White Bone Demon Trail

Chapter 10 Welcoming the Gods into the Temple
"Did you go and invite the second-in-command? Quickly send someone to invite the second-in-command to come and take a look!" Her son, clinging to her shoulders, frantically asked the people around them in the pouring rain.

Granny Zhao sighed. She felt that if she could eat a mouthful of rice porridge, she might be able to recover and live a few more days. But what good would it do? She would die sooner or later anyway.

It would be better to leave sooner, so that there is some food left for the family and her grandson does not go hungry.

With that thought in mind, Granny Zhao stopped trying. She simply raised her hand and touched the side of her eldest son's face. Her son, who now had a beard, was able to support the family, and she felt relieved.

She seemed to have used up her last bit of strength; her hand drooped, her head tilted, her body went limp, and her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, her eyes reflecting a gloomy sky.

Rumble~
Thunder rumbled, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the temple that was almost finished. Would there really be gods there?

In her daze, she seemed to see a black raven landing on the wooden roof of the temple. The raven was watching her from afar and then flew towards her.

"Fluttering~"

The sound of crows flapping their wings rang clearly in her ears, and the noise from the surrounding crowd gradually faded away. She seemed to have regained her strength and actually stood up.

She watched as the crow flew past her, its glossy black feathers flashing with iridescent colors in the instant of the lightning.

As the black crows flew by, they blocked her view. When she looked straight ahead again, she was surprised to find a handsome man in a white robe standing on the unfinished temple.

The man wore the most beautiful clothes she had ever seen in her life, and his appearance was more divine than she had ever witnessed. His wide robes billowed in the wind and rain, and his long, ink-black hair danced in the breeze. The man slightly raised his eyes, and his deep blue pupils lit up, a magnificent light that swallowed everything around him. She couldn't help but prostrate herself down, murmuring excitedly:
"There really are gods in this world!"

"The God of No Form!"

"Gah~"

The black crow landed in the thunderstorm, startling the crowd that had gathered around, who scattered in all directions.

Grandma Zhao closed her heavy eyes, and her last words before dying were "the God of No Form".

The villagers watching were all puzzled as they looked at Granny Zhao. Granny Zhao, who had never learned a single word in her life, had said something divine before she died, and everyone was whispering among themselves.

"Gah~"

The black crow landed beside Granny Zhao's hand and cawed three times. Its hoarse and loud cries startled all the villagers.

Grandma Zhao's son stared blankly at the black crow in front of him. His young son curiously reached out to touch the crow, but unexpectedly, the crow flapped its wings and landed on the eaves of the temple roof in everyone's sight.

"Boom~"

A flash of lightning illuminated the black raven's somewhat terrifying pupils, and someone exclaimed, "Could it be that a god has arrived?"

Yu Junzi, who happened to arrive in the rain, was shocked to see this scene. The intelligence of the spirit he had found was too terrifying. It was even adept at using such tricks to spread faith. If it became stronger in the future, who could threaten it?
"Second Master! Do you think there's any hope for my old lady?" Zhao's son asked anxiously.

You Junzi squatted down, checked Zhao's grandmother's pulse, and said with a heavy expression, "Dawang, she has passed away."

He looked up at the sky above the temple, only to find the spirit standing in the wind and rain, smiling silently at him.

You Junzi's heart tightened. Many other villagers were still staring at the temple, but they obviously didn't see the humanoid spirit.

This spirit is indicating that it will spread his name!
You Junzi took a deep breath, patted Zhao Dawang on the shoulder, and said to him, who was crying uncontrollably, "Dawang, don't be sad. The spirits of our village have just come."

"The gods have visited?"

These words caused an uproar among the crowd. Someone pressed, "Second Master, gods? Are there really gods? Are there really gods in our village?"

In the eyes of these mountain people, the words spoken by the second-in-command, who could cure diseases and save lives and had all sorts of magical skills, were even more real than what they saw with their own eyes!
You Junzi could only continue, "That's right. A few days ago I met a god who was called the God of No Form. He could communicate with the underworld and exorcise evil spirits."

You all saw that crow, didn't you? This crow is no ordinary crow, but a messenger of this deity, a black crow, who guides the souls of the dying to the underworld.

"Dawang, your grandmother was guided away by the gods! With the protection of the formless god, your grandmother will be safe and sound in the underworld!"

"Really? Second Master?" Upon hearing this, Da Wang's sorrowful emotions abruptly ceased. He looked up at the black raven on the temple's eaves and asked with red eyes, "Second Master, is what you're saying true? Does my grandmother really have divine protection?"

"Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you?" You Junzi's calm smile convinced Da Wang.

"That's right, just now when the old woman was leaving, she was saying that it was the God of No Form!"

Zhao Dawang's wife suddenly exclaimed, "Grandma might have seen a deity! A deity really did take Grandma away!"

"Yes, it was the messenger of the God of No Form who took your grandmother away just now."

You Junzi stood up in the wind, his gaze fixed on the spirit on the temple. The people of Black Stone Village had suffered enough. If the gods could offer them a little comfort through their lies, and give this world full of suffering a little more remembrance and solace for the deceased, then the gods were not necessarily a bad thing.

Bai Wuxiang stood on the roof, his gaze piercing through the wind and rain as he met the eyes of the mortal. He smiled slightly; this human was too clever.

The black crow took flight, and he too vanished, preparing to refine and absorb the wisp of death energy he had obtained from the dead.

The heavy rain continued to fall, and even without anyone urging them, the villagers in the rain and mist worked even harder to build the temple.

Because they know that they are truly building temples for the gods, and that they will truly receive divine protection in the future!

As darkness fell, in a cave in the night, Bai Wuxiang was absorbing a wisp of death energy from Xuan Ya. Humans are the most intelligent of all creatures, and their essence far surpasses that of birds and beasts. The death energy they emit when they die is also far more concentrated and pure than that of wild animals.

Bai Wuxiang took the death energy from Xuan Ya's body. This death energy passed through the disguise of human skin and entered the true form of the white bones. It slowly traveled across the two hundred and six white bones and finally transformed into strands of pure demonic power.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind on sensing the demonic power within his body. The demonic power transformed from this wisp of death energy was far purer than the demonic power cultivated by relying on the earth's yin energy.

Moreover, refining this wisp of death energy is equivalent to several months of his own cultivation.

Such temptation would likely tempt ordinary spirits to kill and gain death energy to accelerate their cultivation.

However, Bai Wuxiang possesses human intelligence. The death energy he gains through killing is far less pure than the death energy born from the end of life. Moreover, the death energy gained through killing is accompanied by resentment and malevolence, which, if left unchecked, will cause him to lose his reason, face his calamity, and perish. To live a long life, he needs to proceed step by step. After all, the demon hunters and exorcists of this world are not to be underestimated. Even a mere mortal like You Junzi, whose ancestors were exorcists, has some means of restraining him.

Then those demon hunters who specialize in killing demons for cultivation are probably even more of a threat to themselves.

Although humans only live for a few decades, their intelligence allows them to pass down their traditions from generation to generation. Even though he had never seen them in person, Bai Wuxiang still dared not underestimate those legendary demon hunters.

He slowly opened his eyes. In the dark and cramped cave, only a black raven stood guard beside him.

Even without candles, he could still see everything in the darkness.

This cave was the temporary place he had found, since it would take another three to five days for the cave dwelling to be completed.

Only then could he be said to have his own cave dwelling.

……

In the dead of night, amidst the misty rain of Yunze Mountain, in a spacious house in Black Stone Village, You Junzi lay on his bed, tossing and turning.

He thought about it again and again, but in the end, he still couldn't put his mind at ease.

Although he wasn't a demon hunter, his demon-catching skills were no less than the average person. The scene of that monster that had transformed into human form standing on the eaves in the rain watching him a few days ago was still etched in his mind.

He had read the family's records of demon-catching. Among the nine generations of demon hunters in his family, the most powerful was the fourth-generation ancestor, You Hunshuang, who once captured a python demon that was almost transformed into a dragon and was hiding in the river.

But even that great demon who had cultivated for over five hundred years was not as intelligent as the spirit before them, according to their ancestors.

There are records of cunning and treacherous demons and monsters; for example, foxes are known for their cunning.

However, the undead spirit he summoned was not considered by demon hunters to possess such profound intelligence. This spirit, which called itself Formless, seemed to have the origins of a corpse demon, yet also resembled a spirit born from the bones of the dead, making You Junzi somewhat hesitant to confirm its existence.

The reason he didn't become a demon hunter was because his eyes were defective; he couldn't open his third eye and couldn't see the true forms of spirits and monsters, so it was naturally difficult for him to become a demon hunter.

However, You Junzi was also a person of extraordinary wisdom. He managed to learn most of the skills of a demon hunter, but unfortunately, he was blind and could only learn feng shui to enter the mortal world.

All demon hunters and demon catchers believe in one principle: those who are not of our kind must have different hearts!

The creature before him, Wuxiang, seemed like an easy-going spirit, but that was only because the creature knew he had some tricks up his sleeve and dared not act recklessly.

If one day I am no longer in this world, how can I be sure that this faceless god will not become the evil spirit that destroys Black Stone Village?
After all, this Wuxiang is far too clever.

You Junzi fell into deep thought. After a long while, he opened a small, hidden box, took out specially made brush and ink, lit an oil lamp, and began to write under the dim light:

"Today is the 37th year of Nanzhao, the 16th day of the third month. I, You Junzi, am the tenth generation descendant of the You family demon hunters of Tongshan. The past is no longer mentioned. I was entrusted by His Highness Prince Yi to lead the remaining troops with Li Yiguang to build a stronghold in Yunze Mountain for more than eight years."

In order to ensure the safety of the villagers and allow them to continue living in the Yunze Mountain, where monsters roam freely, they had no choice but to find a monster that called itself Wuxiang. Judging from its origins, it was likely a skeleton that had become a monster.

I made a pact with this formless spirit, asking it to guard the mountain village, and the villagers would provide for it. But its wisdom is extraordinary; even in the records of nine lifetimes of demon-hunting, there is no mention of such a spirit possessing intelligence far surpassing that of humans.

I fear that it may be a great demon of unparalleled power, feigning ignorance and concealing its identity to bring calamity and suffering to humanity. Therefore, I leave this letter to preserve the secrets of its origins.

Judging from their clothing, which resembles that of a dead person, they were likely originally from outside the northern pass, and most of them had recently escaped their predicament, living a nomadic life and hiding in the mountains. Their origins...

I, You Junzi, may be blind, but this is all I can observe. I leave behind these few methods, hoping that I will never need to use this book. But the future is unpredictable, and human will cannot fathom it. If one day this formless spirit truly harms the world, my words may be of some help to future generations!
Remember, there are no formless gods in this world, only formless demons!

When he stopped writing, he had filled several sheets of paper. You Junzi carefully placed the written paper into the sealed box, and only after putting the box back in its original place did he feel a little relieved.

Five days later, with the combined efforts of all the villagers, a temple covering nearly an acre was finally built, mostly made of earth and wood, to serve as the temple of their Black Stone Village's deity.

Although the temple was extremely simple, with no decorations or tall walls and pillars, it was built with the unique soil of Black Stone Village, and its entire body was black. With walls over ten zhang long, it was still quite imposing.

You Junzi personally picked up a brush and used lacquer to name and repair the plaque for the temple, writing the four characters "Wuxiang Temple".

On this night of the full moon, everyone in Black Stone Village dressed in their finest clothes, bathed and fasted for three days, and then went to the temple to worship the gods.

This was Bai Wuxiang's special request. Even if You Junzi disagreed, he told him that if the grand sacrifice was not performed, his magic would not be able to protect the people of Black Stone Village.

In addition, Bai Wuxiang appeared in the mountain people's dream, telling them that the god Wuxiang had not yet entered the temple and that they needed to invite the god into the temple to receive divine protection.

Even though You Junzi didn't agree with the matter, he could only agree at the request of the mountain people.

The bright moon in the sky was as round as a jade plate, its silvery light shining on the mountains and forests. In front of the dark temple, the three leaders led the people to worship. On the altar, there was neither meat of the five domestic animals nor food of the five grains, but bones of wild animals.

Holding incense sticks and dressed in a black robe, You Junzi solemnly said, "The people of Black Stone Village wish to worship Wuxiang, build temples and residences, and offer sacrifices in all four seasons, praying for the protection of Wuxiang's spirit over the entire Black Stone Village of Yunze Mountain!"

Welcome the formless god into the temple!

He read it briefly once, then offered incense and paid his respects, referring to the God of No Form only at the very end.

Moreover, the three leaders only bowed and saluted in front of everyone, without performing a full kneeling ceremony.

After he finished offering incense, the villagers, who had been informed beforehand, all bowed and said in unison:

"Welcome the God of No Form to the Temple!"

After everyone finished their greetings, seeing that there were no unusual phenomena around them, they all felt uneasy, wondering whether the deity had actually entered the temple.

On the hilltop, Bai Wuxiang looked at the villagers in front of the temple in the valley, his face expressionless. You Junzi was too cautious, so wary of him, as if he was afraid that he would lose his temper and slaughter these people.

However, these villagers neither worship nor kneel, nor do they respect the gods. How could a mere demon dare to enter Black Stone Village and stay for long beside this extraordinary demon hunter's successor?

(End of this chapter)