Shushan Earthly Immortal

Chapter 373 Owl Eyes and Tiger Kiss, Ghost Banner Summoning Souls

At this moment, the thin Taoist shook the "Mysterious Yin Taotie Banner," and many Yin creatures flew out of the Taotie's mouth. There were wandering souls, zombies, humans, and demons. They all had ferocious faces, bared their teeth and claws, and tried to bite at Aunt Hong.

Cheng Xinzhan carefully observed the Yin Clan members. He possessed a photographic memory and clearly remembered the scenes from the two previous times he had seen the thin Taoist wave this banner.

The first time I saw it was at Poyang Lake. The first things to emerge from the banner were the spirits of fierce beasts like tigers, leopards, bulls, and snakes, followed by humanoid ghosts. However, the spiritual energy of those wandering spirits was extremely weak, and they all seemed to have just begun their cultivation, with rather fragile souls.

The second time was at the Xiao family's Autumn Hunting Ground in Baiyujing. The beast souls that emerged then were much more solid and had a stronger demonic aura. They fought and killed other beasts at the Autumn Hunting Ground and made quite a name for themselves.

When they met again this time, the banners of the Three Realms Thin Daoist were vastly different from those he had seen during the previous two times when he was in the First Realm.

At this moment, what emerged from the banners were not only wandering souls, but also walking zombies—human, demon, land-dwelling, and sea-dwelling—a total of over a hundred, all of them radiating the aura of golden cores!

Although most of them were unwashed, there were also some Yin Clan members who had been washed three or four times. The sheer number of them released at once was truly terrifying.

But the Red Second Aunt opposite him was a great demon who had reached the peak of the Middle Three Tribulations, so how could she be afraid of such a formation?

"mob!"

Aunt Hong smiled disdainfully, waved her round fan, and conjured a fiery cloud out of thin air to meet the incoming Yin Clan members head-on.

The Yin Clan members cried out in pain as the fire glow ignited them, but they were all fearless and charged towards Aunt Hong despite the flames engulfing their bodies.

At the same time, seeing the power of the fiery clouds, the thin Taoist waved his banner again, and a gray mist of water vapor surged out from the banner, shaped like a dark cloud, and quickly caught up with the Yin Clan ahead.

Cheng Xinzhan did not know what secret method was used to create this misty fog, but he could smell the aura of "Lower Spring Yin Prison Evil" in it.

The misty fog enveloped the many Yin Clan members whose bodies were ablaze, instantly extinguishing the flames. In contrast, the Yin Clan members were greatly encouraged.

Many of Hong Eryi's subordinates gathered around her. Seeing their island lord being besieged by so many Yin Clan members, whether they were truly loyal or just wanted to show their loyalty, they all rushed into the gray mist to fight against the Yin Clan members.

Upon seeing this, the thin Taoist priest let out a sinister grin.
"What kind of excitement do you dare to come and join in? You're really courting death."

With that, he flicked his sleeve, and five black balls gleaming with a sinister dark light flew out. These things were only the size of a paulownia seed, extremely fast, and surrounded by lightning and fire. They left only a trail of black smoke as they flew through the air, and in the blink of an eye, they all disappeared into the gray mist.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, countless bloodstains splattered from the gray mist, accompanied by mournful howls.

The five figures that had just gone in ran out as if their lives depended on it. They were disheveled, their clothes were tattered and bloody, and they were surrounded by eerie firelight and lightning.

Two individuals of slightly higher cultivation levels, around the third level of the Three Washings realm, narrowly escaped with their lives. They used all their skills and finally managed to suppress the thunder and fire.

Three others, at a lower level—those who had just formed their core or had only undergone one or two tribulations—couldn't shake off the lightning and fire on their bodies. A moment later, the lightning and fire on their bodies suddenly receded, as if they had seeped into their flesh. Immediately afterward, they began to shiver, seemingly from extreme cold.

Within a few breaths, these people let out another miserable howl, sweat mixed with blood gushing from their pores like a ball of hot steam. Then, their entire bodies suddenly shrank into empty shells, their essence, blood, and bones vanishing completely. Finally, a ball of black, eerie fire, accompanied by lightning, surged out from the empty shells, burning them to ashes.

These people's physical bodies were instantly annihilated, leaving behind only their terrified primordial spirits and golden cores.

What's even more surprising is that after those thunderbolts or lightning bolts exploded in the gray fog, the demons of Red Cloud Island were blasted to pieces or even killed, but the gray fog itself and the Yin race inside it remained completely unharmed.

At this moment, the thin Taoist was already prepared. He waved the banner again, and the gray mist enveloped the golden elixir, which dissolved and merged into the gray mist. As for the primordial spirits, or the souls that had not yet formed primordial spirits, they were pulled into the gray mist by the wandering souls and then devoured.

The skinny Taoist's move immediately shocked those on Red Cloud Island who still wanted to come up and help.

"Nine Yin Absolute Yang Divine Thunder? The Yin King also taught you this technique?"

Aunt Hong's face was ashen as she uttered a sentence through gritted teeth: "In our previous encounters, I've never seen this skinny guy use this move before."

The skinny Taoist laughed heartily.
"That's not all, fat woman. Come and try, I've told you, today is your death day!"

He waved the banner again, and three more wandering souls flew out from the mouth of the Taotie on the banner, flying into the gray mist to surround and kill Aunt Hong.

Upon seeing this, Cheng Xinzhan, who had been watching the battle, changed his expression for the first time. The three wandering souls that had just emerged from the Gluttonous Banner also exuded the aura of Golden Core cultivators. They were none other than the three demons from Red Cloud Island who had just been obliterated by Yin Lightning and devoured by Yin Souls!
What kind of strange magical artifact is that banner?!
The gray mist devoured the essence, blood, and golden pills; the yin spirits devoured the souls and primordial spirits, and in the blink of an eye, they were all taken over for their own use. How could this be allowed?

No wonder, no wonder the skinny Taoist's cultivation level has improved so quickly!
"You don't need to come over!"

Seeing this, Aunt Hong was quite surprised and suspicious, and stopped her men from getting any closer. At the same time, she opened her hand, recited a spell, and the small fan in her hand burst into a dazzling light, which then rapidly grew to two zhang long.

Aunt Hong gripped the fan handles with both hands, shouted, and swept it forcefully. Instantly, a strong wind arose, causing the sea waves to surge and the waves to crash towards the thin Taoist.

Then, out of nowhere, a ray of light appeared in the wind, a dazzling crimson light like fire. After it appeared, it spread like wildfire, instantly igniting the gale and turning it into flames.

The fire fueled the wind's power, and the wind fueled the fire's fury, transforming in the blink of an eye into a massive fiery cloud stretching across the sea, achieving a force that could boil the sea and burn the sky.

The fiery glow was powerful and burned extremely quickly, instantly enveloping the entire mass of gray mist. This fiery glow, of unknown origin, was exceptionally fierce, crackling and popping as it burned the gray mist. The Yin beings within cried out in agony, and then, incredibly, fell from the gray mist.

The Yin Clan fell out of the gray mist and into the fiery glow, where they were directly burned. In the blink of an eye, five or six Yin Clan members were burned to ashes.

In addition, the fire continued to spread, burning directly onto the thin Taoist priest who was hiding behind the gray mist.

The thin Taoist priest's expression was solemn. He thought to himself that his Xuan Sha Ghost Mist had been fused with many Yin Sha, so ordinary flames couldn't burn it at all. What kind of fire was this Xia Huo? Moreover, judging from the raging flames, this demon should be close to the Sixth Cleansing even if she hadn't reached it.

Seeing the fiery glow approaching, the thin Taoist priest did not retreat. Instead, he formed a mudra with his hands in front of his chest, and the banner above his head fluttered, the taotie patterns on it seemingly coming to life. At the same time, he chanted an incantation.
"In accordance with the Dao, we summon spirits; the Northern Sea issues decrees."

The wind rises and the waves surge.

Where is Yu Qiang? Show yourself at once!

As the incantation ended, a sudden gust of wind rose behind the thin Taoist, blowing against the surging flames. For a moment, the wind howled and the fire roared, like the wailing of ghosts and wolves. And that wasn't all; the gust of wind whipped up huge waves that surged toward Red Cloud Island like mountains.

Immediately afterwards, a waterspout rose behind the thin Taoist, growing higher and thicker until it seemed to reach the sky and touch the sea. Then, the waterspout exploded with a deafening roar, and a torrential downpour swept across the battlefield.

At this moment, looking behind the thin Taoist, the waterspout disappeared, replaced by a giant Dharma image formed from seawater.

The Buddha statue is 61 feet tall, with a human face and a snake's body, blue hair and green scales, and two green snakes as earrings. It floats on the sea, and the snake's tail is submerged in the seabed, so its length is unknown.

"Yu Qiang's Dharma Form?" Cheng Xinzhan was somewhat puzzled. Was this the skinny Taoist's Dharma Form? Yu Qiang was the Sea God of the Northern Wilderness, which was indeed suitable for fighting at sea. But one must know that a Dharma Form is not only for fighting, but also closely related to one's own path to the Great Dao. Was the Great Dao that the skinny Taoist had chosen for himself the Dao of Water? Was he determined to stay at sea for the rest of his life?

Furthermore, he didn't seem to spit out any golden elixir. The hand seals, banner-waving, and incantation he performed before summoning the Dharma image resembled some kind of divine ritual.

But the sea giant he summoned was so solid, exuding a deep and vast aura of water, unlike ordinary statues that conveyed an ethereal and dreamlike quality, which made people feel somewhat strange.

The skinny Taoist priest comes from the Faxiang Sect. Is he related to this strange Faxiang? We should really investigate the background of that Faxiang Sect. It seems to be a small, unknown sect.

Cheng Xinzhan paddled along the edge of the battlefield, deep in thought.

At this moment, Yu Qiang's Dharma form moved, pressing forward and exhaling a blast of cold air towards Huo Xia. Then, he swung his giant tail, striking at Aunt Hong Er and knocking away dozens of crocodile demons along the way.

Aunt Hong Er naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait for her death. She spat out her inner core, and the bright red demon core emitted a dazzling light. The light surged and condensed into a huge Dharma image.

This creature was strangely shaped, with the body of a fish and the head of a dragon, over sixty zhang long. However, its dragon face had a pair of fierce owl-like eyes and protruding, ferocious tiger teeth. Moreover, the scales on its body were mottled, forming crimson stripes resembling tiger stripes. The ventral fins on both sides of the fish's belly were even stranger, each one growing to an exaggerated hundred zhang long, like a pair of enormous wings.

The fish's fins were a translucent crimson color, and under the sunlight, they burst forth with a dazzling glow, turning the entire sea area a vibrant red—it was so beautiful.

With a dragon's head and a fish soaring, and owl's eyes and tiger's mouth, it is indeed the dragon's son, Chiwen.

As expected of the High-Level Dharma Form, at this moment, the waves and clouds surrounded the Chiwen, making it seem as if a primordial alien species had descended to earth. Cheng Xinzhan felt that although the Thin Taoist's Yu Qiang Dharma Form was not low in rank, being a Sea God, his cultivation level was still somewhat inferior to the Chiwen Dharma Form, and it would probably be difficult to defeat him.

Furthermore, Aunt Hong is a sea demon, and she wouldn't be foolish enough to choose to fight the skinny Taoist from a distance. After summoning her Dharma form to stabilize the situation and boost morale, she transformed into a ball of light and went directly towards the skinny Taoist's body.

Seeing this, the thin Taoist waved the banner and then controlled the gray mist and the banner to return, enveloping himself for protection.

But Aunt Hong was not afraid. The highest-ranking member of the Yin Clan here was only at the Fourth Washing level, and he was merely a magic puppet with no great power. Moreover, she had the protection of the rosy fire she had refined from the "Blazing Sky Gang," so the ghost mist could not harm her.

As for this person's "Nine Yin Absolute Yang Divine Thunder," this thing doesn't recognize its master. Once it explodes, it has the power to kill all living things in the vicinity. If he dares to get close and use it, it's hard to say who will die first.

On the other hand, if I were to get close, this person, with his small frame, probably wouldn't be able to withstand a slap from me.

"Roar--"

However, just as Aunt Hong was about to fly into the gray fog, a series of mournful cries suddenly rang out from the sea. Aunt Hong turned her head to look and her expression changed drastically.

Above the waves, there were over a thousand golden crocodiles. There were more than ten golden crocodiles of the third realm that were over thirty feet long, and over a hundred golden crocodiles of the second realm that were over twenty feet long. There were also nearly a thousand smaller crocodiles.

At this moment, apart from the dozen or so third-realm golden crocodiles still writhing in agony on the waves, preventing the people of Diyin Island from getting close, the remaining first and second-realm golden crocodiles were all lying belly up, their stomachs riddled with countless bloody holes. From within those holes, countless crimson vines were growing wildly, like a swarm of snakes writhing in chaos.

The life force of these golden crocodiles was rapidly fading away. Before long, they could no longer howl, and were left only as skin and bones drifting on the sea.

The entire sea turned blood red in the blink of an eye.

Aunt Hong stared wide-eyed at everything, her eyes wide with fury, and her eyes, like the seawater, instantly turned red.

Even though her body was bathed in fiery light, she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, unsure how to explain herself to the Crocodile King.

"court death!"

Aunt Hong let out a mournful cry and immediately tried to turn back. Since the first and second realm cultivators were already dead, she didn't care. The third realm Golden Crocodile was the rare one and had to be saved!
"Too late to leave now! Hahaha—"

The thin Taoist laughed loudly, and with a flick of his banner, the gray mist quickly spread, enveloping Aunt Hong. The wandering souls in the mist stiffened and rushed forward.

Aunt Hong's eyes flashed with murderous intent. She activated her supernatural powers, pointed at the banner above the thin Taoist's head, and shouted loudly.
"fall!"

As soon as he spoke, a profound and mysterious magical aura arose out of nowhere and became entangled on the Taotie banner of the thin Taoist.

Then the banner began to sway and teeter on the verge of falling.

The thin Taoist's laughter stopped abruptly, and he hurriedly went to control the banners.

Taking advantage of this moment, Aunt Hong turned and left.

But how could the skinny Taoist let such a golden opportunity slip away?

A fierce glint flashed in the demon's eyes. With a ruthless grin, he bit off half an inch of his own tongue. This demon was no ordinary man. After biting off his tongue, he chewed it up in his mouth, turning it into a ball of pure blood energy, which he then spat out onto the banner.

The blood clot vanished instantly upon landing on the banner. Immediately afterward, the taotie pattern on it came to life, its mouth growing three times larger, swallowing the magical energy entangled on the banner.

At this moment, the thin Taoist also felt that the magic weapon had returned to his control.

Of course, this demon, having gone to such lengths to bite off half of his own tongue, gained far more than just the reclaiming of the magical treasure. The banner emitted a low roar, somewhat like a water buffalo's bellow, then the head of the banner opened its mouth wide, releasing even more gray smoke that then spread outwards. It not only enveloped the fleeing Aunt Hong, but also all the corpses on the sea.

The corpses at sea were mostly crocodile demons, numbering over a thousand, along with other demons from Red Cloud Island, as well as demons and sea monsters from Earth Yin Island. In total, there were nearly two thousand cultivators, and countless sea fish and beasts that had died violently, turning the sea a crimson red.

Among these dead, only a very few had survived several tribulations and formed primordial spirits, and all were fleeing for their lives. The vast majority of demons had not yet formed primordial spirits; after death, their souls flew out of their corpses and floated on the sea in dense, countless numbers.

Among the demons present, many were skilled at refining magic and treasures using souls. At this moment, while fighting, they were also greedily chasing after these helpless wandering souls, which frightened the other souls into scattering and fleeing.

But at this moment, a gray fog quickly spread across the sea, enveloping all the primordial spirits, souls, and corpses.

At the source of the billowing gray mist, the thin Taoist priest vigorously waved a banner and chanted incantations.
"A wandering soul, with nowhere to belong; "

There is no way to heaven and no way to earth.

In the darkness and obscurity, so you have heard;
The mysterious yin gathers evil spirits, and the ghost banner summons the soul.

Wandering spirits and corpses, heed my command:
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

The thin Taoist priest had cut off his tongue, so his incantation was somewhat unclear, but it sounded even more sinister and eerie. As the incantation ended, all the wandering ghosts and corpses shrouded in gray mist floated up and hovered in the air, looking at the thin Taoist priest and waiting for his command.

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(End of this chapter)