This man was a Spell Comprehension practitioner who had broken through Sensing and begun cultivating spells, though his Qi Refining was mixed and impure and his magical power was not high. Yet in terms of enduring breath, he was far stronger than me.
Qian Chen first carefully sized up the half-bald monk. His Seven Baleful Banner, when waved, could only exert its might for a few moments; but judging by the monk’s appearance, waving the demon banner he could probably go for a couple of hours without panting.
But the dozens of ghost foxes within the demon banner were mostly old foxes with only a bit of spiritual awareness, not yet transformed into demons.
No wonder this man would not let the old fox family go.
Qian Chen was somewhat uncertain. The old fox family relied entirely on the formation in the grave to defend themselves. In Qian Chen’s view, that formation was made by some Jianghu dabbler of the mortal world; since the old fox family had been able to seize and occupy it, its power could not be much.
But the monk kept urging the demon banner, creating a huge spectacle, gnashing his teeth and stamping his feet, shaking his head and bobbing his body, very much like an epileptic seizure.
From time to time he spat a mouthful of black qi onto the demon banner; this black qi was his own magical power.
But Qian Chen did not understand: could such thin, foul yin qi really count as magical power? And since magical power was not used at will, why did he still have to form hand signs, chant incantations, and then spit it out?
Qian Chen first activated the Heavenly Net Umbrella protectively as a probe, then quietly released the Dragon Sparrow Ring. Amid the rolling black qi of the evil tiger demon banner, the finger-ring-sized Dragon Sparrow Ring was inconspicuous. Qian Chen kept it close to the ground weeds, circling behind the monk, then the Dragon Sparrow Ring opened wide and encircled the monk’s head.
Then with a twist, instantly that half-bald head disappeared, leaving a blood-spraying body standing in place.
The monk’s demon banner, sprayed with vital blood, suddenly lost control. A ghost tiger emerged from the banner’s surface, and dozens of ghost foxes ran out of the grave, rolling onto the monk together amid heavy black qi. Then the ghost tiger feasted on flesh and blood, soon devouring the monk’s body clean. Relying on the demon banner, it manifested a soul body, eyes blood-red, incredibly violent and cruel, and by instinct sought blood food.
The nearest blood food was naturally the old fox family.
Seeing that just after removing the heretic evil person, a demonic monster evil ghost came to trouble the old fox family again—it could be said their luck had sunk to a certain point.
It was also that their fate was not yet to end, which let Qian Chen stumble upon them.
Qian Chen shook out the Seven Baleful Banner; boundless baleful qi easily suppressed that black qi. Then the Dragon Sparrow Ring descended again, swelling to the size of a water vat, and with one move he took in the demon banner. Qian Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead that did not exist. He thought silently: “That monk was easy to kill, but this demon banner is much more trouble to handle.”
“I almost could not suppress this demon banner’s struggling backlash…”
Qian Chen silently regulated his breath. Once his state had fully recovered, he came before the Fox Grave and said calmly: “It is already safe. Old sir, you may come out and take a look…”
Inside the Fox Grave, ever since the demon banner’s backlash, it had been eerily quiet. Hearing Qian Chen’s words, only then did a white-browed old fox carefully poke his head out of the den. Looking at his tense appearance, he would probably shrink back at the slightest sign of trouble.
When the old fox saw it was really Qian Chen, he rejoiced greatly: “Many thanks, Benefactor, for saving my family’s lives!”
He crawled out from the grave, stood upright and bowed to Qian Chen. Qian Chen smiled: “Earlier I was practicing spells nearby; hearing the commotion, I came to look. This man had no precautions; I succeeded in a surprise attack, that’s all! Where is this man from, and why is he so vicious, wanting to take your family’s lives to practice spells?”
The old fox carefully tiptoed and poked his head to look. When he saw the place where the monk had died, there was only a messy pile of bones. Only then did he put his heart at ease, and he wailed loudly: “This little demon does not know who he is; I only know he should be from the Meishan Sect. Earlier he threatened the little demon, demanding spirit pills, and used that to frighten the little demon once.”
Qian Chen sighed. Hearing an old fox whose fur was entirely white call himself “little demon” seemed rather jarring. But compared to Qian Chen’s true age, this fox calling himself “little demon” was already putting on airs.
Qian Chen recalled the Dragon Sparrow Ring, took out the monk’s head, and threw it to the old fox: “Which house and school is the Meishan Sect, to produce such a demonic person?”
The old fox sobbed: “The Meishan Sect is a great school, a major sect that dominates the world under Jin. It has thousands of disciples roaming the world, and was once a pillar of the orthodox path. But later they took in disciples without distinguishing good from evil; the sect’s disciples gradually became arrogant and extravagant, with many misdeeds. But it is still a great power—if they lightly pinch, our whole family would be reduced to powder…”
“Pillar of the orthodox path?” Qian Chen, hearing this, frowned secretly: “I haven’t even roamed the world yet, and I’ve already provoked a major sect that was once a pillar of the orthodox path? But these disciples of the school, with such low magical power, blatant misdeeds, and lawlessness—can they really be called a pillar of the orthodox path?”
Although he had doubts, Qian Chen still comforted him: “This man is completely dead… so there should be no more trouble. But your place is gradually revealing its traces; it’s probably no longer safe. You’d better quickly move elsewhere!”
The old fox said hesitantly: “I should not have indulged them in stealing those people’s ancestral worship wine, and running to frighten passing woodcutters.”
Qian Chen secretly laughed in his belly. So that was how foxes held banquets…
But after the old fox finished cursing, he cried even more miserably: “But several of my sons—half of them died this time, and there will be no one to steal wine for me to drink anymore…” He cried so hard he could not catch his breath. Qian Chen, seeing this, also felt somewhat silent. This old fox truly grieved for his family; his genuine feelings were apparent—he was truly not a beast.
And the Meishan Sect’s heretic, violent and cruel… made Qian Chen for a moment actually find it hard to distinguish who was more beastly and who possessed the light of humanity.
Several little foxes whined as they ran out of the grave, gathering around the old fox’s knees. The two white foxes Qian Chen had seen earlier were among them. The several big foxes that came out after were all covered in injuries, many quite serious. Qian Chen was slightly moved.
It was clear that these little foxes could be so safe because the big foxes had protected them at the cost of their lives, and although the old fox was somewhat bedraggled, he was completely unharmed.
Respecting the old and loving the young—yet this was rare.
A group of foxes, led by the old fox, bowed to thank Qian Chen for saving them. Then they were about to carry grass and packs, preparing to move away. Obviously they were terribly frightened… they would flee overnight. Qian Chen guessed there was also fear of the Meishan Sect, going out to avoid disaster.
Qian Chen picked up the storage bag from the monk’s mutilated corpse, pinched his nose, and held a corner of the storage bag to inspect it.
Inside were only some clothes, much money, and some miscellaneous items. The useful things were only a Daoist classic, a gourd, and several talisman chapters.
“My storage bag was given by Miaokong; I need to be on guard. Later all these things will have to be replaced. For storage magical implements of the Daoist orthodoxy, the Yuanshi Dao likes to use Qiankun bags; the Lingbao Dao prefers sword pouches to store miscellaneous items. I of the Taishang Dao often use gourds. This red-skinned small gourd in the evil man’s bag has quite a bit of spiritual qi and can be ritually refined into a storage magical implement.”
Qian Chen casually tied the gourd around his waist, put away the classic and talismans, and threw the storage bag to the old fox: “There are some healing medicines inside. Moving house is inconvenient for you; I’ll give you this bag!” The old fox offered thanks again and again—not worth mentioning…
Watching the old fox leave with his family in panic—even the little foxes carried flower-cloth bundles as large as themselves, fleeing hastily into the mountains under cover of night. Qian Chen watched them disappear from his sight, then turned and sang: “Flower demons and fox spirits—mostly possess human feelings; forgetting makes them anomalies. The greedy and cruel heretics—their beastliness is obvious, with hardly any human heart… So absurd and heartless—what is humanity?”
The voice gradually faded, and Qian Chen’s figure also blended into the night.
Qian Chen found a desolate place, released the Hundred Ghosts Baleful Tiger Banner sealed within the Dragon Sparrow Ring, and casually suppressed it with the Seven Baleful Banner. Only then did he see that the restriction on this demon banner was extremely crude; it could only be called barely a magical implement. It relied entirely on its bloody violence and cruel lawlessness to have some power, but compared to the Seven Baleful Banner, it was merely inferior.
The grade of a magical implement is not judged entirely by power. This evil banner was refined from the remains of a demon tiger, relying on the demon tiger’s instinct to dominate ghost servants, with the demon tiger as the main soul, dominating a hundred ghosts. It can be said most of its power came from the demon tiger’s innate supernatural abilities. Furthermore, after being refined, it harmed many fox ghosts to serve as lackeys, so its power was not bad.
But the restriction was crude, so it was hard to control the ghosts.
For such an evil-path magical implement, relying on the might of ghost things—if it cannot restrain the evil ghost, it is raising a tiger to become a threat. Therefore, the more evil-path the magical implement, the more it focuses on the way of restraining demons. The balance of power and restraint is the principle.
This monk’s demon banner, after his death, so easily backlashed against its master—this showed its grade was extremely poor. Even if not killed by Qian Chen, sooner or later he would die at the hands of his own magical implement.
Qian Chen was not very willing to use such a filthy thing. He used the Seven Baleful Banner to wear it down for a little less than an hour, destroying the demon banner and the ghost tiger upon it together.
“This Meishan Sect monk is so brutal that he doesn’t even dare restrain human souls in his magical implement. It shows Jin still has orthodox order. But this man’s baleful qi is deep; obviously he has taken more than one life. It also shows the Meishan Sect’s discipline is not strict. This demon tiger’s cultivation in life must have far surpassed his, yet he was able to refine the demon tiger into a banner… He may still have some background.”
“I asked the old fox about major cultivation sects nearby, but the names he mentioned—I didn’t know a single one. Could it be that I have been dormant in Louguan Dao for too long, and those famous sects have all vanished like Louguan Dao? Shangqing Palace, Shaqing Sword School, Zhengyi Dragon-Tiger Mystic Altar, Jade Void Palace, Kunlun School, Great Sumeru Temple, Thunder Sound Temple, Three Immortals Island… Nine Netherworlds, Blood Sea… Ancient Wu Teaching.”
“Looking at how Miaokong trembled in fear when hunted down—could it be that all such sects are like the Meishan Sect?”
“I don’t know which sects the Taishang, Yuanshi, and Lingbao Dao currently oversee.”
Qian Chen returned to that abandoned manor and worked even harder. By the third day, Qian Chen had prepared everything. He emptied his mind and immersed himself in the Reincarnation Drawing before his chest. When he opened his eyes again, he had already come to an indescribable world.
Before him was an ancient bronze door, carved with countless war scenes.
The Heavenly Court was towering, the Nine Netherworlds profound. Heavenly gods roared, demon gods struggled… Immortals rode cranes to the Heavenly Palace; in the palace was a blurry figure sitting cross-legged before an alchemy furnace. The God Emperor seated in the Heavenly Court brandished his sword, severing the earth and ripping open a deep abyss leading straight to the Nine Netherworlds. Countless divine soldiers, their formation neat, entered the Nine Netherworlds… In the deepest part of the Nine Netherworlds was a blurry portal.
That bleak qi nearly assailed his face, making Qian Chen linger for a long time. He sighed and returned to his senses. Just as he was about to raise his hand and push open the door, he unintentionally looked up and suddenly froze.
On that door, he saw himself…
In the pattern at the highest point of the bronze door, an indescribable figure raised his head and pinched a faintly glowing pearl.
Qian Chen inexplicably knew—this was himself!
The bronze door did not wait for him to act before booming open. Behind it was an endless sea of clouds, which sucked the unprepared Qian Chen into the portal. The bronze door disappeared behind him. He stepped onto a cloud platform paved with white jade. Seeing the emptiness above the platform, Qian Chen couldn’t help but remark: “I thought behind it would be an ancient heavenly palace, inscribed ‘Lingxiao Treasure Palace’!”
“Ancient heavenly palace, Lingxiao Treasure Palace theme background… three million Moral Points! Exchange?”
A vast, cold voice echoed.
This voice instantly pulled Qian Chen back to reality. He secretly slandered: “This is the Penguin family’s Main God, isn’t it! No wonder there’s only a shabby cloud platform… It’s a paid project.”
“I don’t have a penny on me. How can I exchange?” Qian Chen said, spreading his hands.
“A prepared Reincarnator possesses the Taishang Dao Dust Pearl, which can be exchanged for thirty million Moral Points!” The voice said, unfolding a golden list before Qian Chen. Countless divine weapons and magical implements, spirit pills and elixirs, even ancient artifacts, heavenly books and Daoist classics—all had suitable exchange prices on it.
Qian Chen didn’t look at it at all. The Taishang Dao Dust Pearl? That was his life!
Qian Chen was somewhat petty-minded in suspecting that the Lord of Reincarnation wanted to trick him out of the pearl… “Do you know? The pearl is my true body. How could I possibly sell my true body? But come to think of it, what would happen if I sold my true body?”
He quickly withdrew his self-destructive thought.
“No pearl, just a life.” Qian Chen quickly recovered his carefree composure and smiled: “Main God, I want to view the mission!”
“This is the Reincarnation Lands of the myriad heavens. I am the Lord of Reincarnation.”
“Fake Main God! I want to view the mission…”
Chapter 6