The Blade-Wielding Legend
Chapter 63 Midnight Soul Hooking

Chapter 63: Chapter 63 Midnight Soul Hooking

"Mother of mine..."

Zhu Tiedan heaved a sigh of relief, his body slackened, and he collapsed onto the ground.

He had heard numerous rural ghost stories and witnessed witches and wizards performing rituals, but he had never experienced an eerie event like tonight.

Beyond the fear, a thrill surged within him.

No wonder the gang leader always fawned over Master Chen so much, even insisting they treat him respectfully, lest they endure the punishment of being stabbed and holed.

With such a powerful figure backing them, what was there to fear?

If he himself were to fawn over him, might he be able to learn some Immortal Law?

Perhaps then, if he fancied a young girl from some household, he could enchant and abduct her to his home, or if he saw a wealthy family, he could devise a method to transfer their wealth to himself.

Wouldn’t life be as blissful as that of an Immortal?

It was no wonder this fool harbored such wild fantasies.

The Mystical Sect held the highest status in the pugilistic world, not everyone had the chance to come into contact with it, especially not a lowlife like him.

He had no idea about the various customs and taboos within the Mystical Sect, let alone imagine that the kindly old Daoist in the City God Temple was the most fearsome person in Xianyang City.

Zhu Tiedan let his mind wander outside the village.

Meanwhile, Zhou Peide was closely following behind, also ready for action.

He, along with several disciples dressed in black, wielding spears and sharp blades, stationed themselves on the official road leading to Xianyang City.

They were just waiting for Li Yan to be lured out so they could rush up and hack him to death.

Zhou Peide had stepped into Hidden Energy years ago; though he lacked the innate ability to control Force Transformation, his muscles bulged, and every move he made was filled with Hidden Energy, which varied greatly.

That was the difference in power after one had stepped into Hidden Energy.

While others used Hidden Energy to attack, he could use the same force to defend. Those with shallower power couldn’t keep up with their breath, and their energy couldn’t flow continuously, resulting in their immediate death.

In other words, he alone could handle Li Yan.

With a few more helpers, it was almost a certain victory.

Zhou Peide stood at the crossroads with his sword, his eyes continuously gathering a murderous intent, just waiting for Li Yan to come and slaughter him to death!

...

The moonlight was dismal; Shangyi Village was pitch black.

Due to the tight schedule, everyone had been busy from dawn until dusk, so as soon as the lights were out, everyone was fast asleep, with snores resounding continuously.

"Woof! Woof!"

A dog in the village seemed to sense something, perked up its ears, and abruptly stood up, but after barking a few times, it lay back down again.

Around the street corner, a small puppet moved like a spider in the dark, its theatrical costume making it look particularly sinister.

The Yin Qi seemed to be confined within the puppet, hence the village dog sensed the disturbance but did not continue to alert.

Outside Xianyang City, on the magic platform, Chen Fagui was sitting cross-legged before the altar, eyes tightly shut, hands forming seals, and continuously chanting.

The puppet, seemingly under command, rapidly moved through the dark alleys of the street and soon reached the exterior of the Wan Family’s grand mansion.

Hum!

Before getting close, the stone column at the gate trembled slightly.

These were Horse Ties, found at the entrances of larger households in Guanzhong.

And, the Horse Tie at the Wan Family’s was unique, with a small stone lion carved on top, an antique from the Qin and Han eras, with a grounding object buried below which ordinary Evil Spirits couldn’t come near.

That was only the Horse Tie.

Several brick carvings on the walls were inscribed with "Illustrious Legacy" and "Virtue Establishes Distinguished Name," the scripts aged and mottled, similarly originating from Tang Dynasty artifacts.

There were also doors, windows, corridors, wells, kitchens, and lavatories, all of them adorned with Fengxiang wooden Divine Statue paintings, a practice of sacrificing to the Six Household Gods since Ancient Zhou.

This was the craftsmen’s grand mansion; it wouldn’t be so simplistic.

Those artifacts had all undergone incense sacrifices.

The Six Household Gods with continuous incense had already amassed Divine Astral.

Not to mention the craftsmen’s Ancestor Hall in the backyard.

As soon as Li Yan arrived at the Wan Family’s grand mansion, he noticed its uniqueness, thus leaving confidently to drink with Zhao Lvzi.

On the other side, before the magic platform, Chen Fagui, who had obviously anticipated this, suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed the Peach Wood Sword on the table, and attached a Yellow Talisman.

His right hand formed a seal and pointed forward.

Whoosh~

The Yellow Talisman immediately burst into flames.

And the puppet, as if wrapped in a hazy mist, avoided the main gate and moved to the side wall of the courtyard, climbing up like a spider, without disturbing the various arrangements of the courtyard.

On the courtyard wall, the puppet’s rigid face slowly emerged...

...

In the darkness, Wang Daoxuan was deep in sleep.

On another bed, Sha Lifei’s snoring was thunderously loud, disturbing him so much that he couldn’t focus, and even his sleep was restless.

But it couldn’t be helped, as they had been busy lately, almost all the rooms were filled with people, many craftsmen disciples even squeezing into large shared beds.

As guests, having private rooms was already a privilege; it wouldn’t be proper to ask for more.

Both nights were like this, coupled with reading during the day, Wang Daoxuan was groggy, constantly in a half-awake, half-asleep state.

Wang Daoxuan couldn’t help but regret in his heart.

If he had known it would be like this, he would have followed Li Yan up the mountain and at least found some peace.

Thud, thud!

Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door.

Then a calling voice came, "Master Wang, Master Wang..."

The voice was muffled and sounded a bit like Li Yan.

This was the Soul Summoning Technique.

Ghosts call out to people not because they are omniscient, but based on the vulnerabilities of the human heart.

Just like when Li Yan was worried about his grandfather, he heard his grandfather’s cries for help, and now half asleep and half awake, Wang Daoxuan thought of Li Yan.

The voice he heard was naturally that of Li Yan.

"Oh, you’re back?"

Wang Daoxuan got up groggily to respond.

But he had barely spoken when his whole body shuddered, and he thought to himself that this was bad.

Before he could react, Wang Daoxuan felt a lightness in his body, darkness enveloped his vision, and with a thud, he fell from the bed.

"Ah, Daoist... what happened to you?"

Sha Lifei was awakened by the noise, quickly got out of bed to help, but saw that Wang Daoxuan’s eyes were tightly closed, his teeth clenched, his fists clenched, and he was unconscious.

"Someone come quickly, someone come quickly!"

Accompanied by cries of alarm, one by one candle light brightened in the pitch-black courtyard...

...

Outside the village, Zhu Tiedan was boredly plucking the weeds by the roadside when he suddenly felt a heaviness in his body and a chilling coldness behind his back once more.

His body stiffened and cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

However, having adapted to this feeling, he had become much braver. Remembering Chen Fagui’s instructions, he did not dare to turn his head to check, and instead leaped onto his horse directly.

With a flick of the reins, he galloped away.

In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, he saw Zhou Peide standing on the road, greeting with both hands clasped: "Third Master, the task is completed, I’ll take my leave first."

Zhou Peide saw the wooden puppet lying on the other’s back, his eyes twitched, and he quickly stepped aside to let him pass, watching the galloping horse disappear into the distance, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Zhu Tiedan, sitting on the horse, was a simpleton. Seeing the fear in Zhou Peide’s eyes, he thought it was admiration for his heroic deeds that night, and couldn’t help feeling proud. He spurred his horse to speed up and arrived at a hillside outside the city.

Seeing everyone was waiting for him, Zhu Tiedan was even more pleased.

He remembered the scenes of lone heroes breaking into the enemy camp in operas, so he dismounted, performed the Four-direction Steps, knelt on one knee and clasped his fists, even adding an operatic flair:

"Big brother, I have not disgraced our mission!"

With that, his eyes rolled back, and with a plop, he fell to the ground, collapsing in his own filth.

Meanwhile, the puppet, like a spider, climbed onto the magic platform.

Chen Fagui glanced indifferently, "No worries, borrowing his popular Life Fire to break the formation, he will be severely ill after returning. Don’t expose him to wind or light, let him rest properly, and maybe he can recover."

Yuan Qu didn’t care about Zhu Tiedan’s life or death, respectfully bowed and asked, "Master Chen, is that brat Li Yan dead?"

Chen Fagui shook his head slightly, "He’s not here, I’ve captured the soul of the Daoist by his side, he’ll have to come looking for us."

After saying that, he picked up a gourd from the table, inserted the gourd’s mouth into the puppet’s, made a few hand seals, and then quickly sealed the gourd’s mouth and applied a Yellow Talisman.

After doing these things, he turned around and asked, "How is it going on the other side?"

Yuan Qu bowed quickly, "Master, the people we found are efficient, we should gather everything tonight, I’ve already sent people to collect."

Chen Fagui nodded, just as he was about to speak, he suddenly furrowed his brows.

Whoosh~

A gust of Yin Qi blew past, causing the candles on the magic platform to flicker unsteadily.

Chen Fagui felt an unexplained palpitation, quickly picked up two crescent-shaped wooden instruments from the platform, held them in his hands, raised them to his forehead, and bowed towards the Divine Statue.

These were divination blocks, one side convex for Yin and one side flat for Yang.

Rattle!

Rattle!

Rattle!

He threw them three times, each time both sides showed Yin.

"Not good, the Ancestor is warning!"

Chen Fagui’s face changed drastically, he hastily gathered the Magic Artifacts on the platform, blew out the candles, and tore off the Yellow Talisman.

After doing these things, he quickly took a bag from beneath the table, turned around, and barked, "Put out the fire, everyone stand next to me!"

Yuan Qu and several subordinates didn’t understand what was happening, but didn’t dare to ask further, quickly stood around the altar.

Meanwhile, Chen Fagui, from the bag took out unknown substances like white ash and salt, scattering them on the ground drawing a huge circle around everyone.

After doing this, he sternly said, "Everyone shut up, no matter what you see, don’t speak, anyone who makes a sound, I’ll kill him instantly!"

Whoosh~

As his words fell, a fierce wind blew in the distance, and the sky seemed to darken.

Yuan Qu and the others, terrified, discovered that the surroundings suddenly became extremely cold, and white frost began to spread on the ground.

Then, densely packed footprints appeared on the frost...