I used folk talismans to ward off the evil spirit.

Chapter 99 Black Dragon and White Tiger, Seven Stars Descend (Bonus Chapter! 500 Average Subscriptions)

This large-scale arrival of the supernatural realm has a more widespread impact than the previous one, and can be said to have affected the entire globe.

Fortunately, although sporadic strange disasters have emerged within China, they have never managed to form a mysterious, foggy city.

The Bureau of Divine Wonders, uniting various forces, strikes swiftly and decisively, often nipping disasters in the bud.

Outside of China, the scene is quite different.

The capital city of Saint István in the Visegrad Republic of Europe was swallowed up by a mysterious fog overnight.

Despite the desperate resistance of the official Ghostmaster organization, the Brotherhood of the Shield, a quarter of the city remains in ruins, and 300,000 people perished in the Ghost disaster because they were unable to evacuate in time.

The Coral Islands Federation of Oceania, with its capital at Southern Cross Port, is a place where the Mirror Realm repeatedly overlaps with reality, causing space to shatter and reassemble.

Within just three days, the entire city was cut into more than ten isolated islands, with no connection between them, making it difficult for rescue forces to enter. To this day, it remains unknown whether the city has fallen.

Similar messages drifted in from all over the world like snowflakes.

News of the devastating battle in Santos spread throughout the world. The city, which had been almost abandoned, was ultimately saved by the thunderous sword of a "saint".

The fame of the "Divine Rooster Catching the Five Poisons Talisman" and the "Peach Wood Sword" was passed down by word of mouth among the survivors in the ruins.

In addition, several practitioners of the art of warding off evil spirits, who had received teachings from Jiang Jun, were in areas less affected by the disaster, yet they still managed to protect their neighbors with their warding objects, allowing these objects to spread to some extent in the local area.

Official organizations of the "Demon Tamer" in various countries are re-examining those few inconspicuous folk talismans.

The trend of using talismans to ward off evil spirits has once again swept the globe, with prices for willow twigs, garlic, and gourds rising even more drastically than before, and even peach wood becoming a hot commodity.

Those foreign residents thousands of miles away began to frantically learn the Chinese language and script.

After all, the incantation process during the creation of the talisman is in Mandarin, and the incantation becomes ineffective after translation.

The inscriptions on the "Divine Rooster Talisman" are closely related to Chinese calligraphy art.

Against the backdrop of the current arrival of the Abyss of Deception, a new wave of "Chinese fever" is rapidly emerging.

*

Longhu Mountain, Celestial Master's Mansion.

Jiang Jun sat cross-legged, and five-colored rays of light surged from between his eyebrows like a tide, seeping into the Seven Star Ancient Camphor Tree.

This time, he did not face a fierce counterattack.

The twisted, eerie faces on the tree trunk began to blur, gradually transforming from sinister to serene.

The remains embedded in the tree trunks gradually relaxed from their originally stiff and twisted positions.

Their facial bones were no longer terrifying; a sense of calm seemed to have appeared in their empty eye sockets, and the curve of their lips changed from a sinister grin to a faint smile.

The eerie aura of the Seven Star Ghost Camphor Tree had dissipated by more than half, and even its stubborn and unyielding eeriness seemed to have loosened a bit.

Jiang Jun pressed his advantage, and the five-colored light continued to penetrate, gradually erasing the remaining filth.

The old celestial master stood on the edge of the plateau, his gaze, which had always been as calm as still water, finally stirred.

He gazed at the remains slowly sliding down the tree trunks, at their peaceful faces, his lips moved slightly, but he ultimately remained silent.

His beloved family and friends, with whom he had spent every day, now huddled in the tree in a bizarre form, neither alive nor dead, neither human nor ghost, for forty years.

Now, it's finally coming to an end!

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, only calmness remained in his eyes.

Just then, a violent surge of eerie energy suddenly erupted at the junction of Longhu Mountain and Guiyuan.

The earth trembled violently, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the ground. Eerie mist gushed out from the cracks, carrying a nauseating stench.

In the direction of the back mountain of the Celestial Master's Mansion, the void distorted, and a pitch-black rift slowly opened, from which countless monsters poured out.

Leading them were three humanoid monsters wearing Taoist hats.

Their bodies are no different from ordinary people, but their skin is grayish-white and covered with fine cracks.

His Taoist hat was askew, his hair was disheveled, and his face had no features, only a smooth, grayish-white expanse.

Most strangely, they were standing on black clouds, within which twisted runes could be vaguely seen churning.

Behind these three lord-level monsters were thousands of smaller, elite-level counterparts.

They also wear Taoist crowns, but their bodies are hunched over, and they crawl on all fours like wild beasts.

Its mouth split open to its ears, revealing jagged, sharp teeth; its eyes had no pupils, only grayish-white ones.

The old celestial master remained expressionless and raised his hand to form a hand seal.

In mid-air, a black water dragon and a white bone tiger appeared out of thin air.

The dragon was pitch black, its body winding and its scales shimmering with a ghostly light, but it was not metallic; rather, it resembled flowing water from an abyss.

It flew around the Celestial Master's Palace once, then opened its mouth and spewed out a stream of dark, black water.

The black water poured down like a celestial river, washing away the elite monsters and scattering them to pieces.

The monsters that were touched by the black water froze instantly, turning into grayish-white statues, and then shattered into powder.

The skeletal tiger followed closely behind, slamming its claws into the ground. An invisible shockwave spread out, instantly shattering hundreds of elite-level monsters. The skeletal tiger, sharp as a knife, shredded the remains into fragments.

The three lord-level monsters let out a silent roar, and the Taoist crowns on their heads glowed with an eerie light.

The one in the lead has the strength of a third-level extraordinary cultivator.

It raised its hand, and a black vortex appeared in its palm, from which came the sound of chanting.

The voice was distorted and malevolent, as if it were a re-translation of Taoist scriptures into the language of the Abyss.

The chanting reached the old Celestial Master's ears, causing him to furrow his brow. The surrounding space distorted, as if it were about to devour him.

The other two lord-level monsters possess extraordinary second-stage strength.

They flanked from the left and right.

Countless black talismans shot out from the palm, but were blocked by the black water and flew out, touching the buildings and immediately corroding them, creating large holes.

Another one opened its mouth and spewed out a cloud of grayish-white mist, within which countless twisted ghostly faces could be vaguely seen, emitting a chilling shriek.

The old celestial master remained expressionless. With a wave of his left hand, the dragon opened its mouth and spewed out black water, extinguishing all the black talismans.

With a flick of his right hand, the skeletal tiger slapped its claws, dispersing the gray-white mist.

He took a step forward, and golden light shone from beneath his feet, instantly restoring the surrounding space to normal.

Faced with the siege of three lord-level monsters, he remained calm and composed. The dragon and tiger cooperated perfectly, with surging black water and gleaming white bones, neutralizing every attack from the enemy.

While purifying the Seven Star Ancient Camphor Tree with the "Five-Colored Stone", Jiang Jun also kept an eye on the Old Celestial Master's battle.

Those three lord-level monsters were far more powerful than the three in Santos City.

Jiang Jun had to borrow the power of heaven and earth and invoke the laws of the world to defeat those three in order to achieve victory in one fell swoop.

However, the old Celestial Master didn't even need to use the Dragon-Tiger Golden Pill; he easily suppressed the three even stronger monsters.

Jiang Jun understood: "The Dragon-Tiger Golden Elixir, like my Nine Heavens Palace, should remain at the source to maintain the lineage. What the Celestial Master is using now is still his natal artifact."

He suddenly realized that even those who opened the path by relying on divine objects were still trapped in the system of the manipulators of strange things, and could not escape the influence of the Abyss of Strange Things at every step.

Only by developing its own way of controlling things could it escape that quagmire from the root.

As he was pondering, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled violently.

A strange energy fluctuation, a hundred times more intense than before, erupted from beneath the Seven Star Ancient Camphor Tree.

The entire plateau trembled violently, the stone slabs on the ground shattered, and eerie mist shot into the sky like a volcanic eruption.

The old celestial master's expression changed slightly. Xuanlong and Baihu suddenly shook themselves, temporarily forcing back the three lord-level monsters, before sending a wisp of divine thought to probe the ground.

He quickly withdrew his divine sense and transmitted his voice to Jiang Jun, saying, "Fellow Daoist, that secluded space underground is now completely connected to the shallow layer of the Ghost Abyss."

Jiang Jun's divine sense also probed down.

This wasn't the first time he had sensed that confined space.

At this moment, the barrier of space shattered completely, and countless bluish-gray light spots were colliding and merging wildly, emitting a dazzling eerie light.

The points of light were constantly annihilated and recombined in the collisions, eventually transforming into ten dark starlight.

The ten star-shaped rays were dark purple, radiating an evil and chilling light.

They are arranged in a winding curve, seven in front, two behind, and the last one hanging alone at the end, cold and aloof.

Jiang Jun recognized the arrangement.

The Big Dipper, plus the two auxiliary stars, the North Star.

But those were not proper celestial phenomena; they were demonic stars distorted by the laws of the Abyss, each exuding a chilling aura of pollution.

Ten demonic stars shot into the sky.

Seven of them transformed into dark light, disappearing into the trunk of the Seven Star Ancient Camphor Tree and merging with it.

The eerie aura of the Seven Star Camphor Tree surged instantly.

The other three—Left Assistant, Right Assistant, and North Star—attempted to escape in three different directions.

The old Celestial Master snorted coldly, suppressing the strange Taoist crown while simultaneously manipulating the Azure Dragon Stone and the Crimson Tiger Stone, which shone brightly at the same time.

A vast net of blue and red light enveloped the three demonic stars. They struggled and fought within the net, but could not break free.

With a flick of his sleeve, the old celestial master swept the three demonic stars back, which landed on the platform with a dull thud, creating three deep craters in the ground.

Jiang Jun was not surprised. The old Celestial Master had been prepared and had informed him beforehand. The two of them had been waiting for this moment from the very beginning.

"Fellow Daoist, it's your turn," the old Celestial Master said in a deep voice, while simultaneously activating the Azure Dragon Stone and the Crimson Tiger Stone. The azure and crimson light transformed into two chains, firmly locking the Seven Star Ancient Camphor Tree in place.

The ancient tree struggled frantically, but under the suppression of the Radiant Sun-level divine artifact, it could only futilely shake its branches.

Jiang Jun no longer hesitated.

He closed his eyes, and a five-colored halo suddenly spread out from behind his head, enveloping all seven ancient trees.

The phantom of the "Creation Lotus" appeared above his head, its green leaves swaying and its red lotus like fire, casting a clear glow.

He unleashed all his divine sense, true energy, and the power of the five protective talismans without reservation.

At the same time, countless illusory protective talismans appeared and resonated on the brows of those eerie faces and on the key nodes of the tree trunks.

That was a backup plan he secretly laid out using the five-colored light.

At that moment, all the runes lit up simultaneously.

The Seven Star Ghost Camphor Tree was attacked from both inside and outside, and the howling of the ghostly face came to an abrupt halt. The grayish-white color on the trunk faded at a visible speed, turning into a warm bluish-brown.

The remains embedded in the tree ceased their struggle and slowly slid down the trunk, lying quietly beneath the tree as if entering eternal sleep.

The human face on the tree trunk has completely disappeared, replaced by smooth bark with faintly visible fine wood grain.

At this moment, the seven ancient trees completed their purification.

A surge of powerful spiritual energy erupted from the tree trunk, carrying the fragrance of grass and trees, sweeping away the eerie mist surrounding the Longhu Mountain projection.

The remains beneath the tree suddenly emitted a faint golden light.

Golden light shone through the gaps in the bones, as if something was awakening.

The tattered Taoist robes and rusted magical artifacts transformed into tiny specks of light in the golden light, slowly rising.

The remains became transparent, like a phantom formed from condensed light.

The disciples of Longhu Mountain who sacrificed their lives for the cause bowed in the direction of the Old Celestial Master, and then transformed into a shower of golden light that dissipated into the blue and red light curtain.

The old celestial master withdrew the power of the Azure Dragon Stone and the Crimson Tiger Stone, stood with his hands behind his back, and gazed at the rain of light without saying a word.

He raised his hand, and the dragon and tiger let out a low growl, transforming into two streams of light that circled the rain of light several times, as if bidding them farewell.

Then the light rain dissipated, and the dragon and tiger returned to his body.

Jiang Jun watched quietly from the side without saying a word.

When the rain of light dissipated, the Seven Star Ancient Camphor Tree had completely changed its appearance.

The seven giant trees are lush and verdant, with canopies that spread out like a canopy, and a faint bluish glow emanates from their branches and leaves.

The seven demonic stars embedded in the tree trunk, under the cleansing waves, gradually lost their dark purple light, transforming into a mysterious silver-white.

Seven stars slowly rotate within the tree trunk, echoing each other to form a miniature Big Dipper array.

A vast amount of spiritual energy then arose and gathered, transforming into an invisible river that flowed into the underground fissures.

The spatial barrier connecting to the shallow part of the Abyss was washed away by spiritual energy, the cracks quickly healed, and the eerie mist was forced back by the spiritual energy, unable to penetrate any further. The passage was completely suppressed.

Then, the spiritual energy surged like a tide, centered on the Celestial Master's Mansion, and swept across the entire Longhu Mountain.

The group of strange, Taoist-clad monsters, struck by the spiritual energy, let out eerie shrieks and abandoned their siege of Longhu Mountain, instead attempting to break out in all directions.

But this time, the old master refused to let them go.

The Azure Dragon Stone and the Crimson Tiger Stone soared into the sky, transforming into two small mountains that directly suppressed them below.

Unlike the suppression of the Seven Star Ghost Camphor Tree, it cannot be treated lightly or heavily, so its power is not apparent.

Now that these two Radiant Sun-level divine artifacts are operating at full power, the group of Daoist-level monsters quickly fell silent.

As the spiritual energy surged, the eerie mist cleared, and the monsters retreated back into the Abyss. The Abyss passages, which had previously resembled honeycombs and sieves, were all closed up one by one.

The old Celestial Master let out a long breath, turned around, and solemnly bowed to Jiang Jun: "Fellow Daoist, I am deeply grateful."

Jiang Jun quickly stood up and returned the greeting: "You're too kind, Celestial Master."

The old Celestial Master looked at the seven spiritual trees with satisfaction in his eyes: "With them suppressing the evil spirits, I no longer have to guard Longhu Mountain all the time."

"When I descend the mountain to sweep away the demons in the future, I'll be able to do so with more ease."

He paused, then smiled and said, "I said I'd invite you for tea, but I haven't had the chance. Now that things have settled, if you don't mind, how about coming to my hall for a cup of tea?"

Jiang Jun nodded: "I would be honored to accept your offer."

The old Celestial Master led him across the terrace and back to the main hall of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

The hall was simply furnished, with a huanghuali wood table in the center, two armchairs, and a celadon incense burner on the table, from which wisps of smoke rose, carrying the refreshing scent of sandalwood.

The old master personally brewed a pot of tea. The tea soup was clear, light amber in color, and had a refreshing aroma with a hint of sweetness.

"This tea was picked from the old tea tree on the main peak of Longhu Mountain in reality. There was a lot of rain this year, so we only got three ounces. Fellow Daoist, please have a taste." The old master pushed the teacup over.

Jiang Jun picked up his teacup and took a sip.

The tea soup was smooth and mellow on the palate, and a warm current slid down the throat into the stomach, sweeping away the fatigue brought on by purifying the strange tree for days.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "Excellent tea!"

The old Celestial Master took a sip of tea, put down his teacup, took out a scroll of silk and a jade box from his sleeve, and pointed to the three demonic stars outside the hall that were suppressed by blue and red chains.

He looked at Jiang Jun and solemnly said, "Fellow Daoist, your assistance this time is deeply appreciated by everyone at Longhu Mountain. The details of the evolution of the 'Dragon Tiger Golden Elixir Method' that I promised are all here."

He pushed the silk scroll in front of Jiang Jun: "From the first and second turns to the current sixth turn, the insights, key points, detours, and even failures of each breakthrough are recorded in it."

"Fellow Daoist is a pioneer of the Dao; this record may inspire you in your future breakthroughs."

Jiang Jun took the silk scroll with both hands and slightly unfolded a corner of it.

The silk scroll was densely covered with tiny characters, neat yet powerful, and several simple diagrams were drawn next to it.

He carefully tucked the silk scroll into his sleeve, then bowed to the old Celestial Master, saying, "Thank you for your generous gift, Celestial Master. This is exactly what I need right now."

The old Celestial Master waved his hand and pointed to the three demonic stars outside the hall: "These three demonic stars are rare treasures condensed from the laws of the Abyss of Ghosts. They can help those who wield ghosts advance to the extraordinary level. A dozen years ago, before we had even opened up the path, they were considered among the most precious treasures."

He paused, then added, "Those seven demonic stars that merged with the ancient camphor tree have become the foundation of the spirit tree and cannot be touched."

These three are a gift to you, fellow Daoist.

Jiang Jun took out the "Demon-Swallowing Gourd" and put the three demonic stars inside. The gourd's belly bulged slightly, and a few muffled impacts came from inside before it fell silent.

The old celestial master finally picked up the jade box and gently pushed it in front of Jiang Jun: "This is a strange object that I obtained by chance in my early years. It is not of high quality, but it is very peculiar. It is quite similar to the lightning-struck peach wood that the Bureau of Mysteries gave you."

Jiang Jun's mind stirred slightly, but he did not open it on the spot. Instead, he put it into his sleeve and bowed solemnly to the old Celestial Master: "It would be disrespectful to refuse such a generous gift from the Celestial Master."

The old Celestial Master quickly helped him up, and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, there's no need for such formalities. If it weren't for your help, I don't know when the hidden dangers of my Dragon Tiger Mountain would have been eradicated. In fact, I owe you more than anyone else."

The two exchanged a smile and then dropped the formalities.

Jiang Jun drank a few more sips of tea, then stood up and said, "Master, the Seven Star Ancient Camphor Tree has just become a spiritual plant, and I imagine you still have much to arrange. I won't stay any longer."

The old Celestial Master nodded, stood up, and saw him to the entrance of the hall: "Fellow Daoist, please take care. If you have any free time in the future, please come to Longhu Mountain for tea anytime."

7

Jiang Jun bowed and took his leave. With a thought, he disappeared into the eerie mist outside the hall.