TDFM Chapter 97

Ghost Hand

This person had a broad face with square lips and a full forehead. His grayish-brown pupils gleamed with restrained brilliance—he was none other than Mingxuan Zi, the fugitive elder of the Huayang Sect.

It turned out that on that day, Mingxuan Zi had conspired with Xingge Zi and several disciples who had participated in the events of that night to flee down the mountain under cover of darkness. Along the way, they encountered Li Xiuzhu and Xie Junze, who were leading a group of disciples in their own escape.

After these groups merged, they carefully considered which sects had maintained good relations with Jiang Binghe in the past.

After much deliberation, they concluded that during his lifetime, Jiang Binghe had maintained the closest relationship with Yue Qingshuang, the sect master of the Shendan Sect, and Qin Ranqing was also an old friend of Yue Qingshuang’s wife. Thus, they finally decided to seek refuge at the Shendan Sect.

The group fled in panic to the Shendan Sect, where Yue Qingshuang indeed received them warmly, showing concern for their well-being, providing soup and medicine, and beating his chest to guarantee that everything would be fine, telling everyone not to worry.

The group settled at the Shendan Sect for several days, never knowing that this Yue Qingshuang harbored malicious intentions. While appeasing them on the surface, he was actually leading the sect’s top experts in setting a trap, planning to capture them all in one fell swoop to present as a grand gift to the new sect master of the Huayang Sect.

By heaven’s will, Li Xiuzhu sensed something was amiss in advance and informed Mingxuan Zi and Xingge Zi, allowing the three to escape ahead of time.

As for why the others, especially Xie Junze, failed to receive the message, Mingxuan Zi was no fool and naturally wouldn’t inquire further.

Thus, the three couldn’t help but lament the fickleness of human nature. After leaving the Shendan Sect, they no longer dared to seek refuge with any of Jiang Binghe’s former associates.

The three deliberated together. Liuyun Mountain was a famous cultivation mountain, and currently no major sect occupied it. Although the place was a mixed bag of dragons and fish, filled with noxious atmosphere and fierce competition, for them it also represented an opportunity. So the three came to Liuyun Mountain together.

Upon arriving at Liuyun Mountain, they fought five battles in five days. With these three men’s abilities, nothing unexpected occurred—they won all five battles, though their opponents were too poor to have any worthwhile spoils of war.

Normally, they wouldn’t have bothered to give such opponents a second glance.

However, times had changed. The three had fallen from prestigious orthodox sect members to homeless dogs. Having just experienced great ups and downs in life and fled in such a wretched manner for so long, fighting these small fry at Liuyun Mountain a few times finally helped them regain some confidence.

They decided to establish themselves properly at Liuyun Mountain, swearing together to heaven that one day they would definitely return to Huayang Mountain, level the Shendan Sect, and wash away their previous humiliation!

Their fate had not yet run its course. During one mountain patrol, Li Xiuzhu encountered a strange barrier. He didn’t rashly attempt to break through it, but returned to consult with the two well-experienced elders about this matter.

The three came to this place together and explored along the barrier, eventually walking into a maze formation.

They tried several times but couldn’t break through the maze. They would always inexplicably leave the area while walking. Li Xiuzhu said with tears in his eyes. “Elder, we’ve endured humiliation and exhausted our minds to preserve ourselves, and now there’s a treasure mountain before us but we cannot enter? I’m not resigned to this!”

Mingxuan Zi smiled slightly. “No matter, today I’ll let you witness my craftsmanship.”

It turned out that Mingxuan Zi’s attainments in formation techniques were even superior to Jiang Binghe’s. However, knowing that Jiang Binghe was arrogant about his talents and jealous of the worthy and capable, he didn’t want to steal his thunder, so he had always kept a low profile and never stood out.

Now his skills finally had a place to be put to use.

The three spent seven days safely emerging from the maze formation, arriving before a large tree intertwined with giant vines.

They speculated that these giant vines must be able to open and close, but they didn’t know the specific method. After trying multiple times without success, they finally decided to try placing a Sound-Recording Stone under the branches and leaves before leaving.

After several days, they returned to retrieve the Sound-Recording Stone and indeed discovered the secret to opening the vines.

Xingge Zi used a flute to imitate the melody from the Sound-Recording Stone, opened the vines, and the three thus entered this “immortal blessed land.”

They initially didn’t know this place was Shenle Valley. After entering the valley, they encountered a blind man. The several men captured the blind man alive and used the Incantation of Truth to interrogate him, only then learning that this place was actually the legendary Shenle Valley.

After silencing the blind man, they buried him under a lightning-struck tree.

Lightning-struck wood possesses all five elements and is extremely suitable for setting up formations like the Delusion Array that can interfere with divination. Mingxuan Zi used the lightning-struck wood to create a small formation, saying:

“With this Delusion Array in place, I’m not boasting when I say that not only in Shenle Valley, but looking across the entire martial world, no one can divine the location of this dead ghost.”

Li Xiuzhu said: “Elder, we’re completely depending on you!”

Mingxuan Zi smiled and nodded.

Xingge Zi asked, “Senior brother, what do we do now?”

After weighing the options, Mingxuan Zi decided to temporarily remain in Shenle Valley. The spiritual energy here was much denser than outside, extremely suitable for cultivation. Moreover, outside they were constantly fighting, and it was just a bunch of paupers fighting—not very interesting.

The three were confident that with their abilities, they could at least protect themselves while staying in the valley.

They would cultivate for some time first to see how things developed. Once they stabilized, they would explore that cloud-wreathed mountain peak—perhaps there were some heavenly treasures up there.

Who would have known that after staying only one day, they were discovered by the opposing side. They didn’t know what method these Shenle people used, but they could actually control flocks of birds to track them.

All of this, Mingxuan Zi could accept.

What he couldn’t accept was—how was it this demoness again!

At this moment, after recognizing Yun Qing, Mingxuan Zi couldn’t help but curse. “Demoness, why are you everywhere!”

Yun Qing laughed. “What a coincidence, isn’t it?”

“I advised you not to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!”

“That won’t do—my greatest hobby is meddling in others’ affairs.”

While the two exchanged curses, they also engaged in a deadly dance of blades and swords. Fu Xue and Shi Muyu also joined the battle.

With the addition of other Shenle clan members, Mingxuan Zi was soon completely surrounded.

That night, Mingxuan Zi had followed Jiang Binghe in a sneak attack, using numbers to bully the few. Not long after, he was now repaid with his own medicine—being ganged up on by many against few. It was hard not to think of karmic cycles and inevitable retribution.

Grandma Bayin didn’t join the battle, continuously playing her xun flute on the sidelines.

Since the fighting began, Yun Qing felt that the sound of the xun had changed. She couldn’t explain why, but she only felt that at this moment her hearing and sight were sharp, her energy vigorous—she felt much more energetic than usual. Could this be the effect of the xun’s sound?

As one of the former six great elders of the Huayang Sect, Mingxuan Zi’s strength was naturally not weak. Knowing well that Yun Qing’s swordsmanship was formidable and that he was alone and outnumbered, he didn’t engage them head-on in swordplay. Instead, he fought while dodging, waiting for the right moment to bring out his magical treasure.

It was an ivory carved ball. No one knew how many layers it had—the carving work was extremely delicate. However, what was carved on its surface wasn’t flowers or plants, birds or insects, but densely packed runes.

This carved ball floated beside Mingxuan Zi, and the runes on its surface seemed to come alive, beginning to slowly writhe. The size and color of the rune strokes, combined with their twisting movements, bore some resemblance to certain creatures.

Fu Xue cursed. “How disgusting, did you put maggots on there?”

Mingxuan Zi flew into a rage. “Die!”

Several runes detached from the ivory carving and flew rapidly toward Fu Xue.

Fu Xue rolled to the ground while saying, “Flying Maggot Elder!”

Mingxuan Zi’s face hadn’t even turned red from fighting earlier, but now it was flushed with anger.

Looking at the carved ball, Yun Qing realized this was essentially the equivalent of talisman-casting, except that it didn’t require manual action, so it could produce more talismans faster.

This was equivalent to an automatic talisman-casting mechanism.

Yun Qing felt somewhat helpless. If this talisman mechanism ball were placed elsewhere, its effect might not be so obvious, but now, except for her and Fu Xue, they were surrounded by a group of blind people—how could they respond?

Yun Qing first thought of the Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book, but when used as a defensive treasure, the Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book couldn’t be folded and could only block one direction, while the runes from the carved ball flew in all directions.

It had to be said that this Mingxuan Zi was truly lucky.

More and more runes emerged from the ivory carving, no longer attacking only Fu Xue, but silently striking at everyone.

Yun Qing had no choice but to shout loudly. “There are talismans, everyone be careful!” At the same time, she observed carefully, ready to use the Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book for emergency rescue at any moment.

Grandma Bayin laughed heartily. “Child, don’t worry.”

Hearing this grandma put on her affected voice again, Yun Qing felt somewhat more at ease.

Singing suddenly rang out.

A woman’s singing voice—both soft and bright, both sweet and mellow, both frank and shy, both passionate and melodious—so complex yet so harmonious.

How beautiful was this singing voice? Listening to it, Yun Qing’s spirit actually swayed slightly, and an inexplicable feeling of joy welled up in her heart.

She turned around and saw that Shi Ruibin had already sheathed her sword and was singing with a smile on her face. While singing, she snatched a three-stringed instrument from someone nearby and began to play.

Listening carefully, the sound of the three-stringed instrument and the singing voice were completely out of sync. Yun Qing felt as if she had selective hearing loss—clearly the singing and string sounds were in different keys, yet she didn’t feel anything was wrong. The singing voice was simply too outstanding and beautiful.

Right now, Yun Qing had only one thought: No wonder the Changxiao and Changdi brothers fought like that—who wouldn’t be confused after hearing this voice…

While Yun Qing and Fu Xue only noticed how pleasant the singing was, the attention of the other Shenle clan members was all on the three-stringed instrument.

It turned out that Shi Ruibin was channeling her cultivation power into her singing voice, using the song to detect the positions of the opponent’s talismans, then using the three-stringed instrument to inform her clansmen.

This method of using musical sound to detect talismans was actually known by almost everyone in the Shenle clan, but with so many people present now, if everyone channeled their cultivation into musical sound, they might interfere with each other.

Therefore, everyone tacitly agreed to have only one person detect, and Shi Ruibin, who could both sing and play, was naturally the best choice.

As more and more runes flew from the ivory carving, the three-stringed instrument in Shi Ruibin’s hands played faster and faster, her fingers already creating afterimages.

Mingxuan Zi was surprised to discover that this group of blind people could all nimbly dodge his runes. That dead girl on the ground got up and was shouting again, “Flying Maggot Elder, what other tricks do you have?”

And that iron-headed demoness was relentlessly approaching with her sword to strike.

One attacked with her hands, the other with her mouth—they coordinated quite well.

Mingxuan Zi scowled and pulled out a small flag.

This small flag was only slightly larger than a palm, black on one side and red on the other, looking rather plain. He unfurled the flag in the air, chanted an incantation in a low voice, and a blue ghostly shadow quickly materialized from the flag.

The blue ghost was semi-transparent with a fierce countenance, its left hand red and right hand black. After materializing from the flag, its body rapidly expanded until it was about three zhang tall.

The blue ghost’s massive body passed through the forest branches without obstruction. It lowered its head and gazed expressionlessly at the people below, its blue eyes like two large lanterns hanging from the treetops.

Mingxuan Zi seemed to hate Fu Xue intensely and wanted to teach her a lesson first. With a thought, the blue ghost’s left hand reached down, its red giant hand grabbing toward Fu Xue.

Its speed was incredibly fast, and combined with its massive size, although Fu Xue dodged, she was still a bit slow. Yun Qing promptly delivered a palm strike, sending her junior sister flying. Fu Xue tumbled to the ground in a sorry state but finally avoided the red ghost hand.

Who would have known that this blue ghost was only making a feint—its real target was Shi Muyu.

Mingxuan Zi was a rational person. Although he disliked Yun Qing and Fu Xue, he wouldn’t go all out just for them. Right now he only wanted to capture a hostage to escape.

This move was indeed beyond Yun Qing’s expectations. She had just withdrawn her palm force when she saw Shi Muyu was busy dodging runes and couldn’t spare attention for the blue ghost.

The black ghost hand moved with lightning speed. Yun Qing knew that if she used palm force to knock Shi Muyu away at this moment, it would probably be too late. Fortunately, they were very close to each other. Without thinking, Yun Qing stepped forward and pulled Shi Muyu aside.

The huge black hand arrived instantly, grasping at empty air, but its speed didn’t decrease as it reached straight for Yun Qing.

It was really too close and too fast. Looking at the semi-transparent giant palm rushing toward her, Yun Qing found it too late to dodge.

Seeing this, Mingxuan Zi felt delighted.

His blue ghost had a red left hand and black right hand—the left hand grasped the body, the right hand grasped the soul. If caught by the black hand, it could forcibly extract a person’s soul.

He knew this demoness was invulnerable to weapons, but so what? The blue ghost’s black hand grasped souls.

If he caught the demoness’s living soul, it would also serve as a hostage, probably even more useful than that little blind girl.

The black giant hand reached into Yun Qing’s body, then suddenly recoiled!

The movement was as if it had been scalded by something.

Mingxuan Zi looked in disbelief at the blue ghost withdrawing its hand. The black ghost hand was empty, and its five fingers seemed like wax candles roasted by fire—they were actually slowly melting.

What kind of soul could scald the blue ghost’s hand to the point of melting? He had never encountered such a situation before!

He stared wide-eyed at Yun Qing, murmuring, “How could this be possible…”

Due to his extreme shock, his reaction was much slower. Grandma Bayin seized the opportunity and struck his back hard with a bamboo staff. Mingxuan Zi was hit so hard that his qi sea was shaken, his throat sweetened, and he stumbled forward.

The other Shenle clan members swarmed over him and pinned him to the ground.