, and the two split up to search the rooms for tables.

Shi Xuan took the bundle from his back and set it on the ground. He then rummaged through it and found four ritual implements: a command tablet, four small black-and-white banners, a large piece of cloth with a huge Eight Trigrams diagram painted on it, and four specially made incense candles.

Yan Jujian came running out with a table raised in one hand. He arranged it as Shi Xuan instructed, then ran back into the room. Ding Mingde, meanwhile, dragged a table into the courtyard with tremendous difficulty. Shi Xuan could not wait any longer and hurried forward to seize it from him and set it in place.

Once all the tables were assembled, Shi Xuan spread the cloth over the tables arranged in a semicircle. He then planted the small banners and incense candles in their corresponding positions on the four tables. Finally, he took out the talismans on his person—mainly the eleven talismans drawn by Old Daoist Xu, one of which had been used earlier—and placed them in the corresponding positions of the Eight Trigrams on the ritual cloth. As soon as the talismans were placed down, they seemed to adhere to the cloth.

After finishing all this, Shi Xuan thought for a moment, hardened his heart, and took out that Great Unity Sky Thunder talisman, placing it on the trigram position directly before him.

Shi Xuan picked up the command tablet and began pacing the Yu Step behind the tables, chanting under his breath. Once he completed the Heavenly Dipper steps, he shouted, "By the decree of the law, act swiftly!" He slammed the command tablet onto the table. The four incense candles immediately lit without fire, while the banner cloths on the small banners fluttered despite the absence of wind.

Fine beads of sweat emerged on Shi Xuan's forehead. This was not like merely activating talismans earlier, which had used less than half of a tiny portion of his soul power. After casting this spell, most of his remaining soul power was instantly drained. Fortunately, the ritual altar had been established, so things would be much easier afterward. Besides, his Internal Energy could replenish his soul power in return.

After waiting for a while, an enraged, savage roar came from deep within the manor: "Who killed this venerable one's servants?!" Amid the roar, Shi Xuan could feel fierce winds dancing even in the courtyard, leaves falling incessantly from the trees.

He activated talismans and cast an Invisibility and Qi Concealment Technique on Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde each, telling the two to hide in a corner. The coming battle was no longer one they could interfere in.

The wind grew stronger and stronger. As Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde made their way toward the corner, they even felt as though every step was difficult.

A powerful whirlwind swept over and landed in the courtyard. Within the wind, a massive silhouette could faintly be seen. Its voice was magnified by the gale, sounding shrill and mournful: "Black-hearted Qi Refining cultivator, why did you come and kill this venerable one's servants? Why would you not let this venerable one cultivate peacefully on the mountain?!"

Shi Xuan smiled. "This Demonic Beast, it was your servants who came to harm this humble taoist. Was this humble taoist supposed to surrender without resistance? Besides, have you harmed few innocent people?"

"Then surrender your life!" With a howl, the whirlwind transformed into a Wind Blade and swept toward Shi Xuan. Shi Xuan raised the command tablet and struck it. "Rise!" An Earth Armor Talisman on the table activated, but it did not turn into earthen armor. Instead, it became an earthen wall that blocked the Wind Blade.

The enormous silhouette within the whirlwind revealed itself. It was a tall monster with a human body and two tiger heads. Seeing Shi Xuan's earthen wall block its Wind Blade, the monster let out a soft exclamation. One of its heads opened its mouth and spat out a pale white Wind Slash. It moved with blinding speed and soon struck the earthen wall.

The earthen wall was torn apart as easily as dry wood and rotten weeds, and the Wind Slash continued flying toward Shi Xuan. The instant Shi Xuan saw the monster spit out the Wind Slash, he knew that the Earth Armor Talisman he had drawn would not be able to stop it. He struck his command tablet again and activated one drawn by Old Daoist Xu.

A tall, solid earthen wall blocked the exhausted Wind Slash. Shi Xuan began walking a specific pattern of steps, raised the command tablet in his hand, and struck another position. At once, a thick azure bolt of lightning, as wide as a child's arm, cleaved down from midair toward the monster.

Behind the monster's other head stood the White-Bone Black Banner. It had long been wielding the Black Banner, drawing down streams of black light to protect its entire body. The azure lightning struck with power far surpassing the talismans Shi Xuan had used before. It split apart most of the black light all the way through and was about to strike the monster, when the monster hurriedly wielded the Black Banner to brush out even more black light and block it.

One head attacked and the other defended, forcing sweat to pour from Shi Xuan like rain. He continuously stepped about to change positions, activating talismans on the ritual altar one after another. Whenever one earthen wall shattered, he activated another. Lightning and golden light alternately attacked the monster, but the Black Banner's defense was flawless, producing no effect whatsoever.

Suddenly, during a brief lull, the Black Banner behind the monster swept once. Several streams of black light shot violently toward Shi Xuan. The earthen walls had no defensive effect against this black light. Shi Xuan could not dodge in time and was struck squarely. His entire body turned cold, his vision darkened, and his mind buzzed as though a vicious ghost had pounced on him.

Fortunately, Shi Xuan still had the effects of the various talismans previously cast upon him. White light and several streams of black light offset one another and dispersed, leaving Shi Xuan to suffer the damage of only one stream. Thus, he barely steadied himself and struck the command tablet, activating the Universal Salvation Sweet Rain Incantation talisman.