Chapter Sixteen: The Divine Might of the Seven Stars

  I don't dare to underestimate Lao Zhao's words, Qin Tao also seems to believe in us. He nodded and retreated, I thought that outside was so dangerous, although Qin Tao had a bad aura on his body, he might be able to protect himself, but there was no way he could help us. Since that's the case, it's better to give him a weapon. I don't have any other magical instruments here, but as long as I stick the Nan Gong Li Huo symbol on it, ordinary objects will gain the power of fire spirit and naturally be able to harm evil spirits, not to mention Qin Tao still has a bad aura on his body.

  I handed the talisman to Qin Tao in a triangular shape and said, "Qin brother, I know you're handy with your hands, but against ghostly creatures like this, being empty-handed won't do much harm. If something happens later, you might not be able to exert your strength. This talisman has positive spiritual energy, so if you hold it in your hand, you can hit the ghostly creature. Remember, don't use too much force; when dealing with ghostly creatures, the most important thing is mental power and spiritual methods. You can't touch them physically, but you'll feel their interference with your spirit, which can be very intense. If you're sensitive enough, you might even feel a physical presence, but it's definitely an interference with your spirit. Got it?"

  Qin Tao took the token and nodded his head, thanked him, and then clenched it in his hand. I didn't bother with him anymore, holding the peach wood sword in my hand. Old Zhao had also prepared something, his left hand twirling a string of prayer beads, his right hand holding a branch of peach wood. He said this was what he used to chant the accurate divine spell and it wasn't just ordinary peach wood.

  The three of us were all ready, time was ticking away, and I could feel the fine beads of sweat trickling down my tense forehead. Actually, I knew that among us, only Old Zhao could see it. I turned to look at Old Zhao, who was also staring intently at the door, but outside seemed eerily quiet, with only the wind and rain pounding against the earth, the sound of which seemed to be echoing in each of our hearts.

  Suddenly, a black shadow appeared outside, the dark shape looked extremely eerie, it climbed up from the ground to the door, under the illumination of the lightning, everything was so clear, I saw that black shadow appearing there so intuitively, in tension, I turned around and took a look at Old Zhao, he grasped the peach wood branch exceptionally tightly.

  Unintentionally, I saw the incense in front of Buddha, that spark of fire went out at some point, and it went out right in the middle of the incense. I roughly knew that this should be Old Zhao's seal being broken. I wasn't hallucinating; the black shadow in front of me really wasn't a thing from the human world. It was just unknown why we mortals could also see it.

  Qin Tao seemed to see it clearly too, and was about to shine his flashlight on it. But Old Zhao suddenly grabbed his arm and said: "Don't be in a hurry, Old Jiang, can you all see if this is the black shadow?"

  "Yes, what's wrong?"

  "Lao Jiang, you can't see it, but the atmosphere here has been completely disrupted. My law domain was blocking my view earlier, and I couldn't see clearly either. Now that I've seen it, the black energy has all surged in, breaking through my setup in an instant. You can see that black shadow because you're all being attacked by yin energy, and you can also see ghosts and evil spirits, but you still can't see the flow of qi. Don't worry, Lao Zhao, the fire torch you lit at the door just now dispersed this black energy. Now, set up your formation and connect the yang energy."

  I listened to Old Zhao's words and didn't dare to be careless, so I hurriedly trampled on the altar, pinched my fingers to recite incantations, and then lit the talisman fire on the oil lamp. Starting from the heavenly pivot, I continued until the last shake of light, and then threw the remaining yellow talisman ash into the array. Silently, I chanted: "Clear and turbid are divided, yin and yang are defined, heavenly yang rises clear, earthly yang descends murky, seven yang return to the decree, subdue demons and suppress monsters. With utmost sincerity, I pay homage to the Great Sage of the Northern Dipper, Seven Primal Lords, urgently, as if by imperial order."

  In this dark and windy night, the strong gusts of wind were frightening, but the seven lanterns in front of me remained upright, as if the external winds had no effect on them. The constantly rising black shadow outside seemed to be intimidated by the lanterns' glow, and even retreated a little.

  "Great, Old Jiang, this formation of yours is very powerful, it has dispersed all the evil and gloomy energy in this house."

  I couldn't help but laugh and cry as I said, "You say I'm giving blind orders, but this formation is used to capture that guy and trap him afterwards. But now you've scared him away, haven't you? This formation is a one-time use item, once it's used up, it's gone. What are we going to do when the real master comes back?"

  "It's okay, as long as you don't forget to add fragrant oil, wait a minute, let me light the incense first."

  After finishing, he turned around and pulled out the three incense sticks in front of the Buddha, lit new incense again, and while lighting, he didn't forget to recite the furnace incense praise. Then, he took out something from himself, which was a tape recorder. As soon as he opened it, Sanskrit sounds gradually floated out, which was the voice of the Great Compassion Mantra.

  He stood up again, and the room was lit up by the seven Fumo lanterns I had placed inside. I only followed Old Zhao's instructions to light the oil, but I didn't know how long it would last. The gas in these lanterns is limited, and once they go out, the effect will be lost, and the formation will no longer work. Even if I relight them, it will be pointless. Zhuge Wuhou lit seven-star lamps to borrow life from heaven, but Wei Yan knocked them over, and when the fire went out, the effect was lost. The principle is similar, but Zhuge Wuhou's array requires a much higher level of material understanding and mastery, far beyond what a novice like me can compare to.

  The dark shadow outside disappeared after Old Zhao re-lit the incense. He looked outside and said, "This time we're really in trouble. This place isn't just a little haunted, it's got a huge amount of resentment. There must be someone very special outside, maybe even an evil spirit. I just can't figure out why I didn't discover anything when I was in the house earlier if it had already become an evil spirit? And if it really is an evil spirit, it wouldn't have just made Zeng Tong hallucinate, it would have killed everyone the first time."

  I don't have a good understanding of the distinction between ghosts and monsters, my "Cheng Tian" book doesn't have detailed records about ghosts and monsters, or rather it hardly involves the matter of ghosts and monsters. My understanding of ghosts and monsters mostly comes from those strange stories I've read, so I naturally don't know the obvious differences between them.

  Old Zhao looked at me and Qin Tao, saying: "Let's get to the point. Ghosts are a kind of existence after people die. If we use Buddhist terminology, they can't even be called ghosts because ghosts belong to the six paths of reincarnation, specifically the hungry ghost path. However, what we commonly refer to as ghosts aren't actually those from the hungry ghost path, but rather a type of spirit. When people die, their seven po souls disperse into the void, and their three hun souls leave to be judged in the underworld, where they are reincarnated based on their karma. But some people can't let go due to strong attachments to the world, so they linger using a strand of energy. Over time, these spirits may slowly transform into a wisp of a lonely soul, gradually losing consciousness and eventually becoming part of the void, heading to the underworld for reincarnation. Others with extremely strong attachments may become attached to some vital energy, transforming into malevolent spirits or even vengeful ghosts due to resentment, refusing to leave the world until their deep-seated attachment is resolved."

  Ordinary spirits have no great power and can only gather yin to give birth, bringing people some illusory things. Those who can become fierce ghosts are different, they already possess a quasi-material entity, this entity is the transformation of essence, spirit, and energy. So, if the obsession disperses, it will also disappear together. In fact, carefully calculated, it's just another kind of magic that affects the material world.

  Although I still feel a bit vague, I roughly know some things. If it's really a fierce ghost, it would be really bad. My demon-suppressing array is also powerful, but after all, it needs me to control it, which requires cultivation. I have almost no cultivation and rely on the Buddha's power from the lamp in front of the Buddha and the yang energy accumulated by everyone's copper coins. My own strength has little effect, so I can't exert the power of the array.

  Because the glass door was not closed properly, raindrops gradually floated in. Qin Tao was about to go and close the door, but when he got there, he also hesitated for a moment, then turned to us two and said: "You two masters come and take a look at what's going on here?"

  I and Old Zhao walked over upon hearing the sound, on the ground there were raindrops that had just fallen, but those weren't ordinary rainwater, they were bright red, yes, those were blood rains, this wasn't falling from the sky, but was the bright red on the eaves outside, under our gaze, the bright red dots slowly fell, dyeing the glutinous rice I had scattered in front of the door into a deep crimson.

  I felt a chilling aura slowly surging inside, and when I looked back, the incense in front of the Buddha had gone out at some point. The seven lamps I lit, which hadn't moved even in the strong wind before, were now starting to shift inward, their flames flickering and dimming intermittently.

  Those seven lanterns can no longer be considered mere flames, they are the gathering of yang energy, so what is revealed is also the state of yang energy. Now, the swaying appearance is clear to me, this is the yang energy of the lamp gradually disappearing, being squeezed back, this is a huge yin evil energy. I really don't know how strong the obsession hidden behind it is, but I also know that this is fundamentally not something we can dissolve. The situation here has exceeded our expectations by too much.

  Just as we were all attracted by the lights and our eyes were drawn over there, Qin Tao suddenly pointed outside and said: "Look, what's that?"

  Qin Tao, who was always calm, had a slightly changed tone, although there was still no fear in it, but it could be seen that he was very tense. He even forgot to call me "Master", not because I coveted this title, but because it showed how extremely tense he was. His body seemed to have all its muscles tensed up, and sweat was dripping down his forehead. What exactly was outside?

  Outside, a disheveled woman with bulging, bloodshot eyes stared inside, her resentment erupting from her body like a fountain. The resentment we saw on the mountain earlier seemed insignificant compared to this person's. Her body was still translucent, meaning she wasn't yet a vengeful spirit, but only half of one. Yet, just this half alone made me feel chilled to the bone, my heart racing as if it would jump out of my chest.

  Said:

  Mo Feng's book, "Wu Zong", mainly uses suspense and pursuit to break through the traditional tomb-robbing genre, and Mo Feng's writing style is also very distinctive.

  Print chapter error; If you think it's great! Then please recommend the website URL to your friends and watch together!