110: Chapter 109: Encountering the Monk Again [Extra for Alliance Hierarch Master Xiao Zhen] 110: Chapter 109: Encountering the Monk Again [Extra for Alliance Hierarch Master Xiao Zhen] Again, the monk was seen.
Atop a hill, a lantern hung high, emitting a soft and serene glow, with the Tideng Monk sitting quietly in the only dark spot beneath it, surrounded by a crowd of over a hundred Soul Ghosts.
Some were quiet, some were bewildered, and some looked on with a predatory gaze.
The lantern’s light seemed to have the power to pacify souls; it looked like it might be even more effective against members of the Demon Clan?
He wasn’t quite sure what the monk was actually doing.
Maybe, based on his so-called act of illuminating others, it was simply to purify the souls here?
For the Buddhist Sect, purifying souls was considered a meritorious deed, and accumulating merit was beneficial for cultivation; it was essentially the same thing.
However, looking at the situation at hand, such purification seemed a bit dicey to Hou Niao.
The Soul Ghosts clearly did not wish to be constrained by this force of purification, which is why there were always a few with stronger soul bodies attempting to break free from this force and soar.
Whenever a Soul Ghost tried to escape the light, the Tideng Monk would pat the lantern, and then a more powerful glow would envelop the disruptive Soul Ghost, calming it down and achieving a fragile balance.
Hou Niao stood just outside the circle of light, invisible to the wandering Soul Ghosts around him, thanks to his Natural Technique and the purifying power of the light; it wasn’t that his technique was particularly well-practiced, but rather that the monk was drawing most of the attention of the Soul Ghosts.
The Tideng Monk also noticed him but pretended not to see, showing no reaction, neither welcoming nor expelling him, but what he truly thought was a mystery to anyone.
Hou Niao could see the monk’s disdainful expression and enjoyed the feeling of being an annoyance yet one whom the monk couldn’t do anything about.
Of course, his intention of staying wasn’t to cause trouble but to observe the prowess and peculiar behavior of the disciples from the Buddhist Sect.
In the Cultivation World of the Jinxiu Continent, it was inappropriate to interfere rashly in such situations; at best, one would depart on bad terms, at worst, one would make mortal enemies, which was quite unnecessary.
After observing for a while, he hadn’t really figured anything out.
He wasn’t long into his own cultivation journey, and he still didn’t fully understand the particular skills of the Quanzhen Sect, let alone the completely foreign Buddhist Sect, which was on a whole different level.
Feeling it was about time to leave the disgusted monk to it, he was about to move on to his own affairs when suddenly he sensed something and looked towards the opposite side of the light circle.
There, some Soul Ghosts were stealthily approaching the lantern from within the crowd.
Having spent a long time in the Soul Realm and encountered higher-ranked Soul Ghosts the previous day, his perception was very sharp.
He instantly noticed these sneaky entities — a total of five malevolent spirits!
It looked as if they were organized.
Curious, he stopped in his tracks, wanting to see the cunning tactics of these malevolent spirits.
Of course, he also wanted to see the flustered Tideng Monk in action, hoping his lifebound Zen treasure could be of help.
The five malevolent spirits were even more sly than those he had previously met, blending in with the commoner soul ghosts as they entered the radius of the lantern, putting on a convincingly bewildered and resistive front as if they were involuntarily drawn, and during this process, they slowly neared the lantern.
They knew the lantern was the source of purification!
Hou Niao could guess what they were going to do next, but that wasn’t his cue to speak up.
They were not enemies, so he couldn’t trip them up in the dark; nor were they friends, so he had no obligation to warn them.
In the Cultivation World, good intentions had to be appropriate to the situation.
If one couldn’t see this distinction, it was very normal to receive bad karma for good deeds.
The five malevolent spirits crept closer and closer, but their movements were hard to detect under the cover of two or three hundred low-rank Soul Ghosts.
This could have been due to the malevolent spirits’ adeptness at disguise, but it was more likely that the Tideng Monk was using power beyond his capability.
He indeed might be able to purify these soul creatures, but there must be a limit.
Hou Niao quietly waited for the good show to begin, filled with anticipation.
When the ferocious ghosts approached within ten zhang of the lantern, the Tideng Monk finally sensed something was amiss, but before he could act, the five ferocious ghosts let out a simultaneous shriek and lunged forward…
The Tideng Monk’s reaction was quite fast; he immediately smacked the lantern, and the pillar of light flared up, flickering and enshrouding two of the ghosts.
Even with their strong soul bodies, they were immobilized by the light, which was the limit of his power.
But there were three ferocious ghosts that were not covered; they moved quickly, two pouncing towards the Tideng Monk and one towards the lantern.
The Tideng Monk was left with no choice; he had to react immediately.
Should he take care of himself, or the lantern?
The lantern was his lifebound Zen treasure, the essence of his decades of cultivation and the direction of his future practice.
On this, he had never harbored any doubts; so, his life could be lost, but the lantern must not be damaged!
With time pressing, there was no room for careful thought; with a flip of his left hand, the lantern was already tucked into the storage ring, leaving the ferocious ghost that lunged at it grasping at air; but he couldn’t dodge the two that were pouncing at him.
With his right hand, he swung his ring sword haphazardly, retreating step by step in the face of the assault, and more fatefully, once the lantern was stowed away, the remaining soul ghosts were immediately freed from their restraints!
In no time, five ferocious ghosts and over a hundred ordinary soul ghosts formed an impenetrable encirclement around the Tideng Monk, their attacks raining down like a tempest, leaving no gap unexploited.
Finally, the Tideng Monk was forced to kill the first soul ghost; this was also the first soul ghost he had killed since coming to West Mang Mountain, and then…
Suddenly, a sword light flickered, and in the rapid storm of sword light, one ferocious ghost after another screamed and dissolved, unable to materialize a solid body, proving the limited abilities of such soul creatures.
“Drive them away; no need to completely annihilate them!” the young monk said as he fought and muttered to himself.
Hou Niao didn’t pay him any mind, “You were the one who started killing first!
And do you think these creatures reason?
Why don’t you tell them about the virtue of peace?”
When the soul ghosts went crazy, nothing could stop them!
Especially after being inexplicably purified; at such times, even if Hou Niao held back the soul ghosts and the Tideng Monk brought out his lantern, it would be useless against the frenzied horde of soul ghosts.
The only solution was to annihilate them.
Hou Niao weaved through the swarm of soul ghosts, purposefully targeting the five ferocious ghosts first, as he worried that these cunning creatures might turn tail and flee if they saw the situation turning against them.
Once the ferocious ghosts had been completely slain, the rest was straightforward.
This time, Hou Niao thoroughly understood the strength of the ferocious ghosts; their soul bodies were tough, they possessed basic intelligence, understood some level of coordination, and were not significantly weaker than human cultivators in the Essence Building Realm.
Of course, he himself no longer fully considered himself an Essence Building cultivator, especially in terms of combat power.
The weakness of the ferocious ghosts lay in their rigid attacks, lack of versatility, and lack of tactics, which made them easy to predict.
Moreover, their critical points had not deviated from the norm, so under his sword, they seemed utterly vulnerable.
But for someone else, without his ability to pinpoint their vulnerabilities and a habitual willingness for desperate attacks, dealing with them would be difficult, or at least not as effortless.
Minutes later, they were all gone.