As soon as Qingyi finished speaking, almost everyone in the ancient temple, except for me and Zhou Jing, changed their expressions dramatically!
Especially Rosa, who was trembling all over, muttering incessantly, "It's them, they're coming..."
Qingyi's face changed upon hearing this: "Are you saying you encountered them the last time you were here?"
"Yes."
Rosa nodded, speaking with some difficulty: "Last time, we encountered them when we were leaving the Ten Deadly Tombs. We were fleeing, and they were chasing us. They chased us all night until dawn before they finally retreated. Eighty percent of my teammates died at their hands..."
"Indeed!"
Qingyi nodded, speaking softly, "It seems these ghost soldiers must be related to the Ten Deadly Tombs. If not surprising, they are guarding that ancient tomb, not allowing any living person to exist along their path, and they have probably existed for a very long time. I suspect the village that built this ancient temple was flattened by the ghost soldiers!"
As he said this, a cacophony of screams and roars suddenly erupted from outside the temple, sending shivers down my spine!
Qingyi's expression changed, and he urgently commanded, "Quick! Go and stick the talismans I gave you on all the doors and windows. They are about to come!!"
Zhang Jinya and Rosa immediately sprang into action.
Seeing the situation, I, filled with questions but no time to ponder, exchanged a glance with Zhou Jing and hurried over to help. Zhang Jinya and I took care of the windows on the left, while Zhou Jing and Rosa handled those on the right.
At the first window, out of curiosity, I glanced outside. It was just a dark expanse of forest, nothing frightening in sight, which puzzled me—where did those terrifying screams come from?
With my mind full of doubts, after sealing several windows, I asked Zhang Jinya while continuing to work, "Old Zhang, what exactly is 'ghosts borrowing the path'?"
"It's the last thing anyone in our line of work wants to encounter!"
Zhang Jinya replied irritably, "Damn it, we've been unlucky for eight lifetimes. They haven't been active for a long time, and just when we come out, we encounter such terrifying things."
Although Zhang Jinya was complaining, he still explained to me some details about what 'ghosts borrowing the path' entails as he continued to seal the windows with the talismans.
From what Old Zhang said, I finally understood what 'ghosts borrowing the path' means. It can be divided into three scenarios:
The first scenario involves ancient or modern armies that have been defeated. Due to specific geographical and weather conditions at the time, the souls of the dead soldiers congregate and do not disperse, eventually forming ghost soldiers. Their consciousness remains stuck in the time of the battle, believing they are still alive and must continue to fight to uphold their military honor, wandering in the realm of the living, unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation. These ghost soldiers are very united and overwhelming when they move...
The second scenario is when the ghost soldiers from the underworld come to the mortal realm to capture souls on a large scale. Ghost soldiers and underworld enforcers are two different concepts; underworld enforcers hold a low status in the underworld, similar to ancient servants, basically running errands for ghost kings and underworld generals, coming to the mortal realm to hook the souls of the dead. Ghost soldiers, on the other hand, are the regular army of the underworld, the forces raised by those ghost kings and underworld generals!!
When natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, and famines occur in the mortal realm, causing mass casualties, and the underworld is overwhelmed, with not enough underworld enforcers to capture souls, that's when ghost soldiers appear in large numbers in the mortal realm to capture those souls who died but refuse to enter the cycle of reincarnation!!
The third scenario is wars in the underworld...
After listening to Zhang Jinya, I realized that there are also wars in the underworld. Below the Emperor of Fengdu, various underworld generals carve out their territories, and conflicts occur frequently. When large-scale conflicts erupt, they might even affect the mortal realm! My face turned pale...
If what we encountered was 'ghosts borrowing the path,' then the ghost soldiers outside might number in the thousands. Is there any way out of this? No wonder Zhang Jinya and Rosa looked as if they had eaten shit. There's no mirror around, but I don't need one to know my expression probably wasn't any better than theirs just now!!
Zhang Jinya seemed to notice my fear and came over to pat my shoulder, "It's not hopeless. Qingyi has even brought out his last resort this time. We might still have a way out."
Saying this, Zhang Jinya shook the talisman in his hand, telling me it was called the Supreme Purging Evil Talisman, an incredibly rare and powerful item. The characters on it were written with the yang blood from the crown of a rooster. One talisman required the yang blood from the crowns of at least a dozen roosters, and the paper was soaked in realgar water. It was then offered before the Three Pure Ones in Taoism for forty-nine days before being used. Most importantly, drawing this talisman consumed the artist's vital energy, spirit, and soul. It was not something just anyone could create. Even someone as skilled as Qingyi could only draw three to five of these at most in one day. With this talisman, the ghost soldiers wouldn't be able to enter for a while.
Hearing this, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. In no time, Zhang Jinya and I had sealed all the windows. By the time we were done, Zhou Jing and Rosa had also finished their part.
"Are you sure nothing was missed?"
Qingyi asked, "If even one window is left unsealed, those things can still get in, and all our efforts will be wasted!"
Upon hearing this, I suddenly remembered—there was indeed one window that hadn't been sealed!
That window was at the back of the ancient temple. When we arrived here at dusk and I went to gather firewood behind the temple, I seemed to remember seeing a small, inconspicuous window there!
With this thought, my heart skipped a beat. Without saying anything more to Qingyi and the others, I turned and ran to the back. Zhang Jinya called out to me, but I didn't respond.
If I remembered correctly, that small window should be behind the statues of the Ten Kings of Hell. So, I ran around the offering table of the Ten Kings of Hell and turned the corner towards the back. Sure enough, there was the small window, already opened. Just as I got there, a gust of cold wind blew in, making me shiver all over!
An unprovoked cold wind, definitely not a good sign!
My face turned cold, and with determination, I drew out my Hundred-Barrier Knife. With the knife in one hand and the Supreme Purging Evil Talisman Qingyi gave me in the other, I rushed to the small window. When I saw the scene outside, my scalp tingled!
In the small forest behind the ancient temple... a vast expanse of dirty things, less than a hundred meters away from the temple. Even in the dim light, I could clearly see their forms from this distance!
This was my first time seeing ghost soldiers. They really looked like an army, dressed like ancient soldiers, but not Han Chinese. Instead, they resembled the attire of ancient nomadic soldiers, not wearing armor but long leather robes, with a heart protector on their chests, holding weapons that were rusty and nearly rotten. However, under the moonlight, they gleamed with a metallic luster, obviously real weapons that could pierce a hole in a person!
The faces of those ghost soldiers were pale, their eyes staring straight at me, filled with resentment and hatred. They really did look like paper figures, no wonder Wu Pangzi said a paper figure was touching his butt.
Feeling the intense gaze of the ghost soldiers, I was as uneasy as if sitting on pins and needles, frozen in place for a moment, my mind vaguely recognizing their attire but unable to recall where I had seen it before.
Roar!
Suddenly, a sharp roar erupted from among the ghost soldiers, filled with anger. Then, one of the ghost soldiers at the forefront suddenly accelerated and charged towards me. Its speed was so fast that in the blink of an eye, it was less than twenty meters away from the window. At that moment, I saw it more clearly. After examining the charging ghost soldier for a moment, I was speechless—its face was covered in a yellowish patch, as if it had a pancake plastered on its face. This unfortunate ghost soldier must have been the one who touched Pangzi's butt, only to have Pangzi aim his butt at its face and let one rip. No wonder it was so angry.
Looking at this ghost soldier, my fear suddenly dissipated by half, replaced by an inexplicable sense of amusement. My previously frozen thoughts due to fear became active again, and I stopped dawdling. With a clang, I closed the small window and quickly sealed it.
All the noise outside disappeared in an instant, and I finally took a deep breath. I thought... at least for now, we were safe!