The Path to Immortality Begins with the Life-Extending Lamp

Chapter 34 The Ghostly Plague Finally Appears
Shanyang County.

Not long ago, the county government ordered that Ma Sanzuye be summoned to the county government for duty.

That was of course impossible; would that local tyrant-like old devil lower his head like that? But he did back down slightly and agreed to find the skinning demon and deal with him!
At least, the county is no longer so desolate. More than 600 county soldiers and constables are assigned to several departments, and the Ma clan shamans frequently appear, which has maintained a certain level of order and prevented the villagers in the nearby villages from being fearful and helpless.

Didn't they manage to maintain order? The ancestral spirit of the Ma family of Shanyang was so enraged when he received the summons that he almost twisted the magistrate's head off.

However, the petition submitted to the various prefectures and counties stated that two evil spirits had simultaneously broken out in Shanyang County: a skinning ghost that wreaked havoc by skinning people; and an unnamed old ghost that secretly set up lewd rituals…

If he doesn't take action soon, and that skinning demon commits more murders, the prefecture will be led by fierce warriors, and Tiannan Temple will produce top-ranking Daoist disciples.

If it were just that the county magistrate was arrogant, his ancestor could have strangled him to death, burned the letter, and sealed the line. Once the prefecture knew about it, they would only praise the Ma family ancestral spirit for protecting the people.

But both of Tiannan Temple's disciples are here. If he doesn't make a good impression, those crucial letters will really be delivered!

After intercepting the distress call, the Ma family ancestral spirit, along with several old shamans from the clan, began searching for the ghostly creature, traversing mountains and valleys. No matter what, they had to deal with the evil thing first, even if it meant holding their noses.

"It must be that wolf cub from Nanguan that day!"

"Unfilial! Absolutely unfilial! How can a person be so vicious?"

The ancestor only wanted you to come and familiarize yourself with the mountain, and you turned around and wanted the ancestor dead?
Grandpa Ma revealed his true form as a green-skinned ghost, transforming into a spirit and wandering through the villages of Shanyang at night. His many shamans also led their local militias, searching from mountain to mountain. In short, they never stopped searching...

The two Taoist disciples from Tiannan Temple stood side by side on a hill.

Gazing at the four blood-soaked corpses of varying sizes hanging high in the forest, Yu Wen, the Taoist disciple in blue, felt an indescribable tightness in his chest.

The creature hanging from the treetop was a family of four: an elderly man, a couple, and a toddler.

Perhaps, like many tenant farmers, they had no surplus wealth and could not afford to worship the lofty Ma family ancestor, so they hid in this mountain to avoid disaster. But with ghostly calamities roaming around, can they really escape?
In short, the family of four died a gruesome death. The soil in the forest was stained dark red with their brown blood, and the surrounding vegetation was covered in bloodstains. Bloodstains were imprinted on the branches and leaves from their struggle.

Although they were people from the immortal sects who had seen many demonic calamities, the impact of this scene still made them gasp and speechless for a long time.

The common people are so innocent, how could they suffer such a great calamity?
"Judging from the bloodstains and the condition of the corpse, this must have happened within the last two days."

"That skinner deserves to die!"

Amidst his angry curses, the Taoist in blue robes pulled out a tinderbox from his sleeve. As soon as he opened the tinderbox, wisps of black smoke rose up. The Taoist then breathed out a furious breath at the tinderbox, and in an instant, the flames swept through, turning the black smoke into bright flames, instantly turning the tragic scene in the forest into a sea of ​​fire.

The young man in blue glanced at the forest fire but showed little sign of melancholy. He then turned and continued to gaze southeast.

Several miles away, two faceless paper demons roamed the countryside. These faceless and aimless paper demons searched the mountains; they were his eyes and ears, and also his henchmen.

Paper figures are instruments, orthodox paper ritual implements, creations of Lingnan paper-cutting art and Taoist magic. All paper implements require the practitioner's mental control; they are the practitioner's weapons!
Li Qing, however, took a shortcut. Unlike the previous owner of "The Secret Record of Paper Spirits," who spent half his life studying the art of spiritual cultivation, he directly chose the forbidden, quick-fix evil method.

But those two faceless paper figures are different; they can be called rampant for the time being. The root of their rampant nature lies in the taboos of the evil path. They are evil spirits that are kept, controlled, and manipulated.

By establishing rules with paper figures, a part of the ghost was contained and nurtured. After being cultivated, this thing was very easy to control. It followed the sorcerer's constraints, yet unconsciously followed the ghost's instincts to roam around.

The paper ghosts roamed everywhere, like true ghosts wandering among the villages...

suddenly.

Changes occurred suddenly.

A pair of pale white ghostly hands appeared out of thin air and, before the two could react, pressed down on their shoulders, one on the left and one on the right.

What's even more chilling is that those hands have no palm lines, no veins, no nails. They look like human skin that has just been pulled out of a deep, sunless pool and soaked in water. They carry a bone-chilling coldness that is about to invade the two people's bodies!
The owner of these ghostly hands has set its sights on these two fine human skins.

However, before the human-skinned scoundrel could completely peel off the two human skins, the ghostly hands suddenly felt a burning pain as if burned by something, let out a miserable scream, and quickly withdrew their hands.

"what!"

On each of these delicate, boneless ghost wrists, a purplish-blue, bruised ghost handprint, the color of a dead infant's skin, appeared. The handprints were also making a hissing sound and wisps of green smoke were rising from them.

"Hee hee hee……"

This was accompanied by a sinister laugh that sounded like a conspiracy had succeeded, and the two people standing side by side slowly turned around.

They don't even have faces on the front!

Those were actually two faceless paper demons, and the hands hidden in the sleeves of one of the demons were a purplish-blue bruise that didn't look like those of a living person. This was probably the culprit behind those two ghostly palm prints.

The ghostly faces of starving ghosts and hanged ghosts, the bruised claws of infant ghosts...

That was the remains of a great ghost, on par with, or even more ferocious than, the Skin-Peeling Ghost and Master Ma!
Even if Li Qing's methods of refining spirit beasts are still crude, how could this mere derivative human skin demon possibly withstand the curse of the infant ghost?

Within a few breaths, the bruised and purplish-blue ghost handprint began to spread until the entire human skin began to mold and rot, eventually turning into a puddle of mud.

The two pieces of paper grinned, their blank faces glancing at each other in a very eerie way.

In an instant, it was as if your two paper-headed bodies were forcibly taken over by something. After a jolt, you suddenly raised your head and looked eastward towards Shanyang County.

There, dark clouds gathered in a way that defied logic, their tops hanging so low that it seemed one could jump up and touch them.

A continuous drizzle began to fall from the dark clouds.

Suddenly a strong wind arose, and strands of spiritual paper drifted with it, folding into paper raincoats and armor, which were then draped over the two paper demons. Braving the continuous drizzle, they headed headlong into the dark clouds without hesitation...

"It's that rainy night again. This direction is—Togo!"

At the same time, Yu Wen, a Taoist disciple in blue robes more than ten miles away, frowned and sensed the unusual fluctuations in the world.

The heavens have six qi, namely yin and yang, wind and rain, darkness and light. The six qi circulate and cause the changes of the four seasons.

However, at this moment, the gloomy and rainy atmosphere in Shanyang County remained unchanged, but suddenly such a large area of ​​dark clouds and rain appeared. It is likely that, just as this senior brother Li guessed, that skinning evil ghost possesses the trick of praying for rain!

In Shanyang County, a terrifying aura instantly streaked across the sky, tearing through the dark clouds and rushing into Dongxiang.

It seems that old ghost Ma's house was raided?

Yu Wen stepped down two paces from Li Qing, and they stood together on one side of the hill, gazing towards the direction of Dongxiang.

The great dragon Danzhu was still rolling around in the grass at the foot of the mountain, chasing butterflies and dragonflies, having a great time. He didn't know what his senior brother wanted to do, so he tentatively asked:

"That skinning devil has finally reappeared, Dongxiang! Let's see if that old devil from the Ma family dares to harbor a bandit for his own benefit?"

"Senior Brother Li, what do you think?"

The young man in blue picked up the pale white lantern with one hand, glanced at Danqiu below the hill, and slowly headed down the mountain.

"Let's go take a look..." A torrential downpour began to fall on half of the mountainside.

Dongxiang and Pingyuan Townships are located on the fertile plains east of Shanyang, which is also the core area of ​​this rainy season.

The shamans and local militia of the Ma clan in Shanyang were currently wearing straw raincoats and hurrying towards the ancestral hall.

However, just as the Ma family's militia were galloping along the main road on their tall horses, several men behind them suddenly groaned and fell into a puddle on the road, horse and all.

"Useless trash! Have you been eating for free for twenty or thirty years? You haven't even mastered the art of manipulating the beasts. How did our clan end up with so many useless people like you!"

The elderly man at the head of the group, wearing a black cloak, heard the voice behind him, stopped his galloping warhorse with one hand, turned around and shouted angrily.

The knights waited for a long time, but when the others did not catch up, they sensed something was wrong.

He then ordered two more villagers to run back for another dozen or so feet, but to no avail. So they dismounted and went to check.

They were terrified when they saw it, and they screamed in fright.

"Elder, they...they've been skinned alive!"

At this moment, the six or seven knights and their horses were overturned and lay in the puddle. Their bodies under their cloaks were covered in blood and flesh, and the dripping blood quickly stained the ground red.

How is that possible? How could I have fallen for it so easily in front of everyone?

Is it because this monstrous rain is unbearable? Or is there some sinister force lurking in the shadows?
The clan elder, a shaman, silently surveyed the surroundings. In a fleeting moment, inspiration struck, and his eyes met those of a pair of cloudy eyes in the rain. The elder immediately sensed something was wrong, feeling that malice lurked everywhere in the dimly lit wilderness, and that evil spirits were hiding in the shadows, ready to skin them alive.

"Human blood paves the way, horses serve as boats, and ghosts from the mountains visit the village."

"At midnight, the sun's first rays are nowhere to be seen; at dawn, the yaksha breaks into the grave."

"Please, Third Ancestor, possess me!"

The old man dared not delay any longer, biting his index finger as blood spurted out, muttering a chant...

In a short while, a powerful will descended, and through the bamboo forest along the road, it seemed as if wet hair was hanging down, shrouding it in a ghostly aura. Then, from who knows where, a creaking sound suddenly rang out.

The spilled blood continued to flow onto the path, eventually creating a large crack in the dim bamboo forest, revealing a narrow path. The surroundings were dark and gloomy, with only the blood-stained bluestone path leading to an unknown place.

"Men, let's go!"

The old shaman, wary of his surroundings, dared not linger any longer. With a flick of his whip, he charged headlong into the path.

The knights and local militia behind them were not to be outdone, and braved the strangely dark path, swarming in...

After a long while, figures slowly rose from the puddles around them. At first, they were pieces of human skin as plain as paper, but soon these human skin figures were inflated and bulged out. In seven or eight breaths, they were no different from ordinary people.

Unfortunately, the Ma family of Shanyang is a clan of ghosts that roam the night, and they have their own ways of escaping from those evil spirits!
The ghostly figures lost their target, listlessly averted their gaze, and then deflated one by one, slowly sinking back into the puddles...

Inside the Ma Clan Ancestral Hall, an old man in official robes looked up at the dark clouds and rain, his face gloomy, and he gritted his teeth, saying:

"That damn thing, its appetite is getting bigger and bigger."

"They've got their eyes on the Zhu family of the Ma family?"

Just now, two elders of the shaman clan who had just returned from Shanyang County were skinned and had their eyes gouged out, and he was unable to stop them in time.

What a bastard!
Just as he was feeling resentful, another old man, leaning on a cane and hunched over, came from the ancestral hall. He was helped by three or five descendants and walked to the ancestral spirit.

"Third Ancestor, make your move! I have already ordered the altar to be dismantled and destroyed."

"That great demon has already brought disaster to thousands of people! If we wait any longer, it might really gain momentum."

This is an old Taoist priest who still possesses spiritual power, and he appears to have had spiritual power flowing through all his acupoints and central dantian.

This was once a top-ranking Daoist disciple from Liuling Mountain in Qingping Prefecture!
He was too old, over 190 years old, and had reached the limit of the Qi Refining Realm. In addition, his hidden injuries had recurred. He left his sect and returned to his hometown, waiting to die peacefully and return his soul to this land.

But he hadn't lost his insight; he was not blind to the underlying reasons for the ghostly afflictions.

The lax defenses of Shanyang led to this great disaster, and the ghostly affliction is getting worse. Ma San, that filthy idiot, isn't he just sticking his neck out to try and lift this pot?
"You idiot, stop talking nonsense! Just lie in your house and wait to die. Didn't I, your ancestor, take action? If it weren't for me protecting the people of the six villages, they would all be dead long ago!"

"What do you know?"

Ma San instantly flew into a rage, revealing his true form as a green-skinned ghost. His face was ashen, as if he wanted to devour someone, nearly scaring the old man's descendants to the point of madness.

"If I, Ancestor, don't take a gamble, how will I ever have the chance to travel by day?"

"Besides our ancestor, who else can I rely on in the clan? You outsiders who have joined the immortal sects and will serve them like slaves for the rest of your lives, never once looking back at the clan?"

"Back then, our ancestor begged you to steal a piece of Yin Spirit Bone from the Six Spirits Mountain! You refused no matter what, otherwise, how could things have come to this..."

The old ghost was furious, so furious it consumed him. He wanted to travel by day; he dreamed of the spirits of the underworld traveling by day!

But before he could even offer incense for a few days, that skinning ghost became increasingly rampant, and that brat from the South Temple deserved to die!
Am I, your ancestor, not able to protect the people of the six villages?

The ancestral spirit was so tyrannical that the old man could no longer tolerate it. He slammed his peachwood staff on the ground, causing half of the hall floor to crack open, and pointed at Ma San's nose, cursing him.

"You idiot, keep being arrogant! You're just waiting to die!"

"That skinning demon killed so many people. If the magistrate of Shanyang loses his official hat, do you think you're nothing?"

"You even made me risk burning the sky lanterns to steal the Yin Spirit Bone from the Six Spirits Mountain for you? You old ghost, you have quite the nerve!"

"Hundreds of lives, do you think you can bear that burden? Use your pig brain to think carefully, what do you have to bear it with? Do you have anyone above you? Are you under the tutelage of any underworld general or lady?"

"You idiot, if you can't handle this, you might as well just wait to die!"

The green-skinned ghost and the old man immediately started arguing in the ancestral hall. The shocking details of their argument were so shocking that the many descendants of the Ma family dared not listen or speak of them.

Are there no normal people in the Ma family of Shanyang? Yes, there are many! Of course they know that this old ghost is going to cause a great disaster, but who can defy such a ghost?

Old Man Ma was also getting old, and could no longer exert the strength of a mid-grade Daoist disciple. He also gave his beast taming skills to the disciples in the sect.

Aside from Ma Yuan from Pingyuan Township, who had just been promoted to a high-grade Daoist disciple that day, he was also preoccupied with demon-slaying missions in the southwestern mountains...

The rain was getting closer and closer. The villagers from the six villages gathered in the eastern part of the village, and the shamans of the Ma family were even more powerful. Could that skinning ghost really miss this excellent collectible?

(End of this chapter)