Chapter 160: The Eight-God Demon-Suppressing Formation, Midnight Ghost Knocks on the Door

Of course, the main reason was that he was not short of money for the time being.

There were over three thousand taels of silver in his storage pouch, which was more than enough to cover his expenses in the short term.

Time flowed on.

Night soon fell.

He finally awoke from his meditation once again.

"That makes sixty-seven out of a hundred, equivalent to three sticks of incense burned.

With the aid of the soul pearl, my cultivation speed has indeed increased significantly.

In just half a day, I've raised my cultivation level by twenty points."

At this sight, a trace of joy inevitably appeared on Chen Yushu's face.

And this was the result of him deliberately restraining himself from advancing too quickly, lest his Dao foundation become hollow and unstable.

After all, he was still unsure of the exact situation at the Mount Huang Heritage Cliff, but one thing was certain: competitive struggles would be inevitable.

If his Dao foundation were hollow, causing his techniques to stutter slightly during execution and preventing him from fully unleashing his strength, the losses would outweigh the gains.

Therefore.

While using the soul pearl to elevate his incense Dao foundation, he was also continuously practicing various spells and incantations.

Naturally, these were mostly low-profile arts like the Yin-Hiding Technique, the Spirit Concealment Technique, and the Qi-Observing Technique. Spells with slightly larger commotions, such as the Divine Descent Technique or the Seven-Star Step, were inconvenient to use since he was currently aboard a merchant ship.

As night descended, Xiaohong began to stir restlessly. Moments later, she transformed into a stream of light and darted out from the jade pendant at his waist.

"Brother Yushu, where are we?"

Xiaohong reached out to lightly touch Chen Yushu's hand and asked with curiosity.

"On a ship."

Chen Yushu replied, a hint of strangeness suddenly appearing on his face.

For the moment Xiaohong emerged, he abruptly sensed that the yin energy in the adjacent room had also suddenly grown much denser, even heavier than the yin energy carried by Xiaohong herself.

If he remembered correctly, the person living next door to him was an old woman in her fifties or sixties. He had previously used the Qi-Observing Technique to inspect her and found her vitality withered and on the verge of death, clearly possessing neither Dao cultivation nor martial arts blood energy.

In other words, she had absolutely no Dao attainment or martial cultivation whatsoever; she was a genuine, ordinary mortal.

Yet at this moment, the concentration of this yin energy was strong enough for him to perceive it clearly even through the wall. Clearly, the entity she had summoned was no simple matter.

Almost instantly, Chen Yushu gestured to Xiaohong.

Xiaohong was quick-witted and hurriedly darted back into his jade pendant.

Following that, Chen Yushu shifted his mind, and his ears immediately caught a greater array of sounds.

"Xiaoqing, we've arrived on the ship.

I've already inquired around. In this row, there are five rooms in total. Living right next door to us is a young man with delicate skin and tender flesh—you would definitely like him. However, judging by his luggage, he surely doesn't have much silver on him.

Then, looking to the right, there are three rooms. The outermost one houses a pair of father and son who are somewhat renowned in Qinghe County; they should be people from those martial circles. Be alert when you act later and don't make too much of a commotion. Living right next to them is a young master dressed in brocade clothes, accompanied by two attendants carrying large and small bundles—at a glance, he's a plump, fat sheep.

However, his room is too close to that pair of father and son, making him less than an ideal candidate.

The best choice is the one in the middle. Although he's fat and ugly, he's dripping with jewelry, instantly revealing himself to be from a wealthy household.

You feed on the human, I take the money. It's a perfect match..."

The old woman muttered. Even though her voice was extremely faint, Chen Yushu's martial training had reached a modest level of accomplishment, granting him sharp eyes and ears.

Coupled with the sound-insulation array he had specially set up, which not only blocked the sounds and aura inside his room but even possessed a certain amplification effect on external sounds.

Thus, he heard every single word of the old woman's murmurings quite clearly.

"So, this old woman is indeed not someone from the mystical circles.

It's just that, for some unknown reason, she has raised a formidable malevolent ghost. That ghost delights in harming and consuming humans, while she acts as the scout, selecting targets so she can acquire wealth for herself?"

A sharp glint flashed through Chen Yushu's eyes as he basically pieced together the other party's situation.

As for the young man with delicate skin and tender flesh mentioned by the other party, unless something unexpected happened, that was undoubtedly himself.

Moreover, the implication in her words was that he was a 'pauper.' While the ghost probably fancied him greatly, she still looked down on him due to his 'lack of money' and told the ghost to pass him over.

Instead, their primary targets were the two in the rooms further down.

One was a wealthy young master, and the other was a middle-aged rich merchant.

As for the father and son in the room furthest away, he guessed they must be that Yan family father and son whose conversation he had overheard earlier while on the merchant ship.

"Come to think of it, should I even thank you?"

A helpless expression involuntarily surfaced on Chen Yushu's face.

This felt rather like a group of young men going to a matchmaking session after the five of them had been viewed together.

Even though he himself was handsome, dashing, with delicate skin and tender flesh, he was looked down upon and rejected simply because he was broke. As for the father and son, because they looked 'fierce and malevolent' and difficult to manipulate, making future life hard, they were ruled out from the start. Meanwhile, the rich young master was originally the prime candidate, but because he lived close to those two 'fierce and malevolent' individuals, out of fear that they might meddle in other people's business, he was disqualified as well.

Only the wealthy merchant in the middle—rich, easy to manipulate, and someone they could prey upon exclusively—was their true target...

"If that's the case..."

Chen Yushu pondered lightly, making no rash moves.

If his guess was correct, the ghost nourished by the old woman next door had a stronger aura than Xiaohong, which meant it was most likely a ghost spirit at the late stage of the Malevolent Ghost realm.

As for an Evil Spirit?

If it were an Evil Spirit, the old woman—having stayed in close proximity to such an entity year-round—would have long since been unable to withstand it, plagued by illness and disease, and dropped dead.

As for a Malevolent Ghost, although its yin energy would still exert an influence, imperceptibly draining one's lifespan and turning a person into a ghastly apparition of neither man nor ghost, it was not immediately fatal.

At least in the short term, the impact was limited.

Of course, judging by the old woman's appearance, she had actually suffered a heavy impact; she was probably only in her forties, yet she manifested the appearance of someone in their fifties, sixties, or seventies...

"This is getting interesting.

I rather want to see how they go about harming people."

A trace of an inscrutable expression flickered in Chen Yushu's eyes.

Hence, he quickly withdrew his gaze and began to wait quietly in silence.

At this time, it was still early evening.

The setting sun had only just dipped below the horizon—strictly speaking, they were inside the ship's cabin which blocked the sunlight, otherwise the entities would never dare to emerge.

Xiaohong was actually much the same.

Upon sensing that night had fallen, she too had been eager to come out.

Taking advantage of this interval, Chen Yushu pondered for a moment and decided not to continue meditating.

After all, the soul pearl was too sensitive, and its aura held an immensely high allure for ghosts. Even with the sound-insulation array blocking it, it would still be difficult to shield against the perception of Evil Spirits, let alone ghost spirits at the Malevolent Ghost level.

Thus, after a brief thought, Chen Yushu took out the sealing array he had previously obtained from Liu Qiao'er.

Although this sealing array was merely a transcribed copy made by Ghost Granny herself, the profound mysteries contained within the formation were enough to grant him massive gains.

Aside from deepening his understanding of arrays, the most important benefit was that it could increase his reading experience.

This, in fact, was what he valued most.

After all, the advancement of his reading realm was closely intertwined with his meditative state.

At present, the state of constant meditation had already granted him immense convenience in his cultivation.

The rate at which his immortal spell cultivation and martial arts strength improved was astonishingly high.

If he continued to advance, raising his reading realm from the fifth stage, the True Perception Realm, to the sixth stage, and correspondingly elevating his meditative state from constant meditation to perpetual meditation—

Then his cultivation speed would inevitably undergo another massive surge on top of its original foundation.

"However, this is difficult.

First, books on array formations are hard to come by.

Second, to correspondingly increase my reading experience, I must fully comprehend the corresponding array books."

Chen Yushu furrowed his brows slightly.

The previous book, Detailed Analysis of Array Dao, had given him a profound sense of the profundity and mystery of formations.

Although with his reading realm at the True Perception Realm, understanding it was not particularly laborious, he certainly could not achieve the feat of reading ten or twenty lines at a glance as he did with ordinary books.

He needed to read it word by word, sentence by sentence, analyzing each part and comprehending them thoroughly.

After all, the mysteries of formations were such that missing a word or two could lead to massive deviations, requiring him to re-examine and sort everything out from scratch.

"The Eight Gods Suppressing Demons Grand Array."

Chen Yushu first glanced at the title of the formation.

Then, he turned to the first page.

The entire book on array dao was hand-drawn and hand-written, with graceful handwriting that instantly revealed it to have been penned by a woman; it must have been written by the former Ghost Granny, Liu Qiao'er's grandmother.

From the handwriting, Chen Yushu could also perceive that Ghost Granny herself did not have a fully comprehensive understanding of this grand array. She had explored, probed, and meticulously copied the entire formation into the book on a one-to-one basis, using her own understanding of array dao to deduce, speculate, and fathom its specific theoretical principles and profound secrets.

And only by relying on this did she attempt to restore and repair the grand array...

It could be said that this hand-drawn copy of the Eight Gods Suppressing Demons Grand Array was not a complete, original version.

Instead, it was a version rewritten by Ghost Granny based on her own understanding.

While its profundity might not match two or three tenths of the original grand array, the exquisite details within it still caused a flash of brilliant light in Chen Yushu's eyes.

He marveled at its ingenuity.

And he reaped tremendous gains from it.

Naturally, achieving a complete understanding would require a certain amount of time.

However, simply reading through it caused his reading experience to rise rapidly in tandem.

Reading +12
Reading +15
Reading +9
...

While not explosively fast, his progress was nonetheless steadily climbing.

This set of array formations was, after all, far more difficult than the Detailed Analysis of Array Dao.

Just as the Detailed Analysis of Array Dao was like an elementary school textbook—an exceptionally good foundational text that allowed him to learn rich problem-solving approaches and methods.

The original Eight Gods Suppressing Demons Grand Array was equivalent to a high school textbook, possessing a relative degree of profundity.

However, the copy of the Eight Gods Suppressing Demons Grand Array rewritten by Ghost Granny was equivalent only to a middle school textbook, which happened to suit him just right at his current stage.

Though reading and comprehending it still presented some difficulties, it was not overwhelmingly obscure.

Solving problems by following the established train of thought conversely allowed his proficiency in array dao to soar rapidly.

Time slipped away swiftly amidst his continuous reading and comprehension.

Nighttime held no influence over Chen Yushu whatsoever.

Two hours later.

Chen Yushu slowly closed the book, a sharp glint suddenly flashing through his eyes.

For he sensed that the ghost spirit in the adjacent room had finally moved.

Despite appearing to have been merely 'reading' and 'studying' the whole time.

He had by no means forgotten the old woman next door and the ghost spirit she kept.

While he was not some person of supreme benevolence and universal love fond of championing the oppressed, neither would he ever tolerate a malevolent ghost harming people right under his nose.

Knock, knock, knock!

Immediately afterward, he heard a round of knocking sounds coming from his own door.

A ghost knocking on a door in the middle of the night.

"Oh?

The target is me?"

Chen Yushu's eyelids flickered slightly, though his expression remained unperturbed as he called out, "Who is it?"

"The wind and waves outside are heavy, would the young master inside please open the door."

Soon enough, a mournful and grievance-laden female voice drifted in from outside the door. One could distinctly sense a delicate fragility within the voice, yet it sounded exceptionally enchanting.

Chen Yushu pondered for a moment, feeling no fear whatsoever, and stood up directly to open the door.

Upon his line of sight came a beautiful woman dressed in red, wearing a thin veil that vaguely revealed a red bellyband wrapped around her chest. The fabric bulged enticingly, and through the sheer red bellyband, the shadowy outline of her cleavage was faintly discernible...

Exceedingly alluring.

"This concubine finds the outside corridors chillingly cold, and wishes to borrow the young master's room to rest for the night. I wonder if the young master would be willing?

Rest assured, young master, this concubine is no bad person.

It's just that my constitution is frail and I cannot withstand the ocean breeze..."

As she spoke, she lowered her head slightly, taking the opportunity to sweep her gaze across every corner of Chen Yushu's room.

"Truly a pauper, even stingy enough not to light an oil lamp."

After casting a glance, the female ghost muttered in disdain. This was a ghostly sound; in reality, Chen Yushu would never have heard it unless he entered the walking-yin state.

However, while in the walking-yin state, ghosts were able to both see and perceive him.

He certainly was not going to do that.

Yet Chen Yushu had long since raised his meditative state to constant meditation, enabling him to hear her words clearly even without entering the walking-yin state.

As for the absence of an oil lamp, there was simply no need for one.

With his visual acuity, the pitch-black night was as clear as day.

He couldn't be bothered to waste the effort lighting a lamp.

But in her eyes, this was proof of poverty.

"Indeed, delicate skin and tender flesh, possessing an aura of grand, unrestrained ease amidst his handsomeness... So utterly appetizing.

If I were to devour this one, I could restrain myself from eating humans for ten days..."

Following that, she muttered to herself once more, seemingly greatly tempted, wishing to truly make Chen Yushu her target.

Hearing these words, Chen Yushu couldn't help but feel a twinge of anticipation.

He actually hoped the other party would make him her target, sparing him the trouble of taking action later and kicking up a fuss.

However, very soon, he heard the ghost spirit murmur internally once more: "Pity that Mother said this person is poor and not a fat sheep, eating him yields no profit. Better to target the one next door..."

Thus, in reality, Chen Yushu heard the other party speak out loud again: "If the young master is unwilling, this concubine will not intrude any further.

As it happens, the gentleman living right next door to you had previously conversed with this concubine, and he seemed like a warm-hearted person.

This concubine shall go look for him instead."

With those words, she walked over to the room right next to his, raised her hand, and knocked directly on the door.