Ghost Taming Art

Upon hearing this, Zheng Que immediately focused his attention on Daoist Qu.

Boom!!

In the next moment, a burly and ferocious figure suddenly appeared beside him. Clad in heavy armor, its entire body encased in thick plate, with only a pair of bloodthirsty eyes visible beneath the visor. It carried a massive axe on its back and exuded a murderous aura with every glance, resembling a battle-hardened veteran.

Zheng Que was momentarily stunned but quickly realized this was a corpse puppet nurtured and refined by his master. Two nights ago, when he had been targeted by a Calling Ghost, it was a corpse puppet with a similar aura that had lured it away.

As he was thinking, Daoist Qu spoke calmly, “The first step is to capture a Vengeful Spirit.”

As soon as the words fell, the corpse puppet beside him immediately opened its visor, revealing a skinless, crimson face. It opened its mouth and spat out a cloud of murky, foul-smelling smoke.

The smoke dispersed in mid-air and in the blink of an eye transformed into a small ghostly creature. Roughly the size of a human child, its facial proportions were extremely distorted, making it appear quite ugly. Its body was mottled with shades of blue and white, crouched in a posture resembling that of an ape.

Looking at this translucent spirit, Zheng Que understood that this was the Vengeful Spirit his master had mentioned: a type of Wandering Spirit with little intelligence, typically active only at night, fearful of sunlight, and extremely weak during the day.

The moment it landed, the Vengeful Spirit immediately tried to flee outside the temple.

Daoist Qu extended a finger and drew a line across the palm of his other hand. Blood immediately welled up, and with a flick of his sleeve the blood in his palm transformed into a crimson mist, interweaving into a net that descended upon the Vengeful Spirit.

Trapped by the spiritual blood, the Vengeful Spirit let out a piercing shriek, seemingly terrified.

Without giving it any chance to struggle, Daoist Qu immediately began forming a series of intricate hand seals while explaining, “The second step is to apply a blood seal.”

“Ordinary Vengeful Spirits like this have weak Yin Qi and feeble abilities, so only one layer of blood seal is needed.”

“For some powerful Wandering Spirits, three or more layers are required.”

“Remember, the more layers of blood seal, the stronger the control over the ghost.”

“However, blood seals are guided by a cultivator’s spiritual blood, and the Yang Qi within the spiritual blood suppresses the ghost’s Yin Qi. Therefore, the more layers of blood seal, the weaker the strength of the controlled ghost.”

“With your current cultivation level, you can only apply one layer of blood seal. Do not provoke overly powerful ghosts.”

As he spoke, with each change in Daoist Qu’s hand seals, the spiritual blood net trapping the Vengeful Spirit gradually transformed into special runes. Suspended in mid-air, they followed a specific order and branded themselves into the Vengeful Spirit’s body one by one.

For the Vengeful Spirit, these runes were like branding irons to human flesh. With each rune that entered its body, the Vengeful Spirit erupted into an especially shrill shriek, its Yin Qi weakening further.

The Vengeful Spirit frantically tore at the spiritual blood net, trying to escape.

But as more and more runes branded into its body, it gradually lost control over itself.

Slowly, the Vengeful Spirit ceased struggling and fell silent.

As the final rune formed from spiritual blood branded into its body, the Vengeful Spirit became covered in blood seals of varying sizes.

Daoist Qu immediately ceased forming hand seals, and those blood seals instantly faded away as if they had never existed.

Zheng Que watched all of this intently, having already memorized the key points and sequence of every hand seal.

At this moment Daoist Qu spoke again: “The final step: issue the command.”

As he spoke, he once again cut a wound on his own arm, then used the blood as ink to swiftly draw a pattern in his palm resembling both a bird and an insect — some kind of special script.

After finishing the pattern, he flipped his palm toward the Vengeful Spirit and gave it a light pat. “Ha!”

The Vengeful Spirit’s rigid body instantly trembled, then let out a shrill, despairing scream. Without hesitation it lunged toward the corpse puppet nearby.

Swish!

The Vengeful Spirit instantly tore off one of the corpse puppet’s arms. The armor forged from refined iron seemed as fragile as paper in its grasp.

Seeing that the Vengeful Spirit seemed intent on continuing its attack, Daoist Qu aimed his palm at it once more. “Retract!”

As the word fell, he clenched his five fingers like a cage, and the Vengeful Spirit immediately transformed into a streak of blood-red light, vanishing into his grasp.

Daoist Qu turned to Zheng Que and said calmly, “This is the 【Ghost Taming Art】. Have you learned it?”

Zheng Que snapped back to attention. “Thank you, Master, for imparting this art. This disciple has already memorized it all!”

Daoist Qu nodded slightly. “Since you have learned it, you may go for now.”

“Return at this same time tomorrow.”

“This master will test your progress.”

Zheng Que respectfully bowed. “Yes, Master.”

He quietly retreated from the temple.

Outside, the small courtyard remained as desolate as ever. Amidst the overgrown grass, insects chirped incessantly. Sunlight poured down, illuminating everything inside and out as if there were no shadows at all.

Zheng Que glanced around, preparing to head straight home, but when his gaze fell upon the withered old tree beside the courtyard wall his steps involuntarily slowed.

The trunk of this old tree was so thick it would take two or three people to encircle it. Its canopy stretched out in all directions like umbrella ribs; in its former lushness, most of the courtyard would have lain beneath its shade.

Even after who knows how long it had been dead, the remaining branches still hinted at its former grandeur.

Now its shadow fell across the wall and the ground, dappled and graceful. Within the tree’s shadow, a hanged woman swayed gently, her trailing hair and the hem of her clothes fluttering in the breeze, light as if about to take flight.

Zheng Que looked at the hanged woman, his eyes flickering slightly.

Based on his master’s earlier explanation, this hanged woman concealed within the tree’s shadow should belong to the category of Vengeful Spirits among the Wandering Spirits.

During the day she hid herself within the shadow of this withered old tree. Only after the sun set would her true form manifest on its branches.

Thinking of this, Zheng Que immediately changed direction and walked straight toward the withered old tree.

Vengeful Spirits were greatly suppressed by Yang Qi during daylight, their strength significantly weakened. This was the perfect opportunity to capture one.

Soon Zheng Que’s steps entered the tree’s shadow. Staring at the shadow of the hanged woman, he approached step by step.

As he walked on, he suddenly felt his body growing lighter, beginning to drift upward uncontrollably. He had to stand on tiptoe just to barely keep his feet on the ground.