The Martial Saint begins by collecting corpses.

"One Class B Scaled Demon, plus a full six Class C Scaled Demons, were wiped out in the Night Town Division?! Li Meng, you should know the consequences of making such a joke."

Behind the brokerage firm, in a mysterious courtyard, came the indifferent words of Li Qingchi, the owner of the brokerage firm.

Li Meng trembled, his face filled with terror upon hearing this, and he knelt down with a thud:

"My lord, please be wise. How could I dare to tell such a lie? It's just that... there wasn't even one who came out."

"Furthermore, according to reports from my subordinates, there is indeed one person still alive in the inspection team, namely the deputy inspector Su Wantang, who has now left Heishui County."

"She is a lower-ranking night patrolman in the town's night watchman's office, and is of the same rank as Lin Yuanrong, the head of the town's night watchman's office in this county."

There was a moment of silence in the courtyard.

Li Qingchi's cold, murderous voice rang out:

"Su Wantang, I'll remember you. I never imagined she possessed such hidden power, capable of slaying a Class B ghost. I'll avenge this later."

"Go and support the artisan team's operation immediately."

"If this matter goes wrong again, you'll have to answer to me with your head!"

"Yes." Li Meng breathed a sigh of relief, then respectfully left the place, picked up a dozen or so warriors at the brokerage, and hurriedly rode his horse out of the city.

More than a hundred miles away from Heishui County, a group of several hundred craftsmen and a hundred archers settled in a deserted village.

As the sun set and night fell, everyone lit a fire to cook and enjoyed a hearty meal.

Soldiers were shouting back and forth:

"We've only traveled less than forty li today. At this rate, when will we reach the prefectural city? Starting tomorrow, we must travel at least fifty li a day. Rest early tonight and set off again at dawn. No mistakes allowed, do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Ugh, this is so tiring. Ugh!"

"My old bones can't handle this!" the craftsmen replied with worried expressions.

In the northeast corner of the deserted village, Wolf and his monkey occupied an abandoned hut.

Seeing that everyone was falling asleep under the soldiers' shouts, Ah Lang whispered to the monkey:

"I'll keep watch for you. You sleep for two hours, then come and relieve me."

The monkey asked in confusion:

"Ah Lang, since there are soldiers on guard duty tonight, we don't need to stand guard anymore, right?"

Ah Lang said impatiently:

"Stop talking nonsense! Big Brother said you're all to listen to me this time."

The monkey said helplessly, "Fine, fine, stop using your older brother to pressure me. I didn't say I wouldn't listen."

He lay down on the bed and slowly fell asleep.

Ah Lang, however, brewed a packet of Qi-boosting powder and, taking advantage of his guard duty time, continued to practice the Canglang Stance Technique.

In the dimly lit room, he stood quietly, a resolute look in his eyes. He refused to believe that someone with inferior aptitude had no chance to become a strong person.

He was unwilling to give up; he was determined to try.

The medicinal power within his body was scalding hot, flowing slowly through his limbs and bones, and gradually being refined by him as he cultivated.

In this late autumn night, with its biting cold wind, he slowly broke out in a sweat.

He cultivated like this for more than an hour when suddenly his ears twitched. He seemed to hear some people who were talking suddenly fall silent. Or he vaguely heard someone standing suddenly fall to the ground.

He wasn't sure what it was; it was just a vague, almost intuitive feeling, the result of his constant, subtle observation of the situation in the deserted village.

He immediately stopped cultivating, quietly opened the door, and looked around.

At night, only a few torches burned in the deserted village, making the surrounding area very dark.

He saw many people sleeping side by side amidst the ruins, the surroundings were quiet, and there seemed to be nothing unusual.

But soon, Ah Lang's gaze sharpened.

No, one of the torches went out. There should have been eight, so why are only seven still lit?

Wolf stepped out of the room and looked around carefully. Several torches were blocked by the house, so he couldn't see them, but he could use the surrounding light to determine if there were any torches there.

When he confirmed that one of the torches had gone out, but heard no one complain or make any move to relight it, his expression changed, and he immediately turned around and went back into the room to wake the monkey.

"Hmm? Is it time?" The monkey groggily got up. "Then you sleep, I'll keep watch."

Ah Lang gently patted his face and growled in a low voice:

"Something's happened, we have to leave immediately!"

The monkey's eyes widened instantly, all sleepiness gone, and it hurriedly asked:

"What's going on? I didn't hear anything."

Ah Lang said, "I don't know, let's go first, we'll come back if nothing happens."

With that, he turned and hurriedly left the room. He glanced around warily before quietly and quickly walking away in the opposite direction from where the torches had gone out.

Seeing this, the monkey didn't bother to ask any questions and immediately followed behind, quickly leaving.

Along the way, the monkey saw the sleeping craftsmen and whispered:

"Shouldn't we wake them up and run together?"

He had barely finished speaking when someone shouted from behind him:

"A ghost! There's a ghost!"

In an instant, four more torches went out.

"What happened?"

"Ah, help me!"

"Why is it so cold?"

In an instant, the deserted village was thrown into chaos. Half asleep and half awake, the villagers scrambled to their feet in a panic and ran around in all directions.

Ah Lang shouted, "We're all barely able to save ourselves, why are you worrying about others? Let's go!"

By this time, they had already escaped the deserted village. When the monkey saw the chaos behind him, he felt a chill in his heart and dared not say anything more. He followed Ah Lang into the forest.

The fire in the deserted village, after initially flickering and shrinking, gradually grew larger and soared into the sky.

"Huh? Someone actually escaped. Heh, a mere skin-training martial artist, you'd better stay here obediently!"

A sinister voice echoed from the forest, followed by the startled cry of a monkey:

"Wolf, someone's lying in ambush! Run! Drink!!!"

A shout of battle came from the forest, but soon silence returned.

……

"The essence of ghosts and monsters is actually obsession!"

The Dark Prison of the Night Guard was ablaze with flames that seemed to burn eternally on all four walls.

On the high platform, Li Ming looked down at the six ghosts doing all sorts of things, and a hint of sympathy appeared in his eyes.

Obsession?

Lu Ming's eyes flickered, and as if a flash of lightning struck his mind, he immediately thought of the secret method of the Ghost Deception lineage.

Among the methods of ghost-refining techniques are many techniques that involve repeatedly torturing the living and all sorts of strange and bizarre things.

However, the inheritance of the Ghost Deception lineage that Qin Xiaoyi received was only a very basic part. He knew how but not why, so there was no explanation of the underlying principles.

He had only vaguely suspected it before, but now that Li Ming had revealed it to him, he finally realized that the essence of ghosts and monsters was indeed related to obsession.

He turned his head and looked at the ghosts in the rooms below, and suddenly had a completely new understanding.

Li Ming continued speaking from the side:

"Look at that ghost sewing up a corpse. In fact, he was a divine doctor in his previous life, a divine doctor who could bring the dead back to life and heal the bones."

"He wanted to cure all the sick people in the world. This obsession ran deep, so after he died, he became a ghostly healer, constantly trying to cure others."

"Of course, he lost a little bit of precision after becoming a ghost, which caused many people who originally had only minor ailments to die directly after he treated them."

Lu Ming glanced at the Divine Healer Ghost who was stitching up a corpse, a knowing look flashing in his eyes. So the way to suppress the Divine Healer Ghost was to provide him with a body full of wounds.

Li Ming then said:

"Look at that monk ghost again. In his previous life, he was a highly accomplished monk who even communicated with the Yin and Yang realms and was able to manifest true meaning."

Even after his death, he still wanted to save all living beings.

"Since everyone has their own obsessions, he will try to convert everyone he encounters."

"Ghosts will disappear when they are exorcised, but if a person is forcibly exorcised, he will become an idiot."

Lu Ming nodded, finally understanding why a living, unconscious person was placed opposite the monk ghost. It was like bait, keeping the monk ghost dangling in suspense.

Li Ming suddenly shook his head and sighed:

"Actually, they are all very, very good people. Sometimes I don't even want the prefectural city to send people to eliminate them. I feel that it would be too cruel to them."

Lu Ming, however, did not take it seriously.

Although he didn't refute it verbally, he thought to himself, "A ghost is a ghost, and its existence will harm people!"

If he weren't worried about attracting Lin Yuanrong and Ming Jianxin's attention, he would have gone down and devoured them all by now.

Miraculous healing techniques? Buddhist methods of salvation? I can't wait!