Yinshan Record

Chapter 22 Encountering a Ghost
The question, "Is he a human or a ghost?" caused a faint condensation of icy mist to form in Lin Jiugong's breath.

The magnetic needle on the compass in his hand was already in disarray.

The moonlight was as clear as water, and the grass was a vibrant, lush green.

The air temperature didn't change much, and the vegetation was lush, but the chirping of insects was no longer heard.

Su Che subconsciously held the peach wood sword horizontally in front of his chest, the sword intent resonating between his brows, and his eyes locked onto the One-Eyebrow Taoist.

“North and South are confused, life and death are reversed. Brother Buqun, the Yin energy here has gathered and has become a morgue for raising corpses.” The One-Eyebrow Taoist’s expression was solemn: “You and I here are more like ghosts than humans.”

Su Che breathed a sigh of relief. This one-eyebrowed Taoist was good in every way, except that he spoke with great difficulty.

The question, "Are you human or ghost?", almost made him suspect that he had unknowingly fallen into a trap here, and he nearly swung his sword at him.

"How did this place become like this?"

Su Che had also visited the Kulin Temple before. Although the temple was filled with the fragrance of wood and haunted by a one-eyed wood spirit, it was definitely not the scene it is now.

"If you take refuge in the Buddha, you will not fall into hell. If you take refuge in the Dharma, you will not fall into the realm of hungry ghosts. If you take refuge in the Sangha, you will not fall into the realm of animals."

"Conversion..."

"Conversion..."

"Conversion..."

The chanting and recitation seemed to echo through the thick fog, as if the Kulin Temple had returned to its former glory.

"Such heavy yin energy, a hundred ghosts roaming at night, how come the fierce ghosts of Kulin Temple are even more ferocious than those of Lanruo Temple?"

Lin Daoren couldn't help but take a few steps back. Some dark clouds had drifted in from the sky at some point, obscuring the full moon behind him.

"I once read in a book that a hundred ghosts roam at night, and the yin energy obscures the sky. I never imagined that I would actually witness it here in this ancient temple today."

Su Che looked at the scene before him and couldn't help but be a little surprised.

"Today is the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, and there is nothing unusual about it. Why is the yin energy here suddenly so strong?" The Taoist with one eyebrow looked at the sky with some surprise.

Lin Jiugong inherited the Maoshan Taoist teachings and his cultivation has reached the eighth level of the Taoist school, the "Mysterious Vision" realm. Reaching this level of cultivation corresponds to the teaching in the Taoist scriptures: "Purify the Mysterious Vision, and you will be without flaws!"

Taoist cultivators who reach this level can observe the changes of yin and yang in the heavens and earth, and can also examine their own soul, dirt, filth, and worms.

Breathing in the breath is the foundation of cultivating the Tao, while profound contemplation is the basis for attaining the Tao.

Discerning the opportune moment and the favorable location is precisely the true profession of the One-Eyebrowed Taoist.

A thought began to form in Su Che's mind: perhaps the mysterious Zhongyuan from the Zhongshan Society had another purpose in sending him to this Kulin Zen Temple.

That makes sense. How could someone of that level send someone to the wrong place?

“Brother Yue, things have come to this point, and we should not investigate any further under any circumstances. However, I am a man of strong character, and since I have stumbled upon this today, I must go in and take a look. I am deeply grateful for your hospitality in accompanying me here. If we are destined to meet again in the future, I hope we can enjoy a drink together again.”

Su Che frowned and said, "Master Lin, there are ghostly figures ahead. The dense yin energy will surely arouse their bloodlust, and the ghosts will become extremely ferocious. If you go in, you will probably be no match for them."

“Brother Yue, you don’t need to worry about me. I have a secret method that will prevent those ghosts from noticing anything for half an hour,” said Lin Daoren.

Su Che smiled upon hearing this.

"Brother Lin, I also have a secret technique, but I don't know if it can fool those ghosts. I would appreciate it if you could help me check it out."

If the Ghost Festival truly has a profound meaning, then I should go and see for myself.

Moreover, a major feature of the Mirage Yuan Sword he passed on to him was its ability to conceal its form through photography. Su Che subtly channeled his sword intent, a cool sensation swirling around his body from between his brows.

In an instant, the shadow behind him vanished into nothingness, and his entire body became transparent.

Under the cover of yin energy, there was a hint of ghostly presence.

When mastered to a very high level, the Mirage Sword can render a person's entire body nothing but an image, leaving no physical form. My swordsmanship isn't advanced enough, but it's sufficient to pretend to be a ghost.

If we were to categorize swordsmanship, we could forcibly add various names such as the sword of heaven and earth, the sword of creation, the sword of benevolence and righteousness, the sword of tyranny, and so on.

That Mirage Sword was undoubtedly a ghostly sword belonging to an assassin.

Su Che gained a deeper understanding of the Mirage Yuan Sword.

"Brother Yue's sword energy is indeed extraordinary, it is so wondrous."

Lin Jiugong was initially unimpressed with Yue Buqun's swordsmanship method that emphasized "sword energy," thinking that the other party had probably been traveling the martial world for too long and had picked up the habit of speaking evasively. Now it seems that this Mr. Yue's sword energy is indeed quite profound.

Lin Jiugong had seen so-called swordsmen before, but most of them were fierce and ruthless, saying, "No matter how many changes you make or how many spells you use, I will only cut you down with one sword."

Such sword techniques that conceal the form and transform into a ghost are indeed rarely seen in the Central Plains.

"Then I'll make a fool of myself."

Lin Jiugong secretly used the Maoshan Turtle Breathing Technique to hold his breath, then took off his outer Taoist robe and put it inside out. He took out a yellow talisman from his bag, folded it into a triangle, and pressed it against his fontanelle.

Finally, he took out half a stick of incense from his pocket, plucked a piece off, and pressed it under his tongue.

"Yellow talisman to pacify the soul, incense to penetrate the netherworld, divine weapons and earth fire urge on your command."

A flash of fire, and the yellow talisman on his head turned to ash. The one-browed Taoist's face was ashen, and his body was covered in yin energy, making him look three parts like a living person and seven parts like a demon.

"Brother Dao has good tactics."

Su Che sincerely praised Lin Jiugong, saying that as a fellow item-based player, Lin Jiugong had really mastered the art of using items.

"Greetings, Brother Yue."

The two of them, one after the other, crashed into the dark mist.

Ghostly figures loomed in the misty fog.

Thump, thump.

A huge black jar bounced in the fog and walked to Su Che's side.

“You look unfamiliar.”

A head emerged from the jar, half of its face transformed into a skull, revealing stark white bones, and half of its face was covered with slippery eyeballs.

"Qu Tan, they offer sacrifices to the Ghost Buddha on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month. They probably came from a neighboring county because of its reputation, so it's normal that you don't recognize them."

A beautiful female ghost emerged from the thick fog. She was dressed in a white gauze, her hair was in a black bun, her skin was like solidified cream, her eyes held a unique charm, her lips were pale purple, and her snow-white feet touched the ground.

"You have good intentions."

The jar-demon named Qutan muttered something and hopped away.

“You don’t need to worry about him. Qu Tan likes to eat people, but he doesn’t eat ghosts.”

The beautiful female ghost looked at Su Che's face and asked curiously.

"What's your name? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

"We are under the command of the Yin-Yang Dharma King of Guobei County. We rarely go out, but today we are on our day off, so we came together to see what's going on."

The Taoist with one eyebrow was clearly used to talking nonsense, and he readily accepted the answer.

The beautiful female ghost nodded.

“My name is Xuefu. You should also have names under the Dharma King, right?”

"Skin as smooth as ice and bones as delicate as jade, like a lotus blooming in the snow." Su Che continued, "What a beautiful name, young lady."

The female ghost was taken aback, as if she hadn't heard such words in a long time.

Is this name good?

“Very good. Not all names are the same. When an ordinary person chooses a name, it represents a beautiful wish. Someone named Ruhua simply hopes to be like a flower. But a girl’s name is a simple description.”

"You're quite interesting." Xuefu looked at Su Che: "The scholar who spoke to me like that at the last meeting just celebrated his death anniversary a few days ago. I'll go see the Dharma King later and ask him to make you my personal attendant. What do you think?"

"That's his destiny, don't you think?"

Lin Daoren gently patted Su Che's shoulder: "With Madam Xue in front of us, we can't afford to show off our skills."

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(End of this chapter)