Daoqi Huangcheng

Chapter 33 33. The underworld absorbs grievances and ferrets out ghosts

Outside of Yongcui County, Cuiyun Mountain
【Exploring the Mysterious】The execution of this secret technique cannot be done empty-handed; a human life is required as a catalyst.

The more people die, the better the effect; the stronger the dead, the better the effect; the effect is especially good if the dead die from fear, resentment, or other reasons.

The minimum number of lives required to perform this technique is thirty.

Yongcui County was a remote area, and it took Song Chen two days to finally find a bandit stronghold deep in the mountains.

The words "Juyi Village" were written on the mountain.

However, the things done in the village did not deserve the word "righteousness".

When Song Chen arrived, the two women, who had been tortured to death and were barely recognizable as human beings, were being dumped in the wilderness by the bandits, their bodies in disarray.

So Song Chen didn't hold back and directly manipulated the straw doll to create a sinister atmosphere of "a woman's revenge," and then began to kill the lone bandits, and then kill the bandits who were running away in fear.

As a cultivator, dealing with a gang of bandits who were only strong and could only bully ordinary people was not difficult for him. He killed the forty-odd thieves one by one like a cat catching mice, and then began to use the [Exploration] secret technique with the mountain stronghold as the center.

Snapped!
Snapped!
clap clap clap!
The straw puppets were doing the hard labor that Song Chen should have done himself. After Song Chen killed people, they carried more than forty corpses of bandits from various places and piled them together, forming a small mountain.

Some of these corpses still had their eyes wide open, a testament to the fear they felt before they died.

Fresh blood dripped down, still remarkably fresh.

Song glanced silently at the bandits. If he was nervous when he killed Yang Dongdu and the Jin spy, he was much more used to it now.

After sweeping away the bandits he had killed, he slowly joined his fingers and began to use the [Exploration] secret technique.

The Yellow Springs Sutra says: "Little demons are like flies, gathering when they hear complaints."

This resentment was not the ordinary resentment that could be collected in the imperial city, but rather intense resentment and intense fear.

These auras are difficult to form in crowded places, but can only be formed in places with heavy yin energy, such as deep mountains and old forests.

After a moment's thought, Song Chen raised his finger, channeled his spiritual energy, and activated his magic, uttering, "Exploring the Mysterious, begin!"

With a single finger landing on the mountain of corpses, the unique water-based spiritual energy of the Yellow Springs Scripture began to resonate with the mountain of corpses in a strange way, arousing the resentment within. In Song Chen's eyes, the resentment began to become heavy and oppressive, like an invisible stream that suddenly dispersed in all directions.

A moment later, Song Chen felt the temperature begin to drop.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he saw several transparent white figures coming from a distance. The white figures were vaguely human-shaped, but they were blurry and extremely difficult to identify.

Song Chen felt a chilling aura sweep over him, while the white figures pounced on the resentment emanating from the mountain of corpses, like flies drawn to a fragrant aroma.

An hour later, the number of white figures increased considerably.

Two hours later, the white shadows multiplied.

Three hours later, it was midnight, and the white shadows were becoming more and more numerous.

Song Chen looked around and saw that the white shadows were actually quite indistinct. Some were crawling on the ground, some were hanging in the trees, and some were walking around aimlessly. They came from all directions and began to unconsciously feed on the resentment under the moonlight.

The surrounding temperature dropped drastically. Even a strong, skilled martial artist would freeze to death here; it was a chilling cold that came from the very soul.

Song Chen had already attached the power of that fire-element Qi-gathering fifth-level Lord Liu to his body, and since there weren't many corpses of his as a catalyst, there were no problems for the time being.

However, in this situation, he, the one who had used evil magic to cause all this, was actually a little terrified. If this were in some fantasy dramas he had watched before his transmigration, he would definitely look like a villain, and if he encountered the righteous sects, he would definitely be cursed as "a heretic, deserving of everyone's wrath." But in the blink of an eye, he found it somewhat amusing, like "a novice necromancer who summoned a group of skeletons and was asked how he felt, and he said: 'How terrifying.'"

His own amusement calmed Song Chen down considerably.

He thought to himself, 'Since the *Yellow Springs Sutra* is this kind of method, then I should accept myself as I am, just to live, and not be ashamed.'

Song Chen continued to exert his power.

Just then, he suddenly felt the earth beneath him tremble violently, and a strong, eerie feeling of nausea surged up, as if something was rising and cracking.

The bandits' long-cooled blood began to seep into the deep soil.

The resentment of the wandering ghosts attracted by the storm began to rise into the earth, and then there were the lesser ghosts who went down into the earth, all of which flowed into a cold, trickling stream underground.
Song Chen tried to discern the truth, but could not make it clear. However, the Yellow Springs Scripture clearly stated that once the scene of "the earth swallowing up vengeful ghosts and dark springs flowing" appeared, it meant that the Yellow Springs had manifested. At this time, one should practice the Qi-gathering method.

Song Chen suddenly narrowed his eyes, because the scene in front of him seemed strangely familiar.

He recalled the scene he encountered on his way back to the capital from Jinxia Mountain that day.

At that time, he dealt with several ghosts and encountered a ghost wall. When he left, he also keenly sensed the dark and gloomy evil air current deep in the earth through the "Marrow-Eating Crane Demon".

At this moment, just as at that moment.

However, the Yellow Springs he created himself was like "mountain spring water" meeting "river dragons" compared to the Yellow Springs north of the capital, completely on a different level.

Song Chen's heart skipped a beat.

Therefore, does this mean that someone used the [Exploration] technique in the north of the capital?
Considering the vastness of that area, Song Chen could hardly imagine the scale of the [Exploring the Mysterious] secret technique, or how many triggers it contained.

However, what's even more terrifying is why such a large-scale "Exploration" technique didn't attract the attention of the higher-ups at the Imperial City Temple.
Why?
He then thought of the marrow-eating crane demon and the old monster of the sewing mansion. These were just the tip of the iceberg that he had inadvertently glimpsed. Add to that the Jin Kingdom spy and the Prince of Yan, and he couldn't help but get goosebumps all over.

"That capital city is a treacherous place; let whoever wants to go go."

Song Chen couldn't help but shiver, and at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if he should just bring Que Chan's niece over as well.

But in the blink of an eye, he abandoned the idea.

Firstly, their journey might attract the attention of those with ulterior motives, and Que Chan would most likely be followed if she left at this time. Secondly, Que Chan's departure would be tantamount to giving up the "Que Family" identity of the "He Mansion," and she would no longer be able to use the Que Family's name. During the previous night meeting, Que Chan clearly stated that she wanted to stay. She was just an ordinary person and couldn't get involved in those terrifying things. Besides, even if something really happened, she could still go to the Que Family's main residence for refuge.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind. Song Chen sighed softly and muttered to himself, "Living is so hard." Then he put a Bigu Pill he had brought from Jinxia Mountain into his mouth and began to focus on circulating his Qi-gathering technique to cultivate.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

Song Chen cultivated three water spiritual roots in one go, which merged with the metal spiritual root.

The lives of the forty-odd bandits who had been brought here, as well as the wandering ghosts that had been attracted from the surrounding area, had been completely exhausted, and the resentment and little ghosts seeping down from above were also scattered.

As the last little ghost entered the Yellow Springs, Song Chen felt that the bandit's corpse in front of him had completely turned into "flesh and soil" and was no longer of any use, and the thin stream of the Yellow Springs underground had also disappeared.

The [Exploring the Netherworld] secret technique, to put it bluntly, is not that this secret technique is powerful, but rather that it utilizes some of the laws of this world—the Yellow Springs' dredging of resentment and ferrying of ghosts.

P.S.: One more chapter is being written.

(End of this chapter)