Chapter 95: You Can Learn This Too? (Please subscribe and support with a monthly vote)

Dead.

Everything had happened far too fast.

From the moment he struck to the moment it ended, only three breaths had passed.

That revenant had already been obliterated by him.

And what he had used was precisely the Seven Stars Step and the Exorcising Incantation he had only just learned from Lu Yizhi.

The Seven Stars Step was called a step, but in truth it was a technique for trapping and killing enemies. It could compress and obstruct evil spirits with earth qi, and could even become arrows that shredded yin souls.

As for the Exorcising Incantation, that was a true offensive art. True to its name, it was especially effective against revenants and other such creatures.

After all, a revenant was born from grievance and accumulated baleful energy. Once that baleful force was purified and dispersed, all that remained was a wisp of ghostly remnant, a broken soul.

In such a weakened state, even the lightest breeze could scatter it.

Of course, even he had not expected these two techniques to be so powerful. They had actually blasted that revenant apart on the spot.

The instant the revenant appeared, Ji Xiong, who had only just been ensnared by a soul-mist, jolted awake.

“Be careful. Don’t fall for its tricks.”

Lu Yizhi’s voice followed immediately after.

He had naturally sensed the disturbance around them and looked toward Chen Yushu, a rare trace of approval appearing on his face.

He too had not expected Chen Yushu to learn and master those two techniques so quickly, much less apply them directly in actual combat.

The others, meanwhile, were still fully occupied resisting the ghostly call and kept their nerves taut, so none of them had really noticed what had just happened.

Only Qian Qian, who had been standing beside Chen Yushu the whole time, had witnessed everything. He was staring at him in disbelief now.

“That thing you just used... that wasn’t martial arts, was it?”

“Mr. Lu taught it to me,” Chen Yushu replied.

“Huh? Isn’t he an earth master? You can learn that too?”

Qian Qian looked utterly baffled.

As far as he knew, the inheritance of an earth master and martial arts were worlds apart. Could something like that really be taught and learned?

“I learned it,” Chen Yushu said.

At once, Qian Qian’s eyes lit up, and he grew a little eager himself, already thinking that perhaps he should arrange a banquet and bring a gift sometime, then ask to learn a thing or two from the man.

After all, in a world full of ghosts and gods, having even a couple of methods for killing spirits meant far greater safety.

And after Chen Yushu’s display, the surrounding revenants seemed to grow wary as well, falling quiet for quite some time.

“Third Miss, can we really find the Great Yin Spirit Flower by searching like this? There are so many of us. Wouldn’t it be better to spread out a little? That would improve our chances. Besides, I’ve also noticed a lot of medicinal herbs and valuable plants growing around here. There must be plenty of precious herbs hidden in these parts. If we don’t seize the chance to gather some, it’ll be a waste.”

At that moment, another physician ahead of them, Liu Yong, could not help speaking up.

“This...” Liu Qingyan hesitated, then looked toward Lu Yizhi beside her. “Mr. Lu, what do you think?”

She did not much care about ordinary medicinal plants, but precious herbs were different. Every one of them was worth a considerable sum, and she certainly did not want to waste them.

After all, their family’s pharmacy was always purchasing such herbs, and demand was enormous.

This place, it had to be said, was an excellent site for gathering medicine.

Even if they failed to find the Great Yin Spirit Flower, bringing back other precious herbs would still be worthwhile.

By then, Lu Yizhi, who had been continuously observing the surroundings, finally said, “I’ve taken a look as well. We should already be near the very center of the Wailing Ghost Grotto. In other words, this area has the heaviest yin energy around. If there is a Great Yin Spirit Flower growing anywhere, it can only be here. But this region is still rather large. I need to keep observing before I can gradually narrow it down and finally lock onto the place of extreme yin. As for spreading out, that isn’t impossible. But it’s best not to go too far apart. At the very least, move in pairs, and make sure each group can still see signs of another group.”

“Understood!”

Only then did Liu Qingyan nod and call everyone to spread out according to Lu Yizhi’s method.

Perhaps out of consideration for Chen Yushu, Qian Qian took the initiative to be grouped with him.

Meanwhile, the two laborers from the Liu family pharmacy, Ji Xiong and Wang Zheng, were in another group, though they walked not far from them.

Compared with other places, there were far fewer poisonous insects and wild beasts inside the Wailing Ghost Grotto, but every so often one could still feel a chill run down the spine.

That usually meant a ghostly creature was rushing closer, only to retreat in fear of the abundant yang energy in their bodies.

And by now Chen Yushu had also discovered that there were simply too many ghosts around them.

Among them were not only human-shaped ones, but also all manner of beast-shaped spirits.

It was not only humans who became ghosts after death.

Some living creatures, after dying, would likewise turn into ghostly entities.

It was only that animals possessed little intelligence and knew nothing of life and death, joy and sorrow, parting and reunion, and thus carried far less resentment and hatred.

So even if they became ghosts, they rarely managed to grow strong, turning into revenants, fierce ghosts, or even worse things.

But difficult did not mean impossible.

The Wailing Ghost Grotto was a naturally yin-accumulating place. Ordinary ghosts could survive here for a very long time, and with the natural gathering of yin and attraction of baleful energy, time alone could grind them into revenants.

After only a short stretch of walking, he had already spotted no fewer than ten such entities.

Even Xiao Yin was on guard now. Whenever she saw a ghost daring to approach Chen Yushu, she would strike without the slightest hesitation.

Chen Yushu did not know exactly how strong Xiao Yin was, but ordinary revenants were truly no match for her.

He had seen more than one revenant get beaten off by her.

For that reason, the ghosts and spirits nearby no longer dared come close to Chen Yushu.

But Qian Qian on the other hand was a different story.

As the saying went, the weak were always the easiest to bully. Chen Yushu’s blood qi was not as vigorous as Qian Qian’s, but he had ghosts protecting him, so the other yin spirits and ghostly creatures all turned their attention to Qian Qian instead.

At first, because of his blood qi, they only dared to approach occasionally. But as time passed, and his vitality was steadily worn down by their yin energy, they grew bolder and came closer and closer.

Before long, seven or eight ghosts were drifting around him, blowing on him from time to time and gradually eroding his blood qi bit by bit.

“This place really is filled with yin energy,” Qian Qian muttered, shrinking his neck.

Chen Yushu glanced at him and immediately saw several revenants floating above his head, one after another, continuously blowing on the back of his neck.

At his feet, two more sat clinging to his legs, and around his waist there was even a serpent-shaped ghost coiled there, flicking its tongue and hissing at him from time to time.

With that sort of situation, how could he possibly not feel cold?

It was only because his martial training had tempered his viscera and his blood qi remained strong and unceasing that he had not yet been invaded by baleful energy and ended up the way he had before.

Chen Yushu could not bear to watch any longer. He casually took a talisman from his chest and said, “Put this on you. You shouldn’t feel cold anymore.”

“A house-warding talisman? You have one of these too? Did you buy it from Little Master Shi as well?”

Qian Qian looked surprised. As he spoke, he also reached into his own chest, intending to take out the talisman he had on him. But when he felt inside, all he pulled out was a handful of ashes.

“Where’s my talisman?” he said, stunned.

Then he quickly reacted, looking around in panic. Everything seemed normal, but to him, nothing felt right at all.

“Did I... run into that thing?” he asked after a long while, his voice tinged with bitterness.

“What do you think?” Chen Yushu replied evenly.

In truth, the others were also each being haunted by one or two ghosts to varying degrees, but everyone else was in pairs, and the spirits were divided among them. At most, each person only had three to five attached to them.

On his side, however, because of Chen Yushu’s special nature, they had all formed a group and gone after Qian Qian with everything they had. Even with his blood qi being far from weak, he still could not quite endure it.

“You gave me this talisman. What about you?” Qian Qian still hesitated.

It was not that he was kind-hearted. Rather, he knew that Chen Yushu’s status was no longer what it had been before. He was now the shopkeeper’s disciple, and clearly also had the Third Miss’s regard. Even on the road here, he had ridden in the same carriage as the Third Miss. Of course he needed to be cared for, to be courted a little.

“Don’t worry. I still have more,” Chen Yushu said, waving a hand.

Only then did Qian Qian reach out and accept it. “Then count it as a loan. I’ll give you silver when we get back.”

After speaking, he hurriedly pressed it against his body.

At once, he felt the talisman rapidly darken, clearly beginning to take effect.

At the same time, he also felt warmth spread through him, and the thin threads of yin energy around him began to dissipate.

In Chen Yushu’s eyes, the ghosts on Qian Qian’s body were instantly flung away. And whenever they tried to come close again, the talisman would immediately take effect, releasing a special halo that kept them at bay. They would have to keep blowing on it before that glow could finally be worn away.

“Look, what’s this? Blackleaf Grass, precious Blackleaf Grass.”

Suddenly, Qian Qian gave a low exclamation and rushed forward. As he spoke, his face lit up with unmistakable delight.

Chen Yushu followed his gaze and indeed saw a small black plant growing in a crack between two stones.

It was Blackleaf Grass.

“Our pharmacy buys precious Blackleaf Grass for forty-five taels of silver a plant. We can split this one fifty-fifty, and each get twenty taels.”

Qian Qian happily took out the short blade he carried with him and began digging it out carefully.

“Brother Qian, that’s too polite. You found it, so I can’t take advantage of you,” Chen Yushu said, waving a hand.

“Don’t think that just because I’m stingy in the pharmacy and want silver for everything, I’m without rules. I charge the apprentices who study under me, and that’s only proper. I never force them to learn from me. Clear prices, fair dealing, no deceit.

“But when I’m out here doing business, what belongs to me is mine, and I won’t be modest about it. What isn’t mine, I’ll share out. Since the two of us are working as a pair, of course any gains should be split equally if we want to keep cooperating.”

While speaking, Qian Qian had already dug up the Blackleaf Grass, wrapped it carefully, and placed it into a pouch.

“Then let’s talk about it when we get back,” Chen Yushu said, not refusing.

Still, it had to be said that his impression of Qian Qian had improved quite a bit.