I Killed Gods and Demons in Song Dynasty

Chapter 99: Faceless Statue
"…Third, after I kill Qiu Wang, I will need his spirit body, and I will also pick one of the remaining spoils of war first."

Mrs. Wei paused, thought for a moment, and then added:
"In return, I can not only help you find his location, but also work together to surround and kill him. After success, I will take his spirit."

Xu Liang glanced at Bai Yunrui and said with his teeth bared:

“The first two are not difficult to do. As long as you behave properly in the Wushi Sect, the imperial court will not interfere with your preaching. And as the source of information for Kaifeng Prefecture, your identity will certainly be kept secret.

"However, we need to use the spiritual method to interrogate Qiu Wang's spirit. Moreover, the spirit of a fourth-level cultivator is too powerful and is also an extremely dangerous material. If it is used in evil rituals and spells, the consequences will be disastrous. We cannot agree to this."

Mrs. Wei nodded:

"I understand what you mean. But Qiu Wang is already a 'spiritual witch'. Unless one has reached a high level of spiritual cultivation, it is almost impossible to interrogate his spirit through spiritualism. Rather than wasting it, it is better to let our sect perform a useful ritual to save some suffering souls."

As she spoke, she stood up, walked to a wall behind her, and gently pressed a mechanism on it.

There was a loud rustling sound, and a stone door on the wall burst open, revealing another space connected to this cave.

Everyone looked up, only to see that it was extremely dark inside. Cold wind was swirling, and the wind was trapped in a small space and kept echoing, making a whimpering sound.

In the center of the room, one could vaguely see a small altar with candles and incense sticks lit on it. The curling smoke went straight up in the whirlwind, which looked very strange.

On the altar, there is a statue with its upper body covered with red cloth. It is only about two feet tall and exudes a very terrifying aura that makes people dare not look directly at it.

Around the statue, there are more than a dozen puppets of various shapes, and above each of them there is a translucent figure floating. There are men and women, old and young, but each of them has empty eyes, dazed and numb, like a walking corpse, constantly wandering in a small area in the same place.

Li Qingyun was shocked when he saw this scene.

This was exactly the same as what he had seen in the divination scene, but he did not expect it to be here.

Mrs. Wei saw that everyone had some surprise on their faces, so she explained calmly:

"This is the holy altar of our Wushi Sect, and what is enshrined here is the real statue of the faceless immortal. Thanks to Qiu Wang, we had to move it from Bianliang City to this dark and gloomy Wuyou Cave.

“The souls in here are all spirits that the statue has automatically pulled back from the spirit world recently, and they were sealed here by me using a special formation.

"Our sect has investigated the identities of these people and found that they are all innocent victims related to Qiu Wang. I guess he used the puppets he made to absorb their blood and spirits, and then sacrificed their spirits and souls to the Faceless Immortal, praying for more power." But the Faceless Immortal is a righteous god and is in deep sleep. He will not accept such evil sacrifices, so he sent all the souls back to the human world through the feedback from the statue.

“These spirits have no physical bodies. Even if they are fixed by magic arrays, they can’t last more than a few months. At that time, there are only two outcomes. One is that they are summoned by Qiu Wang with evil means and refined into puppets, and then endure years of torture. The other is that they return to the spirit world. If they are lucky, they will be eaten and digested by creatures in the spirit world and become pure energy and dissipate. If they are unlucky, they may become evil spirits with resentment and occasionally sneak into the human world from the spirit world to harm people.

“If we want them to truly rest in peace, we must activate the special ritual of our Wu Shi Sect and pray to the Faceless Immortal, asking him to send down his divine power to purify the marks of sacrifice on these souls. Only then can they truly dissipate and enter eternal sleep without having to endure torture.

“With the help of Liu Changyou, I have already arranged this ceremony. All I need is a powerful enough spirit above the fourth realm to start it.

"But hunting down a cultivator of the fourth realm is beyond my ability, and it is also against the law. That is why I want Qiu Wang's spirit body. After all, this matter was caused by him, and he should pay with blood.

"In fact, he has killed far more people than these over the years, but most of their souls have exceeded the time limit and cannot be saved."

Li Qingyun was watching coldly from the side. After listening to Mrs. Wei's explanation, he couldn't help but feel horrified and blurted out:
"Wei... uh, God's messenger, Liu Changyou's spirit was also sealed by this puppet for a while, and now it has dissipated. Was he refined into a puppet, or did he go to the spirit world? Also, among these souls, there is one who belongs to Du Huairen, the head of Xuanwu Pavilion. Although he died because of Qiu Wang, he was not killed by him. Why is his soul also here?"

Madam Wei glanced at him and replied calmly:
"Du Huairen? I heard that he died after losing control after being promoted. This was actually a trick used by Qiu Wang. He probably used the excuse of helping Du Huairen get promoted to tamper with the ceremony. Maybe he planted a spirit seed in his body, or used other means to extract part of his soul and blood essence, which led to his loss of control and collapse after being promoted."

"As for Liu Changyou, he is different. He was not sacrificed, and his soul was not marked with the exclusive mark of the Faceless Immortal. After death, he will not enter the spirit world, and Qiu Wang cannot directly summon his soul. Once he dies, he is dead, and his soul will naturally dissipate and enter reincarnation.

“If I’m not mistaken, he must have taken the initiative to seal his spirit with a puppet. He did this deliberately because he knew he was going to die. He probably hoped to live a little longer in this way so that he could reveal the identity of the murderer.

So that's how it is. Li Qingyun shook his head. While feeling regretful, he also felt a little lucky for Liu Changyou. At least he didn't have to become a wandering ghost like Du Huairen and others, enduring endless torture.

After hearing what Madam Wei said, Xu Liang couldn't help but be moved:
"In this case, if the envoy can help us kill Qiu Wang, Shanxi people can personally ask Lord Bao to show leniency and give you the spirit body after the interrogation to drive the ritual. However, the prerequisite is that this ritual array must be strictly examined by Kaifeng Prefecture to ensure that there is no danger."

Mrs. Wei smiled slightly:
"General Xu San is indeed straightforward. In this case, we have a deal. I will pray to the Faceless Immortal and ask him to send down an oracle and point out the possible location of the divine descent ceremony."

As she spoke, she asked everyone to step aside, walked to the altar, knelt down devoutly in front of the statue covered with red cloth, formed a strange hand seal with her hands, and murmured something, as if she was praying with all her heart...

……

(End of this chapter)