When the county government office was plunged into darkness, leaving only the light of the incense candles on the altar, Yang Yizi's expression abruptly and dramatically changed.
He cut off his own words.
"It's here!!" he bellowed loudly.
The slow knocking sound of the wooden fish from the Abbot of Jinlong Temple also came to an abrupt halt at this moment.
Suddenly.
A "flapping" noise arose out of thin air.
Yang Yizi and the others instinctively looked up to the sky, where this evening's night was dense with overcast clouds, allowing only the faintest moonlight to penetrate and reveal the scene above.
It was birds!
A mass of flying birds circled overhead the county government office, their clamorous cries incessant.
Anyone who wasn't ornithologically blind could tell that these cries belonged to crows.
An anxious-looking Taoist boy, his face filled with unease and a touch of confusion, asked, "Master, what's happening here?"
No sooner had he spoken,
a crow circling above suddenly let out a tragic scream and exploded in midair!
Black feathers and blood...
Scattered together!
The bizarre explosion of this single crow seemed to trigger the others, as, one by one, they emitted chilling shrieks while circling, and the next moment they exploded violently!
Feathers and blood, as dark as the crows themselves, fell like snowflakes and raindrops.
The blood that dripped onto the ground of the county government office etched out some bizarre talismanic scripts!
Yes!
The blood that fell to the ground autonomously sketched out characters—one after another!
And they were all incredibly twisted talismanic scripts!
The serpentine, twisted blood-colored scripts writhed like individual blood vessels, continuously contracting and expanding.
They were filled with a sinister intent.
The temperature inside the county government office dropped even further, as though one were in an ice cellar.
The plants and flowers within the government office began to wither at an unbelievably fast rate!
Gusts of cold wind blew the falling blood into the buildings within the county office.
Even the hall where court was held had specks of blood blown into it by the chill wind.
Such a sinister spectacle...
was enough to send a shiver down one's spine!
"Someone is using sorcery to suppress the imperial qi of the County Government of the Great Zhou Dynasty!" Having lived to such an age, Yang Yizi quickly realized what was happening and immediately urged his disciples in alarm, "Yue Qing! Yue Feng! Snap out of it! Help your master break this evil spell!!"
Yang Yizi, holding the Peach Wood Sword, pressed it down onto the altar, and several talismans that had been laid out in advance on the altar stuck firmly to the sword, as though pulled by an invisible force.
He stepped with a mystical rhythm, chanting rapidly, "Heaven and Earth's profound origins, the root of all Qi! Cultivating through countless calamities, proving my supernatural powers!"
The Peach Wood Sword swept across the incense candles on the altar.
Instantly, the sword was ablaze with raging flames.
His two disciples each took a position and placed their hands on Yang Yizi's body.
In an instant!
The fire on the Peach Wood Sword grew even fiercer.
"Five Qi Fire Talisman, burn the demons, scorch the evil!"
"Swift as the law!!!"
In a moment of exertion, Yang Yizi, his face red with effort, gritted his teeth and swept his sword horizontally with all his might, casting the flames from the sword like a net to meet the falling blood and feathers.
The falling crow feathers ignited upon contact with the flames and turned directly into ashes.
And the droplets of blood, upon touching the fire created by the talismans, were instantly vaporized.
"Amitabha Buddha!" At the same time, three angry-sounding chants of Buddha's name rang out together, sweeping across all directions with invisible sound waves.
They scattered all nearby falling blood and feathers!
"Phew!" The Abbot of Jinlong Temple, his face as stern as a Wrathful Vajra, exhaled heavily.
Looking at the few blood specks still falling, his expression was unprecedentedly serious, "Damn it, Buddha underestimated this sorcerer. He has evil methods capable of suppressing the imperial qi of the County Government, and his cultivation must be no small matter!"
"But such an evil spell must have a considerable cost, or require a high price to pay. Otherwise, that mad sorcerer wouldn't have risked not using this method last night."
No sooner had the Abbot of Jinlong Temple finished speaking than a yard-long white cloth shot towards him like an arrow.
In the dim interior of the county office, it truly was difficult to see clearly.
"Abbot, be careful!" a muscular monk covered in dark gold powder roared, striding to the Abbot of Jinlong Temple's side. He immediately got into a firm horse stance, his muscles taut as steel.
A yard-long piece of white cloth that flew towards them viciously struck his chest, the icy Yin Energy infiltrating his body.
The monk was hit as though by a giant hammer.
A mouthful of blood sprayed out wildly!
He was sent flying backward.
Only because the Abbot of Jinlong Temple had quick eyes and hands did he manage to catch the martial monk with both arms, preventing him from flying off.
"Cough cough!" The martial monk coughed, anxiety written all over his face as the acute pain and icy chill in his chest overwhelmed him, "Abbot, there's a fierce ghost, launching a stealth attack!"
Indeed, the Abbot of Jinlong Temple didn't need the injured monk's reminder to know that a fierce ghost had appeared.
That was because he saw a white shadow standing on a nearby rooftop.
Even from such a distance, the dense aura of resentment was very clear to him!
"Amitabha, such intense resentment... this will be troublesome to deal with! This heretic lunatic has raised not just a Water Ghost but also a Resentful Ghost! Damn it... where did this scoundrel come from? Never have I heard of such a troublesome heretic before."
A look of grave concern deepened on the Abbot of Jinlong Temple's face.
...
At this time, Yang Yizi and his two disciples weren't indifferent to the Abbot's plight; rather, they too had encountered trouble.
"Master! That's a huge paper figure!!" An apprentice criex out in shock.
"I am not blind..." Yang Yizi took a deep breath, his vigilant gaze fixed on what was ahead.
He saw a colossal paper figure, at least ten feet tall, that had somehow burst into the county office.
In Great Zhou, ten feet were equal to three meters, making this paper figure almost five meters in height!
Its exaggerated size alone was astonishing to behold!
At first glance, the paper figure resembled a twisted giant infant.
The reason for saying it was twisted was that either its construction was rough, or there was some other cause...
It didn't quite resemble a normal human.
More than an infant...
It looked like an undeveloped fetus!
The paper figure was covered with dense, eerie sigils, exuding a rich Yin Energy all over. Wherever its ponderous feet trod, the ground froze with a layer of thin frost.
Its pair of gaping, dark eyes set their sights on Yang Yizi and his two discpiles.
In that moment...
Yang Yizi felt the hair on his body stand on end!!
"Yue Qing, Yue Feng! Protect your master! This paper giant is a greatly malevolent being, far fiercer than any ghostly entity we've encountered before!"
"Yes, Master!!"
Both the Abbot of Jinlong Temple and Yang Yizi wore expressions that depicted they felt the situation had escalated beyond their expectations.
They seemed to realize that the enemies they faced tonight...
were more formidable than they had imagined.
...
Fan Wu, who sat cross-legged in the big chair, watched all this unfold, his expression unchanging.
He could not find words to describe his experiences of the last two days.
Normally, such spooky happenings that one wouldn't encounter even while carrying a lantern at night...
All emerged within these two days.
And all had been encountered by him!
[White-Clothed Resentful Ghost that transformed after an Oiran's death — Life: 173 — Power: 4.8 — Skills: Sleeve Dance, Illusion Technique]
[Paper giant filled with twenty ghost infants — Life: 211 — Power: 4 — Skills: Soul-shaking Evil Sound, Splitting]
Whether it was the White-Clothed Resentful Ghost facing the Abbot of Jinlong Temple,
Or the colossal paper figure facing Yang Yizi,
Fan Wu could see their attributes.
...
...