I Killed Gods and Demons in Song Dynasty

Chapter 77 The First Case

Jiang Ping cleared his throat and introduced himself to him:
"It happened at the Gaosheng Inn in the east of the city. A few days ago, a guest checked into the third room there, but he didn't go out for three consecutive days. There was also a special foul smell coming from the room.

"At the same time, some residents downstairs complained that they often heard footsteps coming from upstairs late at night, which disturbed their rest.

“At first, the innkeeper didn’t take it seriously and just asked a few strong men to go in and check the situation, but the strange thing was that they never came out after they went in.

"The shopkeeper then began to get scared and quickly reported to the inspection office. The responsible official sent several officers to check, but they also disappeared.

"Until now, the door of Room No. 3 is still closed, and no one knows what happened inside. The Inspection Office cannot handle this special case, so they had to report the matter to us.

"Yunrui, take some people to investigate and see what evil spirit is causing this trouble."

Bai Yunrui nodded, took the file and said:

"Okay, Uncle Four, I understand."

In the next half hour, everyone in Kaifeng Prefecture began to discuss the cases at hand and exchange ideas with each other.

Li Qingyun spent most of the time listening quietly, occasionally expressing his own opinions. He felt that he had a better understanding of the mysterious world and benefited greatly.

The regular meeting ended quickly, and everyone received their tasks and started to act separately.

Bai Yunrui walked up to Li Qingyun and said, "Qingyun, let's go to Gaosheng Inn, but you must go to Fourth Brother's place to check the spirit seeds first, and then come to gather."

He thought for a moment and added, "Well, let Shuan accompany you."

Li Qingyun muttered in his heart: "Are you afraid that I won't be able to find the way? You are the local boss of East City."

Although he thought so in his heart, he still nodded and agreed.

Then the four of them split into two teams. Bai Yunrui and Han Tianjin went directly to the east of the city, while Li Qingyun followed Fang Shuan to meet Lu Zhen.

……

"Qingyun, you have become stronger again. Are you already in the second realm now?"

In the Kaifeng government office, Lu Zhen looked much better today. He leaned lazily on the couch in his room, holding a piece of paper covered with words in his hand.

When Li Qingyun looked carefully, he recognized that it was the exorcism ritual and materials that Wei Xiuwen had memorized last night.

He scratched the back of his head and smiled:

"Yesterday, I received help from Tianbo Mansion and luckily entered the Qi Refining Realm."

Lu Zhen nodded slightly, but his face did not show much joy. Instead, he warned solemnly:
“I remember telling you that the three orthodox families are blessed by the Supreme God and are less likely to lose control when entering the realm, but this is only limited to normal circumstances.

"Your current improvement speed is so fast that it makes people dumbfounded. For a martial arts practitioner, this is actually not a good thing."

Hearing this, Li Qingyun also restrained his smile and asked:
"Can you explain it in detail, Brother?"

He had heard Yang Paifeng's advice and knew that an unstable state of mind could easily lead to loss of control, but he only had a vague impression of the specific reasons and how a martial arts practitioner should stabilize his state of mind. When Lu Zhen mentioned this, he wanted to seek advice.

I only heard Lu Zhen's voice, like the sound of nature, speaking:

“The reason why the three orthodox sects and the four side sects are distinguished is not only because of the three supreme and powerful gods, the God of War, the Taoist Master and the Buddha, but also because of the different methods of cultivation.

"The cultivation of the three paths of martial arts, Taoism, and Buddhism is not subject to the interference of gods, and there is no need to perform sacrificial ceremonies to the corresponding gods when they are promoted. They become stronger through their own cultivation and progress, step by step, letting nature take its course. The chance of losing control is much smaller than that of the four side doors of spiritualism, witchcraft, Confucianism, and incense.

"The Taoists cultivate a breath of innate true qi, the Buddhists cultivate the golden body of the Dharma, and the martial arts practitioners temper their own body of desire.

"Among them, martial arts practitioners have the slowest and most difficult progress, but they also have the lowest chance of losing control. This is a rule summed up by countless powerful people over thousands of years. There are two main reasons for this.

"First, warriors are different from Buddhist and Taoist monks. When they advance, they do not have dangerous breakthrough methods such as 'breaking the elixir', 'slaying the three corpses', 'rebuilding the golden body', or 'rebirth in Nirvana'. Although the improvement of strength is slow and cannot be achieved overnight, the whole process is extremely smooth, so it is very easy to keep the physical and mental state stable. It is difficult for their cultivation to fluctuate greatly and for their extraordinary power to backfire.

"Secondly, warriors are the only ones who cannot improve their realm by practicing in seclusion. To become stronger, they must constantly fight with others, accumulate a lot of practical experience, and transform their own cultivation into combat power through the tempering of life and death, and comprehend a fighting method that is more suitable for them.

“Therefore, their mental state is often more resilient than that of other practitioners, especially those at a high level. All of them are butchers with blood on their hands. Such people have a heart as hard as a rock, and it is almost impossible for their rationality to collapse.

"And your current situation does not meet these two points. First, you are improving too quickly. You do not have enough time to absorb all the extraordinary power, which makes you vulnerable to backlash. Secondly, you lack practical experience and your foundation is unstable, which can easily lead to a mental collapse. Do you understand?"

Li Qingyun nodded cautiously, as this coincided with his idea. However, what Lu Zhen didn't know was that his ability came from the infusion of supernatural powers. He had spent thousands of times more time and energy than others to accommodate his extraordinary power, so there would be no problem of improving too quickly.

As for practical experience, he indeed lacks it, but he has lived two lives and died once, so in terms of mentality he may not be inferior to others.

Moreover, Mu Guiying only gave him one year to reach the fourth level. The pressure was huge, and he had to hurry up...

But no matter what, he was very grateful for Lu Zhen's advice and continued to ask:
"Fourth brother, where does supernatural power come from? Why do all practitioners consider suppressing the backlash of supernatural power as the most important thing?"

Lu Zhen hesitated for a while before answering:

"As far as I know, no one can give a definite answer to this question. Supernatural powers are like the shadow of some higher being from outer space projected on our world, and we cultivators, no matter which path we take, are like blind men touching an elephant. Some touch the long nose, some touch the flat round ears, and some touch the thick legs. We can only understand one aspect of it, but cannot piece together the whole picture.

“For warriors, the true qi that comes from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is extraordinary power.

“For spiritual practice, those illusory gifts from dreams, thoughts, fate and even the spirit world are extraordinary powers.

“Buddhism, Taoism, other side sects, and even the secret evil sects such as Demon Dao and Hades Dao all have their own understandings, but no one can give an accurate statement.

“We can only be sure of one thing, that is, possessing and using these extraordinary powers is not without cost, and they cannot be eliminated, but can only be suppressed.

"The stronger the cultivator's power, the closer he is to the abyss, so everyone is trying to balance the negative effects of extraordinary power and avoid degenerating into a monster that has lost its mind."

"Fourth Brother, besides consolidating my realm and gaining practical experience, what else can I do to avoid losing control?"

Lu Zhen nodded and said:

“In addition to the previous two points, we also need to maintain a kind and loving heart.

"Martial artists practice the art of killing. Every move and every form is designed to be fierce and vicious, either cutting off someone's limbs or injuring their vital parts. Especially in battle, they must hold on to this thought in order to win. Over time, they will inevitably be affected by these violent emotions. Even if they don't lose control, their personality will easily deviate and they will become cold-blooded and bloodthirsty killers.

“Therefore, in our daily practice and life, we should pay special attention to using compassion to resolve hostility.

"In fact, many warriors practice some Buddhist and Taoist methods, using a compassionate attitude or a quiet and inaction mindset to balance their dark side. As long as you have the energy to spare, you might as well give it a try.

"In short, in my opinion, being a kind person with a strong will is your greatest weapon against losing control."

He stopped talking and began to help Li Qingyun check the spirit seed. After finding no problem, he continued, "The structure of the exorcism ritual you gave me is quite strange. It doesn't seem to be an exorcism, but more like a summoning."

After these words came out, Li Qingyun and Fang Shuan looked at each other and said in unison:
"call?"

Lu Zhen nodded:
“Yes, many details can only be explained as summoning spells. However, my knowledge of the mysterious world is limited, so perhaps my interpretation is not entirely correct.

"I have sent someone to copy a copy and send it to Sanqing Palace for my master, 'Eastern Hero', to have him re-interpret it."

This was the first time Li Qingyun heard Lu Zhen mention his mentor, and he had no idea who the Eastern Hero was. When he was wondering, Fang Shuan explained:

"Uncle Lu's master is the Eastern Hero 'Black Demon Fox' Zhi Huazhi. He is not comfortable addressing him by his name, so I spoke for him."

Lu Zhen nodded:
"My master is very knowledgeable in this area and will definitely give a complete answer. We just need to wait for his good news."

……

Gaosheng Inn, in front of room number 3.

Bai Yunrui and Han Tianjin stood in front of a closed wooden door with serious expressions.

"Brother Han, gather a spirit and go explore the way."

Bai Yunrui pondered for a moment and said solemnly.

"Okay!" Han Tianjin responded loudly and heroically, and then gently knocked one end of the iron stick against the ground. Suddenly, a golden light flashed, and the power of incense quickly condensed.

A moment later, a short golden man was born in the golden light. He had a nose and eyes, a chubby head, and looked very cute.

This is a spiritual body condensed by the power of incense, which is equivalent to a clone of Han Tianjin. Although its combat ability is limited, it possesses part of his consciousness and keen five senses, making it suitable to be a pathfinder.

As soon as the little golden man appeared, he jumped to the wooden door, pressed his whole body upwards, and then turned into a golden shadow. Like a thin piece of paper, he slipped through the tight gap in the door.

Although Bai Yunrui has an arrogant personality, he has been handling cases for many years and has rich experience. He knows that he cannot rush in under such circumstances, and must first conduct an investigation, find out the situation inside, and then make corresponding preparations.

Of course, when the time comes to take action, the sword behind him, "Golden Dragon Scale Lightning Chop", will show no mercy.

The moment the golden shadow entered the room, Han Tianjin's expression suddenly became extremely focused. All his energy was concentrated on the split spirit body, relying on its vision to observe the situation inside.

Suddenly, his eyes were filled with bloodshot, and densely packed tiny blood vessels bulged and swollen, some even burst directly.

Han Tianjin's vision suddenly turned blood red, and it felt as if someone had stabbed a steel knife into the back of his head, causing it to churn and churn in excruciating pain.

"what!"

He screamed, squatted on the ground with his head in his hands, his strong body like a hill curled up into a ball, his eyes closed, and two lines of blood and tears slowly flowed out from between his eyes.

Bai Yunrui was startled when he saw this. Without thinking too much, he immediately put his palm on Han Tianjin's shoulder and continuously injected the powerful innate pure yang energy into his body.

"Brother Han, how are you?"

While speaking, he had already prepared for the battle. The internal energy in his body surged, even causing a whirlwind in a small area.

But before Han Tianjin could answer, a heavy friction sound rang in his ears.

“Squeak… squeak…”

The tightly closed wooden door suddenly opened slowly... A strong stench and an indescribable chill came from inside.

Bai Yunrui turned his head and saw a thick darkness surging inside the door, like a bottomless inky whirlpool, which bred and hid countless unknown horrors, forming a sharp contrast with the bright daytime outside the door with birds singing and flowers blooming.

At this moment, this door seemed like a hidden dividing line, separating two completely different time and space. Light and darkness met here, like a real nightmare, which made people shudder.

Bai Yunrui's face was as gloomy as water, and a sharp light flashed in his bright eyes. His right hand holding the knife instinctively clenched the "Golden Dragon Scale Lightning Strike" and suddenly drew the knife out of the sheath.

The sound of a dragon's roar was heard, and a cold light suddenly appeared, as rippling as autumn water. A golden lightning flashed in the air, and the terrifying pure yang energy gushed out, like the rising sun, driving away the darkness.

However, just when the sword was half out of the sheath, his eyes suddenly became deep and calm. He slowly loosened his hand, allowing the blade to make a crisp sound before retracting into the sheath.

There may be survivors in the room. Although the hope is slim, we must not be reckless and impulsive and accidentally hurt innocent people.

If it were the impatient and stubborn Jade-faced Little Damo two years ago, who acted faster than his brain, he would never have hesitated like this. He would have chopped the entire Gaosheng Inn in two with a single blow of his sword, taking the evil spirit and the house together.

But after two years of service, he has learned to restrain himself and is no longer the Bai Yunrui who acted on impulse and did things without considering the consequences.

At this moment, Han Tianjin stood up and wiped the blood and tears from his face with his rough hands, his broad shoulders drooping slightly:

“I can’t find my spirit.”

His muffled voice sounded particularly aggrieved at this moment, like a child who had lost his favorite toy and was looking for a little understanding and comfort.

Bai Yunrui patted his shoulder:

"As long as he's alright, what did you see?"

Han Tianjin shook his head:

"I didn't see anything. When my spirit went in, I saw only darkness, and then it lost contact with me. But I could feel that it was inside waiting for me to save it."

Can this place isolate the connection between spirits?

Bai Yunrui sneered:
"What a formation that forbids exploration. Since I can't use my spirit to explore the way, I will go in and take a look myself. Second brother, you wait here. I will go and bring your spirit out."

Han Tianjin rubbed his big hands unnaturally and asked in a low voice:
"Should we wait for Fang Shuan and Li Qingyun..."

"No need!"

As he spoke, Bai Yunrui had already activated his innate pure yang internal energy. A layer of soft golden light instantly enveloped his body. He stepped forward and walked into the darkness.

His handsome face, as sharp as a knife, was clearly outlined in the light, as handsome as a sculpture. A faint glow covered his entire body, like a layer of exquisite armor, making him look like a god of war.

Bai Yunrui may have learned to be calm and think, but he still has the arrogance and pride of the Bai family. Even if there is an abyss ahead, he will step forward without hesitation...

……

(End of this chapter)