Chapter 590: Heaven Has Three Wonders: The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars

Wei Jianming's breathing was erratic. In his eyes, I was nothing but a mere mortal; speaking to me on equal terms was already an enormous display of charity.

"I told you to stop!"

Golden light swirled around the talisman. Judging solely from the aura it emitted, it had to be a top-tier Lesser Vehicle Talisman.

"You want to fight?" I didn't stop walking. In fact, I was faintly anticipating it. My ghost art had broken through to the Fourth Layer. Even within the Three Yin Sect, I would be considered a top expert. I wondered how I measured up against these elites of the orthodox path.

Knowing oneself and the enemy guarantees victory. A long time ago, when Blind Liu and I were discussing the Profound Truth Dao, he had mentioned the Golden Mountain Sect.

Cultivators of this sect placed great emphasis on training within the secular world. Their disciples studied both earthly feng shui and internal martial arts. One of their more famous members was Huang Chao, the rebel leader from the late Tang dynasty. He had once used feng shui to excavate multiple Tang tombs in Shaanxi to fund his army, eventually forming the Xieling Strongmen faction.

The Daoists of the Golden Mountain Sect cultivated both internally and externally. They could comprehend the Dao and pray for blessings, but they could also march into battle to slaughter the enemy. Their disciples were fierce and possessed extraordinary combat strength.

That was what Blind Liu had told me back then. After a brief recollection, I had a solid grasp of the situation. I silently suppressed my Pre-Heaven True Qi and let my yin energy circulate through my Yin Meridian.

Behind me, Wei Jianming silently chanted an incantation. Compared to the Profound Truth Dao, the Golden Mountain Sect was much more adept at combat magic. All of their incantations were recited silently, making them incredibly difficult to defend against.

Seeing Wei Jianming about to strike, the other men showed no intention of stopping him.

Wei Wenming didn't intervene because he also felt my attitude was arrogant and that I needed to be taught a lesson. Lu Chen and Chen Jiuge were the types to just enjoy the show when they had nothing better to do. No one knew what they were actually thinking.

The orthodox path seemed united on the surface, but in reality, they were each harboring a ghost in their belly. Subduing demons and slaying monsters was secondary; accumulating merit was their primary goal.

"Strike!"

I had walked seven steps away when Wei Jianming's harsh shout rang out behind me. Immediately after, a sudden wind whipped through the luxuriously decorated corridor, and a streak of golden light shot straight toward my back.

"I've been wanting to test your skills for a while now." I formed a hand seal and held it across my chest. "Yin-Yang Has an Order!"

There was a massive divide between the first three layers of the Yin-Yang Ghost Art and the Fourth Layer. Having broken through to the Fourth Layer, my mastery over yin energy and ghosts had drastically improved. Even Leng Qingxuan wouldn't be my match now; I could easily suppress him with my ghost art alone.

This was my first time engaging in a magical duel since breaking through to the Ghost Art Fourth Layer and reaching the state of Five-Direction Ghost Commanding.

"My internal yin energy has only recovered to fifty percent, but that should be enough to deal with a sect junior," I murmured. My hands fluttered as my finger seals changed. The light in the corridor distorted, and yin energy surged from every corner of the building, converging around me.

The lights seemed to dim. As the golden light talisman approached my body, its speed dropped drastically. Yin energy completely enveloped it. I waited until it flew right up to me before slowly turning around and snatching the golden talisman directly into my left palm.

It was an unintentional move on my part, but the character for "death" left on my left palm from touching the Black Chess Piece suddenly underwent a shocking transformation. It turned pitch-black like a bottomless cavern. A faint trickle of affliction poison seeped out of it, instantly corroding the golden talisman Wei Jianming had fired.

A Dao Talisman was controlled by a Celestial Master's heart blood. When the talisman was corrupted, the caster would also suffer a backlash.

To the others, this scene looked completely different: I had simply turned around, casually caught Wei Jianming's Lesser Vehicle Talisman, and with a light squeeze, the imposing golden light talisman was corrupted. It lost all its magic and shattered onto the floor. Meanwhile, Wei Jianming hadn't harmed a single hair on my head, yet he stumbled back several steps, trembling.

"A sneak attack from behind? Is this how your 'righteous orthodox sects' like to fight?" I opened my hand. The shattered talisman fluttered to the ground, a far cry from its previously radiant state.

"How did he do that?"

"He dismantled a talisman barehanded?"

"Junior Brother! Are you alright?"

The expressions of the orthodox cultivators present varied. Even Chen Jiuge, who had kept a low profile this whole time, was drawn to me. He stared at my hand for a long while but couldn't figure out the trick behind it.

"Are you still going to try and stop me?" Standing in the middle of the corridor facing the four orthodox cultivators, my aura was not the least bit inferior to theirs.

The wall lamps on both sides flickered. Yin energy was still converging. Dawn had yet to break, and the yin energy was thick—this was when my ghost arts were at their peak. Although the yin energy in my body hadn't recovered to a full hundred percent, I was still confident.

Even if I couldn't fight one against four, I would at least have no problem testing out a portion of these orthodox cultivators' true strength.

"Stop acting so arrogant! You're nothing but a crooked heresy!" Wei Jianming's face was pale. He still hadn't figured out what just happened. How could his talisman be crushed barehanded? Was the guy in front of him not human at all, but a successfully cultivated yin ghost?

He struggled to stand up straight, thoroughly ashamed and furious at his own performance.

I stared at him. Yin energy surged from my Eighteen Yin Apertures and wreathed my body. "Humiliated into a rage, are we? Do you feel embarrassed? Being casually swatted away by an ordinary mortal you never even deigned to look at—where does that leave the Golden Mountain Sect's pride?"

When it came to memorizing Daoist scriptures and comprehending heaven and earth, ten of me wouldn't measure up to Wei Jianming, who had cultivated since childhood. But when it came to a war of words, I had never lost to anyone.

"You're courting death!" Wei Jianming was driven to absolute fury by my words. Losing every last shred of a cultivator's demeanor, he pulled out a Gold and Jade Box from his robes and prepared to open it.

I didn't know what was inside that box, but the moment it was brought out, the surrounding yin energy was forced back.

"Junior Brother!" Wei Wenming struck at the critical moment, pressing his hand against the lid to stop Wei Jianming from opening it.

Seeing Wei Jianming put the box back into his robes, I actually felt a twinge of disappointment. That had to be a protective magical treasure given to him by the Golden Mountain Sect. It was likely one of their trump cards for hunting the Ghost Mother.

Items like that were typically incredibly precious; once used, they were gone forever.

I inwardly sighed in pity, but I didn't dwell on it too much.

"Senior Brother, this little thief can insult me, but he cannot humiliate the Golden Mountain Sect." Wei Jianming had grown up in the Golden Mountain Sect and felt a profound sense of loyalty to it.

"Step back and leave him to me." Wei Wenming's cultivation was much deeper than Wei Jianming's. He walked toward me, his aura extraordinary. "Gao Jian, we were worried you would be put in a difficult position, caught between the orthodox and the heretical. We asked you to stay the night to prevent you from doing something foolish. But not only do you refuse to listen to our advice, you spout insolent remarks. Today, on behalf of my fellow Daoists, I will teach you a little lesson so you learn that there is always someone better out there."

"Why are you spouting so much nonsense? Which orthodox disciple just sneak-attacked me from behind? You have the guts to do it but not the spine to admit it. Today, I've finally seen through the true faces of you hypocrites." My words cursed out every single sect present. Standing off to the side watching the show, Lu Chen and Chen Jiuge both twitched their lips, though they quickly returned to normal.

"Sharp-tongued as always. Let our skills speak for us!" Wei Wenming knew he couldn't beat me in an argument, and they were indeed in the wrong. He shut his mouth, silently chanted an incantation, and with a wave of his hand, tossed out four golden talismans that plastered themselves to the four walls of the corridor in a square formation.

'A complete set of talismans?' Seeing Wei Wenming's extraordinary move, I knew he was going all out to defend his sect's dignity. 'As the number of talismans in a set increases, its power multiplies exponentially.'

The four golden talismans were only the beginning. Wei Wenming continued to chant. He threw eight more golden talismans into the array, forming a golden seal entirely composed of talismans.

"Gao Jian, you little thief! You cultivate ghosts and refine souls—you have already stepped onto the demonic path. I hope my Gilded Gold Seal can knock some sense into you!" Wei Wenming clasped his hands together and pushed down. The golden seal, composed of twelve talismans inside and out, came crashing down toward me.

"You orthodox cultivators love preaching your grand principles to others, yet you never follow them yourselves! I refine ghosts, so I've fallen to the demonic path? But when you rear souls and command ghosts, it's profound Daoist magic?" Facing the golden seal, I felt an unprecedented pressure. Wei Wenming's Daoist magic was vastly superior to Wei Jianming's; there was a difference of at least two realms between them.

"Silence! Take this!"

As the golden seal pressed down, I didn't dare to be careless. I mobilized all the yin energy in my body and unleashed a technique that could only be used at the Fourth Layer of the Yin-Yang Ghost Art—Five-Direction Ghost Commanding!

"I command the Green Plague Ghost of the East, essence of rotting wood! The Red Plague Ghost of the South, essence of blazing fire! The Blood Plague Ghost of the West, essence of vile metal! The Black Plague Ghost of the North, essence of the murky pool! The Yellow Plague Ghost of the Center, essence of the sovereign earth!"

With the command of the five directions, the yin energy from the entire building surged toward me. Century New Garden was built right atop Jiangcheng's dragon head; right beneath my feet was the city's dragon vein.

Five massive phantom ghosts emerged from the yin energy. Having been tainted by the underground dragon qi, their appearances were ferocious, yet they gave off a completely different aura than ordinary ghosts.

These five ghosts carried an undying, imperishable momentum, as if they existed in tandem with heavenly principles and reincarnation itself.

"Five Plague Ghosts? His ghost art has actually reached this level? Last time, his arts were only at the beginner stage!" Lu Chen was the most shocked of them all. His indifferent expression was long gone as he stared in astonishment at the five massive phantom ghosts.

The five plagues were the five most terrifying types of ghosts. In ancient times, the appearance of any single plague ghost would trigger a massive disaster.

I was only summoning their phantoms right now, borrowing a sliver of their will to cast my ghost art. However, as my ghost art realm continued to improve, there would come a day when I could summon the true Five Plague Ghosts.

The moment the incantation for the Five-Direction Ghost Commanding rang out, the orthodox cultivators could no longer stay still. Wei Wenming's massive golden seal was forced open by the five phantom ghosts, and nourished by the yin energy, their massive bodies were still growing!

Two meters, three meters, four meters!

The giant ghosts formed of yin energy hunched over, squeezed into the corridor. Like starving wolves, their eyes flashed with ghost fire as they locked onto the orthodox cultivators.

"You bully me and humiliate me. Do you really think I don't dare to fight back?" Opening all Eighteen Yin Apertures at once in the deepest depths of the night, my voice drifted eerily out of the darkness.

"Ghosts of the Five Plagues, I know your names! The spirit is not nourished within, instead becoming an evil essence without; causing cold or heat, leaving the five limbs restless!"

There was still a second half to the incantation for Five-Direction Ghost Commanding, but it wasn't time to expose my true strength yet, so I deliberately held back.

The five giant phantom ghosts shattered Wei Wenming's golden seal and charged straight toward the orthodox cultivators. The men didn't panic, instead forming hand seals one by one to cast their spells.

But just as a full-blown clash was about to erupt between the two sides, a voice overpowered everything, exploding in everyone's ears.

"Heaven has three wonders: the sun, the moon, and the stars; piercing heaven and earth, making ghosts and gods tremble..."