Chapter 48: Song Family Village Captures Ghosts

  Deng Chan Yu said that her tactics were useful and smiled complacently at Qing Er, winking at her to follow together.

  Three men on horseback arrived at Song Family Village. When the servant reported that a "Dharma Master" had come to visit, Song Yiren, who was over 60 years old, personally came out of the village to greet him: "May I ask for the Dharma Master's honorific name?"

  Zhang Zixing replied: "I am a carefree wanderer, I have been learning extraordinary skills from an immortal since childhood. Hearing that the mansion is haunted, I came to offer my assistance."

  "Thank you, kind sir! Please come in quickly!" Song Yiren was advanced in years, but his eyes were bright and he saw that Zhang Zixing's demeanor was majestic and extraordinary. He was overjoyed and said to Deng Ciyu and Qing'er: "Please ask the two ladies to enter the inner house to rest."

  "This young lady is not his wife!" Deng Ciyu's face flashed a hint of red, and she pointed at Qing'er with a sly smile: "This one is..."

  "Sister, stop messing around! Let's go take a look at that haunted place first!" Qing'er smiled wryly, fortunately wearing a veil, so her embarrassed expression couldn't be seen. In fact, Song Yiren had already figured out they were dressed as girls, but since they were very close to this carefree wanderer, he deliberately tried to curry favor with that one sentence.

  Song Yiren made some polite remarks and led the three of them to the backyard garden of the villa.

  Zhang Zixing saw the unfinished houses in front of the backyard and praised according to the original text: "Indeed, good feng shui, building a building here, according to feng shui, there are thirty-six jade belts, and one gold belt has the number of sesame seeds."

  "Indeed, a wise man!" Song Yiren had asked someone to observe the feng shui beforehand and heard that it was not bad. He had no doubt about Zhang Zixing's skills and respectfully bowed: "This house has been rebuilt seven or eight times, but every time it is completed, a fire breaks out for no reason. One day, a Taoist priest came and said that there was a mischievous spirit at work. I asked him to catch the demon. The Taoist priest set up an altar that night, but unexpectedly, after a strong gust of wind, the building was completely burned down, the Taoist's ritual instruments were all destroyed, and his body was also mysteriously hung from a tree. Later, several other masters came, but they were all made to flee in disarray by this monster. I am also helpless."

  Zhang Zixing asked Deng Ciyu: "Miss Ci Yu, do you have a way to force this monster out?"

  "What's difficult about it?" Deng Ciyu handed him a talisman, "This is a demon-attracting charm, which can attract low-level demons within dozens of meters. Just burn it with fire when you use it. This talisman is for you, don't ask me for those crystal stones as payment again."

  Zhang Zixing was momentarily at a loss for words, exchanging one broken talisman for over two hundred "crystal stones"? This little girl is quite good at taking advantage of the situation! Fortunately, the glass came easily to him, so he didn't mind and said to Song Yiren: "Master, please sit in the front hall for a while, I'm going to start catching demons."

  "Does a loose immortal need any magic weapons or Taoist altars?" Song Yiren asked, seeing that he was empty-handed.

  Zhang Zixing shook his head and smiled: "I am a secular practitioner, the spells I learn are different from those Taoist priests, no need for such items."

  "It is indeed so, the old monk will quietly await good news in the front hall." Song Yiren knew that this kind of Daoist technique had all sorts of taboos and was not suitable for ordinary people to watch, so he quickly left.

  "I'm going to start," Zhang Zixing turned his head and said to Deng Ciyu: "Miss Ci, Qing'er's safety is in your hands."

  "Qing'er? Hmph, you little thief are quite familiar with each other!" Deng Ciyu said with a smile in her eyes as she looked at the slightly shy Qing'er. "Don't worry, I'll take care of my own safety, just go and catch the demon, let me see your skills."

  Zhang Zixing smiled slightly, lit the demon-attracting charm, and in a short while, a strong wind blew, and the sky was filled with flying stones and sand. The building suddenly caught fire again. In the flickering flames, five demons appeared, each with different colors and ferocious appearances.

  Although Qiao was a knowledgeable and well-read young man, he had never seen such a monster before, and his heart was filled with fear, so he hid behind Deng Ciyu. Deng Ciyu had already discerned that although these monsters were intimidating in appearance, they were actually very weak, so she remained calm.

  Zhang Zixing took out the Wu Lei Fu given by Yun Xiao from the Fa Bao Cang, secretly activated the power to unlock the symbol's seal, and threw it into the air, shouting: "Evil beasts do not fall, what are you waiting for!"

  Yun Xiao was such a figure, and although the Five Thunder Talismans were made by her for her disciples in her spare time, their power far surpassed ordinary thunder methods. As soon as a loud clap of thunder sounded in the air, it actually extinguished the wind and fire of five demon creatures with just the sound of the thunder alone, revealing their semi-transparent bodies. Their spiritual bodies also suffered significant damage. Even Deng Chan Yu and Shang Qing Jun were startled by the astonishing power of this thunderous sound.

  The five monsters were suddenly frightened out of their wits and hastily knelt down: "Your humble servant did not know that the immortal had arrived, begging the immortal to spare his life!"

  "Good evil beast! Several times arson burned down the building, the cruel heart is not dead, today's sin is full, should be punished!" Zhang Zixing directly "called" Jiang Ziya's lines, coldly hummed a sound, and made a gesture to launch another thunderbolt.

  The five monsters cried out in unison, "We were momentarily confused and offended the Supreme Immortal. Please consider that we have cultivated for many years and it's not easy, spare our lives!"

  Zhang Zixing's heart moved, and he asked: "You are not at peace in your cultivation, why do you often haunt this place? If you can explain the reason clearly, I might consider sparing your lives."

  The five monsters hastily replied: "Immortal, this place has an abundance of pure and clear energy, which is very beneficial to our cultivation. If people build houses and live here, we fear that it will affect our cultivation in two ways: firstly, it will disturb our practice, and secondly, it will pollute the clean air for a long time. Therefore, we repeatedly cause trouble to prevent them from building houses."

  "What is the Xuan Qing's Qi?" Zhang Zixing cast his inquiring gaze towards Deng Ciyu.

  Deng Ciyu furrowed her brow and thought for a moment: "I once heard my master say that the Xuan Qing energy was born from the opening of the primordial heavens, and it is most beneficial for cultivating one's spiritual body, having an effect that is twice as effective with half the effort. Since this place has Xuan Qing energy, if it isn't because of a Xuan Qing vein being stored here, then it must be due to some kind of treasure emitting it."

  "Treasures?" Zhang Zixing's eyes lit up, and he immediately shouted at the five monsters: "What treasures are here?"

  "Wu Guai hurriedly replied: 'Xiao Chong's divine sense is too shallow, he only felt the Xuan Qing aura in this place and didn't know if it was emitted by a treasure. Moreover, Xiao Chong still needs to rely on the Xuan Qing aura to cultivate, fearing that damaging the earth vein would leak out the spiritual energy.'"

  Zhang Zixing nodded and said out his true intention for coming here: "Are you willing to turn over a new leaf, and surrender to this lone wanderer?"

  The five monsters knew this was the only chance to survive, and without any hesitation, they immediately handed over their lives and souls. Zhang Zixing, under Deng Ciyu's guidance, absorbed the souls into his palm. If in the future the five monsters dared to have a change of heart, he would only need to think about it to kill them.

  "You have all returned to me, this place can no longer be stayed, quickly dig open the foundation and find the source of the mysterious clear energy."

  The five ghosts received the order and immediately sensed the location of the spiritual energy in the center. They used their magical powers to transport the mud from the surrounding foundation, and suddenly a large pit appeared on the ground.

  The root of the mysterious energy seemed to be deeply buried underground, and after digging for dozens of meters, it was still not found, but the density of the spiritual energy had become stronger and stronger, even Zhang Zixing outside the pit could feel it.

  At last, Wu Guai's voice came from within the deep pit: "Upper Immortal, it is here!"

  Zhang Zixing had Deng Ciyu go to the front hall to ask Song Yiren for a candle and a length of good rope, which they used to lower themselves down into the pit. There they saw the five monsters cowering off to one side, seemingly terrified of the mud in the center.

  "Your Excellency, this object is the source of spiritual energy, and the power it contains is extremely powerful. The little beast cannot get close, please decide for yourself."

  Due to the lack of digging tools, Zhang Zixing had no choice but to take out the Devouring Ghost Gold Spear from the treasure pouch and use it to dig open the surrounding mud. If Chi You or Xuan Di were aware, they would probably be so angry that they would almost die from rage, knowing that such a precious treasure was being used as a shovel.

  After digging for a long time, finally, a square stone box appeared in front of them - the powerful energy that the five monsters felt was emitted from this stone box. Although the five monsters needed to borrow the Xuanqing gas to cultivate their spiritual bodies, when things reach an extreme they must reverse, such strong and intense Xuanqing gas, with the five monsters' magical powers it is fundamentally impossible to digest in a short period of time, instead being forced by that massive energy, like a balloon inflated to its maximum limit, if more air is input then it will burst. The five monsters knew that staying there any longer would only lead to their spiritual bodies bursting, so after getting Zhang Zixing's agreement they quickly flew out of the pit.

  Zhang Zixing knew that the stone box must contain something extraordinary, as it emitted an aura even when buried deep underground. He immediately tried to open the stone box, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't budge it. This shocked him, considering his strength was at least a thousand kilograms, enough to crack a seamless stone. Yet, the stone box remained unmoving. He picked up the Xuehuang Golden Spear and used the True Wu Ling Jue technique to strike the stone box, but all that resulted were sparks flying everywhere, without leaving even half a mark on the stone box.

  Zhang Zixing didn't expect this thing to be so hard, not even Chi You's biting could open it, and he felt extremely depressed, just like a person who found a huge treasure but couldn't find the key to open the treasure door. Zhang Zixing looked at the undamaged stone box with a scowl, and under helplessness, put the biting back into the magic bag. Suddenly, he remembered the scene when he subdued the biting, his heart moved, and he cut his finger, dripping fresh blood onto the stone box. This time it was indeed fortunate, when the fresh blood fell on the stone box, the stone box suddenly burst into colorful light, becoming semi-transparent, Zhang Zixing saw that the fresh blood had actually penetrated through the surface of the stone box, seeping into a black object in the center. As the light gradually disappeared, the stone box returned to its original state, and then "click" opened automatically.

  Zhang Zixing, with an excited heart, picked it up and saw that inside was quietly lying a black, long, bar-shaped jade gui. It was the object that had just received his fresh blood. The top of the jade gui was triangular, with a small hole in the center of the triangle, and the bottom was square. The concave and convex patterns on its surface formed a strange beast head pattern, without any visible carving marks, as if it were naturally formed.

  Zhang Zixing looked at the beast's head and felt a sense of familiarity, but couldn't recall its name for the moment. Curious, he picked up the jade scepter, feeling its smooth warmth in his hand. What was even more strange was that this jade scepter seemed to be connected to his own blood vessels, like a part of his body. He took off the jade ornament silk cord from around his neck, threaded it through the small hole on the jade scepter, and wore it around his neck, looking as if it were an ordinary pendant. Then, he casually put the jade ornament and stone box into his treasure pouch, and climbed up using the rope.

  Deng Chanyu stepped forward and asked: "Little thief, why did the cave just shoot out a seven-colored treasure light? Did you find something good?"

  Zhang Zixing did not conceal anything and truthfully recounted his earlier experience. He took out the stone box for Deng Chan Yu to appreciate.

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