Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

Tonight, he will put all the newly unlocked skills of the Soul Refining Banner into practice.

The Japanese barracks in Fengtai covered a vast area, expanded from an existing barracks. It was surrounded by barbed wire and had watchtowers at the four corners. The barracks were neatly arranged, and most of the lights were off, with only the occasional beams of flashlights from patrols and a few other places like the command post still lit.

As a rear-area garrison, the level of security was not as high as that of the front lines, but it was still quite strict. There were double guards at the camp gate and mobile sentries inside the perimeter wall.

Ten soul clones infiltrated the barracks from different directions like ghosts, without triggering any alarms—spirits are formless and intangible, so how could ordinary sentries detect them?

He Damin's main body hovered a hundred meters above the military camp, the phantom of the Soul Refining Banner appearing and disappearing behind him. The blood-red banner slowly unfurled, and invisible fluctuations of soul power spread down into the camp like ripples, quietly setting up the [Soul Banner Domain]. However, he did not immediately activate the "Soul-Capturing Maze," but instead maintained the basic suppression effect, causing the Japanese soldiers within the domain to feel vaguely uncomfortable, irritable, and restless, yet without understanding why.

Each of the ten clones has chosen its own target.

They chose ordinary soldiers, not officers. Officers have relatively strong wills and stronger spirits, so they might encounter resistance during the initial possession and control, wasting time. Ordinary soldiers, especially those who are asleep, have the weakest mental defenses.

The clones transformed into ten wisps of green smoke, each entering the forehead of a sleeping Japanese soldier in one of ten different barracks.

In Barracks One, a private named Ono was dreaming of the cherry blossoms of his hometown. Suddenly, the dream shattered, and a cold, violent, and bloodthirsty consciousness forcefully invaded his mind. Ono abruptly opened his eyes; in the darkness, a faint golden glint flashed deep within his pupils before disappearing. He sat up expressionlessly, glanced at his sleeping comrades beside him, and silently reached for his Type 38 rifle, checked the magazine, and loaded it.

Barracks Two, Barracks Three... the same scene was playing out simultaneously in ten different places.

Control complete!

"Action!" He Damin issued the second order from high in the sky.

"Bang!"

The first gunshot shattered the silence of the night. In the barracks, Ono, controlled by his clone, pulled the trigger on the opposite bunk where a sergeant was snoring. At close range, the bullet pierced the sergeant's chest, and blood instantly stained the bedding.

"Enemy attack?!" The other soldiers in the same barracks were awakened by the gunfire and screams, and sat up in a daze.

They were met with Ono's turned gun and a barrage of cold, merciless shots. "Bang! Bang! Bang!" In just a few seconds, three more soldiers fell from the barracks.

Almost simultaneously, gunshots, screams, curses, and terrified cries rang out from the other nine barracks.

"Baka! Kojima, are you crazy?!"

"ah--!"

"Counterattack! Counterattack now!"

"What's going on? Where were the shots fired?"

The entire military camp erupted into chaos, like a beehive tossed with a boulder. Disheveled soldiers rushed out of the barracks in panic, many without even their guns, staring blankly around. In the darkness, friend and foe were indistinguishable; all they could hear was gunfire everywhere, and men falling all around them.

Meanwhile, the ten "madmen" controlled by the clones continued their killing spree calmly and efficiently amidst the chaos. They targeted valuable individuals such as officers, sergeants, and machine gunners, sometimes using bayonets, their movements ruthless and precise. Even more terrifying was their seemingly uncanny understanding; they would occasionally cover for each other, creating even greater chaos.

"A spy has infiltrated!"

"Not just one! There are many!"

"Gather! Gather quickly!"

Some junior officers attempted to organize resistance, but the crowd was too chaotic for orders to be effectively communicated. Moreover, whenever someone tried to step forward to give command, they were quickly struck by bullets coming from an unknown direction.

Panic spread like a plague through the military camp. Many soldiers began indiscriminately firing at any suspicious figure, inevitably resulting in friendly fire, which further exacerbated the chaos and distrust among them.

High in the sky, He Damin calmly surveyed everything. The Soul Banner's domain remained in place, subtly amplifying the soldiers' fear, suspicion, and violent emotions. The effects of the [Soul-Capturing Maze] had not yet fully activated, but it had already made many soldiers feel dizzy and sluggish.

The chaos reached its peak.

it's time.

He Damin's eyes sharpened, and he urged his mind to act.

In the military camp below, the ten clones that were wreaking havoc suddenly stopped. Then, their bodies convulsed violently, blood seeping from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths, before they fell straight down—the clones detached themselves and instantly drained the last bit of life from their hosts, leaving behind obvious traces of "evil magic."

Almost at the same moment his clone fell, He Damin's main soul suddenly unleashed the power of the Soul Refining Banner to its limit!

【Soul Banner Domain - Soul-Capturing Maze】—Activate!

[Night Parade of One Hundred Demons] - Summon!

hum!

An invisible yet intense mental shock emanated from He Damin, covering an area of ​​100 meters in radius! In the military camp, the already panicked and mentally on the verge of collapse Japanese soldiers felt as if their heads had been struck by a heavy hammer. Their vision went black, and countless terrifying hallucinations arose in their minds—the hideous corpses of their fallen comrades lunged at them, ghostly hands reached out from the ground, and inhuman howls echoed from the darkness… More than a third of the soldiers fainted on the spot, and the rest fell into deeper chaos and madness. Many clutched their heads and screamed, and some even began to self-harm or attack everything in front of them.

At the same time, blood-red light surged on the surface of the Soul Refining Banner! Dozens of blurry, twisted, and sinister ghostly phantoms roared and rushed out from the banner, rushing towards the military camp below! These phantoms were only equivalent to strong wild beasts in strength, with limited physical attack power, but they were terrifying in form, moving invisibly, and specifically targeting the soldiers' spirits, tearing at their scattered fear emotions, and further creating an atmosphere of despair.

"A ghost! It's a ghost!"

"Onmyoji, please help!"

"I don't want to die..."

The military camp had become a living hell, a den of demons and monsters.

He Damin remained expressionless, and the Soul Refining Banner trembled once more.

【Blood Soul Chains - Soul Devouring】!

Hundreds of thick, blood-red chains, like snakes emerging from their holes, shot down from the banner! These chains seemed to have eyes, precisely piercing the bodies of Japanese soldiers who were either unconscious or mentally broken, not attacking their flesh, but directly binding and piercing their souls!

"Ugh—!"

The soul's shriek, so mournful it was inhuman, was weak on the real level, but on the soul level it was like a raging storm! One after another, bright or dim soul lights were forcibly pulled from the soldiers' bodies by the blood soul chains, and their twisted, painful faces and final struggles could still be seen in the soul lights.

The black, soul-devouring mist at the end of the chains surged like a greedy maw, frantically devouring the chaotic fragments of resentment, fear, and other negative emotions within the soul light, refining them and nourishing the chains themselves, making the blood-red light of the chains even more intense and their power even greater. Meanwhile, the pure primordial power of the soul was continuously drawn into the Soul Refining Banner along the chains.

The crimson on the banner deepened visibly, the demonic patterns became clearer and more ferocious, and the dragon scales on the banner pole seemed to come alive. The Soul Refining Banner emitted an excited hum, conveying its thirst for more souls.

He Damin hovered high in the sky, like a cold-blooded Grim Reaper, overlooking his hunting grounds. Blood Soul Chains crisscrossed, reaping madly. Hundreds of ghostly phantoms shrieked and pounced, creating terror. The Soul Banner Domain enveloped the entire area, suppressing everything.

The whole process lasted less than fifteen minutes.

When the Soul Refining Banner conveyed the idea of ​​"satisfaction," the Blood Soul Chains automatically retracted, and the illusory ghosts roared unwillingly as they were drawn back into the banner. As the Soul Banner's domain slowly closed, the Fengtai military camp below was already deathly silent.

The previous chaos, gunfire, and screams all vanished. Most of the barracks were pitch black, with only a few places still lit, but even those were silent. The parade ground and the open spaces between the barracks were littered with the corpses of Japanese soldiers. Some died from gunshot wounds, some from friendly fire, but most had faces contorted in terror, blood streaming from their orifices, yet no obvious external injuries—the typical signs of a soul forcibly ripped from the body, a death from mental collapse.

The air was thick with the stench of blood, and a deeper, chilling stillness that came with the annihilation of souls.

He Damin's divine sense swept across the area below. Of the nearly one thousand mixed regiment's encampment, fewer than one hundred were still alive, and all of them were either in a deep coma or in a state of complete mental collapse; even if they survived, they would be useless.

Inside the Soul Refining Banner, the number of newly absorbed souls steadily exceeded one thousand, and their quality was quite high—they were all military souls that had been trained and had killed people.

"Recycle." With a thought, He Damin sent the ten clones that had completed their mission and were quietly floating around the military camp back as streaks of light, merging into his main soul. Although the cost was considerable, the combat experience and some soul power he brought back made the splitting process worthwhile overall.

He took one last look at the military camp below, which resembled a ghostly realm. He put away the Soul Refining Banner, and his true body and soul transformed into a phantom, flying swiftly towards the direction of Beiping City.

Tonight's harvest was plentiful. The Soul Refining Banner absorbed a large number of high-quality souls, and it's not far from needing the energy for its third advancement. And this bizarre "military camp self-destruction incident" that occurred behind Japanese lines is enough to shake and terrify the high command of the Japanese in North China for a while.

As for whether it would attract the attention of any high-level Onmyoji or cultivators among the Japanese soldiers, He Damin wasn't too worried. The Soul Refining Banner was of extremely high quality, and when he used it, he deliberately simulated the aura of "evil arts" and "ghostly ways." Even if someone noticed something amiss, it would be difficult to trace it back to him, a mere "apprentice from Fengzeyuan."

In the east, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

He Damin's soul returned to his body in the east courtyard, and he slowly opened his eyes. His face was slightly pale, a sign of excessive consumption of soul power, but his eyes were even more profound and bright.

He sensed the Soul Refining Banner in his spiritual sea becoming increasingly solid, its blood-red light faintly visible, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.

And he, He Damin, has added a thousand more sinful souls to his Soul Refining Banner tonight.