Journey to the West: Starting by becoming an apprentice of Emperor Donghua

Almost simultaneously, the heads of all the ghostly creatures in the courtyard flew high into the air, spun halfway around, and then fell to the ground like hailstones.

The sounds of thumping and thumping continued, the sounds of heads falling to the ground and headless corpses collapsing.

The two people inside the house were somewhat surprised by what they saw:

"Flying sword technique? Ji Sheng actually knows that!"

The old ghost in mid-air was also startled and quickly concealed itself. The voice came from all directions:

"You little brat, I underestimated you. You dare to show off in front of me with just a mere flying sword? Men, attack!"

Although those evil spirits had their bodies severed, their true forms remained.

Suddenly, ghosts howled all around, and the bodies of these evil spirits intertwined, instantly turning into a thick fog.

The fog was all-pervasive, enveloping Ji Sheng from all directions.

"Once this ghostly mist envelops you, it will turn you into pus in no time, and your soul will become one of the ghosts, my slave!"

Ji Sheng sneered, reached into his waist with his right hand, and took out two egg-sized eyeballs.

These eyeballs were the dragon eyes that Erlang Shen had given him before. According to Erlang Shen, they could ward off all evil spirits in the world.

I'll give it a try today.

Ji Sheng activated the Dragon Eye. The Dragon Eye flew into the air, emitting a dazzling golden light. Upon seeing the golden light, the mist immediately hissed and burst into flames.

In an instant, the courtyard was filled with the screams of ghosts, even more chilling than before.

These ghostly mists could no longer maintain their shape, dispersing into patches, each returning to its original form, which were evil spirits.

The old ghost realized something was wrong and shouted:

"What is this thing? Who are you?"

Ji Sheng ignored him, put away the Dragon Eye, and the item in his hand changed again, revealing a talisman.

This talisman is the Ghost-Controlling Talisman.

Ji Sheng raised the Edict of Ghosts and shouted:

"Take it!"

In an instant, all the lonely ghosts and wandering spirits that had revealed their true forms after being illuminated by the golden light were sucked into the Ghost Edict Register.

The entire courtyard was completely empty; nothing was left.

These ghosts were not born evil spirits; many of them were originally kind and good people.

They were refined and manipulated by the old ghost, unable even to reincarnate, which was extremely tragic.

If Ji Sheng wanted, he could make them vanish from the world at any time, their souls scattered.

But Ji Sheng didn't do that; instead, he sent them all back to the underworld to be reincarnated.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the old ghost tried to escape, but before he could move, a flash of sword light appeared, and his head was separated from his body.

Ji Sheng gently waved the Ghost-Controlling Talisman in his right hand, and the old ghost was sucked in as well.

However, the old ghost Ji Sheng did not allow him to reincarnate, but instead bound him into the Ghost Edict Register as nourishment.

The Ghost-Summoning Talisman can not only summon ghosts from the underworld, but also various supernatural phenomena, and it requires evil ghosts as provisions to activate.

A thought flashed through my mind, and small characters appeared:

[The Sixth Merit for Praying for the Souls of the Wronged.]

[Merit Evaluation: Critical Grade]

[Reward: Two strands of innate Eastern Qi.]

Having absorbed these two strands of innate Eastern Hua Qi, Ji Sheng heard the sound of a gentle breeze behind him:

"You... you killed all the ghosts?"

All that remained in the courtyard were human skins scattered everywhere, which looked extremely eerie under the pale moonlight.

Ji Sheng turned his head and saw that Qingfeng's face was also deathly pale in the light. Of course, this paleness wasn't from fear, but from being pulled.

Mingyue's expression was the same. Both of them were shocked and felt sorry for what they saw.

Shocked, they never expected Ji Sheng to deal with the ghosts so easily and efficiently; they couldn't bear to see the villagers' bodies being taken over by the ghosts.

He took out two pills and handed one to Qingfeng and one to Mingyue. After they took them, their complexions finally improved.

Mingyue sighed:

"These villagers are so pitiful. I never imagined they would all be turned into puppets."

Qingfeng said:

"Let's find a place to bury them tomorrow; that would be a good deed."

The two looked at Ji Sheng:

"Thanks to you being with us this time, otherwise Master would probably have had to go to the underworld to get us out."

Thinking about this, both of them felt somewhat ashamed. They had previously boasted that Ji Sheng would be safe, but now things had turned out differently.

If Ji Sheng hadn't come along this time, the two of them would have been in grave danger.

Ji Sheng smiled and said:

"No need to be so polite, but please don't be so greedy in the future."

Mingyue asked:

"Now that the evil spirit has been eliminated and all the villagers are dead, what should we do next?"

Qingfeng said:

"Fellow Daoist Ji saved us, so it is only right and proper that we invite him to Wuzhuang Temple so that we can express our gratitude in a small way."

Mingyue nodded repeatedly, and Ji Sheng said:

"I am here to travel around, going wherever I please. I have long wanted to visit Wuzhuang Temple. Since you have asked, I will not stand on ceremony."

Both of them were overjoyed, and the three of them agreed to go to Wuzhuang Temple together the next day.

The next day, the three of them found a spot on the hillside behind the house and buried all the human skins scattered on the ground.

On the way back, Qingfeng and Mingyue were noticeably more cautious. It seemed this experience had taught them quite a lesson.

The two of them lost their liveliness from when they arrived, and they carefully examined everyone they met on the road, fearing that the other person might be a ghost in disguise.

On their way back, they passed through the city and bought a few more strings of candied hawthorns, saying they wanted to share them with their master and fellow disciples so they could also taste this delicious treat.

When the three of them arrived at Wuzhuang Temple, the game of chess between Zhen Yuanzi and Donghua Dijun had already ended.

The two strolled through the vegetable garden in Wuzhuang Temple, but Donghua Dijun looked relaxed and even a little smug.

Although Zhen Yuanzi's expression didn't reveal anything, he was clearly less interested than Donghua Dijun.

The outcome of this game is probably already crystal clear.

"Zhen Yuanzi, your Hezhou Grotto-heaven is far from ordinary. Although it's spring now, the vegetable garden yields vegetables for all four seasons; that's quite remarkable!"

Looking at the lush green vegetable garden, Donghua Dijun was filled with admiration.

In the vegetable garden, scallions, garlic, chives, radishes, and turnips grew everywhere, and gourds were laden with vines on the trellis, while large, dark purple eggplants were plentiful.

Zhen Yuanzi nodded, his expression softening considerably.

"To be honest, this vegetable garden is taken care of by my two young apprentices. Although they are a bit slow-witted, they are very responsible and have been by my side all these years, which has given me a lot of peace of mind."

Emperor Donghua's eyebrows twitched involuntarily, and he said:

"Is that so? It is a blessing for a master to have such a disciple. However, if a disciple is only allowed to stay at his side and enjoy his affection, he will probably not amount to much. He should go out and see more of the world in order to make progress."

The two were chatting away when suddenly a disciple came running in with candied hawthorns:

"Master, Junior Brothers Qingfeng and Mingyue have returned from catching ghosts! They even brought you candied hawthorns; please accept them!"

Zhen Yuanzi took the candied hawthorn, saw Donghua Dijun beside him, coughed lightly, and laughed heartily:

"Your Majesty, you flatter me. My disciple rarely leaves the mountain and has little knowledge, which is why he thinks this candied hawthorn is some extraordinary delicacy."

The Emperor's disciples love to travel, so they must often be able to enjoy the finest delicacies of the mortal realm. I won't let you have this candied hawthorn.

Emperor Donghua chuckled and said:

"It's alright, it's alright."

Zhen Yuanzi said to his disciple:

"Okay, let them go and rest, and come see me again when they are fully rested."

Then he said to Emperor Donghua:

"Your apprentice came along too, would you like to meet him?"