Ghost Immortal

Li Feng was also deep in thought.

If Bai Wuchang is telling the truth, it means that Gu Zhenren is not the real culprit in this series of murders; the real killer is someone else.

Gu Zhenren was merely using these corpses to perform his Gu techniques.

Just like vultures don't kill their prey, but only peck at the carrion after it dies.

"Sir, now that you know the true cause of these people's deaths, could you please tell me?"

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows asked anxiously, "If the murderer is someone else, then I will have a direction to investigate the case."

White Impermanence shook his head, a strange expression appearing on his pale face.

It was a mixture of fear and helplessness.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that I can't tell you," Bai Wuchang sighed.

"Your mortal realm has its rules, and the underworld has its rules. There are some things that the underworld knows, but cannot speak of. To speak of them would be to reveal heavenly secrets, and both I and Black Impermanence would be punished."

Master Si Mei's brows were furrowed with anxiety.

"Can't you even give me a hint?"

White Impermanence and Black Impermanence exchanged a glance and communicated with each other for a moment.

Black Impermanence nodded slightly.

Bai Wuchang turned back to the Four-Eyebrowed Taoist and pointed to the ashes in the cloth bag.

"I can only tell you two things: these people did not die from Gu worms, but they were all harmed by the same thing, and the other party has great ambitions! Their ambitions are not in the human world, nor in hell."

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows looked puzzled.

"What does this mean?"

The White Impermanence refused to speak further.

He put on a stiff smile again, waved his hand and said, "That's all I have to say. If I keep going, I'll lose my position. You're a smart man, Four Eyebrows. I've given you enough clues. Figure out the rest yourself."

He turned and waved to Black Impermanence: "Third brother, let's go."

Black Impermanence reread the ledger, quickly wrote a few lines on it with a brush, then closed the ledger and stuffed it into his sleeve.

He bent down and picked up the two bamboo baskets in front of the altar.

The entire three hundred million ghost money, weighing at least a hundred pounds, seemed like two wads of cotton in his hands, which he lifted up with ease.

The White Impermanence shook his soul-snatching rope, and the sound of iron chains rattling in the courtyard immediately filled the air.

He lifted the black curtain and walked out of the hall, with Black Impermanence following behind carrying a bamboo basket.

As the two walked into the courtyard, black mist suddenly rose from the ground beneath their feet, surging upwards and gradually engulfing their figures.

"Oh, right."

As the black mist engulfed his chest, Bai Wuchang suddenly turned around and looked at the four-browed Taoist priest standing at the entrance of the hall.

"There's one more thing I almost forgot to tell you: you don't need to look for those two ghosts who drifted to southern Xinjiang anymore."

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows was taken aback: "Why?"

"Because they are no longer in the Southern Frontier; they have gone to where they belong." Bai Wuchang waved his hand.

After saying this, the black mist suddenly exploded, turning into a thick cloud of smoke that shot into the sky.

After the smoke cleared, the courtyard was deserted.

The Black and White Impermanence, along with the bamboo basket and the procession of ghosts, vanished without a trace, leaving only the remaining white frost on the ground and the lingering chill in the air.

Master Si Mei stood at the entrance of the hall, gazing in the direction where the Black and White Impermanence had disappeared, his brows furrowed, and he remained silent.

Qiu Sheng peeked out from the hall, finally unable to contain his curiosity, and asked in a low voice, "Master, what did Bai Wuchang mean by his last words? What did he mean by 'where they should go'?"

Master Si Mei simply shook his head.

"And what he just said, something about 'neither in the mortal realm nor the underworld, but in between,' sounds like he's speaking in riddles."

Qiu Sheng scratched his head, looking puzzled, and asked again.

"Master, can you understand?"

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows turned to look at him, his gaze complex: "Even I only understood about 50% or 60%. Although Bai Wuchang cannot speak openly due to the rules of the underworld, he has already given quite a few clues."

"The cause of death for these people who died mysteriously was neither Gu worms nor demons, but something that existed between the realms of Yin and Yang."

His tone became more serious: "Such things are not unrecorded in the Taoist scriptures."

"But each one is a taboo among taboos. They are either ancient evil objects that have been sealed for hundreds or thousands of years, or taboo existences whose names cannot be mentioned casually. The fact that Bai Wuchang is risking revealing heavenly secrets to give us these hints shows that the seriousness of this matter is far greater than we previously estimated."

Qiu Sheng seemed to understand but not quite, but seeing the expression on his master's face, he didn't dare to ask any more questions and shrank back to the side.

At this moment, Qiulan walked in from the courtyard, carrying three bowls of hot tea.

She dared not approach the Black and White Impermanence in the hall just now. The Yin energy on the Yin messengers was too harmful to the living. Even a cultivator at the Spirit Root stage would lose Yang energy if they got too close.

While those at the Qi Refining stage or above won't necessarily suffer a shortened lifespan, they will still feel cold all over.

She handed the teacup to the Taoist priest with four eyebrows and Li Feng, and asked in a low voice, "Master, I couldn't quite hear what the two underworld officials were saying in the courtyard just now. I only heard something about 'between,' what exactly did they say?"

Master Si Mei took the teacup but didn't drink it; instead, he held it in his hands to warm them.

After the Black and White Impermanence left, the temperature in the hall was slowly rising, but a thin layer of white frost still remained on the joints of his fingers.

It is formed from the yin energy left behind by the underworld officials.

"They confirmed the matter that Li Feng mentioned when he gave you the broken porcelain shards again," the Four-Eyebrowed Taoist priest said slowly, turning his gaze to Li Feng.

"The blue-green pattern on the shard of porcelain you picked out from the water seller's palm may very well be the true cause of the deceased's death."

Upon hearing this, Li Feng took out a small shard of porcelain from his pocket.

The porcelain shard was only the size of a fingernail, with sharp edges and a surface decorated with winding blue patterns.

Under daylight, these patterns appear as blurry blue-and-white designs, nothing particularly special.

"The pattern on this porcelain shard is somewhat similar to the soul-suppressing talisman pasted on the coffin during the Ghost King's wedding last time."

Li Feng examined the porcelain shard in his palm.

"At the time, in order to get away, I threw it at the Zombie King. The porcelain shard was able to suppress the Zombie King's movements for a short time. I felt that this thing was not simple, but I never had time to investigate it in detail."

Master Si Mei took the porcelain shard and examined it closely in front of the ever-burning lamp.

The pale red light shone on the surface of the porcelain shard, making the blue patterns appear exceptionally clear.

The brushstrokes of the texture are extremely fine, each stroke being only one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.

On a porcelain shard the size of a fingernail, dozens of lines are densely drawn, forming a complete rune.

"This is not an ordinary blue and white porcelain pattern." The Taoist priest with four eyebrows looked increasingly solemn.

"This is a soul-suppressing talisman drawn with a special glaze, and the structure of this talisman and the way its spiritual power operates are completely different from the talisman system of our Maoshan Sect."

He returned the porcelain shard to Li Feng and said in a heavy tone, "The Black and White Impermanence can only provide so many clues. As the righteous gods of the underworld, there are indeed many things they cannot say directly."

"The underworld has its own ironclad rules. Revealing heavenly secrets is not as simple as getting a few lashes; it means being boiled in oil. For Bai Wuchang to go to such lengths, he is already taking a huge risk. We must remember this favor."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Sheng couldn't help but interject again.

"Master, Bai Wuchang was talking to you in a babbling garbled voice for a long time, but I couldn't understand a single word. I only saw your mouth moving, but the sound you made was like a mosquito's hum, I couldn't make out a single word. Is this how all the underworld messengers talk? Are they deliberately trying to make the living unable to understand them?"

For once, the Taoist priest with four eyebrows was amused, and the solemn expression on his face relaxed slightly: "The underworld officials speak ghost language, which the living cannot understand. Ghost language is not the language of the human world, but the official language of the underworld."

"Its sound frequency is much lower than that of a living person speaking, and most of its pitch is outside the range of human hearing. It's normal that you can't hear it; if you could hear it, that would be a problem."

Qiu Sheng blinked, his curiosity immediately piqued.

"Master, how can I understand ghost language? Is there any magic that can do that?"

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows glanced at him sideways, a mischievous smile playing on his lips: "I do have a method, and it's very simple. Just stuff two pieces of yellow mud into your ears. Yellow mud belongs to the earth element, and earth can connect with the underworld. After you put them in your ears, it can temporarily change the frequency of your hearing, allowing you to hear sounds from the underworld."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Sheng's eyes lit up immediately.

He's always been a curious child, wanting to try all sorts of strange and unusual things. When he heard about such a simple way to understand ghost stories, he immediately became interested.

"Yellow mud! There's some in the yard! Master, wait a minute, I'll go dig up two pieces!" He said, and started to run outside.

"Wait a minute." The Taoist priest with four eyebrows called out to him, took out a small cloth bag from his sleeve, and handed it to Qiu Sheng.

"The yellow mud in the yard won't do; it has too many impurities. If you put it in your ear, it can easily cause inflammation. I have specially prepared yin-clearing mud here, made by mixing yellow mud from graves with incense ash and talisman water. It's more effective than ordinary yellow mud."

Qiu Sheng took the cloth bag, opened it, and saw that the mud inside was indeed different from that in the yard.

Ordinary yellow clay is rough and dry, but the clay in this bag is fine and oily, dark brown in color, and emits a faint sandalwood scent mixed with the earthy smell. It feels soft to the touch, like dough.

"How do you use this?"

Qiu Sheng pinched a small piece and rubbed it between his fingers, asking curiously.

"Roll it into small balls and stuff them into your ear canals and mouth, making sure they're packed tightly," the Four-Eyebrowed Taoist priest solemnly instructed.

"However, remember that the effect of the Yin Mud only lasts for half an hour. Once the time is up, it will automatically stop working. Also, you cannot speak after it is plugged in. If you do speak, the effect will be broken. Not only will you not be able to hear ghostly words, but your ears will also be affected by the Yin energy, causing pain for several days."

Qiu Sheng nodded repeatedly, took out two lumps of mud from the cloth bag, rolled them into small balls the size of soybeans, and carefully stuffed them into both ears, while still holding one in his mouth.

The moment the mud was inserted, a cool sensation spread from deep within the ear canal, as if someone had dripped a few drops of peppermint oil into the ear.

"Master, why does this mud taste a bit strange?" Qiu Sheng said, frowning.

After the mud was stuffed into his ears, the sandalwood scent became even stronger, and there was also a faint fishy smell, like the earthy smell of a loach.

"All yin mud smells like this, you'll get used to it," the Four-Eyebrowed Taoist said without changing his expression.

"Try listening to what's happening outside."

Qiu Sheng listened intently.

At first, I didn't feel anything; it sounded just like any other sound I heard.

But after about ten breaths, the surrounding sounds suddenly changed.

The sound of the wind in the yard, the rustling of the leaves, and the barking of dogs on the street in the distance.

These sounds, which were originally clear and distinct, all became blurred, as if they were being heard through a thick curtain of water.

Some extremely subtle but exceptionally clear sounds.

He could hear the rustling of earthworms wriggling in the soil of the yard, the footsteps of ants carrying food at the base of the wall, and the rustling of dust falling from the roof beams.

These sounds, which would normally be impossible to hear, now sounded as if someone were whispering into his ear, amplifying them with every detail crystal clear.

"I heard it! I heard so many sounds that I don't usually hear!"