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墨書 Inktalez
I quickly took out the compass. Logically, this location shouldn't be a path for wandering spirits, so why did it feel like there were spirits passing through here?
The compass reacted clearly, indicating that indeed, spirits were hurrying past us. However, these were just ordinary lost spirits and posed no significant threat. As long as I didn't provoke them, they wouldn't cause me any trouble.
To be safe, I drew a barrier line with Ink Fight Line where they were passing. Master Xiao and Wang Xiaolu were still asleep; when people are sleeping, their yang energy is relatively weak, and the wandering spirits might actually disturb them.
Let me explain about lost spirits. They have a path to Reincarnation, but they can no longer find it. Unlike hurried spirits, which are on their way somewhere, lost spirits are essentially without a path. Dispersing them doesn't incur any punishment. However, hurried spirits are different; they are heading towards Reincarnation and have a time limit for reporting to the underworld. If they are dispersed, they face punishment from below. My master once faced consequences for dispersing a hurried spirit.
As for whether the path to Reincarnation truly leads to immediate Reincarnation, that will be discussed in detail later in Soul Chronicles, so I won't elaborate here.
The spirits I observed this time belonged to the category of lost spirits. I could tell they were lost rather than hurried because this area was on the sunny side of the mountain, and hurried spirits would not traverse sunny areas.
Once I set up the Ink Fight Line, the eerie wind around us diminished instantly. However, this phenomenon was quite unusual; how could a group of lost spirits all be heading in the same direction? If they were truly lost, that shouldn't happen.
By the light of the campfire, I continued to watch the compass. After one or two minutes, seven or eight had already passed by. Spirits kept flowing through this area. When I noticed that the compass showed no further reactions, thirty or so spirits had already gone by. All these spirits were heading towards the same destination—the large mountain that Mao Ruiliang and his group needed to cross.
This made me increasingly worried about them. Places like Cutting Cliff generally don't attract visitors. Judging by the strength of these spirits, they were definitely stronger than those restrained in Human Cave by Red Sun Sect; if we compare it this way: if the spirits in Human Cave that had been exorcised were like kindergarten children, then those passing by just now had abilities akin to junior high school students.
In a real fight, how could an adult compete against several reckless junior high students?
The collective movement of these spirits towards that direction surely had a purpose. The area we were in was merely one of many paths leading upwards; if this situation occurred on every route to the mountain, then Mao Ruiliang and his group would find it impossible to proceed. I couldn't believe these spirits were merely coming to welcome them or throw a farewell party.
Thinking about this sent a chill down my spine. An image popped into my mind: Mao Ruiliang and his five companions setting up a massive Summoning Array to call forth souls. However, they never anticipated that the number of souls summoned would far exceed their expectations. In the end, they would be surrounded by countless spirits and knocked unconscious one by one before being devoured by wild beasts in the mountains.
The more I thought about it, the more serious it seemed. I glanced at my watch; it was only just past three in the morning—still quite early until dawn.
I had to go check it out; if things were as I feared, the consequences would be dire.
Master Xiao's snoring was thunderous; he was so heavy that he snored regardless of his sleeping position. This could very well prevent him from finding a wife in the future. I unzipped his tent and woke him up. He thought it was his turn for Vigil duty and stretched lazily before crawling out.
I explained what I had encountered and my concerns to Master Xiao. He instinctively replied, "Brother Liu, why do I feel like you're meddling? They’re from Zhengyi Sect; why should we worry?" But after some contemplation, he murmured softly, "If that's really the case, then we should indeed go take a look."
Master Xiao never paid attention to his volume when speaking, so Wang Xiaolu also crawled out of the tent to join our discussion.
After a brief discussion, we unanimously decided to check it out. If things were as I suspected, we would need to help them; if these spirits had nothing to do with Mao Ruiliang and his group, then we wouldn't interfere further.
Before setting off, Wang Xiaolu first used the Paper Man to locate the spirits, and when she realized they were not far from us, we decided to hide our backpacks in a thicket. Each of us took our working bags and headed towards that location.
After walking for about two miles, we reached a corner. As we turned it, we could vaguely see flickering lights in the distance. It wasn't that the lights were too far away; rather, the forest was too dense. In reality, the fire was only a few hundred meters from us.
We quickened our pace, and as we approached the fire, we noticed shadows moving around it.
The three of us quickly opened our eyes, and upon doing so, we discovered that there weren't as many spirits around as we had imagined—only about twenty or thirty scattered about, similar to the number that had passed by our camp earlier.
Due to the abundance of trees, we couldn't clearly see the people by the campfire. It wasn't until we got closer that we realized they were strangers—about four or five of them—all dressed in matching blue robes and wearing round mixed-element caps. Each held a sword in their hands. The spirits slowly began to converge around them, but it seemed that their swords did little damage; even when they struck or stabbed, the spirits merely paused for a moment before continuing their slow advance.
"Wow, is this a movie shoot?" Master Xiao muttered as he crouched behind a bush.
If it weren't for the fact that these spirits were real, I would have thought this was a film set—one with a heart-wrenching plot. At this rate, if those few people couldn't hold out until dawn, they would surely be wiped out.
Wang Xiaolu glanced over and said, "Their attire resembles that of our Quanzhen Sect disciples."
"You're right; it does look somewhat similar. In today's society, only those Taoist priests from Quanzhen Sect can dress like that when they're out and about. By the way, Junior Sister, why aren't you wearing your Taoist robes?" Master Xiao seized the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Wang Xiaolu.
Wang Xiaolu replied, "I'm from Kundao; we just established not long ago and don't have such restrictions when we're outside. Liu Shixiong, Xiao Shixiong, let's go help them. I'm afraid they won't last until dawn."
I nodded and said, "Alright, let's use the method we employed in the Human Cave. Sister Wang, you'll handle Soul Guiding while Master Xiao and I take care of collecting souls. By the way, hand over your talismans."
Wang Xiaolu took out five talismans from her bag and handed them to me. I gave two to Master Xiao and then pulled out more than ten soul-collecting talismans while Wang Xiaolu retrieved her Yuanxin. Master Xiao also took out his tools and nodded at us.
The three of us stood up from behind the bushes and walked towards the campfire. When we were still a few meters away, Wang Xiaolu began to strike her Yuanxin and recite incantations. Master Xiao and I moved simultaneously towards the nearest spirits—Soul Requiem, Soul Guiding, collect souls.
As soon as Wang Xiaolu struck her Yuanxin, the pressure on those few people eased significantly. The twenty or so spirits suddenly shifted direction and began to move towards us in large numbers. Master Xiao and I started collecting souls as quickly as possible; under the interference of Yuanxin, their aggressiveness diminished considerably, which greatly aided our soul collection efforts.
In just about ten minutes, all fifteen talismans were filled with souls. If you asked me what I wanted most at that moment, it would definitely be a tool capable of collecting many souls; however, such tools are rare for me and for Taoism as a whole.
After filling all fifteen talismans with souls, there weren't many spirits left. Each of those five individuals was entangled with one spirit; only three remained near Wang Xiaolu. I quickly set up a Soul Sending Array on the ground; without any other distractions left, I decided to send these two spirits away directly.
Once the Soul Sending Array was ready, Wang Xiaolu stopped her incantations and striking of Yuanxin. Master Xiao guided those two spirits into the Soul Sending Array; under my Send Soul incantation's guidance, they slowly vanished.
Compared to the spirits in the Human Cave, these ones were much harder to send away. They had been wandering outside for too long and could no longer distinguish where they truly needed to go.
After I finished sending away the two restless spirits, the five of them still had their own spirits entangled with them. However, they had already gained control of the situation and were starting to collect the souls. Their speed was not much faster than Wang Xiaolu's.
But it made sense; the directions of the Quanzhen Sect and Zhengyi Sect were inherently different. The Zhengyi Sect was deeply influenced by traditional Chinese sorcery, filled with talismans, incantations, and exorcisms, while the Quanzhen Sect focused on inner alchemy, eschewing external elixirs and talismans in favor of cultivating one's nature. They had essentially eliminated the influence of sorcery. Thus, there were very few participants from the Quanzhen Sect in this experience; only Wang Xiaolu was present in the entire Kundao.
The five Quanzhen disciples I unexpectedly encountered here seemed to have chosen a rather niche elective path. However, their characteristics were quite similar to Wang Xiaolu's; they possessed strong Soul Guiding abilities but lacked significantly in soul collection skills.
Each discipline has its specialization, and it was indeed admirable that these cultivators could manage a few tricks when it came to soul collection.
Once they finished collecting their souls, we approached them. They all smiled gratefully at us, and one slightly older man clasped his fists together and said, "Thank you, fellow Daoists, for your assistance. We all come from the Quanzhen Sect."
"Oh, it's an honor to meet true masters," Master Xiao said with a cheeky grin.
...
At six o'clock. New book Soul Chronicles is seeking Golden League votes; please don't vote incorrectly!
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