Knife splashing

Chapter 119: Overturning the Temple, at the Foot of Mount Taibai

No one knows how to catch ghosts better than me!
Although Li Yan is not qualified to say this, but with the magical power of soul-collecting, at least he will have the opportunity to say this in the future.

The soul-catching rope of the underworld is specifically designed to capture ghosts and spirits.

The reason why some ghosts and evil spirits are scary is that they are invisible and traceless. Except for those in the Taoist sect who can sense them with their supernatural powers and use magic to eliminate and capture them, ordinary people have no way to deal with these things.

The soul-catching rope of the underworld is also invisible.

As long as it is a soul, no matter it is a ghost, the soul of a living person, or a spirit, it can be captured.

According to the information we have obtained, even if one's Taoism is raised to a certain level, even the spirits of the earth gods can be captured and suppressed!

If I had this magical power earlier, the sorcerer who dared to possess me in the Wujiagou ancestral hall would have been courting death.

This soul-calling rope magical power is different from the Yang Six Roots magical power. It does not require the use of Yang or Yin techniques to control it. It can be activated with just a thought.

Wow…

The sound of chains rang in Li Yan's ears again.

Apart from him, only those who have awakened their hearing ability and can distinguish the words of ghosts and gods can hear this voice.

With his current level of skill, he can only extend the Soul-Catching Rope one foot.

But this is enough!

Li Yan came to the tree, stretched out his left hand suddenly, pressed it on the guard's head, and controlled it with his mind. The invisible soul-binding rope immediately drilled into his body.

The guard's soul had been devoured, leaving only a powerful ghost in his body, emitting a cold and rotten smell, with a hint of the fishy smell of river mud.

It turns out to be a water ghost!

Li Yan knew that the sources of the rampant soldiers were many, not necessarily ghosts, but could also be the resentment born from the dark and corrupt things in the mountains.

The reason why they are called "Cang Bing" is because they are wild, bold, unrestrained, fierce, brave and powerful, so they are called "Cang".

The stuff inside is equally brutal.

After being tied up by the soul-catching rope, he was like a jumping wild beast, struggling wildly and refusing to surrender at all.

Li Yan gritted his teeth and pulled it out.

His left hand was shaking, and the chains were rattling in his ears. He could clearly feel that the soldier was constantly changing his shape, trying to break free.

"Taoist Priest!"

Li Yan shouted loudly.

"Coming!"

Wang Daoxuan spread out the cinnabar talisman yellow cloth, and as Li Yan placed his hand on it, he immediately twisted it left and right, wrapped it layer by layer, and finally tied a few knots and stuffed it into the wandering soul jar.

Although the soldier was invisible, he could feel that the yellow cloth talisman bag seemed to contain a piece of solid ice, and a cold aura was constantly emanating from it.

Wang Daoxuan was still worried, so he plugged the wandering soul jar with a wooden stopper, pasted a talisman to suppress evil spirits on it, and then wrapped a red rope around the outside and tied two knots to ward off evil spirits.

The cold was completely blocked, and Wang Daoxuan breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at Li Yan, unable to hide the smile on his face.

Although he didn't say it, he could guess that the trick Li Yan just used was probably the inheritance he had received before.

I didn't follow the wrong person...

"Is this the end?"

Sharifei, who was watching from the side, was completely confused.

In his eyes, Li Yan just grabbed the man's head, then wrapped him in trembling yellow cloth and stuffed him into the jar.

Isn't it said that Changbing is very powerful?
Why is there no sound at all...

"Wouldn't it be better to take it easy?"

Wang Daoxuan smiled and shook his head, saying, "If it weren't for Brother Yan, I wouldn't dare to come here alone to catch him."

Then, he pointed forward, "Look."

Sharifei looked up and was immediately shocked.

The smile on the guard tied to the tree gradually disappeared, and then his head tilted and he was completely dead.

Wang Daoxuan looked around and shook his head, saying, "This person was harmed by the rampant soldiers. The evil spirits are gathering resentment. This place is also very gloomy. I'm afraid he will turn into a corpse. I will deal with him."

After saying that, he asked Sharifei to put the people down, found some open space, piled up some dry firewood, and lit a fire. Immediately, thick smoke rose with a burnt smell.

"What about the one in the river?" Sharifei asked hurriedly.

Wang Daoxuan shook his head and said, "It's too late. I will notify the City God Temple later and they will send a magician to deal with it."

As soon as he finished speaking, he came to the wandering soul jar, lit three incense sticks, and inserted them into the red rope tied to the outside of the jar. "With this rampant soldier, it will be easy to find the cold altar and dilapidated temple."

Sure enough, when the three incense sticks were lit, the green smoke that came out seemed to be pulled by an invisible force and flew towards the dense forest on the right.

"Here!"

Wang Daoxuan led the way, with Li Yan and Sha Lifei guarding beside him. They went into the dense forest and gradually disappeared.

Their direction was just different from that of Lu Xiaowu and others, and they were heading to different hilltops...

…………

Goooo!

The bright moon shines on the mountains and forests, and owls cry at night.

"Here we are, right here!"

After a difficult journey, near midnight, Lu Xiaowu and his group finally climbed halfway up the mountain.

But I saw a piece of open space on the mountain, which was very flat. Standing on it, there were mountains on both sides and behind it, like a winnowing basket or a chair. Looking down, I could just see the river below.

Lu Xiaowu's eyes were full of excitement. He took out the cloth roll in his arms and checked it carefully, not daring to make any mistakes.

Under the moonlight, there was a message written next to the cloth roll: Lord Lu, this hole is given to me as a gift to repay your help, respectfully presented by Hou Faming.

"Right here!"

Lu Xiaowu fumbled around in the bushes until he finally found a rusty nail and said in a trembling voice, "It's right here."

"Quick, dig seven feet deep."

"Also, father must be buried upright!"

.........

Click!

Sharifei wielded his long knife and cut off the branches that were blocking the way.

Li Yan followed closely behind, his eyes full of vigilance, "Master, it's just ahead, there seems to be more inside."

The three men had reached the top of the mountain, but it was covered with dense trees and thorns, so they could only cut a path with their swords.

Finally, the three of them walked out of the thorn bush.

On the top of the mountain, there stood a small temple. It had no walls, only a main hall and two side rooms.

All three rooms were locked, but the locks were rusty, the ground was overgrown with weeds, and on a rotten wooden block in the distance, an axe for chopping wood was also rusted.

Wang Daoxuan shook his head and whispered, "It seems that someone once practiced in seclusion here. Perhaps he met with an accident after leaving and never came back."

Li Yan asked: "Master, what should we do?"

Wang Daoxuan said in a deep voice: "Turning over the altar and destroying the temple!"

The three of them were quite nimble. Wang Daoxuan took out a magic umbrella with the Yin-Yang and Eight Diagrams painted on it, and the tassels around it were all kinds of talismans.

puff!
He once again spit out water to open the altar, then stepped on the magic circle, held the umbrella in his left hand, made hand gestures with his right hand, and drew talismans in the air facing the magic umbrella, while chanting: "The sky is clear and the earth is clear, the mysterious energy is powerful, the Lord of Heaven protects me, evil spirits cannot invade, overturn the altar and destroy the temple, calm the soul and capture the spirit..."

After that, he picked up the seal, pointed it at the sky, dodged sideways, and then stepped on the Gang Step and slowly walked towards the ruined temple. This time, Li Yan saw it very clearly.

This is the ritual of destroying temples of the Wang Daoxuan and Xixuan lineages.

It looks simple, but it is very dangerous.

Before, when the altar was set up and the seal was raised in the air, it was to attract the mysterious spirit and evil spirits, but this thing had a murderous aura, and one had to calculate the timing to avoid it, otherwise the ritual would fail and one would also be injured.

Now Wang Daoxuan is taking the Gangbu steps, with the magic umbrella protecting him and the magic seal attracting the Xuanqi gods and demons, in order to break open the altar of the cold temple in front of him.

As for the Xuanqi Divine Evil, it is unique to the Xixuan lineage and is equivalent to the divine power of the ancestor god.

Finally, Wang Daoxuan arrived at the entrance of the dilapidated temple.

Bang Bang Bang!
The seal was struck three times in succession, causing the dust to vibrate.

Li Yan could smell the rotten and cold smell that originally enveloped the dilapidated temple, which completely dissipated in the vibration of the magic seal.

Then, Wang Daoxuan raised his foot and kicked.

Bang!
The rusty lock broke and the temple door was kicked open.

Whoosh~ A gust of corrupt and gloomy wind whistled out.

Wang Daoxuan's magic umbrella was whistling in the wind, but he was not afraid at all. He strode in, chanted a few spells, and then slammed the magic seal on the altar of the statue.

Suddenly, the cold wind stopped.

Li Yan strode into the temple without saying a word.

He opened his eyes and saw that the statue was a Taoist with double pupils, holding a compass and wearing a sword on his waist, but the paint on the statue had fallen off due to decay.

On the altar, there were five wandering soul jars in a row, three of which were broken into pieces, and the remaining two were intact, but the talismans on them had turned yellow and seemed like they would break at any time.

"It's the Baoxiang Sect in Ganzhou, Jiangyou."

Wang Daoxuan glanced at the statue and said, "This lineage is, firstly, proficient in feng shui, and secondly, good at controlling soldiers to do things."

As he spoke, he picked up a yellow copy of the sutra on the table, looked at the name on the title page, and read: "Hou Faming... It seems that he is a direct disciple. I wonder what happened to this Taoist friend."

After a brief inspection, Wang Daoxuan and Li Yan worked together to seal the two rampant soldiers that had not yet escaped back into the wandering soul jar.

"All right."

Wang Daoxuan was in a good mood. “After returning, we only need to offer incense to these three rampant soldiers in front of the ancestral altar, subdue them and train them, and they will be great helpers.”

Li Yan smiled and said, "The soldiers are very fierce. Taoist priest, you'd better find something to suppress them so that they will obey you."

"Hahaha, that's natural."

Wang Daoxuan smiled heartily and started searching with Li Yan.

Although there are some magical instruments used for offering incense, they have been decayed for too long, and the incense power attached to them has long dissipated, making them useless.

The two of them didn't care. Having these three rampant soldiers was already a great harvest.

"what?"

After walking out of the small temple, Wang Daoxuan looked at the opposite hilltop and couldn't help but praise: "I said that the Baoxiang Sect must be extraordinary. There is a top-grade treasure cave hidden here. I'm afraid it is the lingering charm of the dragon in Qinling Mountains."

As he spoke, he pointed forward and said, "It hides the wind and collects the air, gathers the water and forms a momentum. There are also mountains on three sides. This is called the Huilong Seat. If the ancestors are buried there, the descendants will be invaluable."

Sharifei's eyes lit up, "Is this treasure cave valuable?"

Wang Daoxuan laughed dumbly and said, "It depends on who you are talking to. If you take it to Chang'an, those wealthy and powerful people will be willing to pay 100,000 taels of silver for this treasure cave."

"Ten... ten thousand taels?"

Sharifei's mind was confused, and he said in a trembling voice: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go and occupy it."

"Wait, no hurry..."

However, Wang Daoxuan frowned, observed it carefully for a while, and even took out the compass to look at it. Then he sighed: "What a pity, this treasure cave can no longer be used."

Sharifi was stunned, "Ah, why?"

Wang Daoxuan pointed ahead and smiled bitterly: "See? The mountain torrents and the ground subsided, destroying the foundation. It looks good on the surface, but I'm afraid there will be big problems if we bury our ancestors."

"what is the problem?"

"Without a foundation, there will naturally be no descendants."

"Maybe you will be rich for a while, but your family will lose its incense. It's very cruel, very cruel..."

Li Yan shook his head slightly, "Feng Shui is just a small advantage. Since it is not worth money, let's not delay any more and go down the mountain and return to Lantian as soon as possible."

After that, the three of them walked through the thorny jungle and headed towards the mountain...

…………

The cold wind howled and the mountains looked bleak.

Hululu!
On the official road, three horses galloped past, stepping on the dust.

"It's strange. Why hasn't there been a single pedestrian for so long?"

"Today is the Lower Yuan Festival, the day when the Water God relieves disasters. Common people are at home worshipping their ancestors, while Taoist temples are setting up fasts and offering sacrifices. How can we have time to come here?"

"Tsk tsk, I was so cold that I was confused. It's no wonder that I was reminded by you."

The visitors were none other than Li Yan and his entourage.

After they crossed the Qinling Mountains, Li Yan went back to Lijiabao for a tour. Then the three of them rented horses in Lantian and traveled day and night, not entering any city. When they were tired, they slept in deserted houses or temples.

After several days of trekking, we finally arrived at the foot of Mount Taibai.

After riding for half an incense stick, Sharifi yelled again: "Brother Yan, I can't stand it anymore. Look, my face is purple from the cold. Let's find a place to rest."

It was already winter and the weather was getting colder. Although it had not snowed yet, the wind was freezing as they rode their horses. Not only Wang Daoxuan, but even Li Yan and Sha Lifei were numb from the cold.

Li Yan looked into the distance and saw a mountainous wilderness. He stopped his horse and handed the wine pot on his waist to Wang Daoxuan. "We have to find a sheltered place to warm ourselves by the fire. Taoist priest, how about we go to the county seat of Mei County?"

"no need."

Wang Daoxuan took the wine jug and took a few sips. He rubbed his numb cheeks and pointed to the dirt road on the left.
"It's a long way to get into the county town. Ten miles ahead on this road, there is an old fortress. Many people who go up the mountain rest there."

"There is an inn over there too. Just hold on for a while and you'll get there."

"Okay, I'll listen to you, Master."

Li Yan and Salifei were not familiar with the route. Only Wang Daoxuan had been here before, so he was the one who showed the way.

They rode their horses forward again, and sure enough, after a few miles and turning a bend, they saw a fortress standing under the vast mountains.

The so-called fortress, also known as fortress wall, has been in turmoil in the north since the Han Dynasty. If there is a famine, or the collapse of a dynasty, the north will be in turmoil. In order to protect themselves, landlords and gentry built fortresses for defense.

The forts can be large or small, but they usually have high walls and corridors built around them where people can walk, and there may even be arrow holes and guard towers, which are equivalent to small city walls.

Once built, this thing is a small fortification. Since Emperor Guangwu, emperors of all dynasties have ordered its demolition, but it has continued to happen despite repeated bans.

It is unknown when the fortress in front of us was built. It is quite large in area. The left wall has collapsed long ago, and the watchtower above has no roof. Only charred wooden pillars remain, which clearly show that it has experienced war.

If there were not a few carriages parked outside the fort, with lanterns hanging high and wine flags fluttering, Li Yan would have simply regarded it as an abandoned ancient monument.

Before getting close, I saw a tall wooden pole erected outside the fort with a yellow flag hanging on it.

“This is called the Heavenly Pole.”

Noticing Li Yan's gaze, Wang Daoxuan explained, "The erection of the sky pole indicates that there are Taoist believers. At night, three sky lanterns will be hung on the top of the pole to represent the three officials eating vegetarian food."

The arrival of the three did not attract any attention.

This was because quite a few people had gathered in the fortress, including peddlers, incense-burning groups, and even many Buddhists, Taoists, and strange-looking witches and shamans.

Li Yan was surprised and looked at Wang Daoxuan.

He could smell a lot of unusual smells from afar. This small place actually gathered many people from the Xuanmen sect!

(End of this chapter)