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墨書 Inktalez
"Is there really such an amazing thing?" I asked in shock. "But how can you be sure that this will only attract lost Wandering Souls? What if a passerby comes by?"
Wang Xiaolu shook the wooden stick in her hand and replied, "Of course, we use spells to differentiate. Lost Wandering Souls have specific incantations that won't affect those who are just passing through."
"Oh, then how can you be sure there are lost Wandering Souls around here?" I looked at her and asked.
She looked back at me with confusion and said, "I saw you stop, so I thought you had noticed something."
I smiled sheepishly and said, "I was just observing the surroundings. In that case, I'll take charge of finding the souls, and you can use your Yuanxin to draw them in. That way, I won't have to set up the Soul Summoning Array." As I spoke, I took out my compass.
"Okay," Wang Xiaolu nodded.
I examined the compass closely and then walked toward a direction that seemed to have some activity. If my judgment was correct, there should be something there.
"I feel like we're hunting," Wang Xiaolu giggled softly.
Not long after, the response from the compass grew stronger. I stopped and steadied myself, looking carefully. Indeed, there was a reaction, and it was significant; the needle was shaking continuously toward the front right. From the frequency of its movement, it didn't seem to be an ordinary Spirit God on a journey.
I pointed in that direction and said, "Over there, probably two of them. What's the effective range of your Yuanxin?"
"It can vary; it's controlled by the spell and the intensity of the strikes," Wang Xiaolu replied as she glanced at the direction I indicated.
"Follow me. Once I stop, you can start gathering souls. No need for a large area; about thirty to forty feet will do." I said as I headed toward the area where I sensed a reaction.
Wang Xiaolu followed behind and said, "I'll draw them in for us to collect together if there are more than two."
I acknowledged with a sound and quickly walked to a relatively flat patch of grass before stopping. Just as Wang Xiaolu was about to strike her Yuanxin, I hurriedly stopped her because I suddenly realized that this place was not as simple as just one or two souls; upon reaching this spot, the compass spun wildly.
"What’s wrong, Liu Shixiong?" Wang Xiaolu asked with confusion as she placed her flashlight on a nearby rock.
"There’s more than just one or two around here; I can't tell how many exactly. Change your spell and minimize the range before gathering," I warned while keeping a vigilant eye on our surroundings. I wasn't sure if the lost Wandering Souls nearby were aggressive; if their Resentment was high, it could be problematic. It would be strange if they didn't retaliate after being disturbed for no reason.
"Alright, I'll reduce it by half." As soon as Wang Xiaolu finished speaking, she struck her Yuanxin with her right hand. The sound echoed like a bell tolling at dawn and dusk, captivating yet strange; I couldn't tell what metal it was made of that produced such an unusual sound.
With each strike she made accompanied by a four-character incantation, after seven strikes she ceased her spellcasting. Gradually, four Spirit Gods began to gather around us; their movements were slow and did not appear aggressive like Vengeful Spirits.
"Four, two for each person," I said as I took out two talismans and four Soul Guiding Talismans, sticking one on each of the two talismans before walking towards one of the closer Spirit Gods.
Wang Xiaolu set down Yuanxin and pulled out two black tokens from her bag. Using the faint light from her flashlight, she headed towards another Spirit God. These lost Spirit Gods, devoid of awareness and resentment, were the easiest to capture. All it took was to stick a Soul Guiding Talismans on them and then use the Soul Summoning Spell to draw them into the talisman; the entire process wouldn’t take more than three minutes.
By the time I had captured both of mine, I turned to look at Wang Xiaolu. She was still working on her first one, and I couldn’t tell what method she was using; that Spirit God stood there motionless. With her left hand, she formed a sword gesture and continuously drew Hand Spells in front of that Spirit God. The other Spirit God was also immobilized, standing still beside her.
This was likely an exclusive Method of Feng Shui from their Kundao sect. I had no interest in learning from her, but her Yuanxin was indeed a good tool; not only could it gather souls, but it could also make them manifest, which saved a lot of Kung Fu effort.
I sat on a rock waiting for Wang Xiaolu to finish collecting souls. As I shone my flashlight around, I wondered what kind of place this was and why there were so many Wandering Souls. Generally speaking, Wandering Souls rarely lingered unless they were in transit. I took out my compass to check; aside from the four I had collected, there should be three more nearby. They were positioned differently and hadn’t moved. One of them had a particularly strong response, giving off a sense of being a Vengeful Spirit.
I decided not to wait for Wang Xiaolu any longer and walked over to a stationary Spirit God to begin Soul Guiding. Every additional capture counted; I didn’t know how well others were doing. I wasn’t coveting anyone else's talismans nor did I want to give mine away; securing a spot in the top four was enough.
By the time Wang Xiaolu finished with her two Spirit Gods, I had already captured four. The remaining one that felt like a Vengeful Spirit, I planned to leave for Wang Xiaolu.
It was worth mentioning that the Spirit Gods here looked almost identical to those we encountered earlier by the tent; they resembled villagers from the late Qing Dynasty. It was unclear why they couldn’t find their way to the Underworld and ended up as wandering souls in the mountains. Moreover, they seemed devoid of any resentment or obsession.
Capturing that one with Vengeful Spirit characteristics would likely require considerable Kung Fu since ordinary methods wouldn’t work on such powerful Spirit Gods; at least some formation would be needed. I thought that if Wang Xiaolu couldn’t handle it, I would help her out.
Just as this thought crossed my mind, I heard Wang Xiaolu let out a cry. I quickly turned towards her voice and saw that she had gone from standing fine just moments ago to now lying on the ground with a pained expression on her face.
Rushing over to Wang Xiaolu, I reached into my Cloth Bag and grabbed a handful of Cinnabar Incense Ash, sprinkling it over her while simultaneously reciting an Exorcism Spell. As soon as the spell finished, I was by her side; she gasped for breath and said, "Liu Shixiong, we can’t stay here too long."
I nodded. Disciples with experience always carried some protective talisman with them: "Actually, we were quite lucky to encounter those Wandering Spirits earlier. Although many people have died here before, it’s said they were suffocated in the Human Cave, so those souls should be concentrated there."
Wang Xiaolu nodded and continued asking, "Liu Shixiong, what was that Vengeful Spirit that pressed down on me? It was really powerful."
I shook my head and replied, "I don’t know. However, I'm not confident that I can deal with it. What’s certain is that it has lost its path to reincarnation; yet it doesn’t seem malevolent—at least it hasn’t troubled us."
Wang Xiaolu responded with an "oh" and then fell silent as she focused on moving forward.
After walking for nearly half an hour without any discoveries—let alone finding the Human Cave—I sighed and said, "Let’s forget about it and head towards the gathering point. We don’t have much time left."
Just as I prepared to turn back, two beams of bright light shot down from the mountaintop direction. Judging by the flickering frequency of the flashlight beams, their owner must be running quickly.
I wasn’t sure who it was but shone my flashlight in that direction and called out, "Hey! What happened?"
"Brother Liu, hurry up! This damn place is really deadly!" Master Xiao's urgent voice came through, his pace not slowing down as he ran alongside Zhang Chuanzheng. They were several hundred meters away from us, with the dense trees on the mountain obscuring our view, but we could see the flickering light of their flashlight and occasionally catch a glimpse of their figures.
They were getting closer, shouting as they ran, "Run!"
"Were you going to run, Liu Shixiong?" Wang Xiaolu asked.
I replied, "No rush. Let's wait for them to get here," as I took out the compass and laid it flat in my hand, carefully observing its movements.
When the compass stabilized, they were only about two hundred meters away. I noticed a strong supernatural response, but it was gradually weakening. By the time they reached us, that response had completely vanished.
"Brother Liu, should we run or fight? We should be fine together. Partnering with this useless guy is so frustrating," Master Xiao openly expressed his disdain in front of Zhang Chuanzheng.
"Neither running nor fighting is necessary; they aren't even chasing you two," I said, feeling speechless...
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