In the eerie, ghostly dark chamber, the sound of ’whimpering’ never ceased.
Chen Jichuan staggered with every step, forcing himself to sit cross-legged atop the Yin Altar.
Calming his mind, regulating his breath.
His entire life—
he had achieved mastery of external strength, cultivated into Transforming Strength. His inner skills were secondary, reaching the Postnatal level. His Daoist Skills lagged further behind; there was still a long way to go to reach the Soul Ergence stage.
And the ’Plow Head Curse’ cast by Qizhenzi struck directly at Chen Jichuan’s Divine Soul.
A matter of Observation level.
His Divine Soul was resilient, rooted in the solid foundation of his Transforming Strength physique, yet he still couldn’t withstand the ’Plow Head Curse.’
"Transforming Strength."
"Postnatal."
"Observation."
Chen Jichuan pondered over his achievents, recalling the three paths of cultivation he’d encountered—
The first was external skills.
Encompassing both external boxing and Inner Boxing.
The likes of the ’Chen’s 72 Skills,’ advancing step by step from Ming Strength to dark strength, and then to Transforming Strength. First tempering the flesh, skin, muscles, and bones, then training the internal organs, and finally reaching the marrow.
As for what lay beyond—
Chen Jichuan had no understanding. Right now, he was stuck at the initial stage of ’Transforming Strength,’ still unable to freely temper his bone marrow.
The second was internal skills.
Cultivation techniques like the ’Divine Pouncing Saber’ and ’Ghost Fall Sword’ that Chen Jichuan obtained in the real world, or the ’Tiger Subduing Fist’ cultivated by Ban Zhao and Ban Ya in the Da Liang World, were all part of internal skills.
These were divided into three realms: Embryonic Breathing, Postnatal, and Innate, akin to the ’Ming, Dark, Transforming’ progression in external skills.
Each had its strengths and weaknesses, none inherently superior to the other.
Internal skills cultivated inner breath and Inner Strength, which flowed through the ridians. The practitioner absorbed Essence Qi to enhance themselves, which could then nourish the body. The process was relatively gentle, and even those at the Embryonic Breathing and Postnatal levels could moderately prolong their lifespan.
The third was Daoist Skills.
The ’Taiyin Refining Body Technique’ and ’Five Ghosts Yin Soldiers Skill’ were both Daoist Skills. anwhile, abilities like the ’Circular Light Skill’ and the ’Transformation Skill’ could only be classified as Daoist Techniques.
This was unique to the Da Liang World.
At least, in reality, and in the Great Yann World, Chen Jichuan had never encountered practitioners cultivating Daoist Skills.
Daoist Skills also had three realms: ditation, Observation, and Soul Ergence.
These corresponded to the three realms of external skills and internal skills.
In the ditation stage, practitioners could read Daoist Scriptures and subdue their tumultuous thoughts, achieving clarity of mind and banishing stray thoughts. Only then could they perceive their Divine Soul and begin to cultivate techniques to strengthen it.
This stage emphasized accumulation. One could hardly perform proper spells at this point and should refrain from doing so to avoid distraction.
Upon entering the Observation stage, the Divine Soul beca robust and far surpassed that of ordinary people.
At this level, one could start engaging with spells.
Most wandering martial artists with genuine abilities typically operated at this stage—
They had spells at their disposal.
But their power was limited.
With sufficient preparation, they might contend with a master of dark strength or Postnatal level, even with a chance to counterattack against Innate or Transforming Strength practitioners. However, when facing them head-on, as with the Five Ghost Daoist back then, even a re dark strength or Postnatal practitioner could crush them.
Their combat strength was difficult to quantify.
It depended heavily on the circumstances of the situation.
Currently, this was the stage Chen Jichuan was at.
However, he had trained in the ’Five Ghosts Yin Soldiers Skill,’ nurturing five ghosts for an entire sixty-year cycle, and his techniques were so exceptional that they could not be asured by ordinary Daoist standards.
"After Observation."
"Cos Soul Ergence."
"Within the ’Five Ghosts Yin Soldiers Skill,’ higher-level thods require reaching the Soul Ergence realm to activate. My current Daoist progress is insufficient, so I can only risk my life trying!"
Sitting cross-legged on the Yin Altar, Chen Jichuan steeled his resolve and began ditative Observation.
In the sky, no bright moon could be seen.
Beneath the earth, the ground brimd with wandering souls.
Chen Jichuan guarded his mind against disturbances. Only when calm did he rise and take a few Yellow Talismans from the altar. He executed the Gang Step, tossed the talismans mid-air, turning them into flas, and chanted:
The first chant stirs chaos divine; Five Directions Five Paths, Five Ghosts descend upon the altar line.
The second chant stirs confusion astray; Five Directions Five Paths, Five Ghosts gather as they may.
The third chant bridges the worlds divide; Five Directions Five Paths, Five Ghosts descend to abide.
I summon the Eastern Green-faced Five Ghosts, the Western White-faced Five Ghosts, the Southern Red-faced Five Ghosts, the Northern Black-faced Five Ghosts, and the Central Yellow-faced Five Ghosts.
I summon the Eastern Evil God Dan Guixian, the Western Evil God Zhang Zigui, the Southern Evil God Cai Ziliang, the Northern Evil God Lin Dezong, and the Central Evil God Zhang Desong.
The Evil Gods of Five Directions and Ten Paths, Five Ghosts, appear before the altar.
I summon the Half-Heaven Five Ghosts, the Roaming Cloud Five Ghosts, the Iron-armored Mountain Outpost Five Ghosts who block paths and guard routes, the Roaming Village and Robust Five Ghosts, the Five Demonic Waves Five Ghosts, the Official Talisman and Chains Five Ghosts, the Wealth-grabbing City-taking Five Ghosts, the Conflict-cutting Harmful Five Ghosts, the Soul-enchanting and Essence-pulling Five Ghosts, the Yellow Jacket Tail Butterfly Five Ghosts, the Flower-picking and Flower-disrupting Five Ghosts, and the Rebirth-deceiving and Fetus-tricking Five Ghosts.
I summon the Five Directions Ten Paths Yin Mansions and Human World Five Ghosts. Let the Evil Gods co swiftly to the altar for instructions!
...
Executing Gang Steps while burning talismans, he recited spells aloud.
As the chants echoed, sinister ghost energy descended upon the Yin Altar, materializing into the forms of Five Ghosts.
The Five Directions Ten Paths Five Ghosts and their Evil Gods were hard to summon.
But the myriad Five Ghosts Chen Jichuan had cultivated over the years all arrived—counted among them were:
The Five Demonic Waves Five Ghosts.
The Wealth-grabbing City-taking Five Ghosts.
The Conflict-cutting Harmful Five Ghosts.
The Soul-enchanting and Essence-pulling Five Ghosts.
The Yellow Jacket Tail Butterfly Five Ghosts.
The Roaming Village and Robust Five Ghosts.
The Official Talisman and Chains Five Ghosts.
Additionally, there were the Five Camps of Ghost Soldiers, amounting to Five Generals and two hundred ghostly soldiers.
The Five Ghosts Yin Soldiers had fully assembled.
Chen Jichuan grabbed a stack of Yellow Talismans from the altar, tossing them onto the platform where they burst into flas. The fires flickered, transforming into banquet tables laden with offerings.
Each table was filled to the brim with pork, lamb, beef, entire feasts of fine wine and delicacies.
The sight made the Five Ghosts Yin Soldiers salivate.
At Chen Jichuan’s command, they comnced their feast in a whirlwind, devouring everything in no ti.
Only when this was done did Chen Jichuan pick up a dagger from the altar and, without hesitation, plunged it into his chest, withdrawing it swiftly—
Thud!
Fresh blood gushed out instantly.
All of it heart’s blood, spraying onto the altar, sending the Five Ghosts and Yin Soldiers into a frenzy.
Chen Jichuan barely kept his drooping eyelids open, feeling his life force rapidly ebbing away. Propped against the altar, he roared, "Soul-enchanting and Essence-pulling Five Ghosts, where are you?!"
With his shout—
Five streams of ghost energy circled around him.
In the shadows—
A pulling force targeted so unknown place, giving Chen Jichuan an intensely peculiar sensation.
Disoriented.
He seed to glimpse ’himself,’ standing before the altar, weary, blood pouring profusely.
In a haze.
A sudden chill enveloped him.
The cold made Chen Jichuan shiver violently, but when he looked down, he saw ’himself’ collapsing onto the altar with a heavy thud. At that mont, Chen Jichuan finally realized: "I’ve achieved Soul Ergence!"
Looking around—
The Five Directions Ten Paths Five Ghosts and the various Yin Soldiers stood organized and ready for slaughter. Previously they seed indistinct, but now, to his spirit-form eyes, they appeared fully tangible.
Not because the Five Ghosts and Yin Soldiers had beco alive.
But because Chen Jichuan, his soul detached from his body, was now in a ’spirit’ state, belonging to the sa realm as the Five Ghost Yin Soldiers, seamlessly blending in.
In the third realm of Daoist cultivation, ’Soul Ergence,’ the Divine Soul must be robust and stable, capable of withstanding external Yin winds and Yang energies, and able to move freely around the body. In this state, spells and magical powers would significantly amplify.
Chen Jichuan, however, lacked sufficient Daoist cultivation.
He had no choice but to take a desperate, roundabout route, commanding the ’Soul-enchanting and Essence-pulling Five Ghosts’ to pull his soul out, achieving Soul Ergence forcibly!
Yet his Divine Soul was not strong enough.
His soul was far from stable.
If it didn’t return to his body soon, it would dissipate entirely within monts.
But with his heart pierced and body critically injured, he was like a dying flower and withering willow, living on borrowed ti. Furthermore, the ’Plow Head Curse’ lood over him like a hanging blade, granting him but one day to live.
The difference between a mont and a single day hardly mattered.
It only shortened his tiline, so Chen Jichuan didn’t delay. His soul bowed low to the altar and chanted, "Disciple Chen Jichuan beseeches the Five Ghost Generals and Yin Forces to manifest mightily. I command you to seize Qizhenzi of Mount Qian Tongshen Temple, summoning his three souls and seven spirits, along with his twelve Primordial Spirits, to the altar for punishnt. Spirits drive him! Ghosts drive him! Command Qizhenzi’s true soul and pure spirit to be bound at the Yin Altar for sentencing. Mobilize the Evil Soldiers and Evil Generals to move forth, bind and shackle, bring madness to his heart, rendering him delirious and rambling incoherently, scorching him as if consud by fire. By the decree of the Three Mountain Patriarchs."
The chant weakened his spirit.
Chen Jichuan’s soul, already unstable, now seed ragged and loose, as though at any mont a breeze might blow it apart.
Yet the spell was complete.
The Five Ghosts Yin Soldiers obeyed the order. Instantly, the Yin Soldiers crossed into the world of the living, manifesting in daylight. The Five Ghosts took the lead, marching grandly towards Mount Qian.
Atop the Yin Altar:
The Five Ghosts and Seven Evils Charm, Injuring Thieves Talisman, Nail Collection Charm, Soul-locking Charm—all the Yellow Talismans ignited without wind, burning to ash. Their radiant light shot off into unseen distances.
...
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