Chapter 344: Tear off the tiger skin

Countless ghosts, with nowhere to rest, formed Yin Spirits.

Some leaned on grass and attached to trees, others became Yin Monsters, wailing under the sky.

When the wind and rain came, they groaned, plagues spread, and livestock and silkworms were all afflicted by Yin Qi, immediately causing cattle to bellow and dogs to bark within the mountain stronghold, creating an uproar.

Looking up at the sky:

Clouds like black ink, blood raining down.

Smoke rising to the heavens, its form indiscernible.

Waves of eerie Yin Qi, evil Qi rolling.

Countless ghosts lurked in the black mist, surrounding this ordinary mountain stronghold.

Inside the stronghold, the young men's expressions tightened, and they all grabbed their weapons and rushed out, while the women quickly hugged their children and hid inside the houses.

At the same time, the Elder of this stronghold glared with wide eyes, holding a pear wood staff, and stomped it down fiercely!

This was the hunched old man from before, but at this moment, he appeared exceptionally tall.

He shouted loudly, “Little Tenth! Leave the pigs! Go inside and tell all men above fifteen to come out, and all women and children to hide. We have unwelcome guests today!”

As he spoke, a magnificent energy burst forth from behind him, covering the sky and earth, and surprisingly, it also formed gusts of Yin Wind.

This was also a Shaman, but not a Spirit Shaman, and his cultivation was in no way inferior to any of the three outside.

It was just an ordinary mountain stronghold, with merely a thousand or so people, yet it actually had an Eighth-Rank Elder!

This showed the quality of the population in the Shaman God Mountain hinterland.

The Eighth-Rank Elder looked up at the countless vengeful spirits shrouding the sky.

Behind him was the ancestral hall of this mountain stronghold.

He walked to the ancestral hall and shouted loudly, “Ancestors above, Lijia Stronghold performs annual sacrifices, cultivates the fields, and prepares all rituals with livestock, silk, and wine. Now, we make this special offering, for unwelcome guests have arrived, seeking to harm our descendants. Please, Ancestors, manifest your power!”

As he spoke, one could see that the originally ordinary ancestral hall suddenly had countless ancestral Yin Souls reappear.

With a roar, countless golden lights surged out from within the ancestral hall.

And then:

The wind howled intensely, golden light shimmered.

Smoke billowed, curses roared.

Pure Qi spread widely, Ancestors manifested their power.

All the ancestral tablets that the stronghold usually worshipped began to tremble and heat up, with countless Yin Souls emerging from them, floating and confronting the myriad ghosts outside.

They were all furious, pointing at the un-worshipped evil ghosts outside and scolding them.

However, compared to those un-worshipped Yin Souls, the Yin Souls in this ancestral hall were surrounded by incense, empowered by Vow Power, and had sacrificial offerings of bamboo baskets, deer jerky, pork, and silk hanging around them, clearly showing the difference.

The difference between those who are worshipped year-round and those who are not.

The masterless myriad ghosts outside, hearing the curses from inside, bared their teeth at the mountain stronghold, for they smelled the scent of blood food!

Without worship, without incense, and enslaved by Spirit Shaman, they could only follow the Spirit Shaman's command and find blood food themselves!

These lone ghosts and wild spirits could no longer hold back; without incense, they wanted blood food!

This stronghold was a good target!

Normally, these lone ghosts and wild spirits would never dare to invade these mountain strongholds.

Just as seen before, the ancestral hall of this mountain stronghold was protected by ancestors, and an Eighth-Rank Elder also guarded it. Ordinary lone ghosts entering would certainly end up Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

To be able to establish a foothold in Shaman God Mountain, these strongholds must all have their unique secret techniques, capable of being used at critical moments for self-preservation.

But now it was different.

These three Spirit Shaman had gathered them, backed them up, and now formed a united front, surely capable of devouring this stronghold completely, leaving not a single bone!

The Eighth-Rank Elder, with the backing of the ancestral spirits behind him, also grew much bolder. He stepped forward proactively and, facing the sky full of ghost shadows, began to recite a prayer!

That's right, it was a prayer. Although this Eighth-Rank Elder was not a Invoker, he seemed to have scattered knowledge of some Invoker's spells from certain places, which he used here.

He vibrated his voice and shouted loudly at the ghost multitude outside, “Under the heavens, upon the earth, there are none without people, none without ghosts and spirits. The Dao of Human-Ghost, though distinct in the dark and light, their principles are one.”

“Now, this mountain stronghold manages its people and serves the spirits, with established customs. We still remember the multitude of un-worshipped ghosts and spirits in the unseen world. Therefore, on the fifteenth day of next month, we shall set up an altar north of the stronghold, prepare sacrificial animals, wine, soup, and rice, and offer them to all un-worshipped ghosts and spirits. They shall take their seats in order, enjoy themselves, and then depart. Our heart's purpose is to revere the spirits and live in harmony with our neighbors!”

“Ghosts depend on humans for incense, and humans revere ghosts to know the law. Spirits are surely impartial, and all will be clearly reported. Thus, ghosts and spirits will have the clarity of discernment. All ghosts and spirits present, on that day, shall attend the altar and partake in a universal sacrifice!”

As the prayer was uttered, the Aura of the ghost multitude outside visibly stagnated.

The Eighth-Rank Elder in front of them had made it very clear: if they were willing to retreat, then on the fifteenth of next month, he would hold a sacrifice to provide incense for them.

To be honest, what they sought by being gathered was merely a meal of blood food. If they could have incense offerings, why would they need to fight desperately against the other side?

Looking at the ancestral spirits in the ancestral hall, and then at that Eighth-Rank Shaman, none of them were easy to provoke. Rushing in might lead to victory, but everyone would definitely suffer heavy casualties…

However, at this very moment, two Spirit Shaman emerged from the ghost multitude, which was filled with gusts of Yin Wind.

It was the middle-aged man and the bald man.

The middle-aged man, who was leading, smiled and said, “Elder, don’t be anxious. We just came to ask a few questions and will leave once we’re done.”

Seeing two Eighth-Rank individuals emerge, the Elder’s expression changed, but he still braced himself and replied, “What do you wish to ask, sirs? Also, if it’s just to ask questions, why such a massive display, even gathering a hundred ghosts to surround us?”

“Oh, our brothers are ugly, and we feared causing displeasure if we appeared directly, so we discussed it and decided to gather the ghosts first, then ask. We thought the Elder would then surely tell us everything without any argument,” the middle-aged man said with a smile.

Of course, the Elder didn't believe such nonsense, but he still said, “There's no need for that. Why don't you disperse the ghost multitude, and we can sit down and talk about whatever you wish to ask? Naturally, we won't conceal anything.”

“There’s no need to sit down and talk; we’ll leave once we’ve asked. We just want to know if this stronghold has ever seen a green-scaled Dragon Steed streak across the sky before? We were sent by a prominent figure to inquire,” the middle-aged man said politely.

Hearing this, the Elder pondered for a moment. While remaining vigilant, he said, “This old man doesn’t know what a Dragon Steed is, but as for green scales, a few days ago, I did see a four-legged monster with green scales fly across the sky, heading east. I don’t know if it’s the green-scaled Dragon Steed you’re talking about.”

“Ah, yes, yes, yes, that’s it. It went east, did it? Are you sure you’re not lying to me?” the middle-aged man said.

“Of course, I wouldn't conceal anything. Lijia Stronghold has always treated people with sincerity!” The old man nodded.

“That’s good then. We’ll go chase it now. Thank you, Elder.” The middle-aged man said, then disappeared into the ghost multitude.

Subsequently, the ghost multitude also began to dissipate.

Seeing the other party retreat, although the old man remained vigilant, his heart instinctively relaxed for a moment.

The ancestors in the ancestral hall also began to recede.

But, at that very instant—

From underground, the burly man who hadn't appeared before suddenly emerged, and under the cover of the retreating ghost multitude, he unleashed a punch directly at the old man!

This punch landed squarely!

That burly man had also cultivated the Martial Dao! One punch directly fractured the old man's bones and tore his tendons!

At the same time, myriad ghosts shrieked in unison! They howled and surged towards the village!

Moreover, it was accompanied by the middle-aged man's arrogant words: “This stronghold actually lied, attempting to deceive a Shaman God Mountain Invoker! Their crime deserves death! We shall deal with you on behalf of our lord!”

What? You said it went east, so it went east?

No matter, you must be lying!

If I say you're lying, then you're lying!

Look at you, sneaky and vigilant, are you perhaps dissatisfied with the Invoker?

You say you're not? Well, I can't control that.

Anyway, we three brothers are doing things for that Invoker!

With this tiger's skin to pull, who dares to interfere?

And who would offend the three of them for an ordinary mountain stronghold with no background?

Even if that Invoker asks about it later, they can just say it was for performing a secret technique, which required some blood sacrifice.

Besides, we didn't want to blood sacrifice them, but they refused to cooperate, lied to us, and showed disrespect to the Invoker.

The three of them were originally going to leave, but hearing him insult the Invoker, they angrily took action and annihilated this stronghold to establish prestige and vent anger for the Invoker.

What, are we, who have been diligent and devoted to the Invoker, performing secret techniques to find his mount and even slaying disrespectful village Shaman, to be blamed by him?

However… the other blood food in this village, the Spiritual Artifact, the spirit tablet in the ancestral hall…

Anyway, that Shaman God Mountain Invoker definitely won't need them, so of course, they belong to us. They're all just picked up.

We helped him find his mount; this is just a small blood sacrifice for finding the mount, and this blood sacrifice was their own doing.

As for Lijia Stronghold, which was massacred?

They're dead anyway, and dead people don't talk.

No matter who asks, they were sinners who deceived and insulted the Invoker, and we acted out of righteous indignation. Moreover, after finding the Dragon Steed, we might even receive a reward from the Invoker!

The high and mighty figures won't bother looking down at these ants.

They were very experienced.

Past experience told them that important figures indeed didn't care much about such matters.

This sudden attack directly severely wounded the Eighth-Rank Elder!

Suddenly ambushed, and facing three opponents, how could he possibly withstand them?

So, a few seconds later—

Yin Wind howled!

The black clouds collapsed, bringing an endless multitude of ghosts, surging into the mountain stronghold!

The ancestral spirits in the ancestral hall immediately appeared, roaring as they met the ghost multitude.

A patch of darkness, nothing could be seen.

Only, many sounds could be heard.

There were sounds of sucking, chewing, slurping blood and flesh, soft crying, boisterous laughter, and furious roars, all mixed together, carrying for dozens of miles, enveloping the mountain stronghold along with the black Qi.

An hour passed.

In this stronghold, hardly anyone moving could be found anymore.

The entire ground had turned into a sticky pink, with countless evil ghosts lying on the ground licking and fighting over it.

Livers and lungs were strewn on the road, intestines hung from the buildings.

Foul stench covered the mountain, white bones of unknown origin.

Human sinews stretched into threads, souls filled with sorrow.

White bones covered the ground, whether human or animal, or perhaps both.

And in the center of this stronghold, a sacrifice was being performed.

This was a typical blood sacrifice.

This secret technique required brains and blood as offerings to trace Karma.

The specific method was also very simple.

Gold was hammered into a tube, flat at the top and sharp at the bottom, then heated in a raging fire until it glowed red.

Then, the person whose memory was to be extracted would be tied to a stake with their hands bound behind their back. Their hair would be parted, and the hot, hollow gold tube would be taken and hammered into the crown of their head to suck out and consume the marrow and brain.

Then, the soul would be forced out of the Physical Body, refined by gold and fire, forcing its True Spirit to appear, from which the Karma connection would be extracted.

The True Spirit was the key to the Karma connection, and memory served as the guiding clue.

Thus, with both methods combined, using Karma as the main trunk and memory as the branches, in most cases, one could find what they were looking for.

However, this secret technique was actually a bit of a mixed blessing.

Because… if the other party had this information in their memory, they only needed to say it, and then following up on it wouldn't be difficult.

Besides, involving Karma doesn't necessarily require killing people. There are many secret techniques that can find Karma connections from living people, without necessarily having to kill them and extract their True Spirit.

So, this really was just a crude secret technique of a village Shaman.

But no matter what…

It was still useful.

The other two nervously watched the middle-aged man, fearing his failure.

If he failed, it would be difficult to explain to the Invoker.

In their view, pulling the tiger's skin to do these things in between was a minor matter. The important thing was to complete the task assigned by the Invoker; only then would they have someone to back them up for what they did.

After a while, the middle-aged man opened his eyes.

“Found it! No one will be faster than us, let's go, clean up here, and then we'll go back to find those Mountain Gods.” He urged.

He had indeed sensed the location of that Dragon Steed!

The other two immediately became excited.

They immediately began collecting anything useful here.

First and foremost were the deceased Yin Souls; all the souls of the people who originally lived in this stronghold were seized by these Spirit Shaman, unable to Reincarnate.

They would become part of those ghost multitudes, filled with fear and resentment, ultimately to be driven by the Spirit Shaman.

Then, there were the ancestral hall spirit tablets here.

After erasing the Yin Souls inside, these spirit tablets, made from locust wood and Yin water, would become containers capable of holding many Yin Souls, allowing them to greatly increase the number of ghosts they could control.

After that, there was a blood pill, refined from the remaining flesh and blood of these thousand or so people.

This stronghold was too poor and had no Spiritual Artifacts, but there were still some herbs and Ore, which could also be collected.

Packing these up took about fifteen minutes.

Then, they returned to the place where the Mountain Gods had agreed to meet.

They could now inform the other Mountain Gods that they had found the location.

This first achievement was theirs.

——————

And at this very moment, Li Qi, who was deep in thought, pondering issues of cultivation, suddenly opened his eyes.

“This… what is this feeling? Why does my shoulder feel heavy, and why is there a surge of blood Qi rushing towards me?” Li Qi frowned.

Shaman often experience sudden premonitions; this has been mentioned many times.

Just now, Li Qi had this very sensation.

It was as if a debt of Karma, a blood debt, had been laid upon him?

However, it shouldn't be the entire burden; he only bore a portion of the associated Karma.

Ah? What did he do?