Chapter 70: The Unexpected Interruption of the Directed Soul Summoning
After spending nearly an hour, Luxianbei successfully bought the materials and items needed for the directed soul summoning from the customers of Moon Scraping Wind.
As she stepped out of the bar, ready to meet Lin Nian at the appointed place, she felt a sudden palpitation and her eyes slightly warmed.
Luxianbei, “…”
Why do I have an ominous premonition…
This is not a good sign!
Could it be that there’s some danger hidden in this directed soul summoning that I don’t know about?
Thinking this, Luxianbei silently took out the Blessing God Copper Coin to perform a divination, then frowned.
No danger in the directed soul summoning? How strange! What could be the cause?
Could it be because of Zhang Hainan? That old man couldn’t have found out that I deceived him, right?
It’s not suitable to stay here too long. I should try to get the Ling Tai Purification fragment from Huasang, and if that doesn’t work, just retreat.
Luxianbei clenched the copper coin, her gaze uncertain, feeling anxious.
Though the Ling Tai Purification fragment is important, isn’t life more important?
————
Shizhou City, Yongjie Urban Waste Treatment Plant.
After parting ways with Luxianbei, Lin Nian, worried about her grandfather’s safety, took her infirm grandfather to a trustworthy person’s place before bringing her third grandfather’s corpse here.
There are many spiritual ability users in Shizhou City. Even with the Dachunyang Palace disciples maintaining order, conflicts still inevitably arise among the spiritual ability users.
Where there is conflict, there will be d*ath.
The corpses of those who died unnaturally often bear twisted and grotesque appearances, making it quite troublesome to handle them through normal funeral processes, so they are usually sent here.
Since the night grew long, the employees of this waste treatment plant have been reduced to the bare minimum, leaving only a deaf old man, a mute boy, and a girl with such poor eyesight that she can barely see.
It seems that those who work in this line must be spiritual ability users with sensory impairments.
Perhaps because of this, it’s hard to leak information.
On average, four to five corpses of spiritual ability users are sent here each week. As long as you pay the fee to the old man and the two younger ones, they will provide a place and the necessary tools to handle the bodies for you, allowing you to solve the issue yourself.
Of course, they can also handle the corpses for those who find it inconvenient to handle them personally, and their methods are rather professional.
Even some bodies affected by spirit patterns, which become extraordinarily hard and difficult to burn, they can easily deal with; however, you need to pay extra to ask for their help!
There’s no such thing as an impregnable wall in this world, just like how that deaf old man is Lin Nian’s informant.
Perhaps because of the long-standing transactions with the deaf old man, when she brought her third grandfather here and clearly stated her intentions, the old man smiled kindly and personally helped her handle the corpse.
He meticulously stripped away the attire that had almost fused with flesh and bl**d while ensuring the integrity of both the corpse and the attire. Then, he built a firewood pile, doused it with pine oil, and handed Lin Nian a torch.
“Whoosh—!”
Lin Nian threw the torch into the firewood pile, and the flames dimmed momentarily before immediately roaring to life, engulfing the old man holding the exquisite attire.
Seeing this, she turned away and gently wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.
At that moment, a girl dressed in a complete black tracksuit and sporting chestnut hair slowly walked in from outside the dump.
“Oh? Here it is? What are you roasting? It smells so weirdly good. But if you could add some scallions and cumin, it would taste even better!”
Upon hearing “Gu Qiqi’s” voice and seeing “Gu Qiqi” coming from not far away, Lin Nian froze for a moment, turned around, and happened to see her “slurp” as she swallowed her saliva.
Realizing this, Lin Nian’s face suddenly turned pale, and she quickly stepped forward, spreading her arms to block “Gu Qiqi’s” advance.
“No, no! That’s my third grandfather!”
Luxianbei, “???
Who wants to eat your third grandfather?!
Will this joke ever end?
Has anyone ever seen Gu Qiqi eat human flesh?
As she mentally complained, the mute boy hurried over and shoved a note into her hand.
The note read: [Dear Bloody Witch, we can provide matured spiritual ability users for a long time; if you are interested, we can discuss it.]
Luxianbei, “…”
————
Lin Nian firmly blocked “Gu Qiqi” twenty meters away from the fire until her third grandfather’s corpse and the attire were completely cremated and collected into an urn, before she sighed with relief and led Luxianbei to a corner of the waste treatment plant to prepare for the soul summoning.
After setting up the spirit altar she had just bought, she inserted the paper candles into the incense burner filled with yin soil, and placed several small bowls for offerings.
The offerings were fresh pieces of meat. Since she couldn’t find Five Animal Stones on her return to Moon Scraping Wind, Luxianbei had no choice but to find five different types of meat as substitutes.
After arranging everything on the altar, Luxianbei blew into the suona. After finishing the tune, she lit the ritual incense and candles and offered a bowl of old wine.
Why is she so skilled at this? How many times has she done this before… Lin Nian thought as she watched.
Seeing this scene, she began to doubt that “Gu Qiqi,” after devouring spiritual ability users and urban legends in the past, would always perform soul summoning to extract their secrets, draining their last value.
If that’s the case, then Gu Qiqi is indeed a wicked person who has done bad things!
After saying a word to Lin Nian, Luxianbei took out the metal lighter she had rummaged from the brawny man, walked to the altar, raised her hands, closed her eyes, and spread out her spirit energy fluctuations to envelop the altar, silently reciting the spell formula.
“Young life thanked, daylight revealed, spring energy invigorated, all things swiftly. The dark stroll arrives, the soul does not escape. The soul returns! No far away. Soul oh return! No east no west, no south no north…”
As the incantation was recited, a silvery gray mist began to spread.
Luxianbei’s mental strands slipped into the void, starting to search for the residual soul of the brawny man.
Then…
Suddenly, an eerie silence enveloped her, and before Luxianbei was an expanse of darkness, she vaguely felt her spirit energy being touched by some distant existence.
With multiple experiences in directed soul summoning, she immediately reacted; that was an indication that she had found the residual soul of the brawny man. She quickly whispered the name of the brawny man.
“Will the soul return? Liang Jiuyuan!”
Liang Jiuyuan, the name Luxianbei had seen on the brawny man’s identification.
As her words fell, just like in the previous dozens of times, she waited for the residual soul of Liang Jiuyuan to bite, but the next moment, an unexpected situation occurred.
Suddenly, she felt a strong pulling sensation from the other end of her mental strands.
If directed soul summoning previously felt like fishing, this time it felt as if she had hooked a great white shark; if she didn’t let go, the only ending was being dragged into the surging sea, torn apart by the shark’s sharp teeth.
That’s illogical!
That guy was clearly not that strong!
Could it be that Liang Jiuyuan is not his name?
Luxianbei thought, ready to interrupt the directed soul summoning ritual, when suddenly her eyes burned with intense pain, as something violently stimulated her nerves, signaling an unprecedented danger.
Immediately after, a vague, nonsensical phrase flickered past her ear.
“I have a magical item here that can help you solve many problems, if you like, I can sell it to you at a low price, do you want to take a look?”
This phrase seems familiar…
Wait! Isn’t this what that sneaky guy said to me before at Moon Scraping Wind?
Could it be that Liang Jiuyuan’s ring blade came from him? Luxianbei wondered.
The next moment, a loud rumbling sound rang in her ears, interrupting her thoughts.
The sound resembled the massive noise generated by countless old heavy machinery. Though she didn’t open her eyes, visions accompanied the roar began to appear before her.
She saw a gigantic construction whose location she did not know, surrounded by darkness; molten iron glowed orange-red as it flowed, circulating around metal structures that resembled the corpses of huge beasts. Countless assembly lines turned continuously, and rows of chilling hooks hung with countless people.
They seemed to still be alive, struggling, crying in despair, and despairing souls, stripped of their clothing, their ugly bodies no one wanted to look at. They were sent into that massive metal structure by the assembly line, their screams gradually fading away, ultimately drowned out by the roar of steel.
Luxianbei looked at the scene in doubt, her gaze following the assembly line deeper into the metal structure until she spotted that gigantic “baby.”
It seemed to be the core maintaining the operation of the entire massive building.
Though it was called a baby, that was just a feeling that quietly rose in Luxianbei’s heart when she saw it; she sensed that it was some being about to be born into the world. In reality, it was just a chaotic swirl of colors too bright to be described in words.
Those colors didn’t simply glow but seemed to wriggle like an active gel, constantly sketching the outlines of various objects.
The light emitted a strange aura, making one vividly feel a terrible misfortune was brewing, about to descend.
The “baby” lay quietly in the cradle of cold metal casting, suddenly as if sensing something, it opened its eyes and gazed over.
Immediately, she heard the “baby’s” laughter.
Clear laughter, hoarse cold chuckles, manic laughter, mixed with joy and sorrow, struck her like a hammer, drilling into her brain and striking her soul.
Under the heavy impact, Luxianbei’s mental strands instantly shattered.
The directed soul summoning spell was unexpectedly interrupted, the items on the altar were crushed by an invisible force, accompanied by a loud explosion, scattering debris in all directions.
A wave of weakness washed over her, and Luxianbei’s body went limp, collapsing onto the ground.
“…”
What the hell was that? An urban legend? Did it imprison Liang Jiuyuan’s soul?
No, it seems to be… devouring souls?
d*mn it, didn’t the copper coin divination say there was no danger? What would lead me to see something like this…
Luxianbei thought, her head pounding, staring blankly at the debris strewn everywhere.
In the silence, she suddenly realized she might have discovered something extraordinary, something quite troublesome, something she couldn’t handle at all.
Perhaps I should inform the Black Emperor about this?
Although she was very afraid of too much contact with Zhang Hainan, she was even more afraid of the “baby” she saw awakening…
Just like defeating magic with magic, terrifying things naturally need to be dealt with by terrifying existences.
