MOF Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Laying a Spirit Array to Capture Evil Spirits at the Wen Residence As the sun gradually sets in the west, a gloomy wind quietly rises…

Mo Nanyi returned, unsuccessful in his pursuit, and said, “That mass of evil aura seems to have escaped towards Jin City.”

Xie Yiling said, “That’s just where we’re headed. Young Master Mo, I’m truly sorry for causing you so much trouble.”

Mo Nanyi earnestly replied, “That’s not the right way to put it. Evil aura isn’t only related to you. All demons and evil creatures are the enemies of the Immortal Sect. The fault doesn’t lie with you. It’s only that the evil aura is cunning and difficult to deal with.”

Nangong Ci said, “This isn’t ordinary evil aura, but the residual aura of a serpent dragon, which is extraordinary.”

Mo Nanyi suddenly understood and said, “No wonder it’s so difficult to subdue. Fufeng Daoren, if you don’t mind, I’ll bring my disciples back to Jin City with you and work together to capture the evil aura.”

Nangong Ci said, “Thank you for Young Master Mo’s kindness, but there’s no need to trouble you. When the evil aura is caught, I’ll be sure to inform your Immortal Sect.”

The three left Water-Ink Immortal Estate. On the way back, Xie Yiling shared a sword ride with Nangong Ci. Although the wound on his arm had penetrated to the bone, Xie Yiling had cultivated the Immortal Dao for eight years after all, and his healing ability was better than that of ordinary people. In two days, a thick layer of scabs had already formed.

If he didn’t deliberately press on it, the pain wouldn’t be too intense. But Nangong Ci still insisted on wrapping layer upon layer of gauze coated with medicinal powder around it.

As dusk lengthened the vermillion railings, they returned to Jin City. Nangong Ci used spiritual butterflies to send a message back to Southern Return Heavenly Pavilion, while he treated Xie Yiling’s wounds at the inn, waiting for disciple reinforcements.

The next day, Nangong Ningan, under the orders of Nangong Yue, led a group of disciples down the mountain.

After meeting up with the disciples, Nangong Ci used his sword, Azurefall, to probe the approximate direction of the evil aura’s escape, which was the Wen Residence in Qing Zhou.

The Wen clan was the largest family in Qing Zhou, with industries throughout Jin City.

The group no longer delayed, and arrived at Jin City Qing Zhou near sunset.

As the sun gradually set in the west, a gloomy wind quietly rose, and a group of white-clad disciples slowly approached on the distant road. The family servant who had been waiting at the gate hurriedly stepped forward to salute, “Presumably, you are the Immortal Lords of Southern Return Heavenly Pavilion?”

Xie Yiling was slightly suspicious. How did the Wen Residence people know they were coming?

“That’s right.” Nangong Ci nodded without betraying any emotion, and asked, “May I know who you are?”

“I’m a servant of the Wen Residence, named Wen Cai. Master Wen heard that several Immortal Lords were coming, and specially instructed me to wait here.”

Si Wumian and Xie Yiling found it strange, “We didn’t notify the Wen Residence before we came, what’s going on? Could there be some kind of conspiracy?”

Xie Yiling replied with four words, “Observe the situation.”

Nangong Ci said, “Master Wen is truly perceptive. Then we’ll be intruding.”

Wen Cai respectfully led the way, “Immortal Lords, please follow me.”

The Wen family was large and prosperous, and the mansion covered a vast area. Entering the high walls and deep courtyards, they followed the winding corridors, passing through halls. Long corridors connected arched doors, and clear springs flowed over stone bridges.

Nangong Ci and his group passed through several arched doors and arrived at the main hall of the Wen Residence.

“Daoren Fufeng! Forgive me for not greeting you sooner!” Wen Qingliu came out of the main hall. As soon as he saw them, a look of joy appeared on his face, and he hurriedly saluted.

Nangong Ci and his group returned the greeting, “Master Wen is too kind.”

Wen Qingliu busily smiled and said, “Daoren Fufeng, please come inside!”

As soon as they entered the main hall and sat down, the sound of footsteps approached from afar.

The newcomer was about the same age as Xie Yiling, with a face like carved jade, deep features without being deliberately drawn, elegant demeanor, and walked into the room with light steps.

Wen Ruyu gave a salute, “Greetings Father, and Immortal Lords.”

Wen Qingliu said upon hearing this, “Ruyu, you’ve come at the right time. Have a seat.”

After Wen Ruyu took his seat, Wen Qingliu asked, “Did the Immortal Lords come to the Wen Residence specifically because of some important matter?”

“There is indeed one matter.” Nangong Ci said, “I wonder if Master Wen’s residence has been peaceful recently?”

Wen Qingliu paused for a moment, and said, “There have never been any major incidents in the residence. If I really have to say something, it’s only that the children used to cry and fuss when they were young. Now that they’re older, they understand the rules and are sensible, so I’m much more at ease.”

Hearing this, Wen Ruyu lowered his head and chuckled lightly, a hint of shyness for his childhood mischief flashing across his face.

Nangong Ci then told them about the evil aura. The more Wen Qingliu listened, the paler his face became. “Daoren Fufeng, that monster is really heading for my Wen family? This, this,” he stood up and walked back and forth, “What should we do? Our Wen family has no grievances with it.”

Xie Yiling observed that his expression didn’t seem to be hiding anything, and said, “Master Wen, don’t panic. In the past two days, the evil aura has been keeping to itself in your residence, there must be a reason behind it. Either it’s afraid of something, or it’s conserving its strength. Fortunately, we arrived here before it took action.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Wen Qingliu nodded busily, “The Immortal Lord is right. It’s getting late, I’ll have the servants prepare rooms for the Immortal Lords.”

“Thank you.” Nangong Ci stood up and said, “But tonight, I’m afraid the people in your residence will have to work hard.”

*

The hard work that Nangong Ci spoke of was no exaggeration. The servants of the Wen Residence were busy until midnight, only then did they finish preparing the things that Nangong Ci had instructed.

Xie Yiling set up the array with the other disciples, checking each step repeatedly.

It wasn’t until the hour of Chou (1-3 AM) that they finally finished.

Half of the Southern Return disciples stood on the roof, and the other half guarded the ground. Xie Yiling looked down at the array that covered the entire Wen Residence, and said, “Daoren, it’s ready.”

On the outermost four high walls, spirit incantations became banners, unfurling and rolling with the wind. Along the corners of the walls, the area was scattered with evil expelling powder. The name evil expelling powder sounded righteous and virtuous, but in reality, it was the ashes of the corpses of evil spirits that had been eliminated by the Immortal Sect.

However, after turning into ashes, the Immortal Sect was naturally free to use it as they pleased.

After all of this was done, the people of the Wen Residence, both high and low, gathered in the large courtyard, not daring to leave the protective boundary beneath their feet, glancing left and right with trepidation.

Wen Qingliu counted the number of people, and asked in a low voice, “Where’s Wen Heng?”

Wen Ruyu hesitated for a moment, “Eldest Brother, he’s, he’s in his room. I called him earlier, and he said that if he’s upright, he has nothing to fear, so he won’t come out.”

“Nonsense!” Although Wen Qingliu’s voice was low, Xie Yiling on the roof could still hear a few words, “The Immortal Lords of Southern Return Heavenly Pavilion have come, what kind of temper is he throwing at this time? Zhenhe, go call your eldest brother.”

Wen Zhenhe, a slightly young-looking boy next to Wen Ruyu, responded, turned around and left quickly, returning after a short while.

Wen Zhenhe lowered his eyes and stammered, “Dad, Eldest Brother he…”

“Hmph!” As soon as Wen Qingliu saw his youngest son’s appearance, he knew the result. He suppressed his anger, flicked his sleeves, and said, “Forget it, forget it, let him be.”

Xie Yiling gained a preliminary understanding of the family’s father-son relationship.

As Nangong Ci activated the array, the evil spirit hiding somewhere in the Wen Residence couldn’t bear it any longer and rushed out of a certain room.

Xie Yiling noticed that it was the direction Wen Zhenhe had taken earlier when he went to call for people. He closely followed the evil aura with his eyes, and found that it had visibly grown twice as large. So he reminded, “Daoren, this mass of evil aura has become much stronger, could it have killed someone?”

Nangong Ci said, “Unlikely. If it could increase its power by eating people, why would it use the mouth of the peddler to have us buy it? That would only increase the risk of being discovered and eliminated by us.”

Xie Yiling quickly reacted, “It wanted to approach us, and seize our spiritual power. Then what is this situation now?”

Nangong Ci said, “Merging into one, or rather, returning to one.”

Xie Yiling suddenly looked at the evil aura colliding everywhere within the spirit array, and suddenly understood, “So it came here to find a backer!”

Nangong Ci gave the order, and the disciples defended the array with their swords. Azurefall was unsheathed all at once, and the sky above the Wen Residence instantly became as bright as day. The evil aura was no longer in the isolated and helpless state it had been in a few days ago. After merging with the scattered other mass of evil aura, its arrogance was overbearing. Facing the two white figures who were attacking in alternation, not only did it not dodge or avoid, but it even met the swords head-on.

The sky was sometimes as bright as day with sword light, and sometimes it swallowed the light and returned to darkness. The spirit array below confined the evil aura’s movements, and the evil expelling powder by the wall emitted a dazzling fluorescent green glow.

Xie Yiling learned from Nangong Ci to separate a strand of spiritual power to control his sword, pointing with his fingers to form a series of long incantations, relentlessly attacking the evil aura.

The spirit banners on the wall emitted a clear sound of spiritual power tearing, and the spiritual power within the disciples’ bodies fluctuated unstably. Si Wumian glanced at the spirit banner, saw that the banner was almost bent by the pressure of the evil aura, gritted his teeth and said, “Senior Brother Xie, the spirit banner!”

The spirit banner was formed by gathering the spiritual power of all the Southern Return people into one, and Xie Yiling naturally sensed it. But the battle was intense, and he couldn’t spare any attention to check, only saying, “Wumian, hold on for now!”

Si Wumian’s throat tasted fishy, and a mouthful of blood was stuck inside, about to be spat out but not. He couldn’t bear it even without directly clashing with the evil aura, if he were to fight it head-on, his life would probably be over.

Xie Yiling was also holding back a mouthful of blood, and the wound on his right wrist that was about to heal reopened, and the gauze changed color in a short while.

The evil aura smelled the blood and became even more frantic, its shape gathering into a giant skull, opening its bottomless mouth towards the crowd. A gust of Yin wind swept up, and Xie Yiling lost his footing, his body lost its center of gravity, and he shifted two steps forward.

Nangong Ci intervened in time to stop him.

Xie Yiling said, “What is this damn thing doing, trying to swallow me whole?”

Failing to swallow its desired delicacy, the evil aura flew into a rage, ignoring Azurefall, and a blurry black claw stretched out from the skull, grabbing directly at Xie Yiling.

Nangong Ci stood two steps in front of Xie Yiling, Azurefall’s slender blade slanted across his waist, the sound of the sword howling, sharp and shrill.

Azurefall passed through the black claw, white light cut open the evil aura, and the black claw separated from the body. Xie Yiling saw that it wanted to rejoin the body of the evil aura, and flung out Not Sent to block its path, then quickly formed a spirit incantation shaped like a woven net, trapping it.

The spirit incantation shrunk to the size of a walnut, and Xie Yiling stuffed it into a brocade bag, sealing it tightly. After waiting for a while, there was indeed no movement inside.

From this point of view, the method of shattering the evil aura into pieces and putting them into separate brocade bags is feasible. But how to get close to it and chop it up, that’s the difficult part.

Among the Wen Residence people below, some of the timid ones had already passed out. Wen Qingliu stood with a livid face, his lips stretched into a straight line, and the faces of Wen Ruyu and Wen Zhenhe beside him were both filled with anxiety.

A thought suddenly flashed through Xie Yiling’s mind: the expressions of Master Wen and the two sons of the Wen family are so strange, it’s likely not because of the evil aura, but perhaps because of that eldest son of the Wen family who is unwilling to come out.