Chapter 670: Give Me a Reason Not to Kill You

I was certain the Jade Token in my hand was a talisman order. It was nearly identical to Xu Yan's Three Wonders Talisman Command, save for the ancient characters carved onto its surface.

"This talisman order should be called Ten Directions." Based on Xu Yan's earlier actions, I guessed its purpose was to command other talismans.

Beneath Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital, Xu Yan had simultaneously fended off the corpse energy rolling off the Uncorrupted Bone and suppressed Mr. Paper. He could divide his attention like that largely because he held a talisman order.

A talisman order exerted an innate dominance over its subordinate talismans, eliminating the need to chant incantations or cast spells to activate them one by one.

"The Ten Directions Talisman Order has to be connected to the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation. This is absolutely one of the Three Yin Sect's most vital foundations." Using my Judging Eye, I examined the talisman order. Complex divine patterns intertwined within the Jade Token. Staring at them for too long made me feel as if my very soul was being sucked inside.

As I held the talisman order, it resonated with the runes the Black Chess Piece had left on my hand.

I didn't know how to manipulate the talisman order, but I could feel that the Jade Token harbored no resistance toward me. In fact, it seemed to want to merge with me.

It was an incredibly strange sensation.

Having seen the Three Wonders Talisman Command before, I immediately noticed the similarities between the two.

Their structure and shape were fundamentally identical, and they appeared to be forged from the same material.

"Icy to the touch, like thousand-year frost, yet it doesn't sting my palm. It actually stimulates my meridians and invigorates my internal true qi. Whatever this talisman order is made of, it's nothing ordinary." If Daoist master Wan were here, I could have asked him about it. After all, this was the first time I'd ever seen jade with divine patterns forming inside it.

Mimicking how Xu Yan had activated his talisman order, I tried feeding Yin energy and Pre-Heaven True Qi into it. The results were negligible. Once the true qi and Yin energy entered the Jade Token, they were like a clay ox entering the sea, vanishing without a trace.

"Am I doing this wrong, or is this Jade Token just a picky eater? Does it look down on ordinary true qi?" I had only been livestreaming for a little over a month, and I had no idea what grade the true qi I'd blindly cultivated on my own actually was. Regardless, it certainly couldn't compare to a grandmaster like Xu Yan's.

"Activating this talisman order with just my own power is still too difficult."

I withdrew my true qi and Yin energy. Just as I was about to give up, an ancient yet domineering voice suddenly echoed in my mind. "Ten Directions Talisman Order. I never expected to see this thing again."

The voice originated from my spirit platform. I instantly realized it was the remnant soul of the Blood Fox speaking to me.

"Senior, do you know how to wield this talisman? This junior has fallen into hardship and is currently besieged by sect members. I am backed into a corner, and I hope you can offer some guidance." I was completely helpless against the Blood Fox's remnant soul in my spirit platform. I had performed the ritual of inviting spirits and allowed it to possess me back then, but who could have predicted that this fox immortal would just squat in my body and refuse to leave?

Later on, after asking around and speaking with Daoist master Wan, I learned that this remnant soul, known as Xue Zhuo, possessed a terrifyingly massive background. It was a taboo existence.

But too many fleas don't itch, too many debts don't worry. I was already burdened with plenty of secrets, so one more didn't make much of a difference. As such, I had just left it alone.

I was stunned that it had chosen to speak from the spirit platform now. My mind raced, and I instantly realized this was an opportunity.

Xue Zhuo's remnant soul rarely initiated contact with me, but every time it did, it was always a matter of life and death. After all, I was its vessel. If I died, its soul would scatter and perish.

"Talisman orders are divided into coercive orders, imperial orders, and pardon orders, representing the divine edicts issued by the Three Pure Ones. By controlling a talisman order, you can manipulate all talismans subordinate to it, which is why it's also known as an Emperor Order!" The ancient voice in my spirit platform was intermittent, its state highly unstable. It seemed Xue Zhuo's remnant soul had only managed to amass a sliver of strength, barely enough to converse with me. "To control talismans through a talisman order, you don't need to inject Yin energy or true qi. You simply need the talisman order to acknowledge you. Your will is as hard as iron; it shouldn't be too difficult for you."

"My will?" Before I could ask anything else, the voice in the spirit platform spoke again.

"My body underwent Corpse Reanimation, and my soul is still severely injured. I can't communicate with you for very long. If your current predicament of being besieged by sect members wasn't so similar to my own past, I wouldn't be telling you this. Patients with the Same Illness Pity Each Other—or perhaps my Destiny has just been thrust upon your shoulders." At this point, the ancient voice suddenly shifted, tinged with pain and wild arrogance. "In that lifetime, I took a single step back and fell into the Asura Hell, losing all chance of salvation. In this life, I hope you do not repeat my mistakes."

"Please enlighten me, Senior."

"Abandon all delusions of luck—kill them all! Drench the blue skies in blood! Make the entire city wear mourning!"

That crazed, untamed voice echoed through my spirit platform. It took a minute or two before I regained my senses, though faint traces of bloodshot redness still lingered in my eyes.

"Kill them all?" I gave a bitter smile. I had thought the remnant soul might actually be of some help, but the moment sect cultivators were mentioned, it had gone completely mad. Its intense murderous intent had even managed to affect me.

'What's going on? The Good and Evil Asura Mask is trying to obliterate my humanity and turn me into a ruthless killer, and this Turbid Blood Ancestor is constantly inciting my murderous urges too. Something's wrong. Something is very wrong.' I suddenly realized a problem. I hadn't proactively purchased the Good and Evil Asura Mask from the Live Show's item catalog; the Live Show had gifted it to me as a mission reward. And the origins of that Deity-Inviting Talisman were even more bizarre. That had happened during my third broadcast, when I randomly redeemed five Lesser Vehicle Talismans from the Live Show. Was it really just a coincidence that one of those random Lesser Vehicle Talismans happened to be connected to Xue Zhuo's remnant soul?

'Did the Live Show do this on purpose? Are they trying to mold me into whatever they want me to be?' Having survived so many broadcasts by now, I had met quite a few other Streamers. Aside from the Traitors, the rest of the Streamers seemed to treat Live Show Points as their ultimate pursuit, placing humanity and morals second to those points.

'Is this another method the Live Show uses to control its Streamers?' A shudder ran down my spine at the thought, and a deep, instinctual terror toward the Live Show welled up in my heart.

The Two-Faced Buddha was incredibly powerful, but I didn't fear him. I knew exactly what he wanted and what his goals were.

The Live Show was entirely different. Nobody knew why it existed or what its ultimate purpose was.

It couldn't be seen through, and it couldn't be understood. That was the most terrifying part of all.

'I'm still struggling to survive on this chessboard right now. Once I escape Jiangcheng, I'll go search for the truth.' In truth, even without the sect cultivators hunting me, I had already been planning to leave Jiangcheng. I needed to figure a few things out to prove my suspicions about the Underworld Live Show.

It took a long time for my spirit platform to finally calm down. Xue Zhuo's remnant soul was nowhere to be found, as if it had never even existed.

'Xue Zhuo might be incredibly murderous, but it has saved my life more than once. If the opportunity ever arises, I should try to help it reclaim its body.' Thinking about that now was getting a bit ahead of myself. Focusing on the present, I pressed the Ten Directions Talisman Order against my forehead. Just like when I had hypnotized that out-of-town couple, I released my consciousness, projecting my mind straight into the Jade Token.

"This is...?"

The divine patterns inside the talisman order weren't just a chaotic jumble. They were actually arranged to recreate the layout of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation.

Within the patterns lay 1,777 points of light, representing the 1,777 talismans used to construct the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation. All one had to do was link their consciousness to a cluster of lights to manipulate that specific section of the grand array.

'So this is how the talisman order works?' Having consumed the Flower of the Dream Realm, my mental strength wasn't too far off from Xu Yan's. But even with that strength, controlling the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation single-handedly was impossible. After all, the Three Yin Sect had required all three of its branch masters present simultaneously just to activate it. That alone spoke to the sheer, terrifying scale of the array.

The symbols left by the Mountain God Sculpture and the Black Chess Piece were branded onto my left and right hands respectively, allowing me to freely manipulate the life gate and death gate of the grand array. However, controlling the other eight directions would require the power of the talisman order.

"Let's test my limits," I muttered. I pushed my consciousness to link with as many points of light as possible. Once I had connected with over half of them, the divine patterns on the Jade Token abruptly shifted. They recombined, forming ten massive ghost faces.

"What does this mean? The Ten Directions Ghost Refining? Is each direction guarded by a ghost face?" Linking with half the lights was already my absolute limit. If I pushed any further, a splitting pain would tear through my skull, making it feel like my head was about to explode.

I hurriedly broke the connection. Staring at the talisman order in my hand, I felt a surge of alarm. "Could the true secret of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation be those ten sealed ghost faces?"

Clutching the talisman order, I went back to searching the central shrine, and I soon made another discovery. Beneath the secret compartment lay a Daoist scripture. Not only did it detail the evil arts of the Three Yin Sect, but its final page also held a complete breakdown of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation.

"Gather the ten directions: the heavens above, the earth below, the east, west, south, and north, the life gate and death gate, the past and the future. Harvest human souls, and forge a Yama!"

The ten ghost faces I had seen within the talisman order weren't random either; they were named after a mortal's three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls.

The three ethereal souls were named Fetal Light, Refreshing Spirit, and Nether Essence. The seven corporeal souls were named Corpse Dog, Hidden Arrow, Yin Bird, Thief Swallower, Non-Poison, Filth Purger, and Rotting Lung.

The moment those three ethereal souls and seven corporeal souls assumed their rightful positions, a Yama would descend upon the world. That was the true, terrifying power of the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation.

The array required all ten directions to be present before its full might could be unleashed. Even combining my own consciousness with the runes on both my hands, I could only summon seven ghost faces. Unleashing the grand array's true power was simply too difficult.

"Let's see if there's anything else." Having finished with the middle shrine, I pulled the black cloth off the final one.

Hidden behind this shrine was a secret passage leading underground, directly into the ley lines. A Command Flag rested right in front of the shrine, though I had no idea what its actual function was.

There were probably other treasures and secret manuals hidden in the remaining rooms, but my time was limited. I couldn't afford to scour them one by one.

"It's almost dawn. Before the sect cultivators arrive in Jiangcheng, there's one last thing I need to take care of." Tossing my Black Leather Suitcase to the side, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the blank sheet of paper sealing Wang Shi.