Chapter 1: The Haunted Yōlin (Part 1)

  The drowning policeman coughed out some more water and regained a bit of consciousness.

  Zhang Shanyi took out a bottle of mineral water and rinsed his mouth on the side, while Ding Lingxiu closed his eyes and gently stroked the policeman's belly.

  His long fingers half-opened and half-closed, forming a gesture similar to pressing the pulse, slowly wandering on the man's bulging belly. The spiritual energy surrounding Ding Lingxiu's hands was like a doctor taking the pulse with silk threads.

  "Not right, something's off." Ding Lingxiu furrowed his brow and said.

  "What's wrong? Even the sparrow inside was suffocated by this guy's tone?" Zhang Shanyi said while rinsing his mouth.

  "This is really unexpected, I actually can't feel the demonic aura of the Sparrow entering the house. Did I guess wrong?"

  Ding Lingxiu's chin sank into deep thought, her bright blue eyes filled with confusion.

  "Master Ding, you're really good at joking. The sparrows inside the house are brave enough to drill into people's stomachs and intestines, and can even be killed by bad breath."

  "There must be something wrong somewhere. When the man came out of the water just now, I definitely felt the presence of a demon's aura. And the sound of the magpie entering the house, and transforming the man into your appearance, these are not normal phenomena."

  "What do you mean?"

  "The sparrow has flown into the inner courtyard." Ding Lingxiu replied coldly, his eyes piercing as he stared at Zhang Shanyi, making Zhang's back feel chilly.

  "What? How is this possible?"

  Zhang Shanyi smiled and waved his hand, indicating that this kind of thing was fundamentally impossible.

  Since the drowned policeman was rescued from the water, Zhang Shanyi and Ding Lingshu have not left this man for a moment. Although the inner bird can shrink, it is impossible to shrink to the extent that it cannot be seen with the naked eye, and it has not swallowed the internal organs of this policeman, nor does it have enough demon power to break out of its body. Unless...

  Zhang Shanyi suddenly thought of something and understood why Ding Lingxiu was looking at him like that. His whole body felt like cotton, and he covered his mouth with both hands, muttering after a long time:

  "Could it be that the Sparrow inside just now during the artificial respiration... entered into my body?"

  No sooner had he spoken than a sharp pain like a knife cut through Zhang Shanyi's body, and he clutched his stomach in agony, his face contorted.

  "As expected, this is going to be a disaster. Zhang Zhenren, don't move your spiritual energy, it will devour your spiritual energy and transform it into demonic energy. Don't worry, I'll use the demon-controlling talisman right away."

  Ding Lingdang quickly ran to his backpack and began searching through the pocket where he stored his talismans.

  "Alas... Young Master Ding, it won't work, I have to mobilize my spiritual energy."

  Although Zhang Shanyi gritted his teeth and endured the intense pain, his slightly furrowed eyebrows still gave off a feeling of unbearable agony. Sweat had already soaked through his black T-shirt from his forehead. A young man even younger than Ding Lingyu could endure such heart-wrenching torture, showing how strong his will must be and how much unimaginable hardship he had gone through.

  "Wait a moment, it'll be fine soon, you must hold on and don't use your spiritual power..."

  Ding Lingxiu became somewhat anxious, and at this time, he would think of the words his father had said when teaching him the skills to hunt demons: "In haste, mistakes are inevitable, and speed will not bring success." So, he calmed down again, calmly using his military knife to cut open his finger and draw a demon-controlling talisman.

  At this time, Zhang Shanyi could no longer hold back, his hands covering his stomach had begun to tremble.

  Just when Ding Lingxiu thought he might not be able to hold on, he suddenly clasped his hands together, his eyes became firm and resolute, and he muttered to himself:

  "Supreme Tai Star, constantly changing without stopping. Driving out evil and binding demons, protecting life and body. Wisdom is clear and pure, heart and spirit are at peace. Three souls forever, no loss or collapse. Urgent as a law decree. Central Pass Sutra - Recognize the retreat of the gods."

  Zhang Shanyi's voice was like an ancient bell in the mountains, loud and powerful. In an instant, his seven orifices seemed to be connected, shining brightly. A strange spiritual light illuminated the golden court, and he suddenly felt as if he no longer felt the pain in his body, as if he had already transcended consciousness, once again calm and composed, allowing the birds inside him to flutter and peck at will.

  Ding Lingshu heard his shout and his hand, which was drawing the talisman, suddenly stopped in mid-air. He looked at Zhang Shanyi with an incredulous expression and sighed:

  "He actually used an internal elixir, and it was a third-grade internal elixir."

  Neidan cultivation is one of the basic practices of Taoist practitioners. Neidan practice is to accumulate energy and unblock the body's meridians. The longer the practice, the more positive energy is accumulated, and the negative energies such as illness, evil, and impurities naturally decrease until they disappear. As a result, the internal energy is full, and there is no sickness, achieving a state of clarity and refreshment of the spirit. Continuing to cultivate, the energy interacts with each other to form a biological field around the body, especially during practice, this biological field expands without limits, overlapping with the universe until they merge as one. This is what Taoist Neidan calls "unity of heaven and man". At this time, the mantra being recited will influence the universe like a wave, and the person is in their own biological field, extremely comfortable and joyful, with body and mind reaching an optimal state.

  This was not unusual, as a Taoist of the Zhengyi school of Mount Longhu cultivating internal elixir was nothing out of the ordinary, but he actually used third-grade internal elixir, which made Ding Lingxiu look at him with new eyes.

  The cultivation of internal elixir is divided into four stages. The first stage is the preparation stage, which requires maintaining a strong physique and cultivating one's character to lay a solid foundation for the second stage. The second stage is what is commonly known as the initial stage of immortal techniques, where most Taoist practitioners get stuck for over ten years and cannot progress further. Some self-proclaimed qigong masters in the Jianghu also spend their entire lives studying this second stage. However, entering the third stage involves a bottleneck period that ordinary people cannot overcome. But Zhang Shanyi, who appeared to be under eighteen, was able to cultivate the internal elixir of the third stage and learn the middle-stage immortal techniques, which can only be described as a natural-born prodigy.

  "Master Ding, don't be dazed. Although I've used 'Recognizing the Divine's Abdication', it only temporarily prevents my senses from feeling anything, but the physical harm is still ongoing. If you wait any longer, I'll be eaten to the bone," Zhang Shanyi said.

  Ding Lingxiu regained his composure and continued writing with a flourish, finally completing the demon-controlling talisman.

  "Monster, listen to me obediently."

  Ding Lingxiu took out a yellow paper, wrapped the talisman in it, and ignited them together with his lighter. In the flames, Ding Lingxiu's blood underwent a strange change, and instead of being evaporated by the high temperature, it turned into a rope-like shape, still arranged according to the position of the symbols he had drawn.

  Ding Lingxiu's eyes gleamed like a torch, her hand reached into the fire, and she accurately grasped the end of the blood-red cord. With a light tug, the flames extinguished instantly, and a single sparkling red blood cord suddenly appeared out of thin air.

  "Zhang Zhenren, can you tell me the current accurate location of the Innie Sparrow?"

  "Here." Zhang Shanyi pointed to his own chest.

  Ding Lingxiu was shocked, but the internal bird surprisingly flew straight to Zhang Shanyi's heart. Despite knowing this, Zhang Shanyi remained calm and used his inner elixir to make his consciousness retreat, cutting off his senses. This decisiveness and bravery were definitely not something that could be cultivated in just one or two days.

  "Alright, Demon-Sealing Charm, enter body."

  Ding Lingxiu pulled the rope, and the blood rope arrow shot into Zhang Shanyi's body through his skin pores, and soon almost all of it entered, leaving only a rope tail held by Ding Lingxiu.

  Not long after the blood had entered his body, the eerie and sharp cry that made one's hair stand on end was heard again, and sure enough, it was the Inner Demons.

  At this time, the inner bird had been tied up by Ding Ling's controlling demon symbol and couldn't move.

  "Haha, good guy, it's actually become so big in just a short while, if I stay for a bit longer, I'm afraid it'll burst out of my body."

  Ding Lingxiu couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, through the blood mist, he discovered that the internal sparrows had at least grown three times larger than when they entered Zhang Shanyi's body, and now their size made it impossible for them to fly out of Zhang Shanyi's mouth.

  "It's actually grown so big, it seems that during my 'Divine Sense Retreat', it must have eaten a lot of the spiritual energy that I didn't have time to hide."

  Zhang Shanyi saw that the internal sparrows were controlled, and his senses recovered. He was also surprised by the enlarged internal sparrows.

  "You should thank these spirits that didn't have time to hide, their flavor is much sweeter than your stinky flesh for the inner birds, if not for them, you might have had your five organs and six entrails emptied by now."

  "Yes, but Master Ding, it can no longer fly out of my mouth now, how can I make it come out?" Zhang Shanyi was somewhat at a loss.

  "Don't worry too much, my demon-suppressing talisman is more than enough to deal with a low-level demon like the human-faced sparrow. Just think of an excuse and I'll help you control it and let it fly out."

  "Master Ding, you make it sound easy, but where can such a big thing come from?"

  Zhang Shanyi furrowed his brow and looked down at his body.

  "Heh heh, although the sparrow wouldn't be willing, for now it can only take a stroll in your intestines."

  "What? How can this be? This is too... No way, no way. Although it's a demon, doing this is a bit too shameless."

  "So what are you going to do? The demon-controlling talisman can control it, but the time is not unlimited, only 20 minutes. You're still hesitating, it's not good."

  Zhang Shanyi felt a dark cloud gathering over his head, his lips moved, wanting to speak but hesitating.

  After scratching his head for quite a while, he finally said:

  "Alright, then you turn around."

  "Changing hair, all men, what's there to fear."

  "It's too embarrassing when someone makes a big fuss over nothing."

  "Alright, alright, I'll turn around."

  After finishing speaking, Ding Lingxiu turned around, and Zhang Shanyi hesitated for a while before taking off his pants.

  Ding Lingxiu lightly lifted his fingers, and the blood rope formed by the Controlling Demon Seal began to tremble. The inner bird inside was completely controlled by Ding Lingxiu's consciousness and started moving towards Zhang Shanyi's intestines.

  "Hiss, hiss - you two beasts - hiss, hiss"

  Zhang Shanyi's internal sparrows let out heart-wrenching, lung-splitting wails, but the sound was soon drowned out by the flatulence.