Chapter Ninety-Two: Seven-Star Steps, the Baleful-Dispelling Formula (Please subscribe and vote for a monthly pass)

"No. This thing has hide like iron and monstrous strength. Fall back!"

Chen Yushu did not push himself beyond his limits.

The reason he had struck first with his blade was simple: he knew the bear spirit behaved much like a ghost.

By instinct, it would be hindered by the shelter that Lu Yizhi had laid out, and would use some mind-bewitching trick to "invite" the people inside to open the door for it.

But Chen Yushu was no ghost. He was a living man, and naturally he was not bound by those rules.

In his eyes, there was no wall before him, no obstruction at all. A blade swung there would truly cut and wound.

So he had not hesitated to strike first and seize the initiative.

Sure enough, his blow had landed.

Only the thing's defenses were far too formidable.

With his present level of external tempering, having reached the skin-and-membrane stage, even coupled with his small mastery of the Eighteen-Linked Blade, he had only managed to split open its hide and flesh.

After carving out a backhand slash, he turned at once and immediately used the Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada.

In the blink of an eye, his figure seemed to become a phantom, gliding back in retreat.

"Roar!"

The bear spirit bellowed.

As if rage had finally cleared its head, it no longer cared about the shelter, the door, or the walls, and swatted toward Chen Yushu with a great palm.

But by then Chen Yushu had long since slipped clear, and the blow naturally missed.

It hurried forward in pursuit. The round timber barrier did not slow it in the least, though its foot still paused for a fraction of a moment.

For at that moment, Little Yin had somehow rushed beneath it and clung tightly to one of its legs.

"Roar!"

The bear spirit roared again, and was about to fling Little Yin off when a flurry of arrows came shooting in at speed.

The commotion had already woken everyone.

Those skilled with the bow had quickly drawn their strings.

The others, too, had armed themselves and rushed in from all sides.

One of them, also a swordsman, flashed forward in a blur and hacked straight at the bear spirit.

To everyone's eyes, a streak of light flashed.

One of the bear spirit's arms was severed clean off.

Another man, holding a long spear, gripped the shaft and gave it a violent shake.

The spearhead plunged at once into the bear spirit's body.

And still others struck in turn.

Each and every one of them possessed greater strength than Chen Yushu, and their force was heavier too.

"Roar..."

The bear spirit let out a harsh, furious cry. Only then did it finally know fear. But as expected of a black bear demon, it was thick-skinned and tough, no weaker than a ferocious beast. Enduring the storm of attacks, it turned and fled.

"Hmph. You think you can run once you've stepped into my formation?"

At that moment a cold snort rang out. Lu Yizhi took seven consecutive steps forward.

With each step, his bearing grew stronger. After the seventh step, it was as though some supreme power had descended upon him, making his whole frame seem a little taller and more imposing.

Then he lifted one finger and gave a sharp command.

"Fix!"

The bear spirit, just about to retreat, jolted violently and once more came to an abrupt halt.

The others naturally showed it no mercy, raining their attacks down upon it.

"Drawing in earth energy to trap the enemy!"

On the other side, Chen Yushu watched Lu Yizhi's technique, and his eyes shone.

Those seven steps had looked ordinary to others, but in his eyes they were entirely different.

With his sight of vital currents, he could see at once that each of Lu Yizhi's seven steps had landed on a node where earth energy converged. As he drew that earth energy forth, streams of it gathered all around the bear spirit.

The moment the seventh step fell, the surrounding earth energy surged together, sealing every gap around it.

Naturally, that trapped it in place.

This move was ingenious and profound, opening Chen Yushu's eyes to a new horizon.

Still, he could also tell that Lu Yizhi had in fact been preparing in advance.

For instance, when the flags had been planted yesterday, he must already have laid out a formation to draw the earth energy of the surrounding area inward.

Only then could he have stepped seven times just now and gathered the energy to imprison the enemy.

Very quickly, the bear spirit was slain, its blood spilling across the ground.

Yet everyone was in high spirits.

A black bear that had gained spiritual powers was treasure from head to toe; needless to say, its hide and fur were priceless.

Though they had suffered many cuts and punctures from blades and spears, if properly processed they could still fetch several hundred taels of silver.

"You are not bad at all.

The art you used just now should have been the Subduing Yin Art, yes?

To be able to press down this black bear spirit, which is no weaker than a creature with the power of two incense sticks, until it nearly knelt, means that you have truly brought that art to completion."

In the midst of it all, Lu Yizhi came up to Chen Yushu and spoke with evident warmth.

As a geomancer of higher attainment, one who had wandered for years among rivers and mountains and was keenly sensitive to every shift in earth energy and vital currents, he had naturally sensed the bear spirit's approach at the very first moment.

Only the distance had prevented him from striking immediately.

And precisely because of that, he had also been able to see Chen Yushu's Subduing Yin Art.

Unconsciously, he began to value Chen Yushu a little more highly.

"You're too kind, Mister Lu.

Your seven-step display of divine might just now is what truly opened my eyes."

Chen Yushu hastened to reply with humility.

"That was the Seven Stars Step. By stepping to gather qi and then using qi to kill an enemy. It sounds complicated, but in truth it is anything but easy to master. Of course, if you want to learn it, I can teach you."

Lu Yizhi smiled.

"Really?"

Chen Yushu's eyes lit up.

"Of course.

But in our line of work, we never like owing favors. Debts of kindness are the hardest to repay; a single misstep and you'll find yourself tricked into a grave.

So teaching you is easy enough, but you must trade something for it."

Lu Yizhi first nodded, then shook his head.

"What do you want?"

Chen Yushu agreed with what he said.

Just like Liu Qiao'er teaching him the arts; she had not done so for free. Ten taels of silver for one art. Though that was clearly a deliberate favor, in name both sides had merely taken what they needed from each other, owing nothing.

That naturally avoided any entanglement of favors and spared much trouble.

"That little ghost of yours is pretty good."

"I think whether I learn the Seven Stars Step or not hardly matters."

"Too bad it's already bound to a master, and I don't like taking what others cherish."

"If I could add one more art to my hand, that would be best of all."

"I heard that near Jianghuan Town there is a malign spirit that used to be the tutelary being worshiped by the Li family, and is now hiding in the Long River."

"Arts like the Seven Stars Step are probably hard to learn, aren't they? I'm dull-witted by nature. Even if I learned it, I might not be able to use it. Better not learn it after all."

"It was originally the Li family head's plan to use it as the consecrated guardian spirit for raising an altar. Unfortunately, one careless mistake caused a backlash. The guardian spirit turned into a malignant spirit, and the Li family was wiped out as a result.

But there was a price for that feat.

By now it has at most the level of power of three incense sticks. If I can take it down, my future formations will be much easier to lay.

With my methods, capturing it would not be difficult.

Only one thing is needed: someone trustworthy to guard the riverbank, so that nothing comes to interfere and ruin the formation."

"Learning martial skill is hard; learning the arts of the Dao and walking among spirits is even harder.

Just one Subduing Yin Art may not be enough to keep out many things.

Luckily I know the Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada, so if I need to run, I should run fast enough."

"You're not willing to lose even a little, are you?

If I didn't know anyone else in Jianghuan Town from our trade, and ordinary people couldn't see those things anyway... Fine. I'll teach you one more art: the Evil-Dissolving Art. That's also for guarding against ghosts and exorcising them. Train it to a deep level, and even a fierce ghost can be dissolved alive and whole."

Lu Yizhi gave Chen Yushu a helpless look, half laughing, half crying.

"Just help, not die for it," Chen Yushu said anyway.

"Relax. I won't ask you to risk your life. Otherwise, your master would not be someone to trifle with," Lu Yizhi said irritably.

And then, true to his word, he began teaching Chen Yushu the Seven Stars Step and the Evil-Dissolving Art.

Two arts.

The real difficulty of the Seven Stars Step was not the footwork itself, but a pair of eyes that could accurately discern the nodes of earth energy in the surrounding terrain, then guide that energy so that, under the control of the footwork, it could borrow force to strike force.

Fortunately, Chen Yushu had already learned the Vital-Current Sight. In truth, he was already able to catch the currents around him and see the earth energy drifting through the nearby space.

Though in many places it appeared only as wisps and threads, even those could be borrowed.

It was only a matter of how great the power would be.

"This Seven Stars Step can not only borrow earth energy to strike people. Train it to a profound stage, and it can also borrow malign qi to kill."

Lu Yizhi explained, and Chen Yushu immediately thought of the ghost they had encountered earlier while passing through a miasmic place, the one that had lured people into the woods. Lu Yizhi had stamped once, borrowing the miasma and malignant energy within, and blasted it apart alive.

"As for the Evil-Dissolving Art, it is relatively simpler..."

Chen Yushu learned quickly. If he had not wanted to make the explanation as clear as possible, and to squeeze a bit of experience from it, he would have mastered the Seven Stars Step on the first try.

And the Evil-Dissolving Art was even simpler.

Chen Yushu pestered Lu Yizhi into teaching him seven full times. By the end, Lu Yizhi was visibly fatigued, and the sky around them had begun to brighten. Only then did he stop and say that he had learned it.

After that, he glanced at the attribute panel.

Seven Stars Step: Beginner mastery (32/100)

Evil-Dissolving Art: Beginner mastery (41/100)

A smile appeared on his face.

This truly counted as an unexpected windfall.

Just then, Little Yin came bouncing back.

While he had been learning the arts, she had grown bored and gone off to play on her own.

By now he had grown used to it.

Though Little Yin was a little ghost, she was still a child at heart, and naturally could not sit still in one place.

In any case, after playing for an hour or two, she would usually come back on her own.

Even if she wandered far away, all he needed to do was light a stick of Soul-Calling Incense. Once Little Yin caught the scent, she would naturally rush back as fast as she could.

This so-called Soul-Calling Incense was simply ordinary incense coated with a scent unique to her, a trace of yin energy.

Once lit and the yin energy burned, so long as they were not too far apart, she could sense it and know that Chen Yushu was summoning her.