"Profound Yin Soul Commanding Incomplete Chapter!"
One day on patrol, luckily nothing happened, and no monsters emerged from the boundary's Black Fog.
After dinner, Zhong Shenxiu returned to his wooden hut and began to recall this Daoist Skill.
"Actually daring to forcefully bind resentful spirits while still not even having entered the threshold, the previous owner died justly..."
He shook his head, slowly experiencing this Daoist Skill.
Most of the Daoist Skills from the Second Yan Han Empire originated from the First Empire, and it could also be said they came from the ancestors' otherworld, with a rich ancient style. They are considered pearls of wisdom, requiring continuous contemplation.
"Even if I haven't cultivated any Daoist Cultivation Techniques, I know that skills are more potent than tactics... And even if it's a Demon Skill, it emphasizes the principle of using the heart to control demons!"
The more orthodox the Demon Skill, the more it stresses the state of mind—subduing the demonic leaders to be used by me, not allowing the Cultivator's spirit to be gradually infected by madness.
In any case, the latter is undoubtedly on the path of the wicked and heretical.
This scripture, although it contains some methods to subdue Yin spirits, is not profound and without a doubt is not a True Inheritance, but just a set of heretical teachings, with a great risk of deviating into insanity.
Su Daoshi had no choice but to forcefully cultivate it due to circumstances.
As for any hidden dangers, they were no longer a consideration.
'It's just that you could have provoked anything else, why mess with something you don't recognize...'
Zhong Shenxiu quietly complained to himself, sat cross-legged, focused on his Dantian, and tried to introspect.
This was a minor trick recorded in the Daoist Skills to observe the Yin spirits attached to oneself.
In the next moment, he seemed to see a vague figure...
Immediately after, intense pain struck him, almost making Zhong Shenxiu unable to maintain his posture, his whole body trembling.
"Lethal... Indeed, it's an unmastered spell; I can't even control the resentful spirit, not to mention just observing it..."
"This is basically like having a troublesome old man living inside your body, and the uncooperative kind at that, how miserable is that?"
Zhong Shenxiu had no solution. When the severe pain subsided, and his body felt a little more numb, he couldn't help but show a bitter smile. He stirred his Qi-Blood and began to cultivate Primordial Qigong.
This Cultivation Technique was the pinnacle of gathering the strengths of a hundred families from his past life, and it should have been a success, otherwise, Heavenly Thunder wouldn't have struck him.
'If I could really have cultivated True Qi in my past life, I would have been invincible, not even the military would have posed much of a threat... But in this world, hehe... I'm probably still just an ordinary low-class person. However, being able to convert essence and energy to supplement my body, I can at least struggle on for a little while longer...'
Inviting a resentful spirit to possess without a way to command it, every half month on the night of the full moon is a death warrant!
If your body is strong, you might be able to endure a little longer.
However, Zhong Shenxiu didn't have much confidence in facing the Blood Moon.
After a rather restless night of sleep, he went to the square, ready to line up for breakfast.
Most of the foot soldiers around him were disheveled, with an occasional few Quanrong dog heads in sight.
As he pondered, Huang Xie came over with another Quanrong person, "Mr. Su, my employment term is up, and once today is over, I plan to go home to get married. This is my nephew, he just came to report, I hope you'll take good care of him..."
Zhong Shenxiu automatically agreed, then looked over and froze for a moment.
Huang Xie's nephew was tall and sturdy, with a large dog head marked with black and white fur, and blue eyes. If he assumed a profound and inscrutable stance, he would appear quite imposing, but once he grinned, he revealed a rather silly look.
'This... isn't this an Er Ha?'
Zhong Shenxiu glanced sidelong, feeling that this Huang Xie, Huang Jun, was truly a talented individual. The continual planting of flags was one thing, but this nephew appeared genuinely extraordinary.
At least, sufficient to tear apart a family...
While the trio was conversing, a figure clad in black armor approached. Tall and with a black mole on his face, it was none other than the squad leader of their unit, Tian Bufen.
"Huang Xie, Su Daoshi... your squad is to head to the northern Saizi Lake today to check on things. The settlers there have reported wild beasts destroying crops..."
Tian Bufen's voice was stern, embodying an attitude strictly adhering to the business at hand.
Huang Xie hurriedly responded and tugged at Zhong Shenxiu, who was next to him.
Zhong Shenxiu pursed his lips, knowing that he was being targeted once again...
After all, being a convict, he was naturally unpopular, and this treatment was still within the rules.
However, Huang Xie was a mercenary, selling his services for money, while he was a guilty convict, not to be pardoned without significant merit. And seeing squad leader Tian Bufen's attitude, even minor credit seemed impossible to attain.
Hoping to attain redemption through common headcounts in battles was a fantasy—it could easily be taken away from him.
In this manner, the orthodox path to cleansing his sins was utterly severed.
Ordinary patrols were at most strenuous and tiring, but this squad leader always assigned him the dangerous tasks, which was condemnable.
Of course, military regulations reigned supreme, and rank often smothered the lower echelons. The previous Su Daoshi was completely powerless, but Zhong Shenxiu was not willing to endure and immediately raised his voice, "Squad leader, our squad just patrolled the Black Mountain Great Rift yesterday. Why must we go to a dangerous place again? This would seem somewhat... against the rules!"
His challenging tone boomed, attracting many gazes immediately.
The ordinary soldiers were one thing, but it was those sitting squad leaders who cast mocking looks.
Tian Bufen's face swelled red with anger, his black mole quivering as he bellowed, "Are you intending to defy military orders?"
"I certainly dare not defy military commands; I only wish to inform the squad leader that although the Su Clan has declined, we were once listed among the distinguished families, with widespread connections and numerous kinsfolk. Even though I am now mired in this quagmire, a day of turning the tables is not out of the question. Remember, it is better to deceive an old man with white hair than to deceive a young man in poverty!"
Zhong Shenxiu took a quiet breath and voiced out, tossing that cliché from his previous life, immediately causing a few onlookers' eyes to brighten.
Tian Bufen looked at the young man who had suddenly taken on an imposing aura, one resembling the noble Shenxiu, and immediately felt his own inferiority.
He suddenly understood why he had been secretly displeased with this young man.
Within the stringent hierarchy of the Second Yan Han Empire, this young man bore an air of nobility that required centuries of family cultivation—an air that made people like him from the lower class feel ashamed at first sight.
Even a phoenix that has fallen on hard times remains a phoenix!
Especially today, the youth was even more radiant, truly humbling.
In a burst of anger, he even considered ordering someone to drag this wretch out and behead him, but looking at the few smiling faces of his adversaries around him, he forcibly swallowed his rage.
Black Mountain Castle was not a place where he alone held sway. Military discipline was strict—superiors did have the right to administer life and death, but there needed to be a pretext or reason.
If Su Daoshi disobeyed and did not comply, executing him wouldn't raise an eyebrow in protest.
Yet things hadn't come to that point, and after all, as the saying goes, he was a noble in distress, with some connections yet unsevered...
Thus, holding back his temper, he commanded, "Speaking out of turn to a superior, go out and run ten laps around the camp!"
Zhong Shenxiu smirked, turned on his heel, and began to run.
In his heart, he was also wryly smiling: 'Do you think I want to slap your face?... I don't want to either...'
Although tearing off this façade today meant that the targeting he would face in the future would undoubtedly be tenfold or a hundredfold worse than before, Zhong Shenxiu was not the real Su Daoshi. If someone truly provoked him, he could assassinate this squad leader or even kill him in broad daylight, then escape into the borders of the Black Fog and be done with it.
The Black Fog was fragmented and within its crevices, countless other races lived—what were a few more fugitives from the Yan Han?