Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
A thunder-like voice sounded.
It sounded particularly ear-piercing in the dark night.
Su Changyu and Ye Ping both opened their eyes at the same time.
Neither of them spoke and simply watched their surroundings vigilantly.
At this moment, a red shadow appeared.
Ye Ping looked over.
It was a woman in red who was flying towards them in midair.
There was a monk in a white robe behind them who looked refined and clean. He emerged from the darkness and stared at the woman in red.
“Venerable, I have no feud with you, why do you have to drive me to death? Isn’t Buddhism all about kindness and compassion? Just let me go, I promise I won’t dare to do it again.”
The woman’s voice seemed extremely pitiful.
“Demon, you’re already an evil cultivator because you’ve harmed mortals for the sake of absorbing Yang energy and your cultivation. I may be a Buddhist, but compassion belongs to the Buddha. I’ll send you to the Buddha.”
The monk in the white robe said.
At the next moment, he tossed out a string of turquoise Buddhist beads that were radiating a bright light, which seemed particularly eye-catching in the night. It then constrained the woman in red.
“Ah!”
A miserable cry sounded. Buddhist beads were Buddhist Dharma artifacts. After tying the woman in red, white smoke emanated, followed by a horrifying shriek of terror.
“Stinky bald man, you only have the audacity to bully small ghosts like us. Ah! Once the ghost king revives, you’ll die a horrible death!”
The woman in red kept rolling on the ground while the white smoke floated around her body. She looked extremely miserable.
“Amitabha, your obsession is too deep and it’s entangled with resentment. I will expiate you now.”
Keeping a straight face, the white-robed monk walked towards the woman in red and applauded. While the light shone, the woman in red turned into ashes.
The ear-piercing sound vanished.
The peace was restored.
Ye Ping saw everything, and his eyes were filled with curiosity as he felt a sense of novelty. It was the first time he saw a fight between cultivators. Although there was a clear victor, it was rather exciting too.
However, Ye Ping acutely discovered that a faint ray of light entered the white-robed monk’s body.
“A Buddhist disciple?”
Su Changyu, who was at the side, could not help but ask in surprise.
Dao sects were the norm in Jin Nation, and there were rarely any Buddhist disciples, especially in Qingzhou. Apart from some in ancient temples, Su Changyu had never seen any Buddist disciples, especially such a powerful one.
At this moment, the monk in white retracted all his Dharmic powers and turned to look at Su Changyu and Ye Ping.
The two of them were rather near each other. The monk looked at Su Changyu with his hands placed together.
“Amitabha.”
“Heavenly Venerable Wuliang.”
Su Changyu snapped back to his senses. He bowed too and did not embarrass the sect.
“Master, what happened?”
At this moment, Ye Ping’s voice sounded.
He looked very curious and wondered what had happened.
Hearing Ye Ping’s voice, the white-robed monk immediately answered,
“Daoist Master, I was ordered to go to the ghost grave by the river to deal with some matters, and on the way, I encountered the female ghost in red, so I expiated her out of convenience.”
Although the monk was menacing and fierce towards such demons, he was very friendly towards cultivators of the proper Dao and did not put on any airs.
However, his answer left Ye Ping speechless.
‘That’s considered expiating out of convenience?’
‘Thank you on behalf of the ghost.’
In the next moment, Su Changyu spoke again.
“Are you saying that this is the Linhe Ghost Grave?”
Su Changyu looked extremely calm on the surface, but his heart was full of excitement.
“Daoist Masters, don’t you know?”
The white-robed monk was a little shocked as he thought that they were also there to expiate vengeful spirits.
In the next moment, Su Changyu fell silent.
It was the Linhe Ghost Grave!
Su Changyu looked very composed on the surface, but he was actually very riled up.
There were two forbidden places in Qingzhou, the Linhe Ghost Grave and the Cloud Mist Mountain Range.
The cultivators of Qingzhou dared not venture into those two places.
The Cloud Mist Mountain Range wasn’t too bad. As long as they didn’t delve too deep, they wouldn’t encounter any demonic beasts.
However, the Linhe Ghost Grave was different. Those below the Foundation Establishment realm would be courting death if they entered.
‘That can’t be.’
‘We followed the map, how could we have reached the Linhe Ghost Grave?’
Su Changyu was completely dumbfounded.
‘This is so damned absurd.’
“Linhe Ghost Grave?”
Ye Ping was rather shocked.
He knew about the Linhe Ghost Grave because there were records about it in the Sutra Pavilion in the sect.
About 150 years ago, there was a ghost cultivator who caused a bloodbath in an ancient city for the sake of refining a treasure.
Millions of people died in that calamity, which resulted in countless vengeful spirits in the ancient city.
The imperial court of Jin Nation cooperated with the ten great immortal sects and even invited the Buddhist experts to suppress the ghost cultivator.
However, even so, in order to completely suppress the ghost king, the ten immortal sects suffered heavy losses. If not for the fact that the Buddhist venerables gave up their lives in exchange for the casting of the Great Sun Demon Subduing Seal, it would have probably been difficult to suppress the ghost king.
That was also the reason that Jin Nation allowed Buddhist monks to enter. Otherwise, they would never be able to set foot in Jin Nation.
The conflict between sects was not a minor issue.
However, even if the ghost king was subdued, the ancient Linhe city had already turned into a ghost region where there were millions of vengeful ghosts. How could all of them be expiated immediately?
Besides, the ghosts were all full of resentment, and they died a miserable death. They were sacrificed alive so they naturally wouldn’t be expiated so easily.
Besides, the place of gathering of the vengeful ghosts was also a cultivation land for evil cultivators. The Linhe Ghost Grave became the most terrifying place in Qingzhou.
Of course, there were also advantages to such places as cultivators of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism could go there and train their minds or cultivate the Dao. They could also expiate ghosts like the monk did and obtain merit.
There would be great benefits as long as they didn’t die.
However, for Qi Refinement cultivators like Su Changyu and Ye Ping, this place was terrifying.
The murderous Qi in that area alone was not something that a Qi Refinement cultivator could resist.
“It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!”
“We’re dead!”
“Linhe Ghost Grave, Linhe Ghost Grave!”
“How did I get here?”
“What kind of sins did I commit in my last life!?!”
Su Changyu’s emotions were complicated.
He never expected that he would end up in such a hellish place one day.
He would rather go to the Cloud Mist Mountain Range than come here.
As long as they didn’t go too deep in the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, they wouldn’t encounter any troubles.
The Linhe Ghost Grave was different.
It was the place where millions of vengeful ghosts gathered. There was no need for ghost cultivators to cause trouble for them.
Standing there alone would allow the ferocious aura to surge into his body.
By then, he would fall terribly ill or have his body damaged permanently.
‘It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!’
‘Master, you jinxed it. Great, now you’re really going to prepare for our funeral.’
Su Changyu was extremely upset.
He wanted to cry but he couldn’t.
At this moment, the monk in white suddenly spoke up.
“You two must have entered this place by mistake, right? Do you need me to bring you away?”
The monk asked.
After hearing his words, Su Changyu suddenly snapped back to his senses.
‘Take me away?’
‘Good, good.’
Su Changyu was extremely excited inside, but considering that Ye Ping was right beside him, Su Changyu took a deep breath and said, “I wanted to use this place to train my junior brother, but the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet is about to begin so I shall not stay here for a long time. Venerable, please guide me.”
Su Changyu’s tone was calm and he was very polite, but he had the vibe of a superior expert.
His behavior made the monk slightly stunned.
The monk stayed silent for a moment.
He immediately sensed that the two of them seemed to at most be at Level 5 of the Qi Refinement realm.
In the spirit of Buddhist compassion, he decided to give them some help. Besides, they were Daoist disciples too.
However… he had a strange feeling.
However, the monk did not think much about it.
He didn’t like arguing in the first place. Besides, it was commonplace to cultivate the Dao in Jin Nation, and although the Buddhist disciples had set foot there, they still weren’t very welcome. In order to establish a cordial relationship between Taoism and Buddhism, many disciples would give aid whenever they encountered Taoist disciples in need of help.
It was considered an expression of attitude.
After all, the dispute between sects was very terrifying, and it involved too many things. There was no right or wrong, only different positions and perspectives.
“Daoists, please come with me.”
“There is a ghost bewitchment array here. Later on, no matter what happens, I hope that the two of you will stay firm and true to your hearts. Don’t be confused or you’ll be in trouble then.”
The white-robed monk told Ye Ping and Su Changyu that there were array formations there and instructed them to look out.
Ye Ping and Su Changyu both nodded and thanked the monk before following him.
Along the way, the three of them briefly communicated.
Ye Ping also learned the name of the monk.
Kong Hai.
He was the second-generation disciple of the Spirit Temple of Jin Nation.
Su Changyu did not talk much.
It was mainly Ye Ping who kept communicating with Kong Hai.
Kong Hai was very patient and answered all his questions without showing any annoyance.
That was also the reason that Ye Ping knew that the light that appeared when Kong Hai expiated the female ghost was the power of merit.
“Patron Ye, the power of merit and virtue has various benefits. It can be sacrificed to the heavens for the treasure of merit and virtue. It can also be used for cultivating the Golden Buddha Body, Taoist teachings, and increasing one’s cultivation level. It’s even better than Spirit Stones and pills.”
“However, the power of virtue is hard to obtain. Usually, only the vengeful spirits that contain a ferocious aura would bring merit after the expiation. The power of merit that the female ghost I expiated just now brought was only equivalent to an inferior-grade Spirit Stone. The only advantage is that the power of merit is pure and untainted.”
Kong Hai explained the power of merit and virtue.
Ye Ping listened with great interest.
“How can I expiate then?”
Ye Ping was extremely interested in the method of expiation.
The main thing was that one would be able to obtain the power of merit after expiating vengeful souls. The power of merit was tantamount to being a jack of all trades, with all kinds of benefits.
The most attractive point for Ye Ping was that it could be used as spiritual energy.
He now lacked nothing but spiritual energy.
“There are two kinds of expiation methods. One is to cut off negative karma using Buddhist Dao or Dharmic Dao to slay demons, but this would result in very little merit obtained.”
“The second one is the sutra expiation method that convinces one to put down the knife and practice Buddhism. Only high venerables would be able to do that. If you succeed, you will obtain more merit.”
Kong Hai explained seriously.
Ye Ping had an epiphany.
At this moment, Kong Hai continued, “Patron Ye, if you are interested in the method of expiation, I have some sutras that you can read.”
After hearing his words, Su Changyu suddenly spoke up.
“In terms of expiation, our Dao sect has many of such techniques too. The Buddhist method might be the best, but my junior brother is a disciple of the Dao Sect so it might be hard for him to comprehend it.”
Su Changyu suddenly interrupted Kong Hai.
It was not that Su Changyu was petty.
It was actually a deep-rooted sectarian issue.
Ye Ping was a Daoist disciple and if he learned the Buddhist expiation method, he would probably only get half the result with twice the effort, which was not very meaningful.
Hearing his words, Kong Hai didn’t seem embarrassed and instead just nodded.
“Please forgive me, I forgot about that.”
“It’s alright, you have good intentions.”
Su Changyu was not angry. After all, it was just a sectarian issue.
However, Ye Ping couldn’t help but look at Su Changyu in awe and surprise.
“Eldest Senior Brother, do we have expiation methods too?”
Ye Ping was indeed interested in this method of expiation.
“Naturally.”
Su Changyu immediately nodded.
“Senior Brother, do you know how to expiate then?”
Ye Ping continued, his eyes full of excitement.
“Naturally.”
Su Changyu wanted to say ‘naturally not’. However, he didn’t do so in the end. After all, there were outsiders around and if he said no, he would be embarrassed.
“Eldest Senior Brother, can you teach me?”
Hearing that Su Changyu knew the method of expiation, Ye Ping got even more agitated.
All of a sudden, Su Changyu was frustrated.
‘Ye Ping, can you stop being such an avid learner?’
‘Why do you want to learn everything?’
‘Aren’t you afraid of biting more than you can chew?’
At this moment, before Su Changyu could respond, white mist came surging over.
“Watch out! The array formation has changed. Do not move, and stay true to your hearts. Don’t be bewitched by the ghost.”
Kong Hai’s voice sounded, appearing extremely serious.
In the next moment, the mist engulfed the three of them.
