Records of the Halls of Ten Thousand Affairs: Chapter 33: Mountain Spirit (Part 6)

Records of the Halls of Ten Thousand Affairs: Chapter 33: Mountain Spirit (Part 6)

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Yunshan was thinking about whether to interrupt the final step of the formation first. At worst, he could start over. It would just consume more mental energy. Tiring was a bit tiring, but it was safer. He was about to withdraw the formation when he heard rustling sounds behind him. Someone had crept into the grass under the cover of night. This person had deliberately lightened their footsteps and concealed their aura, hiding behind the vegetation to quietly observe Yunshan. But Yunshan had entered the Dao for several decades. He had long transcended the elementary levels of form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. He could directly enter the mental realm and use spiritual vision to probe living beings within a hundred li radius. The one crouching in the grass was none other than the furtive Old Zhao. He had foxtail grass stuck behind both ears like covering his ears while stealing a bell, poking out a bit of his head to watch Yunshan’s back. It was currently closing time. Only the two of them were in the ritual area. Even Boss Qian had no intention of supervising. He had watched that flashy process with relief and left. Having such a comfortable big business snatched away, Old Zhao thought back and forth and felt truly unwell in his heart. So he extracted several rounds of information from Liu Zhiyuan and quickly learned Yunshan’s specific movements. He had to make some moves in the middle. At least he had to make that old thief Yunshan suffer somewhat. Due to the considerable consumption, a trace of cold sweat had already seeped onto Yunshan’s forehead. But he still had some surplus strength to deal with a half baked heretical practitioner like Old Zhao. In the silence of all sounds, he suddenly spoke. “Come out. Stop hiding.” Old Zhao showed surprise. He looked left and right. No one else. Then he looked back at Yunshan. This old man was still facing away from him. Strange. Could it be that this old thing truly had considerable ability? He was silent for a while, then pretended to be calm and stood up. He walked two steps forward, putting on airs. “Fellow Daoist, you are also just applying suppression methods. What difference is there between you and me?” “You came at the right time.” Yunshan asked in a deep voice. “I must ask you, what kind of ghost talisman did you paste back then? Not only did it fail to suppress this yin malice, but it helped it store quite a lot of resentment. Who exactly taught you your talisman arts?” Old Zhao had lived to this age by pretending to be mysterious. Who would still dare to brush his face and point at his nose saying his talismans were drawn wrong? Not to mention directly calling his talismans ghost talismans. Hearing this, he first felt guilty in his heart, then his face turned red with anger and his neck swelled. He demanded furiously. “Which sect do you come from, daring to point fingers at me?! A wild path goods who can’t even produce a certificate, daring to shout and clamor!” Yunshan said coldly. “Do you know how many lives your stubbornness has harmed?” “What do you mean I harmed lives?!” Old Zhao exploded with anger, pointing at the ground and cursing. “That damn thing was going to devour soul power anyway. They were unlucky themselves. How can you blame it on my head?!” Yunshan shook his head and snorted coldly. He thought to himself that this person was hopelessly deluded. Even if he didn’t continue speaking, with Old Zhao’s personality, he could anger himself into jumping. Old Zhao indeed paced in place for a few steps, pointing at Yunshan and cursing for a long while, unbearable to the ears. After cursing for half a day and getting no response, he finally became so furious that he rolled up his sleeves, preparing for a big fight. Yunshan knew his intentions even with his back to him. He spoke. “Are you going to keep making mistakes? Do you know what consequences there will be if you let it continue?” Old Zhao spat. “I’ve been wandering the jianghu all these years. What I hate most is you bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites. You really think knowing a couple of Kan trigram divinations makes you half immortal?” “Zhao, I will advise you one last time. It’s still not too late to stop now. Otherwise, you cannot bear this merit debt.” Yunshan said. “I observe your facial features. You are not a long lived person.” What merit, what wealth, in the end none were as important as life. This curse like prophecy truly pierced Old Zhao’s sore spot. He immediately became so angry that he couldn’t care about anything. What dignity, what towering mountain and polar star, he didn’t want this damn hermit master image today. So he casually picked up a stone and threw it at the back of Yunshan’s head. Yunshan held a seal in his heart. Soon a talisman emitting golden light flew out of thin air. With a swoosh, it intercepted the thrown stone and used the force to strike back. Old Zhao couldn’t dodge in time. He was hit at the corner of his eye and immediately howled in pain, covering his eye and staggering back several steps. He finally felt a bit fearful in his heart, gaining some slight awareness of the vast gap in strength between the two. But people in a fit of anger are always unwilling to accept defeat. Old Zhao panted roughly for a few breaths and drew out his ritual instrument, a copper coin sword. He joined his fingers and muttered incantations for a while. The copper coin sword faintly emitted a dark blue light, as if imbued with magical power. The originally simple and ancient sword body instantly became sharp. Old Zhao hummed a few times. After the pain at the corner of his eye slightly eased, he swung the sword to slash out a blade of qi, charging straight at Yunshan’s neck! When Yunshan saw that he had actually developed murderous intent, he no longer held back. He cleanly and decisively interrupted the seal formation that was 99% complete. He flew to dodge this fatal sword strike, then drew out his horsetail whisk. With a reverse swing, golden light sprayed out like a sharp sword, pointing directly at Old Zhao’s heart meridian. Old Zhao thought this was bad. He hurriedly concentrated all his strength to offer up a heart protecting talisman, barely blocking this strike. He closed his eyes. He only heard countless crackling and bursting sounds mixed in the night wind. The talisman he had just offered up had been shattered to pieces and scattered with the wind! Cold sweat broke out all over his body. His legs went soft and he fell to sit on the ground. His eyelids twitched repeatedly. Yunshan held his horsetail whisk horizontally. His feet were empty, suspended above the ground. He looked down at Old Zhao from above. At first glance, he seemed like a true transcendent immortal. “Zhao, you and I have no grievances or hatred. Yet you hate me enough to want me dead. Truly disappointing.” Yunshan frowned and said. “When entering the Dao, the patriarch said that greed destroys wealth. Those who harm others’ bodies, their bodies perish and names are extinguished. What use is wealth? You are already half a body in the grave. How did you forget everything?” Old Zhao held the sword and tremblingly stood up. He laughed dryly twice and bluffed. “You really think I’m afraid of you? Let me tell you, if you kill me, you also break your own Dao. You can’t kill me! Hahaha! Old thing, what are you babbling about? If I don’t earn money, do I drink northwest wind like you?!” Yunshan saw that reasoning was useless. So he closed his eyes in irritation and recited the Heart Purification Mantra. His temper was also not good when he was young. But since he had picked up a bunch of beagles at home and been tormented for twenty or thirty years, he was now considered gentle and kind. Who would have thought that with this closing of eyes, Old Zhao thought his opportunity had come again. He immediately gathered his energy and struck out another sword, roaring as he charged forward, with great momentum of making Yunshan either dead or crippled. This time before Yunshan could react, a sword suddenly flew through the air. A female voice shouted. “Old scoundrel, daring to touch my master! Seeking death!” The sword body was not made of gold, silver, copper, or iron. It didn’t borrow any other force. It was still that most basic peach wood sword, purely thrown like a dart. Yet this strike seemed to have the force of a thousand jun, fiercely crashing into Old Zhao’s waist and abdomen, directly sending him flying out! Old Zhao immediately spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. He fell to the ground and rolled several circles, making painful hoarse sounds from his throat. Chen Jiu landed steadily holding Su Xiaoyu. She joined her fingers and waved, retrieving the sword. Su Xiaoyu was so excited her face was flushed red. She put her palms together and shouted wow wow. “Senior sister, you are so cool!” “Just so so.” Chen Jiu fixed her bangs, revealing a bit of a pleased expression. Yunshan said in surprise. “Little Jiu! How did you come back?!” “I suddenly felt unwell in the car, so I turned back to check. Otherwise I wouldn’t be at ease.” Chen Jiu said, walking forward to circle around him. “Are you alright?” “Alright. Could this master be hurt by this half baked fake Taoist?” Yunshan spread his hands for her to see. After the master and disciple finished exchanging pleasantries, Yunshan spoke about what happened just now. Chen Jiu rubbed her chin. “Then what should we do? With me added, can we forcibly complete the final step of the formation?” Yunshan stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and finally nodded. “We can try.” “But, how do we deal with this person?” Chen Jiu walked over and kicked Old Zhao who had briefly lost consciousness. “Hey, hey, Zhao, not dead right?” Old Zhao woke up fuzzily. After recovering for quite a while, he finally saw Chen Jiu’s appearance. He immediately screamed like seeing a ghost and shrank back repeatedly. “I don’t dare! I don’t dare! What do you master and disciples want to do! I won’t be this feng shui consultant anymore! I don’t have that ability! You take this money! I am sincerely convinced!” Chen Jiu laughed. “Hey, quiet down. I have something to ask you.” “You you you… what do you want to ask?” Old Zhao was so scared that he stuttered a bit. After saying this, he himself couldn’t quite believe it. He repeatedly slapped his own mouth several times. Chen Jiu. “How long until your talisman fails? Is there a fastest way to directly destroy it?” After slapping several times, his stuttering finally improved somewhat. Old Zhao wiped his face in embarrassment and said. “Yes. The talismans I drew, of course I can destroy them. Just a few incantations.” Chen Jiu was about to have him execute it when Yunshan came over and stopped her. “Wait. This talisman is buried at the yin malice source. If destroyed, will the energy at the moment of destruction blast this opening even larger?” “This…” Old Zhao spread his hands. “How would I have a way? That’s not something I can control. It’s not that I’m not cooperating with you. If I had this level of detailed control, would I have been beaten like this by you master and disciple?” Chen Jiu and Yunshan looked at each other. “That’s true.” Old Zhao. “…” Old Zhao. “Why don’t you go find Boss Qian and renegotiate a plan. Dig this area open.” Yunshan shook his head. “That’s also not appropriate. Your talisman has accumulated several years of soul power for it. If you dig it open directly and awaken it, what if it agitates the souls that haven’t been completely devoured yet? You may not still have the ability to suppress this talisman.” Great. Now they were truly caught between a rock and a hard place. Old Zhao clamored. “This won’t work, that won’t work. I can’t manage anymore. Don’t pin this on me. I have to leave. You solve the mess you took on yourselves. Don’t harm me.” Saying this, he was about to get up and run. Chen Jiu found it annoying to listen. She grabbed his collar and threw him back, pointing at his nose. “Listen well. Before this matter is resolved, you are not allowed to leave.”