In a secret chamber a few miles away, an old man clad in coarse hemp robes sat before five shattered skulls, his face dark with fury, gnashing his teeth in rage.
The Five Ghosts Transportation Method, also known as the Five Ghosts Chaos Technique, was usually employed for locating lost objects or uncovering secrets, and was indeed very convenient. Though not a particularly high-level technique, it required five human skulls obtained from individuals whose birth dates and elements perfectly matched, and who had been ritually prepared after death. This alone required considerable effort. Even if all materials were gathered, the ritual required forty-nine days of careful preparation. Yet today, due to a single careless mistake, everything had been utterly destroyed. No wonder the old man was furious beyond measure.
“You wretched girl!” the old man hissed, his face dark with hatred. “It’s bad enough that you ruined my spell, but why must you go further and destroy the very essence of my Five Ghosts? If I don’t teach you a proper lesson, you’ll never understand how insignificant you truly are!”
With that, he stretched out his emaciated arm like dry firewood and drew a complex and eerie talisman upon a piece of parchment. After examining it carefully, he nodded in approval, then reached for a black stone casket beside him.
Opening the casket, he revealed several strange claws—mostly black and desiccated, some resembling bird talons, others like the claws of beasts. He selected a small black bird claw, began chanting incantations, and then threw the talisman into the air. The talisman slowly ignited and was instantly reduced to ashes.
At the very moment the talisman turned to ash, the old man traced a square in the air. As his withered fingers moved, a dark, misty space several feet wide appeared in the empty air before him. With his other hand, he flung the bird claw into the space. A sharp, piercing sound tore through the air as the claw vanished into the void. The dark space flickered and disappeared, and the room returned to its former stillness.
The old man sat silently, the dim flickering lamp casting shadows across his gaunt face, his expression dark and brooding.
Meanwhile, Bi Zhen still held the small paper figures and continued explaining to Mei Qing: “What I sealed just now in my binding bracelet was a forbidden technique. ‘Forbidden’ means restraint, imprisonment, and suppression. This technique can not only bind demons and malevolent spirits, but can even sever the mechanisms of yin and yang, seizing the transformation of heaven and earth itself. Your ability to vanish into the elements is precisely what this technique counters. Therefore, if you ever encounter a master skilled in forbidden arts, you must be extremely cautious.”
“Ahhh?” Mei Qing exclaimed in alarm. “So if I were to meet someone capable of severing the Five Elements, my elemental vanishing techniques would be like water without a source, or a tree without roots—completely useless? Then what use are my techniques at all?”
Bi Zhen smiled and replied, “Though this is true, forbidden techniques are extremely difficult to master. Only highly accomplished cultivators can use them effectively. Even those who have just begun to grasp them find the techniques cumbersome to employ, with limited power. Moreover, everything in the world follows the principle of mutual generation and mutual restraint. While forbidden techniques can suppress vanishing techniques, if your vanishing arts are deeply refined, they will no longer be vulnerable to such suppression…”
Before she could finish, both suddenly heard a distant, piercing sound, like something flying through the sky from afar, heading straight toward them. Turning their heads, they saw a dark shadow blotting out the moonlight beyond the window, rapidly expanding as if some enormous object were crashing down.
Startled, both instinctively stepped back. With a deafening crash, wooden splinters and paper scraps flew in all directions. The two wooden window frames were shattered in an instant, and a monstrous claw burst through, lunging directly at Bi Zhen.
Though Bi Zhen’s Daoist cultivation was profound, she had little experience in actual combat and had always lived a secluded life. Faced with this sudden attack, she froze in place, stunned and unable to react. Mei Qing, however, was horrified and instinctively moved to shield Bi Zhen, pushing her forcefully aside.
Before he could react further, Mei Qing felt a sharp tightening around his body as the monstrous claw seized him. The claw was nearly a full meter across, pitch black in color, with bulging blue veins at the joints. Its long, curved talons gleamed with a cruel light. The other end of the claw disappeared into a swirling mass of dark mist. With a swift motion, the claw closed around Mei Qing and retracted through the window, pulling him outside.
Mei Qing felt as though he were flying through the clouds, tumbling through the air, hitting his head and body against unknown obstacles, leaving him covered in dust and soot. Within moments, he was outside the courtyard, suspended high in the air, tightly gripped by the claw. Cold winds howled around him, mingled with a sinister black aura. His bones cracked painfully under the pressure, and the claws dug into his body with such force that he could barely cry out from the agony.
Only then did Bi Zhen regain her senses. Seeing Mei Qing carried away by the monstrous claw, she let out a scream and stumbled forward. When she saw him already high in the air, she wasted no time, quickly drawing the Lümie hairpin and chanting incantations before hurling it toward the claw.
A streak of black light flashed as the hairpin pierced the mass of dark mist at the claw’s end. A dull sound echoed, as if striking a piece of decayed leather, and the pin pierced straight through. Mei Qing felt the claw convulse violently from the impact, its grip loosening as it began to plummet toward the ground.
Mei Qing heard the wind howling past his ears as he fell from the sky. Just then, the claw suddenly twitched, lifted slightly, and flung him aside before turning to lunge at Bi Zhen.
Despite his cultivation, the impact left Mei Qing dazed and in excruciating pain, nearly unconscious. Knowing this was a matter of life and death, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand. Looking toward Bi Zhen, he was nearly overcome with terror.
He saw that the Lümie hairpin, having wounded the claw, had returned and was now striking again. This time, however, the claw seemed prepared. Its talons extended and retracted rapidly. With a sharp clang, one of the long talons snapped in two, and the hairpin was flung away.
The claw seemed to suffer great pain, its body curling and trembling violently. Then, clenching into a fist, it furiously hurtled toward Bi Zhen.
Bi Zhen’s face paled with fear. She quickly turned to face northeast and began chanting incantations, hoping to summon the Six Jia and Six Ding guardian spirits through her talisman. But before she could finish half the chant, the monstrous claw was already upon her, its howling dark winds whipping her clothes and hair violently. It was about to strike her directly.
Mei Qing was so terrified that his heart felt as if it would shatter. He was still some distance away, watching her struggle to chant while waving at him desperately to flee. His heart ached unbearably, and he longed to rush to her side. At that moment, his inner fire flared, and a surge of primordial energy surged forth from his body, connecting with the earth energy within the talisman at his chest. A sudden spark of insight struck him, and his body instantly became as intangible as mist. In the next moment, he had appeared before Bi Zhen.
Mei Qing himself hadn’t realized that, in his desperation, he had involuntarily activated the earth-element vanishing technique he had not yet fully mastered.
Among the Five Elements Vanishing Techniques, Mei Qing had only mastered the “Invisibility” secret of earth. The others remained unlearned. However, he had thoroughly studied the Daoist techniques and memorized all the incantations, understanding their principles even without practicing them. Since his first successful use of Daoist magic had been through the earth-invisibility technique, when his mind stirred in desperation, the earth-vanishing spell activated instinctively, bringing him instantly to Bi Zhen’s side.
Still, this technique had never been formally practiced or refined. Using it so suddenly caused his entire body to feel as if crushed under a mountain’s weight. Pain like needles and fire surged through his body, making his mind reel and his vision blur, his ears ringing loudly.
At that moment, he felt something gently tap him on the back. He flew sideways through the air, and the pain suddenly vanished. He felt weightless, and then everything went black.
At that very moment, Bi Zhen finally completed her summoning incantation. As her voice faded, golden flowers began to bloom before her eyes, glowing brilliantly and swirling like giant chrysanthemums. Behind the golden flowers, colorful ribbons danced, and a golden deity gradually emerged. It was a female yin spirit, a Jade Maiden. She stood nearly ten feet tall, wearing a tall headdress adorned with golden flowers and a pale yellow gown embroidered with cranes and clouds. Fragrant winds surrounded her as she floated in midair, holding a bouquet of flowers. She was none other than the Ding Chou spirit of the Six Ding spirits.
As the Ding Chou spirit appeared, she felt the cold winds of darkness before her. Her beautiful eyes opened wide, and she saw the monstrous claw lunging at her once more. She angrily declared, “Soul-Grabbing Claw!? This is the domain of the Virtuous Dao Lord. How dare you, a mere dark and evil creature, dare to act so brazenly!? Six Heavens, Six Jia and Ding, bring forth silent annihilation! Now!”
Several ribbons and golden flowers burst forth, wrapping tightly around the monstrous claw. In an instant, the claw was completely enveloped. With a single twist, the ribbons tore the claw apart, leaving nothing but a fine dust that scattered like sand in the wind, vanishing without a trace.
At the exact moment the claw was reduced to dust, the old man in the secret chamber miles away suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze cold and flickering. After a while, he resumed his seated meditation, attempting to divine the cause. Soon, he opened his eyes again, his expression even darker and more puzzled than before.
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