With virtue

The area where this forest is located has neither official roads nor villages around it. It is a wild forest that Zhao Yunshu has never been to before, and it is a relatively difficult map for wilderness survival.

However, it is precisely in such a place that the people of Lushan can hide, and it would be impossible to send people to search the mountain.

In this era, even if cultivators searched the mountains together, it would be difficult to carry out their activities in such a place. Therefore, many bandits lived in the mountains and were thus called "mountain bandits." Even knowing that they lived in such places, it would be difficult to deal with them.

It seems that the hiding place of those black-headed sorcerers is right here.

He took a deep breath and, without stopping to wait, quietly slipped into the woods, taking advantage of their concealment.

The black-headed sorcerers chose this place for secrecy, isn't that a coincidence? Zhao Yunshu also needs secrecy right now. You can use the forest to conceal your tracks, so can the little Taoist priest.

As soon as Zhao Yunshu entered the forest, less than a quarter of an hour later, a chilling wind suddenly began to blow around him.

As if the yang energy in his body had stirred something, a series of mournful wails came from all directions, some near and some far. It was hard to tell whether it was the howling of the mountain wind or something real wailing and crying.

But, at this very moment...

Suddenly, dozens of gray-white ghostly figures emerged from the shadows all around. These ghostly figures were in different postures and states. Some had disheveled hair, some had no skin and were covered in blood, some were holding babies, some had knife handles stuck in their chests, some had severed hands and feet, some were covered in blood and dark purple bruises, some had blood mixed with clear water coming from their noses, some had their intestines protruding, some had large patches of purple-red skin and contracted flesh, some had yellowish-green pus flowing out, and some were bloated and rotting corpses with maggots feeding on them. Each of them had a distorted face, covered with old sores, boils, and new wounds.

Countless ghosts and monsters, countless remains, and endless cries echoed through the darkness. A pool of blood seemed to appear before him, rotting flesh and blood splattering everywhere, mad souls and vengeful spirits swirling about, and a heavy, eerie wind howled. From this wind, dozens of various ghostly figures burst forth from all directions, surrounding Zhao Yunshu completely.

In an instant, the yin energy surged like a tide, the grass and trees bowed low, and ghostly figures transformed into corpses and crawled out.

A chilling wind howled, terrifying even ghosts; severed limbs and broken arms dripped with blood.

Bones, tendons, skin, and flesh were all broken, and the forest was stained black with blood.

The ghost's wailing frightened the birds away; those who died unjustly and tragically were left heartbroken.

The phosphorescent flames flickered, and the souls fled in terror, their cries echoing from one side to the other.

Such power and terror were immediately apparent and clearly not normal.

This could never be a wandering spirit in the wild; rather, it is an evil spirit deliberately raised in this forest by someone using a formation. If any living person accidentally enters, they will only be torn to pieces by the horde of ghosts.

These ghosts appear to have been tortured to the point of losing their minds, possessing only instincts, and are likely used for alerting and automatic defense.

As the horde of ghosts pounced on him, seemingly intent on crushing and devouring him...

However, Zhao Yunshu remained calm and unhurried.

He closed his eyes and began to introspect. In his inner vision, the image of the ghost general Zhou Heng gradually emerged. He focused his mind on depicting the image within his inner vision, and the ghost general's phantom became more and more detailed, more and more solid, and more and more closely resembled the image of the ghost general in his visualization. He was using his own thoughts as a paintbrush to personally paint the appearance of the ghost general.

In this way, the increasingly detailed ghost general transformed into a phantom like a spirit behind him, slowly expanding from his body, from the inside out, manifesting according to his thoughts. A chilling aura emanated from his body, pressing down in all directions.

But then, behind the young Taoist priest, stood a general in bright armor, wielding a ghost-headed saber, his eyes burning with two points of blood red as he looked at the hundred ghosts before him.

The malevolent aura dispersed the gloomy wind, and the blood-red eyes resembled two blood moons. In just an instant, the surrounding atmosphere changed.

With so many evil spirits around, it should have been a hellish scene, but... the hell before my eyes was as laughable as a child in front of that ghost general.

He could create hundreds of vengeful spirits from a mere few dozen innocent deaths in a single battle, and a single massacre of a city could produce hundreds of thousands of vengeful ghosts. He had seen far too many of these.

An aura even more ferocious than the evil spirits that filled the mountain surged over the so-called evil spirits like a raging tide.

The malevolent aura was so strong that even battle-hardened ghost soldiers would prostrate themselves before it, let alone these lonely ghosts who had been captured by the black-headed sorcerer with evil magic and enslaved by fear and curses.

Just that one glance.

The howling of ghosts that filled the mountains suddenly ceased.

The ghosts no longer showed any sign of their malevolence; their previous bizarre forms had all disappeared. They trembled like leaves, some kneeling on the ground with a thud, others collapsing to their sides. A few of the most timid ones were so frightened that they even lost their original form, becoming nothing more than a wisp of black mist spinning around in place.

Seeing their state, Zhao Yunshu knew they were only driven by instinct, their minds probably long since extinguished. So he simply raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Silence." The dozens of evil spirits didn't even dare to whimper, but lay prostrate on the ground, trembling.

From the moment the yin wind rose to the moment he was subdued by the ghost general, only two or three breaths had passed; he should not have been discovered by the people inside.

"That direction leads to the City God Temple. Go straight there, and someone will take you in. But don't move now. Wait for me to call you before you leave," Zhao Yunshu said to the group of evil spirits.

Although they lacked intelligence, they were clearly capable of understanding speech. At this moment, they resembled more of animals, so after being reprimanded by Zhao Yunshu, they quickly disappeared and hid in the shadows.

Zhao Yunshu ignored them and continued walking along the road. After walking for a while, the surrounding trees began to thin out, and the faint light of fire began to appear ahead.

Upon arriving here, Zhao Yunshu dispelled the ghost general's phantom image and carefully crawled forward, using the bushes in the forest to conceal himself.

He found a suitable pit, surrounded by trees and plenty of fallen leaves. He suppressed his aura, focused his inner energy on his body, controlled everything that was emanating outwards, and even closed his pores.

So he lay on the ground and looked at the firelight not far away.

There, you can see a cleared forest clearing. Behind the clearing is a mountain wall with natural caves inside. Several large torches are burning brightly inside, illuminating three figures.

The three people, all dressed in Taoist robes, were a burly man, an old man, and a middle-aged man. They each found a place to sit down in the cave.

Before them were some magical artifacts used in incantations. They weren't anything valuable, but they were clearly being refined using special methods to turn these ordinary things into protective charms.

This is a painstaking process. There are so many amulets and a great many objects needed for suppression, each of which must be prepared manually by the practitioner, making it quite troublesome. Although the refining of these objects is not particularly difficult, like making ritual implements, there is no shortcut. The practitioner must go through rituals such as visualization, chanting mantras, enshrining, and focusing their mind to infuse the objects with external energy, the power of incense and prayers, or incantations in order to achieve a lasting suppressive effect.

It seems that even if the Lushan Sect had put in a tremendous amount of effort to create so many amulets, using these black-headed sorcerers like cattle and horses, they would have had to go to great lengths to gather so many talismans.

The three of them were chanting incantations, clearly having been working overtime for a while. Each of them had more than a dozen talismans piled up beside them, which made the young Taoist priest sigh.

If a young Taoist priest were to perform the rituals himself, he could probably make two or three pieces a day, but then he would definitely have a splitting headache and be completely exhausted. These people... they really are diligent...

Even if you're doing something bad, you still have to work overtime, otherwise you won't be able to do anything, let alone anything bad.

But no matter what, we've finally found the right person.

Zhao Yunshu listened to their chanting and was calculating their progress, wondering when she should enter, when the old man opened his eyes and said, "You've been gone so long, why haven't you returned yet?"

As soon as he spoke, the other two also stopped chanting and put down their work as if taking a break. The burly man spoke first, saying, "It would be better if he were dead. An He's seven souls would be left for us to serve. So many lies, they gave me a headache."

The old man just laughed and said, "That's true. Anhe has suffered a setback this time. They didn't have many chips left to begin with. With that woman dead, her soul will definitely be drawn here by the soul-guiding spell. It's a good thing that the Taoist didn't come after us. If he had, it would have been even better. We've been raising dogs for others all these years, so we should get some compensation."

Zhao Yunshu, who was lying in the grass, felt a sudden tightness in his heart upon hearing these words.

Sure enough, that woman came here to die. After I was lured here, the other party must have prepared something to deal with me.

It just seems... while Dingzhou isn't very united, Lushan doesn't seem to be a monolithic entity either. Go to Bing and search for "Deqi" to see the latest chapter!

He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and observed the situation.

These three people all appear to be skilled in cultivation. Since they are working together, they must have made prior preparations. They are not just assassins, but formidable individuals with genuine magical abilities. Rushing out to fight them all alone would likely result in a loss.

Let's listen to what they have to say again.

But then the old man scratched his head and suddenly laughed as he spoke: "Anhe's trip to Dingzhou this time has really made me laugh. I thought he was going to show off his power, but he went out on his own without a protector, wanting to eat alone. As a result, he got his body chopped off. He really suffered a terrible fall."

"I heard that when he left, he said he had already succeeded and no longer needed anyone to protect him. He said that with the seven souls he had picked up, he had acquired the swordsmanship of Yuntai Temple, and from then on, he no longer needed protectors and had no more weaknesses in his physical body. Haha, he really has no more weaknesses in his physical body. This time, he even lost his physical body!"

His words were full of schadenfreude. There are many factions in Lushan Blackhead, especially the Anhe faction. They cultivate the control of the soul and the yin spirit, focusing mainly on sex and paying less attention to their own "fate". Therefore, they are not very good at hand combat and mainly rely on magic to make a living.

Therefore, they usually bring their protectors with them when they go out, so that the protectors can buy them time, and then they can safely cast spells from behind.

This is different from places like Longhu Mountain or Yuntai Temple, which emphasize "cultivating both mind and body," and even cultivating the physical body.

However, they all lead to the same goal. With the power of the Soul Control Technique, one can eventually nourish the physical body and achieve the Great Dao.

Anhe thought he had obtained the seven souls of Yuntai Temple and could take this step to help his physical body complete that stage ahead of time. He was so proud of himself that he stumbled at the crucial step.

But at this moment, the middle-aged man sighed and continued, "Although it's good that he died, it's not all good now. He hid away to recover from his injuries, leaving us to clean up the mess for him. Facing this situation alone is really troublesome. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have believed his nonsense and come to Dingzhou with him to cause this war. I should have stayed in Fujian and avoided all this humiliation. I'm making talismans every day, and my head is aching from it." The burly man seemed to feel somewhat relieved as well, and chimed in, "That bastard Anhe always thought he had achieved something in his cultivation and that his Yin spirit was accomplished. He was used to acting tough in front of us. It's good that he's taken a tumble now, so he won't keep putting on airs like an elder and not even looking us in the eye when he speaks to us."

"But if you ask me, it's better that woman is still alive. After all, when war breaks out, it's still up to her to carry the main beam. How can the rest of us shoulder the burden? The more helpers we have, the better."

"But... on the other hand, this time he accidentally broke his physical body, causing his spirit to dissipate. Now he's just a curled-up wisp of a ghost. Isn't this our opportunity? His entire fortune, and that set of talisman brushes—aren't they all valuable? Now that he's in trouble, if he wants our help, he'll have to give us a few of those things. Otherwise, why should we risk our lives for him?"

However, the middle-aged man seemed to calm down and suddenly changed the subject: "But don't be too happy yet. You're right, the few of us can't carry the heavy load. Even if Anhe has taken a big fall, he is still a top figure in the Blackhead. Since he has ordered us to use one of his protectors to intercept and kill that little Taoist priest, we will do as he says."

"Killing that Taoist priest would be to avenge Anhe. If we fail, it doesn't matter. Anhe probably already put a curse on that assassin. As long as she fights that little Taoist priest, she will definitely return with the Taoist priest's secrets so that we can make plans in advance. So whether we succeed or not, we won't lose anything. I just feel sorry for that assassin. We raised her from a young age, deceived her for more than ten years, taught her swordsmanship and martial arts, and even used secret methods to refine her seven souls, allowing her to master swordsmanship in a day and a day. We were hoping that she could be of great use. Now we're just throwing her away like this. It's really a waste of talent."

His tone was full of regret, but there was not a trace of reluctance.

The old man chuckled and said, "So be it, he's just a suicide soldier. We can raise another one. In this chaotic world, how many orphans are there?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yunshu understood what was going on.

As expected, he's a black-headed sorcerer.

It's so dark.