Chapter 147: Fully Prepared, The Art of Spirit Binding, Sister Well Ghost

Excitement surged within him, for he truly longed to witness the methods of a Calamity-tier powerhouse.
Previously, whether it was Grandpa Xiaohong, the patriarch of the Zuo family, or Granny Jiang of the God-Sealing lineage, he had only felt fear because his own strength was indeed relatively weak.
His cultivation was at the level of two sticks of incense.
No matter how many trump cards he possessed, when the disparity in power was so vast, he had no room for resistance.
Yet things were different now.
He had reached the cultivation level of three sticks of incense, and all his abilities had drastically improved—not to mention that he had Liu Qiao'er by his side.
She was a genuine Dao-Entry realm powerhouse, whose strength and methods far surpassed his own.
Naturally, this filled him with a great surge of confidence.
Immediately afterward, both sides swung into action.
Liu Qiao'er quickly returned to her dwelling, retrieving various artifacts to prepare for reinforcing the formation and suppressing the stone fish.
Chen Yushu did not remain idle either; he first produced several formation disks and began setting them up around the perimeter.
This time, he once again laid down a sound-isolation array.
Once the battle commenced, the commotion within the village would inevitably be considerable, rendering the sound-isolation array indispensable.
Next, Chen Yushu made a deliberate trip back home, caught a rooster, twisted its neck with his own hands to snap it, and carefully used a bowl to collect some chicken blood. He then went straight to his family kitchen and severed the pig's head from the half-side of pork he had brought back.
Fortunately, on account of today's banquet, the pig's head had not been used. According to his mother, this pig's head was large and plump, perfectly suited for making offerings to the heavens and ancestors during the New Year, so it had been intentionally saved.
Now, it finally served a purpose.
"Pity there are no sheep heads or ox heads..."
Muttering to himself, Chen Yushu's gaze shifted toward the ox tethered beside the courtyard.
He had specially purchased this ox to haul New Year goods. Ordinarily, it could pull carts, and during busy farming seasons, it was a sturdy laborer that could go straight into the fields.
Seeming to sense Chen Yushu's gaze, the old ox shivered, lowered its head, and shrank back, appearing rather frightened.
At this sight, Chen Yushu quickly averted his eyes.
He primarily noted that his father regarded this ox like a precious treasure today, spending the better part of the day lingering around it. If he woke up the next day to suddenly discover the ox had been slaughtered by his own son, his father would likely fly into a mad rage.
"There is chicken, and a pig's head. It's a pity we didn't raise ducks at home, though there is a goose... Even though this old goose is also the apple of my mother's eye, there's no time to worry about that now; I can just draw some goose blood...
Two kinds of sacrificial blood seem a bit insufficient... Ah, right..."
With such thoughts in mind, Chen Yushu quickly proceeded to the home of his next-door neighbor, Song Rentou.
As luck would have it, the hunting dog raised by their family was a pitch-black hound with sleek fur, clearly well-cared for.
Because Chen Yushu had glared at it earlier and been frightened by Xiaoyin and Xiaohong, the dog did not dare to bark when it saw him approach.
Thus, Chen Yushu took a small knife and directly drew some black dog blood.
Finally, amidst the whimpering whines of the animal, he departed.
Soon, Chen Yushu returned to the side of the wooden bridge.
By this time, Liu Qiao'er had also returned, with a pile of objects similarly stacked near her feet.
Seeing Chen Yushu, she nodded and said, "Mending the formation will consume all my mental energy.
Furthermore, once the mending begins, that stone fish will inevitably resist desperately. When that happens, you will have to rely on your altar-founding techniques to suppress it.
The harder it is suppressed, the weaker its resistance will be, allowing me to repair the formation all the quicker.
If it manages to shatter the remaining chains while I am in the midst of repairing, there will be no other choice but to fight it out."
"I understand!"
Hearing this, Chen Yushu nodded solemnly.
This stone fish possessed formidable strength—a genuine monster-level existence. If given a choice, neither Chen Yushu nor Liu Qiao'er would wish to cross paths with it.
The dangers involved were simply too immense.
Therefore, although they chanted slogans of "slaying the fish," their primary option remained repairing the formation, restoring the "chains," and sealing it away once more.
If they did this,
they would only need to buy another half-year or a decade. With their rate of growth, even if the chains trapping the stone fish snapped again by then, they could return and thoroughly eradicate it.
Yet in all things, one must guard against the unexpected.
Thus, they had to prepare for both eventualities.
Seeing Chen Yushu nod, Liu Qiao'er sprang into action, descending directly into the nether realm.
In the nether-walking state, everything around her became illusory; even the surrounding buildings grew blurry, leaving only the stone fish before her and the array surrounding it revealed in clarity.
In truth, the stone fish resting in the riverbed had long sensed that something was amiss.
For in this mountain village, once night fell, absolute stillness reigned, and no one would wander about casually after the midnight hour.
Yet today, Chen Yushu and Liu Qiao'er had been pacing about the perimeter with unusual frequency, naturally arousing its vigilance.
It was only because it was suppressed by the formation and trapped in place that it could not mount a countermeasure, leaving it no choice to smash frantically against its prison, leaping upward time and again in a bid to shatter the chains.
As Liu Qiao'er descended into the nether realm, the creature seemed to realize something, and its struggles grew all the more violent.
Clang!
In an instant,
one of the chains snapped violently.
The chains binding it were thereby reduced to three.
Immediately afterward, both Chen Yushu and Liu Qiao'er abruptly felt the aura emanating from the stone fish surge explosively, far surpassing its previous state.
If the aura it had displayed before was merely comparable to a corpse-demon, at best exceeding one by a hair's breadth, then its aura at this moment belonged entirely and utterly to the Calamity tier.
It was a power akin to that of the Zuo family patriarch, fully reaching the Calamity tier.
Those chains had not only suppressed its physical form but had also completely sealed away its true strength.
Now, as the chains dwindled, the extent of the power it could manifest grew increasingly formidable.
"Quick! Don't let it unleash an even greater might!"
Liu Qiao'er's expression shifted, and she let out a low cry. Without waiting for Chen Yushu's reply, she immediately took her position around the perimeter of the formation and set to work on the repairs.
Because Grandma Liu—otherwise known as the Ghost Crone—possessed prior experience in sealing this stone fish and had left behind various manuscripts, Liu Qiao'er had believed she possessed a firm understanding of the entire sealing formation.
Yet when she actually began the work, she realized how superficial her comprehension truly was.
As she confronted this immensely complex grand array face-to-face, she genuinely perceived the profound difficulties hidden within its various elements and principles.
It was capricious and extraordinarily intricate.
Compelled by necessity, she steeled herself and began weaving the formation and executing repairs based on her own understanding and the elements mentioned in her grandmother's manuscripts.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As for the stone fish, it too acutely sensed the crisis, struggling with redoubled violence.
Every time it leaped, it strove to go as high as possible, using its formidable strength to pull one of the chains taut to its breaking point, leveraging that kinetic impact to snap the chain asunder.
The power required for such a feat was terrifyingly immense, and the toll it took on the creature's own body was correspondingly catastrophic.
Every time it surged upward, the chains piercing its flesh drew forth trickles of blood, tearing its body open with gaping wounds.
Yet it seemed devoid of fear and incapable of pain; battered and utterly exhausted though it was, it continued to leap endlessly.
Sounds generated within the nether-walking state could, in fact, carry outward.
Moreover, Chen Yushu's current state of meditation had reached the realm of steadfast concentration; even without descending into the nether realm, he could naturally hear the voices of spirits and ghosts and perceive everything hidden from ordinary eyes.
Therefore, the moment Liu Qiao'er cried out, he had already sprung into action.
The space upon the wooden bridge was relatively cramped and ill-suited for establishing an altar, so he chose a patch of open ground beside the bridge. Its position directly aligned with the stone fish beneath the bridge, and the terrain was elevated.
Most importantly, the surrounding earth-qi surged tumultuously, marking it as a genuine terrestrial "eye"—a gathering place for ambient qi.
Deep in the mountains, such a terrestrial "eye" was regarded by certain geomancers as a supreme piece of feng shui, an auspicious burial site capable of blessing descendants and bringing forth generations of talented individuals.
Combined with its elevated position, it proved to be precisely right.
Without further ado, he placed the table he had brought from home flat upon the ground.
After a slight adjustment of its orientation, he produced the chicken, the goose, and the pig's head, arranging them upon the table in the shape of the character "品."
Next, he brought out the five grains—namely, glutinous rice, millet, sorghum, corn, and regular rice—all of which possessed evil-dispelling properties.
Anticipating that he would need them during the altar foundation, he had deliberately prepared a quantity and kept them within his storage pouch, allowing them to come in handy at this very moment.
Following the grains came three bowls of blood:
chicken blood, goose blood, and dog blood respectively.
These three sacrificial beasts and their blood were items he had comprehended as necessary after his altar-founding techniques reached the minor-accomplishment stage.
In truth, this was how nether-walkers founded altars and performed rites.
The more thorough and meticulous the preparations, the greater the majesty and momentum of the resulting ritual altar.
This could, to a certain extent, make up for and amplify the power of the altar itself.
For instance, even with a minor-accomplishment altar, a shoddy and rudimentary setup would allow it to display only five-tenths of its potential might.
Yet if the preparation was exhaustive and meticulous,
the power of the altar could reach eight-tenths.
Naturally, this granted a few more chips of victory when dealing with malevolent specters.
Afterward, Chen Yushu retrieved his Judge's Brush, the Gathering-Fire Basin, the Evil-Suppressing Ruler... alongside a succession of antique implements.
Simultaneously, he produced stack after stack of talisman papers.
Because he had prepared a considerable number of spiritual talismans during this period, and considering that he was facing a genuine monster, he placed two talismans beneath each antique implement.
Both were Armor-Bearer Talismans.
When activated, two armored guardians would naturally carry a greater aura of majesty than one.
As for their actual combat power?
He had not taken that into consideration.
For even armored guardians summoned by superior-grade Armor-Bearer Talismans could not withstand a casual blow from a monster-tier existence.
What he required was merely this display of pomp and circumstance.
In a sense, founding an altar was a contest of grand display and imposing theater.
The greater the grand display, the more formidable the adversary appeared in the eyes of the evil spirit, heightening its wariness. This inherently weakened its momentum by three parts; when true combat commenced, its aura and strength would naturally be suppressed from the start.
The Armor-Bearer Talismans formed part of this theater.
Sixteen on each side, totaling thirty-two in all.
Only then did he produce three exceptionally thick sticks of incense and a pile of yellow paper, placing them neatly beside him.
Finally, he drew forth a section of jade bone.
This jade bone was also a sin-bone—a finger bone of an ancient cultivator—which represented the ultimate suppression object for a nether-walkers.
Yet employing this sin-bone as a suppression item carried grave risks, as it bore a high probability of summoning back the spirit of an ancient cultivator.
Such an existence possessed such a formidable primary body that even in death and destruction, their soul remained terrifyingly potent. Once they descended, they naturally constituted a major evil entity.
It was said that grand nether-walkers had perished in the past,反噬 (backlashed) and killed by descending souls of sin-bones while battling formidable foes.
Of course, although Chen Yushu was aware of this, having no better alternatives in the short term, he naturally intended to continue using it.
"Next, what I lack is a spirit-suppressor."
Chen Yushu drew a deep breath.
The spirit-suppressor
served as the ultimate "weapon" following the establishment of the altar.
Only by enlisting a spirit-suppressor could he launch attacks against enemies within the altar's domain.
Otherwise, he would have to take the field himself.
Yet charging into battle personally left no room for maneuver.
Nor would the amplification provided by the altar's power match that of employing a spirit-suppressor.
At this moment, Xiaohong stepped forward slightly, intending to enter the ritual altar and serve as the spirit-suppressor.
After all, during the previous occasion, Chen Yushu had utilized her as a spirit-suppressor to vanquish evil spirits, putting on a tremendously formidable display.
Seeing Chen Yushu establish the altar and array once more, she immediately felt an inescapable sense of duty.
"Xiaohong, stand back!"
At the sight, Chen Yushu intercepted her.
If his opponent had merely been a malevolent spirit, allowing Xiaohong to take the field would naturally have posed no problem.
With his strength and the altar's amplified might, Xiaohong was fully capable of suppressing the vast majority of evil spirits.
Yet this time, his adversary was a Calamity-tier monster.
That made all the difference in the world.
This was a struggle of life and death.
Especially regarding the spirit-suppressor.
Whether it was Xiaoyin or Xiaohong previously, he had exercised a certain degree of restraint and had not fully unleashed the formation's power.
In other words, he had not driven the spirit-suppressors to their absolute limits.
Naturally, the toll and damage inflicted upon their own essences remained minimal, sparing them from severe debilitation or injury.
After all, how could one borrow the power of a ritual altar to indefinitely amplify one's might without suffering any personal consequence?
Thus, from the very beginning, he had never intended to employ Xiaoyin or Xiaohong.
Instead, he would summon a spirit.
Or rather, bind a spirit!
"The art of spirit-binding is recorded within the heritage of altar-founding techniques.
The technique of ghost-binding allows one to summon ghosts and spirits from a certain surrounding radius to deal with malevolent entities.
However, ghosts summoned through ghost-binding without specific targeting are not guaranteed to possess great strength.
This depends entirely on whether there are sufficiently powerful 'ghosts' within the local perimeter.
Otherwise, one has no choice but to name the entity directly and summon a specific ferocious ghost or evil spirit."
Chen Yushu pondered silently.
He glanced toward Xiaoyin, who was standing beside Xiaohong, and asked, "Xiaoyin, do you know of any relatively formidable ghosts or evil spirits in the vicinity?"
"I don't know?
The most powerful one was Sister Well-Ghost inside the ancient well of Wujiao Village.
But she is very pitiful and cannot leave that ancient well at all."
Xiaoyin first shook her head, then added the explanation.
"Sister Well-Ghost? How strong is she?"
Chen Yushu asked hastily.
"She should be a little bit stronger than Xiaohong."
Xiaoyin answered promptly.
"Only a little bit stronger than Xiaohong?"
Chen Yushu furrowed his brow.
It was not to say that Xiaohong was insufficiently powerful.
However, the fierce-ghost tier was somewhat lacking.
Even if she borrowed the altar's power to amplify her strength by three or fourfold, she could never prove to be a match for a Calamity-tier monster.
Only an evil spirit
could barely hope to contend with one.
"Yes.
The truly powerful ones were all eliminated by Big Sister.
She only spared a tiny handful of those who hadn't committed much evil.
Sister Well-Ghost has always stayed inside the well and cannot come out, plus her well was sealed up and she has never harmed anyone.
That's why Big Sister let her be."
Xiaoyin nodded as she spoke.
Hearing this, Chen Yushu could not help but reveal a wry smile.
The powerful ones had all been eradicated by Sister Qiao'er.
This was entirely expected.
After all, as a grand nether-walker—even before breaking through to the Dao-Entry realm, as a cultivator boasting three sticks of incense of cultivation—she would never permit such a multitude of formidable monsters to exist around her.
Naturally, whatever could be eliminated had been wiped out.
Yet precisely because of this, he found himself lacking a suitable target for spirit-binding at this crucial juncture.
"No matter what, I'll bind one first and figure it out."
With this thought, Chen Yushu glanced downward to see Liu Qiao'er still engrossed in array-mending, while the stone fish continued its desperate struggles and leaps to break free from the chains, exerting greater power with every bound. Knowing he could afford no further delay,
he focused his mind, harmonized with the ambient heaven and earth, and rapidly condensed one spell-runic structure after another.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths...
After a full seven breaths, his heart stirred.
The entire ritual altar merged with his presence, whereupon he ignited the three massive sticks of incense, set fire to the talisman papers, and tossed them into the blazing basin.
Boom!
The flames within the Gathering-Fire Basin surged upward instantly.
"The heavens possess three marvels: sun, moon, and stars; piercing heaven and earth to terrify ghosts and gods. I, Chen Yushu, now establish the altar and perform rites, commanding the ghost of Wujiao Village's well bottom to present itself at once, heed my summons instantly, as fast as the law commands!"
Grasping a medium-grade magical treasure sword, Chen Yushu uttered a low command.
Hum, hum, hum~
Instantly, the decree took effect.
He scooped up the five grains and flung them forward.
Two talisman papers ahead instantly stirred without wind, triggered into manifestation as two armored figures.
The pair of armored guardians, seemingly driven by some peculiar force, first bowed slightly toward Chen Yushu, then stepped forward one stride at a time.
Soon, their figures grew hazy and vanished from sight.
Simultaneously, a howling wind swept violently across the surroundings.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths...
After several such breaths,
the figures of the two armored guardians reappeared on the horizon.
Between them, a woman clad in fiery red robes with an alluring countenance was being escorted along, flying swiftly toward them.
"Which ghost approaches below? State your name!"
Chen Yushu demanded swiftly, his tone severe and chilling.
"Your humble servant, Zhou Xiaoyu, pays respects to the lord."
Hearing the voice, the well-ghost displayed palpable terror, dropping instantly to her knees and pressing almost her entire form flat against the earth as she trembled and spoke.
"A malevolent monster disturbs the village's peace. This official requires your strength to step forth and suppress it; do you consent to obey?"
Chen Yushu raised an eyebrow. He had not anticipated that the well-ghost before him, clearly having attained the mid-tier or even late-tier fierce-ghost realm, would harbor such intense fear toward him. Not only did she drop to her knees upon arrival, but she flattened her entire figure in total submission.
He had no way of knowing, however,
that with his three sticks of incense cultivation level, combined with the minor-accomplishment altar-founding technique, the theater of power he projected in the eyes of ghosts and spirits appeared extraordinarily exalted. Moreover, he had summoned the well-ghost via the spirit-binding technique.
To her, this was equivalent to a summons from a heavenly deity; naturally, she was paralyzed by fear and dared not harbor the slightest intent of resistance, choosing instead to submit unconditionally.
"Your humble servant obeys.
Only, your servant bears a profound grievance; I beseech the immortal lord to plead my case!"
The well-ghost spoke hurriedly, though a hint of grievance laced her voice.