Chapter 49: The Sacred Artifact's Ownership

  Everyone heard the words and responded in unison, bowed their heads after passing by, turned around and left the hall. Mo Xiang followed the usual practice to walk to the table, pick up the pen and write the "Town Corpse Seal".

  "Never mind." The man in yellow clothes waved his hand and spoke up.

  Mo Wen turned his head to look at the man in yellow, although it was cold and there were town-killer symbols stabilizing the corpse's energy, but after half a month, this corpse had already shown signs of decay, with both eyes starting to become turbid.

  "Go." The man in yellow clothes rushed towards Mo Xiang again and waved his hand.

  Don't ask, naturally he won't go against his wishes, after bowing his head he turned and left the palace.

  Ajiu had been waiting outside the hall, and when Mo Xun came out, he quickly went up to him wanting to speak, but Mo Xun pointed towards the southeast, Ajiu understood and followed Mo Xun into his room.

  "The Heavenly Wolf's divine power is extraordinary, you absolutely cannot let it fall into someone else's hands." Ajiu slammed the door shut with her hand.

  Mo Wen didn't respond, but he guessed that Ajiu wanted to discuss this issue with him.

  "Among the seven of you, your comprehension is the strongest, and your understanding of the talismanic arts is the deepest. The Heavenly Wolf Sword is none other than yours." Ah Jiu spoke again.

  Ajiu finished speaking, Mo Xian remained silent, and the seven people who had been together for a period of time recently spent less time together than before. They were all practicing behind closed doors, naturally for the sake of the divine object, Tian Lang Hao. If Tian Lang Hao was obtained by him, others would inevitably feel regretful and disappointed.

  "If I take this thing, I'm afraid it will harm the friendship between us fellow disciples. You'd better take it." Mo Xiang hesitated for a long time before speaking up.

  "I'm an outcast, writing talismans only half effective for me. If I take it, would I be wasting heaven's gift, or should you have taken it instead?" Ah Jiu shook her head repeatedly, the outcast's talisman was only half as effective for humans with seven apertures, and the Heavenly Wolf Brush really wasn't suitable for her to use.

  "If Tiān Láng Mò falls, you will have no chance to receive the ancestral transmission." Mo Wèn shook his head again. Among the seven people, only ā Jiǔ had passed Yù Líng Lóng's seventh trial. If she couldn't win this round, none of the seven would get the ancestral transmission.

  "Within one's natural ability, how can one excel in everything? You mustn't have a yielding heart, do your best and even if you surpass them, it won't be their place to blame you. If they do blame you, then that's just their own wickedness, and you don't need to bother with them again." Ah Jiu exhorted.

  Mo Wen heard the words and fell silent again. He was naturally kind and gentle, disliked competing with others, and even more so, did not want to invite jealousy from others.

  "How can you be so indecisive? Can't you make up your mind and take a stand?" Ah Jiu frowned at Mo Wen, who had always been influenced by the Confucian doctrine of moderation, and even though he might have acted rashly and fiercely for a moment, he would still feel guilty and self-reproach afterwards. This went against the Taoist teachings of clearly distinguishing good from evil and being decisive in killing or sparing lives.

  Mo Wen heard the words and nodded slowly, Tian Lang Hao was a sacred object for writing talismans. If one could obtain this object, using talismans would be twice as effective. Among all Taoist disciples, who wouldn't want to possess it?

  "That's it, don't be modest, Tianlang's power is astonishing, in your hands it should be invincible, if those other few fellow disciples were to obtain it, it's hard to guarantee they won't follow in Zhao Zhenren's footsteps." Ah Jiu said in a low voice, the crowd although didn't know the yellow-robed man's Dao number, but knew his secular surname was Zhao.

  "I'll do my best tomorrow." Don't ask, the knot in his heart was untied, and he nodded heavily.

  Ajiu saw Mo Wen and answered with a serious expression, only then did she put her mind at ease. She walked to the table, picked up the teapot and poured tea. The water had just been delivered by the Daoist boy not long ago, so the tea was still hot.

  "Zhao Zhenren usually lectures at night, but this time he has scheduled the assessment for tomorrow noon. There must be a deep meaning behind it. We should make an educated guess and prepare in advance." Ah Jiu poured tea, but instead of handing it to Mo Wen, she lifted her veil and drank it herself. The two were now extremely familiar with each other and no longer bothered with formalities.

  "It won't come to that, if I don't yield to a fellow disciple, the Tian Lang will definitely belong to me." Mo Xiang shook his head and said.

  Ajiu was greatly perplexed by his words and asked, "How can you be so sure?"

  "There are three reasons. Firstly, when Zhao Zhenren arrived, I was not frightened or panicked, so he looked at me with a higher regard. Secondly, Zhao Zhenren had made a big mistake in his youth due to his arrogance, and now he has learned from the past. If he were to give away the Tianlang brush, he would definitely choose someone with a calm temperament." Mo Xianping said calmly.

  "What's wrong?" Ah Jiu put down the teacup in his hand.

  "Why didn't we add a sealing mudra when we practiced writing talismans earlier?" Mo asked back.

  "If it's the method of adding a seal, the talisman can reach the heavenly ear, but we have nothing to ask for. How can we use the talisman to play tricks on heaven and earth, and fool the ghosts and spirits?" Ah Jiu said.

  "That's it, tomorrow we need to add a law seal to the talismans we drew. Once the law seal is added, we can't just shoot randomly, and there are no targets for us to attack here, except for the corpse that Zhao Zhenren is possessing, which is the only yin object." Mo Xiang said.

  "Are you implying that Zhao Zhenren will make us draw talismans to attack him tomorrow?" Ah Jiu asked with a frown.

  "However, Zhao Zhenren is born with a proud temperament and is still young, he will not give the Tianlang rice to someone he dislikes. Tomorrow's assessment of who gets the top spot is not up to us, it all depends on his thoughts." Mo Xun said with a nod.

  Mo Wen finished speaking, but Ajiu didn't respond and instead looked at him sideways with a straight gaze.

  "Why are you looking at me like that?" Mo asked in confusion.

  "Yin and yang are balanced, with both advantages and disadvantages, people with a calm mind may be indecisive but can handle things carefully." Ah Jiu said with a smile.

  "How could I have been indecisive?" Mo Wen's face slightly flushed with embarrassment.

  Ajiu heard this and didn't say another word, smiled slightly and turned around to leave.

  Don't ask about getting up and seeing someone off, afterwards return to your room to recite scriptures and practice meditation.

  The next day at the hour of Si, everyone gathered outside the East Temple gate. Since it was not yet noon, they could only wait outside. Baili Kuiyun's expression remained unchanged, Ah Jiu and Qian Shuai also looked calm, while the remaining four people were all anxious.

  At noon, everyone outside the hall shouted to ask for entry. The man in yellow responded with a hum, and everyone was allowed to push open the door and enter.

  After entering the temple, don't ask about Zhao Zhen's situation, which has deteriorated again. Due to the fact that the corpse-sealing charm was not used to stabilize the corpse energy beforehand, coupled with the relatively high temperature over the past two days, the corpse he possessed had already shown obvious signs of decay, and a faint acidic stench wafted through the Eastern Temple.

  After everyone entered the hall and took their seats, they laid out the four objects needed for drawing talismans: cinnabar, brushes, talisman paper, and ritual seals.

  "Each of you draw a talisman, whoever forces me out of this corpse body wins." Zhao Zhenren turned around and walked towards the main hall door.

  Everyone heard the words and was not surprised, each took up their brush to draw symbols, seven people listened together, others naturally also guessed how Zhao Zhenren would ask questions. Although everyone had learned various spells, there were not many spells that could be written and used at this time, and the only object that could be targeted here was Zhao Zhenren himself.

  The talisman to deal with the yin soul is not difficult to draw, and after a moment, everyone put down their brushes. Baili Fengyun took the finished paper talismans to Mo Wen for inspection. Mo Wen looked at them hastily and then handed his own drawn talismans to him. Baili Fengyun looked at them hastily and re-drew the talismans. What he had previously drawn was a Jing Shi Talisman, but in order to force the soul out of the corpse, one needs to use the Tian Lei Talisman. The Tian Lei Talisman, as its name suggests, contains the power of thunder, and is a commonly used attacking talisman by Taoist priests. Its effectiveness depends on the strength of the drawer's spiritual energy. It is difficult to drive away the soul that has attached itself to the body, and neither shock nor cleansing can take effect. Only by using the Tian Lei Talisman can it be shaken out.

  "Feel free to make your move." Zhao Zhen's voice came from outside the temple gate.

  Everyone turned around upon hearing the sound and found him standing outside the temple gate, facing the sunlight at noon.

  Seven people turned around and exited the hall, standing on the south side of Zhao Zhenren. At noon, the yang energy was very strong, and a faint chill emanated from the corpse. Under the sun, the yin energy would be somewhat weakened. Everyone knew that Zhao Zhenren's move was to reduce the difficulty of using talismans to expel the yin energy. The seven people had only practiced talismans for half a month, and the power of the talismans they drew was indeed limited.

  "Apologies, Infinite Heaven Venerable." Unexpectedly, the first to make a move was Liu Shaoyan, who had always been ridiculed by others. As soon as he finished speaking, he rushed forward and arrived within three feet of Zhao Zhenren, his paper talisman at the ready, aiming straight for his forehead.

  The talisman itself does not have sticky rice paste, but it has various different breaths. Taking the Heavenly Thunder Talisman as an example, this talisman is a yang talisman, and after being sealed with the Dharma Seal, it carries yang energy. The corpse body and yin soul are yin in nature. When yin and yang come into close contact, they will produce an invisible attractive force. It's more accurate to say that the talisman is sucked onto the object rather than being stuck on. Only after a Taoist has passed through the Heavenly Tribulation can they release their spiritual energy to control the talisman and attack the enemy. Before that, they can only rely on the natural attraction of yin and yang energies.

  After the yellow paper charm was torn off, Liu Shaoying immediately retreated, and the yellow paper charm floated in the air and stuck to the corpse's forehead. However, after the paper charm was stuck on, the corpse only slightly shook, and the paper charm suddenly emitted white smoke and caught fire, burning itself to ashes.

  "To exorcise ghosts and demons, one must have a fearless heart. The talismans can be used to suppress them, even if their power is insufficient, they can still temporarily subdue the evil spirits. Are you not missing an opportunity to defeat the enemy by retreating before advancing?" Zhao Zhenren coldly spoke up.

  Liu Shaqing heard this and was ashamed, lowering his head without speaking. The crowd also didn't mock him. Ye Xianyou followed him up, pasting the charm on his hand, but still couldn't force Zhao Zhenren's soul out of his corpse.

  After Ye Xiang's carefree and leisurely retreat, Baili Feng charged forward with a loud shout after Mo Wen gave him a signal with his eyes, indicating for him to try first.

  Everyone else's stickers were all detached in mid-air, but under the influence of the hundred-mile crazy wind, it actually directly stuck to the face of the corpse, and the force was extremely heavy.

  "Do you have a feud with me?" Zhao Zhenren kicked out with his foot, sending the Hundred Mile Crazy Wind flying, and then pulled down that talisman.

  Don't ask to see the situation, hurry up and run to help, fortunately, the hundred-mile wind is high and strong, with thick skin and flesh, although it was a big fall, but there's no major harm.

  At this point, the remaining three people had no intention of trying again. It wasn't that they were worried about losing control, but rather Zhao Zhenren's previous action of tearing up the talismans showed that the talismans written by everyone couldn't harm him at all. Whether the Tianlang seal belonged to anyone was entirely up to his personal preference; whoever he wanted to give it to would be able to obtain it.

  "Tian Shu Zi, you come." Zhao Zhenren said to Mo Wen who returned to his original position.

  Don't ask, having heard the words, he stepped forward, raised his hand and cast a spell, and the corpse fell as soon as the spell arrived.

  The crowd stood in stunned silence, no one asking questions although they felt guilty, but still quickly stepped forward to support the corpse and slowly laid it down.

  At this time, everyone's expressions were different. Baili Fengxiang was delighted, Ye Xiangyu looked regretful, Liu Shaoying frowned and didn't speak, Liu Song had a puzzled look on his face, Qian Sui's expression changed constantly, and Ajiu couldn't be seen due to her veil, but her slightly narrowed eyes indicated that she was smiling.

  It's embarrassing to ask at this time, but everyone's talismans are the same, their spiritual cultivation is similar, and other people's talismans can't hurt Zhao Zhenren, while his talismans take effect immediately. Zhao Zhenren's partiality is too obvious.

  "Respect the teacher and revere the Tao, etiquette comes first, Tianzhui's son is calm and composed, advancing and retreating with propriety. Handing over the sacred object to him, this seat can rest at ease. Do you have any complaints?" Just as everyone was stunned, Zhao Zhenren's voice suddenly came from within the Eastern Temple.

  Zhao Zhenren's words were no different from explicitly telling everyone not to ask why he had chosen him, and as a result, no one would secretly criticize him for being unfair. Even ghosts have human nature, and with human nature comes likes and dislikes. If someone has human nature, they will have preferences, and if others cannot please them, there is nothing that can be said.

  "The coffin will be opened today, seven apprentices enter the temple..."