Chapter 8: The Evil Spirit Appears
A massive ghostly hand burst from the ground, clutching at the crowd with a gust of strong, fishy wind. The townspeople, barely waking up, watched this horrific scene, their hearts and livers trembling. Unable to even utter a scream, they collapsed to the ground, desperately awaiting death. "Scatter!" Chu Yun roared, charging forward instead of retreating, facing the ghostly hand. He quickly formed hand seals with his hands, and a golden shield, even more solid than before, instantly appeared before him. This was the most powerful basic defensive talisman of the Evil Suppression Division—the Vajra Talisman! "Bang!" The massive ghostly hand and the golden shield collided heavily, a dull thud echoing throughout the mass grave. The golden shield trembled violently, its surface instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks. Chu Yun felt an overwhelming force radiating from the shield, and his arms instantly lost feeling. "Puff!" He spat out a mouthful of blood, and like a kite with its string cut, he flew backward, landing heavily on the ground. The suppressed power in his chest spiraled out of control again under the immense force, pounding through his meridians like a wild horse unbridled. Heart-wrenching pain rippled through every corner of his body. "Chu Yun!" Li Ge's voice, for the first time, tinged with anxiety. Her hand, still shaking the bell, had already pulled a palm-sized black flag from her bosom. She bit her tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the flag. "The Netherworld has issued an order; ghost soldiers, please allow me to pass through! Hurry!" Li Ge slammed the flag into the ground. Three black cracks instantly appeared in the ground, and three ghost soldiers, armed with spears, clad in tattered armor, their eye sockets ablaze with ghostly green light, crawled out from the cracks. "Hold it!" Li Ge shouted, pointing at the massive ghost hand. The three ghost soldiers uttered no sound, mechanically carrying out the order, spears raised, charging at the ghost hand. The ghost hand sent Chu Yun flying with a blow. Just as it was about to reach for the crowd again, three ghost soldiers rushed over, pressing their spears firmly against the ghost hand's palm. "Roar!" The ghost hand roared angrily and clenched its fists. "Crack!" The three ghost soldiers and their spears were instantly crushed to pieces, dissipating into the air in three streams of black smoke. But even this brief delay bought Chu Yun precious time. He struggled to his feet, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and stared intently at the bottomless pit. "The evil spirit's body is in the cave!" Li Ge's voice came again, rapid and clear. "It's sucking the souls of the living! We must go in!" Chu...
The giant ghost hand burst out of the ground, grabbing at the crowd with a strong, fishy wind. The townspeople, who had just regained consciousness, watched this horrific scene with such fright that they could not even scream. They could only collapse on the ground, desperately waiting for death.
"Disperse!" Chu Yun shouted angrily, charging forward instead of retreating, rushing towards the ghostly hand. He quickly formed seals with his hands, and a golden shield, even more solid than before, instantly appeared before him. This was the most powerful basic talisman of the Evil Suppression Division—the Vajra Talisman!
"boom!"
The giant ghost hand collided heavily with the golden shield. A dull thud echoed throughout the mass grave. The golden shield trembled violently, its surface instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks. Chu Yun felt an irresistible force radiating from the shield, and his arms instantly lost consciousness.
"Puff!" He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and his entire body flew backwards like a kite with a broken string, hitting the ground hard. The suppressed power in his chest once again lost control under the huge impact, like a wild horse running wildly through his meridians, and heart-wrenching pain radiated from every corner of his body.
"Chu Yun!" Li Ge's voice tinged with anxiety for the first time. Her hand, still shaking the bell, had already pulled out a palm-sized black banner from her bosom. She bit her tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the banner.
"The Netherworld has issued an order, and the ghost soldiers are asking for passage! Hurry and obey the command!"
Li Ge thrust the flag into the ground. Three black cracks instantly appeared on the ground, and three ghost soldiers, armed with spears, wearing tattered armor, and with ghostly green ghostly fire burning in their eye sockets, crawled out from the cracks.
"Hold it!" Li Ge pointed at the huge ghost hand and shouted.
The three ghost soldiers didn't make any sound, just mechanically carrying out the order, raising their spears and charging towards the ghost hand. The ghost hand struck Chu Yun away, and was about to grab the crowd again when the three ghost soldiers rushed over and pressed their spears tightly against the ghost hand's palm.
"Roar!" The ghost hand roared angrily and clenched violently.
“Crack!”
The three ghost soldiers and their spears were instantly crushed into pieces, turning into three streams of black smoke that dissipated into the air. But this short delay had already bought Chu Yun precious time.
He struggled to get up from the ground, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and stared at the bottomless hole.
"The evil spirit's true form is in the cave!" Li Ge's voice came again, rapid and clear, "It's sucking the souls of the living! We must go in!"
Chu Yun glanced at the townspeople who were still torn between the ringing of the bell and their fear, and then at the cave. He knew that Li Ge was right. If they didn't solve the source, none of them would be able to leave today.
"You continue to disturb Tong Yao, cover me!" Chu Yun shouted, took out the last three thunder and fire talismans from his arms, and threw them fiercely at the ghost hand that had condensed into shape again.
Three lightning bolts formed a "品" shape, blocking all escape routes for Ghost Hand. "Boom! Boom! Boom!" Ghost Hand was struck by lightning bolts, and the black energy was blasted into scattered pieces, temporarily unable to condense. Taking advantage of this gap, Chu Yun's figure floated to the ruined land temple in the center of the mass grave.
This land temple faced a bottomless cave. The temple door was tightly closed, covered with black paper money painted with strange symbols. Streams of pure evil energy seeped out from the cracks in the door, enveloping the entire temple.
"Right here!" Chu Yun's eyes fixed. Without hesitation, he raised his sword finger and slashed his palm with force. A deep, bloody wound appeared, and blood instantly gushed out. With his blood-stained hand, he pressed hard against the temple door covered in evil talismans.
"Use blood as a guide to break!"
“Sizzle——”
The moment his palm touched the temple door, the black paper money burned and melted like snow doused in hot oil, emitting bursts of piercing screams. The entire temple door trembled violently.
"Boom!" With a resounding bang, the two wooden temple doors exploded from the inside out by an invisible force. A bloody evil aura, ten times more intense than outside, surged out of the temple.
Li Ge resisted the backlash of activating the Yin soldiers and rushed to Chu Yun's side. They both looked towards the temple.
In the center of the temple, there was no statue at all. Instead, a massive altar constructed from countless bones stood. Atop the altar, lurked an indistinct evil spirit composed of pure black energy and resentment. Its body was tightly connected to the cavern, and countless blood-red energy lines rose from the townspeople it had devoured, flowing continuously into its body.
Before the evil spirit lay a large drum made of cowhide. A huge, invisible drumstick struck the drumhead again and again. It was from this drum that the strange nursery rhyme emanated.
"I found you!" A fierce look flashed in Chu Yun's eyes. He and Li Ge exchanged a glance and rushed into the land temple at the same time.
"Roar!" The evil spirit, seemingly unprepared for their ability to breach the temple gate, roared in anger. With a sudden wave of its hand, the mountain of paper money surrounding the altar suddenly came to life, transforming into countless black blades that shot towards the two men.
"Be careful!" Chu Yun shouted, pulling Li Ge to the side and dodging the first wave of attacks. The sharp blades of paper money shot onto the wall behind them, embedding themselves deeply into the masonry.
"Its power is too strong, we can't fight it head-on!" Li Ge said quickly, "We must find a way to trap it first!"
"Leave it to me!" Chu Yun pulled out five inch-long, pure iron nails from his bosom. These were the evil-suppressing nails used by the Evil Suppression Division to set up simple magic arrays.
He took aim and flicked his right hand. The five evil-suppressing nails transformed into five dark shadows, shooting towards the five corners of the temple. "Huh! Huh! Huh! Huh! Huh!" With five soft clicks, the evil-suppressing nails sank precisely into the ground, leaving only a small tail hanging out.
"With my blood, I command the five directions! Lock the spirits with the five elements and form a formation!"
Chu Yun bit his fingertip and drew a complex rune in mid-air. With a low shout, the tails of the five evil-suppressing nails simultaneously lit up with a faint golden light. The five golden lights quickly connected on the ground, forming a five-pointed star shape that enveloped the entire bone altar.
The evil spirit lingering on the altar seemed to sense the threat and roared even more violently. The black energy around it suddenly expanded outward.
The golden light array that had just formed flickered violently, then dimmed by half in an instant, seemingly poised to collapse at any moment. Chu Yun's face instantly turned pale. The power of this evil spirit far exceeded his expectations, and the spirit-trapping array he had set up was completely incapable of containing it!
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