This humble Taoist priest, Qianhe, begins his quest for immortality by slaying demons and monsters.

Chapter 187 Ghost Soldiers Capture the Dead Souls, Buddhism and Taoism Enter the Capital

The armor of the ghostly soldiers exuded a heavy ghostly aura. Holding long swords, they faced Zhong Bai, the envoy, with solemn expressions!
Looking at these ghostly soldiers, Si Mu couldn't help but take a deep breath, "They're truly magnificent. If only I could command ghostly soldiers and generals like this someday..."

Beside her, Lin Fengjiao couldn't help but smile and said, "Junior Brother Simu, you shouldn't have such thoughts. This is a privilege that only Golden Core True Monarchs can enjoy. When we return to the underworld, it would be good enough if we could become minor officials like underworld messengers. As for someone like you, Junior Brother Headmaster, you and I can only look up to you."

Si Mu wasn't angry when he heard this, after all, he knew that his wish was just wishful thinking, and even if his senior brother Lin didn't point it out, he himself didn't have any hope in the first place.

"So, what is the purpose of summoning these ghost soldiers and generals to the mortal realm, Master?"

Si Mu suddenly thought of this question.

Lin Fengjiao frowned slightly, equally curious.

Seeing the ghost soldiers and generals so obedient, Zhong Bai couldn't help but think more highly of them.

"All soldiers, listen to my command! Arrest all the souls who have escaped from the underworld and bring them back. Any who resist, kill them on the spot without mercy!"

"We will obey the law!"

With a whoosh, the ghostly soldiers fled in all directions. Their target was naturally the ghostly souls that had escaped the control of the underworld officials. Zhong Bai didn't want to go through the trouble of searching for them himself. There was no need to drag things out if the ghostly soldiers of the underworld could easily handle it.

Lin Fengjiao and Simu were shocked when they heard Zhong Bai give the order.

What did they hear? That these ghostly soldiers and generals should capture and bring back the escaped spirits?
They really hadn't thought about such a large undertaking. Perhaps it was a difference in understanding. In Si Mu and Lin Fengjiao's eyes, the Yin soldiers and generals of the underworld were all of high status. It would be a waste of their talents to have them do such rough and tiring work. But in Zhong Bai's eyes, the Yin soldiers and generals were just suited to do these kinds of things.

As the three hundred Yin soldiers and generals departed, the four ghost messengers standing beside Zhong Bai finally reacted. After exchanging glances, one of them knelt down and earnestly said to Zhong Bai, "True Lord, it is our fault that these Yin spirits escaped. We beg you to allow the four of us to go and capture them!"

Zhong Bai listened, his gaze indifferent.

"Can!"

There was only one word, but to the four ghost messengers it was heavenly music, meaning they still had a chance to redeem themselves.

"We kowtow in gratitude to the True Lord for His divine grace!"

After bowing to Zhong Bai in unison, the four ghost messengers disappeared from the spot.

Watching the four ghost messengers depart, Lin Fengjiao and the other Maoshan disciples instinctively looked towards their sect leader, Zhenjun.

However, Zhong Bai still wore a faint smile, as if everything happening in front of him was insignificant.

"Gentlemen, just wait..."

These ghostly soldiers and generals have plenty of ways to capture and bring back the escaped spirits. Although we Maoshan disciples can use some items to attract the spirits, we can't really capture them all.

Zhong Bai wasn't lying. According to the original story, the Innate Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Formation had a very obvious drawback: while confused and dazed spirits could indeed be attracted by ghost tofu, intelligent ghosts, like the purple-clad female ghost, wouldn't foolishly enter the formation.

Therefore, Zhong Bai felt that adopting the innate Yin-Yang Bagua formation was flawed.

More importantly, among these wandering spirits that escaped from the underworld, the muddled spirits have almost no effect on the living. The real threat to the living world comes from those spirits that possess intelligence!

Upon hearing their sect leader's words, all the disciples nodded slightly. They were unwilling to go through the trouble of setting up an array if they could simply have the Yin soldiers and generals capture the Yin spirits.

Time passes little by little...

After an incense stick had burned, a group of ghostly soldiers and generals brought the captured souls to Zhong Bai.

As expected, all these spirits were swept away by Zhong Bai's palm strike and sent to the underworld through the passage between the two realms.

"Let me go, let me go!
"Officers, please have mercy and let me go! The officers clearly promised me my freedom if I bewitched those two fools, but now they're turning their backs on me!"

The ghost arrived before its voice.

The underworld official who brought the purple-clad female ghost was having a terrible headache listening to the things she kept spouting. The worst part was that these things were all true, and in front of Zhong Bai, he didn't dare to cover the purple-clad female ghost's mouth, otherwise he would be guilty of something he didn't do. Watching the purple-clad female ghost keep crying out that she was wronged, the underworld official was having a headache.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, I have brought you this female ghost in purple!"

Before leaving the underworld, Zhong Bai had inquired about the identity of the purple-clad female ghost, and the ghost messengers answered Zhong Bai's questions truthfully. Therefore, Zhong Bai instructed them to go to the mortal realm and capture the purple-clad female ghost to see if she had any courage.

"How dare you be so insolent before a True Lord!"

Seeing that the purple-clad female ghost was still relentless, the underworld official became somewhat annoyed and shouted at her before the female ghost finally understood the situation before her.

The moment she saw Zhong Bai, she felt as if she had been transported to another world. Her heart pounded, but the instant Zhong Bai's cold eyes fell upon her, the purple-clad female ghost felt her hair stand on end.

Her whole body was prostrate on the ground, trembling. She had a premonition that the young Taoist in front of her could make her soul fly away with just a glance.

"This humble servant pays homage to the True Lord!" Zhong Bai listened without the slightest change in emotion, only glancing at Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai in the distance before calmly saying, "So it was you who attempted to bewitch my Maoshan disciples and committed a grave error?"

"My Lord, spare me! My Lord, spare me! I was only following orders!"

As she spoke, she glanced at the ghost messenger beside her. The ghost messenger's legs went weak. If he had known this would be the outcome, he would have killed the purple-clad female ghost directly. Bringing her back was just hastening his own death.

"Quite clever, shifting the blame..."

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no liking for a ghost like you!

As Zhong Bai spoke, a bolt of lightning shot out from his fingertip, striking the purple-clad female ghost. Instantly, the lightning pierced her mind, turning into wisps of white smoke and dissipating into the air.

With a gurgling sound, the ghost messenger watched this scene with wide eyes, fearing that he would follow in his footsteps. He hurriedly asked Zhong Bai for permission to continue arresting other ghosts. Zhong Bai smiled faintly and did not refuse.

In reality, killing a few underworld messengers wouldn't be difficult for Zhong Bai. However, if he killed these four underworld messengers, rumors of his untrustworthiness and bloodthirstiness might spread throughout the underworld. Such rumors would be detrimental to getting the underworld's underworld soldiers, generals, and ghost messengers to work for him in the future.

Therefore, Zhong Bai did not kill the four ghost messengers. When he returned to the underworld, one can imagine how these four ghost messengers would spread rumors about him!

......................................................

One group after another of the ghostly spirits were taken back to the mortuary by a group of ghostly soldiers, generals, and messengers. By the time dawn was breaking, all the ghostly spirits that had escaped from Renjia Town had been captured and brought to justice.

Of course, there is another slightly tricky situation, which is that the ghost general that the Ghost King sent to the mortal world, Han Lingzi, is nowhere to be found.

The ghost messengers were unaware of this, and Zhong Bai in the underworld did not perform a soul search. Therefore, they could not capture all the ghosts that Han Lingzi had sent to the mortal realm in one fell swoop.

As dawn approached, the spirits were captured and sent to the underworld. Before daybreak, Zhong Bai ordered all the underworld soldiers, generals, and messengers to return to the underworld.

He himself also left Renjia Town and chose to return to Maoshan.

Life back in Maoshan was very peaceful.

Zhong Bai's trip to the underworld resulted in a considerable number of ghost generals and ghost kings killed, and his demon-slaying points increased by hundreds of thousands. For Zhong Bai, this was just the right time to continue improving his strength before heading to the capital.

Inside the main hall of the Maoshan Sect.

Since Zhong Bai's Kui Niu essence blood was exhausted, the difficulty of improving the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique has become extremely terrifying. It can be said that in this world, Zhong Bai has lost confidence in advancing the Shangqing Dragon Elephant Technique to the fourth level.

It wasn't a problem with the Demon Extermination Points, but rather that the essence blood of demonic beasts was far too rare. Even the essence blood of a Golden Core Demon King had very limited effect on Zhong Bai's improvement. Therefore, apart from using the Sword Control Technique and the Divine Firmament Five Thunder Technique, Zhong Bai could only invest his Demon Extermination Points in the Golden Light Divine Mantra.

Two months of training passed in the blink of an eye.

The appointed day between the Buddhist and Taoist sects was fast approaching. In the main hall of the Maoshan sect, Zhong Bai sat cross-legged on a futon, concentrating his mind. Golden light continuously surged from all around, condensing into a golden lotus in the void. Lotus imprints hung down from the lotus platform, and with each breath of Zhong Bai, the golden light flashed and dimmed.

The sound of footsteps approached from afar, and Zhong Bai, who was meditating on the Golden Light Divine Mantra, slowly opened his eyes.

"Master, please come here. Are all the elders ready?"

Zhong Bai stood up, while Master Qian Yuan smiled and nodded, saying, "Don't worry, disciple. All the elders are ready. We are just waiting for your order, and Maoshan can set off for the capital!"

Nodding, Zhong Bai then followed Master Qian Yuan out of the main hall.

Zhong Bai was naturally the main force of Maoshan on this trip to the capital. In addition, the former leader Xuanmingzi would also be going along.

In the entire Maoshan Mountain, only Ming Wanqian of the Sutra Repository and the elders of the other two pavilions remained.

Upon arriving outside the main hall, Zhong Bai glanced around.

On the Corpse Driving Hall side, a golden light flashed past in front of the Longevity True Man. This was his natal Golden Armor Corpse King. The elders of the other halls also brought out their most treasured possessions.

Two elders from each hall went to the capital, making a total of ten Foundation Establishment elders, plus two Golden Core True Monarchs, Zhong Bai and Xuan Mingzi, as well as hundreds of Qi Refining disciples from Maoshan who had gone to the capital in advance. Such a lineup was absolutely luxurious!

"We pay our respects to the Sect Master!"

Zhong Bai stood on the high stone steps outside the hall. Below, a group of elders greeted him. Zhong Bai smiled and returned the greetings to the elders, saying, "Elders, the Manchu royal family is still full of evil intentions. We, the orthodox Maoshan sect, naturally cannot stand by and watch those Tartars harm the world."

"Would you all be willing to accompany me to the capital to slay the evil spirits?"

"I'm waiting to go!"

"Alright! Let's set off, swords pointed at the capital!"

(End of this chapter)