Chapter 42: Heaven's Net, Earth's Trap

  "It's late, you all should go back even if there's nothing else to do." After sending the workers away, Master turned his attention to Zhang Jianchen and the others. It was almost midnight, and although the vengeful spirit had not made a move, who knew what would happen next? This wasn't about dealing with ordinary ghosts, to be honest, even Master and his disciples were struggling to protect themselves, let alone take care of Zhang Jianchen and the others. That's why Master drove them away, even though it was embarrassing on the surface. It couldn't be denied that Master was kind-hearted; otherwise, if the three corpses carrying coffins appeared, they wouldn't even have a chance to escape.

  Anything that is yin in nature, even if it's as powerful as the three corpses carrying a coffin, will weaken somewhat before dawn. Let alone those ordinary evil spirits and ghosts, they can't exert any influence under sunlight during the day. This is because most of these demons and ghosts only have two methods: possession and deception. However, both of these methods are ineffective when exposed to sunlight, as people's yang energy is at its peak, making it impossible for them to be deceived. This is also why evil spirits and vengeful souls usually appear at night. But that doesn't mean they won't appear during the day; it's just that ordinary ghosts have a hard time manifesting themselves in daylight, let alone harming people. The principle of ghost manifestation is similar to how movies need to be shown in a very dark place.

  It's just that Master's words made the three of them lose face, they were all big men, how could they be driven away by one sentence? Besides, Zhang Jianchen didn't move, and Sun Chuanming and Zhang Jianhua also froze. The three of them didn't speak, but hesitated in their hearts, whether to leave or not. Not leaving was very dangerous, but if they left, who knew what would happen?

  Seeing the three of them not moving, the master's face turned gloomy, and he let out a cold snort. His gaze swept over the three: "Since you three are unwilling to leave, I won't force it. Let's get the ugly words out of the way - if something happens, I won't be able to protect you either. You're on your own then. Here, take one safety charm each, but under no circumstances can you approach the water pool."

  After saying that, he casually handed out a peace talisman to each of the three people, which made them feel more at ease. After all, they didn't have a direct concept of the Three Corpses Carrying Coffins, and since we were there, they thought nothing big would happen. This place hadn't had any deaths yet, right? That's what that person was relying on - no deaths meant it wasn't that dangerous.

  Seeing the three of them insisting on staying, I was a bit worried. Since my methods were limited, I handed the Bagua mirror to Zhang Jianchen. After all, this thing was useless against the Three Corpses Carrying Coffins. However, Master's face turned even uglier. I didn't mind and lowered my voice, saying: "You guys take this, if something happens, bite your tongue tip and spit blood on it, then quickly leave this place, don't hesitate, got it?"

  Zhang Jianchen hesitated for a moment, but pushed the Bagua mirror back: "You gave it to us, what will you do?"

  Sun Chuanming and Zhang Jianhua, who were originally going to take it, also stopped in their tracks, awkwardly putting their hands down again, just looking at me. I turned my head to look at Master, who suddenly let out a bitter laugh: "To be honest, this thing is useless even if I had used it against the three corpses carrying coffins, otherwise it wouldn't have been lost here last night. Besides, I have other means, and I also have my master, you can take it."

  Without waiting for them to make any more excuses, I turned around and went to Master's side, nodded at Master: "Master, everything is ready, what should we do?"

  At this time, the master's face slightly cleared up, but instead was a serious expression, nodding lightly: "Still, let's start with activating the Tianluo Diewu Great Array. However, I'm afraid my power alone won't be enough; you need to work together with me. When I shout 'begin', you'll infuse your spiritual energy into the outer circle of the Five Elements Symbol Array, and I'll activate the Tianluo Diewu Array. Remember not to hold back, use your greatest effort, and hope that this Tianluo Diewu Array can have some effect."

  Originally, the master was also uncertain in his heart, but he still couldn't stop. He took a deep breath and I didn't dare to move forward until I reached the south side of the Five Elements Formation, which is the fire position. Only then did I nod slightly towards the master. The master also stood still by the water pool, took a deep breath, and with a burst of energy, he even jumped into the air, looking like a nimble spirit monkey. It was unexpected that after half a year, his hands were still so agile. What's more surprising is that as he fell down, the master actually stuck one foot onto the Bagua mirror hanging on the net.

  At this moment, I was as shocked as Zhang Jianchen and the others, my mouth wide open in surprise. But I knew what was under Master's feet - just a inkstone line, although sturdy, it couldn't possibly hold hundreds of catties. Master may be thin, but he still weighed over a hundred catties. Was this the legendary qinggong?

  However, there was no time to indulge in idle thoughts. After the master stood still, he didn't have time to pay attention to our astonishment. His hands formed a motionless Ming Wang seal, and his mouth murmured incantations. A moment later, he let out a loud shout, and his hands shook violently. Suddenly, fresh blood began to flow from the center of his palms, without any visible action. This blood seemed to have a spiritual energy, dripping onto the Bagua mirror. Instantly, a brilliant golden light burst forth, but within this golden light, one could still see the blood beads flowing out from the Bagua mirror, extending along the ink lines in all directions. Every place they passed through was filled with brilliant golden light, and even the master himself shone like a golden man at that moment.

  Seeing the master's movement, I didn't dare to hesitate. I had no other means, so I bit my tongue and swallowed a mouthful of blood, then clasped my hands together and began to recite the Nine-Character True Word Incantation. However, the loud shout turned into a muffled hum, but this did not hinder the incantation. In fact, even if it was silently recited in one's heart, it would still be effective. It's just that shouting loudly makes it easier to concentrate one's mind and strengthen one's willpower.

  One by one, the nine-character mantra is unfolded, and I will gather the spiritual power of thought in my mouth like fresh blood. I feel the superimposition of power, which is my only means. After a set of nine-character mantras are finished, the master has not yet shouted to start, and I dare not listen to the next one. Fortunately, there is a practical nine-character mantra that can increase power, but unfortunately, the power that can be increased is already minimal. This thing is not unlimited and cannot be repeated indefinitely, but after all, it still has some effect. A little more is better than less.

  "Begin——” The second nine-character mantra had not been fully deployed, and the master had already let out a loud shout. Before the sound had even fallen, I didn't dare hesitate, and suddenly spat a mouthful of fresh blood onto the red rope. The mantra's power wrapped around this mouthful of yang blood, and it didn't disperse in the slightest. As the incantation was fully attached to the red rope, it quickly gathered towards the other four directions. At the same time, the five-element talisman array lit up, and in an instant, a five-colored radiance burst forth from all five directions, forming a colorless canopy that enveloped the entire pool. Connecting heaven and earth into a single network, their powers naturally complemented each other, greatly increasing their might.

  At this time, the Tianluo Earth Net Array has been activated. The master finally made a flip and jumped down from the Bagua mirror, stepping on his feet continuously, and actually stepped on the ink line to rush back. However, when he landed beside me, he was also panting heavily, seeing me looking over, dryly laughed: "After all, I'm old, not admitting it won't do."

  Before I could say anything, the master looked at me and snorted again: "Looking at your appearance, even a vengeful spirit or evil ghost would be scared away."

  I was stunned, only to realize that I had just spat out a mouthful of blood. At this moment, my mouth was full of bloody water. That smile just now was not much better than an evil spirit's. It was still quite eerie at night. The master had also regained his composure.

  Once the Tianluo Diewei formation was formed, a strange change suddenly occurred. From the not-too-distant grassland, a black mist suddenly rose from the ground. In the midst of the black mist were the heroic spirits I saw last night, still standing in neat rows as if they were about to go into battle. Even though these spirits had died, they did not forget to maintain their military honor.

  Even though I said before that the heroic spirits were suppressing the three corpses carrying coffins, Master was still not daring to be careless. With both hands forming the Five Thunder Seal, he was ready to take action at any moment. However, facing the heroic spirits, he whispered: "Lingbao Tianzun, comfort the physical body, disciple's soul and spirit, five internal organs mysterious and profound, disciple Miao Chun borrows the heavenly ear for a moment, Taishang Laojun urgently as if by order, open——"

  The voice fell, and he didn't forget to suddenly reach out and tap my ear, then continued to maintain the Five Thunder Seal. Only then did Yin Soul open his mouth: "What advice do you have for me?"

  Originally just a silent heroic spirit, upon hearing Master's words, I couldn't help but get excited, and for a moment the dark fog surged, leaving both me and Master astonished. Fortunately, after a brief moment, a ghost who appeared to be a former military officer spoke up: "It's been a long time since we've heard human speech. We've always wanted to find a virtuous scholar to send out the message that there is a ferocious creature at the bottom of the water. Originally, last night we wanted to communicate with this young brother, but unfortunately he thought we were going to attack him, so some misunderstandings occurred. Now we finally have someone who can speak human language..."

  Why does this sound so unpleasant to my ears? I'm not a heavenly ear spirit, and naturally, I couldn't hear ghosts talking. This isn't my fault; it's because I followed Master for too short a time, and what I learned is really limited. But still, thanks to my innate cleverness, when the ghost spoke, we all let out a sigh of relief. It seems these ghosts are indeed harmless.

  The master nodded and let out a gentle sigh: "You are all heroes, protecting your homes and country in life, and still guarding the people after death. I, Miao Chun, admire you. I have already sent news of the three coffins back to the sect, and I believe that high-ranking members will arrive soon. However, I would like to ask you to clarify the situation below, but I don't know if you can tell me something believable?"

  "I'm afraid the Taoist priest is right, we really don't know what's down there. This water pool has a strong aura, and we're worried that something evil will come out to harm us, so we've been trying our best to suppress it. But in fact, none of us can get close to that thing, there's a kind of power underground that even we ghosts can't approach, let alone living people. Just the other day, three Taoist priests went down to investigate one after another, but they never came back, probably because..."

  "How is this possible, there's no corpse below—" Before the yin soul could finish speaking, I couldn't help but interrupt, that little person went down to investigate last night, but didn't see anything, except for the copper coffin, there was nothing else.

  My words, however, attracted the attention of the vengeful spirits to myself. These vengeful spirits seemed to be very interested in me and chattered incessantly for a while. Then, the military officer's spirit suddenly said loudly: "Young brother, you are the only person I have ever seen who can hurt that thing. Last night, the heavenly thunderbolt injured it severely, and until today, it has not made any trouble. If we could strike it a few more times or even kill it..."