Ghost Immortal

As Li Feng walked out of the courtyard, he heard Zhao Tiezhu whisper to the young constable.

"Go check if Zhang Gengtou has been acting strangely in the last few months. That old bastard's death was not simple."

The young constable responded, and the sound of his footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Li Feng stood in the courtyard, clutching the wooden plaque in his hand.

Everything was going according to his plan.

That afternoon, Li Feng found a vacant lot behind the alley, hired two idle men, and hastily buried Zhang Gengtou's body.

The coffin was a cheap, thin-skinned one that had been bought on the spot. It was poorly made, with the wood shavings not even properly sanded off, but Li Feng didn't care. After all, it wasn't a person buried there.

If he can bury his pets better than cats and dogs, then he has done good deeds.

When that bastard was buried, apart from two idlers, no one came to pay their respects.

Granny Wang stood at the alley entrance and glanced at it from afar, but she didn't come over.

Li Feng stood in front of the grave and burned the last stack of paper money. He then used a pen made from charcoal to write the six characters "Tomb of My Cousin Zhang Geng" crookedly on the wooden plaque and stuck it on the grave mound.

After doing all this, he returned to Zhang Gengtou's courtyard, closed the gate, and began to study "The Secret Records of Night Watchmen".

This booklet is much thicker than the thin booklet used by the corpse carriers, and its content is more systematic.

The first half records the orthodox lineage of the night watchmen, including the origin, rules, taboos, and orthodox cultivation methods and techniques of the lineage.

The latter half is Zhang Gengtou's private notes, which record his process of tampering with the inheritance, falling into the path of ghost cultivation, and detailed records of harming people and stealing souls over the years.

Li Feng first looked at the section on orthodox inheritance.

The night watchman's cultivation method is called "Suppressing Evil and Nourishing Yang Gong". Its core is to use yang energy to suppress yin evil. In the process of suppression, he absorbs the yin evil energy to temper his physical body.

When one cultivates to a high level, the night watchman can suppress fierce ghosts and demons without relying on any magical artifacts, simply by using his own yang energy and the sound of the clapper.

Unlike the corpse carriers whose "qi gathers and does not disperse," the night watchmen follow the path of "qi as strong as a mountain."

Corpse carriers sought to preserve their bodies from decay, while night watchmen sought masculinity and dominance.

Although both belong to the lowest of the low, the tradition of the night watchman is clearly more upright and honorable.

The techniques recorded in the booklet for night watchmen are far more extensive than those for corpse carriers.

The most basic one is the [Suppressing Evil Bang].

This is a technique performed in conjunction with the sound of a wooden clapper. Once the clapper is struck, the evil energy within a radius of ten steps will be suppressed.

The higher the cultivation level, the wider the area covered by the clapper sound, and the stronger the suppression effect.

Zhang Gengtou used this technique to dispel yin energy by striking a wooden clapper in the alley, but he later altered the clapper into a blood-slaying cleaver.

Then comes the [Guiding Light].

This is a guiding technique.

Specially crafted lanterns can illuminate invisible ghosts.

It can also guide wandering ghosts into the city to where they should go, preventing them from running amok and harming people in the city.

Zhang Gengtou altered the spell to create a lantern with a human head, and the lamp oil inside the lantern was mixed with human oil and corpse oil.

The light emitted from burning will not guide ghosts; instead, it will attract them, and then they will be collected by the Soul-Capturing Bell.

Finally, there is the [Requiem Bell].

This is the most essential magic of the night watchman; a ring of the copper bell can soothe the malevolent spirits and temporarily restore the raging ghosts to their senses.

For some vengeful spirits with deep-seated obsessions, the Soul-Soothing Bell can even make them let go of their obsessions and dissipate on their own.

Zhang Gengtou altered the Soul-Soothing Bell into a Soul-Capturing Bell. Instead of calming the ghosts after ringing it, it forcibly extracted their yin energy, even the souls of living people.

The more Li Feng looked at it, the more regrettable he felt.

The tradition of night watchmen is actually quite good. Although it is a lowly profession, if one cultivates it to a high level, it can also lead to a great path to success.

The booklet mentions an old night watchman who single-handedly suppressed the evil spirits of a city and was awarded the title of General of Suppressing Evil Spirits, a sixth-rank official, by the imperial court, enjoying unparalleled prestige.

Unfortunately, this inheritance fell into the hands of Zhang Gengtou, who ruined it into the evil and crooked path of ghost cultivation.

However, for Li Feng, the inheritance of the night watchman's tradition is just an added bonus.

His true foundation lies in the orthodox cultivation methods of Taoism, specifically the Qi-refining techniques and talisman arrays recorded in the broken book.

The night watchman's magic can be used as a supplementary means, but it cannot replace his main cultivation method.

What he lacks most right now is not cultivation techniques, but spirit stones.

Ten low-grade spirit stones may seem like a lot, but for a cultivator, they're not even enough to fill a tooth gap.

According to the broken book, a cultivator in the Spirit Root stage needs at least thirty to fifty spirit stones to break through the bottleneck when attempting to advance to the Qi Refining stage.

Moreover, spirit stones are not only used for cultivation, but they are also the hard currency in the cultivation world. They are indispensable for buying pills, magical artifacts, and cultivation techniques.

Li Feng carefully put away the spirit stones and the booklet, and then packed up the useful items left by Zhang Gengtou into a bundle before slowly familiarizing himself with the environment of the courtyard.

Although the courtyard was dilapidated, it was secluded and far from the main street, with few neighbors, making it a perfect place for someone like him who needed privacy.

The alley behind the courtyard leads directly to the foot of the city wall. Climbing over the wall leads to the mountains and forests outside the city. Gao Feng is hidden in a cave over there, making it very convenient to travel back and forth.

Li Feng did not go out that night.

He sat cross-legged in the room, circulating the Qi in his dantian to consolidate his nine-inch spiritual root cultivation.

The increase in spiritual power from consuming the scraps of the bull demon has stabilized.

However, there is still some stagnation in the meridians, which needs time to be nurtured and cleared completely.

At dawn the next day, Li Feng appeared precisely at the gatehouse of the yamen.

The household quarters were located on the west side of the Qingyan City government compound. They were a row of single-story houses with blue bricks and gray tiles. Most of the paint on the doors and windows had peeled off, making them look rather shabby.

Zhao Tiezhu was already waiting for him at the door and led him into the house.

The procedures for the performance review were much simpler than Li Feng had imagined.

Zhao Tiezhu took out a thick register and wrote down Li Feng's name, age, place of origin, and physical characteristics.

Then they made him put his handprint on it, and the whole process took less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

After registration, Zhao Tiezhu took out the night watchman's gear from the cabinet and handed it to Li Feng.

A blue long gown, a hemp rope belt, a pair of straw sandals, and the three ancestral items left behind by Zhang Gengtou.

Of course, Li Feng had already replaced the three ancestral items beforehand.

The clapper was a spare one that Zhang Gengtou had found in his trunk, while the lantern and copper bell were ordinary items, and Li Feng had cleaned away all traces of evil magic on them.

"From today onwards, you will be the night watchman for the southern part of Qingyan City. Your night watch route covers the twelve alleys in the south of the city. You will start striking the clapper at the first watch and finish at the fifth watch, without interruption."

Zhao Tiezhu slammed the hand-drawn route map on the table and gave some more instructions.

"Remember, you're on watch after dark. If you encounter anything unclean, don't meddle. Just keep banging your clapper. If you die, I'll have to find another watchman, which is a hassle."

He spoke these words with a blank expression and utter indifference, clearly someone accustomed to life and death.

Li Feng took the route map and replied, "Yes."

"Oh, right, there's something I need to tell you."

Zhao Tiezhu pulled a piece of paper from the drawer, on which some strange patterns were drawn.

"The city has been unsettled for the past few months. Several missing persons cases remain unsolved, and the Black Wind Bandits of Black Wind Ridge are also stirring. Several households in the south of the city have been robbed."

He looked up at Li Feng and said, "Be careful when you walk at night. The unclean things aren't just ghosts."

Li Feng nodded, put the route map in his pocket, and turned to leave.

Stepping out of the government office, the sun was shining brightly, making the bluestone slabs on the street appear dazzlingly white.

Li Feng narrowed his eyes slightly, calculating his next plan in his mind.

Now that we've obtained the identity of a night watchman and found a place to stay in Qingyan City, it's time to get down to business.

Inquire about the markets and neighborhoods where independent cultivators reside, seek out channels for cultivation resources, and investigate the source of the dark aura.

He had a hunch that the dark aura emanating from the depths of the mountains was more than just a matter of a few ghost cultivators experiencing a surge in their cultivation levels.

The waters of Qingyan City are much deeper than they appear on the surface.