Unlimited employment

Chapter 158, Section 157: [Fu Fengzi is truly a wonderful person!]

The sudden appearance of the figure startled the Five Ghosts.

This person was hiding nearby, and we hadn't noticed him at all. If he had launched a sneak attack just now, wouldn't he have caught us completely off guard?

Without a second thought, the five ghosts controlled the Netherworld Blood Gourd and pointed it at the figure flying in mid-air, immediately chanting incantations in unison.

"Heaven beckons to the heavens, earth welcomes to the earth, demons vanquish at the sight of ghosts, and monsters are bound in their forms!"

hum-

A beam of black and red demonic light, carrying a terrifying force capable of absorbing all things, shot out from the Netherworld Blood Gourd and swept towards the opponent.

The speed of light is unavoidable.

As the demonic light enveloped his body, Chen Sheng immediately felt a force that could seal off his body and mind, as if it wanted to imprison him.

At the same time, there was a suction force trying to pull his body towards the gourd.

However, Chen Sheng could also sense that neither of these forces was very strong. Whether he activated the [Thousand-Spoke Wheel Form] or the [Great Straight Body Form], he could easily break free from the demonic light's restraints.

The moment he was struck, a blue lotus bloomed in his eyes, and he swept his [Azure Eyes] over the imposing Netherworld Blood-Transforming Gourd.

"Is this all the tricks you have?"

It seems that although this is a fifth-tier magic artifact, its power is quite ordinary when activated by several fourth-tier cultivators.

"Let me show you what a true fifth-order is like... Ee?"

Chen Sheng seemed to have seen something interesting inside the gourd.

He suddenly changed his mind, giving up resisting the demonic light's binding and sucking power, letting the demonic light pull him forward, getting smaller and smaller, until finally landing in the small gourd.

Seeing Chen Sheng helplessly being absorbed into the magical artifact, the five ghosts forming the array quickly communicated using their divine senses.

"Phew, that scared me half to death."

This person's aura was incredibly imposing, making me feel like I was facing my master; I even thought I had encountered a fifth-tier cultivator.

"It must be an illusion. There is only one fourth-level cultivator in the entire Youzhou. The fact that this person was able to arrive so quickly after the incident with the golden carrying pole means that he is very likely the King of Youzhou."

“Absolutely impossible. It is said that the King of Youzhou mainly cultivates martial arts. This person is obviously a Daoist cultivator. He is probably an extra guard planted by the Great Xia Dynasty in the blessed land of Youzhou to protect the Golden Carrying Pole.”

"A mere fourth-level cultivator is truly ignorant of his own limitations, daring to spout such arrogant nonsense about stopping our blood sacrifice."

"Speaking of which, the golden carrying pole was also put into the gourd. I hope it won't be corrupted by the sea of ​​blood and ghostly energy inside."

"That's quite possible. The Netherworld Blood Gourd has two layers. The upper layer is a sea of ​​blood that can erode the soul and corrode the bones. If an ordinary fourth-level cultivator falls into it, he will turn into pus and blood and die in no time."

The lower level is an endless expanse of ghostly energy. Any living creature that falls into it will quickly have its life force completely consumed by the endless ghostly energy, and will die without any vitality.

It's common for weapons to fall in and break; that's just how it is.

"The weapons forged by Ziwei Palace shouldn't break so easily, but even if they do, it's not a big deal. It won't affect the overall situation of the Twenty-Eight Constellations Formation in this world being incomplete."

"But this will affect the master's overall situation. If the Ziwei Palace comes knocking on the door in the future, how will the master explain it?"

"Never mind all that for now. Now that we've retrieved the golden carrying pole, the Great Xia Dynasty will soon be informed. Let's hurry and investigate the other two mysterious treasures of Jambudvipa, whose locations are still uncertain."
"If we can acquire one more item, the pressure on Blood Sacrifice will be less later."

……

The Five Ghosts were the subject of intense discussion outside, and the Netherworld Blood Gourd was equally unsettled.

Gulu!
Once Chen Shengfu was taken in, he found himself in a seemingly boundless ocean of blood.

He immediately revealed his golden form, his whole body radiating golden light, pushing aside the surrounding sea of ​​blood that could erode souls and bones, squeezing out a space large enough for one person to fit inside.

Then, with a clear objective, it rapidly descended into the depths of the sea of ​​blood.

A tiny golden light traveled through the silent, boundless crimson, and in just over ten breaths, it stopped at the slightly narrow waist of the gourd.

This location marks the boundary between the two spaces within the gourd; above is the crimson seawater, and below is the pervasive black, ghostly aura.

The colors black and red intertwine, transforming into one another, yin and yang interchange, endlessly rotating.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the place."

Upon reaching this point, the blue lotus in Chen Sheng's eyes had fully bloomed, and among the distinct lotus petals, a layer of densely packed, writhing talismans was faintly reflected.

He reached out and grabbed at the talisman in his line of sight, but apart from the blood and ghostly energy that brushed against his fingertips, he grabbed nothing.

"Indeed, this is a spatial technique that is even more sophisticated than the Five Finger Mountain. I can clearly see them, but because my accurate perception of space is distorted, I can hardly touch them."

After observing for a while, the swastika in Chen Sheng's palm lit up, its faint golden light illuminating the surrounding space.

He reached out again, but this time he still couldn't touch the talismans.

"Still not working?"

After thinking for a moment, Chen Sheng simply took the magic needle from his ear and tossed it aside.

He placed one hand on the Ruyi Jingu Bang (a magical staff), continuously pouring his magical power into it, while chanting.

"Long, long, long..."

Rumble!
The size of the Sea-Stabilizing Needle immediately increased dramatically, stirring up the seawater and mist, and in just a moment, it transformed into a giant pillar that reached the sky and stood on the ground.

Its upper part pierces through the thick sea of ​​blood, while its lower part is rooted in the dense ghostly aura. It has a diameter of several tens of feet and an immeasurable length.

clang!
It only stopped changing completely when it reached the sky and the earth.

When Chen Sheng touched the area in front of him with the [swastika symbol], his palm easily pierced through the distorted and inverted space and came into contact with the densely packed writhing talismans.

The entire Netherworld Blood Gourd is a single entity. Relying on the magic-breaking properties of the Sea-Stabilizing Needle, he successfully disrupted the operation of some internal restrictions and broke through that seemingly ingenious spatial barrier.

At this moment, Chen Sheng touched the central core of the magical artifact in front of him, sensing the traces left by Fu Fengzi's imprint, and guessed why this magical artifact was ownerless:
To prevent powerful beings from outside the realm from smuggling into the Yama Fruit, anything that enters the fruit must undergo rigorous disinfection. During the descent a few years ago, Fu Fengzi's mark was probably washed away by the fruit as a "pest," leaving only an unclaimed magical artifact, which is why Chen Sheng has now practically gotten a huge advantage for free.

"Brother Fufengzi is such a good person. I was short of Taoist arts before, and you sent Wu Guang to deliver them to me."

I'm not exactly well-off right now, and you've sent me this ritual implement.

The thought of you sending me some men later makes me not know how to thank you enough.

The bountiful harvest put Chen Sheng in a very good mood.

He urged his Yin spirit to exhale a breath of primordial energy, which transformed into a palm-shaped imprint and fell into the writhing talisman in front of him.

The golden light carrying his will flowed out of the mark like water, seeping into every crevice of the talisman and penetrating deeper into the magical artifact.

In no time, he could wield the magical artifact with ease. Meanwhile, outside...

The Five Ghosts, who had looted some valuable spoils from the ruins of the blessed land and were about to leave, suddenly felt the Netherworld Blood Gourd begin to vibrate.

"What's going on? Could it be that the cultivator who was sucked into the gourd didn't die, and instead caused some trouble?"

The Five Ghosts acted decisively. After realizing the problem, they immediately used the Imperial Treasure Seal Technique taught by Fu Fengzi to suppress the strange activity inside the gourd, but unfortunately, it had no effect at all.

Amidst the increasingly violent tremors, the mouth burst open with a "pop!" and a golden light flew out.

After the golden light came to a stop, it revealed the figure of Chen Sheng.

"How is this possible! *5"

Upon seeing this scene, even the Five Ghosts, with their calm minds honed over hundreds of years of cultivation, cried out in disbelief.

It should be noted that the Netherworld Blood Gourd is a fifth-tier magic artifact. Under Fu Fengzi's personal activation, even a fifth-tier being who falls into it will suffer severe injuries, if not die.

Although the Five Ghosts' envoys do not possess that kind of power, those who are consumed by this fruit, whose highest cultivation level is only at the fourth rank, will absolutely die.

Previously, they ran rampant in the Great Spring Kingdom, slaughtering indiscriminately. The fact that they had no rivals before the National Protection Array was activated is clear evidence of this.

Chen Sheng's act of breaking the weapon made the five ghosts look as if they had seen a ghost.

However, what happened next made them feel as if the sky had fallen.

Chen Sheng simply beckoned to the Netherworld Blood Gourd, and the fifth-tier magic weapon broke free from the array's control and flew into the enemy's hands on its own.

He held the gourd, and without chanting any incantations, he pointed the gourd's mouth at the five ghosts.

"receive."

whoosh-

A beam of black and red demonic light enveloped the five ghosts, immobilizing them and trapping them inside the gourd.

Oh!

Upon falling into the soul-consuming and bone-corroding sea of ​​blood, the sturdy Yin spirits of the Five Ghosts, which had been fused with the Qi of the Gang Sha, were instantly severely damaged. Tiny fragments of their spiritual light were corroded and peeled off by the sea of ​​blood, a stark contrast to Chen Sheng's unscathed state.

"Judging from the speed at which the Yin spirit dissipates, these five ghosts, depending on their cultivation level, should be able to last for the time it takes for one to two incense sticks to burn."

"To be able to subdue a fourth-tier cultivator who can destroy cities and countries with ease when they fight, this magic weapon is quite powerful."

Chen Sheng had no intention of killing the five ghosts. He simply tested the effects of the magic weapon and then released them.

Then, he pulled out several golden headbands from his sleeves and threw them on their heads.

call!
The moment the headbands were placed on the head of the Yin God, they transformed into rings of blazing fire.

Within the golden flames, fine lines began to separate and seep into the Yin God's interior. The Ten Thousand Souls Banner imprint deep within the Yin God seemed to sense something, also emitting a mysterious black light, fiercely battling the golden flames, with neither side gaining the upper hand for a time.

This caused great trouble for the five ghosts in front of them.

Already tormented by the sea of ​​blood, they continued to scream in agony as the golden flames and black light clashed.

This relentless torment caused faint cracks to appear on their spirits, indicating a tendency to collapse.

"Just bear with it a little longer, it'll be over soon."

Chen Sheng, like a compassionate Arhat, could not bear to see the suffering in the world, and reached out to place his hands on the heads of the five demons one by one.

When a mark is pressed, the golden flames on their bodies immediately intensify, penetrating deep into the Yin spirit. With their overwhelming size, they obliterate the marks, refining them into pure Netherworld ghost energy, which is then absorbed by the gourd beside them.

Things change, and the once unshakeable mark of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner is no longer an obstacle to his control over these evil spirits.

With no means of resistance, the Buddhist fire ignited by the Golden Hoop ignited the entire Yin spirit of the Five Ghosts, turning them into five surging pillars of fire.

During the crackling and burning process, the Buddhist fire burned away their loyalty to Fufengzi, corrected the errors in their memories, and thereby reshaped the consciousness of the Five Ghosts.

At the same time, the cracks on those Yin spirits were gradually healed in the flames, slowly transforming the Yin spirits into a variegated glass-like color and texture.

The Five Ghosts had been trained by the Ten Thousand Souls Banner once before, and their memories and minds had been distorted. Their will and spirit were not firm, and they were almost ruined.

After Chen Sheng's restoration, it was able to recover some of its potential.

After a while, the flames died down, and the five ghosts, like five rough porcelain pieces forged from the flames, knelt down and bowed respectfully.

"We have met our master. You have saved us from our suffering. We will be loyal to your will forever."

Faced with such a scene of loyalty, Chen Sheng's lips curled into a cold smile, and he said sarcastically.

"Escape from the previous sea of ​​suffering is nothing more than entering a new pit of fire. How can you not resent me at all for treating you this way?"

"I wait……"

The words, spoken against their will, had barely left their lips when golden flames suddenly ignited on the bodies of the five ghosts.

He fell to the ground in agony, slapping at the flames on his body and screaming in pain.

This is the punishment of the Buddha's fire.

The golden headband does not forcibly distort the will of the cursed person; they still possess their own loves and hates.

However, as long as there is even a trace of hatred or dissatisfaction towards the master in one's heart, the cruel torture of being refined by the Buddha's fire will immediately descend.

The human heart is unpredictable, and people's thoughts are constantly changing. This is especially true for cultivators of the fourth rank and above. Only by constantly reminding them of this can we maintain their unwavering loyalty.

The Golden Hoop Curse created by Chen Sheng was closer to demonic methods than Buddhist teachings.

As the five ghosts forcibly suppressed their resentment towards Chen Sheng, the flames on their bodies gradually died down.

Afterwards, Chen Sheng ordered Niu Tou to release all the evil spirits they had captured, and found that more than twenty of them were still alive.

Using the same method of burning away the branding on the Ten Thousand Souls Banner with Buddhist fire, the branding on these second- and third-tier evil spirits was destroyed, and they completely switched sides and became Chen Sheng's subordinates.

While tending the fire, Chen Sheng also obtained an interesting piece of information from the five ghosts.

"Do you think that the twenty-eight secret treasures of Jambudvipa in this world are very likely to be from the Ziwei Palace of the Central Great World?"
This is truly one problem after another.

Exhaling, Chen Sheng picked up the golden carrying pole floating beside him and looked at the intelligence that had automatically emerged from the Yanfu Secret Treasure.

Abundant Harvest: Within a radius of one li, plant growth increases a hundredfold; within a radius of one thousand li, plant growth rate doubles.

Well Star's Favor: This artifact is one of the Twenty-Eight Constellation Treasures. It can be used to form corresponding protective arrays for states, countries, and borders, depending on the number of Yama Treasures used.

(End of this chapter)