Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 5: If you have evil intentions, burning incense will do no good; if you are upright, then why not bow to me?

During the past few days since I came to Ishihara County, Lucheng and this ancient county town were basically separated from each other.

There were enough fasting pills in the Qiankun bag of his predecessor. Given Lu Cheng's current physical condition, eating normal food would increase the burden on his internal organs and affect the circulation of his Qi meridians. The benefits would actually be greater than the consumption.

So for the past few days, Lu Cheng has been living in seclusion in the dilapidated temple, practicing martial arts and cultivating Taoism and swordsmanship, until he came out today.

The dilapidated temple is located on a remote hillside, relatively high up, so it occupies a large area and the air is also very good.

But when we actually walked onto the streets of this ancient county town, we found that it had just rained and the streets were muddy, with a faint stench in the air.

Pedestrians on the road looked at Lu Cheng with fear. Most of them, both men and women, wore patched clothes and had dark skin. When they saw Lu Cheng's fair and delicate skin and the clothes he was wearing, they would subconsciously keep their distance.

I walked into a nearby courtyard and saw an old woman bending over to feed chickens.

Although the number is not large, having chickens to feed means the family is undoubtedly in better condition.

"Old lady, I'll help you feed the chickens. Can you tell me something about that temple?"

The old woman was a little deaf or her Mandarin was not very good, and Lu Cheng had to repeat his questions several times before she could hear them clearly.

"No, no, if you want to hear it, I'll tell you. Over there is the temple of Wang Yue, the spiritual official..."

"Speaking of Mr. Wang, he is really a good man."

Next, from the old man’s memories, Lu Cheng learned about the life story of a good official.

It is said that Mr. Wang Yuewang was originally a famous scholar in the Central Plains of the Tang Dynasty. In order to practice his doctrines, he came to Nanjiang Prefecture, built water conservancy projects, promoted Mandarin and advanced farming techniques in the north, established education, set up schools, and strictly prohibited the rich from privately punishing slaves. Starting as a county magistrate, he influenced the surrounding areas and cleared up the atmosphere of the entire Nanjiang Prefecture.

Truly serve the people and benefit the people.

"Mr. Wang was really a good official. Unfortunately, our place was too hard, with many snakes and insects, and poisonous miasma everywhere. Mr. Wang fell ill and died. After his death, those policies were gradually abandoned. We missed him, so we pooled some money together to build a temple for him. But later it flooded, and although we rescued them in time, it was still burned beyond recognition. After a few decades, we old people gradually died, and fewer and fewer people went there."

"Mr. Wang, he is a good official."

This was the sentence Lu Cheng heard most often from the old woman.

After getting what he wanted to know, Lu Cheng walked around the county again, visited several old people one after another, and then returned to Wang Lingguan Temple and looked at the stone statue in the temple again.

"...It's a pity that I couldn't meet you and have a drink with you."

What I saw and heard that day flashed through my mind, including Li Meng and Li Jian, father and son, and the sighs of the old woman feeding the chickens.

Make the whole person enter a certain state.

Lu Cheng slowly sat down cross-legged in front of the statue, frowning slightly as he tried to capture the flash of inspiration in his mind:
The magic power that is forcibly suppressed in one's body is a spell that is convenient and easy to practice and can be used for self-protection; Wang Yue, Wang Lingguan, and the piles of white bones on the Python Mountain.

Lu Cheng was in a trance and didn't know how long he had been thinking. He suddenly opened his eyes. The sky around him was already dark, but he already had the answer in his heart.

"It's all thanks to that guy who likes to take advantage of opportunities and has dabbled in many of these random cultivators' miscellaneous techniques. It turns out that reading more books is indeed useful."

Walking outside the temple with a long sword in hand, Lu Cheng drew his sword and swung it, flattening the stone pillars on both sides of the temple entrance. Then he injected magic power into the sword and tried his best to write two rows of words fairly and accurately.

Left: Burning incense is useless if you have evil intentions
Right: If you are upright and do not bow to me, what is the harm?
Judging from what Mr. Wang Yue did during his lifetime, he deserves these two famous quotes.

Seeing that it was still dark outside, but there was still some time, Lu Cheng left the temple again and went to the house he had visited during the day.

At this time, the smoke from the cooking stove was rising, and the family was having dinner. Lu Cheng's sudden arrival frightened the family and they all stood up.

"Excuse me, do you have rice at home?"

"...Uh, this Taoist priest..."

The woman from that family looked at the Taoist in front of her with some fear, and then subconsciously looked at her husband.

Although there is some rice at home, my family usually doesn't want to eat it.

The old man and two children at the table were eating porridge, and only the men doing farm work were eating dry food.

The white rice is prepared to be eaten during the festival in the near future.

"I am not begging for alms, but buying rice. Also, please help me kill a rooster."

As he spoke, a dime of silver appeared from between the five fingers of Lu Cheng's right hand and was handed to the woman. The previous incarnation, Lu Cheng, was obsessed with enjoying the wealth of the world, and most of the space in his Qiankun bag was occupied by gold, silver, pearls and jade.

Seeing the silver, the eyes of the woman and her husband lit up. They looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Master, I am hungry. Please sit down and we will steam rice and cook chicken for you."

"It must be a rooster. Never mind. Just bring it to me and kill it. Do you have a clean clay pot? If not, go buy some from a neighbor. As for the chicken, share it with the two children."

Seeing the two children, a boy and a girl, hiding behind their mother, both looking a little scared, Lu Cheng smiled at them.

That night, Lu Cheng bought steamed white rice, rooster blood, and clean black pottery jars from that family, and then headed to Mangshan at night.

Mangshan is the place where Li Meng committed suicide by jumping off a cliff.

In Ishihara County, people who are fifty years old or older will be carried to Mang Mountain by their eldest son and left to fend for themselves.

The elderly people that Lu Cheng visited during the day only looked older due to years of hard work. In fact, they were all under fifty years old. Otherwise, they would have been sent to Mangshan by their relatives. Otherwise, poor families would not be able to afford it.

The family that Lu Cheng found had rice and chickens at home, and was already a superior family in Ishihara County. Even in the poorest places, there would still be differences between the rich and the poor.

Although the gap is not too big, that's it.

Late at night on Mang Mountain, it was a moonless and starless night.

A cold wind blew among the rocks, and the treetops in the woods made strange noises, which were not the sounds of ghosts, but were similar to them.

This is a place where deathly aura gathers, and things in the darkness are blurry and shadowy, which can add to people's vague fear.

After Lu Cheng climbed up Mang Mountain, he first found a sheltered place, and then carved a small formation on the ground according to his memory. After carving, he checked it several times and only felt relieved after confirming that it was correct.

Then Lu Cheng took the black pottery jar filled with white rice and placed it at the intersection. He stuck three chopsticks on the rice, hid back in the formation, and began to sit cross-legged and recite the protective spell.

A small amount of rooster blood was mixed into the white rice. Rooster blood contains a certain amount of yang energy, which has a certain effect in breaking evil spirits. However, if the amount is too small, the effect will be reversed (evil spirits stay away from people with strong qi and blood, but people with weak qi and blood are attracted to them). Especially if it is mixed into a container filled with cooked white rice and placed on a mountain path late at night, it will have a certain effect in summoning souls.

Chi Shen Zi may not know this knowledge, because it is of no use to the orthodox Xuanmen practitioners.

However, his collection of books was large enough, and most of them were not prohibited for his disciples to read. Lu Cheng had read the relevant books and even studied them in depth.

Time passed little by little, one hour, two hours. Lu Cheng hid in the dark, chanting mantras to purify his magic power, so he was not in a hurry.

Gradually, he felt that the surrounding environment was getting colder and colder. When he sensed something, he used his magic power and opened his eyes. He could see a lot of smoke-like mist appearing around him, circling around the black pottery jar, enjoying the nourishment of yang energy.

These are the residual souls and evil spirits that have accumulated on Mang Mountain over the years, accumulating year after year. It is impossible if they do not exist at all.

Lu Cheng, hidden and protected by the magic circle, waited until the sky was about to brighten and the yang energy began to rise before he suddenly took action.

The young Taoist priest was sitting cross-legged in the magic circle and raised his finger. The three bamboo chopsticks naturally jumped up and fell to the ground. The next moment, four paper talismans made of rooster blood mixed with cinnabar flew up from under the black pottery jar and the yellow cloth brocade, and stuck to the black pottery jar from four directions.

The mist-like souls were sealed inside the pottery jar and wanted to rush out, but they were unable to break out of the net-like blockade of yang energy.

The difference between the scattered Yang Energy and the Yang Energy bound into a net by talismans is like the difference between defeated soldiers and a military formation.

Lu Cheng rushed over and sealed the mouth of the jar with the yellow brocade cloth, and then pasted a few yang talismans on it to strengthen the seal.

Tonight, the whole process looked mysterious, but in fact, they were all very low-level small spells. Not to mention Lu Cheng, even those in the early stages of Qi training, or even some real martial arts Taoist priests, could perform it. It was just that the former used their own mana to cast spells, while the latter used their own yang energy and life span to cast spells.

Be it spells or talismans, they are not ranked within the realm of immortal cultivation. They are more about taking advantage of the situation and adapting to local conditions.

Under Lu Cheng's eyes, he could faintly see a ball of dark blue mist swirling inside the black pottery jar in his hand, and in it, there were faintly visible faces that were half skeleton and half human.

These weak ghosts are normally useless. If you put them in an ordinary family, the family may be fine after a while, but these ghosts will be scared to death.

Unless the family's fortune and energy are very weak and they are taken advantage of by them.

"The art of controlling ghosts has been passed down for a long time. The strong ones can make all the ghosts pay homage to them, be called the ghost emperor of a region, and associate with gods and demons. The weak ones can only become witches and sorcerers. Practicing it is not only useless, but harmful. It can easily cause negative energy to invade the body, leading to mental confusion and extreme madness."

The records in the classics flashed through his mind, and then Lu Cheng returned to Wang Lingguan Temple holding the black pottery jar in one hand.

From that day on, he began to run between Mang Mountain and the temple every day. As his experience increased, his efficiency began to improve, but the black pottery jars in Wang Lingguan Temple accumulated more and more.

(End of this chapter)